Solar

Back in the 90s my best friend and I were on the football team and my friend hurt his ankle. Coaches didn't care back then, he still had to run the conditioning drill where you jog around the field with each person laying down at the next 5 yard line while everyone hops over them. I think we did 2 or 3 laps. He came to school the next day in crutches having actually done that drill on a broken ankle. I also once played half a football game with my thumb broken all the way through at the base next to my wrist, from tackling the biggest guy in our league on a kickoff return. Those were the days of being young with a high pain threshold.

I couldn't agree more David. I've mentioned several of these points in previous comments, but your overall perspective is great. Success is winning a whole bunch of games and making the playoffs. Anytime you make it deeper into the playoffs than the year before it's a success, and if you don't make it as far the next year it can feel like a step back. I was a Jumper in track and field. I just did long and triple jump, but not high jump, partially because it took forever, but also I hated finishing by missing the bar 3 times in a row. Needless to say, for me finishing the season with a loss is a very sharp side of the double edged sword of the playoffs.

Man we need a great LB so bad. Please please please..

I'm in San Diego and usually this time of year it gets cold and wet enough a few times for there to be snow up at 4k ft and above, but nothing this year. We aren't immune to some really rainy storms, but that tends to happen when it's El Nino. With La Nina it's been very dry, and I think this storm system just looped above southern California. Bo Nix is out 12 weeks for a broken ankle? That doesn't sound good. I always remember people saying it's usually better to break an ankle than sprain it as a break is usual 6-8 weeks. Bo Broke his ankle once in college and once in high school. Sean Payton said he wouldn't have drafted him if he knew about the ankle issue, and nobody was sure if he was joking or serious.

Novasad to Bowling Green..Did he get lost on the way to U of Kentucky to see Will Stein? Guess he wasn't that great based on Stein's assessment. It's pretty impressive to see the depth we HAD leave in the portal. I sure hope our 2026 class of portal and HS kids can backfill them.

I didn't realize how bad this year's portal has gone. I knew we lost critical 2 deep contributors, but only 2 of the top 25 incoming players are in the top 25 of what DL portalled in his time here and one of them is not even going to play next year. I really hope we've worked some better magic on our HS recruiting, because that is where the attrition backfill is going to have to come from. I REALLY hope we aren't rhyming with Clemson's fall: new coordinators not as good as old coordinators and insufficient amount of portal contributors. That would be a glass completely empty take, but still, it's a fine line between success and failure. Glass half full, maybe the lack of quality portal additions left us with enough cash to snag Seaton.

This is important. What if Texas Tech gets better too as they shore up the weaknesses on offense? What if Indiana reloads well enough from the portal? Who is next year's new money team like IU 2 years ago and TTU this last year? I don't care how good your team is set at the beginning of the year. It's not realistic to say that it's a deep run in the playoffs or bust. Every win should be enjoyed, and the summation of that joy for the entirety of the season should be the measure of success.

I wish football coaches used timeouts like they do in volleyball and basketball to stop the momentum when it's really swung against you. I think Cignetti is going to make it a thing. What is better, to have 3 timeouts left to give you a chance to get the ball back to score if the opponent gets one more first down, or is it better to have stopped the other team's momentum on the previous drive so you didn't end up playing from behind in the first place?

Our players will be better next year talent wise and experience wise. Our DC will be better next year. I'm not sure about our OC, he's a wild card. So we are a playoff team. As one commenter quipped during our blowout loss to Indiana, I'm really looking forward to us getting blown out in the Natty next year.

I swore they were talking about Becker when I heard them say he was the fastest WR in football. If he runs 11+ 100 they must have been talking about someone else.

Becker became a major impact player through the season for Indiana. Some say he is the fastest WR in college and he's 6'3 and has no issue making contested catches. I was feeling pretty jealous until I realized we have Bair on our roster next year. Same speed, same height, same aggressiveness going after the ball on film. I really hope he blossoms through the season like Becker next year and becomes a key contributor on a run to the national championship.

Michigan at home. Man if there is one thing Whittingham might regret most about taking this new job is having to play in Autzen again.

This is the same place we finished in 2023 IIRC.

Haha. Live by the Beck, die by the Beck.

Can't fault LSU for trying, but there is no way he wasn't going to Eugene. Even if he didn't care about the Ducks anymore, his agent would move heaven and earth to make sure he got on the plane to Eugene. No reason to throw away negotiating leverage prematurely. I hope he is here to sign on the dotted line though.

I swear I remember we were trending to land Seaton out of HS, until Deon bedazzled him at the last minute.

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.