David Marsh

He was also very tactful in his responses... There is a whole lot to read between the lines for us as fans but nothing there that would burn any bridges for his coaching future.

With number losses like that... this is a build from scratch scenario not a strict rebuild.

I think it is a big... "we will just have to wait and find out" I think a lot of these schools are going to be disappointed with their results in years to come. There are some rumors coming out already about some of these big time recruits who have some big NIL deals who simply aren't buying into their program and coaching staff. It is not everyone... but it doesn't take many to ruin the culture of a program.

NIL is a mess and is very secretive. We haven't seen Oregon land any big time recruits yet because of NIL (or at least recruits that we know of because of NIL) but we know darn well how many we have lost because of it so far.... and not just recruits but we also have a feeling that we have lost star players on our own roster because of it, Travis Dye. I don't think a lot of these coaches would have considered an Oregon job if they didn't believe Oregon had an NIL plan. NIL is done pretty much entirely from the shadows these days and when we do get a glimpse of what is going on and the money being thrown around we feel really disheartened. I mean Nico getting an 8 million dollar deal! That is pretty crazy for a player who is completely unproven at the college level. As fans we want to see Oregon get into bidding wars and win them... but we aren't seeing it that way. I do think Oregon is working on building a longer term approach to NIL... but that means that we will probably lose out in the short run. Also... this recruiting season is a whole lot slower than previous years. Recruits aren't in the same rush to verbally commit because they would rather let a bidding war for their services take time to develop. Can't really blame recruits for that. I know Oregon isn't showing signs of wanting of getting into a bidding war this early in the cycle... maybe more so at the end of the recruiting cycle but getting into a bidding war now only drives up the NIL price. Be patient... we will know a whole lot more later in the year, but that doesn't mean it isn't hard to watch right now.

Chip Kelly basically said absolutely nothing to the media. He got away with it because he was winning. Now he is having some more grumpy boosters and fans.

It feels more honest to me than anything else. Lanning is promoting this learning and growing mindset and a big part of that is celebrating what they did right (explosive plays) but recognizing what they need to improve upon (turnovers). Practice is the place for players to make turnovers and mistakes as long as they learn from it. Our beloved Marcus Mariota apparently regularly turned the ball over in practice but he also has one of the best touchdown to incerception ratios in Oregon's history. He learned his limits and spacing in practice and didn't make those mistakes in games. Also... Practice always carries with it the cavaet that the offense could be making good decisions and the defense is just super opportunistic which is a good thing ... Or it could be bad decision making. The reality is probably a bit of both.

They can also get more marketing material from a Bowl Game appearance .... a chance for their player to hold up a trophy surrounded by teammates... that sounds like a great photo op as any. Granted it comes down to... how many of these NIL boosters care about a player beyond their college career?

Ok, so here's a thought that came to me today. We are still in the early stages of NIL and there is a whole lot of stuff that needs to be worked out in terms of how these contracts are structured. One thing that is not inconceivable is that an NIL contract can be structured in such a way that a player must participate (I'll leave the full language for the lawyers to work out) in their bowl game to receive payment. This would get rid of the opt outs overnight because players wouldn't want to void their NIL deals. The other thing that could happen as well if Bowl games might be an incentive to pay players NIL deals for playing in the bowl games, though this would probably take more of the form of a team getting a chunk of money as their bowl participation... maybe more money if you win? Bowl season has become pretty boring in my respects. It will be cool to see Bowl season get some of its shine back, the playoff really ruins most bowl games but still. Maybe NIL can help bring back bowl season. Thoughts?

This feels like it might be a stop gap measure while they work out where to build actual head quarters. They need a place that is cheap enough to not be a burden on the conference. There are still a whole lot of advantages to having an actual building. However, getting out of San Francisco is the first priory for the conference head quarters. That is a lot of money that can be diverted into other parts of the conference. There is a timer on media rights but those can't really be changed until the current ones expire.

Bit of both... USC was willing to pay him more than OU. That and the bigger problem of potentially revealing just how good, or bad, he is as a coach if he has to go against consistently better teams in the SEC and OU can't just monopolize a conference championship... I know Baylor won it last year but OU has had a solid decade of dominance in the Big-12. With Oklahmoa in the SEC his job was going to get a whole lot harder.

We just have to leave Dan Lanning and his coach speak. Every coach has their own way of saying things and it just takes a while lot of listening to learn what they are and are not saying. Then of course there is the basic coach speak. Such as... "(Insert fcs school here) is a very good and well coached team with tremendous athletes" said by every fbs coach before, during and after blow out wins against dcs teams. I get that one is about sportsmanship... But it's coach speak 101.

This could be worse beyond even just the optics. Losing 6 players is really bad and losing more is even worse. I had to look up the numbers as I don't keep the basketball ones in my head but by the looks of it there are only 13 full scholarship players on a team... The. Some walk ons. It is possible that Oregon state at this rate might barely have a team come next year. Or it might just be loaded with walk ons... Which will create a cycle of disaster as more transfer out. This could destroy their program for years to come. We haven't really seen the transfer portal dismantle teams just yet but it is certainly coming.

I've heard its down to the NIL stuff... if Oregon can get close to matching USC then the Ducks can pull it off but the problem is how much is USC offering? An interesting trend at the moment are those historical super power programs that have been struggling as of late have some boosters more than happy to throw some big money to buy players. Tennessee, USC, Texas and I would even throw Texas A&M into the mix there. Oregon is going to spend the money needed to stay competitive but that doesn't mean they should to get into a bidding war with every recruit.

Or there is some problem with the defense where those big defensive linemen don't get to thrive. This last year KT's struggles could mostly be linked to a secondary that always gave an out route to the QB so KT never had the time to really get after the QB because the ball would be long gone before he could get there.

The NFL's overtime rule absolutely sucks when it comes to shootout type games. A defensive slugfest... sure it works... assuming the final score is like 10-7 or something like that. But a shootout it is just a failure. I know College football has its own problems with overtime. At this point I wouldn't mind them just starting OT in College Football by exchanging 2 point attempts. The scheduling of College games is so tight that it OT just eats into the next game too much. Namely... too many Oregon games were delayed or thrown on another network or whatever because the previous game went into OT.

In making the contract it could really be done in such a way to ensure less player exposure. Such as... First team can only play in the first half... Second team can play in the first half and 3rd quarter. Or running clock in the second half ... they can do a lot as to reduce the amount of time the starters are on the field. There could also be set rules for quarterbacks to wear non contact jerseys to keep quarterbacks from getting hit. As for making this a part of community relations... if there is a ticket price (even just a small one) send some of the proceeds to the food banks. In truth they tend to like cash anyways so they can buy the products they want in bulk rather than a mish-mash of cans. They won't turn down canned food. I also think that in Oregon's case that a team like Portland State would also be more regionally beneficial and community building than grabbing a team from outside of the PNW. And just playing a game that will create fan excitement and create interest for larger networks to carry a spring game would bring a good chunk of revenue. Right now the Spring Game really doesn't bring in much but it about giving back to the fans... but making it an actual game (or something that is closer to a real game) would make it into a revenue creator.

There are lots of variables that can be negotiated along the way. Like... how long should the starters play? Lots of the time the second half just has a running clock, would that be something that is negotiated in the creation of these potential games? Would the quarters be shorter? Not every FCS program needs the money the same way, I know programs like Portland State really need the cash but a program like North Dakota has some better funding. It would be unlikely that many programs would want to schedule a game against the likes of North Dakota who would probably be seen as too risky of a loss. I would also like to say these games would be optional... some programs don't even have a spring game because they just want another practice. But it would be nice to have an actual game played at the end of Spring. Granted, there are other problems like how much game prep can actually happen as most teams are just doing an install of their systems.

And the majority of those transfers won't find a new home. The top tier ones always do and always will but there are a whole lot of student athletes in that portal that have seen their football careers and in some cases college educations just come to an end.

I know Oregon and Oregon State do it occasionally but no where near often enough. It is a riot of color when they do actually play the rivalry game both wearing home uniforms. I know sometimes they don't want to do it because of colorblind individuals. I know Red and Green are awful for the colorblind. I'm not sure on Green and Orange though... I suspect it's not great though.

I think Herbert is built more for universally for any NFL team than MM. Herbert is bigger and has a stronger arm. Herbert just needed some receivers to show off his potential. I do think Herbert would fit almost any NFL team as he can really run a prostyle offense without changing up what he does best. Mariota needs a bit more of a schematic fit. Get him out of the pocket to be a duel threat regularly. Herbert leaves the pocket like any other good quarterback and does run the ball from time to time... But Mariota needs to make defenses account for his running ability in ways that Herbert does not.

The NFL seems to have an assumption that any top player will adapt to fit their system. The best GMs and coaches know this isn't the case but so many just try and force players to fit the team. We saw a similar thing with LaMike James ... He is a running back who wants to run in space but when he was drafted it was taking a good running back and putting him in a position that isn't his skill set... Slam him between the tackles. Mariota needs someone who can build a playbook around his skill set and use him to his strengths. That is the case for many duel threat oriented quarterbacks. As for the injuries... I would say many of those were a result of poor scheme and a bad offensive line than just poor play. At Oregon how many plays would Mariota run towards a sideline when the play breaks down rather than sit in a collapsing pocket and get smashed? Getting beat up by massive NFL defensive linemen is rough... Need to let Mariota opporate more to his skillsrt which might result in him only getting hot by a cornerback or linebacker.... Or he gets himself out of bounds. I'm hoping having a coach with some stability and a scheme that is built more to his skill set allows him to succeed.

Oregon doesn't have a whole lot of wiggle room still in terms of scholarships. Everyone expects some scholarships to open up after spring but as it stands Oregon I believe is still over the 85 projected, not all are on campus and enrolled currently which is why this number is fine. It would have been great to land Agude but at the same time I don't think the coaches are losing any sleep over it.

Oregon is building a floor for NIL first. Other schools are building the ceiling. We will see how this all shakes out over the long run but usually building a floor before the ceiling is better from an architectural point of view.

Lol... First practice was flawless... That's hilarious. No coach or player should ever say that. I like Dan Lanning's take on practice where players and coaches need to find something they didn't do well and grow from it. This sort of talk around USC is going to bread entitlement and I'm ok with that.

Gotta love how husky fans repeatedly just believe that the Oregon program has no ethical standards and this a regular talking point for them. I don't see duck fans make imply Washington is lacking ethical standards... Bad decision making, inflated egos, their blind delusions of grandeur... Sure. Have the huskies had dubious ethical standards in the past... YEP! But that's not this current team. Has Oregon gotten in trouble in the past with recruiting.. yep... But again that isn't THIS staff. But I guess when your team is about as entertaining to watch as a dumpster fire... Gotta try and make other programs look bad to distract from the smell of yours.