jrw

My best case is that the coaches and all the players are as dissatisfied and cranky as we, and since they can do something to fix those things, they come out on fire and kick Cal's butt up and down the field.

Unless I'm missing something, Bradyn Swinson is not on the depth chart for Cal.

Leavitt does not have the star power nor the public relations glow USC thinks it needs to shine in the L.A. media market. They're too enamored of their public image to give the keys to a crusty, old, Pepsi-swilling dude (and I mean that as a compliment).

Hate me for this, but I think there is just way too much angst here about this team. The tenor of the comments has gone, from Ohio State to Stanford, from "Mario is a genius" to "Mario needs to get out of the way or be fired" The unrelenting and, I think the largely undeserved, negativity, is killing some of my interest in talking about the Ducks, but not watching them. The team is ranked 9 in the country and is 4-1, but many here seem to be on the ledge, ready to jump (and take the coaching staff with them). From my perspective, this team should never have been thought of this year as a top 10 team. It's too young, too inexperienced, and now, too injured to be that good. The hype about the Ducks has been largely about their recruiting, which has yet to be borne out (see above for reasons), which I think has let expectations get ahead of reality. Now, all that said, if this team is not really good in 2022 and 2023 and beyond, there is real reason for concern. Sure, there seem to be some coaching issues, but there always are for all us armchair quarterbacks and couch coaches. I'm confident someone will call me a sunshine pumper, but so be it.

Most fans, unlike the group here, are casual fans, and respond to one thing only, winning and losing. They couldn't care less about play calling or being boring. If a team is not winning, regardless if the defeats are 17-14 or 52-51, they'll fade away. A string of three wins, starting with Cal, and I predict the "fans" will be back.

I think there’s a good reason why no football team has turned to crowd-sourced coaching.

David Marsh, you are an island of reasonableness in a sea of excessive vitriol. OTOH, Lincoln Riley pulled Spencer Rattler for a freshman QB against Texas and the Sooners came back for the win.

I'm trying to recreate that warm, fuzzy feeling I had after the Ohio State game.

I don't believe you can coach QBs to make the wrong read, take the bad throw, panic and run too soon. All of those things are what AB does. You can, as a coach, call lousy plays and implement a poor offense and under-utilize good player, but not coach an individual to make consistently bad decisions. Coaches are not to blame for everything.

Pretty darn good (and damning) analysis of AB's bad decisions over at one of those other sites: https://247sports.com/college/oregon/LongFormArticle/Mackinations-Identifying-Anthony-Browns-decision-making-shortcomings-172427348/

Out for the season, per reports. https://www.on3.com/teams/oregon-ducks/news/report-oregon-safety-bennett-williams-likely-out-for-season/ Does this seem like a freakishly high number of serious injuries?

I think there's a whole lot of hyper-emotional over-reaction going on here. The comments have gone from, after the Ohio State game, Mario is a genius CEO who out-coached the Buckeyes, to... Well, he's a terrible coach, but he sure can recruit, to... We don't even need good recruits because...reasons. There are quite a few reasons to criticize Mario, but I know he's infinitely smarter about football than me.

Yeah, I keep thinking about Troy Franklin and Dont'é Thornton, in particular - remember them? Are they wondering, "What did I sign up for here?".

Another game or two like last Saturday and somebody is going to say they "Ducked it". Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory while looking inept..."Did they Duck it again?".

I'm honestly asking this question: why are false start penalties not the fault of the players? Why is the coach to blame for them? Is David Shaw a poor coach because the Cardinal had - what? - at least 6 false start penalties in the game? It seems to me that, because the coach is the only person who can be fired, that the coach takes a disproportionate share of the blame. Maybe that comes with the territory, but still.

Mike...you say there's a "structural flaw" in the Oregon program, but don't really identify what that flaw is, other than it's mental. Can you clarify what you think the flaw is?

Now that the playoff bubble has popped, does this team have the character to play hard the rest of the season? Why have highly-rated wide receivers if the ball is never thrown? How can Mario justify not starting Thompson now? What is up with Moorhead and this "non-covid-related illness"? How much of this loss is on the players? Was the Ohio State game Oregon's true potential or a fluke?

I said it during the game, and I’ll say it again: there’s something odd about Moorhead’s absence. A “non-covid related illness”? When the commenters said they saw him on Thursday and he seemed fine? Something doesn’t feel right about this.

Look, Mario did not call the two false start penalties on the Ducks' last drive. He did not call the two personal foul penalties on Stanford's last drive. Sometimes the players screw up, and this time they did, big time. Sure, Mario is no genius with the Xs and the Os, but the players play the game. Also, I think the thing with Moorhead being absent is kinda strange. Commentators said they saw him on Thursday and he was fine.

Why would you hope that?

Let's go back to those 2 false start penalties and the throw into the ground by AB. Those were a large part of this fiasco.

I think I've seen the stupidest last 2 minutes of a football game ever.

I wouldn't dump on AB that much; the goal line run was just an awful, awful play call. The O-line is having trouble run blocking, and AB can't throw the long ball, so that limits the options. But that 4th down call was just miserable.

Given the body of work so far this season, I would say Oregon is not inconsistent, and does not play up or down to the opposition. I would say instead that they are really not that good, and have had one exceptional game. Otherwise, they are consistently pretty bad on defense (turnovers excepted) and mediocre on offense. Every team they've played has moved the ball pretty much at will, from Stony Brook to Ohio State.

Gonna say it yet again: whatever happens in this game and over this season, the Ducks will be a much better team next year and in 2023.