9 hours ago, Charles Fischer said:

As I wrote in the article....one is 38 and the other is 39. Lanning is 39...

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.

7 hours ago, Washington Waddler said:

Just as a gentle reminder to this conversation, much of what is being discussed here has been in place at Oregon long before Dan Lanning was born.

Beginning with the program’s emergence during the Brooks/Bellotti era, it became increasingly apparent that much of our new success had its roots in the almost unheard of reliable longevity of its coaching staff, part of which was due to hiring from within. Not only recruits, but their coaches valued that they could rely upon the guy(s) making the pitch not going anywhere.

From that perspective, Lanning is just beginning to tap into that part of Oregon’s DNA, and building upon something long in place, the value of which he is beginning to realize is a core element of the program’s foundation and success.

What other way could he interpret the consistent, overriding message from both recruits and transfers that what they’ve found of value above all else at Oregon is a sense of family they’ve seen no where else?

Our national recognition certainly makes for higher visibility than in those earlier days, and it’s to be expected and applauded that Lanning expects and encourages his coordinators to move on to head coaching positions.

But, the media/fan driven hoopla of believing “Big Name” replacement hires is the only way to go is just that: razzle-dazzle. It’s from the consistency and trust that Oregon is built upon that makes us who we are today.

Dan gets that.

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.

5 hours ago, The Kamikaze Kid said:

As far as position coaches, I'm really hoping he brings in top level QB and edge coaches. With the current QBs and edges on the roster, along with competitive salaries, OBD should be able to bring in almost anybody they want and should.

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.

4 hours ago, Santa Rosa Duck said:

Thanks for the article Steven A. Nowadays I shake my head reading these articles . "Surgery was successful to repair the surgery". Really? I often cannot tell whether things like this are poor AI or poor writing.

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.

18 minutes ago, Tandaian said:

There is no way to balance schedules with 18 teams. It isn't possible for all the other B1G TEN teams to play all 4 west coast teams. The B1G TEN is looking out for its own interests as well. Do we really want to see Oregon, tOSU, Michigan, Indiana, Penn St. all play each other every year?

I'd also argue that there is no way to truly balance schedules because you don't know the strength of any of the given teams from year to year.

I'm sure many in the B1G schedule office thought that USC was going to cause more of a problem to B1G blue bloods than Oregon.

Also... no one saw Indiana's rise when the teams were sorted for who plays who years ago.

If you were putting the team slates together back in 2022 with the match-ups you would be absolutely shocked to find out that Oregon and Indiana both were power houses and both had a B1G Championship. And that Penn State imploded so badly that they fired Franklin, because Penn State has had a pretty manageable schedule from year to year, especially if you assume that Oregon and Indiana weren't supposed to be fighting for the top spot in the conference.

5 minutes ago, mikethehiker said:

And don't forget, the SEC now plays 9 conference games. No more padding wins. Half of the SEC will have an additional loss leading to 2-3 less ranked teams. Perception will finally start matching reality.

Still might take a few years...

After all they play in the best conference and now they have to play an additional game they'll need to be ranked even higher! (Insert sarcasm)

1 hour ago, Jon Joseph said:

David, I get it. Good point.

I have to pursue other schedules, but is there another B1G title contender with a schedule that would have the conference champion game being their ninth game in a row?

Probably not.

We're the is outsiders still in year three. We can get the awful schedules and I think Lanning embraces that.

I don't think it's a good thing but I think Lanning is going to spin it into one.

Just pumping some sunshine is all.

1 minute ago, Jon Joseph said:

Sorry for being crass, but this Idle Week sucks! 🤬

Oregon was the only P4 team in 2024 that had to play eight games in a row, and B1G HQ is doing it again? WT Fugazi!

Yeah I noticed that.

Though in truth I think Lanning doesn't do great with bye weeks. His messaging is fantastic on a week to week basis and he seems to kinda like the grind and bloodied up mentally that goes with the week to week.

We lost focus real bad in the bye week before Indiana.

So though not great... It is certainly something that I don't think bothers Lanning so much.

USC game 4 has the makings to be something special. USC has a new DC and a bunch of freshman that they are hoping to build around.

Meanwhile Oregon should have a lean mean veteran led machine. But it's USC so their offense will be good and we'll be at their house which is always fun to send their fans walking out early. Gotta beat that traffic!

2 minutes ago, HDuck said:

On Tuesday, the date of games will be revealed. It is unlikely there will be any kickoff times revealed this early.

A couple will get slotted in pretty early. Most won't until a week or two before the game itself. Butt here are always a few marque games in the first half of the season that get some early scheduled time slots. I think Oregon v Penn State had a time slot pretty quickly.

Michigan and Ohio State will be at noon.

That sort of thing.

Portland, OR is fine... But we can tell there is a big winter storm because the gorge winds from the east are cold which means the continental weather systems are COLD.

But I'm happy to not be in the massive winter onslaught.

10 hours ago, 1Ducker1 said:

Looks like the B1G is going to have to do some promoting.

They need to change up their scheduling but that can't happen until the next contract.

Big noon is a cool time slot to fill a premier game but outside of that other major games get split between CBS and NBC. Which don't put college football on all day like ESPN/ABC.

Also Fox Sports 1 was supposed to give some competition to ESPN but it doesn't. Same thing with CBS sports. So those aren't helping the viewership cause.

Furthermore, some fans get real picky about commentators. I seriously reading other forums complain about the commentators is funny because they hate everyone for one dumb reason or another.

Then at the end of the day the South is just more heavily invested into football culture.

Another thought... Probably doesn't help that the football viewer base on the West coast is now pretty fragmented. I know we aren't a power house of viewers over here but with all this conference realignment I still find myself not caring about almost all other B1G match ups that don't concern the Ducks. Seriously I only watched a couple of other B1G games all year. In the Pac I would watch other teams play but I'm not connected to the B1G yet and I know I'm not alone.

3 hours ago, oregon123 said:

They didn't seem to pass protect as well as the 2024 guys, but I sure did like seeing Harkey throw some nasty blocks. That dude is an animal.

Two fold problems on the pass protection.

1. World and Harkey just got wrecked by speed in multiple games. Though they were pretty good run blockers.

2. Gabriel (and Nix) could just read a defense so fast and could get the ball out so fast that they could avoid the pass rush. Moore isn't that fast (yet) and when he is that fast it's usually a predetermined pass and less reading the defense. As a result this years line has had to protect a lot longer which will lead to more pressures.

There will be one addition. Transfer from Yale.

But I think development in the OL takes time and sometimes those timelines don't match up with need. However, keep in mind that Oregon have been finalists for the Joe Moore best O line award for the past three years. So they're still doing something right.

However I'd say this seasons line was a step down from the previous two. Harkey and World just weren't as refined at tackle.

1 hour ago, Charles Fischer said:

Another AI spoof...as it looks official, but there is On3 Sports, but no such thing as No3 Sports.

The Duck's eyes look a bit crazed in this ai picture. No way a Photoshop by Oregon itself makes the Duck look that demented.

2 hours ago, Jerseyduck13 said:

Portal has been open for weeks and we have yet to address LB. Am I crazy to be concerned or is it early enough to still fill that spot?

Sounds like the staff likes the guys they have.

I don't feel I understand how linebackers are supposed to work in Lanning's system but they seem to need to be able to do everything.

Which requires an athletic freak which is difficult to get.

I kinda feel they may need to rework what linebackers are supposed to do and maybe even simplify the role. But I say this feeling inadequate to really answer.

But I also feel most people don't exactly know what linebackers are supposed to do in Lanning's defense.

1 hour ago, anyotherduck said:

To quote Cignetti, "We play to win. Other teams play to 'not lose'"

This could not be a better explanation of ODB in recent years. Mario figured it out at Miami and damn near won with his Mari-go offense and Mari-no defense.

I'm highly skeptical of Lanning's coordinator hires. Where is the 'change' going to come from? I'm not seeing it.

I don't think there will be much change at all... I think there is a greater chance at refinement. But I do think there needs to be some change to get over that last hurtle.

1 hour ago, Washington Waddler said:

It may well be a talent Cignetti has that no one else does, but that shouldn’t stop us from studying and trying to incorporate what he does into our system.

The stars aligned for sure... He got lucky he didn't lose any critical players he didn't have a backup for. And it helps to have senior laidin team that isn't suspectable to transfer portal because they're out of eligibility.

That and his coordinators aren't going anywhere.

Oregon got burned back by the portal killing depth, bad timing on injuries, and coaches focus was divided. Too many things to go wrong... Not going to say we would have won if everything was perfect but all those together just broke the program.

58 minutes ago, The Kamikaze Kid said:

Doubling Penn States yardage but being tied 3-3 or tripling Iowa’s and being behind needs to be a thing of the past.

I think some of that comes with experience. Remember we had / have a quarterback who has started less than 20 games! He's grown but we all know how many open receivers he missed and just didn't even see. Get Moore seeing the field better and that will help finish some of those drives. Seeing the field requires two things.. good offensive line protection and experience.

Then on the runningback side of things we are returning TWO incredible runningbacks who were freshman! Seriously... Jordon Davison and Dierre Hill were amazing runningbacks this year and they were freshman. Just wait to see what they can do in year two when they have continued to grow into their bodies and have a deeper knowledge of the game.

Not having Davison and Whittington in that last game really did hurt our chances because if he carried the ball I think he would have sustained a few of those drives. Harris was just too big of a step down. I'm by no means saying we win if we have both... but I think the game looks very different.

Also Davison is a BEAST pass protector.

McClellan has been pretty clutch in coverage as well. Some incredible catches.

I kinda felt like he didn't get enough targets in the last two games in particular.

I feel like in the off-season Dante Moore is going to have to really work with his receivers to build some extra chemistry. It felt like he had good chemistry with Dakorian Moore in the early season but had to build some chemistry with Benson and McClellen in the second half of the season. There needs to be more trust between Moore and his receivers to take some educated risks.

Many of his picks came when he fixated on a particular receiver.

Another interesting piece I'm seeing these days is the Jordan Seaton transfer portal recruitment. The Ducks sound like they are in it, for whatever that's worth and the number going around for his services is 3mil-ish.

That's as much as our two newly promoted coordinators combined (more or less) for one player.

In the past I think Dan would have given this a pass but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the NIL budget might have been given a bit of extra juice after the last loss.

32 minutes ago, JabbaNoBargain said:

After seeing Miami last night, pretty clear our pass rush was the biggest weakness this season imo. Mendoza with time = game over. Might have done it this year with more rush…I don’t know if it was scheme or an altered scheme reflecting personnel issues.

Hard to say.... Matayo was definitely not as good this year that last year in terms of the stat sheet.

The backend of our defense felt pretty good for the most part... But was picked apart when QBs had time.

On 1/16/2026 at 9:32 AM, SoutheastDuck said:

Apologies if this is covered in another thread.

Is there a systemic issue here with the Oregon D-Line? We've lost the vast majority of all backups, I realize the portal affects all teams and these guys want playing time, but I find it hard to believe Oregon isn't willing to try to retain them with NIL/etc, and is there a systemic issue here where they are all fed up with the starters coming back and then all collectively walked? isn't it 7 maybe 8 who have left? Seems extreme especially for those that are freshmen, showing promise and are still learning.

Thoughts?

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.