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Jon I think you’ve made a great point in your OP and I very much agree. While building a roster in this new era it’s even more obvious that a program’s success or failure is directly reflected by the financial strategy that is implemented and the ROI of said strategy. Furthermore, I believe that the O-line position group might best exemplify your point. IMO, the O-line is the most important catalyst for an offense. I have this opinion for many reasons, but for the moment I’ll attempt to touch on the reasons that most directly relate to the topic of this thread. O-line is most important bc fielding an elite O-line is the most sure way to attain a truly sustainable dominant offense throughout a season. The line is first and foremost one body made up of strong and talented parts that work so well together in a collaborative strategy that they perform as an elite unit in achieving goals. This elite unit can act as the heart and guide of the offense by creating the pathways that lead to greatness. So if one of the goals is to build an O-line that is capable of performing in such a way, what is the best strategy in the use of your NIL capital to achieve this goal? I believe that your estimate is likely somewhere in the ballpark and bc of that and a few other reasons, I think (especially in this case) that your type of strategy could prove the most efficient and beneficial strategy. As you stated, it’s highly unlikely that a freshman offensive lineman will be prepared to start in his true freshman season, no matter how talented or highly rated he is. To my knowledge there is no amount of NIL money that will magically provide him with the year or years of developmental experience that he will likely need to be the player the unit needs as it pursues greatness. Also, it’s possible that by the time he does become the right player, he may decide to hit the portal in an attempt to further maximize his earning potential. So it’s possible that you might pay him top $ just so you could develop him for someone else’s O-line. If so, this highly touted, highly talented, and extremely expensive recruit has given you a negative ROI, when you consider how that NIL capital might have been used. To your point, instead of taking this risk, search for linemen in the portal that have unexpectedly already developed into just what you’re looking for. Attempt to use your capital on 2 or 3 that look as if they might immediately fit right into your schemes and strategies. Players that you feel are already a few of those strong and talented parts that can become a part of that Elite Unit. Potentially maximize ROI as opposed to risking a negative return. This is just an attempt for me to think about this situation in a way that relates to your OP. I’m certainly not saying don’t go after those top recruits, but it might be worth thinking about it or considering what alternatives might be available or just talk about it. I certainly don’t know what is best but I do think it’s interesting. Some might say it would be very hard to expect an O-line to be able to work that effectively together that quickly, and perhaps that might be the case, but who knows? The right group might do very well together. I’m not exaggerating how strongly I feel about the importance of the O-line for an offense. I have similar feelings for the importance of the D-line for defenses.

When has Franklin had the same talent as the teams he consistently lost to? He has had a QB like Allar only once- the same year he claimed the conference. Franklin gets bashed as if he had top five talent every year. That absolutely has not been the case. The guy didn't have a WR that could stretch the field and that's why he lost a ten point lead to Ohio State last year. That's what Franklin's offenses have been-less than elite. For ten years. Franklin recruited a QB with Diabetes at Vandy, that went pro. That's how he got the PSU job. He's had three elite QBs his entire career. That Franklin beats up everyone but Ohio State, Michigan and Oregon with a B to B plus talent level speaks volumes. He wins the games he's supposed to, and loses the games he's supposed to.

The good thing about the House Settlement is those NIL deals will sort out value per position, and like the NFL the schools will be rated in their scouting and development prowess. Seeing the details of each NIL agreement will be good disclosure for players as well. The greedy ones will go to schools like Miami, who doesn't develop players, and the savvy players (or better yet, their representation) will start evaluating schools for the entire package. Hence, USC, Miami, Florida and Auburn will need to show they can actually develop these players beyond their raw talent. It is also why developing Dante Moore AND Novosad is critical this year. For once, QB recruits will see what Oregon really has to offer when experience is limited. I also happen to believe this is a critical year for developing the secondary. Two years of burnt toast is not a very good look (some of that was talent, especially at the nickel position - and I hope Theisen holds down the position as he is a talented player). DL and his staff still recruit well, but USC and UW are going to start imposing their brands, which will loom large until OBD earn a title.

Oregon is No. 12 in RPI as of Saturday night. They can't afford to slip up and lose early in the Big Ten Tournament. Likewise, UCLA is No. 15.

3 seeded home teams have to win twice on Sunday: Oregon Arizona Tex A&M Seeded LSU is already out.

As I stated yesterday, I was poised to watch the Ducks win and clinch the B1G title today and discovered that the rubber game of the Georgia-aTm series was ON AT THE SAME TIME! This happened all too often during last football season as well. So I was surfing back and forth, spending more time with Georgia as that game was much tighter that Oregon-Iowa. Oregon looked like a quality team today to be sure and is a most deserving B1G champ. The Dawgs, with the #1 RPI, exploded late in their game likely nailed down a top 8 national seed and home-field advantage all the way to Omaha if they can get that far. This is a big deal for the Dawgs as they did not lose a series at home where they were 29-4 this year. Hopefully the Ducks are similarly fixed to host a regional and super regional as well. So a great day on the diamond for both my teams whom we could well see play one another in the days ahead.

On to the attempt to beat Furd twice to advance.

Lombardi coached the Oklahoma battery to a combined 20 All-America honors, 37 All-Region accolades and 77 All-Big 12 honors over her 21 seasons at OU. Her pitchers racked up six Big-12 Pitcher of the Year awards.

As I recall, Lombardi was the pitching coach at Oklahoma - go figure.

I have the same past traumas, but our weakness is still pitching consistency. We have had it the last month, but....today's near meltdown of Cole Stokes was not pretty. Collin Clarke could be better, and problem is...when we face elite teams later--they will have stronger, deeper bullpens. But on a given day....our guys can rise to the moment. An aside--our best two pitching recruits of the past two years...have given us very little help. Toby Twist got injured, and had/has a high upside, and Will Sanford has slumped and not returned to even relieving duty yet. So thank goodness pitchers were being developed and improved. Jason Steitz has improved a TON over the last six weeks, and thank goodness he did as he replaced Sanford as the third pitcher. Yet a team with a Neville and Walsh do not come along very often, so let's make the most of it! Jacob Walsh deserves to hold the B1G Championship Trophy!

Not that it takes a genius to see this, but very classy for a coach of one of the premier football teams to speak about the issue. Very little has happened,” Smart said. “It just shows you how hard it is to make changes and correct things, probably when they’re needed, because … people have talked about Congress. That’s not easy. Not a lot gets done quickly there and where we are right now. Like, I think every coach agrees we’re in a good place with being able to compensate players. Call it pay for play, call it NIL, I don’t care what you call it. “We’re all in a good place for that. We just want it to be in a way that’s sustainable. I just want to be able to have a freshman come in and not make more than a senior, and I’d like for other sports to be able to still survive. We’re on the brink of probably one to two years away from a lot of schools cutting sports. What’s the pushback going to be then when you start cutting non-revenue sports? I don’t want that to happen.” l

It's turned into a really good team, the lineup is outstanding, I'm still a little worried about the pitching, but that might be more just the trauma from years past. I do think there is more depth this year compared to the previous two years.

EXACTLY! Dante Moore will not be the last Duck taken on the rebound. The House settlement intends to control NIL deals, but are courts going to change course and allow for any restraint on a player's ability to maximize his or her income? I doubt it. The Tennessee legislature is the first but not the last to pass legislation making the House settlement terms, except for the Vols and Vandy paying their share of damages, moot. Do Not Try and Tell Us Volunteers that any NIL Deal is Out of Line!

This. It’s almost better at QB and OL to pick up proven talent in the portal. Let someone else pay them $2M to get them trained up the first and maybe second year.

In the top of the 6th Stanford was up for 45 minutes, scored 9 runs. Thank goodness for the Run Rule.

Most runs allowed of the Melyssa Lombardi era. Oregon last allowed 14+ at California, 4-15 loss on May 7, 2016 (coach Mike White). Earlier that season lost 4-16 to UCLA in Eugene.

Is this 2 Mil frosh a free agent next year?

If you go back to the start of the Indiana series, Oregon has not had a dominant pitcher. Something happened to Grein's dominance from earlier in the year. Here are Greins last 6 outings. I will list the innings pitched & earned runs given up. Indiana series G1: 4.1 & 4 G2: 2.2 & 0. G3: 1.2 & 5 MSU series G1: 1.1 & 4 G3: 2.0 & 3 BIG10 Tournament Michigan 2.1 & 3 Unfortunately OBD picked a bad time of the year to have their slump

Ducks are Big Ten Champions IOWA CITY, Iowa — Carter Garate slugged two of No. 5 Oregon’s five home runs at Iowa on Saturday leading the Ducks to a dominant 13-4 win that clinched UO’s first conference championship since the 1974 season. Oregon entered the series at Iowa needing a series sweep and the Ducks got just that doing it in impressive fashion outscoring the Hawkeyes 32-10 in the three games. The Ducks belted 11 home runs in the series. On Saturday, Oregon scored in every inning except the first, second and seventh with two four-run innings and a two-run inning sprinkled in. The victory was Oregon’s 10th straight win and the 14th in the Ducks’ last 15 games. How It Happened: Iowa got out to an early lead with a first inning run, but Oregon bounced back in the top of the third to tie the game. Garate lined his second home run of the series over the right-field wall to get the Ducks on the board. The Ducks took the lead in the top of the fourth with a pair of runs. Drew Smith led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on an Anson Aroz sacrifice bunt to get in scoring position. After a Chase Meggers walk, Ryan Cooney lined a double into the left-field gap driving in Smith and moving Meggers to third. Garate then laid down a perfect drag bunt that he beat out while Meggers scored. The Ducks tacked on another run in the top of the fifth but squandered an opportunity to score more when Meggers grounded into a double play to end the inning with the bases loaded. Dominic Hellman led off the fifth with a walk and moved to third on a Jacob Walsh double that snuck inside the third base line. After a Smith walk loaded the bases, Hellman scored on a high chopper to the first baseman off the bat of Aroz. The First Time I've Seen a Full Smile From Coach Waz Oregon (41-13, 22-8) added four more to the lead in the sixth. Ryan Cooney led off the frame with a solo home run, his second extra-base hit of the day. Garate followed with a walk before Hellman singled on a hit-and-run, setting up Walsh’s long three-run home run and an 8-1 lead. After Iowa cut into a lead with a solo home run in the seventh inning, Hellman joined the home run party with a solo shot to right field in the eighth. Iowa (32-20, 21-9 Big Ten) tried to make it interesting in the bottom of the eighth scoring a pair of runs, but the Ducks put the game away with four runs in the ninth. Maddox Molony and Meggers opened the ninth with back-to-back singles with Molony moving to third on the Meggers base hit. Cooney picked up his third RBI of the game with a sacrifice bunt with Molony sliding head first under the tag by the Iowa catcher. Garate then blasted a three-run home run to center field for Oregon’s final statement. Box Score Notes: Oregon ran its season total to 107 home runs, the most in school history … The Ducks’ 10-game winning streak matches the fifth longest in school history and is one shy of this season’s longest … The five home runs tied for the fourth most in a single game in program history and matches this season’s most (vs. Michigan – April 4) … Cooney slashed .556/.692/1.444 with two home runs and two doubles in the series, while Walsh slashed .533/.533/1.133 with two home runs and three doubles against the Hawkeyes … Oregon’s last regular-season title came in the Pac-12 Northern Division … The 22 league wins matched the Ducks’ 2013 team for the most in program history. On Deck: The Ducks’ open the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday at 4 p.m. (PT) against the No.12 seed at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.

1-3 after 4 1-5 after 5 1-14 in the sixth, Duck up bottom of sixth. Unless Ducks get a whole lotta runs this will be a run-rule game after Ducks bat.

13-1 now, super ugly 6th inning

Ducks trail 11-1 in the sixth. Will play again later today about 6:00 pm vs the winner of Weber St vs Binghamton. Loser of 6:00 pm game is out of the tournament. Winner advances to Sunday to play Stanford for regional championship. If Oregon wins at 6:00 pm (approx) game, must win twice on Sunday.

5-1 end of 5

Stanford leads No. 16 seed Oregon 5-1 in the bottom of the fifth. Typically, the No. 16 seed regional champ will advance to a super regional at No. 1 seed. The No. 1 seed Tex A&M was upset by Liberty today.

End of 4. 3-1 Furd.