David Marsh

I'd probably throw Oregon beating Ohio State in 2024 on that list and potentially 2021. For 2024 it was a massive moment for the Lanning era. For 2021 it was a step forward where Oregon finally got a win over Ohio State who were 8-0. How they're 9-2 ... It's certainly q change in the times.

Absolutely... I can see pushing things to 16 just to get rid of first round byes entirely. Make everyone play. But after that there is some prestige lost for making the playoff. Get ranked in the top 24 and be in... that is 3 loss teams galore! I think there needs to be a reevaluation of the rankings to be honest because the notion that the B1G can only get 3 teams in and the SEC got 4 and I would argue Bama and Oklahoma probably didn't belong. Bama over Notre Dame is debatable but the committee opted to not anger the SEC, which in itself shows why ND needs to join a conference because the committee's fear of angering a conference is far greater than angering independent ND but they bent to give them a freebie for now. The talent difference between top 10 and top 24 is a gulf and there will be blow outs in the first two rounds. It's just the way it would be.

As a tight end Sadiq wasn't going to be a full time receiver but also a blocker. Sadiq was used in so many different ways this seasons but a lot of his plays were also him just blocking. Sure he had some spectacular games as a receiver and some amazing plays but tight ends spend a whole lot of time blocking. Also Sadiq was banged up for a good 3ish weeks in there. He disappeared in the first Indiana game because of injury. Against Washington Sadiq was targeted a lot but he dropped a TON of passes that game. Against Texas Tech he got a lot of targets early but Johnson started to get open more as teams keyed in on Sadiq.

I'm going to throw out another name... Aaron Flowers. . He was super active and in on every play. He also just hit opposing ball carriers really hard.

Yeah Finney is going to be huge next year. He'd count for sure. I also left off Dante and Dakorian. So much of this roster is young first year starters who are going to have big impacts next year.

Yeah I had him on my list and I would count him. He is going to play a big part of this offense next year.

They learned how to defend it and replicate it enough to nullify Oregon's uniqueness for recruitment more than anything else. The offense took a dip in 2016 under Helfrich mostly due to the defense being so bad that the offense never had the ball.

Frost was right that it was and still is hard to recruit to Oregon. The worth ethic and recruiting chops that really made the difference. This isn't to say coaches before Cristobal and Lanning weren't hard workers but they knew their limits with the Oregon brand at the time. Kelly had something unique to prich... Cool uniforms and a cool offense. Everyone caught up on the offensive side and for a while there tried to keep pace with uniforms. Cristobal and Lanning has been able to approach recruiting a different way because of the brand laid down by their predessors and in turn both elevated recruiting. NIL has also been a massive game changer for Oregon because they wouldn't have stood a chance with some players on this roster without it. Recruiting to Oregon was hard and is still hard. Recruiting in general is super hard work. I know most of us wouldn't want to work the hours Lanning does. So don't take Frost's old quote as a slight on Oregon. It was true that getting top end talent to Eugene was difficult and exceedingly rare. It was the reality of where Oregon sat back then. Instead see Frost's quote for what it was... A moment in time where the Oregon brand was in its ascent but couldn't compete for to top recruits with the big boys. Things have changed in some massive ways. He wasn't wrong then ... But that doesn't mean that a statement of a past era applies to the Oregon of today.

There is absolutely an insurance policy in place. Those aren't terribly new. I know in 2014 Ifo had an insurance policy if he was injured and as a result fell out of the first three rounds. He did and got a few mil for it. Not ideal because it doesn't always make up for the money lost on not getting long term NFL contracts but that's still enough money to set themselves up. So yes... Moore has an insurance policy and has probably had one in place for a couple years.

It will always be an awful decision to move him from defense to offense. He would have been a star in an Oregon uniform if he stayed on defense.

I think I was referring to Ka'ai and Araghi both look very young. Probably upper 20s or low 30s. I have no qualms about Hampton and Mehringer in terms of experience only potential execution.

Internal hires I generally think are great from a continuity point of view. I think Ka'ai being promoted to an coach was part of the reason Moore has decided to stay another year. I think where some of the concern here for fans is that these internal hires are all super young. And there is nothing inherently wrong with promoting young coaches. It for a program like Oregon I think there is a mindset that the program should just go out and get the best of the best. Personally... I'm not so concerned with the QB situation. Moore needs to grow and progress and a lot of that comes from experience and he'll get a whole off-season to build. I'm more concerned with the edges. Matayo didn't produce that many sacks this year and Tuioti was fantastic but we need both players to be monsters. Are we going to get the most out of both of them via a young coach? We'll have to wait and find out. Also ... Though I love internal promotions I'll just bring up the internal promotions during Oregon long tenure era that everyone seems to dump on for internal hires... Helfrich to HC and Pellum to DC. I've personally been on record multiple times saying that Helfrich made sense to HC and was better than most give him credit for. Pellum made sense as an internal hire that just didn't work out. I don't know where I'm going with all this at this point. Your post got me thinking and this is just freeform thought dump.

It looks like both were promotions from within. Iny above posting the new coaching staff roster has a QB and Edge coach listed while Stein and Lupoi are not. I don't know how good they are as they are both young and I won't disqualify them because of youth. But Lanning is certainly betting on them over bringing in outside hires.

BOTH! Often both... sadly.

A few other thoughts... I don't remember seeing an annoucement of the new QB or Edge coaches but frankly I have been so busy with end of semester finals and grading that it is amazing I have kept up with anything. But... looking at the updated coaching roster shows some interesting things. https://goducks.com/sports/football/coaches Quarterbacks coach is Koa Ka'ai which was predicted to just get the promotion from within and it looks like the new edge coach is Kamran Araghi. both appear to be promotions from within. Lanning is certainly betting on himself and what he already has on staff. If it doesn't work out then I could see Lanning making some big moves in terms of coaches... but I am not feeling as confident about these two position coach promotions from within. Edges didn't produce enough last year.