David Marsh

This isn't surprising if it comes to pass. It kind of needs to happen as well. College football takes so many resources to administer that really is too much for the NCAA to govern with the other sports. So getting a governming body in place that can just focus on football might mean some of these long standing recruiting infractions might get investigated. Looking at you Tennessee (which the investigation has only now begun). Especially in the world of NIL there needs to be a body that can actually police what is going on.

This is the usual narrative. They said the same things about Justin Herbert as well. And they are saying it about KT also because of his Oregon connection. Anything and everything Oregon is always overrated... Until it isn't. I think Oregon is just one of those schools that sits in a middle ground. Easy to get the blue bloods all fired up by hearing that we actually suck while not causing enough of a stir to really anger a fan base. Oregon doesn't have quite enough fans for that.

It will be interesting to see how the strength and conditioning program has worked out the offensive linemen. By the spring game they really hadn't had too much time to get to work with the linemen. Hopefully the new S&C staff are able to get their bodies more in line with what is needed to make the offense go. The other takeaway to keep in mind too is that the spring game is very difficult to gauge how successful the offensive line was as they were mixed units. Hopefully the offensive line is able to get healthy and with a consistent group of linemen they can get settled into better blocking.

It would be nice if Oregon gets him. I think USC is going to land him though.

I really wanted to mention how Washington lost to an FCS team there... It just didn't seem to fit the tone of the overall article. And it article was already pushing the upper end of length as well. Thank you for bringing that up because it is always good to hear.

That's what the FCS schools do right now to find most of their programs. And even the best FCS teams put up with it because those games don't effect their chances to make the FCS playoff. There is no risk of those cross divisional games only a payday. I could see the traditionalists taking on the same model. Go get paid by Ohio State but don't worry it won't effect your post season.

I think the number of super conference teams would be sustainable below 40. There are only 32 NFL teams and I do think the eventual unequal profit sharing will driving any teams out of the super conferences. One sided beatdowns don't drive viewership either in person or on TV. Eventually the TV executives are going to want a better on field product and to sell.

Where do you want the Ducks to end up? In my last article where I introduced the split to college football I said the Ducks can fall on either side. We have the resources to hang with the power houses or at least a whole lot closer than the vast majority of the college football world... But I could see Oregon also deciding to be a bigger fish in a different pond so that the powers at be don't have to spend all the money. I like to think of this option like how the North Dakota fan base may approach any thoughts of moving from FCS to FBS. North Dakota is a very big fish in the FCS pond. They could join an FBS conference and potentially a power 5 conference and not be a bottom feeder. Given enough time they may even become a very good FBS team. But to do so they would have to spend a ton of money to get their program ready for the FBS level and they would be looking at some pretty bad seasons along the way. And for what? The prestige factor? North Dakota is very happy with their situation as it is and it isn't worth trying to make the leap. And I didn't even factor NIL into this scinario. I think Oregon is sitting just outside of the blue bloods right now. Phil Knight has put an insane amount of money to get us into competition with them but we haven't quite made the huno yet. If Oregon had to decide now which way to go semi-pro or traditionalist... I think in this moment the majority of fans would want semi-pro out of the prestige, pride and ego. Personally I think I might like traditionalist more and let the semi-pros play their game and Oregon gets to maintain the rivalries we have left.

Vegas doesn't set the spread to be accurate. Vegas sets it to best get people to part with their money. If I were a gambler I'd take Oregon to cover that spread because I believe Oregon should do it. On the flip side I have read a few Georgia posts on other sides that would take that bet in a heartbeat for Georgia. Vegas isn't inherently good at predicting winners. They are good at separating people from their money. That's how I really feel about this line. A great number to get people to place a bet because it seems like a sure thing on both sides. But only one side will cover so we'll just have to wait and see. Vegas will do just fine is all I know for certain.

I would be concerned about the tight end factor based off last season. The place that Oregon frequently was gutted was the underneath throws, usually prime tight end territory. Those would just eat yardage and in the case of Georgia set up the run in the red zone. Now I do think Oregon's defense is good enough to give some trouble. But they will need to be better this year and I think with this new staff they will be. I think for Oregon is going to need to play a flawless game and get a little lucky for things to go Oregon's way. The big x-factor here though is no one quite knows what Lanning is going to do and trying to study Oregon's roster for the past few years beyond potential talent isn't entirely useful. The scheme is going to be better on both sides of the ball. Oregon has a good amount of talent but due to poor coaching and development most of it has not reached its potential. What happens when it does?

I think Oregon was going after one tight end in this class regardless. I think they might go for a second tight end due to the passing of Webb.

Well it was about 2 thousand Greeks with only 300 Spartans. They did eventually win that battle. It was the battle of Salmis where Persia's navy was sunk by the Greeks and it was pretty embarrising and killed their invasion entirely. Beyond that... I was thinking that Washington can be Persia but only if we get to be the upstart Alexander the Great and we get to topple the purple giant... However... Alexander only lives to 30ish years old and then dies and then there is a series of massive Civil Wars. Can't we just be Rome? They lasted for a good while.

This feels like the Huskies are trying too hard. I have no real issue with the uniform look... It's all white with gold highlights... It's fine and is probably better than their normal flare because of the reduction of purple. But royalty? Really? Talk about arrogance... But I guess it's what we should expect from the team that has "Bow Down" as their slogan as well. I hope they don't lose to an FCS team in these uniforms... Oh wait... I DO hope they lose to an FCS team in these uniforms.

Vanilla defense during the spring game is pretty standard... not a ton of time for the install and all spring is about anyways is just making sure that everyone has the basics down and maybe a few extra things for some flare. I'm also sure that Lanning has dreamed up some schematic ideas that he never used at Georgia just for the time when he is the head coach somewhere. Georgia is a big week one opponent and quite possibly the biggest opponent they will face all year. So that is the game I fully expect Lanning to throw out some weird and wild stuff. Something that would give Oregon an advantage. Considering Oregon is going to need some added luck to stand a chance at beating Georgia something new and crazy is just what we need as well.

I think this is a good point as well. So much happens during practice and they have to evaluate plays from both sides of the ball that I don't think there is much that can be reported on by the head coach especially directly after a scrimmage. Sure he probably has a few highlights in his head and those are the things that are usually mentioned along with the overall tone of the day. But individual players and plays ... Not so much. It would be interesting to have some questions asking about the scrimmage a day or two after the scrimmage itself. But usually reporters just move on to the next story.

I found Cristobal to be much more open in the first couple of years at Oregon than the last two. I remember him more openly talking about injuries and that sort of thing. His last two years you couldn't get anything out of him and he was pure coach speak. Coaches can get away with not being open to the fan base when they are winning... which was why fans tolerated the Kelly era and Kelly not talking to the media at all and fans even tolerated it for the first 2-3 years of the Helfrich era because Oregon was still winning. But come 2016 and that disaster of a year fans and boosters wanted answers and not just coach speak. We'll see where Lanning falls in all of this. I think he has a personality that is much more open than previous head coaches and that gives him more likability, but that doesn't mean he'll answer questions.

I give a first year head coach a bye on the level of secrecy. As a first year head coach there is actually stuff that could be hidden and saved for the first few games. Same goes for Dillingham. Both Lanning and Dillingham have expirence as coordinators but both were heavily inflicted by their head coaches. So now that they have a chance to create something more in their own image why wouldn't they want to hide it from the world until game one against Georgia? After this off season it is silly to hide anything that will be on film from actual games. That is what I feel is the most annoying thing about coaches being overly secretive is when they are hiding stuff we already know about.

There were a few tidbits but for the most part these weren't interesting questions and the answers weren't that interesting either. On the QB side of things I wouldn't be surprised if they don't announce a starter publicly until the first official depth chart comes out. The emphasis on special teams and on end game scinarios was nice. I feel like end game clock management and end game strategy is going to be more solid than under MC.

I think either towards the end of this recruiting cyle or the start of the next Oregon is going to have to reevaluate their NIL budget for players... Well not directly Oregon but the big time doners. A lot of these losses have an NIL part in them, not all, but Oregon isn't spending on recruits as much as other programs. However, I think Oregon is also very happy to play the transfer portal and might be able to pick up some linemen on the "cheap" because they aren't locked into NIL contracts that require them to stay at their university if they want the payout. So we will just have to wait and see.

Looking forward to this practice report... So many of the practice reports are mildly interesting and you get a sense where the team is going or at least the tone of the team. But the jucy stuff comes from the scrimmages and who starts to emerge as contenders for starting jobs.

Glad we don't have MC because he would be pretty near the bottom. Especially with last year's showing. We failed to cover the spread against sooooo many teams last year. I believe we failed to cover the spread against Stoneybrook!

Now if this class can buy into what Altman is coaching, it could make for a very special team.

Getting enough big uglies is getting more difficult with NIL. These are players that have something that is completely unteachable... Size. Schools are going to pay for the top OL guys. It sounds like Iowa probably spent their entire NIL budget on landing 5-star Proctor.

So apparently Anthony Brown had a pretty good preseason game. Titans vs. Ravens - Game Summary - August 11, 2022 - ESPN WWW.ESPN.COM Get a summary of the Tennessee Titans vs. Baltimore Ravens football game Herbert was stunted for multiple reasons between scheme and not having a stable of receivers to throw to. But Brown had some good receivers available and the scheme, even with Moorhead, didn't do him any favors. But I this preseason NFL game Brown had some good plays and went 10-15 passing. And some of those passing plays were vertical throws. So Maimi... You all better look out. That prized quarterback you have on your roster now, and your 2023 5 star in Rashada who your boosters are paying 9 mil for, may not turn out to do much of anything. Though they may make the NFL despite Cristobal so who knows.

Flowe is going to cause problems for opposing teams by himself. However, think how much more effective he will be with Sewell next to him??? Then throw in DJ Johnson and Bradyn Swinson and Brandon Dorlus... And that is going to be a nightmare to scheme against. Especially when it's Lanning's defensive scheme that is deploying all that talent.