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Article - A Gead for Ardical Headlane Spitting + Chicking Da Kalendar - F 😁 Great take, thanks.

A- Team showed a lot of toughness playing through significant injuries and keeping their season on track. Came out much better prepared for postseason and had 2 dominate playoff wins. Man did they not show up in the last game. Hats off to IU, and they deserve to be champs… but OBD laid an absolute egg when it mattered most… again. A normally executed game by OBD and this is a close game into the 4th quarter like with Miami. Bummer way to close out a sensational season. Next step forward is obvious for next season.

I don't even remember some of these guys, do you? The portal is crazy, with one former Duck on his 5th school in 5 years. I guess the grass is many different colors out there. https://247sports.com/college/oregon/longformarticle/how-former-oregon-ducks-performed-at-new-schools-in-2025-transfer-protal-271731585/#2782517

A

Track fast and football fast are related but not the same, particularly for WRs. Those ten pounds of helmet and pads make a difference. In line speed is great and in the open is the deciding factor. Football fast takes advantage of that little shimmy fake, tight break, precise route running and stop and go to create separation. IU's Becker (Sarratt and Cooper as well) impressed with football fast moves and the use of the back shoulder throw. It quite honestly won them the NC. You don’t need to vapor trail past the DB, but do need to run a precise route, sell the defender on the go and not telegraph where the ball will be until the last second, have a QB that can deliver it there and go up and get it through contact. Mendoza did a good job at that throw. Moore has the skill to do the same but needs the judgement to know when it is the right play. Oregon has the WRs to make those plays but has underutilized them to this point. The addition of Bair gives them the 6'3" player they need, but he will have to learn the position and how to use his size and speed. If he is football fast and not just track fast.

Well, there you have it. Our Oregon football program’s offseason is in full swing, and now that we’ve crowned a national champion of the College Football Playoff, I think it’s time to evaluate the Ducks a bit more fairly on what they accomplished in 2025. Head coach Dan Lanning led the program to a 13-2 record in his fourth season ... Oregon Football: Geading The 2035-2026 Season

I have seen posts tonight by Rob Mosely and George Wrightster indicating that Dan is in Atlanta with Seaton. I dunno, but it shows a photo of them and a tweet from Seaton..." Jordan Seaton @JordanSeaton_ · 1h Welcome to Atlanta @oregonfootball

I politely disagree. I don't think Cignetti caught lightning in a bottle, which, in my understanding, means he lucked out. Arguably, he lucked out with the transfer by Mendoza, but under the coaching at IU, Fernando improved greatly during the course of the season. Mendoza improved, even though he was throwing to receivers not good enough to be stars coming out of high school, behind an O-line of mostly no-name recruits, and 'who are these guys' running backs. Instead, I think Cignetti used years of experience playing and coaching football, coupled with today's rules and an adequate war chest, to assemble a group of players based on productivity and not potential, and he inculcated them into a system that wins football games. His top D-lineman, statistically, went down after the win over No. 1 Ohio State, and other former no-star, one-star, two-star, and 3-star players stepped up, playing in a system designed to capitalize on the sum of the parts being greater than the whole. He coaches his coaches, who at the OC and DC positions, have been with him for 10+ seasons. Extraordinary in today's CFB. His practices are focused and among the shortest in CFB. Corny but true, he recruits Football Players, guys who love playing football. He has a process, and he doesn't deviate from the process. As he said postgame last night, he learned from his Hall of Fame coach, Father, and his other mentors, like Nick Saban, to play to win the game. For many coaches, Mendoza's iconic 4th down TD run last night would have instead been a FG attempt. (Dan would have gone for it! 😁) I believe that a plan executed by an experienced coach at the losingest program in CFB reached fruition last night. Cignetti was 62 years old when he was hired by IU, and he wasn't exaggerating when he said he has won everywhere he has been. Danny and the Ducks are getting 'There.' In any walk of life, experience matters. And, you do need at least some luck, lightning if you will, to help you along the way. Thanks, WW, for this and your other terrific comments.

I swore they were talking about Becker when I heard them say he was the fastest WR in football. If he runs 11+ 100 they must have been talking about someone else.

Bo Nix year 2 version

The stars aligned for sure... He got lucky he didn't lose any critical players he didn't have a backup for. And it helps to have senior laidin team that isn't suspectable to transfer portal because they're out of eligibility. That and his coordinators aren't going anywhere. Oregon got burned back by the portal killing depth, bad timing on injuries, and coaches focus was divided. Too many things to go wrong... Not going to say we would have won if everything was perfect but all those together just broke the program.

The middle of the B1G does not stink. OBD at the risk of not making the PO because of 2 losses in the Big Ten - Absurd! Perhaps, in 2026, when Iowa plays a two-loss SEC team in Dixie and wins, it will be ranked above the team, Vandy, it defeated. SIIndiana Proves the Big Ten’s Football Dominance Is More A...The Hoosiers’ perfect season and a third straight national title for the conference show how the league’s strength now runs from top to bottom.

While there’s no doubt Cignetti caught lightening in a bottle, and that the stars aligned in all those ways they must for a 200 to 1 shot to win, we can still learn from some things he did. While you can’t duplicate the ways in which his team came together, his portal focus on unrecognized, but developing players has certainly opened the eyes of recruiters, and the desire to understand how he managed to assemble that many from beneath the radar, but with the same drive to prove themselves. It may well be a talent Cignetti has that no one else does, but that shouldn’t stop us from studying and trying to incorporate what he does into our system.

Yahoo! The B1G is Number 1 - https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football/article/sorry-sec-the-big-ten-has-taken-college-footballs-top-spot-i-feel-like-were-just-getting-started-071918467.html

Saturday Down South - OBD is No. 1 for CFB's next new champion - Saturday Down South5 teams most likely to become next 'new' college football...Indiana just became the first 'new' national champion since 1996 Florida. Who will be the next team to win its first-ever title?

I think the first Indiana game rattled him, and he was really working on trying to get the ball out more quickly. Unfortunately, when he had a clean pocket, he would get locked on the short route receiver, and missed several opportunities downfield. I think the game will slow down for him, and he will get better at throwing it away, and get more comfortable going through his progressions at game speed.

The Way too Early Top 5 has Oregon 5th, Thats a good place to be.

I think some of that comes with experience. Remember we had / have a quarterback who has started less than 20 games! He's grown but we all know how many open receivers he missed and just didn't even see. Get Moore seeing the field better and that will help finish some of those drives. Seeing the field requires two things.. good offensive line protection and experience. Then on the runningback side of things we are returning TWO incredible runningbacks who were freshman! Seriously... Jordon Davison and Dierre Hill were amazing runningbacks this year and they were freshman. Just wait to see what they can do in year two when they have continued to grow into their bodies and have a deeper knowledge of the game. Not having Davison and Whittington in that last game really did hurt our chances because if he carried the ball I think he would have sustained a few of those drives. Harris was just too big of a step down. I'm by no means saying we win if we have both... but I think the game looks very different. Also Davison is a BEAST pass protector.

Gulp. The Athletic's ($$$ wall) Stewart Mandel ranks OBD No. 1 heading into next season. His early look ahead No. 1 this season, Penn State. 😏

McClellan has been pretty clutch in coverage as well. Some incredible catches. I kinda felt like he didn't get enough targets in the last two games in particular. I feel like in the off-season Dante Moore is going to have to really work with his receivers to build some extra chemistry. It felt like he had good chemistry with Dakorian Moore in the early season but had to build some chemistry with Benson and McClellen in the second half of the season. There needs to be more trust between Moore and his receivers to take some educated risks. Many of his picks came when he fixated on a particular receiver.

I hope defensive savant Lanning studies every play by Indy’s D and incorporates as much as possible. The balance between gutsy and disciplined was flawless. I think this year’s plan of safe and smothering worked well against the BIG’s low octane offenses but didn’t generate near enough pressure on Indy. If anybody can figure out the safe but aggressive balance, Dan can. The offense needs to play like they have dangerous weapons at every level because they do. Long methodical drives have their place for sure but relying on them too much invites something to go wrong. Doubling Penn States yardage but being tied 3-3 or tripling Iowa’s and being behind needs to be a thing of the past. OBD are the too early number one team already. They have the players to play like it. I just hope they have the coaches to be coached like it.

Between Dak, Stewart, McClellan and incoming Lott/Bair....I see Bird-Bombs in our future!

Best part of the post game was seeing the smile on Cig's face (i think Mario's face might have cracked, had the U won), and the joyful celebration of all the Mendoza family. Prayers for his Mom!

I celebrate your victory, but not nearly as much as I enjoyed watching the fighting Mari-0-nos choke in their own back yard...

Guy is certainly fast (not putting him down at all - he was awesome for UI) in suggesting where is "fastest" coming from? I guess he was more of a hurdle guy in high school, Athletic.net lists his PRs at 100m at 11.24 and 14.42 in the 110. WR Nyckoles Harbor at S.C. has ran 10.11 in the 100m and 20.20 in the 200m. Gatlin Bear joins college football with a 10.15 PR. For reference, Oregon's Devon Allen set the 110 state record in Arizona his senior year at 13.52. I believe I read something like 400 high school 100m runners broke 10.75 last year. The gap between 11.24 and 10.11 is pretty huge. 🤷‍♂️