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Sandbags are used to hold the water out. Hard to do when you’re playing in the rain all the time.

I certainly don't think we were sandbagging during the Iowa game; with three top receivers lost....we were fighting to win a game, IMHO.

Some interesting discussion by John Canzano and Oregon fans.... Q: Is it possible that Lanning’s team is pacing itself? Is that the secret buried in the flow of this season? A: I spoke with offensive coordinator Will Stein a few weeks ago. Something he said in our conversation stood out. Stein mentioned watching Ohio State play its best football in December and January. We talked about the art and science of that run. I wondered if UO’s plan this season was to slowly rise to meet the challenges and moments each week, but keep its cleats on the turf for when it counts. Q: Do you think the Ducks are sandbagging games to disguise, disrupt, and obfuscate future game opponent strategies? A: There’s no “sandbagging” going on. But I do think Oregon is pacing itself better this season. The substitution patterns with the defensive backs caught my eye earlier this season. You can tell UO’s coaches are playing more players, looking to distribute the snaps, and trying to build toward playing their best football in December and January. It’s what Ohio State did last season.

The play before the Iowa FG, I thought it was intentional grounding. The QB was outside the pocket, but the ball did not clear the line of scrimmage and the ball was at least 5 yards short of a WR/TE.

Coaching carousel and B1G moves that could help the depth of the conference. I think? Maryland - Mike Locksley does not win games from October on. Replace him with Jim Mora, who has done more with less at UConn, and come up with the money to keep true frosh QB Washington on board. Mora never should have been fired by UCLA. UCLA - Make sure that booster Casey Wasserman signs off on the hire and comes up as promised, with the money to give the new hire a chance to compete. Hire Dan Mullen from UNLV, a team that defeated UCLA this season, and keep Bruin forever, Jerry Neuheisel on the staff, along with QB Nico I on the team. Mullen never should have been fired by Florida. Wisconsin - With many young studs on defense, and this season's brutal schedule, I like Fickell getting another season. Michigan State - The boosters disappeared when Mel Tucker flamed out, and the trade in mortgages was hit by an increase in interest rates. But folks still eat Domino's Pizza (for some reason I don't understand), and there are other Sparty grads with money. Keep J. Smith and invest the buyout money into the program. It's hard to have success with development players today when players can earn more money to be developed, or not, elsewhere. Purdue -I believe the Boilermakers made the right hire in Barry Odom. Purdue is playing more respectable football, but with a thin roster is wearing down at season's end. To win B1G on the football field as well as on the basketball court, show Barry the money. Penn State - He certainly isn't lovable, but Brian Kelly wins football games. He was 34-14 at LSU and defeated ranked football opponents. He's won everywhere he's coached, including 113 wins in twelve seasons at Notre Dame. North of the Mason-Dixon, Kelly is a fit. USC - With recruiting finally aligned and an impressive incoming class, the Trojans should finish no worse than 8-4 this season. Riley is starting to get it as a play caller in the B1G. SC is averaging 7.1 yards a rushing attempt (2nd in CFB 😁) this season. Even with losses vs. Iowa, Oregon, and UCLA, he'll get at least one more season. Here's hoping the Trojans' run D doesn't improve before next season. UW - Fisch is fried East of the Rockies. He is not at risk of being fired, but with all of the coaching openings, will he hang in at UW long enough to build a deeper roster? I'd just as soon see him off the UW hook. Minnesota - I have no intention of letting a Gopher out of its hole come Friday night, but as long as Fleck wins seven to eight games every season, I don't see him getting a better offer to leave Minnesota, or him being fired. Rutgers - At 5-5, Rutgers is on the cusp of going bowling again. Win the 6th game, and Greg Schiano has met the standard of success. The take from Down South - Iowa never should have been ranked. Oregon lucked out Saturday night and should be ranked below every two-loss SEC team. 🤪 I am looking forward to eight SEC teams having one more loss next season and Ole Miss not playing The Citadel in November. Ground and Pound the Gophers! Light rain is predicted for Friday evening, wouldn't that be a nice change?

Also, we might not like it sometimes, but spreading out the offense and throwing screens to the outside opens up the running lanes too. This is what Chip Kelley did. He sent folks out wide to open up the middle (fewer people in the box/fewer people to block). CK's offense was a running offence primarily, but the passes outside made it easier.

If I am remembering correctly, I believe that's what they did on that play. Tuioti (44) was in the middle, behind the defensive line a couple of yards. When the QB ran to the right towards the end zone, Tuioti ran fast to intercept him, but he ran into the back of one of the Ducks on the line, (I assume because he was pushed back by the offence). Tuioti fell down and the QB scored. The defense was called just as you described.

I know the press claims our red-zone defense is worst in the country, but no one mentions we are top 3 in not allowing teams into the red-zone! The best red-zone defense is to not let them get there in the 1st place. We are definitely better then we sometimes give our guys credit for.

Where Oregon's defense and special teams rank Where Ducks' defense, special teams rank in key stats after Week 11 Offensive rankings. Where Ducks' offense ranks nationally in key stats after Week 11

ESPN/FOXSPORTS made the decision decades ago, regardless of conference leaderships. Needed to trim one of five conferences (would have preferred two but Clemsons Nattys and low-ball, ironclad, TV deal "saved" that conference) and the PAC was doomed. Never liked it. Never wanted it. But it is what it is. In our current economic models, "most" money wins! Long term consequences be d@mned cuz there will Always be Opportunity in Capitalizing on any carnage that follows. Self perpetuating cycles. OBD realizes this and acts accordingly as any successful "business" would. Go Ducks.

Forum friends, we're a member of a nationwide Mega-Conference, and we're reaping the good and the bad. Compare Oregon's conference schedule with Wisconsin's; the Badgers have a far more difficult schedule in 2025 than OBD, even without adding on a trip to Alabama. In 2027, OBD plays at Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, UCLA, and UW. Plus plays a game on the road at Baylor. The home slate: Iowa, Ohio State, Penn State, and Purdue. Brutal. The conference schedules do, for the most part, balance out over five seasons. Rutgers schedule this season compared to last season is far more difficult. Indiana will have its turn in the box. However, having Michigan and Ohio State as permanent opponents is more difficult than new power Indiana drawing Purdue. When the computers went to work in 2023, preparing schedules for an 18-team conference, did the machines know that Indiana in 2024 and 2025 would qualify for the playoffs? Compare Oklahoma's SEC schedule this season and last to Texas. The Longhorns have far easier conference schedules. Ditto Mizzou and Ole Miss compared to Florida. As to the conference intentionally trying to screw over OBD with a Friday night game after a Saturday game in the Central time zone, check out UCLA's closing schedule. Week 9, at Indiana, Bye, Week 11, Nebraska, Week 12, at Ohio State, Week 13, UW, Week 14, at USC. The conference took the money and gave up total scheduling freedom to the media entities writing the checks. These unbalanced mega-conference schedules are the primary reason I back Tony Petitti's AQ PO model, with the last week of the regular season as PO play-in week. The team that is in 2nd place in the standings plays at 1st place. The winner is the conference champ, and both are in the PO field. Third place hosts Sixth place, Fourth place hosts Fifth place. The winners are in the field; the losers are still eligible for one of two at-large spots in the 16-team field. (The third AL team will be Notre Dame.) The season ends, and the POs start a week sooner than today. As to this season, it is neither Indiana's nor OBD's fault that Penn State has not won a conference game this season. Frustrating? Heck yes. But I sure prefer this to playing Beavis and Wazzu twice in the regular season. GUM UP THE GOPHERS!

And USC hasn't played tOSU in two years. Also got both Michigan and Penn St at home in separate years.

How the heck does Indiana avoid playing: Ohio State, Michigan, USC, and Washington? And they played Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State OOC. Pre-season CBS Sports ranked their schedule 2nd easiest in the B1G only ahead of Maryland. I understand unbalanced schedules with super conferences but come on - there has to be more balance.

All this is a capital ($$$) infusion for college athletic departments. I would be surprised if Ohio State went along with this proposal (and Oregon should not either, IMO), as one of the largest, wealthiest and most valuable brands in college football. Locking yourself into a long-term grant of rights seems to be the last thing the top brands would want to do right now given the uncertainty and evolving college football landscape. Just look no further than the top ACC programs. The teams that benefit the most are the B1G bottom dwellers. They are probably paranoid that they will be left out during the next college football realignment (as they should be) and desperately need the money. Under the proposal, there is also an uneven revenue share, which is one reason USC opposes it, as Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State would get more than they would.

Dante always respects the people who have come before him. Oregon Ducks On SIOregon Ducks' Dante Moore Shares Biggest Lesson He Learne...Dante Moore is emerging as another big-time performer in a series of great quarterbacks for the No. 9 Oregon Ducks. The signal caller’s mature decision to spend“The biggest things I learned from Dillon is just preparation and then having joy with the game of football,” Moore said. “He said when you step between the white lines and play football you got to have joy and have fun with it.”

Tez Johnson's NFL continues to shine! Oregon Ducks On SITez Johnson Is Becoming Everything NFL Scouts Doubted He'...Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Tez Johnson weighed in at just 154 pounds at the 2025 NFL Combine, making him the lightest participant. During the draft proc

And let's not forget🍾🥂 Larry in the conversation. His leadership and foresight was legendary.

If OBD puts a spy out on 4th and goal, he needs to be disciplined enough to actually wait for the play to progress out of the quarterbacks hands... not always easy to do.

I like our defense, but they do have a tendency to have a mind-numbing brain fart when it is 3rd and 7 or more, and the secondary will be inexplicably out of place quite often on such plays.

Having re-watched the game, there is no way Iowa had zero penalties outside of the punt snap safety. Bear was held early and often. Their DBs were occasionally clingier than a needy GF/BF. The push off OPI and hands to the face by the D-line were no such thing. Gronowski threw away two 'Mr Wizard' passes that didn't have a receiver in the same area code, should have been called intentional grounding and would have stalled both of their touchdown drives. They ignored the fumble that the back judge should have easily seen if he had been where he was supposed to be. I won't go so far as to claim a level of bias, but maybe Iowa benefited from a dark uniform 'ninja' effect on a crappy conditions day where OBD white stood out like a beacon. Or maybe somebody had Iowa and the points.

I really like this O line when all starters are in. They are beasts at run blocking. At RB, Noah, Hill and Davison are above in ability than the rest on the roster. And all that running success sets up play action passes too. "The problems for the defense have often come when the offense has failed to set them up for success." The problems for the defense are that they don't have it together on every play. With all the option based offenses, the opposing offenses are looking for a weak spot. Ducks need 3 good defensive plays in a row and they get off the field on 4th down. Consistency is not always there for them. "The Iowa offensive line averaged only .8 yards per rush before contact, and 2.7 yards after contact." Yes. On many plays, the Iowa runner was pushed back. But on other plays, he would plow for extra yards. Those extra yards shorten their 3rd down plays. Gang tackling is how they can shut down the YAC. Indiana's RBs are good at pushing for extra yards also. I loved that great play by Noah Sewell vs Ohio St on that 4th down play where he stood up the RB and got the turnover on downs. Those kinds of plays shut down drives.

Great observation here. If the Ducks go up by two TDs at any point, then Iowa is forced to start passing. Iowa’s passing attack looked downright dreadful; the Ducks would have blown them out.

And none of the finger-pointing is at the prior athletic ADs at OSU and WSU who did not build their brand, and in fact were massively overpaid in their revenue share when looking at what they brought to the conference.

More Fun Facts about Our Beloved Ducks... Never mind...we have a tech issue going on that I have to work on...