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Earlier in the season, I thought he ran much tougher than Limar. Best wishes to him for sticking it out to the end of the season.

I'm not demoralized. In the past, I knew that Oregon was at its ceiling and could not get better enough to beat the real contenders. But now, I see a machine that just needs to tweak what kind of players it wants to bring in. And also what kind of coordinators they need as well. It will take time. This year, they went out to the portal to find a new O line. It mostly did not work out vs the best defenses. And the D line is not getting QB pressure like it should. Upgrade those positions and then they can compete much better. A bandwagon fan looks for new gear to buy while trading teams. A real fan rides it out. What is most sad is that this year could have been it. Without the mistakes, the Ducks could have kept it fairly close and maybe got lucky in the end.

Stars by a name mean nothing compared to quality experience in years

Oregon has more 4 star and 5 star players, more accolades, more of this and that. But what did you see? I saw Indiana linemen who were leaner, faster and more aggressive than Oregon linemen. I saw an Indiana QB who could run for big gains while Dante just lowered his head and got sacked and on another play, barely got touched and went down. When you play good teams in important games, those kinds of things get highlighted. Another year and some new players, so we are not doomed forever. Dan Lanning will see this and make corrections. I hope. On the plus side, Oregon does have a lot of good and capable players. RBs, TEs, WRs, DBs are all good. Get more athletic as a team and the problems are mostly solved. Recruiting is getting better and better. We are not there yet, but getting closer and closer. Ducks have been beating all but the top talent that makes it to the finals. They just have to get a little bit better. So when you look at recruits on sites like Duck Territory, don't just look at the number of stars or who offered them. Also take a look at their pics in uniform and their highlights. I think that will give you a better idea of what kind of player they are. Your eyes do not lie to you. I think the future is very bright because of who they are bringing in, despite this disappointing game. Part of the reason why Chip Kelly was so successful at Oregon was that he had athletes at QB, O line, D line, edge, and linebacker. Oregon had to get bigger, but now they need to get back to being more athletic. I think we will see that soon. Starting with Nasir Wyatt. When he is on the field, things happen. So Duck fans, I say the glass is half full, not half empty. Actually more than half full. The rest of the liquid to fill the glass to the top is in the recruiting classes and the portal. I can feel it.

Why pay a guy to sit on your bench, when he'll just demand more money after you've developed him? You get proven guys that weren't highly touted, but they proved themselves to be above that. That's what Cignetti has done. Fernando Mendoza or Nico Iamaleava were miles apart in hype. Mendoza got a couple million from Indiana, which was a raise. Iamaleava was making 2.4 and left Tennessee because he wanted that doubled.

Cignetti and his staff definitely have an eye for talent. But, so do Dan Lanning and his staff. The NC is not a destination. It’s a journey. It will be a journey next year for Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon, Indiana and 130 other teams,

While true they have no high school 5 stars, this isn’t homegrown, farm boy talent they magically developed. They’re loaded with highly desired transfers that were developed by other schools, with a lot of experience…and a QB that wildly exceeded expectations. Hats off to them for putting the pieces together, but these are not scrubs or anything. Check out their 2025 list, a lot of .85+ rated dudes from big programs. https://247sports.com/college/indiana/season/2025-football/transferportal/?institutionkey=24040

And Indiana has “zero 5 stars”. With the Wild West of the portal, the high school ratings start to become less and less impactful I think. How many of USCs mega 2026 class will still be there in a year or two if they go 9-3 next year? Means nearly nothing to get em if you don’t keep em…very few true frosh really move the needle.

You could really tell Mendoza wants a shot at the U

Harris definitely earned Player of the Game for the Ducks. He never quit on his teammates, and was certainly not the reason the Ducks lost.

Indiana’s rout of Oregon has me thinking they’ll hand it to Miami as well. Mendoza, who languished at Cal for three years, will have extra incentive (not that he needs it) going up against Miami. He’s a local kid who wanted to play for the Hurricanes, and they didn’t offer him a scholarship. After having won the Heisman, nothing would be sweeter for him than beating Miami on the biggest stage in college football …. In his hometown.

Tonight wasn't fun my friends, but there will be better days. I truly think Oregon will invest in more transfer talent, and will find a defensive system that can stop NFL type offenses. But, you weren't alone in not seeing this blowout coming. Nobody did. At least you can point to mistakes to correct, Alabama just got out manned, and that's what leads me to post this little article. The writer goes on about past championship winners, and their blue chip ratio. Michigan was the lowest rated winner with a 56%. Georgia, and Ohio State were above 75 percent, and Alabama was above 80. Clemson was around 65. So the baseline is fifty percent, which is where his 18 teams come in. Guess who is fifteen percentage points below his baseline? https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/blue-chip-ratio-2025-these-18-college-football-teams-can-actually-win-the-national-championship/

As many have said, it’s not the loss - it’s the way we lose that’s so dispiriting. It’s hard to bounce back as fans and it has to affect the players and coaches as well. Any member of an outstanding fan forum like this invests a lot of emotional and analytical energy into the team each year and to be honest, I’m not sure I fully bounced back from last year’s Rose Bowl loss. I’ll save my thoughts and analysis for another day but that’s what we do here. It’s therapy. You have to feel for the players and coaches and fans who traveled so far to participate in this game. Why can Oregon fans not travel? Does our brand still not resonate? Imagine the players looking in the stands and 90% or more are rooting against you at a neutral site. We’re always outnumbered, but it’s usually closer to 60/40, maybe 70/30. Tonight was much, much worse. That has to take a toll and it will always be a disadvantage for OBD in this terrible post season format.

If there was anything close to highlight today it was the play of seldom used, transfer to be, Jay Harris. The kid stepped up, especially in the first quarter. Made me wonder why he didn’t get more opportunities in the regular season.

I remember someone above posting some stats that favored the Ducks over IU. Not to be nasty and so be it if it made you feel a little better, but this is why such posts often get the comment "Statistics are for losers." I also saw the comment something to the effect We'll be fine check our recruiting rankings. While there is often a solid relationship (statistically) between recruiting ratings and on-field performance, it is so far from perfection (as are the recruiting ratings themselves) as to be laughable. So don't simply "star gaze" to inform any betting decisions you may choose to make. Perhaps the most amazing factoid I have seen (cited by different sources) is that not one starter on Indiana's defense rose to the level of being a 4-star recruit. They seem to be a bunch of 3-star and lower FCS and smaller school FBS guys who came to Bloomington with chips on their shoulders and desperately hoping to prove themselves. I don't know about all y'all, but that is an amazing tale if true, illustrating that it is not the number of stars a recruit has that matters most. Remember that only 15-20% of 5-stars ever achieve the goal of being drafted in the first- round of the NFL draft.

Indiana in a game that is not as close as it will look. We are witnessing a historic run. I’ll say that until I’m proven wrong.

Noah Whittington said he suffered a turf toe injury last week against Texas Tech. He didn't practice all week before the Peach Bowl.

Davison revealed tonight that he was injured in the first quarter of the Orange Bowl but continued to play anyway. Had surgery on Monday of this week.

"Our big game record as of late" includes beating the Big12's No. 1 team in the Orange Bowl.

Nope. Golf clubs are only good for killing snakes.

The performances of some of the freshmen in this game give me hope for the future. I just hope the incoming coordinators can exceed the ones they're replacing.

Indiana just completely punked Alabama and Oregon, I’d expect more of the same.

Yeah, our big game record as of late makes it look like we’re living in Tornado Alley. OBD builds this thing over 3+ months only to watch it get shredded. But, that’s football, a little like riding a hot number in Roulette. You put it all on the line every week, and what happened the previous week no longer matters - win or lose - until it’s all over. Well, for this year it’s all over, and it’s dark right now, and it’s hard to recognize who you felt you were just 4 hours earlier. So, you take a deep breath, pick up the pieces and start again. No quit. That’s life in Tornado Alley - until it isn’t.

Before my IPA induced coma sets in... I wanted to thank Jay Harris for his valiant effort tonight. He was a true bright spot in my eyes. I hope he somehow finds his way back to the roster in 2026.