David Marsh

He makes Moore look small. Moore isn't the most build quarterback but he doesn't normally look that small.

It's called desperation.

Or.... Good news? Did they want that coach? I haven't really followed the Blazers since Maurice Cheeks was the head coach. So that was... early 2000s

The way trainers and physical therapy work now will have him ready without as much lag time between injury recovery and physical fitness. In one of the earlier Ducks vs Them we saw McNutt working with trainers on rehabbing his leg. They were really working his muscles in some low impact ways. Such as the blood flow constriction where he had a strap around his leg restricting some blood flow and he was doing some light exercises but his muscles were working extra hard to build strength when he couldn't do any impact on them. That is really the modern physical therapy is to start the strength training as soon as possible because that keeps the body healthier. They aren't overworking him but they also don't want there to be a massive gap where he will need to work really hard to get into shape. Which could absolutely lead to him over doing it. The goal is to guide his workouts as they go and ramp him. So when they say he'll be ready... he'll be physically ready. I am sure he is working on the mental side of things already so once he is able to take reps in practice he'll be able to do so mentally as well as physically.

That was basically life under Cristobal. We were howling that we were bringing in great recruiting classes but always lost one or two games we had no place in losing. When Cristobal announced he was leaving for Miami that was one of the strangest feelings we have ever had as a fanbase. On the one hand we were losing someone who had gotten us close to the playoff, had won a Rose Bowl and two conference championships. Cristobal was and remains a good coach but he wasn't going to be the coach to bring the Ducks a national title. We'll continue to see how he does at Miami. He has this strange way of winning enough, and often winning some of the big games to keep people happy but he always finds a way to lose the games he's not supposed to. Cristobal is kinda the opposite of James Franklin. Franklin wins the games he supposed to (until the collapse that is) but fails to win the big ones. Cristobal will win many of the big games but lose some head scratches.

There was certainly special, though completely underestimated about the Pac-12.

It was a good "get right" game. But remember Rutgers has a pretty bad defense but their offense has been pretty good. Producing 300 yards through the air and a QB who has been throwing at close to 70% was reduced to sub 100 passing and only a 30% completion. So yes their defense sucks but their offense has kept them in games. So don't completely write this one off. But it's a stepping stone.

Crazy thing, as you know, is that Oregon takes walk ons from in State that could be on scholarship elsewhere. The NIL basically makes them scholarship without the scholarship.

I'm thinking part of this is Lanning also rewarding outright work ethic right now. Thomas by the sound of it is continuing to work his butt off and Lanning is rewarding that. That is not to say that Novosad and Moga are preparing to jump in the portal but it could also be a sign of that. But for now Thomas is the one working the hardest in the quarterback room and getting rewarded for his efforts. If Moore goes down with an injury, heaven forbid, that is when and probably only when we see the true qb2 come out.

Love it. Also... Just going to throw this out there. But does anyone think for a minute that James Franklin sat his team down and made them take their medicine like that? With that passion for getting better? Also anyone else notice that Lanning was doing the full team meeting in the indoor practice facility and not the comfy as auditorium they have set up for team meetings? Lanning made them take their medicine as he ripped them for their mistakes against Indiana. And the players took their medicine happily which showed against Rutgers.

For the pac-12 to survive and truly thrive your have to go back in time and prevent USC and UCLA from leaving and basically out in place a "you win it you earn it" to unequal revenue sharing. When it came to football both were the beneficiaries of the success of others making big bowl games as neither were terribly good overall for the last decade. Incentivize them to invest and reap the benefits. This would hurt the bottom of the conference but fine. That's the way things are. If the pac-12 survived the Ducks would have won the conference last year probably been ranked number 3 going into the playoff. And probably would have done some damage as they would have avoided the Ohio State buzz saw.... Which might not have been as much of a buzz saw because they wouldn't have suffered an agonizing loss to Oregon mid season. Probably would have lost to Michigan still. But may have won the conference? So who knows how things would have turned out. As for this season I think Oregon would win the Pac-12 again and would make the playoff. Granted, the whole conference would be a bit better than some of its pieces. Oregon State would still have Smith probably and would be middle to middle top of the pack. Cal would be the surprise team this year. USC would be probably number 3... Just because they'd be underperforming. Ok... Going to stop there because here's the absolute sad truth of this for me. The pac-12 is a way more fun conference to me. I did love that adorable canabal conference. It was exciting from week to week. Sure Oregon has had some of the biggest ranked games in our history in the B1G but frankly you say Oregon v Rutgers and I don't get that excited, even with or in spite of the result. But Oregon v Cal? Sign me up! I'd happily watch that game right now. Cal actually looks reasonably good this year. And FSU got Stanforded last weekend! I don't being on the receiving end of a loss at the Farm but let's be honest... If you have to play an academic school who would you rather play, Stanford or Northwestern? Give me Stanford because of the history and their supremely stupid mascot for a school that prides itself on academics. They are the color red... And their band made the dumbest looking tree imaginable and they play it off like we're the fools. Meanwhile... Northwestern has the uninspired... Wild cat. Ughhh. Yes... I do miss the old Pac-12 but I would rather be in the Big Bland 10 over being left out in the cold with Oregon State and Washington State. That is a date worse than conference death.

It's hard to rack up that many yards if your offense doesn't have the ball as often as it does. I looked up the game that has the record yards and that was Cal at Oregon in 2015 for 777 yards. The Score of that one was Cal 28 and Oregon 44. A lot more of a shootout type of game than a blow out. Basically to hit records yards either the defense needs to be really good or quite bad. In this case the defense played very well and kept the ball in the hands of the offense. Even though the time of possession (now a mostly meaningless stat) was slightly in favor of Rutgers 32 mins.

They are also getting paid well via NIL and if they invest it right they can set themselves up well after college. Better than the vast majority of college grads for sure.

SD has a group that has their view and they never want to be challenged. I need to do quite a bit of research, and not sure it will happen, but there is a narrative there that the Oregon linebackers are absolute garbage. I'm not at all convinced by their argument that has no analysis attached but is just angry screaming at anyone who disagrees. I know linebackers have tons of roles to fill and depending on what they are doing on any given play their impact may not be seen or recorded on a stat sheet. Again... I would need to do further research on this one.