David Marsh

In my article tomorrow I look a bit more broadly on the changes coming to the program. But to make it short... The first string all stayed and the second string would have the same role they have this year next year. And there probably aren't the NIL resources to pay everyone and the starters just got a whole lot more expensive. Probably the most expensive players in terms of NIL are 4th year starters because they could have gone to the draft but aren't and will need to be compensated for staying.

Definitely a depth piece. Johnson is returning and will be a beast. Olesh from PSU has lots of potential but will need to learn the system. Plenty of time for that for sure. Kendre Harrison is massive at 6'7" but will need to put on some eight for sure as an incoming freshman. With only three tight ends the room was going to be thin. But adding another will definitely create some depth. I'm surprised that Vander Ploog and Roger Saleapaga both opted for the portal when Sadiq was moving on and Johnson was the only returning starter and Harrison was the incoming frosh. Lots of space for them to carve out roles for themselves with expirenced in the Lanning system.

But was he already getting pushed out by Wyatt? Purchase redshirted last year and Wyatt haa entered the rotation as a change of pace edge rusher. I would rather have Purchase on the roster but with both ends returning and Wyatt and maybe even Rushing pushing him from below how safe was his position on the two deep?

Crazy thing is that many players are being paid more than the coaches these days. I saw the salleries of these two the other day and both are making less than 2mil. A lot of big name players are making double that or even triple that if some reports can be trusted. I mean that freshman tight end at USC is supposed to be making 2 mil a year and he hasn't even played a down of college football yet.

I had students raking a test earlier this week... So I sat there checking any transfer portal news constantly. But otherwise I am moving into off season mode. I won't watch any of the championship game. With a 3 and 1 year old at home the ONLY games I get to carve out watching time are Duck games. I frankly don't care too much about who wins the national championship. I won't be happy with either winning but it is what it is. It's kinda funny for me because I football season but I generally hate the begining of the school year because as a teacher it is pretty boring with a lot of paperwork and not that much fun because you don't know any of the kids yet. So oddly enough right now my classes are more fun to teach but moving away from football season itself. I have other stuff to focus on at this point. I guess I'm ready for a bit of down time.

Absolutely this... that stint as an OC was in 2016!!! That was 10 years ago. He's developed and changed as a coach or frankly he wouldn't be a Oregon. I trust Lanning and I look forward to seeing some minor changes. I want to see more deep passing routes on offense for starters. Let lose some of these speed demons we have. Probably need some offensive line improvements as well but I think he'll get them.

Or my favorite... the Clorox Bowl Come on this needs to be a bowl game!!!

It could also be fun that if teams lose in the playoff they have a losers bracket! The losers of each round of the main playoff get seeded into the following rounds of the losers bracket. That wouldn't happen at all but it could be amusing for sure.

Almost everyone. The average age of their offense is something like 22. Beyond that most of their starters are in their 4th, 5th or 6th years. They have like one sophomore starting and the rest are long time vets. They are losing pretty much their entire team.

And ... The playoff should end in early January not basically start. And signing day should be late January or just revert back to the more traditional day in February. December is madness right now.

Ok... I don't like it because of tradition... But tradition is dead. I overall like it for this reason... If a player is in a place where they would like to hit the transfer portal because of the depth chart and want to preserve their red shirt in the process they could reasonably say to their team... "Hey I want to hit the portal this off season and preserve my redshirt. I'm low on the depth chart but I still want to be committed to the team and stick it out the rest of the season and contribute whenever and wherever I can, and preserve this eligibility. Maybe even the playoff when redshirt doesn't count" The player I think of most for this is Makhi Hughes. He didn't want to lose a year of eligibility sitting behind 3 to 4 backs at Oregon but just think he could have contributed late in the season when we lost depth. More than anything it gives players incentive to buy in and not quit to preserve their redshirt. Nine games mean they have to sit for three regular season games. That is easy to plan around.

Benson MIGHT have had an additional year as he was a JC athlete apparently. He would have had to petition for it and not guaranteed. He was great this year and I wish him well.

Was he expecting to start this year? I mean I doubt he was thinking that. So why not stay a year and develop and see if you stand a good chance at starting the next season? You'll know where you stand by the time the portal opens up in a year. It what it is... I won't get too worked up about it.

He has made a choice... by promoting from within he has opted to maintain some continuity which I think is needed. However, there are still two open coaching spots in his staff. He has to make another choice as to who to fill those spots with. Does he get a QB coach or a TE coach? Does he bring someone in as strictly a positional coach or does he look for someone older perhaps to be a positional coach AND a CO-OC? The same goes for the defensive side of the ball. He hasn't made those staffing changes yet and maybe I've been living under a rock for the past few days but I don't recall seeing an announcement that makes those promotions official yet either. I would be surprised if they're not. But I also think there is a very good chance Lanning brings in some new blood who take on Co-OC/DC titles. I have more faith in Hampton oddly enough than Mehringer but I'll trust Dan. At this point Dan needs to squeeze out a bit more from his staff and team to get over the hump to win it all. Seriously... In the last three seasons Lanning has lost a grand total of 2 regular season games! The problem has been rematches with top teams in the post season whether that is a conference championship game or a playoff game.

Don't be surprised if more money from NIL shows up. I'm sure Uncle Phil is talking with Lanning and I wouldn't at all be surprised if Phil goes all in one of these years to get the players needed to get that championship.

It was a long shot that he stayed for another season. Johnson has really come along this season. Olesh and Harrison (the due is six foot seven!) I think we will have plenty of weapons at tight end. Though we lost two tight ends so that is less great for the depth. Wouldn't be surprised if we go after another tight end in the portal at this point.

I turned the game off at the start of the second quarter. I needed to be a good role model for my young children and yelling at the TV is not that. After losses I usually need to disconnect a bit for a few days. It did ruin my entire weekend for the record... kinda hated it was a Friday night game because of that. I'm now dipping back into Oregon football again... in part because I feel like I am a true fan... in part because I think I'm just addicted to Oregon football. I can't stay away forever. It does have an emotional toll on me for sure... but the wins are amazing and lows are really low. https://fishduck.com/2023/12/the-pain-of-being-a-superfan/

COVID shirts have kinda skewed the blue chip ratio. Having players who are older and more experienced do make up for having more athletically talented and younger players. Oregon has had younger teams than the last few national champions because we haven't been able to hold onto our young talent into their 4th or even 5th years. Yeah... we've had some 5th and 6th year QBs in Nix and Gabriel but not a roster of them. What is the average age of the starters on Indiana's roster? Like 22? That's super old and old vets are going to be more consistent than younger players. It might be the new path forward to undermine the blue chip ratio ... just get a bunch of old grizzled vets. Also the way the transfer portal works it doesn't get put into the blue chip ratio. At least I believe blue chip only counts players out of high school and some of the most coveted transfers are players who didn't big names out of high school but developed into something. Probably need to start changing how the metrics work.

First game I would say yes... Second game... maybe.

I think it probably would have been better just to hold the game at Indiana and probably more Oregon fans would have shown up.

Biggest transfer portal losses in the Lanning era! Many are not all that surprising, namely Novosad and Moga, but this is a LOT of backups lost. Vander Ploog is not that surprising as Oregon got Olesh (sp?) from Penn State. Remember last year Olesh was Oregon's 2nd choice for Tight End and wiffed there and ended on Ploog. Cooper Perry is a little surprising that he is leaving as he got some snaps as a freshman and could build off that but a new receiver class is coming in and I could see the motivation to leave. This is cleaning house for sure... whether by player choice of Lanning's. LOTS of players going away and this will be an interesting reload.

Money... money and more money problems. Just like most things college football the west coast is pretty isolated from the rest of college football world. The only major bowl game on the west coast has been the Rose Bowl. Oregon fans in Oregon had to travel to the Georgia which was going to be a far more expensive plane ticket than anything in Indiana and then there is hotel fair and all the other things that go into it. Additionally... the game was on a Friday night which means taking off more work for travel. Indiana was a shorter flight but also fans could conceivably DRIVE there.

I mean... yeah... probably the right answer for the Pac-12 to be honest. Work on trying to get back Washington, Cal and UCLA... probably add Stanford on that list too even though Stanford wouldn't dream of being in the same conference as Boise State. I think Stanford and Cal are the most likely west coast additions to the B1G if they look at adding a couple more teams. Probably Stanford to go with a Notre Dame addition to keep that rivalry alive. This is not a likely scenario right now. But yeah... if I was the Pac-12 commissioner I would be working behind the scenes to try and get Washington, Cal and UCLA back for sure. Now is that realistic? Absolutely NOT! I think Cal is the most likely one of that bunch because they aren't making B1G dollars but if Lupoi can get their program back on track and competing for the ACC then I think they hold out for a B1G invite and real money at that point. It's dumb but probably their best option. I went over this years ago and the reality is that the west coast is geographically isolated when it comes to expansion candidates. https://fishduck.com/2022/06/the-pac-12-is-geographically-isolated-from-the-rest-of-the-college-football-world/ Everything is just so spread out on the west coast that before the conference collapse there was no Power Conference overlap between the Pac-12 and any of the other Power Conferences. The B1G and Big 12 has Iowa and Iowa State in the same state, The Big 12 has West Virginia which is next door Virginia and Virginia Tech in the ACC also Penn State in the B1G. Then then the state of Texas had TAMU and the Texas schools in the same state and they were next to Louisiana and Arkansas both SEC states. I mean this goes on and on... But the Pac-12 never touched any of them... until now... but that doesn't count so much because G6 schools overlap with all the conferences doesn't mean they are good targets for expansion. Unless you are the zombie Pac-12 that is.

This has been going on for sometime now... coaches have been sitting players down and outlining their current trajectory towards playing time. Effectively being encouraged to leave.

I know he hasn't reached his ceiling. But I will be honest.... with the way this season ended I am questioning his promoting the two new coordinators from within. I think Hampton is up to the task as he had a lot of control at Tulane but I am questioning maybe the scheme Lanning is running at this point. Probably a point for a future article as I don't really want to go into it right now. But as for the offense.... I don't know if Mehringer is the right man for the job at the moment because the offense needs a kick in the butt. The athletes are there but when put up against the top defenses it fails to perform. Is it a Dante Moore problem? An offensive line problem? A receiver getting open problem? A schematic problem? More of the same doesn't feel like it will get us to where we are demanding to go... Going to be honest... I'm far more upset by this loss than the loss to Ohio State last year and Washington the year before that. That is three years and three failed rematch games. That is a pattern. Something needs to change. Furthermore... the Lanning defense has struggled against strong passing teams. Which are the three teams we have failed to beat in a rematch. Run heavy teams seems to be something we have figured out... but pass heavy is a problem.