David Marsh

This is MODERN physicality! Stress them with power, speed and most importantly stress them mentally!

Again... They'll give Cristobal two years to get Miami's house in order... Or so they think. He'll also make fans super happy and excited during the off season with recruiting wins and new coaching hires. We have all lived this... And bought into it to varying degrees. Now we get to watch Miami fans deal with it. Meanwhile... How about Lanning's Ducks?!?!?!

Steak a possession with an on-side kick and then hold them to 3 points... I can live with that.

Seeing a bunch of pass plays right now which are working... I just don't want Dilly to forget the run game. Don't forget to feed Irving!

One side kick??? I LOVE IT!!!

I think injuries are certainly a major factor here as well.

I can see why this rule re-interpretation was put in place. When the defense sees this, even as a fake, they crash down to stop a run play but then it leads to another pass which the defense cannot fully react to. But the rule change means it can still be a fake but a run play is still THE play... or at least a play behind the line of scrimmage. The way this play will probably get redrawn is that they do the fake fly sweep like that and then the quarterback throws a backwards pass to the edge. I guess this was really just a lazy trick play.

I think this is part of trying to correct the problems of special teams neglect under Cristobal. Sure Oregon had some good returns under Cristobal but they were inconsistent and only really occurred when the other team's coverage broke down. I feel this year the standard for the return game is really going to be don't hurt the team. Next year I do expect a whole lot more from the return game. At this point I feel there is a consistency element that keeps putting Hutson onto the field over others. McGee has been mentioned for some time as someone taking reps at practice for special teams but we really haven't seen him on the field. I suspect he isn't consistent in some element of the return game. Lorig has a reputation of being a pretty good special teams coach and I feel he needs time to get this part of the game in better shape for the Ducks. It was really neglected under Cristobal.

That's what I was saying about last year's mountain of injuries... I don't remember how bad 2019 and 2020 was in all honesty. It's not a full pattern yet but if 2023 brings an equally large pile of injuries to Miami we have a pattern. I do remember a lot of freak injuries along the way and those were usually pretty big last year... Verdell breaking his leg on a run for instance. But there we lots of smaller injuries that knocked players out for a week or two that felt all too frequent.

What is going on with Cristobal and Feld's Strength and Conditioning program? Last year Oregon suffered from constant injuries and turnover. It got so bad that Oregon started a different set of starters on at least one side of the ball in every game. This year they are at Miami and they still have massive injury problems. There is something wrong with their training problem. Meanwhile at Oregon, Wilson Love has done a fantastic job increasing Oregon player speed and also keeping the team pretty healthy. Sure we have had injuries but nothing like what we suffered last year and nothing even remotely close to what Miami is suffering.

Yep that is what I was trying to get to but didn't say it clearly. I do feel this offensive line is going to be too much for UCLA to stop. Especially when Oregon can burn them with plays like the one you had today in your article that is based off a shorter throw in space. I don't think UCLA's defensive front is going to be able to break through the offensive line. Then Nix can just go on the run and pick up yards if he is flushed from the pocket.

As long as Oregon can beat them in the red zone, something that they have had difficult with but also seem to be figuring out quite quickly, then bend but don't break defense just results in long and punishing drives for the Oregon offense. Could Oregon do to Chip Kelly what Stanford did to Kelly and the Ducks in 2012 (and later) by just forcing the Bruin defense to bend until they break? If the Oregon defense can limit the Bruin offense and keep them off the field then that style of football can really be the Kelly-killer.

It's a mixed bag here. I do think from a culture perspective Oregon needed to get humiliated and it overall didn't hurt for that to be to last year's national champions. But if we didn't play Georgia we could very well be 6-0 right now. Or just as possible... 5-1 and we would have gotten beat by a lesser team. We can survive the Georgia loss for so many reasons. Would we have been better off losing to BYU or WSU? Probably not.

Also our Chip had 3 NY6 Appearances 1 Rose Bowl Win 1 Fiesta Bowl Win 1 National Championship Appearance

It's still a good education but in truth most College Athletes, especially football, can't really pick any major they want. They need to pick a major easy enough for them to be able to complete the course work while also allowing them to take on the rigors of the athletic side of the program. It used to be that they could realistically do anything they wanted to do but now they are required to do so much more outside of just the academics. The notion that football players in particular only have "20 hours" of practice time might seem fine on paper but those 20 hours are formal practice and meeting time. Athletes are expected to do workouts, extra player organized practice time, and film study all on their own. Overall they are working over 40 hours a week for just football during the season. Even in the off-season they are expected to continue their strength and conditioning, both formally and informally, their player-led workouts, and film study, but at this point its not for an opponent but on themselves. And in the off-season they are even expected to show up for some limited meetings. This really is a full time job before you add in the school work which again isn't necessarily the major they would have picked but rather the major that is most comparable for them with football. There are obviously exceptions to the rule, as there are players who achieve degrees in majors that are typically not football friendly but for the most part student athletes find themselves picking for a restricted selection of majors. Personally... I majored in Medieval Studies, Religious Studies and Geography. Probably one of those majors could be football friendly but certainly not all three at once.

The way I am interpreting this is if the team is well coached and experienced the crowd noise shouldn't be a major factor. After all it is the players who actually play the game. A well disciplined team can shut out the crowd noise and get the job done when needed.

Colorado's interim head coach Mike Sanford I think should be a top candidate for their head coaching job. I watched enough of their game against Cal to say that their team was playing with a lot of energy. They revamped the defense that did wonders, granted the past couple of years the defense wasn't entirely Colorado's problem but rather their lack of offense, that is still a problem. Then recruiting to Colorado hasn't been easy because it is difficult to find a lot of quality players who want to join a problem with really one winning season since they joined the Pac-12. Ok, more than one but not much more.

That is a problem... at least most of our kickoffs are touchbacks or we'd we in real trouble.

I think the bigger problem was that Helfrich didn't personally continue to coach quarterbacks. Frost I would say is good at teaching QBing 301 for established quarterbacks who need some fine tuning... Mariota and Adams being two key examples. But Frost can't seem to ensure the development of a raw product that needs QBing 101. Helfrich brought in David Yost in 2016 and I think that was probaly a major factor in Herbert's early development as from the sound of it Taggart and Arroyo and Cristobal really didn't do anything to encourage his development afterwards. But he did at least have a strong foundation that he could build on. Hard to say right now what is going on with the development of the backups under Dillingham. As it has been beaten to death at this point that Thompson hasn't looked good in games but maybe he is looking good in practice? Maybe Thompson is amazing in practice and just can't convert that to something in front of a crowd as that is something that could happen.

I feel the error free Nix is able to come out because he has a well rounded team around him that do their jobs and that enables him to do his. Desperate hero ball is not his strength. And thankfully Lanning and Dillingham are not putting him in a position where he needs to do that.

On the flip side... How often does UCLA play in rain and some chilly temperatures? They probably have to use an indoor practice field to get the temp cool enough and then turn on the fire sprinklers to simulate weather.

It feels more like the continuation of the Kelly-Helfrich era. The energy is there in the fan base with points going on the board. I think we all want to see the next level defense at this point but it feels like 2009-2014 all over again right now. We are not in the top 5 at this time but it darn well feels like we should be. We may get a chance at it come Saturday.

Lincoln Riley did complain about the reffing but he also conceded they didn't lose because of the ref's calls. USC didn't play much defense that game. Utah was caught flat footed at the start of the game but as the game went on they clawed back into it and eventually won it. I think it would be hard to determine who would win a rematch because both teams would make adjustments. With that said... USC was probably the better over all team but they didn't play as the better team for the full game. Additionally... the refs had a baffling call that a time out occurred in the middle of a play that benefited USC. So there were some bad calls on both sides. It was a very close game and Utah as the slight edge only because they won that game.

The Ducks had a bye but it was still a very very interesting week. I will be honest and say the top portion of these rankings are far easier than the bottom, and to date the opposite has been true. 12. Colorado (1-5) - Colorado won on Saturday against Cal, so why isn't Cal down here? Well Cal did a lot to lose that game. Cal had more offense and was on the whole the better team on the field except they couldn't finish. Colorado is playing with some energy with their new interim head coach Mike Sanford. Could Sanford be the next head coach at Colorado? Possibly he had Colorado playing with passion but even with all that it is clear that Colorado does not have the talent on the field just yet. 11. Cal (3-3) - Cal showed why Oregon fans were happy that Wilcox is not at Oregon. Their defense was pretty good against Colorado but their offense and special teams couldn't score to save their lives. They left at least nine points on the field during regulation. If they scored any of those points they would have won. Instead, they have the most embarrassing defeat on their record. 10.5. Notre Dame (3-3) - Wait Notre Dame isn't in the conference... and that's absolutely true. But for Funsies they would rank here. They beat Cal but lost to Stanford. My point being... Notre Dame is bad this year and isn't that just delightful! 10. Arizona State (2-4) - Arizona State beat Washington in their last game and that win is looking solid but Washington's defense is looking bad, more on that later. Arizona State will have a few chances to try and win a few games and it will all come down to how good this interim staff is. 9. Stanford (2-4) - It feels odd to put Stanford here as they are the only team now that doesn't have a single conference win. Both Cal and Colorado have conference wins! But I do think Stanford will get at least two conference wins this year. They will probably beat Arizona State and Cal. Or the way things are going... they may not. 8. Arizona (3-4) - Arizona lost to Cal but beat Colorado, so why is Arizona so far ahead of Cal? Well Arizona is improving from week to week whereas Cal is stuck in neutral, or getting worse. Arizona has a deadly offense but their defense is letting them down but they are improving. 7. Washington (5-2) - Isn't if funny that Washington's problem this year is the complete opposite from their problems the last two years... they are all offense and no defense where last year they couldn't score if the other team was on the sideline. But this year their defense is so bad it's like the defense is just sitting on the sideline. Washington will win games where they are a shootout but lose if they actually need to play defense. Also... Washington has continued to prove that they can't travel. It will be interesting to see how they do at Cal, Oregon and Washington State. 6. Washington State (4-3) - What happened to Washington State they seemed unstoppable, and then they had road games. Washington State plays better at home, like pretty much everyone in this conference. Washington State hasn't proven they can win on the road, or at least win on the road in the Pac-12 and that is something they will need to do if they want to move up these rankings. 5. Oregon State (5-2) - Oregon State has figured out their quarterback problem for now. I wouldn't say it is permanently fixed but they have a working solution for the moment. Oregon State might finally be putting together a mid season win streak. Their next game is an early November showdown at Washington. If Oregon State's defense can keep this one close then their run game will have a chance to take out the Huskies. 4. USC (6-1) - Down go the Trojans! But they are still much better than everyone below them here but they lost to Utah so that has to count against them even if it was just by one point. In short this team has a ton of skill position power but when it comes to defense they live and die by turnovers. 3. Utah (5-2) - Utah took down USC but lost to UCLA so this is one of those times where they fit perfectly in the rankings based on their record. This Utah team, however, is not the dominant team we saw last year. Their pass rush is not as good and their defensive backs were just too fast for USC but they did do just enough to beat USC. 2. UCLA (6-0) - Why isn't UCLA at No. 1? Simply because they haven't had to play away from home besides one game against Colorado which shouldn't be considered much of an achievement. 1. Oregon (5-1) - Crazy enough Oregon is one of two teams undefeated in conference play. They have their hardest games left this year at home which is a major advantage. Also Oregon has one of the best quarterbacks in the conference and certainly the best offensive line. They just need to beat out UCLA this week to hold onto this top spot and at that point they become in undisputed No.1 in the conference. What are your thoughts on these rankings?

Couple keys on defense... We saw against Arizona that Oregon did a fantastic job of keeping the quarterback in the pocket and collapsing the pocket from there. If Oregon can do the same against UCLA that will take away a huge threat that DTR just runs for big yards on a play with no passing options. This will be more difficult against UCLA than Arizona but that's a major key to this game. Oregon has also had a pretty solid run defense... Oregon needs to do what they have been doing all year. Take away the run and challenge them to beat us in the air. Now our secondary needs work but has improved. But the other side of it as well... Even teams that are comfortable passing the ball start to panic when they HAVE to pass the ball and make plays. UCLA is a run first offense... Take away the run and they will get uncomfortable. Oregon doesn't need to shut UCLA down... Just get enough stops for the offense to build a lead. I don't know how well UCLAs defense will hold up against our offensive line.