Good insights, Charles and all, but I gotta ask: Who are these national pundits downplaying the Ducks that you're referring to? I'll admit I only watch a small handful of podcasts on YouTube, and don't read anything other than Woody, et al in the Register Guard, but I've not seen anything from anybody suggesting that tOSU actually outplayed Oregon.

 

If anything the opposite: praise for the trench play, noting the points Oregon left on the table, how Oregon's wide receivers and Gabriel torched the vaunted tOSU secondary. If anything, I think this game was Oregon's coming-out party/validation of the pre-season hype. 

 

And still plenty of room to improve, and they will. 

 

On 4/2/2024 at 2:08 PM, Charles Fischer said:

I do not doubt you, but how does he fail upward then?

 

Dan will hire well.

Charles, are you actually implying that the tOSU job is a step up from OBD?  😉 That sounds almost sacreligious coming from our faithful leader LOL. 

 

In all seriousness, I understand the money is likely much better, but other than that still seems like more of a lateral move than a true step up.

I had NOT seen this before, so thanks for posting, Charles. Awesome!

Basically by myself in the office today and finding it REALLY hard to concentrate on work. I vacillate (okay, randomly bounce erratically) between confidence that the Ducks have this in the bag and the Fuskies always find a way to win even when out played. Going to be an exciting game, and either way, what a season for the Ducks!! Yell O!!

And if we've learned anything about DL, he probably has a list 5 deep of what coaches he would go after at every coaching position, anticipating that the Ducks' success will mean other teams will come calling.

Thank you Charles for trying to find that balance between the necessary revenue generation to keep this wonderful site in operation and not annoying the hell out of the site's users 🙂 

 

As long as you're talking to the ad folks, I've been having an issue with some of the banner ads in the forum suddenly being very wide, which autofits to my tablet and makes the actual text of the posts very small and difficult to read. I'll try to capture a screenshot next time it happens if that would be helpful. 

 

We appreciate all that you do to provide a positive fan experience here.

And what may be getting overlooked a bit is that he pretty plainly said he's not chasing the money. Such a great attitude and role model. He's getting paid more money in a year then I'll see in a lifetime, and I'm moderately comfortable. He's one of the few that realizes that's enough and he doesn't have to chase the dollars just because somebody else is getting more. 

 

That said, he certainly deserves every penny he's being paid and more and I hope Oregon keeps up with a reasonable salary for him in comparison to the market. We want you at Oregon for a loooong tim, Dan 🙂

It seems we've found our punter (though he hasn't had to do much, so not a huge body of work to extrapolate from), and the kick-off and punt coverage finally seems to be improving. And we've had a couple good returns we've not had in the past year or so.

 

But what is going on with Lewis? Last year he was money. This year he's missed multiple makeable field goals and kicked several kick-offs out of bounds (did he have any out of bounds last year?). Is he dealing with an injury of some sort? Or is it just mental? Hoping he and the coaches can get it righted soon, or it's going to cost our OBD at some point.

On 11/12/2023 at 9:40 AM, Log Haulin said:

IMO and if it were me. I wouldn't say one way or the other. Why would I shut down conversation that only raises my brand? Who knows, might be able to get another pay bump or other wants meet. So yea, I would leave it alone and let the chatter be what it will be.

Unless it becomes a distraction for the team. He could, of course, address that internally within the team and not publicly. Hard to imagine sharing something that significant with 80-something college-age kids and expect them to keep it confidential, however.

 

We've been burned before by coach-speak about Oregon being a great place to be, then bolting as soon as something else comes along. It feels different with DL, and I want to believe it is different.  Time will tell.

Really wish we still lived in Eugene and could have been there. Glad to hear the event went as well as we all expected.

On 11/10/2023 at 10:05 AM, Haywarduck said:

Can't decide which flag they should be waving, but maybe a few.

 

As the game begins they should probably be waving the green flag, the race has begun, and it will be a show.

 

For team meetings they may want to hold the yellow flag up because their offense, defense and special teams should keep caution in mind when entering the field.

 

They may want to bring the blue with the yellow stripe flag out on the field for our running plays so Bucky doesn't just run them over, move to the side, or get hurt. 

 

I have a feeling they will want to wave the red flag, STOP!, quite often, but I am afraid it won't have the intended effect with Stein and Tosh calling the plays.

 

Even the white flag, one lap to go, may not be accurate as the Ducks will be scoring often and sometimes quicker than the white flag will be showing hope that only one more lap is coming. 

 

I am also certain the checkered flag, finished, will come out a bit too early, as the spoiled children will be finished before the end of the game.

 

At the end of the game they will all want their own black flag, to 'leave the field' and feel emotionally safe.

 

 

 

Someone else is missing NASCAR already, I see 😉 Great post.

And wasn't that also the play where Nix initially bobbled the snap and still got off a perfect pass to James in stride? So much going on in that one play. I, too, was amazed at Bo calling 2 audibles on the same play while watching real time. Your analysis Desert Duck (and comments elsewhere on this forum) only add to our appreciation of all that Nix and the entire offense accomplished.

The bottom got cropped off in your screenshot, but that's some good stuff 😄

Booze. Whether whiskey or a beer/cider I'll decide at game time. Which will actually be later in the day as I record the games to watch later (skip the commercials; be productive in the afternoon). I am cautiously optimistic, but might need a double-shot for this weekend.

 

Go Ducks!

On 10/5/2023 at 7:48 PM, Legion said:

I have been pleasant surprised about the improvement of the Ducks Defense this year. I confess, I had my reservation about that side of the ball heading into the season. Wanting to quantify their improvement, I looked up where they rank nationally for the following categories:  yards/play, sacks, and turnovers.

 

These are the following top defense for yards/play:

1) UCLA  3.75 (4 games)

2) Penn St.  3.79 (5 games)

3) Oregon  4.02 (5 games)

Last season, Oregon gave up 5.8 yards/play for the entire year.

 

Concerning sacks, Oregon has 18 through 5 games. That ranks 8th nationally, which places them behind, among others, USC's defense. Yeah, you read that right...USC has 19 sacks. I imagine USC numbers are a result of their opponents abandoning the run in order to keep pace with their offense, allowing the defense to pin their ears back and get after the quarterback. Last year, it took Oregon 13 games to amass 18 sacks. 

 

Regarding turnovers, Oregon has only forced 6, which ranks 77th. At that rate, it will be tough to reach the 21 turnovers created by last years unit. 

 

If they can get after Penix next weekend, it might be time to refer to that side of the ball as Gang Green.

 

I was trying to re-live the glory days of Gang Green, and this is what I found:

 

 

Awesome video. Thanks for finding and sharing 

On 10/4/2023 at 3:30 AM, NJDuck said:

 

How should Texas, Georgia and Oklahoma fans feel going into week 6? | Joel Klatt Show

Joe Klatt also talks about Oregon being like the middle child in the Pac-12 not getting the attention it deserves.  But he believes Oregon is built differently, the complete team in the Pac-12.

 

You have to wade thru Texas, Oklahoma and Georgia first before he gets to Oregon.

 

How should Texas, Georgia and Oklahoma fans feel going into week 6? | Joel Klatt Show

WWW.FOXSPORTS.COM

---

Joel Klatt checked in with fanbases across college football. He analyzed how No. 3 Texas Longhorns, No. 12 Oklahoma Sooners, No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs and No. 8 Oregon Ducks should feel at...

 

"Maybe their elite strength is their balance. And their physicality." Love it. Oregon IS built differently, and because of that every game on the schedule is winnable. Gonna be tough, and gonna take some complete games in every facet and every quarter, but winnable. 

UW is THE game. The toughest out for OBD I think. Win in Seattle, and I have complete confidence the rest of the games are winnable (barring the mentioned potential injuries and bad bounces). UW is certainly winnable, but really feels like almost a 50/50 toss-up. If the team that beat up CU shows up, look out Dawgs!!

I've never liked booing the opposing team when they run onto the field. Like Annie I'll give some respect to overmatched teams just for showing up, but I generally don't clap for Pac-12/9/4 teams (not that've been to a game in person in a while).

On 8/17/2023 at 12:54 PM, DanLduck said:

Definitely bad optics. But stupid?

 

Coach Sanders has shown to be quite different in many respects then what most of us here at OBD appreciate. 

His results on the field will be the proof of his methodology. 

 

 

I would disagree to an extent. If all we care about is winning football games, then yes his results on the field will be the proof (or lack thereof) of his methods. If life is more than football and we truly care about mentoring young men into responsible, productive adults, then results on the field are only a part of the story, and possibly only a small part. In my opinion this is more than bad optics, this is harmful to those young men in his care.