HDuck

Read an analysis earlier today quoting B1G coaches. The consensus was you can't get impatient and start passing too early. Impatience in play selection plays into Hoosier's defensive strengths and risks giving Indiana field position. I know Miami is not running the ball effectively, but they have to keep trying according to B1G coaches. Don't be passing on first down and ending up in 2nd and 10, 3rd and 7.

Watching on TV, but am already annoyed with the number of commercials. Imagine what it's like sitting in the stadium and waiting, and waiting, and waiting....

National ranking, by total yards defense allowed per game - with points per game allowed added as a reference point 2025 (4) Indiana - 267 - 11.1 (11) Miami - 292 - 14.0 2024 (2) Indiana - 256 - 15.6 (27) Miami - 327 - 25.3 2023 (30) James Madison - 334 - 20.2 (24) Miami - 326 - 22.8 2022 (5) James Madison - 290 - 20.9 (65) Miami - 375 - 26.8 Coach Cig's D-coordinator in those 4 years has been Bryant Haines. He was just signed to a 3-year contract at about $3 million per season. He has been with Cig since 2014 season but chose 2022 since that is when Cristobal landed in Miami. With all the chatter around QB Mendoza, the Indiana D doesn't get enough credit.

Part of sports irony that Stidham was the QB at Auburn immediately before Nix.

The Big Ten has always been a very strong league in basketball. It should not be a surprise that when you add in travel USC, UW, and UO are currently in the bottom half of the conference. Some B1G programs emphasized basketball in the past because it was difficult to compete for top positions in football. They had basketball success and drew large attendance and the fans considered it an acceptable tradeoff. Many still have that reservoir of support even if they aren't active in basketball NIL. Now that NIL has arrived, I really don't see a process to succeed in the B1G for West Coast teams unless they seek talent that can overcome the history of the B1G and travel issues. Oregon had success in the Pac12 due to Altman and the nature of the league. Unfortunately, fans haven't really rewarded him with attendance. I sometimes wonder if he checks the attendance numbers at Creighton and wonders if he made the right decision.

where Ducks transfer portal D-linemen landed: Xadavien Sims (Arkansas), Ashton Porter (Houston), Jericho Johnson (Cal), Tionne Gray (Notre Dame), and Terrance Green (Alabama)

I read somewhere in the last 24 hours that the starters for Indiana average 4.1 years, and Miami 4.3 years in their college career experience. Aside from physical maturity, I do think that helps the "smarts" of both teams. I believe it was a factor for Indiana's defense in opponent's tendencies and play recognition, and communication within the Hoosier 11.

Nix told him it was the third time he had suffered a fractured ankle in his football career, including once in high school and once when Nix was at Auburn.

There were 29 Ducks in the portal, including Beaver, and walk-ons. Of the 29, 25 have found spots so far. Of the 25, 20 have found new homes in a Power4 program. 20 suggests to me that Lanning and his staff knew what they were doing when recruiting them. Unfortunate it didn't work out.

Hampton will earn $1.7 million annually and Mehringer will earn $1.4 million, according to their contracts which were released in response to a public records request Less than former defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi ($2 million) and former offensive coordinator Will Stein ($1.75 million). New Oregon State O-coordinator Mitch Dahlen will be paid $400,000, down from $725,000 that was paid to Ryan Gunderson. Oregon State hired Lance Guidry as D-coordinator with a contract for $300,000, then $575,000 his second year. But, before the ink was dry, Guidry accepted an offer to coach at Memphis. Former coordinator Keith Heyward was $725,000.

There will be big TV interest at game time, but unless you are in Bloomington or Miami the media/print interest (other than ESPN) seems to have softened considerably due to the long run out to get there. While it would have been great to have Oregon in the game, I was just thinking a couple days ago how my daily activities this week were significantly different than if I had been checking the Internet every 5-10 minutes for updates. laugh

Beaver commits to Georgia per ESPN

D-line guys that entered the portal: Xadavien Sims, Ashton Porter, Jericho Johnson, Tionne Gray (Notre Dame), and Terrance Green A bunch of portal Ducks have found new homes. The D-line guys seem to be taking longer which seems counter-intuitive to conventional wisdom?

There was a sports column in the Wall St. Journal in early December that focused on Indiana's practice regimen. Cignetti apparently does not believe in a lot of hitting in practice, especially late in the season. This season he has the luxury of a roster occupied with a lot of redshirt juniors, seniors, and redshirt seniors which may not need as much "coaching" as they avoid injury and wear and tear in practice. We'll see how that works against the "hitters" from Miami. A younger roster of linemen likely needs the practice repetition on technique and physicality. Indiana has been "lucky" on injury avoidance this season. Really lucky. Or, perhaps Cig created the "luck." All that being said, I too worry about the Ducks losing so many backups on the D-line. We hear repeatedly relative to recruiting how difficult it is to find D-linemen....especially west of the Mississippi River.

One last note, that 1968 game was the next to last on real grass at Autzen. The final grass game was one week later, a W vs WSU. Both those November 1968 games were played on miserable field conditions. Before the 1969 season, Oregon had installed AstroTurf. Likewise, so did Beavis. OJ played in Eugene in 1968, and in Corvallis in 1967. Both Trojan visits were a muddy mess. Though OJ had 188 yds in Corvallis, and 67 yds in Eugene. Washington was a year earlier installing AstroTurf in 1968. I bet John McKay hated those away games during rainy season. UW likes to claim it was the first, but Indiana State had the first college turf field in 1967. Washington State vs Houston in the Dome in Sept. 1966 was the first college game played on AstroTurf. The last home game at Hayward Field was the same season - a 14-13 loss to WSU. Monsanto developed ChemGrass which was renamed AstroTurf as the result of partnering with the Houston Astrodome for the first installation.

1968 - more here: https://www.helmethistory.com/oregon.html

Gui...the game you remember... 1968 USC entered Autzen No. 1. Ducks were 3-3 including losses at Colorado and at Ohio State. It was USC’s first ever trip to Eugene. All prior games had been in Portland. Autzen had opened in 1967. There were 33,500 in Autzen for the game. OJ had rushed for 980 yds in his first 5 games, but Ducks held him to 67 yds on 25 carries. He won the Heisman at the end of the season. He averaged 171 yds in 10-regular-season games, then rushed for 171 in the Rose Bowl. The game was 13-13 when Trojan Steve Sogge fired a 3 yd pass for the TD: 20-13 The play you remember that set up USC for the winning TD drive was a 61-yd completion to Duck Greg Lindsey that started with Olson fading back into his own end zone after a USC punt was downed on the Duck 1-yd line. Lindsey was chased down from behind by Trojan Ron Ayala who forced Lindsey’s fumble – which the Trojans recovered on their own 38. With little more than 2 minutes left, USC went on a 62 yd drive for the winning TD helped by a 4th down conversion and later a Duck pass interference. There was 1:12 left when USC scored. Oregon responded with Olson passing the Ducks to the USC 8 yd line, but Duck Eric Olson had 3 incomplete passes in the last 28 seconds to end the game. QB John Harrington had been injured earlier during the game. The Ducks outgained USC 359 to 196. Coach Frei indicated in the post-game that if the Ducks had scored they would have gone for a 2-pt conversion to attempt the win. The Trojans went 9-1-1 with some incredibly close winning scores: 3, 7, 7, 4, the 21-21 tie with Notre Dame, and 11-pt loss to Ohio St in the Rose Bowl.

My amateur observation is that it is a roster construction problem. I have no idea what NIL opportunities that Altman has to offer. But, I think it is time to take a hard look at the recruiting capabilities of his long-time assistants. This is a new era for roster construction, and my impression is they have not adapted very well. I've always felt that being competitive in Big Ten basketball would be a struggle. But, landing between 16th and 18th in the standings will drain the program of energy and fan interest/attendance. Especially if the Ducks consistently end up in the bottom half going forward and get bounced early in the B1G Tournament. Attendance, even in the best of times, has been soft for a variety of reasons. But, attendance for a team with a bunch of L's will be abysmal.

Sometimes it takes a bit of luck. Dyer was down? Indiana has older players (including QB) and smart coaches, but recall for a moment these 3 games this season: With the score tied 13-13, Fernando Mendoza’s interception gave the Hawkeyes the ball at Indiana’s 29-yard line with 2:50 left. On third-and-5, Iowa’s perfectly called screen pass inexplicably was thrown short of the wide-open running back, which led to a missed field goal. Given new life, Mendoza moved the Hoosiers to midfield but faced a third-and-10 at Iowa’s 49. In the face of an all-out blitz, Mendoza completed a slant to Elijah Sarratt that went for a 49-yard touchdown with 1:28 left. Final 20-15. Omar Cooper Jr.’s toe-dragging touchdown catch in the back of the Penn State Beaver Stadium end zone to give Indiana the lead with 36 seconds left, and the win 27-24. Offense was largely a slog for the Hoosiers — hardly an indictment given the Buckeyes’ superlative defense — but it was the way Indiana flipped the script and bullied Ryan Day’s Ohio State offense into submission. Neither team scored in the last 22 minutes of the game in Indianapolis. Indiana got a TD with 8:00 left in the third quarter for the final lead/score: 13-10. The first two of these three were true road games, so kudos for that. But, luck meets opportunity were part of the equation.

"...since 1967 and don't remember the Ducks ever having the most fans at a bowl game." It would be a very slim list. Maybe the Vegas Bowl vs Air Force (1997)? Seattle Bowl vs Wake Forest (2002)?

"ACC hasn't fallen apart yet, but the Clemson and FSU settlements set the stage for it to happen" Likewise, why would potentially UCLA, Cal, UW return to the Pac without demanding the biggest portion of revenue for themselves? Certainly if Notre Dame joined the B1G or SEC they would request a bigger share....though the B1G and SEC would tell them to pound sand. The New Pac would be in no position to do that with those Canzano Three. The benefit to the other 8 members of the Pac would be limited to better ticket sales, not media contract revenue increases. Those 3 are going to join a conference with Texas State, Utah State, Colorado State? And, Cal/UCLA joining with Fresno, SDSU, Boise State just seems improbable on its face.

So, if those 3 returned the New Pac media value would go up? Likely, but if I was those 3, I would demand to be paid all of the increase...not share it. If it went from $7 to $15, I'd say we'll take $15 plus split $8 from each of you. But, those 3 are very unlikely to want to affiliate academically with Boise State, Fresno St, etc. The folks believing this could happen hang on to the dream that travel costs and travel time will bring them back. Travel costs are way overestimated, and the additional revenue from Power 4 affiliation simply buries that dream they hang onto.

James Crepea note after Green...this evening Even with 14 defensive transfers, plus 3 outgoing seniors and potentially a starting safety to the NFL, Oregon would return 6 of its top 8 tacklers. Also 8 of top 11 and 10 of top 14.

transfer portal is open Jan. 2 until Jan. 16, with an extra five-day window (Jan. 20-24) for Indiana and Miami because they are playing in the national championship game on Jan. 19.