David Marsh

I find 9-3 for Oregon to be a low bar. The roster is strong on paper and with the amount of inuries and poor scheming Oregon managed 10-4 (10 regular season wins). I think beating Georgia is a long shot but not impossible so let's give Oregon the L for that one. Otherwise I can see Oregon lose one more game on the schedule but maybe not 2. BYU will be a major pain but they have to come to Oregon to play and by that point Oregon will be a hardened team that understands Lanning's vision. Utah could also be tough, it's never an easy game, but that's a late season game and if the injury bug hasn't hit Oregon too badly I do think they can out scheme the problems last year. I will say it again... Utah was the only team that understood and could stop Oregon last year (not counting Stanford they had too much ref help and other circumstances). Utah knew that they sell out to stop the run and challenge Brown to pass the ball while overwhelming the offensive line they will force him to make mistakes. Brown also too frequently stated to play hero ball when behind which would lead to more mistakes. Oregon under the Cristobal era struggled to play from behind both on the scoreboard and behind schedule on the series of downs. This new staff is just better at xs and os and even with Nix, who has his own issues, he can at least stretch the field. Simply put this Oregon team is not going to be vulnerable to the same way last year's team was. I'm going super optimistic... Oregon 11-1 regular season.

Verdell needed a year where he wasn't sidelined from injuries constantly. I do feel part of that was the Cristobal scheme of running headlong into defenders.

Oregon's o-line is loaded with potential. I think as fans we love hearing these things but the lackluster results of the past few years seem to give me a bit of pause. Scheme hasn't helped the offensive line during the Cristobal era. The pistol was aweful. Last year Moorhead ditched the pistol and that helped quite a bit. But after getting thumped by Utah twice it still doesn't bode well for confidence. A major component of those losses was Brown and his inability to throw even short passes across the middle, but still. Though back to the potential of this offensive line. With the right development this line can be scary. I just don't think they were getting that development with the previous staff.

Not only that.. but he is actually shushing us... We are not allowed to talk.

We got a few of those as well. I want to say 2 kickers and a punter.

As many have already said as walk-ons they don't count towards the 85 scholarships. I imagine part of the reason for this many walk-on QBs is for the practice squad (again said by others) but I suspect that each QB has some different skills and will allow the practice teams to emulate different offenses more effectively. Then there is always the chance that one of these QBs has some talent that might just need some development that might be crazy good. Though I suspect this is a move to make a better scout team. When it comes to the scout team this year Oregon does have a bit of a problem. Typically the 3rd and 4th string quarterbacks take on scout team duties. However, Oregon only has 3 scholarship quarterbacks right now and I don't think there is much of an intention at the moment to sideline any one of them to the scout team yet. Additionally... I think if any of the scholarship QBs are assigned to the scout team they will probably be in the transfer portal the next day. This is probably a move to keep the scholarship quarterbacks happy and engaged as well.

I watch Pate's stuff from time to time ... I'll be honest, he is knowledgeable about the SEC, a good chunk of the ACC and Big-12, Ohio State and that's about it. He occasionally talks about the PAC but it is rare. Even when he does a run down of how X effects the power five he seems to just talk about what I said was in his wheel house and he typically doesn't even mention the PAC-12. I'm not sure if Oregon would have seen an outright decline this year under Cristobal, but we would have at least seen the plateau. 2019 was the high point.

Spring games we always tough to determine. What's the pass rush going to look like with starters? How will the starting secondary work together? On top of all of that... The offense started out hot and then cooked way down as the defense took control of the game. Now imagine we have a hot firing offense out the gate and the defense follows up with a few stops. 14-0 creates one crazy mental dynamic for opposing teams to deal with. This is what made so many Kelly -Helfrich teams so deadly. If a team is playing in a hole they will get more desperate. The more desperate, the more mistakes and that leads to more Oregon points. I'll reserve judgement at this time to wait for the first game. And though that I'd logical that is not fully in the spirit of the off-season.

Possibly... But I kinda doubt it. That coach is gone... Gone for 5 years now. But I wouldn't be surprised if the insurance does start going up in general for all programs.

The talent is certainly there. I'm just looking for scheme to match the talent. Don't let the opposing team have a massive underneath cushion to play with... Make the opposing quarterback throw through small windows. I think we'll see a big jump in play this year.

Certainly needed after the Brenner lawsuit. Oregon walked away from that rather unscathed financially. However, it did expose one of the biggest potential problems at any program, the strength and conditioning program. Players spend the most time with these coaches and negligence or ineptitude can cause real damage to athletes' lives. Get a qualifications requirement and that doesn't solve the risk outright but it would help make the higher ups sleep easier, not that I particularly care how they sleep... But it would at least help protect student athletes. This really is the time right now that the NCAA, or at least conferences, need to be adding more rules, not less.

That is big and good news. Often when a player leaves school even temporarily, it often means they aren't coming back. Snee was solid on the whole. Place kicking and kick off has been weak. So Lewis should be nervous with the kicking additions.

I think some of the big time recruits haven't been used to their full potential. Hard to unlock some top tier wide receiver talent when the quarterback can't throw the ball down the field. Hard for someone like Kayvon Thibodeux to get a bunch of sacks when the underneath routes are always open for a quick pass before the pressure gets home. I do feel scheme has held all of Oregon's talent back. Get those players in position to make plays and they will make plays.

I know she had a slow professional start due to injuries but it is great seeing her come back from those.

I know coaches wouldn't like it at all... Though I do believe that Oregon would be one of the few schools that would potentially benefit from unlimited official visits, as Oregon has the resources to put towards recruiting that most other schools do not. I do think that recruiting has gotten completely out of control and is continuing to get out of control.

Utah is also going to find themselves squeezed next year. Oregon is going to be better. Oregon's offense and defense will be better and they will get a whole lot more out of it's roster. And USC is going to be better. I still don't think USC is going to be great but they are going to be trending in the wrong direction for Utah.

Super happy you brought this up Haywardduck. This didn't make the final cut of my article but official visits do have a major impact on a programs ability to land recruits and even just bringing some recruits to campus who might only be thinking of Oregon as another hat in the table can be a game changer. Of course the staff doesn't want Oregon to just be a fun place to visit and not land anyone but they also use some of their official visits on long shots. Get those kids on campus, even if it doesn't seem likely they will come to Oregon. KT was really one of those kids. He didn't take Oregon seriously until he visited, and it didn't hurt that it was for the Washington game. I will probably do a deeper dive into this at a later date as I find the Helfrich era so interesting... But we often forget the impact of the Chip Kelly and Willie Lyles fiasco. (By the way... No one named Willie has turned out to be a good thing for Oregon). One of the sanctions put on Oregon was a yearly reduction of official visits from 56 to 37. This had a huge impact on recruiting as Oregon couldn't afford to use official visits on long shot recruits. They needed to use those visits on recruits who were actually considering Oregon. Overall Helfrich did recruit effectively within the norm for Oregon recruiting standards of the time, especially considering the sanctions. More on those in a future article. A Defense of Helfrich's Recruiting Legacy FISHDUCK.COM Mark Helfrich is generally considered the worst recruiter in modern Oregon football history. He is a coach who... Recruiting is a mess of interconnected elements.

At this point the boosters providing the nil deal so lock the athlete into getting the money only if they stay and play at their school. Obviously schools can't lock students in with contracts but boosters with nil can.

Probably not that young ... We would probably see a lot of scholarships "recycled" through the transfer portal. This could be a very good thing because the biggest problem with the transfer portal right now is that there are a lot of student athletes entering it and very few find a new home. Transfer Portal Will Be a Disaster For Student-Athletes FISHDUCK.COM College football is more complicated than ever, especially when it comes to recruiting and the transfer portal...

I'm on hold with my bank right now... I would absolutely appreciate the Oregon fight song appearing at some point. Sadly this wait is more then 5 minutes. But at least you got me humming the Oregon fight song now.

To be blunt... No Oregon shouldn't at this time be paying top dollar for a QB recruit. Too many of them don't amount to anything and it would cost the program too much. I usually take the side of better to recruit and develop and dive into the transfer portal... But if you are going to have to pay in the millions for a quality QB might as well shop the transfer portal for a known quantity. Sure you might only get a year or two out of them but the likelihood of them being good is also higher. I say Oregon should keep taking a swing at the top recruits but don't break the bank for them. Find some hungry 3 stars that have gone under the radar... Especially with all these bidding wars right now. The other thing I would like to mention about Oregon's nil is that they have really seemed reluctant to get into bidding wars over recruits, at least this early in the cycle. Probably later in the cycle they'll start to bid but right now getting ina bidding war will only serve to increase the price.

Exactly... There are two schools of thought on uniforms. The traditional, which are typically just the blue bloods, or the more innovative... Oregon always tops the lists if the person making the list likes the innovation. Oregon usually makes the list but is low on the list if the person values tradition more. Maybe some might change their toon a little when Oregon wins a national championship. Also... Recruits love Oregon's uniforms so that matters more.

Baylor caused Williams plenty of problems lasr year and Oklahoma State. Also Iowa State only lost by one score. I'd say all three of those schools have the best defenses in the big-12 and Oklahoma went 1-2 against them. I know the pac-12 has it's problems... But I think Cal, Stanford and Utah and even Washington State could put up some pretty stingy resistance to USC. Probably UCLA as well. And those are only the schools USC plays this year. I think Oregon will have the best defense in the conference next year. And... I'll be honest... Washington will probably have a decent to good defense. Lake wasn't fired because of the defense. It was an offense that played like a defense and poor recruiting and locker room management. Oregon and Washington are not on USCs schedule this upcoming year. Also... I'd be careful if Arizona next year. That team had an aweful record but they played damn hard and never gave up. They are going to be scrappy next year and dangerous if you sleep on them. This isn't to say they will be good... Just better than everyone probably thinks.

Well I heard back in 2014 that the Oregon offensive line was banned from most of the Eugene area's all you can eat buffets. I'm sure that is still true.

I think Nix is a bit low on that list. I think the team around him can be the best he has ever had and if that is the case then he can be in the Heisman waiting room level. Also... This notion that the Heisman can be won by any standout player is a load of crap. The Heisman requires a good team surrounding that player to allow them to shine and more and more it requires a solid defense. I think Williams will have some offensive players around him to get him in the conversation but I don't think he'll have the defense to book him a ticket to New York. Nix has the skill players around him (or hopefully does we will have to wait and see) and he has a better chance at the defense to elevate his play to the upper tiers of play. We will just have to wait and find out. Let's just say that Oklahoma is in a better place roster wise than USC is and pretending they are equal is just not true.