Solar

If we're going to wear this combo this is the game to do it.

I just watched the Utah vs. USC condensed game. I think Utah's offense is good enough to potentially put up 30 points on us at their home. Yes USC defense isn't that great, but it's been playing better lately and that Vaki kid is somebody you just try to slow down but can't stop. We need to score more than 30 and I think we can. USC had decent success running the ball on them, and I think we can to. If this game does come down to one key think it would be how we do in short yardage situations. It's been our Achilles heel this year, and Utah will be tough in those situations at home.

The NFL automatic playoff birth for division winners. Some divisions are garbage and round robin each other twice.

I think it is likely our toughest game we have left to play, even if the Beavers are a clear notch above them. Although I'm very happy we are playing Utah in October in a noon time game rather than PAC12 after bedtime in November. That does reduce the degree of difficulty.

Good Point. I think we find a spot for him like Riley did for Kliff Klingsbury

I keep saying this. It's harder to win an away game in the west than in the SEC. While it's certainly a challenge to win with a loud rabid fan base against you, it's not the only variable. The west means longer travel distance AND wildly different air. It sounds silly, but the difference in air temp, density, humidity, and even the smell of the particulates combine to provide a dramatic different effect that both physical and psychological impacts the players. Why do the PNW teams always perform poorly in the desert in November? Why do teams struggle at elevation in Utah?

I almost feel bad for Williams that he has to carry his team and they still lose, but then I remember he chose to follow Riley..He won a Heisman already though. I do wonder if the team is starting to lose it a little with the Riley to the NFL rumours. It certainly did a number on us when Cristobal rumoured to Miami.

Remember when we barely lost to Auburn in 2019 and came home and smashed Nevada 70-3? Remember when we got beat by Georgia and came home and smashed Eastern Washington 70-14? Remember how we destroyed PSU and their next game they destroyed their opponent? In college we had a super hard physics instructor for two terms with his 30 question multiple choice tests. He had a heart attack during the 3rd term, so a different professor finished the term. On the first test with the new professor in his way easier test format all 30 people in the class got 100%. The professor was in shock saying he'd never seen anything like it. I'm not sure what to call this psychological effect where you adapt to the higher level of difficulty and then absolutely demolish the next challenge that is less difficult. I hope that affect happens to us against WSU at home Saturday.

And you posted this, so you could have another round, sneaky guy.

I'm disappointed to see this for the WSU game. Like others the Civil War would have made way more sense.

The fact that analytics can predict the selection committee should not lead one to assume the process is devoid of bias. Two factors in their calculations are exposed to significant bias: top 25 teams are selected by opinion, and therefore strength of schedule and top 25 wins are a function of those opinions. I firmly believe the expanded playoff is going to be one year too late. Look at the top 12. Any of them could conceivably beat any of the other 11 on any given Saturday, thanks to NIL and the portal spreading the wealth to the top 20ish teams. I am hoping the ranking formula does change going forward where there is less focus on the losses and more focus on the wins and how teams are playing at the end of the season.

DL's press conference yesterday is a must watch. He discussed his 4TH Down decision making. Many people here won't like what he says. My comment is that if you have the defensive look you want to run your offensive play call, and the play is still defended to the point of being a total cluster, maybe you need to revisit some of what you think you know as an OC. That being said, for the 300th time, going for it on 4th and 2 at the end of the game was absolutely the right decision. I'm glad the play-not-to-lose crowd isn't in charge of the Ducks. I've seen too much of that over the years in CFB and the NFL lead to disaster.

14J package got stuffed by UW last year on 4th and 1 a couple of times at home. It wouldn't have worked with 4th and 3 on the road against an improved UW front Saturday. Our OL are not road graders. The best runs are pin and pull where the RB waits for the blocking to set up. We need new plays for 4th and 2-5 yards. Plays with multiple options after the ball is snapped, or at least a quick play action like to Kelly against Colorado. RPO, or even sitting back in the pocket with receivers TEs and RBs breaking just behind the wall of pressure. Or even as someone else above mentioned, just run one of your 2 point conversion specials. Don't move the ball laterally behind the line of scrimmage. Don't hand off up the gut especially from a slow developing pistol formation unless it's a QB option read.

Yes people need to see the whole interview. The dude has more resilience and class than all the reporters in that room put together. We're here pulling our hair out while Bo has been thinking about WSU since the moment he left that post game interview.

If you have to be bad at something when you are young, underestimating risk is a good one, because it's a scientific fact that age fixes that. Young people can figure out all of the good things you can do, while old people can think about all of the bad things you shouldn't do. Stereotypically of course. Dan Lanning has bet the farm multiple times personally climbing the coaching tree ladder. Life has rewarded his risk taking. It's going to take more harm than the average person for him to be more conservative, but I'm hopeful he will get to that balance. It certainly beats the too conservative approach Cristobal had. Yuck

Their mindset would not have changed because of the extra yardage, because there was no reason for it to change. More than enough time left on the clock. I know it's hard to swallow, but there is only a sliver of a increased chance we were going to stop Penix in his last drive of 90 yards vs 50 yards with the reasons you mentioned, vs 45% chance of ending the game if we got the first down. That doesn't even take into account the time management. If they are going to score, let it happen quick, so you have solid chance for a final score. The more yards they go, the more time it would have eaten up.

Pretty tough to look back when you're trying your hardest to real in the WR that got past you and it isn't happening. No point in looking back when you don't think you are close enough to make a play on the ball. Seeing Penix throw like Justin Herbert makes me wonder what Justin could have done in an offense like that.

Not to derail this thread, but no way J-Smith will go to MSU. Maybe Tucker could be bribed with enough cash to give up a great thing, but look at his moral/wisdom track record. Crap job at a rust belt school renown for moral failings, and getting pounded by big brother and his two other cousins every year, vs Alma Mater he's has built from the ground up to a nearly top 10 team. Notginnahappen.

This hurts because Holden is a fantastic possession receiver.

Yeah our OL excels at creating a clean pocket for Bo when he steps back. We lost that when the play goes lateral taking 3 of our OL out of the play, and almost none of the D while setting a timer on Bo. No room or time for Bo to improvise. In the pocket he could throw where the pressure is coming from or if a lane opens up after a bit take it a little ways to draw the second level and dump it off to a short route or RB for a first down. And in short yardage the field is already compacted vertically, so why cut it in half horizontally too. It's an anti-spread play. Let's give the offense as little room to work as possible. I really hope someone points out to Stein what Stanford did to Colorado with 50 straight slant passes to a dominant possession receiver. It was an unstoppable high percentage pass for a stressed young QB.

Was that the run out of the pistol? One of those last drive plays was a pistol dive into a stacked box for minus 1-2 yards. SUCH a slow developing play allowing the whole defense to converge on the point of attack. Definitely Mastro/Arroyo/Cristobal bad memories came back on that one. Yuck.

It's inferring a bunch that PK is upset with going for it on 4th. He was upset we were giving the ball back to Penix. It didn't matter where we gave it back.

A 1 loss PAC12 champion will make the playoffs over any other 1 loss team in the country. I don't see 4 teams going undefeated. Oregon still controls it's own destiny. Any talk to the contrary is just reactive.

I will vehemently defend DLs 4th quarter decision to go for it on 4th down. It absolutely was the right call for the reasons Dan game in the press conference. Did anyone see the live shots of Penix pacing the sidelines itching to get back in for the game winning drive? Did you also see how dejected he looked once he saw Oregon was going for it on 4th down? You don't voluntarily give the ball back to that guy, in that moment, with any significant time left. He went 50 yards in 34 seconds. Making him go 75-99 yards would only have had a worse result with him burning enough time off the clock to prevent our last drive to try to answer. I love what Josh Pate said yesterday about Dan and these calls. 100%

Thank you. The most worrisome statement from DL after the game is he thought they had the perfect play for each of those 3 failed conversions. I do feel like Stein's playbook is incomplete for 2-5 yards conversions. When the other team loads the box all the way to the edges, you need to have quick options to get the ball behind the box. A quick seam route to a TE in combo with a drag route by the slot receiver. Also slants to a WR put wide is a much higher percentage throw than a slot receiver running to the sideline. Play action RPO when the line clogs in front of the RB at the mesh.