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It's nice that Poncho will be back to lead the offensive line, and several backs up saw significant snaps. But the offense needs more big bodies up front. Bennett from Yale may help at Tackle. Oregon Ducks On SIOregon Ducks Bolster Offensive Line With New TransferCoach Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks have been active in the transfer portal now that their 2025 season is officially over. The Ducks landed four commitments

Our Oregon football program didn’t waste any time bouncing back from a crushing College Football Playoff loss to Indiana on Friday. They’ve jumped into transfer portal action to replace key positions, as a significant portion of the roster’s depth has been depleted on offense, defense, and special teams. Monday’s haul was highlighted by landing one of the top-ranked quarterback transfers: ... Oregon Football: Grading the Dylan Raiola Transfer

There are a few categories of transfers, so it seems. The star players on lesser teams who want a bigger stage. You don't know how they will do vs better competition. The highly rated HS players on top teams who are not playing. You don't know how they will do against any competition. The ones on good teams in good leagues who are playing and just want a change for whatever reason. These guys you can look at film and see how well they will do. Some get pushed out the door and some just think the grass is greener somewhere else. Some have been working hard on their bodies and developing. Some have already peaked in high school. Some get injured and are never the same again. Some just don't have very good skills. And some turn into really good players. If you are a coach and you want to keep a guy, you better play him.

I would not be worried about the D line transfers IF they had some good players coming in... But all those guys are already taken by other teams. Looks like Ducks are messing up in that department. Maybe they are having 'conversations' and some players will enter the portal and sign with Oregon? They are way to thin at DT and noseguard right now. On the other hand, none of the ones leaving have really 'popped' so far. Maybe Lanning is looking for a different kind of body type? This is one area to keep an eye on it. Of course in this modern day, signing doesn't mean a whole lot. It is when a player has blown all the NIL cash on jewelry and cars is when he is really committed, so it seems. When Lanning was getting ready for Indiana, his coordinators were probably not paying much attention to the upcoming game and certainly NOT recruiting for Oregon. While that was going on, the top portal names were getting snatched up by all the other teams. Fixing the holes in the roster this late in the game is where Lanning is going to earn his paycheck. It won't be easy. And getting blown out is not a good look for the quality transfers out there.

Regarding the success of OBD this season, I kind of forgot that we started this season with a lot of new starters, and there was a lot of hand wringing over how many wins we could get. It was a FANTASTIC result this year in spite of the heart breaking end. How many teams finished better than OBD?

The Big Twelve is called the truck stop conference by all those intellectuals in Stanford, Cal, Washington State, or Oregon State. But one genius has to ask, with conference payouts being equal between the ACC & Big Twelve, isn't the travel cost half as much from the Pacific to the plains, as opposed to the Pacific to the Atlantic? Isn't 35 million more than 7 million? Isn't a guaranteed playoff spot better than having to be better than about six other conferences? UCLA would have to Defund most of their Olympic programs without the B1G membership. These academic elites sure lack common sense sometimes.

Biggest transfer portal losses in the Lanning era! Many are not all that surprising, namely Novosad and Moga, but this is a LOT of backups lost. Vander Ploog is not that surprising as Oregon got Olesh (sp?) from Penn State. Remember last year Olesh was Oregon's 2nd choice for Tight End and wiffed there and ended on Ploog. Cooper Perry is a little surprising that he is leaving as he got some snaps as a freshman and could build off that but a new receiver class is coming in and I could see the motivation to leave. This is cleaning house for sure... whether by player choice of Lanning's. LOTS of players going away and this will be an interesting reload.

I think part of the flawed thinking that drew in BSU, SDSU and Fresno was the premise that the ACC would fall apart and those teams would automatically all want to join the PAC…as if the PAC name means anything without its original members. I’m 💯 sure if the real programs on the west coast ever want to form a new league it’s not going to be Beavis dictating the terms. They’ll simply start a new conference and it won’t include OSU or WSU.

Money... money and more money problems. Just like most things college football the west coast is pretty isolated from the rest of college football world. The only major bowl game on the west coast has been the Rose Bowl. Oregon fans in Oregon had to travel to the Georgia which was going to be a far more expensive plane ticket than anything in Indiana and then there is hotel fair and all the other things that go into it. Additionally... the game was on a Friday night which means taking off more work for travel. Indiana was a shorter flight but also fans could conceivably DRIVE there.

I mean... yeah... probably the right answer for the Pac-12 to be honest. Work on trying to get back Washington, Cal and UCLA... probably add Stanford on that list too even though Stanford wouldn't dream of being in the same conference as Boise State. I think Stanford and Cal are the most likely west coast additions to the B1G if they look at adding a couple more teams. Probably Stanford to go with a Notre Dame addition to keep that rivalry alive. This is not a likely scenario right now. But yeah... if I was the Pac-12 commissioner I would be working behind the scenes to try and get Washington, Cal and UCLA back for sure. Now is that realistic? Absolutely NOT! I think Cal is the most likely one of that bunch because they aren't making B1G dollars but if Lupoi can get their program back on track and competing for the ACC then I think they hold out for a B1G invite and real money at that point. It's dumb but probably their best option. I went over this years ago and the reality is that the west coast is geographically isolated when it comes to expansion candidates. https://fishduck.com/2022/06/the-pac-12-is-geographically-isolated-from-the-rest-of-the-college-football-world/ Everything is just so spread out on the west coast that before the conference collapse there was no Power Conference overlap between the Pac-12 and any of the other Power Conferences. The B1G and Big 12 has Iowa and Iowa State in the same state, The Big 12 has West Virginia which is next door Virginia and Virginia Tech in the ACC also Penn State in the B1G. Then then the state of Texas had TAMU and the Texas schools in the same state and they were next to Louisiana and Arkansas both SEC states. I mean this goes on and on... But the Pac-12 never touched any of them... until now... but that doesn't count so much because G6 schools overlap with all the conferences doesn't mean they are good targets for expansion. Unless you are the zombie Pac-12 that is.

It’s so prevalent it is actually an annual stage in the college football video game.

So, if those 3 returned the New Pac media value would go up? Likely, but if I was those 3, I would demand to be paid all of the increase...not share it. If it went from $7 to $15, I'd say we'll take $15 plus split $8 from each of you. But, those 3 are very unlikely to want to affiliate academically with Boise State, Fresno St, etc. The folks believing this could happen hang on to the dream that travel costs and travel time will bring them back. Travel costs are way overestimated, and the additional revenue from Power 4 affiliation simply buries that dream they hang onto.

I was very enthusiastic about the addition of Bo Nix and he flourished in Eugene like I thought he would. Bo was far more mobile than Raiola and far further along as an on-field leader. I warn you--Raiola is a statue in the pocket and that was before his leg fracture. I hope it all works out for the Ducks but I have my doubts about this one.

This has been going on for sometime now... coaches have been sitting players down and outlining their current trajectory towards playing time. Effectively being encouraged to leave.

I think many of the conversations were probably prompted by the players much sooner than this last couple of days, since we had a slug of defensive backs who were not going to play anytime soon declare for the portal a month ago. And Dan goes out and gets the No. 1 Portal Safety.... Whew!

John Canzano has no idea how entertaining his mailbag of questions are....for the wrong reasons. Q: What’s the proactive Pac-12 move for the next cycle? — JP A: I’d stay busy seducing Washington, Cal, and UCLA. Stay in their ears. Keep whispering. Do it privately, not publicly. The new-world Pac-12 should absolutely focus on doing the best business it can do in this new era, but given that we’re going to see another round of chaos when the current media deals are up (and maybe even before), I wouldn’t stop being proactive on the expansion front. The Pac-12 is now officially a Group-of-Six league, and their media contract is 7 million a year. Oregon and Washington are going to get 54 million from the Big-10, and that is with a half share of media revenue. (A big chunk from the Playoffs, on a full percentage) Actually believing that Washington, and in particular UCLA, who is on a FULL share would leave the Big-10 for the Pac-12?

Yes, that's how it works. Some coaches are absolute trash in how they do it (see a certain worshipped fake coach in Colorado) and others are probably more direct and decent about it. This is big business and coffee is for closers, for lack of a better phrase.

I am no insider, but I imagine that a frank conversation about potential playing time is had with all. Some may not like what they hear and look for an opportunity to play more, elsewhere. I look forward to hearing from other OBD fans with more insight!

Are some of the departures asked to leave, to make room?

James Crepea note after Green...this evening Even with 14 defensive transfers, plus 3 outgoing seniors and potentially a starting safety to the NFL, Oregon would return 6 of its top 8 tacklers. Also 8 of top 11 and 10 of top 14.

transfer portal is open Jan. 2 until Jan. 16, with an extra five-day window (Jan. 20-24) for Indiana and Miami because they are playing in the national championship game on Jan. 19.

Nick Duzansky the backup long snapper also leaving. Not sure he was on scholarship.

Saleapaga and Green become No. 24 and No. 25 defensive linemen Xadavien Sims, Ashton Porter, Jericho Johnson, Tionne Gray, and now Green receivers Justius Lowe, Kyler Kasper and Cooper Perry, defensive backs Jahlil Florence, Dakoda Fields, Solomon Davis, Sione Laulea, Kingston Lopa and Daylen Austin, quarterbacks Austin Novosad and Luke Moga, offensive lineman Lipe Moala, running backs Jay Harris, Makhi Hughes and Jayden Limar, outside linebackers Kamar Mothudi, Blake Purchase and Tobi Hasstrup, tight end Vander Ploog and Roger Saleapaga

I thought Johnson, announced for the NFL draft?

I'm hoping The Trophy doesn't stay in Vegas. 😉 I want to see it headed northwest to Eugene.