David Marsh

Yes... but no. Opposing fan bases that hate us have always said that we buy players and that we don't play by the rules. The reality is that NIL the cost to recruiting top end recruits. Sure, we have some schools, like Michigan this cycle, who dropped 10 mil on a quarterback but that is an outlier. Most NIL collectives know what a recruit is worth and pretty much a players top X are all schools what have put out an NIL offer in the same ballpark. Dakorian Moore was down to Oregon and Texas really and from what I have heard Texas had the bigger offer but Oregon was close enough that it didn't matter. It came down to the old standards of recruiting, relationships. NIL is just the cost of recruiting, closing is still often down to the coaches.

Is the quarter system that rare? Personally, I loved the quarter system while at UO and just in general. The quarter system always meant that every quarter was a bit of sprint and with only 10 weeks it was difficult to get too complacent with classes and fall behind. Semesters just drag on forever.

Lanning is doing it again... Though this year it feels different in that it doesn't feel like Lanning is going for a ton of players but being very precise in his choices. Looking forward to see how next year's roster pulls together.

I wouldn't be surprised if Samples wanted to do a Lanning. Still coach for his current (old) team in the playoff and make a national championship run while moonlighting with the new program as the HC. What Lanning did was incredible as he salvaged.a recruiting class, navigated the portal, hired his staff; all while continuing his current duties. This is Lanning's program and culture and I wouldn't be shocked if other coaches around him are wired the same way. Oregon has a ton of faith in Lanning out the gate as they let him do that. I doubt most other programs would have that patience. Just conjecture and no evidence this is the case on my part.

The Heisman highlights the problem with football and stats. We love stats and that's fine but stats are not created equal for all positions. Offensive stats for skill positions are easy to evaluate. Jeanty has a billion rushing yards and touchdowns and compare that to another runningback. Simple. Quarterbacks get more stat inflation because Gabriel did get credit for a lot of passing yards even though most of his passes were relatively short. Tez just does Tez things and does the rest. Recievers only get yards when they get the ball... But quarterbacks may not throw them the ball. Stewart had a very quiet game against Penn State, doesn't mean he wasn't doing his job and isn't a good receiver. Just no stats. Offensive lineman are super critical for the success of a team. But they get very very very few stats and even then they really only get stats when they mess up. Defense gets basically nothing, especially the best defenders. Jubbar Muhammad might be a better DB than Hunter... But he doesn't have as many stats. But how often do quarterbacks throw his way for him to record a stat? Not that often. Not saying JM is better as that's another discussion... But it's worth considering that some of the best defenders don't get much in the way of stats because the ball never comes to them. So as a result a CB being up for the Heisman is rare. If Hunter only played CB he wouldn't be a Heisman candidate. Period. There are also much better receives than him out there. Just no one else doing both. Which is impressive. But Heisman worthy? Best player in all of football this year? Certainly a gifted athlete but not sure if he is the best.

Pretty sure we haven't paid 10 mil for a QB.

And yet... Colorado didn't win the Big 12.

Have some hope! We all have PTSD! Stay tuned for tomorrow's article!

Probably about as much as Herm Edwards. Ask ASU how that turned out. Well... Pretty good after they fired him and got Dilly.

Pretty sure USC is going to lose their minds. They play at Autzen next season. The last game they played us at Autzen as well. However, I consider this payback for when we played them back to back at their place in 2019 and 2020.

If true... That says a lot about these Ducks and their floor. Great teams find a way to win that's for sure. Also... It looks like Penn State picked their poison. They have one DB who has the speed to really cover our receivers. They choose to put him on Stewart, who was sick as well, so a decoy running at lower power. So they didn't have anyone to defend Tez... Which was super obvious by how often he was running free.

This makes sense and would be a good way for most players to portal for bowl season. Stay with the team and finish out the season. Unless the team environment is toxic it should be the way things are done. Many players, especially top tier players, leave their teams to go compete at a higher level. Staying and competing shows loyalty to their team while also doing what is best for them. The portal opening when it does creates a lot of chaos for many teams.

Cristobal is 0-1 against Iowa State. That Fiesta Bowl the Ducks went to against Iowa State was an outright embarrassment. Sure, it was the 2020 season that was a mess in so many ways. But I have never seen an Oregon team so woefully under prepared than that Fiesta Bowl team. Miscommunication, players being in the outright wrong place and just dropping the football and making bad decisions. Most of us have forgotten about that game for good reason.

Can't argue with this list too much. Nix at No. 1 makes all the sense in the world. Without Nix I don't think this Oregon team under Lanning gets rolling. Nix's success instilled trust in others to come to Oregon knowing they'd get developed. Additionally Nix is tearing it up in the NFL and has largely brushed off the Bad Bo narrative. Lanning needed Nix and Nix needed Lanning.

We haven't seen much of either of them this year. But against Washington Moore took the field and seemed comfortable and had some nice zip on the couple balls he threw. Besides that... I've got nothing. This like in all things right now, in Dan we trust.

I agree that ASU would not be in the playoffs. They wouldn't be in the playoff if they weren't conference champs. Though undefeated Oregon in the Pac-12 I have a difficult time seeing as a No.1 or 2 seed over Ohio State/Penn State with q loss or even 2 loss SEC champ Georgia. The West Coast just isn't that respected when it comes to football. Especially if the rest of the conference looks like a hot mess of canabalism which it typically would be. My 3rd tier would be a hot mess. As for Jonathan Smith and the Beavers this year... They'd be better for sure. Maybe even good enough to break into my tier 2 but I kinda doubt they'd get a playoff spot as an at large because the the Pac-12 wouldn't be respected enough to be worthy of it.

If the games at college football home fields are bonkers good there is a chance they restructure the playoff to have more home games for top seeds. Kinda doubt it to a degree as these bowls are going to pay out the nose to get playoff games but once the bowl sites contracts are up then who knows. Right now we are trapped in contracts for these sites in a system that they weren't designed for.

I'm glad we have Dan on this... Because frankly all these transfer possibilities is horribly overwhelming. And the hardest part is that it's such a short period of time to keep track of everything. At least with normal recruiting you get to know the names over 2ish years.

Most critical game changing Heisman moments.

Massive deal for the progrum. Alabama under Saban would almost yearly have a player make the ceremony. Often not win the trophy but Bama was pretty consistent in making the ceremony.

I think there is a massive drop off between 1 and 2 and basically a cliff between 2 and everyone else. If I tier system it I think it looks like this. Tier 1: Oregon Tier 2: Arizona State Tier 3: Colorado, Washington, USC, UCLA, WSU, Cal, OSU and Utah Tier 4: Stanford and Arizona There would be four tiers this year. That's how big the disparity between programs would have been.. kinda bonkers.

Just for funsies I have decided to do one last power ranking of the Pac-12, well the old Pac-12. Going forward I don't think I will do it again because we'll be moving further away from the Pac-12 era. And I don't care about the Scrap-12. So here we go... 1. Oregon (13-0) - Nothing to say here... Oregon is the clear cut favorite in ANY conference right now. 2. Arizona State (11-2) - Won the Big 12 but that in itself isn't massive as the Big 12 isn't that great of a conference. However, I do firmly believe that ASU would be everyone below them on this list. I think they would lose by a couple scores to Oregon though. 3. Colorado (9-3) - Colorado has some star power and some offensive firepower. Their defense had its moments but they were certainly beatable but they'd probably beat a majority of the teams below them because if the game gets into a shootout that plays into Colorado's hand. 4. Washington (6-6) - Washington above Washington State when they lost in week 3? Yes, because week 3 was a long time ago and if that game were to be replayed I think Washington wins. Washington is a 6-6 team and was awful playing away from home and was beaten up pretty bad by the B1G and that style of play. However, against former Pac-12 schools the Huskies were 2-1. That one being getting demolished by Oregon. 5. USC (6-6) - Better than their record but in truth finishing games matters. They probably would have faired better against Pac-12 competition but they aren't in the Pac-12 anymore, as they killed it. 6. UCLA (5-7) - Started out real bad but by the end of the season UCLA was looking pretty decent. They were running the ball well and their passing game wasn't great but was good enough to beat several B1G opponents. 7. Washington State (8-4) - Why is Washington State above Oregon State when they lost to them? Body of work, Washington State was the more consistent team throughout the year. They were even ranked for a few weeks before they fell apart. However, by the end of the year the Beavers were healthy enough to knock them off but it was that middle section of the year that gives WSU the edge over the Pac-2 Champs the Beavers. 8. Cal (6-6) - The biggest disappointment by far. This team should have been so much more than their record but they just fell flat of it all. 9. Oregon State (5-7) - OSU spent most of the year being horribly injured with a first year head coach. Their style of play was a grinding offense with a solid defense which resulted in low scoring games. But if they got boat raced they stood no chance. 10. Utah (5-7) - Cam Rising never returned to form and suffered an injury. Utah doesn't have a backup quarterback good enough to really pull them through the season and they fell woefully short of expectations. 11. Stanford (3-9) - Stanford is still bad. Cristobal should be thankful he didn't have to play Stanford this year or he'd have another loss. 12. Arizona (4-7) - A bad team at the bottom of the Big 12. Not much to say other than Stanford is in the same place in the ACC but Stanford still feels there is some fight in them and Arizona looked like they just gave up in their last game. This year outside of Oregon the Old Pac-12 would be a pretty sad and sorry conference. If this conference still existed Oregon would probably be the three seed in this year's playoff and would still be undefeated but not battle tested. The rest of the conference would be incredibly bad but probably chaotically fun to watch.

So... Oregon may have to beat Ohio State and Penn State to win the Natty. That's cool I guess... only... didn't we already DO THAT! I do think Penn State has a more than realistic shot to reach the National Title game and beat Georgia even if Beck were completely healthy. I don't see Georgia's offense as something better than Oregon's.

The sad thing is that that could be the case... Clemson is NOT in the top 12 but is seeded 12. This playoff format is the problem.

Gotta win those games. Not saying those were freebies, the SEC has enough of those on their schedule to begin with, but teams worthy of going to the playoff find ways to win games when they play badly. Oregon struggled against Wisconsin but still BEAT them!