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Speaking of cold water and miserable playing conditions...

Didn't realize it until I looked at the game log, but Dante went out VERY early in the third period. It was 7-0 when Moore went out. First mention of Thomas in the game log is a pass play at 12:45 left in third quarter. That means he was in for almost all the third quarter and all the fourth quarter opportunities. Apparently the coaches had a lot of faith in the guy. Both Moore and Thomas were in on the final play of 5 possessions each.

If the AP Poll was not enamored with the other three P4 conferences, in addition to No. 23 SC, No. 28 UW, and No. 29, Iowa would and should be in the top 25, and hopefully will be when the PO committee reveals its first ranking Tuesday night. UW will be facing PO elimination when they match up with OBD. Ditto Iowa and possibly SC. What SEC teams have three tougher opponents than the above three B1G teams remaining to be played by OBD?

Im looking at some of the other top teams in college football and nobody seems a whole lot more consistent than the Ducks.

Iowa, usc and udub will be challenging games to win. Victories over those 3 teams will not be overlooked by the CFP committee...... Those teams will challenge OBD's to the limit and should the Ducks be victorious, they will be better prepared for the top level opponents in the CFP. If the Ducks can't win out then they don't deserve to make the CFP....... DL has done a great job against unranked teams but in my opinion Iowa is a top 20 team, Udub top 25! Regardless of what sportswriters or coaches feel. Losing to tOSU or Indiana are not bad losses. Does anyone feel that Memphis, Navy or Houston can go into Iowa or Seattle and beat those teams? Gonna be a wild finish with a group of highly skilled teenagers who are not always consistent. Go Ducks!

I am concerned too about the remaining opponents and the Ducks repeated inconsistencies. The first half play calling yesterday, given the weather and opponent, was confusing to me. From the first offensive series, QB Moore seemed antsy and confused, plus he was struggling frequently to grip the ball. Great plays and then whiffs by the OL and DL are beginning to lower my expectations of this team’s eventual ceiling. I hope that I am wrong, but I no longer see this team reaching the CFP Semis, and think it must play better to finish strong and make the playoffs. Ugh. Go Ducks.

Iowa yes absolutely, probably our most likely loss left on the schedule. UW can’t stop anyone to date, IMO they’ll have a punchers chance, but they would need to play an A+ game.

We should be proud of being 7-1, and in particular rushing the ball for 203 yards when you needed to in the rain, and with a backup QB. I maintain that anytime you rush for 200+ yards on anyone--it is great. But Wisconsin was especially tough to run on in the first half, and getting it done in the second half was noteworthy. Then I looked at the wins-losses of past opponents, and the final four opponents of Our Beloved Ducks... Past Opponents: 30-33 Upcoming Opponents: 22-9 Crap. Future opponents are going to be MUCH tougher than we thought at the beginning of the season. The Bastard-Huskies continue to improve, and playing them in Seattle is going to be very, very tough. We all know about the TFLs (Tackles for Losses) we gave up against Indiana, but we gave up seven TFLs, and four sacks against Wisconsin? And upcoming opponent Iowa got nine TFLs and four sacks this last weekend?

I think teams sell out trying to stop our running game. At times, our play calling gets predictable, and we rely on DM to complete a lot of third and long plays to keep the chains moving. If he misses, we probably struggle against a good offense. We have a good run game, but against better defenses we probably need to use our offensive tool box a little “Moore” effectively. That’s as good as it gets for my advice. Goes along with outscoring your opponent is the best way to win.

Hmm previous week we had 700 yards and all was well. I’m going to go with it was really wet, we don’t look as focused at home…and yet we still doubled the rushing yards UW usually gives up. Long season and we are 7-1.

Bo Nix just hit Franklin for a TD in Broncos v. Cowboys. Either the third or fourth connection between the two for the day. For me it's CBS on Comcast.

My thought when I saw him warm up but then Brock go into the game was that they were getting him ready but then realized Moore could go back in if needed so Brock would just fill the gap until Moore was ready. But then Moore never went back in...maybe because we scored again and they decided he didn't need to.

I'm glad UW and IA are on the road because the Ducks seem to play better on the road lately.

Well articulated post Mike. A quick synopsis of my original take would be that OBD seems to be scheming as a cautious underdog not as a talented favorite.

This. I recall mentioning on this forum that Brock Thomas probably had the best spring game performance. Perhaps he is actually better than everyone other than Moore. It was odd to see Novosad warming up. Maybe he was trying to show the coaches he was ready to go too.

Did we ever actually learn what Novosad's injury was? I have been dealing with rotator cuff issues for years. That has the potential to be a nagging issue for a throwing arm. If the rehab is not complete, or marginally unsuccessful, it can be a nightmare in throwing situations. I don't know what the issue is, as I honestly have no idea what the injury was.

It’s becoming ever more clear that rankings mean nothing. I believe it’s what the powers that be want in the end. Just grab the top 3 teams from each Power conference. Then grab the 4 highest ranked left overs for the ‘At Large’ spots and be done with it. Well represented and Anotre Lame team gets its shot as well.

HMMMMMMMMMM? Isn't this the same team that put up 750 yards of offense the week before in Jersey? Wisconsin, with a run D that has played decent football all season, could not have asked for better weather. The critiques of this game, I get it. But OBD's defense played great, and in a deluge, the Ducks rushed for over 200 yards. Iowa will be a B1G test. For Iowa not to be in the AP top 25, ditto UW, is male bovine excrement. The Ducks stayed at No. 6, which IMO is spot on. Put the Hurt on the Hawkeyes!

Bama won by 2 points over an unranked team, still at #4 so there's nothing wrong at us being #6.

I’m sorry but that is no longer the world we live in. With the transfer portal, once a QB gets beat out they are going to transfer. The best you can hope for is for your backup QB to be serviceable if your starter is injured (which Brock was) and beat some average or below teams.

SSecDD - Nine SEC teams are ranked, including 2-loss Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri, and Texas. And five B12 teams are ranked? Both 2-loss Iowa and 2-loss UW should be ranked. At least USC is back in the rankings. Georgia Tech No. 8. UVA No. 12? Memphis No. 25? Big disrespect for the B1G conference. On Tuesday night, I hope the PO Committee has Iowa and UW ranked. If not, if the Committee follows this ranking, Tony Petitti's AQ PO plan is spot on. After back-to-back titles, this sure looks like B1G hunting season. The conference is being treated little better than a G6 conference.

Could be injury(as in saving a medical redshirt), attitude in practice, or Brock’s ability, as the reason that his number get’s called. The coaches send in players that have talent, and a team first attitude. Those are the guys that you want on the field. All others are waiting for their opportunity to contribute. The team is showing growing pains, and ranked #6 in the country, not bad. All I expect is for the team to be prepared for the next opponent, and put the players that deserve to be on the field in a position to be successful. The problem with sports, success is never guaranteed.

Maybe the Browns should have kept Sanders activated. Today would be a good day to see how he does in a regular season game.

You didn't come across whiney at all. You said what I've been thinking and been unable to articulate. I believe you have said better than most of us so far. For me, they are concerns, but they are correctable. Moore is effective both in the pocket and out of it. I believe he needs more reps outside the pocket-whether that be a moving pocket, max protection that gets him out of the pocket, or simple roll outs. Another aspect I see is missed assignments. The coaching staff is bent on running the ball, and I've seen far too many missed assignments (and I am not talking about getting beat at the point of attack, I am talking straight up not being where one is supposed to be when they are supposed to be there). This is happening in both run blocking and pass protection. What I really appreciated about this game is I saw adjustments much sooner than usual. FishDuck pointed out the formation changes in order to unleash the running game. Lanning also decided to just get the victory-no style points needed. He read the flow of the game and simply put pads on pads instead of just continuing what they wanted to do. Lupoi did the same. They recognized strengths and just went with them. There is nothing wrong with struggling in a game. And in my opinion, the struggle against Indiana was more lethargy than their ability. They didn't dominate us. People said the same thing about Auburn in the Natty. Remember, Cam Newton limped off the field. OBD were the more physical team, and the refs stole a sack/fumble/TD from us. Indiana is a marvel right now because they are boat racing the bums. They didn't boat race us. They didn't boat race Iowa. They are going to have to do more to win in the playoffs because they are NOT that physical. Long story short. This is experimentation time. This is a time to throw things on the wall-and I mean find out everything QB Moore can do and WHY. We have two blazing fast guys that can outrun every good corner and safety in the country, and we need to get them the ball downfield. We want to spring explosive running plays. Well, that requires setting a defense up to spring them. Bill Walsh used to script the first 15 plays on offense. That was in order to decipher what his opponents were planning to do and uncover what in his game plan would work. I believe we saw some aspects of that last night. I am hoping we don't fear what happens, rather we observe it and hope OBD handle it putting their best effort and brains into being successful.