Solar

This is the first year we've lost any players to the portal that will actually affect us negatively next year in the 2 deep, and it's quite a few: Purchase, Porter, Lopa, Austin, Harris, Gray, Green, Jericho Johnson (he was going to pass Gray and Green with another year). About half can be replaced in the portal, but the rest will be loss of quality depth.

The biggest tell that people making the rankings severe cognitive bias issues is Penn State and Indiana. 3rd vs. 20th. Really? Indiana had as good of a regular season record as Penn State and returned every bit as much production outside of QB. And Penn State had the QB that had the most to prove on a production basis not Mendoza. Narratives and cognitive biases are no way to set a baseline for how good your wins are in the next season. At least in the future 16-24 team playoff it will be nearly impossible to leave out an actual contender due to this issue.

It also means injuries are going to be more impactful, conditioning is going to matter more and wearing down the defense running the ball in the 4th quarter is going to be a thing again.

Tosh Lupoi leaving is a contributor as is a bunch of "were expected to go to the NFL but didn't" guys. The 2nd stringers don't want to wait another year to be 1st string that they weren't planning on. Here's the thing about NIL. It's just like the job market. That one company out there that really needs to hire someone is always willing to pay more than the current employer. These 2nd stringers leaving the Oregon and Ohio States of the world will be much better compensated as the main person of need on a team in the top 10-20. We are witnessing in real time the dilution of talent from the top couple of teams redistributing to the remainder of playoff contenders. The greater the playoff field size the more spread out the talent will be as more NIL Boosters see they ROI of being able to make the playoff field with a chance to win it all. No more NFL caliber talent sitting 3rd string on the bench at Bama. Those days are over and it's for the better of the sport.

We need to get Seaton so bad. We'll be totally set on offense if we do. LB is gonna be a big weakness unless we can tamper, I mean convince some great ones to enter the 2nd portal window. DL has serious depth issues. The entire 2nd string left. Gone. Not sure how replace it, but if we don't, we'll get worn down and see big drop offs when the starters need a break.

It's amazing fans still haven't learned: if you build it, they will come. The more playoff spots the more competitive teams there are, the more the talent spreads out. NIL and the ROI is the mechanism that enables it. With the 4 team playoff only 3 teams truly had a chance to win it all. With the 12 team playoff roughly 8 truly have a shot. If you go to 16 teams, you will have 10-12 teams that could challenge for a title. if you have 24 teams you'll eventually get 15 teams that could challenge for a title any given year. Would that be exciting? Why do we have a top 25 to be ranked, to be relevant? Let's make it 24 and align it with the playoffs. It'll be great for the sport.

I read the article, there isn't any smoke to him not coming to Oregon. What the article is describing as messy is the breakup with Minnesota. He's a Duck that needs a little mental refocusing like Bear had, to get back on his game.

These special teams players all ran out of eligibility this year: K Atticus Sappington LS Luke Basso P James Ferguson-Reynolds K Andrew Boyle P Ross James

Benson was everything I hoped he would be after seeing his first real game with us. I'm not sure Stewart really would go have produced any better than Benson did. I really hope he played his way into the middle of the draft.

Seeing Tulane's defense under Hampton, I think he is an upgrade over Lupoi. Mehringer has way more to prove. Rutgers offense sucked when he was OC, but he was young and it was Rutgers.

Excellent post by Mike. I can tell by some of the responses it's gonna be a loooooong off-season. I'm arguably wiser than Dan Lanning. I'm inarguably 10 years older than him too. Stay the course with DL. He'll get there. He learns the hard way like most guys do, but he learns. Cristobal never learned anything while he was here. He looks like a drugged up spectator on the sidelines for Miami. I don't know what the boosters did to him to get him to let go of the offense and turn over clock management to someone else, but it worked. DL already has that figured out at least. We can't forget the extra level of difficulty with our distant proximity to talent that he is overcoming. I always say gratefulness is the art of lowering your standards. Aim high, but be happy where you end up. The only other option is a laundry list of bad emotions. Life's too short.

This is my thought too. I was highly critical of Moore though the season, but he did show improvement over UCLA and earlier in the year. Seeing Bo:s improvement in his second Oregon season was impressive. I'm hoping for the same amount of improvement. Not saying he will play like Bo. He will make more mistakes and bigger plays than Bo did. It will be interesting to see what changes our new OC makes despite the same returning QB.

DL has already made his choice. Of all the decisions DL has ever made I'm most nervous about his decision to promote from within for both coordinators. No need to take risks with unproven coordinators. Find proven performers anywhere in the country that did a lot with a little. We don't need continuity. We need the most mentally flexible coaches to adapt and scheme for the players we have each and every year, not the players we wish we had or used to have.

My understanding is today is the last day to declare for the draft. Let's see what the rest of the day brings.

We just have to wait until Moore announces and Raiola responds to see where this is truly headed.