WTD25

Dan Lanning pre game speech: "Understand something. Why are you wearing black? You're going to a Trojan funeral." I've always liked the black uniforms, but after that statement, I like them even more.

Yeah, that was a dumb question. I don't blame him for being salty. Having a good year and now out of the playoffs with the loss. I agree with Josh Pate's take on the USC / Riley situation: "I totally understand if USC fans are frustrated and want him gone. He's made wholesale changes this year that are right for the program, but are changes that should have happened 3 years ago. That said, those changes will finally have payoff next year and the year after. If you don't want to wait 2-3 more years, I get it, but if you do, you might finally see USC where they ought to be." ** quotations above don't mean word for word, but basically what Pate said. With USC's #1 2026 recruiting class--I know it's ranked that high because of sheer volume--but that's where you have to start to build depth, and that could set USC on track. My preference is not to poke the USC bear. All they need is a Mari Cristbal or Lanning-type recruiter to make recruiting life difficult for the Ducks. That said, my sign would have said, "Extend Lincoln Riley, or re-hire Clay Helton!"

@David Marsh I liked your thought about how this was a classic P12 matchup with high powered offenses that the defenses won't be able to fully shut down. Had a similar thought during the game, that it felt like the Chip Kelly era matchups where I would root really hard for a 2 TD lead before relaxing a little bit. You knew the opponent would score some, but with a 2 TD lead, that put pressure on the other team to change their approach, and you knew the Ducks would keep scoring.

Oregon is favored by 6.5 against UW, while they were favored over USC by a range of 9.5 to 12.5. I'm kind of surprised by that. I would have pegged USC as better than UW. Perhaps the UW homefield is narrowing the gap between Oregon? I also don't like facing a very mobile QB. Hope the Ducks can finally get 90%+ healthy for this one.

That was a stressful game to watch, but overall good considering we were down 3 LTs, the C, and our 3 top WRs. If Oregon can get fully healthy, I love their upside. USC OC / Passing Game Cord. Strategy: “Throw the ball up and the refs will throw the flag . . . every time.” I know Sadiq gets a lot of love, and deserves it, but I’m really liking TE #9 Johnson. While Sadiq is an athletic freak of nature, Johnson is a monster that can run.

RUN THE BALL!!!

No thanks. I don’t want to give USC the dignity.

I’m nervous about this one. USC is going to be a heavy lift for the Ducks. OBD has struggled against teams with high-powered passing attacks. Hoping Dan Lanning has them prepared. Go Ducks!

YouTube YV: “After taking advantage of the one-time $20 credit for the inconvenience, please anticipate a $20/month increase in your bill shortly.”

Been some time since I've been this excited about an Oregon RB . . . nothing but a bright future. And look who his lead blocker was. None other than Davison! These two are such an awesome combo when on the field together. "Hey Stein! More please."

My opinion is this may be a coping mechanism in response to seeing outcomes we'd rather not see . . . "they must be holding back." I don't believe the Ducks are holding anything back, and if you asked any coach/player, I'd bet there's no way any of them are okay flirting that closely with losses just to pace themselves or hold back for later. I don't believe those close wins are "part of the plan". The Ducks have some things they need to work on, but the beauty of it all is that they have the coaches, players/talent, and motivation to learn, develop, and get better in time to reach all their goals this year. Go Ducks!

Great observation here. If the Ducks go up by two TDs at any point, then Iowa is forced to start passing. Iowa’s passing attack looked downright dreadful; the Ducks would have blown them out.

It’s year 3 for Stein, and I share your indifference to Stein as OC. Continuity is usually a plus, but I’ve not been enamored with the offense recently. Ducks haven’t scored more than 20 points against a good team this year. And, no, I’m not counting the 30 against PSU since 13 points came in overtime; 17 points in regulation.

I’m with you on this. Scoring by the offense has been underwhelming. With nearly 300 yards rushing against Iowa, the Ducks should have scored more than 18 points. Some blame the weather in recent games, but Oregon has always played in rainy, cold weather so I don’t find that to be a compelling reason for averaging in the teens on offense. In fact, I checked the weather in Eugene around game time. It was 44 degrees. Had it been raining in Eugene, it would have been the same conditions as in Iowa City.

My advice to Dan Lanning: Win the remaining games on your schedule.

I'm just glad the young kids were paying attention all those years. Always love hearing when recruits say "Oregon's been my dream school since I was a kid. Grew up watching __________ (insert LMJ, DAT, Mariota, KT, etc.)

Sorry . . . couldn't help myself:

It was inspired by one of the members posting on the OBD. They would say "Mario no O" So I just remove all "o"s from his name, LOL . . . Mari Cristbal

Article: https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/mario-cristobal-bungled-last-year-no-1-nfl-draft-pick-but-his-talent-squandering-is-more-egregious-in-2025/

Article: OutKickThe Miami Hurricanes Have A Mario Cristobal ProblemThe Miami Hurricanes have once again lost to an unranked opponent, leaving many in Coral Gables questioning the abilities of their head coach.

Article: https://collegesportswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/college-football/2025/11/01/miami-football-mario-cristobal-annual-failure/87038477007/

This is so great. I encourage you to watch Josh's reaction. He talks through what he's seeing from Miami/Mari Cristbal . . . and that he just doesn't understand how so much talent isn't matching the results on the field (sound familiar?). He so eloquently discusses what we learned during Mari's tenure here, and you can see that the lightbulb is nearly fully turned on; he's receiving a revelation in real time. The Miami discussion starts at the 4:45 minute mark. Enjoy!

Really annoying that the channels went away at the same time the email was sent. Also, I blame Disney for this. They're trying to push their streaming service. It won't get me. I refuse to watch commercials, so if the only way to watch sports is being force-fed ads, I may do the unthinkable and give up sports (at least watching them).

I'm locked in on Dan Lanning. If he keeps the recruiting at a high level and the team in constant contention for the Playoff, I'll be good. Most of my frustration gets directed at the Coordinators (less so at Lupoi because that's DL's specialty, so he gets that heat). That said, Dan Lanning seems like a coach that would make changes when/if needed.

I know we all know how DL feels about Oregon, but it's still awesome to see him do it at a national level. Lanning truly is a trailblazer in this regard as he's the first big-time name/coach that I've seen shut down, so emphatically, a number of blue-chip programs. I think other coaches are following his lead (Cignetti, Rhule, etc.)