David Marsh

It's pre-season make fun of rats and cougs time. Oregon State has a truly awful and messed up schedule because OSU and WSU went full scorched earth on the only conference that would help them... the Mountain West. These schedules are absolutely dreadful and the sad fact of the matter is that for the Beavers and Cougs they might not even dominate these schedules they threw together out of desperation. Oregon State BeaversOregon State Football ScheduleView the 2025 Oregon State Football Schedule at on3.com. The Beavers Football schedule includes opponents, date, time, and results. Washington State CougarsWashington State Football ScheduleView the 2025 Washington State Football Schedule at on3.com. The Cougars Football schedule includes opponents, date, time, and results. And perhaps the saddest part of it all is that OSU and WSU play each other TWICE! Anyway... here are my record predictions. Oregon State 7-5 Washington State 9-3 I think both come out with winning records but I think they both take some embarrassing losses. And even if one of them comes out of this with say.... 11-1 these schedules are so bad that they aren't getting a playoff invite no matter what.

I think playing a bunch of ACC teams that have no connection to Stanford (and Cal for that matter) was difficult to get people to the games. Especially since neither team is good. I've said it a million times at this point but one more for good measure. Stanford is perhaps the biggest loser in the transfer portal and NIL era. Their academic standards make it that an athlete must qualify for for masters programs and be accepted for those programs effectively independent of football. So they feed the portal and don't draw from it. Sure they can kinda target some undergrads but there is a reason David Shaw left when he did... He couldn't retain or recruit effectively anymore. Players come and go and Stanford can't compete.

Colt absolutely would be recruited by Lanning. In large part because he was a highly rated Oregon recruit and protecting your backyard, even if small is important. I feel Colt was close to Kelly and didn't have a connection or relationship with Helfrich. I think the coaching change hit him really hard. I feel Lanning's culture could keep Colt in line. The Lanning culture is really focused on wider relationships.. Also Kelly and Helfrich were both coaches you did their things and you either related to them and connected or didn't. Winning covers up a lot of culture problems. The behind the scenes stuff shows a lot of how Lanning's culture works and it gives players a LOT of structure. Something that Colt needed for sure. Also the game has changed a lot and the rules around coaches and players have changed a lot in the last decade and player coach interactions aren't as limited as they used to be to the season.

I had to go back and look at the schedule. The Ducks dropped 77 on Southern Utah out the gate. This was the highest amount of points scored until the Lanning Ducks dropped 81 on PSU. So that 77 is going to inflate numbers a bit. 42 points against a 4 win Nebraska team. 49 against a 7-5 Wyoming team. 35 against 7-5 ASU (this game was a Duck loss) 45 against 5-7 Cal Which makes about 48 points per game. Though I'd say the competition doesn't put up a great measure to what the a healthy Herbert lead team could do. Where the meat of the schedule landed with the best teams in the conference that year, Washington, Stanford and Washington State all came when Herbert was injured. Burmeiser was certainly not up to the task of leading this team as a true freshman. The other big team in the Pac-12 that year was USC and Oregon didn't have them on the schedule. I'm not saying the Taggart offense was bad but looking at who it played against gives me pause. It would have been better with a healthy Herbert against heavy hitters in the schedule but we'll never know how well. Herbert was also just an amazing quarterback who made every coach he played for look good offensively. As always I value your comments and view point Mike.

Totally agree. There are some records that really can't be broken. On the flip side there are some incredible teams of the past that can't even remotely compare to the teams we have today. There is just no way to compare even 2000's football to today's product. They are just so wildly different in terms of rules, schemes, and player training.

I found Taggart was happy to run up the score. Where Kelly, Helfrich and Lanning all slow it down and burn the clock in a blowout and even put in backups... Taggart always seemed to keep his foot on the gas. Think of how many more touchdowns Nix would have had in 2023 if he wasn't sitting on the bench the entire 4th quarter? As for Cristobal... Yeah... I'm planning on looking at some of his offensive philosophy at the time. Has Cristobal finally learned to let hai OC actually do their thing? Maybe, we'll see this season if the Cam Ward production was an anomaly or if MC finally learned something.

Interesting thought.... What if Helfrich hired Wilcox as a SC instead of Hoke? Probably would have had a job a few years longer. Justin Wilcox was a pretty good DC but as a HC he can't seem to get both sides of the ball aligned. He also doesn't have the resources. I have a different view of Helfrich than many. I don't see him and his staff digging a hole for the program but rather being left behind in terms of recruiting. Offensively they were fine.... Defensively they were a mess. Recruiting they were ahead of Bellotti but weren't changing with the times.

I'll add that what if scenario to my off season writing list next spring! That is something interesting to ponder.

In both cases of Taggart and Cristobal when they left they helped Oregon in more ways than one. Leaving so Oregon could move on to a better hire AND giving the Ducks a nice bit of pocket money to invest in the next hire. Had to go dig this one up... https://fishduck.com/2021/12/lets-be-thankful-for-the-coaches-who-have-left-oregon/ I almost forgot I wrote it but it is supplemental to this article.

Well we kinda do have the answer to that... Mario Cristobal. Taggart's sole class was a hybrid class of Helfrich and himself. Cristobal had a hybrid Taggart-Cristobal class but after that he landed a few top ten classes. A change in the recruiting mindset was needed and Taggart could do it but Cristobal actually did it at Oregon before Lanning arrived who elevated to a whole new level.

Yeah that's fair. He was only at Oregon for a year but his legacy is a complicated one. Next up in this little series is Cristobal who also has an interesting legacy at Oregon. But that one might have to wait till the Spring because the season is fast approaching!

For Oregon to win by 25+ would require a super dominant game for the Ducks. I think 21 is reasonable as I think the Ducks win by three scores but I'm not sure the team would be insync enough to win by 25+. This is probably the toughest game we have before Penn State.

Went back to an old article of mine looking at 2022 numbers. https://fishduck.com/2023/06/should-oregon-move-to-the-b1g-im-not-convinced/ Washington was No. 2 in the pac-12 in revenue generated but while Oregon was making money UW was not. Is imagine now they would be in the black overall with some B1G income but Oregon should still be leading by a healthy margin.

Good thing the Ducks athletic program is in the black. Or we'd be in some real trouble with the House Settlement. Looking at those LA schools. I don't remember where Washington sat in terms of athletic income but I know from the Pac-12 days Oregon was the top earner.

I think it's one of their B1G-ist regrets if you ask me.