30Duck

That is the question, the belief is that nobody can help themselves until they recognize there's a problem and they have to want to fix it. From what we've seen from Mario, he doesn't think anything is wrong that can't be fixed by working harder. We can see that changing QB's is a no brainer, and he has 2 weeks to make the transition as smooth as possible with the bye, and then a game with one of the worst teams in the conference, at home! But changing the QB is only going to happen if something changes in Mario. He is steadfast in doing things his way. But for all of that he's circling the drain. We need to see that Mario isn't one of those guys that won't ask for directions, because he is sure he knows the way. Making the change at QB will be a sign that Mario understands that adjusting your plan is a good thing.

That is one great theme song!

Remember this guy? He said it would be a HUGE mistake for any team to draft this guy He was the Offensive Rookie Of the Year last season, and he's even better this season...and He's a Duck!!!

Love this line! I also share your view that watching the Beavers win was a lot of fun, and not just because it was against the Huskies.

The problem I have with Mario is that I can't tell what his plan is. He didn't bring in some exotic new offense, he just discarded the one that had revolutionized the sport! He's getting great recruiting classes and not capitalizing on their talents. Jeff Maehl wasn't a 4 star, but in that offense he was unstoppable. Mario checks a Lot of the coaching boxes. But the one's he leaves blank are destructive. 80% to the good, 20& to the bad. If we could change that to 70 % checked, lose a 4 * but get a scheme, we'd all be cheering again.

There certainly is no lack of incentive for the team the rest of the season. Did the loss to Stanford take "the target off their back" , do they now not "get everybody's best shot"? Alabama thrives on those pressure points. But Oregon's best game of the season came when they had nothing to lose. The bye comes at a perfect time, right after a loss where weaknesses were exposed and two weeks to make changes before the next game. The upside is that the Ducks can still reach the expectations that were set before the season started; should still be favored in the rest of their games, but could lose any of them if the flaws haven't been addressed.

Hey Blowcheese, thanks for dropping by, and please do so again. Watching the Beavers win last night salvaged Saturday. Smith is doing a great job, and the future looks bright, with the exception of the Beavers not winning whatever that game around Thanksgiving is called now.

Thanks for the recap and analysis. Your observations for the most part apply to all the games with exception of week 2, where Oregon did the "big jump" from week 1, but regressed back to the beginning for week's 3, 4 and 5. Can't help but wonder what the coaches are doing with the game films?

A great question, the bye week, at an opportune time, is a seminal moment for Oregon Football under Mario Cristobal. If he sticks with, "We have to work harder" then we have Sisyphus for a vcoach, forever pushing the boulder up the side of a mountain. I believe it would be a positive move to bring in Thompson, or Butterfield. Brown was named the starter because of his experience. But that's a low ceiling to be leading a Top 10 team. Changing the QB isn't the only change Cristobal could make, but it would be a sign that he's open to new ideas.

1 time out of 10, Oregon will beat Ohio State?

I understand what you're saying. If the Ref hadn't made the call, the Ducks would have won. But it would have been the ugliest of the 5 this season. The Ducks got called for targeting on the opening kickoff! Scored 7 in the first half. On the Ducks final drive, Brown threw a pass when an incompletion stops the clock. When Stanford had to go 95 yards in the final minutes, the Ducks gave them 30 of them with penalties. It was a bad call by the Ref, but I feel like the Ducks made more bad moves before that.

I've never bought into the "good loss" theory, but maybe this one was good for us. I don't think we really thought that the Ducks were No.3, now they won't be; and hopefully they'll take this well positioned bye to make changes, and we can go on pointing out something we see and learning from somebody else's observations. That is a process not found in other Forums where people use the opportunity to SHOUT because they know what's wrong and have the only answer to fixing it. Discussion doesn't grow from this, just a bunch of declarations that turns into noise. We're better than this. We can agree or disagree, it doesn't matter as long as being RIGHT isn't the only purpose of what we post, but instead is to add to the discussion. Go Duck!

The interception wasn't even a missed read, he just didn't see the player in the red shirt, and later he didn't see another one, but the pass was so badly thrown the defender couldn't catch it either.

They did it in basketball last season, and I think the football team is better than was the basketball team.

Yeah, the adage about insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, is playing out with Mario's Ducks. We were nervous before the game against Stanford and watched as our fears were realized. Oregon never looked smooth on offense, the lack of Morehead certainly accounted for some of that, but with him or without him, Brown was still the QB. The defense wasn't much better, until the 2nd half when Stanford was out of gas. But then the Ducks got started going down the one way street the wrong way, and Stanford yanked another one from Oregon. As bad as the PI was at the end of the game, the Ducks fell behind at the start all on their own. The timing is perfect for Thompson to start against Cal after the bye.

And yet, they were very good at 4th & short against the Buckeyes.

First Quarter: Georgia 21 Arkansas 0

The cynic in me says Herbie is pumping the crowd to watch Oregon and Stanford on ABC instead of Ole Miss and Alabama on CBS.

It's a conundrum for sure. The game at Ohio State has defined the season, but is not representative of the team. It's the outlier, in terms of effort and execution. The Stanford's were annoying with their commentary during the Arizona game. But they weren't saying anything different than what we've shared here; that this Oregon team isn't the one that beat Ohio State. This is how we come to truly appreciate what Saban has done at Alabama. Year after year they're hungry. It's actually more impressive with the talent at 'Bama that this is the case. Saban has gone through Coordinators, did a 180 offensively, and is still No.1

Something's Gotta Give McKee hasn't thrown a pick, the Ducks lead the country in interceptions.

Down Go The Huskies, Wilner picks the Ducks and Beavers both to cover.

It's not looking good in Husky Land, they're picking the Beavers; but they can still vent all their rage against the Ducks

We loved 'em so much last week, we get 'em again this week. Dave Flemming and Rod Gilmore are calling the game!

Precisely. The one game where the Ducks dominated was the game that they had little chance of winning. It probably is easier to Get Up for Ohio State, then it is for Arizona. But, like Alabama has shown, the mindset of championship teams is that it doesn't matter. The winning culture will manifest itself when Oregon doesn't need to manufacture energy.