20 hours ago, Jon Joseph said:

As Cig said when asked about short practice time, "My Dad before me, and I came up from programs where you had very little depth and could not afford to lose starting players.

We didn't have to worry about this when I was coaching at Alabama."

David, you are one of my 'go-to guys' when it comes to Xs and Os and insightful information.

Why is OBD experiencing all of these injuries in the Moneyball sports? Fortunately, OBD in the 2025 regular season suffered O-line injuries in games where OBD had that superior roster.

Do we blame Fortuna? Or are the S+C programs and practice regimes not working? I simply don't get it. A rough patch over one season? Fine. Stuff happens.

In today's CFB and CBB world, you do not have the depth to weather the loss of top players.

I would appreciate your thoughts on what could be my erroneous observation.

Perhaps it is simply Fortuna, just more of the short end of the stick that had more Indiana fans in the stands in Atlanta than would have been the case if the game had been played in Bloomington? That had OBD in 2024-25 playing Ohio State and not the winner of Boise State at Indiana in the Rose Bowl.

How about a Fair Shake? 🤬 Can I get a Witness?

Here are a couple thoughts...

Bad luck two years in a row but for two different reasons.

In 2024 we get to play Ohio State in the Rose Bowl... absolutely awful draw and EVERYONE has said that the No.1 seed should not have been given that draw of teams. In 2025 Indiana as the No.1 seed got the winner of Bama and Oklahoma. Frankly neither teams were that good for basically the opposite reasons. Bama had a good passing offense, nothing on the ground, and a defense that was fickle. Oklahoma had no real offense but had a solid defense. Arguably Bama shouldn't have made the playoff but the fear of the SEC over-weighed the committee's fear of Notre Dame. I think if Oregon had the 8/9 draw last year they get that second round win and move on.

There was some injury problems in that Rose Bowl Game. Evan Stewart didn't play and his field stretching ability being lost hampered the offense. Jordan James went out with injury that hurt the run game... but by that point Ohio State had already destroyed the Ducks. The reality is that the Ducks played an Ohio State team that was super talented and finally discovered their chemistry. If they had done that sooner in the season they probably would have left Autzen with a win.

This year we had a big injury bug coupled with the transfer portal. I won't go over the injuries again... but just think of the transfers out as well. We lost Jayden Limar who was getting the first string reps at the start of the year. I was never really sold on Limar to be honest but he definitely flashed success. Then there was Makhi Hughes who was a shock that he didn't make the rotation in a meaningful way coming in as the best transfer running back. But he transferred out and wasn't with the team either. That and the injuries left the Ducks with a change of pace freshman back (who will be great) and Harris who was the No.5 back at the start of the season.

The other reality is that his least season's offensive line was a step back from previous years... I think the interior was better than in 2024 where Dave Iuli and Pregnon in 2025 were better at guard than Iuli/Harper and Strother. But the tackles were a far cry from the 2024 team, the Connerly was much much better than World.

Lanning's Oregon teams have depth and during the regular season the Ducks have only suffered one loss in B1G play. They weathered the injury storm. But when you combine injuries AND transfers at the end of the season there just isn't any depth.

Young teams suffer transfer outs... veteran teams don't. Indiana didn't suffer from the portal opening up because their first and second string were all veterans who were basically out of eligibility. No where to transfer to because they are out of time. The Young Ducks on the other hand saw a bunch transfer out of the second string because they could play elsewhere.

I don't think there is any ONE factor in either season but a multitude of things. Some big and some small but when combined make it difficult to finish out the season.

3 hours ago, HappyToBeADuck said:

Coach play more players throughout the season to keep players fresh and do practises need to be as physical and violent as summer camps?

Potentially there need to be some adjustments in how practices work.

Cignetti does minimal practicing but he has relied heavily on experienced players and mental reps. The younger the players the more reps they tend to need just to do things right. I think this Indiana team had one sophomore as a starter on a starting roster of otherwise upperclassmen in mostly their 4th and 5th years. Completely different needs if that's the case.

Also... there were some freak injuries that I would say the practice didn't necessarily impact.

Davison was injured on a play in a game where he hit the ground funny and broke his collar bone.... Not practice related.

Whittington reportedly had turf toe which appears to be more of a non-contact injury... not inherently practice related.

But maybe some minor injuries were more practice related... like Sadiq who sat out a couple games but also just wasn't as effective in others due to nagging injuries where he may have overdone it in practice... or potentially the games themselves.

Getting the right balance of practice and rest is certainly difficult.

I was and still am very disappointed in how our last season ended. It's hard to win games when you relay on the run game and 2/3 of the top run production on the team is out with injuries. On so many of those drives that stalled out in third and short the Ducks wouldn't have converted or avoided that situation with Davison (or Whittington) on the field and being able to pick up just a few yards here and there. Davison is going to be a huge factor in the next two years! Yes, we have him for at least TWO more years!

There was a reason why Harris was buried on the depth chart and I don't wish any ill will as he stepped up and tried his best when his moment came but his best wasn't anywhere near good enough. I love what Hill can provide the team but he isn't an every down back he is a change of pace back, he is the lightning to Davison's thunder.

This last season ended with two coordinators leaving which frankly left some of the game planning feeling underwhelming and injuries and transfers for a key position that left the cupboard bare. It sucks but in Lanning year four of being a head coach anywhere it was still a good season.

But I do have hope for the future.

And remember... in the new playoff format only ONE team gets to end on a high note. EVERY OTHER TEAM is going to end on a loss because that's how tournaments work.

Short answer...

Yes... Lanning is going to have something in his back pocket to use or abuse this rule. He's that kind of coach and we love him for it.

Go for it Mad Man Dan!

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.

3 hours ago, woundedknees said:

Call me weird, but I feelas if 24 is too much... 16 would give a decent number of qualifying teams, every season.

At 24, I believe therewouldbe a fair number of blowouts, most years.

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.

3 hours ago, Lrod said:

will they use him? we completely wasted Kenyon Sadiq. I cant think of another Oregon player who we completely dropped the ball on like Sadiq since Ive been a fan which is 2007

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.

10 minutes ago, Solar said:

Brandon Finney? I assume he was left off the list because he was already an All American, but it would be quite the disappointment if he doesn't have a "monster second season" next year.

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.

2 hours ago, EastBayDuckDad said:

but I would count Jamari Johnson in this list. I considered him a starter as his role was expanded along with the rest of the TE room when so many WRs were injured and Stein had to run a lot of 12 personnel.

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.

3 hours ago, AnotherOD said:

Kind of a random off-season kind of question, did anyone actually ever "catch up" to that Kelly/Helfich offense that spanned 10 seasons? Thoughts?

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.

12 hours ago, Drake said:

Scott Frost…Mr. It is tough to recruit to Oregon guy.

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.

On 2/9/2026 at 7:35 AM, Steven A said:

I believe him. Not sure how an NIL deal could influence turning down 55Mil guaranteed for a No.2 selection (as projected).

Dante Moore Addresses $55 Million NFL Draft Decision And Oregon NIL

I do wonder if somewhere there is an insurance policy for a few (?) mil in case of injury.

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.

49 minutes ago, Red Eddy Green said:

I just saw " Once a DUCK, Always a DUCK " Brendan Schooler on The Pats.

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.

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.