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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" as anything sceme (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. I'd say 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.

Bill Connolly's model is MAD about, not at, the Ducks! ESPN.comRanking CFB's 39 unbeaten teams: Who is most likely to st...Bill Connelly separates the contenders from the pretenders among the remaining undefeated teams.

Northwestern had 42 yards of offense in the first half. 174 yards of their 313 yards (55%) of offense took place in the 4th quarter, which was when they scored their only points against our 2nd and 3rd team defenders. Winning ugly still gets the W. Although, I can’t say that I am overly confident that we have a top 10 defense. So, the question becomes, can we outscore our opponents?

The Athletic's Bruce Feldman rates the candidates for the UCLA job in this order - USC DC - D'Anton Lynn - 2nd-highest-paid assistant coach in the country behind Jim Knowles. Penn State grad. Lynn was contacted by PSU for the DC job before Lynn was hired. Baylor HC - Dave Aranda - LA guy. Kelani Satke - HC BYU Tosh Lupoi - OBD DC FSU DC and UCLA grad Tony White. Browns OC Tommy Rees New Mexico HC- Jason Eck Rivals has UCLA ranked 49th in recruiting.

I think it is a yellow alert for now. I think a big part is the learning curve for the guys playing together against a team with a slight pulse on the road at 9:00 am. In a way this is like the Idaho game last year. A messy figuring things out game. Big picture if we can keep the score in the 25-35 range, we should be able to beat anybody or at least be in position to.

Yes sir, I am counting my blessings as well. After we take care of the speed bump next Saturday starting at noon, I look forward to us shocking the football nation the following week at Penn State. GO DUCKS!

OK...there are not my facts, but what I am given due to media credentials. --Oregon is undefeated and 10-0 in the Big-10! --The Ducks have 15 Straight wins when scoring 30+ points, going 34-4 when scoring at least 30 under Lanning. (Rethinking "Defense always wins?" in 2025?) --Oregon has won 37 consecutive times when scoring first, 35 straight when leading after the first quarter, and 27 straight when leading at halftime. --The Ducks have 21 consecutive regular-season wins, the longest active streak in the nation. --Coach Lanning is 29-0 when keeping opponents to 24 points or less. --Dan Lanning at 38-6 is the most wins EVER by an Oregon head coach after 44 games. --Bear Alexander had FIVE tackles. --RS Freshman safety Aaron Flowers led the defense with a career-best seven tackles. --Blake Purchase had his first career start for the Ducks. --In three games, Dante Moore completed 78% of his passes, (50-64) for 657 yards and seven touchdowns to one interception. Interesting stuff! (I am counting my blessings as an Oregon fan)

Good, as always to win. However, I'm really worried about the run defense. Oklahoma State and Northwestern were able to run effectively. It'll be a long game at Penn State if we can't stop the run.

NM.

Agreed. But the first team did get pushed around a bit. This may have been due to perception of their poop not stinking. Or, a sure W, after travel, and early wakeup. We won't know for two weeks whether to be worried or not. That is unless you are Alfred E. Neuman.

I've been pondering again, (Always a bad thing?) and like you--was not pleased with our rush-defense, as Coach Lanning was not. Yet we know that the two Northwestern touchdowns were scored on the second team defense by the starting Wildcat offense...so just how bad is it? If we left our starters in, we probably would have got the shut-out, but isn't it more important to get playing time to the young-guns that will be starting in the next two years? How does freshman Na'eem Offord learn without getting burned in game-speed? Do you want him to learn that during a game that counts in 2026 or 2027? That is one important question we all need to ask? I've decided that playing time is more important for linebackers who are out of position--to learn at game speed--and is what they need to experience. It was garbage time...who cares? Second question; just how realistic is it for us to expect perfection from the team? Yes, the No. 1 defense gave up more ground yards than we wanted...but they kept a Big-10 team scoreless while they were in there. Isn't that the goal?\ I do think we have to readjust our thinking to the new conference; 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 against us. We lost three starters on the defensive line to the NFL from last year, but recall how well Purdue ran the ball on us? We won 35-0, but the Boilermakers got over 200 yards rushing off us, (Linked) and anytime you rush for over 200 yards, that is pretty darn good, and you will usually win. While demanding the best feels good...how realistic is it? Look at the college scoreboard, and you will see teams with good defenses, (Like Georgia and Notre Dame) get a boatload of points scored on them. I think it is pretty unavoidable these days, as everyone has the firepower on offense to score. Thus why I think Will Stein will strive to score as many as possible because when we face good teams like Penn State...they are going to score a bunch on us. Just a reality, IMHO. Agree?

What network is going to cover this game? ESPN The Ocho? The Pac-12 could raise their national visibility by introducing NCAA competition in dodgeball, with William Shatner as commissioner.

I think the Lake Michigan wind was the 5th defender on that pass.....it just died at the end but the receiver had a step.