David Marsh

I believe the other thing at play here is that PI is a non reviewable call. That means it can't be reviewed if it happens to be overturned but it also means that if the play is reviewed it cannot be added. If there isn't a flag at the end of the play there won't be one. I don't think I'd like it if it was a reviewable call to be honest because it would slow down the game if they could call these after the play.

THIS! Some day we'll get the officiating benefit but not until we have won 5 titles.

I would also love to see more 13 personnel, 1 running back and 3 tight ends. Put the tight ends in line and motion them out and create mismatches and nightmares or keep them in line for some power running. We did some of this this season and it makes the other team struggle. I don't think Indiana has enough players who can cover them AND line up against the run. And that's the point.

I think in the second half against TT Lanning was adamant about the run game and burning clock and the offense slowed down a bit. In the same game I feel some of the play calling was at times too aggressive or not aggressive enough. Strange I know... But that 4th and goal play where everyone rolled out to the right was awful... We did something similar on 4th down against Washington in 2023 and it didn't work... It's aggressive but it also puts all the defenders in one half of the field and based on the flow the offense willingly gives up the other half of the field.... It failed both times by the way. The insistence on running the ball and not using the pass to open up the run a bit more was a bit frustrating. I also don't think Whittington is the right runningback if you need to get a defense to back off. I know one sack from Moore Whittington was in pass protection and then ran out of the backfield as a receiver... Probably designed that way but he didn't get his head around for even a potential pass before Moore was sacked. Davison is a brusier of a runner and a brutal blocker. I feel we'll need him on Friday.

Oregon was coming off a bye and I do think there was some lost focus in that week. Indiana was also coming off a bye but Cignetti is older and a more expirenced head coach and based on the Rose Bowl as well was able to keep his team more focused. Also his team is mostly composed of juniors and seniors which is a huge help for the focus side of things. In short Cignetti's team was far better prepared. Lanning I feel has done better with some bye weeks but on the whole I think that is one area he needs to improve upon. Last year the first bye came a week before playing game 4 against UCLA, who weren't good. Then the very last week before the final game against Washington was the next bye and we'll Washington wasn't all that good either. Then the next bye was a long one before the Rose Bowl and I don't need to get into that. Lanning does a fantastic job getting his team ready on a week to week basis and at times keep his team going when they are tired and beaten up.the Wisconsin game last season is a fantastic example, it was the last game before that bye before Washington, and you could tell that team was exhausted. But Lanning kept them going. So I'm hoping the fast turnaround before the next playoff game will have a far more focused Ducks team. Even the time between first and second round was almost 2 weeks which doesn't play into Lanning's hand as well.

Now... Can Oregon scheme it up to take advantage of it all? I think there is a good chance at it all. But we get to live in Indiana's shadow hopefully until late Friday night when we throw them down.

That and I think Saban retiring has been key as well. Saban didn't like how NIL was changing the game and left as it was his right to do so I'm not throwing shade on him for that. But Saban really inflated the SEC because Bama was just so darn good under him. The narrative was simple... We have Bama and Bama wins championships so any team that beats Bama is also super good. The way Bama and those 21 and 22 Georgia teams were able to build their rosters can't happen anymore to the same extent. They'll need to adapt and so far Smart is in a strange position because he has still been successful but he is 0-2 in the new playoff format while winning two conference titles.

Absolutely.... The narrative right now feels like a "why bother playing them, just roll over an accept defeat" I'm hoping Dan Lanning has something cooked up for this game.

Experience is the only thing that counters raw talent. Let's hope that our roster has enough experience to overcome their experience now.

I found this to be pretty interesting for those interested on this topic.

I really really want Oregon and Lanning to win the Peach Bowl and get a shot at the Natty. I'm fighting the pessimism right now.

This isn't entirely new... College football is the unofficial lower league for the NFL and the NFL treats it as such. QB development doesn't really happen in the NFL anymore and instead they are looking for ready made talent. I remember ten years ago an article complaining about how many spread QBs are in college and how that didn't mesh with what the league was looking for. The reality is that CFB and the NFL are two different metas in terms of how the game is played. I don't think any college teams anymore have the talent to fully execute an NFL style of offense and defense because the talent required isn't condensed on any one roster. The NFL has ALL the athletic freaks from CFB and as a result the worst NFL team has more freakish athletic talent than even that 2022 Georgia team that was freaky good. Dante Moore is not ready by NFL standards to be a starting QB unless they want to develop him but that's not realistic. The Ducks are also not an NFL roster. It's one of the reasons why trying to predict the best NFL talent from college is so difficult and how players who seem good but not great in college may rise to NFL super stars. Anyways... Rant over.

Indiana is a unicorn as they have defied all established logic. They were given a gift in a game between either Alabama or Oklahoma as both are awful in different ways and they pulled Bama. I'm not sure if Simpson in the second half would have made a difference for the Bama offense because of how bad that offensive line is and their lack of run game but it didnt hurt to make sure it was a lopsided score. Oregon's offensive line needs to deflect that pass rush and establish a run game at around 4-5 yards per carry to win. Oddly enough in the previous game Davison was averaging about 5 yards per carry. I think in the second half against TT Lanning wanted to get the run game going more and focused more on it. Abandoning the run against Indiana was one of the things that lost that game. There were others but feeding Davison will be key.

The middle of the TT defensive line is where they were the weakest. The problem I think stemmed from Poncho having a bad day. The middle run blocking just wasn't there like it had been. The edges were always going to be difficult to attack as TT has fantastic edges. Bailey is a first round draft pick for sure. The run game never got in rhythm and there was never really a hot hand but Whittington wasn't the answer for sure as he seemed the least effective.

TT defense is legit probably the best defense in college football. Oregon has found running room against many other good rush defenses, including Indiana who we let off the run when we shouldn't have. But we had nothing against TT all day.

and I kinda feel like they are going to pull it off right now. But then again I felt like Oregon was going to completely embarrass themselves today in the Orange Bowl but we didn't so who knows.

Well the SEC was guaranteed one team in the semis.

I think we stand the best chance of the remaining teams to take down Indiana. If we don't do it I think they win it all. I really don't want to live in a reality where Indiana does a two year rebuild with a coach and gets a championship and we have been building for a couple decades and still in pursuit. So... Lanning and Co get it done!

So the curse of the bye is kinda alive... Indiana is the only one that doesn't go down for having a bye so far. But Indiana seems to break all the "rules" and get away with it.

Lane Kiffin is really going to look dumb for leaving if Ole Miss pulls it off.

In fairness to our defense on this... They got into the TT QBs head big time. Early pick from Finny and the. A bunch of tipped passes and some sacks coming from the pass rush really sped up his internal clock. So yeah a lot of incompletions because the ball was out too early and off target. I think quite a few of those throws were also predetermined in that he was going to pass there because that's the play and Oregon blew it up.

If not for Moore's two picks in like 3 minutes and putting the defense in a real bad position the Ducks weren't doing terribly. I don't think they'd get 6 sacks again that's for sure.

Probably that we are low class for scoring that last touchdown. Which I don't blame the Ducks for at all because taking a knee just gives them the ball with time on the clock and they weren't going to take a knee in the end zone.... So what were we supposed to do? Not run straight ahead? It was field position and time and down. If it was 3rd with that much time on the clock Lanning would have taken the knee.

Maybe DeBoer should have taken the Michigan job. His seat is going to get HOT after this game.

Or an offensive line built on Chris Petersen recruits who are in their 5th or 6th year. And the same would go for a defense built on Petersen and Lake (Lake was actually good on defense for UW) and DeBoer benefited greatly from those 5th and 6th years.