HDuck

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.

Idaho lost their starting QB late in the fourth due to a broken collarbone. If Idaho struggles going forward this season, hope that fact doesn't drop off the pundits radar.

May be a ploy by Mt. West to get more money? It is hard for an "independent" to get games in October and November when conferences are in the midst of their conference season. Not so tough to get games in September...but October/November is another ball of wax.

BSU may be practicing indoors this week... ‘Never experienced smoke this bad:’ Poor air quality concerns prompt several event cancellations WWW.KTVB.COM “If you can avoid going outside at all, that would be my number one recommendation,” Air Resource Adviser Kati Chachere said.

NBC's Peacock streaming affiliate for BSU game. There will be one more Big Ten Network game required later, but likely all the remainder of games on Fox, NBC, CBS.

In 2000, the Beavs started the season with a 2 point win (21-19) over Eastern Washington in Corvallis. EWU had a bunch of guys who were unknown then, and did not become statistical leaders or NFL prospects later. Beavs had a couple guys missing due to injury. That season ended with the Beavs going 11-1 and beating Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. Interesting to read a few of the quotes after that EWU game. 2000: The Win Over EWU - Pac-12 Conference PAC-12.COM This fall marks the 20th anniversary of one of the greatest football seasons in Oregon State history

Thought from Wilner's West's post-games column... Why so many close games on the first full week of the regular season? Without breaking down film of every play, the Hotline can do little more than guess. And here’s our guess: The transfer portal. Teams in the power conferences are heavily reliant on the transfer portal and, as a result, lack continuity to a much greater degree than they did three or four years ago. Meanwhile, many FCS teams retain the majority of their veterans and possess better cohesion.

Here are 3 games at random. 70-30 - WSU over Portland St - 352 passing, 224 rushing - no sacks allowed 41-17 - Miami over Florida - 385 passing, 144 rushing - 1 sack allowed 24-14 - Oregon over Idaho - 380 passing, 107 rushing - 3 sacks allowed What's my point? Similar passing yds, but much dissimilar apparently in O-line play which couldn't generate a consistent running game and allowed 3 sacks. When your QB is quickly recognizing where he can dump the ball, completes 41 of 49, but gets little comfort from his O-line there is a big problem that needs to be fixed quickly.

Gabriel tied Danny O'Neil for the most completions in Oregon history for a single game. Gabriel was also tenth all-time in attempts, and is eighth for single game completion percentage. The guys 1-7 had a lot fewer attempts. But, the ten receivers who caught a ball combined for an average of 9.3 yds per completion. The longest was 24 yds. Last year at Oklahoma his average for the season was 13.75 yds. I have no clue, but maybe there were too many receiver substitutions going on? How do you develop comfort and rhythm with TEs, RBs, WRs when they are shuffling? Maybe that was part of the reason for short throws? I agree the O-line has some remedial learning in practice this week.

Some resemblance to that 2021 game when Montana beat UW in Seattle.

from Wilner's column today....“Announced in December, the scheduling partnership provided both OSU and WSU with six games against Mountain West schools (three home, three away) for the 2024 season …For the 2024 season, the Pac-12 schools will pay the Mountain West approximately $15 million, which includes an administrative fee, participation fee and scheduling fee (for each game in Corvallis and Pullman).” So, UW and UO get rocks thrown by OSU fans over the half-shares (which are actually half media portion shares, not half total B1G revenue shares). How does paying another conference for opponents differ from taking less in media revenue? Both mean less to have a conference affiliation?

Interesting piece in The Athletic today about Big12. Still interested in UConn, and reasons why they are. But, no conjecture about WSU/OS. None. Zip. Nada.

Wisconsin added a $5.5 million field heating system at Camp Randall in the off season. Said it wasn't necessarily for November games, but rather in the event they host Playoff games in December. With eye on expanded playoffs, Wisconsin begins implementing heated field at Camp Randall Stadium WWW.JSONLINE.COM With an eye toward December football in the years ahead, the Wisconsin football program has begun installing a heated field surface.