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Thank you David for writing today's article for Our Beloved Duck Forum! Tackling a running back, who often times can squat 400 lbs, is a hard task. Ordinarily a 300 lb defensive line versus a 200 lb running back is a no contest. But 20 plus years ago the rules were changed to allow Offensive players to aid and abet the runner by pushing from behind the runner. So in the tight confines of the scrum adding in a few Offensive Linemen changes the dynamics. I believe it is necessary for the first defensive player to get as low as possible. General rule in football - Low man wins. Hitting the running back above the hips and trying to tackle him allows the scrum to continue the push forward giving more yards after contact (YAC). Someone must sacrifice their body and start grabbing ankles. Watch our defensive backs make a tackle in the open field. They tackle the lower legs. This is a huge improvement that Dan Lanning and staff have improved.

Is Notre Dame in if they win out? I don't see many quality wins on their schedule. Their best hope is Miami and Texas A&M to win out so they can say they only lost by four combined points to two top ten teams .

For two weeks in a row the Oregon defense has been exposed, though the final scoreboard may not show it. The Duck defense has a weakness in defending the run. Against Oklahoma State the Ducks gave up 144 total yards, which may not sound too bad as the bulk of Cowboys’ total offense came off only a few drives — ... The Ducks Have a Problem With Run Defense

Actually, I was surprisingly calm as the game unfolded, even when the Dawgs were down big time early. I was faltering a bit late in the 4th when down by 8 and facing a 4th and 7 with little time left. That's when Gunner Stockton uncorked the biggest of his many clutch plays by throwing a perfectly thrown back shoulder fade caught in the end zone and then threw a pass again in the end zone to convert and tie the game. Maybe it was irrational but I just felt at that point that we would win this sucker. After the game remained tied when UTs young kicker missed a game winning field goal and then made one in OT, I knew we would somehow pull out the win with a touchdown in OT. I was relieved of course and really did enjoy my post-game glass of celebratory bourbon. Let me add that I was really impressed by the Ducks' two D. Moores--what a great battery!

We just went through this last year. No reason to suspect we won’t see the exact same caveman football almost every week. The majority of teams in our new league don’t like the forward pass. We were ahead of a conference foe 31-0 on the road after three quarters, and they were still running the ball…that tells me all I need to know.

"...if any conference is known for tough offensive lines that bull for rush yards...it is the B1G, because they have to in order to compete. Even weak teams will move the ball on the ground.." Let me provide an example. In Iowa's first two games they had 46 first down attempts. Could have been after a kickoff, after receiving a punt, after a turnover, after stopping the opponent, after being successful on the prior 2nd or 3rd down, whatever. On those 46 first downs, they ran the ball 34 times. I don't know what Northwestern's ratio was on Saturday but it seemed to me they were trying to grind out sequential short-yardage runs to maintain possession by starting with a run. I suspect the Ducks are going to see that from most opponents as the season progresses. It is the Big Ten DNA. And, if game video makes it look successful, opponents will revert to DNA. It becomes very tiring for a D-line. And, as the clock winds frustrating for fans of the defense to watch. It is one reason why there are relatively few high scoring conference games...peck, peck, peck, first down, peck, peck, peck, first down, peck, peck, peck...

I'm with you Charles, but... Phil & Penny represent the entire state in actuality. Yes Eugene. Yes UO. But their generosity and philanthropy reaches all across the state. Even to Corvalis. They have quietly given millions to OSU. The heart clinic where my wife received life saving surgery is named the Phil and Penny Knight Pavillion, here in Portland. The largest heart facility between Seattle and San Francisco. It makes sense to do this for Civil War game. And as a footnote, the special "state honor" unis, blue and orange/yellow, and the absurdly strange orange legged Duck honor unis, both led to disastrous losses. Humiliating even. This game should all but guarantee a win.

I do not agree...

I don't think he wants it. He's been on these lists for quite a while now. Probably 10 years. If he wanted a head coaching job by now he would be as the opportunity would be there.

I have no beef with Freeman. I have a beef with Georgia and Penn State having played one more game, against an excellent opponent, than Notre Dame last season, and that ND played four G5 opponents in 2024. I also have a beef with an AD having the same voting power as a conference commissioner, at least the Power 2 commissioners. Chris Ash is not doing the job as Al Golden's replacement at DC.

Great take. It's hard to win football games. The 100% accomplishment vs. NW, there were no penalties called on OBD.

Didn't you get the memo.. Black is one of our alternate colors now. We took that from the Beavers as well. They got 300 mil but we took everything else they love from them. It's a fair trade when you put it that way.

Not my favorite. I kinda want some green and yellow because he is an Oregon alum. I do like the Nike wing on the helmet.

Have to be honest I don't hate Notre Dame like I used to, I really like Freeman as a coach, it helps a lot when they don't have a jerk for a coach.

The Smart/Lanning approach seems to work best with a monster elite 330+ pound future NFL NT. While far from an unknown last season, I still felt Jamaree Caldwell was a bit of an unsung hero last year. This year the defense has three young guys who fit the profile but are still finding their way. The staff didn't seem to love anything in the portal at NT above the young guys so maybe that is promising. Maybe some of it is simple growing pains. The rise of the Kirby Smart defense was (obviously) greatly aided by having 6 future NFL defenders to put in the box. The Georgia staff finding how to best leverage that advantage might have been much of their "secret sauce" rather than anything scheme (and that isn't at all a put down, rather good coaching). Penn State obviously has a pair of good backs. Allen so far is 34-273 at 8.0 ypc. Singleton is 41-179 at 4.4 ypc. (Penn State so far has been 51% run). Maybe "mildly concerned" if Penn State can methodically rush the ball and put together long drives, keeping the Duck offense on the sidelines. I'm sure Penn State will be happy to try to play a game limiting Oregon to 2 possessions per quarter and not shoot it out.

Out of that list I would say Lynn, Aranda, Rees, and Lupoi would be the best candidates. Lupoi would be interesting, he's been a name for a long time without getting a chance as a head coach, so I have no idea how he would operate as a CEO.

Everyone knows I hate the saying "we beat ourselves", but NW really did stop their own drives with costly mistakes if you go back and rewatch their drives. Dan Lanning mentioned this in the post game talk with the media. The counter to that is your team is really good if the other team has to play flawless to hang around, but they REALLY jacked up their opportunities to make this game VERY uncomfortable for us through halftime.

I’d say zero alert personally. Stats in garbage time during a blowout mean absolutely nothing imo. Florida International (house of pancakes) rushed for 141 AT PSU last week. Does that mean we’ll rush for 300?

Because they couldn't score with it until their starters went against our "2s?"

Deion approved. I hope they work out better than the Cal uniforms from 2016. Truth be told, if they stomp Beavis nobody will ever remember them.

Run D is very concerning. I’m not sure why Northwestern didn’t run more.

Charles, I agree with all of your statements. I have given up on looking for perfection on every single play. I'll let the coaches worry about pushing the players for the mythical perfect game. While, I'd love to have a National Championship, I'm just happy that we get to watch such a great program each week and season that Dan Lanning is our coach. It won't last forever.

Wouldn't that be a dream?

I could see Baylor wanting to move on from Aranda soon. If you're not in the top tier of college football programs the resource rat race certainly makes things difficult. I'm not sure if Aranda is a god of coach or bad one but at Baylor he certainly doesn't have eh as t he needs at Baylor.

As an older Duck fan from the late 70s Il take a road victory of 34-14 any day.