kirklandduck

I do think money is playing a role here but I think it's more NFL money and not NIL. Minimum NFL player salary for 2021 was $660,000 which probably dwarfs anything NIL can offer generally speaking, if he plays in the NFL for 3-5 years at even that minimum wage he's probably set for life. Dye needs to put his best foot forward to make that NFL money and he only has 1 more season to do it. He had a great start last season after CJ went down but current circumstances have muddied that path. 1. He made his success under Cristobal's offensive philosophy last season. 2. All the coaches he had relationships with are gone and he has no connection to anyone on staff. 3. He'll be dealing with a new offensive scheme whether he stays at Oregon or moves elsewhere. 4. If he says at Oregon and CJ comes back, he'll be splitting carries again. So what it still boils down to is playing time. After proving that he can be the feature back in an offense he would obviously want to continue doing that going forward. Spending a full season as the primary running back would probably pad his resume enough to get onto a roster somewhere in the NFL.

The simplest possible explanation is likely the best one. CJ might be leaning towards coming back and Dye doesn't want to be stuck behind him again. Travis has shown in spades that he can be the primary back and in my opinion, is the more talented of the two.

Oregon might have an edge over USC given that Tucker is already committed and Lanning is a defense-minded HC but it's tough to tell right now.

Jalil abruptly announced that he is not taking any more OVs as of now. He was scheduled to visit Miami this weekend and planned a couple more this month. Maybe this is a good sign for Oregon? At the very least this sounds like he's cut down his list to USC and Oregon given that he's previously visited both.

The "bend-not-break" defense really works best if paired with a high octane offense, allowing the defense hang back and take risks on creating turnovers. Cristobal's mediocre offense allowed the defense to get worn down and exposed all the time. Remember Andy Avalos' defense? It was predicated more on aggressive pressure, in some ways like what we saw in Lanning's defense tonight.

Utah, Arizona, and Nevada has been producing good talent for Oregon. Colorado as well sometimes.

Seems like a complete lack of awareness on the part of the Chargers HC when he called timeout on that last play. Why wouldn't he want the tie?

Let's hope he realizes the benefit of having a defensive-minded HC is a good thing for his development in the college ranks. Crossing my fingers!

Shots fired! #SorryNotSorryLincoln

As with any completely new coaching regime at a football program, it's going to take 3-4 years before anyone can make a judgement as to how well they do.

No reason why we shouldn't. Depth is thin at WR and probably won't be addressed completely in the 2022 class. Picking up at least one experienced WR can only help imo.

I think they do but not on the field during games, someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

It also sounds a little weird on the surface. I'm not familiar with his career but right now he's a running backs coach, moving to be a QB analyst? Only thing that makes sense is that he might be a good recruiter.

I like the article, thanks Darren! Overall I agree with most of the points, though I do differ on the subject of expansion. While I'm hopeful about the "alliance", I do think the Pac12 would have benefitted from pulling in a couple teams like Texas Tech and Houston. I understand quality concerns but I think the recruiting exposure in that area of the country outweighs that risk. Plus both those teams did win their bowl games against SEC opponents, Houston is notably a top 25 ranked team.

I had my money on Ashford transferring. While he's got a ton of athletic talent, it feels like his development was further behind TT and Butters because he was splitting time between 2 sports. I hope he does well wherever he lands.

Exactly. Whoever listed the Georgia game location as "neutral" is seriously smoking something. The BYU game will also be tough, it's not inconceivable that Oregon starts 1-2 going into Pac-12 play.

I think this is overly optimistic. Dan Lanning and the coaching staff he's put together are young and hungry so I have no doubt they will make Oregon competitive but it's a sea of change going on...new offensive/defensive schemes, new QB (whomever wins QB1), young WR room, etc. Plus on top of that they have to play Georgia the very first game of the upcoming season. If they're able to create a 9 or 10 win season I would consider that an enormous success for year one.

Oregon can certainly use the depth at CB. Only concern I have is that he's rather undersized at 5'10".

Well this is a very interesting development. Taki Taimani is a 6'2" 330 lb DT with starting experience. More size up front is never a bad thing. Of course Huskies fans lost it when he put up that Twitter pic.

Yeah I thought Walk did better at C as well. Remember all those horrible snaps Lockie had to deal with in the 2nd half of the TCU Alamo Bowl? As if it weren't hard enough for him...

Not disparaging Moore but I viewed him as the least talented of the starting group. He did much better when he was moved to the interior.

I certainly hope not. Graham seems like a really damaged, angry person and we haven't seen any rumors of similar behavior from Lanning and Dillingham out of their respective careers so far. That being said, the Oregon staff do have the advantage of youth which often is accompanied by the capacity or enthusiasm to learn and change.

Gotta give Cincy's defense credit, they came to play and it showed. Unfortunately for them the offense got smashed by a good SEC defense.