RatherBe

Charles, thank you for taking the time, effort, and monetary initiative to create a forum. I appreciate the civility of this board. I can volunteer for a six hour shift of moderating on weekdays, with twice hourly checks for second half of the workday: 12-6:00 PM PST, M-F. I’ve moderated a large subreddit previously, and I don’t believe I would be needing any training regarding to the tech end of it. The volume of posts appears to be low enough that it is quite feasible to read all of them for rules violations.

For the past Gary Campbell and Steve Greatwood are tied for first for me. Longevity, consistency, and high achievement. We’ll never see something like that again. Great coaches, great people. I also grew to appreciate Aliotti more in a classic you don’t miss them until they’re gone scenario. His defenses were aggressive and ahead of their time, I feel like they would be appreciated more now. Don Pellum also deserves credit, not so much for his DC work as for the LB coaching and his recruiting. Oregon recently offered a scholarship to his nephew, a 4-star recruit, and he posted the picture I’ll attach at the bottom. I had no idea DP was that ripped when he was a player. Honorable mention for John Neal, he kind of gave up at the end but for a while DBs were Oregon’s best export to the NFL. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention Jim Radcliffe. S&C didn’t have the budget it does now, and he had other sports to tend to but he’s also a legend. Out of the current staff - I can’t really say. At this time last year I would have said Keith Heyward, or Andy Avalos although one year as DC was a small sample. As of this moment I can’t say. I’m most excited for Joe Moorhead, but picking an OC is basically cheating. The only coach I’ve been a vocal critic of is Big Joe Salave’a, and he hasn’t been awful just not living up to the standards I have for the second highest paid DL coach in the business. Overall it’s too early to tell or solid enough to not complain.

Congrats to Chris Duarte on being the AP player of the year! He improved so much while willing this team to a conference title, and it’s too bad the coaches awards didn’t match up. Past winners include Joe Young (14-15), Dillon Brooks (16-17), and Payton Pritchard (19-20) as Dana Altman coached players. Other Ducks with a claim to POTY are Ron Lee (75-76), Terrell Brandon (90-91), and Luke Ridnour (02-03). It’s really a shame that the Pac-12 coaches decided to politic with the conference awards. With Duarte being the AP winner this is yet another example of the anti-Oregon bias from the Pac-12 coaches. Just like with the football awards, we see how petty and jealous the other coaches are of Oregon. It’s too bad the ballots aren’t public, I’d be very curious to see the voting.

Since 2016 Oregon has won 4/6 regular season championships, and 2/4 conference tournament championships. If last years tourney hadn’t been canceled they could be going for 4/6 in those as well. It is overdue to admit that Dana’s Ducks are the dominant force in Pac-12 basketball. The title is the main story, but it’s a relief that the little bros didn’t get to interfere. They would have been hitting the ground with their flat tails in ecstasy, as being a roadblock for Oregon is the highlight of their year.

While a 9-3 record is certainly realistic, I felt that was overly doom and gloom while reading. This defense has the potential to be closer to 2019 than 2020 - and even the 2020 version found their footing late in the year. I don’t see them allowing so many points. I also have faith in Joe Moorhead’s offense, in this mini season he showed the explosive play potential that creates blowouts, had the turnover margin not been historically bad it would have been a different narrative. When you’re favored in 11/12 preseason even 9-3 seems disappointing.

Autzen expansion had been a topic of discussion previously at board meetings - but that was during the height of Oregon football success and ticket demand. Both the decline of the on field product from 2015 and on combined with a general attendance drop through much of college football shelved any talk of that happening in the near future. If Oregon can string together some ultra successful seasons that could change that. As big of an issue the on field product is the same goes for the Pac-12’s scheduling so many night games and the lackluster OOC schedule. It’s difficult to beat TV when games start at 7PM, and if it’s November that isn’t particularly pleasant. Especially when about 60% of the fans come down from the Portland area. I’ve skipped games before where the start was too early for a bad game like Portland State in 2018, because I didn’t feel like getting up early on a Saturday to drive down and watch a blowout. I personally don’t mind the later games in warm September as we like to grab a few friends and get an Air BnB or a hotel and make a little trip out of it. The more realistic thing for the time being is more stadium improvements. We just got the biggest one asked for, the new sound system. Plus, the biggest video board in college football. I didn’t think it was needed but now it looks great and I can’t wait to experience that in person. If there is an expansion in the future that video board eliminated a prime piece of area to do it in, so any additions would be on the other side. As for MKA, it’s an NBA style arena that is beautiful but obviously won’t have the character of Mac Court. It’s also a financial millstone around the ADs neck. Unless a particular shoe dog decides to finance it I don’t see any large capital project for Autzen given the existing debt payments hit on the budget. Aside: curious on people’s takes on alcohol sales at Autzen. I have not been a fan. I no longer drink, but even in 2018 and part of 2019 when I did, I was not pleased. The people around you get up constantly to go get more beer or to use the bathroom. The level of boorish behavior has skyrocketed, and this is coming from someone who specialized in sneaking in flasks and beers as a student and young adult. In 2018 someone much too wasted fell on me from the row behind, knocking out the large scalding coffee in my hands and I had to catch him from busting his head open. I also enjoyed leaving at halftime. They said alcohol sales would improve the experience, but I disagree.

I was very disappointed with the potential QBs the Ducks were getting connected to this cycle. After I saw that Bailey came out to Eugene for a dead period visit with his family on their own dime I checked out his highlights. If Bailey is the QB for the 2022 class I will be very pleased. He doesn’t have ideal size and he’s not a dual threat guy, but he has some major arm talent and QB skills. Bailey can make every throw, to not confuse arm talent with just arm strength - I mean he can put just the right touch and placement on the ball. Sounds like he got left out by the in-state schools and the Ducks might have caught a break.

I would rather play Arizona State, especially at home in November like Washington is, than Utah in SLC in November. I’m far from sold on Herm’s team. Utah and Kyle Whittingham are a more consistent team. I would consider UCLA as much of a threat to USC as either of those as well. Chip looked like he got it figured it out, it’s too bad for him they skipped recruiting for a while. Colorado surprised last season, most likely and aberration during the Covid year, but we’ll see. USC is like Oregon in the sense that anything from 12-0 to 8-4 is reasonable. I doubt that potato Clay Helton can go 12-0 and even 10-2 is ambitious. It is upsetting that they got to skip coming to Eugene, and haven’t been there since 2015 while Oregon has played them in LA three times.

Since the playoff started there have been two one-loss Pac-12 champs: 2014 Oregon and 2016 Washington - they both made it. If 2015 Stanford, 2017 USC, and 2019 Oregon didn’t drop a second game they all would have almost certainly made it in. It’s not guaranteed that a one loss Pac-12 champ gets in but the odds are good that they do. This is not a friendly schedule. Anything from 12-0 to 8-4 wouldn’t shock me. 8-4 would be pretty disappointing, but all that would take are road losses to Ohio State, Washington, Utah, and then one random one where the team comes out flat.

My apologies if I sounded like I was attempting to scold you, not my intention at all. I was as surprised as anyone that the deal is such as it is. Both on account of only a $300k payment for expenses and no strategy for a canceled game. With the near certainty that the wildfires would have canceled the game regardless of the pandemic the university should consider adding some provisions to future contracts. I looked through the revenue reports for the past few years and an average game at Autzen generates about ~$3.6 million, $3 million in ticket sales and the rest in concessions, parking, and the like but not including media rights since that is a tricky thing to count. Even if it takes $1 million to bring in a G-5 opponent that is still a lot of money being left on the table on the heels of the pandemic. This doesn’t take into account the fewer season tickets that will most likely be sold. For the curious it is estimated that one Ducks football game generates an extra $6 million for Eugene businesses. The 2022 game against Georgia in Atlanta will pay Oregon a very healthy $4.5 million.

That’s not quite accurate, the away team is only paid $300k to cover travel expenses. The financial incentive is the home game; it allows for more season tickets and ticket packages to be bundled together. Much like Nebraska in 2017 it was counted that Ohio State fans, and of course Oregon fans, would buy season tickets to ensure tickets for the big game. They would then sell their other tickets on the secondary market, but the U of O ticket office already got their sale. The bottom line is that right now Oregon is taking a major financial loss if the status quo stands. Link to PDF of contract. The force majeure clause, #12 in the contract, means there is no obligation for Ohio State to do anything to mitigate Oregon’s loss or to make any effort to reschedule the Eugene date. Right now all negotiations are not required but just a show of good faith between Gene Smith and Rob Mullens. As an FYI Oregon State received $1.7 million to go to Columbus a few years back. For Oregon that would be a lost economic opportunity as they make much more for a cupcake home game and double that for a neutral site game. At this point in time the cancellation is nothing short of disastrous for Oregon.

I love Bill Walton on the commentary. Regular season college basketball can get monotonous, but even in an exciting game the national broadcast team doesn’t add much value with their commentary. The same regurgitated facts from the team’s press packet. Bill takes you on an adventure, and his ability to not take things too seriously is more than welcome from me. Gif: Bill Walton offers Mario’s kid some peanut butter he’s been eating with his hands, Mario’s dad instincts kick in.

We know the opponents and the location, just a matter of getting the dates for the conference games. I have to wonder if the non-conference schedule is the hold up. Making sure no conference school is left short a game if someone like Stony Brook were to cancel. Their conference released the 2021 schedule and it still lists Oregon, but they’re also playing games in March as part of the FCS spring season. I could be wrong, giving the Pac-12 credit for foresight usually is. Instead of starting as planned with a 10 game schedule or playing in the spring they went with a shortened AND compressed season right at the height of the pandemic.

I think the players going home was an extremely important factor. They lost in person access to the S&C staff, the equipment, oversight, motivation, nutrition. The conditioning difference was clearly evident in some players. I did notice that many of the OL stayed in Eugene over the summer, but much of the DL went home. Noah Sewell arrived on campus and hit the weights this summer, while Mase Funa and Austin Faoliu had pregnant partners at home. Not saying one is right and one isn’t, just reminding everyone that these are human beings with lives outside of football. I still have great faith in Aaron Feld and his squad of muscled S&C staff. We’ve seen their results previously. 2020 was an aberration on multiple fronts as far as I’m concerned, and 2021 will hopefully prove that.

It seems like there is at least one 5-star recruit and some elite 4-stars from the Seattle area every year now. 2021 was a bit of an aberration with three 5-stars, but the talent level or recognition is definitely improving. Mario needs to keep pressing that Oregon is the dominant power of the West Coast and the only option for PNW kids who want to stay close to home. Kayvon is a great ambassador for the program. When he’s a top-5/10 pick after this season I hope he has all the success I want every pro Duck to have, and keeps in touch with the program. He’s one of those players like De’Anthony Thomas or Penei Sewell that grab the attention of recruits at their positions for years to come.

I’m a little surprised that Alex Forsyth was mentioned as one of the top-3 returning players. I’ve been high on Forsyth’s potential since seeing him in the 2019 spring game and hearing how much the coaches loved him. I’m not sure Forsyth is even our best OL, let alone a top-3 player on the team. I would have gone with Mykael Wright or one of the WRs. No knock on Forsyth, his one truly poor performance was against UCLA and their aggressive DL. As for USC, I don’t think they’re in any trouble at all at WR. The OL and a defense that has to replace Hufanga along with their talented interior DL should be the concern.

Huh? Allow under 75 yards rushing per game? In the last 10 seasons that’s been accomplished a grand total of three times, once by Georgia and twice by Alabama. Even Alabama allowed 113 per game last year. The run defense needs to improve, but let’s be realistic. 2019 Oregon allowed 118 per game, that was as fine of a defense as we’ve had and good enough to make the playoffs.

A 12-1 Ducks team almost certainly makes the playoffs, so you could afford one loss to Ohio State or anyone else as long as you win the conference championship. I think that’s very doable if there is a very good QB - doesn’t even have to be great or elite.

You are 100% correct. Sewell thought he recognized the play and got there in a hurry - too much of a hurry. The cutback left him out of position. I don’t know if that was the play call for OSU or if Jefferson improvised, I didn’t think it was by design and he was supposed to go to the right side. Sewell wasn’t patient enough, sometimes you have to give up three yards instead of going for the big play and getting burned for 80 yards.

There were a lot of things the defense didn’t do well. Most of them surprising, even with the graduation of Troy Dye and Bryson Young as well as the opt outs. On the edge Mase Funa was clearly out of shape early in the season, KT whiffed on some tackles early, Jamal Hill in that nick run support role tended to come in like he was on ice skates. The good news is that it really looked like it improved in the second half of the season. I think that their sins were minor compared to the interior DL. I have some examples, the picture below is one of them - Jermar Jefferson’s 82 yard TD run. There were several blatant holds on the play, when it happened I was sure it was coming back. In addition to other things going on and the holds Jordon Scott got bullied and basically blocked KT out of the play, while Austin Faoliu was being spun around with the grace of a taxiing Boeing 747. Amazing that Jefferson (behind Noah Sewell’s back) scored while literally surrounded.

I wholeheartedly agree, most of the people moving this season with Jordon Scott involved him being moved. Which is surprising, considering how valuable he has been in the past. After Jordon’s freshman season, where he was a 247 freshman All-American, I thought we could have a baby Vince Wilfork on our hands. Jordon didn’t improve like you would expect him to. He was still a key part of this defense 2017-19 and was responsible for a lot of eaten up blocks and those goal line and short yardage stops, and deserves to be remembered for that. In 2020 - wooooo, I think those saying his decision to lose weight for NFL scouts hurt him are correct. He didn’t look any more explosive, less so actually. Jordon lost what made him unique, which was his leverage from being a wide and short rock. Honestly he looked awful for most of the season, it looked like he finally woke up for part of the Fiesta Bowl. The staff most likely agreed since he and Faoliu were both benched from being starters for the Pac-12 championship and Kristian Williams looked better. It says a lot that Scott didn’t receive a combine invite. Austin Faoliu did, as an FYI. I’ve seen Oregon fans blame the DBs and LBs for the defensive shortcomings this season, but I’m staunchly in the camp that it was the interior DL that was by far the weakness of the team.

I agree. Turnovers were the difference between going 7-0 and 4-3. Going from top-10 in turnover margin in 2019 to 2020 is mind boggling. Oregon’s turnover margin from 2019 to 2020 is the all time record for change from one year to the next, a negative 2.5 per game change. 2019 Oregon was 5th in country, and 2020 they were 121st out of 127. The running backs fumbled more in half the games. Shough threw a pick 3.6% of attempts, Herbert was 1.4%. The team fumbled the ball more times in seven games than they did in 14. Giveaways went from .8 per game in 2019 to 2.3 in 2020. Meanwhile, the defense only forced turnovers in two of seven games, ranking 106th the year after being 11th in 2019. When it’s both the offense and defense getting so much worse that it’s a statistical anomaly that means there are multiple reasons for both. The inexperience you mentioned is the biggest one. I’d think the result on defense is different with takeaway artists like Jevon Holland, Thomas Graham, and Brady Breeze. On offense it’s obviously the QB decision making. Luck is also a big part of turnovers, because the football bounces the way it does and a longer season would flatten out the statistics a bit. Secondary factors include the poor pass rush from the DL and blitzes that are supposed to help force turnovers, and possibly the offense having more of an option element. The good news is that the team was competitive despite that ugly turnover ratio. I’m expecting a huge improvement for 2021. No doubt there will be ball security drills galore for the offense, and an emphasis on creating turnovers by the defense.

I read that track PRs are being shattered for that very reason of the Covid shutdowns. More time to train with fewer distractions, like in-person class. I think the North Carolina athletic department had previously taken advantage of that phenomenon.

Hopefully JTT decides before the 2024 draft. Avante Dickerson came out on an unofficial visit in December, and one that didn’t allow any access to anything - coaches had to FaceTime him from the building he’s standing next to. Ceyair Wright did the same with Oregon, Michigan, and Notre Dame. JTT has been to Tuscaloosa and Eugene on unofficial visits, not Columbus. He wants to take official visits, if he does all three and it’s one a week he might not announce until June. The recruiting dead period extension hurts Oregon more than a lot of schools. Since are no unofficial visits or junior days the large groups Cristobal likes to have in aren’t happening. The spring game and it’s usual big recruiting weekend is also a big tool, when your spring game gets 40k and no other Pac-12 school gets more than 10k it’s a big advantage. Both the 2022 and 2023 classes for Oregon are being hampered by this.

If this was the case it would be great news. I don’t think that Thompson has had the opportunity to scare away any of his competition. There haven’t been any practices, just weights and conditioning. Unless Thompson benched 400 pounds and then bullied Shough next to his locker. I think the likelier scenario is that Cristobal and Moorhead know Shough’s ceiling and floor, and they were candid with him that he likely won’t ever start another game at Oregon. Spring football is (hopefully) starting soon and the coaches didn’t want to waste reps on Shough.