David Marsh

Two out of conference wins looking less good for the PAC, but still very good we have them. Wisconsin gets beat by Illinois... The funny thing is that Oregon has beaten both of those head coaches at the Rose Bowl as head coaches or Wisconsin. Unrelated but getting Oregon involved here. Then Michigan State is down at the half against Maryland.

I feel punting is fine for now. There are times you need to punt... Basically being on your side of the field and a long fourth down. I think the kick return is under more threat of disappearing because it's the most dangerous part of football with players colliding at full speed. With so many touchbacks and now fair catches to start at the 25 fewer teams are even considering the risk of a return. The only real argument for keeping kick returns is the need to still have on side kicks. Punts still need to be an option for certain situations. Now having a good oubter can make a huge difference in those situations where a bad or mediocre punter doesn't help much.

Michigan State hasn't looked good this year. And we'll get a sense of how well Stanford stacks up against us tomorrow.

They look exhausted and defeated right now. I think the travel element is playing a role here. Washington hasn't had to travel too much for the past two years and I think that's hurting them. Also... They aren't that deep of a team and now UCLA is just ramming the ball right down their throat.

Feels like Washington is getting exposed right now. They are definitely a different team home vs away.

Definitely a strategy. If the opposing team waits too long to sub you can get them to burn a time out or get a delay of game. I honestly find it all frustrating but if it's legal use it.

Both of their lines looks suspect. Oregon has three weeks until UCLA and will be much improved on defense. Washington is later in the season. I feel Oregon will have some line play that will make them both miserable. Now we need our backend to hold up against the passing attacks.

So... Out of boredom right now I'm watching Boise State v San Diego State. It's at Boise State and they have that obnoxious blue field. If Boise State were to be invited to the pac-12 should they be forced to ditch that field? It is certainly a psychological barrier with it being a weird color. But there is something dare I say amateurish of having a odd colored field. But then again our field is our team color so that's all good with me. I say if they join ban the blue field!

Well in fairness half of what is going on these days has next to nothing to do with football and everything to do with business and media rights distribution. So we all get to get to learn about things most of us have never had to think about before.... ever. Oh how we love to learn about ... Media Rights... wait that doesn't sound right...

That is going to be a huge test for Washington. They have not traveled well the past two years... and in 2020 they didn't even have to travel at all! Does Washington travel well? We'll have to find out.

I find myself in the same boat... I guess I hate UCLA less than USC for sure as I see UCLA as USC's patsy. I guess I just hate UW more than UCLA. If it was USC I would suck it up and back the Huskies but thankfully I don't have to.

2019 saw the Avalos defense, one of the best defenses in Oregon's history, also employ a bend-but-don't-break mentality and it worked. The Cristobal no-score offense with Herbert at the helm put up just enough points to win a game as the defense was able to stop opposing teams from scoring. This method won a Rose Bowl for Cristobal. Bend but don't break works... but in truth it isn't that flashy and is rather annoying for fans as we really want to see our defense crush the opposition and get the ball back.

The big thing that Oregon will need to do is just use some offensive firepower. Stanford's overall offense is not as good. Oregon will get enough stops and just needs the offensive points to ensure the victory. Last year Oregon's offense did the Cristobal thing of playing to not lose and went run heavy and burn out the clock. Instead it shot itself in the foot with penalties and was forced to punt. Stanford got some very lucky penalty calls along the way and Oregon's defense was just not a stout enough unit to be dependable for a final stand and they failed. Lanning will have the offensive firepower. He needs to use it to put Stanford away without the opportunity of coming back, because Stanford will come back and bite us if Oregon leaves the door open even just a crack. Slam the door shut with points and get as many stops as possible defensivly and we will be ok.

Not going to lie... I still get pretty nervous when he is kicking. I am also glad we have a kick off specialist that is not Lewis this year. I love seeing our kick offs consistently be touchbacks. Lewis couldn't get it into the end zone last year it seemed and gave some easily returnable kicks.

In last year's disaster of a game Bridges was supposed to be a weapon to stop these Stanford receivers... but in opening kick off they called him for targeting. Which was an awful call because he got himself low, as you should, and then the Stanford player lowered his head into Bridges. But because this targeting rule is not about the player's safety Bridges was flagged for targeting. The Targeting Rule is Not About Player Safety FISHDUCK.COM The NCAA recently announced changes to the targeting rule. These changes are not yet in effect, but there will be a vote in April to...

Can they both lose? Is that possible?

One of the things I loved was in the second video that forced another throw away was what Dorlus did in his pressure. He pushed but instead of continuing to push he pulled back while the other rushers pushed forward. He reset and then ran forward to apply pressure again but he filled a gap that would have been a possible run lane for the QB to escape from. If he stayed on his original attack line there would have been a decent sized hole for Ward to scramble through, or at least try. Even a little later in the play Sewell also does a little reset and realign movement when his initial line of attack is already occupied by an Oregon defender. What happens so frequently is when defenders get bunched up and a hole opens up then it leads to a quarterback finding a way to make a play. Granted... that still happened a lot this game and some of those plays Ward made had some mind boggling luck attached to them. But we are starting to get a taste of what this defense is supposed to do and how good it can be when everyone does their job.

And possibly throw in any transfers... It seems like the coaches are saving some scholarships to go offensive lineman shopping once the transfer window opens. Makes sense since we haven't managed to land any OL talent yet and all the recruiting reporters are saying this year is thin on OL talent. A few project guys are good but can't afford too many of them at this point.

But let's also get real here... The big-12 and ACC won't be power five. There won't actually be a power five there would be a power two... A Group of Five and an above average two. The big-12 and ACC would be better than the G5 but not have anywhere near the same level of prestige or market value as the power two. At that point I figure we see this sort of thing happen... The Great College Football Schism is Coming FISHDUCK.COM The great college football schism is coming, and it will fracture college football in a way that will shake the... The Eventual College Football Renaissance FISHDUCK.COM The Great College Football Schism is Coming, and it will leave College Football divided between the...

For the record I LOVE Dillingham's offense. It is such a breath of fresh air from the previous four years. He is super young for an OC and with that he has a lot of growing to do, so does Lanning, and that is really what this season is going to be all about. Growth for the players and coaches. Like what many have said so far, Dillingham has learned a lot of lessons so far and I do look for him to prove he has learned those lessons in upcoming games.

I would love to see the Ducks win the PAC in Lanning's first year. But if they don't that is on because every single game, win or lose this year will be a foundation building year. And that is critical. We haven't really had a solid foundation in a long time. Brooks-Belloti-Kelly-Helfrich was an incredible slate long term coaches that established a culture and foundation for the program. It unraveled for a ton of different reasons in the last two years of the Helfrich era. The Taggart and Cristobal era had so much transition that it never felt like a true foundation settled. Now I say that and I'm hoping that Oregon holds onto the majority of this coaching staff for a few years with few changes. The Cristobal era had a ton of coaching turnover... Each coordinator only lasted for about 2 seasons before moving on, let alone the position coaches.

For Oregon State Nolan needed a big target to throw to and didn't have one. He forced some throws he shouldn't have and that resulted in 4 picks. I would certainly say that Oregon State without Musgrave is in deep trouble. They still have a solid run game but Nolan is not a good enough quarterback with these receivers, he needs a big target to bail him out and they don't have that.

Need to feed Irving more! I feel Whittington is ok... He has some good plays but he also seems to get caught fairly frequently behind the los. I know Cardwell and Dollars have been dinged up but i feel Cardwell needs to get healthy and he could bust out. I get the rotation Oregon is doing with multiple runningbacks but I do feel Irving needs the ball more.

That Georgia game statistically is holding us down. I do anticipate seeing our ranking continue in the right direction. The linebackers need to work out their coverage issues though. The middle part of the pass defense feels like a liability.

In some ways it might have been better if he didn't score... as Oregon could kill the clock and not even give WSU a chance at a last gasp of life. But in truth I feel the Pick-six was needed from a moral standpoint more than anything.