David Marsh

They haven't played anyone but what looks like a bad Michigan State team. MSU was demolished by Minnesota yesterday 34-7. That "ranked win" the Huskies is losing its shine by the day and fast. Still an important win for the conference.

I think that is coming into play more and more when we watch this year's offensive line. They are all Cristobal's guys and yet they are playing better than ever. No sacks on the season still... And they are making holes for a dynamic run game... And giving time for Nix to pass. Brown didn't look that comfortable at all last year. At least not consistently.

I think between Utah and WSU they keep the Trojans out of the conference championship game. USC has an awful offensive line and WSU is going to bring some major heat. USC only survived the Beavers because Nolan thee 4 interceptions and shot themselves in the foot with penalties on a successfully drive. The cougars are going to make USCs day miserable with their attack. USC, like Oregon, has receivers fast enough to get over the top of WSUs secondary. But unlike Oregon, USC doesn't have the offensive line to allow their QB to sit comfortably and make the throw with enough time. Utah's defense and offense should embarrass USC as USC is really lacking defensively everywhere but their secondary. As for WSU v Utah... I think it could go either way. WSU with a slight edge because it's their home game but both Utah and WSU are used to the high desert environment so maybe Utah won't be thrown off by the later fall weather in Pullman.

Dillingham is not asking too much of Nix and Nix knows he doesn't need to play hero ball. After that pick six he stayed calm and went back to work running the offense. Ensuring Nix doesn't need to play hero ball is critical to his success. Few quarterbacks can play hero ball at a consistently high level. So making sure Nix can make the plays he needs to is critical. This doesn't mean we keep him restrained to throwing short routes .... He completely has the ability to throw a deep ball. But he has also learned that a loss of a down is better than forcing a throw that could lead to far worse.

WSU is a tough team... Since Leach took the job WSU has been difficult to prepare for week to week because of their air raid offense being so different from the rest of the conference. I know it is now the "coug raid" but it is still very air raidy and difficult to defend. So I'm happy Oregon got a win yesterday. I think the major key to how high this year's team ceiling is all comes to week to week growth from players and coaches. Road games are hard on a new coaching staff so they got a win on this one but they will have to travel again and they need to get more wins in the road. I don't think Oregon would have gotten out of Pallouse with a win last week in truth. They have growth from the team that beat BYU. And next week they will have to play Stanford and show growth again. If they keep growing I think a conference championship is completely possible. I also think WSU is going to be in the hunt for a conference championship, especially with the new format. USC looks like a pretender their offensive line is garbage and it is only a matter of time until it is exposed for what it is... Utah and UCLA and even WSU are going to be a nightmare for USC to deal with.

I feel Dilly could learn a thing or two about fly sweeps by watching this Oregon state team. It is also painful to watch Travis Dye in a Trojans uniform.

It was tipped but it was also a super predictable play. If it wasn't tipped I don't think it would have been a successful play anyways.

I guess a QB sneaks isn't a sack because Nix was a runner for that QB sneak play that was blown up.... I'll take it but I thought that would have counted as a sack potentially.

There will be plenty of opportunities going forward. Oregon has faster recievers than many pac-12 secondaries and there needs to be the confidence on Dillingham's part to call for some more deep shots. I was actually pretty impressed with his throw towards Cota when he needed to get the ball out fast. If it was a split second later it would have been caught... Granted it couldn't be a split second later because.of pressure but it was darn close.

The couger offense continues to be a bit weird and difficult to prep for when you only have a week to do so. Oregon's secondary took some big hits today and hopefully they make another leap.

Hey now... Players just don't get Cristobal's culture and how they aren't playing physical enough. If they just played more physical they would have won.

Dilly has some work to ensure we actually punch the ball in. But I feel this coaching staff is learning quickly. It's also more fun to learn after a win than a loss... But you need to be aware that you learn the right lessons.

I would agree with this. I knew what play was coming the second I saw Dollars in motion. Mauigoa knew also and bit down on it hard. If nix went anywhere else with the ball it could have been a touch down.

It felt like in the red zone Dillingham was possessed by Cristobal with predictable run plays. Though if Cristobal was busy possessing our OC why didn't Miami win?

Again MC has the excuse this year he needs "his guys" and they need to get players to buy into the culture. But you know what ... Players are probably starting to buy out of the culture at this point and buy into the transfer portal. Especially the QB and those recievers.

Oregon got the win but in the end winning by 3 feels more appropriate than winning by 10. I don't feel the Ducks earned winning by 10. That said... I'm happy we at least won.

Alan my friend ... You called it. They Couged it! WSU should have had us dead to rights but they left the door open and we came busting through.

And in previous games they haven't done much either.

The big question this week was can this young coaching staff travel. It isn't over yet but so far Oregon on the road is very different than Oregon at home. Need to turn it around in the second half and get some points and play some solid defense. On defense we have been saved the last two drives by penalties that gave us the edge.

Need some big time adjustments. Need the defense to lock down a bit better. And the offense needs to finish these plays big time.

There's that darn play again where WSU they cut right down the middle for a big chunk.

Need to see some significant second half adjustments for the red zone. We should have 21 points.

I haven't liked the play calling inside the ten. Running right where WSU wants us to.

Agreed USC making the playoff doesn't help the PAC but actually hurts us. USC at this time is basically a B1G team because they are leaving. So them making the playoff does nothing for the conference, yes a bit of money for the rest of us but that is a short term gain. I say we want the Beavers to win so the beavers can become ranked and we get a chance to beat another ranked team this year.

I read a few years ago when the recruiting violations news dropped that the info was leaked by someone either inside the program or just left the program. Basically... It was some very specific information as to where to "find the bodies" that only someone with inside knowledge of the program would know. But in typical NCAA fashion they have been very very slow to actually investigate.