David Marsh

I suspect there is an element here of how they practice. Who is the most consistent at practice and who puts in the most effort at practice matter to coaches and coaches will often reward them with earlier minutes and more minutes. I also don't get a sense that there is a particular single role for any runningback, I think they excel in different parts of the game. I think if Irving and manage to catch the ball out of the backfield he will be deadly. But so far I haven't seen any runningback being pigeon holed into one role. Basically we don't have a Cyrus Habibi-Likio who just came on for short yardage downs and was super predictable as to what he we going to do because his role was run in a straight line and get the 1-3 yards. The 4 runningbacks who have played in both games have been asked to do it all, though success if a different story.

Rotation can be very good and I think they might settle with something more like 4 RBs instead of 5. I think the only reason we saw a 5th last Saturday was because it was garbage time and they were throwing in a walk-on as a reward for hard work. I would like them to take on the sort of "hot hand" mantra of whoever is hot needs to stay in. But also rotating out runningbacks means we get fresh legs and that can exhaust a defense. Eastern Washington was completely exhausted for having to be on the field for so long. I don't see an expanded runningback rotation being the same detriment as the multiple quarterbacks, which I am entirely opposed to. The goal is to get as many as of the best players on the field and if there are a bunch of runningbacks who are good enough why shouldn't they see the field? They all have a slightly different skill set. Irving is a thumper, Cardwell has good size and vision and can catch the ball out of the backfield nicely, Dollars is smaller than Cardwell but is also a solid receiver out of the backfield and Whittington seems to hit the hole hard, kind of like Travis Dye if I'm honest. Oregon has had a 3 runningback rotation in the past, most notably with James, Barner and De'Anthony Thomas all at once. Thomas didn't see as many carries in 2011 as the other two but he could break a game wide open with his ability and his fresher legs. I don't see anyone as a DAT on this roster right now but being able to throw someone fresh in against a tired defense could certainly break a game open. The only downside is that we probably won't have a 1k yard rusher this year at this rate.

I'm waiting for a yellow out night game. It looks incredible at night.

I have for the most part liked Canzano's work, not always agreed with him but he usually does a good job laying out his arguments. I do find his new project has created some incredibly good work.

Oregon State does look like they are taking some solid steps forward this year. They took out Boise State and Fresno State in the first two games of the year and in previous years they would have certainly dropped one if not both of those games. So I get being high on OS. Oregon has to prove themselves and that starts in earnest this weekend so we'll see if that changes. In truth I don't read much from O-live anymore since they put up the pay wall. I find the other sub sites are better for sports news.

Thankfully the coaches have a week. Also... BYU doesn't have Georgia sized offensive and defensive lines. Granted, BYU does tend to have older players because many go on their two year mission before attending school so they are just older. I feel players are now buying into the Lanning program... or should I say progrum ... and they should see some accelerated growth.

Recruiting is brutal. I think like many coaches who have left coaching it is from recruiting alone. I'm sure he would still be coaching if all he had to do was coach.

Big difference we saw this week from last week was that the secondary was playing a whole lot more man defense. They still got burned a few times but they didn't give up nearly as much underneath. Against Georgia the Ducks were in zone and I think the design was to try and keep Georgia from going over the top. Their offense last year was all about a running game and taking some deeper shots. They changed that plan entirely against Oregon and it worked. However, Georgia had to score by getting into the red zone as Oregon didn't give them much of an opportunity to go right over their heads. Still an awful loss. Another thing that was different against EWU was that the defensive line was always playing on the EWU side of the LoS. And that caused the Eastern Washington QB to throw a few balls that were rushed and off target. Now BYU is going to have better players than Eastern Washington but they are also not going to have a Georgia sized offensive line to contend with. I think the coaches are going to have Oregon focused on their weaknesses. In a way I feel like Oregon did to Eastern Washington like what Georgia did to us. Eastern Washington was beat super bad and they looked awful but at the same time we know they aren't an FCS basement dweller, they are a strong FCS program but Oregon made them look like a basement dweller. Just like what Georgia did to us. We are just going to have to play some more games to get a real sense of what this Duck team is made of, all we have now is two data points and they are extremes.

With the transfer portal there is a very good chance that we won't see something like 2016 again, in 2016 Oregon started 5 Redshirt freshman and they took a beating at times. Though that class served as the basis for Cristobal's success, even when he seemed to squander the talent. Oregon will be shopping the transfer portal for offensive linemen. Now, getting them all to play together as a unit will absolutely be a struggle but that is becoming more and more of the norm due to the transfer portal.

BOTH Frost and Kelly have approached Helfrich with interest in hiring him. He said no to both of them. At this point I get the feeling Helfrich is happy with his millions and spending time with his family and pursuing other things in life. I know he has appeared as an analyst a few times for a variety of games. The demands of the college game these days are more intense than ever and I don't know if Helfrich wants it bad enough for those stresses. Let's be completely honest here... if Helfrich wanted to return to the college game any Group of Five program and many Power Five programs would jump at the opportunity. His record at Oregon was 37-16. That is a solid winning record. And for the record his recruiting was not outside the norm for Oregon at the time. 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 oversaw some of... That staff of veteran coaches did get caught out by the new social media recruiting trends which hurt them. But I also get the sense that Helfrich does not want to dive back into the college game because of the recruiting aspect. That alone eats up the majority of coaches' time and back to my earlier point, I think he really likes having time to spend with his family and that outweighs his desire to return to coaching.

Cardwell actually reminds me a lot of Tyner, when Tyner was healthy. Decent size but is shifty and can have a good burst of speed.

Dollars and Cardwell can do a lot.. neither are bruisers though, though Cardwell is built more for it than Dollars. Irving did have the most rush yards against EWU. He is really a traditional back of just handing him the ball. I has not been good at catching the ball when thrown the ball right at him. But he has the power. Whittington is interesting... He has had some very good plays and he can squeeze through some holes. He also had a few nice cuts. I feel Whittington and Dollars are similar in their function and Cardwell and Irving are similar in their potential usues. However, Cardwell is potentially more versatile as he has much much better hands. Irving is a thumper though and sometimes you just need to punish the opposition. Anyone else notice how many more stiffarms are being used overall?

Nebraska is so close to being less bad and actually winning games. I think Frost has this season to get to the bowl game. It still can be done but is growing less likely. If they are going to fire Frost mid season it will happen Monday... I guess there is nothing hard and fast about that rule but if the Nebraska higher ups delay they are only making themselves look incompetent. Otherwise they ride out the season. But the big question is who do the replace Frost with this year if they opt to fire him now? I find it doubtful whoever they have will do any better. These losses are on score and he can't figure out how to not-lose properly... By actually not losing. I think Frost is probably gone at the end of the season at the very least. Unless there is miraculous turnaround, but that feels unlikely. The players haven't been buying into the culture fully. I guess they are too busy vomiting from their new offensive line coaches workout routine.

As long as we see the team we saw yesterday against EWU I feelt confident. That team was focused and played well. Not perfectly by any means but they tackled well and there weren't a whole lot of blatantly missed assignments from the starting defense.. The offense was also calm and collected. It helps when playing with a lead but they never looked under control against Georgia.

Lanning will not be defined by Oregon's loss to Georgia certainly. But I do feel that Oregon's loss to Georgia will become a foundation for Lanning's culture because it becomes the why to Lanning's culture. The loss shows what happens if you don't fully buy in and the players really took that to heart. Eastern Washington isn't a bad FCS program by any means. I think everyone expected them to score at least twnety points and against our starters they only managed seven, and that came off of an explosive kick return and a targeting penalty to set them up. Oregon dominated that game, there wasn't a question as to whether Oregon was going to win but I don't think anyone expected Oregon to dominate the game as much as they did. The offense was calm and collected. Though I wish they wouldn't use those jet sweep like plays that seemed to always result in negative yards. The defense followed their assignments and the front seven got some incredible push and forced the QB to pass earlier than he would have liked which led to some errant throws. Special teams look better than the Cristobal era but I wouldn't call them special just yet. But how about Lewis actually kicking the ball into the end zone this year! Amazing what can happen when you actually coach special teams than just leave them on their own to practice, basically what I heard from the Cristobal era on special teams.

So far... Irving is a thumper at runningback and he can take some hits and keep on trucking. But he is not good catching balls out of the backfield. Cardwell has some solid vision and can bob and wave through a crowd. He also a real threat in the recievers game.

17-14 as a score feels like a curse for the favored team today.

Furgusion made that horrible pass look good. But still... Bad Bo... Don't force that pass!

This may be the beginning of the end of Saban. Last year he was undefeated against his former assistant coaches... He lost two games to his former assistants last year (Fisher and Smart). And it is looking like another one of his assistants might take another one. Texas fans would be feeling pretty good about their SEC move if they win this one.

Cristobal is VERY VERY GOOD in the offseason. Cristobal Has Spoiled Fans By Winning the Off-Season FISHDUCK.COM Mario Cristobal will be Oregon's head coach in 2022. The only way this doesn't happen is if he opts to leave for another program... He hires incredible offensive and defensive coordinators and he is a monster recruiter... but we have yet to see a team come together that is truly great. I get what that Miami fan was feeling.... Cristobal makes you feel anything is possible with every off-season but in-season is a completely different story.

So... Business as usual for Cristobal then.

It also gives you a real sense of how much talent Georgia has. Because coming in at one in the SEC also implies coming in at one overall and Georgia has done it twice on that list. Granted the majority of their 2018 star power is probably gone... But still. That's the kind of talent Oregon needs.

I think this comes with the quarterback, assuming it's Nix, is also calm and comfortable. We were hit with being behind desperation that makes everything worse. Nix has had some great heiro ball moments in his career but when he tries to play hero ball it's what gets him into trouble. Same went for Brown last year. Need to get points on the board and find that rhythm. I think it Oregon is playing either ahead or ateast not behind we will see a calmer team that just executes better. The rushing offense did pretty good last week but it didn't have time to really develop.

Oh the quality of the last recruiting class was good. The problem is the lack of many recruits this recruiting class. However, the transfer portal changes everything when it comes to recruiting as well. So if Oregon can get a few quality pieces at offensive line then go transfer portal shopping.

The funny thing is that this year has been real tough to land offensive linemen. Need that to turn around for us as well.