David Marsh

Other thing... This would be our second game in a row after a bye. PSU is on game 7. Until this year I've never counted weeks since the last bye as much of a factor. But what is clear is that by games 7 and 8 our Ducks weren't playing as well. DG also gets the ball out around 2.5 seconds on average. It'll be close with this pass rush but I think if he's in rythum they can't touch him. Still expecting him to get sacked a couple times.

He's been flagged a couple times this year in being handsy. But no flag in his last appearance. I think he hasn't hit the rotation at this point mostly due to wanting to redshirt him as well, if he has one. JUCOs and eligibility tend to be all over the place as it is.

The 5 seed's feelings...

This would be a great way of doing it. College Football isn't a static sport. Teams get better (or worse) as the season goes on. One or two key injuries could destroy a team completely. reseeding at the end of each round would make the playoff more dynamic and reward good play.

In the Ducks vs Them video he was also talking about how the Ducks need to take a bat to the Huskies. But he was also saying how it was metaphorical. What is absolutely clear is that Lanning and the Ducks are living rent free in a lot of people's heads right now. That is a great place to be.

And if Indiana was in the position SMU is in I would say they need to play the CCG as well. I think SMU is probably in the playoff regardless. If they get shut out and blasted I think they might not make it... but I think they're in it. The reality is that there are a lot of teams that are in this playoff that wouldn't make a smaller playoff field whether that is four or eight.

We are at a generational shift in College Football right now. Not only is the sport changing in terms of recruiting, NIL, and the playoff. But why has Lanning been able to make it so big this year in recruiting? Well Oregon has a good NIL program but we aren't paying the most. But the biggest names in the sport are gone or greatly diminished. Ubran Meyer is gone, he has been gone for a while now. Nick Saban is gone. Dabo is reduced as he has continued to refuse to get with the times and use the portal. Chip Kelly is reduced, I think the NFL did him a great disservice in truth but that's an article for another time. Pick a name from the 2000's and 2010's that was a big time coach and see where they are now? The vast majority aren't coaching anymore. This is a new generation of coaches and Lanning is already carving out his place in the new world order. Saban's throne is up for grabs, the throne being the most dominant team in the college football. Smart grabbed it for a couple seasons but is clearly not that team right now. So who is it going to be? We'll have to wait and find out.

Is he going to be better than Dante Moore, who is already on the roster and been in the system for a year? Unlikely. But I love how they are paranoid that Oregon is stealing their players.

The title by the way comes from the Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. I took the original words, for some reason over all these centuries people keep writing down "cry havoc and release the dogs of war" but we all know that can't possibly be right. Shakespeare wrote "Ducks" so I merely corrected it.

Charles... This picture from the photo gallery is way way way better. The World's Most Awkward and Uncomfortable Hug

They need to play and win to guarantee a spot. If they were to not play, and forfeit, the committee could and should take that as bad faith and trying to game the system. The system sucks this year for sure. But you don't hear the Oregon or PSU thinking of not playing and just taking the 5 seed. The losers in conference championship games shouldn't be punished for playing an extra game. But the hard truth is that the loser of the big 12 game will be eliminated from the playoff outright as they aren't remotely close to the ranking. Clemson is in the same boat... Lose and out. SMU may still get in with a loss but sadly it would be a loss to a lower ranked team. They need to win as it would be one of their few quality wins this season. They are still probably in if it's a close loss. They might be out if they get the doors blown off them by Clemson. The reality is that conference championship games need to be built into the playoffs and the loser takes a hit but is effectively given double elimination. Or... Just make conference champions the winner of the regular season. Every single conference has needed to use a tie breaker for at least one team to reach the game.

Is that a basketball score or was their football team in charge of hoops too now?

Kinda what Oregon did as well. Lanning on rushed four all night against Ohio State and we won the rushing battle in that game too. Against a healthier Ohio State game I might add.. it was before the multiple injuries on their oline.

The green helmet is back for the first time since what... Game 4? We kinda loaded up on that helmet early on and haven't used it since. I like it .. it's a nice green. Kinda wish we had a fly era uniform that was in green as well and not just black.

The reality is that in order to compete at the highest levels you just need to bring in a top 5 class rather consistently. Even if Oregon drops a place or two we are still in that zone. Beyond that our class rating in terms of individual player rankings is super high and that's the most important stat. Bring in the quality players.

Gotta get the best talent in the state to go to Oregon, even as walk-ons. Keep in mind to that walk-ons provide an important role in that they are often the backbone of the scout team. So maybe Wiepert will never see the field as a player for Oregon but he may contribute and enable Oregon to win many games as a scout team player. These are positions of need. I do think it is hard to keep some of these high profile players on the scout team for too long as they will want to feel like they are doing the "important" work of taking reps even as a the back-up.

Frost was right... in the old model of recruiting it was difficult to recruit to Oregon. Oregon was built on diamonds in the rough and a rare scattering of 5 stars. Those coaches, players and teams all built the Oregon brand. But they just couldn't regularly land high level recruits. Just think of the difference in time, ten years ago (yes 2014 was ten years ago) Oregon was still a rather new flashy brand and Eugene was considered a backwater in the college football world. Fast forward to today, those kids we are recruiting now all remember those Chip Kelly teams when they were kids. To them Oregon has always been a major brand and a major school. Oregon is now a destination in more ways than it was even just a decade ago. Scott Frost WAS right... but he is NOW wrong. Cristobal outworked the opposition in his recruiting classes. Lanning has outworked everyone and has one of the best NIL collectives supporting him, though it is important to note that Division Street doesn't use as much money as other programs but they have plenty to be competitive and that's all that matters. Scott Frost Was Absolutely Right About Recruiting to Oregon | FishDuck FISHDUCK.COM Oregon is hot on the recruiting trail right now. Just last week, Oregon landed 2022 recruit Andre Dollar over Scott Frost and... And also... Helfrich completely recruited inside the Oregon norm. What changed was that Oregon needed to modernize and recruit at a higher level to achieve our current goals. A Defense of Helfrich’s Recruiting Legacy | FishDuck FISHDUCK.COM Mark Helfrich is generally considered the worst recruiter in modern Oregon football history. He is a coach who oversaw some of... Oregon has higher standards and more resources than ever before. And when it comes to NIL, Oregon is absolutely one of the biggest benefactors of NIL. Lanning is the best recruiter in the country, I said it last season and I think it is playing out today as well. Dan Lanning Is the Best Recruiter in the Country | FishDuck FISHDUCK.COM Dan Lanning and company are the best recruiters in the country right now. Now, anyone who wants to go ahead and look at... Bring on the transfer portal!

Mad Man Dan has him beat. Gotta throw in some wild stuff when it's needed and at times when it's not needed. Day assumes, and rightly so, that his players are more talented than the opposition. But talent doesn't always equal wins, it requires putting those players in position to win. Sometimes that means you kick a punt right at a return man or throw a touchdown to a offensive lineman.

These are the current Oregon recruiting rankings on the following sites: Rivals: No.1 247: No. 4 On3: No.1 What a time to be a Duck! Also... Oregon has the smallest recruiting class of the top 5 with only 20 commits. Lanning is saving up spots for transfers this off season.

Why would Riley be interested in UCF? Or is UCF inquiring to see if he'll be fired so they can pick him up afterwards? I have a hard time believe he'd leave on his own.

This class now has 3 quarterbacks signed. I suspect the signing of the QB out of Wilsonville is more about filling out the roster and ensuring there are scout team players as well. Walk-ons are basically gone on the roster so instead we need to get walk-on quarterbacks on scholarship. So we'll see how this all shakes out. We will absolutely have transfers out at quarterback.

The Lanning v Day in terms of coaching and motivation is just night and day (ha ha pun!). During the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry game how do you think Day spent half time? I seriously doubt it was spent taking a sledge hammer to a Michigan helmet. Meanwhile... Lanning absolutely took a sledge hammer to a Washington helmet while Boettcher was walking around with a bat. If you haven't seen this week's Ducks vs Them you should. Lanning motivates and keeps his players focused on the execution. Ohio State looked listless out there.

Shockingly people don't actually use spell check. As a high school teacher I have sadly needed to make it an explicit requirement for students to resolve all the red squiggles and use the spell check. Sure they still might pick the wrong word... But it's still better than the alternative.

I wouldn't say phoning it in. But taking care of business and winning in a year full of extreme drama and chaos is kinda boring. Hey look everyone... Oregon won again. They did it the same way they did last week with a solid performance from DG and James ran from around 100 yards. The defense kept the opponent's score low. It's called consistency. It's not exciting but it wins games.

These numbers show that the Oregon collective is just bringing in 10 mil and that comes in at No. 20. It fits as it sounds Oregon is often not the highest bidder but they know how to be competitive with their offers. The Reality of NIL in CFB Recruiting Today | FishDuck FISHDUCK.COM Dan Lanning and Oregon have been on an absolute tear these last few weeks. It has delightfully resulted in... Oh and hey... I wrote something back last summer talking how a competitive NIL offer only allows coaches to START recruiting. For many athletes want to know their worth is being taken seriously. For some they want the biggest paycheck possible and don't care where they end up but that is a minority by the looks of it.