HDuck

Perhaps...there are some parallels to Dabo Swinney's first few years at Clemson? A couple poor teams, then some good teams, then a couple great ones. A different time, a different place, a different conference, high school recruiting based, but a first time head coach, who had to grow into the job a bit.

Today's Oregonian The Beavers can only dink and doink their way to so many wins, but, so far, the dinking and doinking has been successful. “I’ve got to be smart,” Gunderson said. “My loyalty is to the team. And what’s most important to the team is winning. It’s not numbers or stats. So you’ve got to kind of feel how the game’s played and go with it.” “It definitely gets me pretty stoked,” running back Hankerson said of Jeanty’s (Boise State) outing. “It kind of gets me pumped just to see that. We’re definitely going to be running the ball a lot, obviously, that’s the key to our offense. If we come out, play our brand of football, we leave victorious and Reser goes wild.”

When Oregon "unscheduled" Tex Tech and moved the Boise State game (giving BSU more money) so OSU would have a home game this season, it was a charitable mistake. Likewise, it would be a charitable mistake to keep them on the schedule every year. In future years when there will be four Big Ten home games instead of 5, the Ducks will need another home game to go along with their program of FCS and G5 home games. I just hope we don't have to endure seeing Beavis every season in that slot when there are so many more attractive opponents for home-and-home. The routine of traveling to the Bay Area or Phoenix, or Salt Lake, is not significant in comparison to a "bus ride." It helps attract kids from those areas, and helps in maintaining contacts with area high school coaches.

Of their 150 offensive plays this season, the Beavers have run the ball 109 times. Only Army (114), Central Florida (111) and UNLV (111) have more rushing plays than OSU. UCF and Army are the only FBS teams to produce more first downs rushing than Oregon State’s 38. The Beavers are the country’s biggest ball hogs. OSU’s average time of possession is 39 minutes, 18 seconds, tops among FBS schools. Oregon State has thrown 41 passes, all but five by starting quarterback Gevani McCoy. The fourth-year junior is 25 of 36 for 295 yards and two touchdowns. McCoy has shown a strong, accurate arm, as the two deep balls (40+ yards) he’s thrown have hit the receiver in the hands. McCoy has only been sacked once. Passing: 28 of 41, 331 yds Rushing: 109, 599 yds net Average 3rd Down Distance - Offense (least Yards to Go) 1 Rutgers 3.6 2 Northern Illinois 4.2 3 Oregon State 4.8 3rd down conversions: 16 of 30 6 rushing TDs, 2 passing TDs, 59 pts including 1 FG

Playing in the Bay Area, or a flight to Salt Lake or Phoenix is not too much more significant in travel than rambling up to Corvallis. Plus, you have the benefit of contacts in the West for recruiting. The Ducks garner nothing by playing in Corvallis. Now, if the Beavis falls to FCS status, and takes the place of an FCS opponent, so the Ducks can still schedule a 10th opponent from a major conference, it might work. But, having the Beavis take the annual slot away from playing a major opponent home-and-home just does not feel good.

I'm sure you were tongue in cheek....but, "targeted recruiting areas: ASU, Cal/Stanford, Utah/BYU, Texas areas" will continue to be a priority that needs to be met by regular games involving athletes in those areas.

The following week is a bye week. I would rather the Ducks be "fine tuning" the offense and defense than wallowing in defeat for two weeks. But, getting their s**t together this week should be No. 1 priority.

Every year in football is just too much. As a 10th FBS/Power4 program would rather see programs in targeted recruiting areas: ASU, Cal/Stanford, Utah/BYU, Texas areas. Perhaps OSU every 5 years? Following home-and-home with 2 area targeted programs.

So, also meant to add, if the slot is always taken by Oregon State, then how does that affect recruiting in places like Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Bay Area/Sacramento. Those areas have been sources of good players for the Ducks, and families have known they will likely see their kids come home as a visitor for games, or on TV. I would rather see the Ducks schedule former Pac12 teams from those areas than playing OSU every season. Iowa is similar to Oregon in lack of great high school players. I bet the Iowa staff would rather be playing home and home with Baylor, Tex Tech, TCU, Houston than locked into a non-conference game with Iowa State. Since they play 9 Big Ten games, then a 10th game against Iowa St, it is unreasonable to expect an 11th game with a Power 4 replacing the G5 slot.

I would prefer NOT to play OSU every year in non-conference. It limits visits by teams from Power 4 conferences. For example, take a look at Iowa's recent non-conference. They play Iowa State every year non-conference. Leads to some grumpy fans who would like to see occasional visitors such as Missouri, Kansas St, a Texas school to benefit recruiting, etc. Many years a FCS and G5, plus Iowa State. 2024: Illinois St, Troy 2023: Utah St, Western Michigan 2022: S. Dakota St, Nevada 2021: Kent St, Colorado St 2019: Miami (OH), Middle Tenn 2018: N. Illinois, N. Iowa 2017: Wyoming, N. Texas 2016: Miami (OH), N. Dakota St 2015: Illinois St, Pitt – the most recent year Iowa played a Power 5 Oregon 2024: would have been Tex Tech 2023: at Tex Tech 2022: at Georgia, BYU 2021: at Ohio St 2019: at Auburn 2018: - none 2017: Nebraska 2016: at Nebraska 2015: at Mich State 2014: Michigan State 2013: at Virginia 2012: - none

Apparently the Ducks and Beavis will NOT play in women's basketball this season, though the Ducks will host WSU in early December.

No. 9 in AP, looks like No. 6 in Coaches poll

As Laugh-In's Arte Johnson German soldier character would say..."verrry interesting."

1:00 pm Raiders at Chargers Broncos at Seahawks Despite living in Oregon, my area is considered "Bay Area market" so I will see Herbert. Though seeing the rookie get his start in Seattle would have been preferable for this one week. By the way, the visual quality of my Peacock feed last night was excellent. There was that momentarily periodically annoying "black screen" for a sec or two, but didn't miss any game action.

One note on BSU... I don't know how they play vs other opponents, but in the three prior games and the one yesterday...with different coaching staffs over those years...they just seem to always play the Ducks with great discipline without making mistakes. In the 3 REGULAR season games they've had 1 fumble and 1 interception. Average 7 penalties for 63 yds per game.

Remember the pre-game chatter..."a team always makes its biggest improvement between game 1 and game 2." Boy, I hope that is really between 2 and 3.... Teams that - out-rush their opponents win 75 percent of the time (Broncos 221-110) - pass for more yds win 80% (Ducks 243-148) - win the turnover battle win the game just under 75 percent. (Boise State 2-0) - lead at halftime win the game just shy of 80 percent (BSU led 20-14) - score first win 82% (BSU 3-0, 42-yard field goal in their first possession of the first quarter.) Teams that win all five factors went 146-1 in 2021-22, according to Zach Barnett of Football Scoop. In this game Oregon "lost" in four of the five critical factors and fumbled the ball away twice in the fourth quarter. They gave up 192 yards rushing to the Broncos superb running back Ashton Jeanty. Yet they won the game. What compensated for these deficits were explosive plays and two touchdowns in special teams, something that can't be counted on every game. One analyst said the Ducks had 11 different personnel combos on the O-line in 57 plays. This week's practice needs to settle that.

I read on one analyst's Twitter posts that Oregon used 11 different combinations on the O-line during the game. That's in just 57 plays. As the old saying goes, "if you have two quarterbacks, you don't have one." It appears it may be the same for the O-line right now.

In their last 4 games, Iowa and Iowa State have each won 2. They both won as visitors. Iowa St combined score 30-26 at Iowa. Iowa 47-30 at Iowa St. The early season "rival games" are a different animal than season enders. Idaho won at Wyoming today: 17-13. Idaho sacked Wyoming 4 times. Where have we seen that before? Tip of the hat goes to Cal. Beat Auburn at Auburn.

I don't look at Peacock as a football only option for Oregon. Basketball season is around the corner. I'm not a conference hound like a lot of SEC fans, but I do like checking out future conference opponents which will also be on Peacock.

Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush from USC and All-America running back LaMichael James from Oregon will join Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio as part of the 2024 Rose Bowl Hall of Fame Class. Perhaps not the most recently inducted, but the most recently to play, who is in the Hall: Danny O'Neil

If as a couple Toejam writers want to contend the rankings should be based on the most recent outing, then after this week the win over LSU should be forgotten. And, next week's ranking should be based on results vs Utah State and Boise State.

You can subscribe and cancel pretty easily. Though if you are a basketball fan, you may not want to cancel until next Spring.

Given the proximity of Santa Rosa to Sonoma and Napa valleys, I propose that you send Charles a case of the local finest wines. Would help him take the edge off when he's having a difficult day in the forum. And, reinforce what a gracious winner you are after prepping for weeks.

Idaho most often had 7 guys in the box against Oregon 5 man offensive front. A LOT of the time they were bringing a linebacker on a blitz. Gabriel had a guy in his grill most of the time. Oregon seemingly didn't adjust....split the TE instead of keeping him tight with the 5 O-linemen, vacated the backfield so there was no running back to block, thus 6 or 7 on 5 without adequate protection, or a guy breaking thru to disrupt the RB when the RB was kept and designated for a handoff. Then, for whatever reasons, asked Gabriel not to run.