David Marsh

Gotta have fun in the game. Yes, college football is a job for the players. Let's not start on the competition debate... This is a job and has always been a job. But this job should be fun. Not ever job is fun, but when work is actually fun, everything about that job is better, including performance. It's good to see Lanning bringing back the fun. I don't think this roster would have lasted under Cristobal. It will be interesting to see what happens in Miami. Not just this year but the next three. He seemed to have brought in top talent and then sucked the life out of it.

It would be hilarious if UCLA comes back into the gold and leaves USC trying to figure out what they should do. Part of me thinks USC has the arrogance to believe they can be the sole West coast member of the B1G and they can still come out on top. The other part of me thinks they'll come groveling back. I think if UCLA stays in the PAC, then USC is going to embarrass themselves in some way.

This should read... "The B1G interest in Pac-12 schools has coolee.... For Now" This isn't over. Just the current phase is over.

And here's hoping that Mariota plays within a system that enables him to play to his full potential with his skill set. He is not your typical plug-n-play quarterback for the NFL. (Herbert really is actually) And for MM to succeed he needs to be able to use his legs and get in space.

These articles are usually fun because you get some candid points. The ones in Cal and Oregon State are both good. The points on Oregon scream of "we know nothing about the program right now and this is what we've read." So not much on what other coaches think about Oregon. We know much of the pac-12 hated the Cristobal era in terms of recruiting and they questioned his coaching ability... That's a shocker. But they know nothing about Lanning.

As for a time frame I'm thinking we are looking at around 5-10 years. Conference realignment is on going no matter what anyone says, including the leaders of the conferences themselves. NIL is still very new and there is a whole lot more that will develop. It's just accelerating at a crazy rate right now.

Another much needed commitment. Need some offensive linemen but I'm not blaming the coaches on that front. NIL is rough.

From the sound of it Nix hasn't had much stability around him for his college football career. A decent freshman start... Not great but decent. Sophomore year was a new OC. Junior year was a new HC and OC and a different offensive philosophy, one he wasn't recruited for. Yes... Other quarterbacks can deal with changes around them better than others. Herbert managed to have a good Oregon career dispite an uninspired offense (and three different offenses!) And three different head coaches. But I'd say Herbert is the exception not the rule and oddly enough I do feel that instability has helped his NFL career as he is very adaptable. However, I would say Nix chose Oregon because he knows the schei, or at least knew the basics. Had a relationship with Dillingham. And knew he could grow on his knowledge rather than have to learn everything from scratch. Not saying Nix is going to be great or even good this year, but I think this could be his best year of college ball.

I have thought about writing an article about the obsession with recruiting these days amongst the Oregon fan base but I never like how it looks... Cristobal changed everything about how recruiting is done at Oregon and what is possible. All of Oregon's recruiting history before Cristobal was about finding those diamonds in the rough. Arguably the two best quarterbacks to ever play at Oregon were three stars, Mariota and Herbert. We have such a long history of taking players with potential and turning them into super stars. Now recruiting rankings do matter... You look any of the national champions in the last couple of decades and they all meet the requirements of the blue chip ratio. . But I do feel in the age of the transfer portal and NIL, finding those hidden gems will become all the more important because those are the players you can "get on the cheap" with old school recruiting methods of relationship building. Recruiting is Still More Important Than the Transfer Portal FISHDUCK.COM The acquisition of talent is the lifeblood of every college athletic program. There is no denying that... I look forward to the start of the season and those Saturday games in which every single one feels like an absolute treat.

I think a major problem today in recruiting is that the education is not being sold as part of the college package. What is being sold is the NIL money, a path to the NFL, the coaches and facilities, and then the education. Then beyond that.. if you're not getting what you think you deserve then hop on in the transfer portal and you'll get it... Only the vast majority of those who enter the transfer portal are not taken anywhere and they lose their scholarships at their current universities. So I do agree in that many student athletes are failing to get an education is on them but I do feel the system around them is telling them something very different.

Football? I was under the impression that we gave up football for pure recruiting all the time. Sometimes I think all the fan base cares about, especially on the pay sites, is recruiting. I for one am ready for the off-season to be over so we can watch the Dan Lanning era.

This one I think depends completely on the money.

And I think this is true of a good portion of the fan base on the whole. Every year I have students ask me what my NFL team is as it is blatantly apparent in a Duck fan (I have an Oregon flag on my classroom wall). I always say which team has the most Ducks on it but I don't actually actively watch the NFL. I find the NFL boring. Now I will watch Mariota v Herbert this year because that will be a game worth watching.

I think so... But I kind of like to think of it more akin to the FBS national championship and the FCS national championship. Though hopefully with more eyeballs on it. It would be first be seen as something lesser ... But I think eventually it becomes something different as they wouldn't be equal but different. When it comes to the FCS tournament there is a very real aspect that FCS schools and their fans actually like it more than the FBS model. You could make a strong argument that North Dakota could compete at the FBS level and I think they could with some growing pains. But North Dakota doesn't want to be apart of the FBS and they like where they are at. I saw North Dakota mentioned in a conference expansion thing recently and I doubt they'd even be interested. They like being the big fish in their pond. I think the traditionalist drive will be something a bit similar... They don't need to be the big fish but it would be nice if they weren't just considered feeder fish for the Ohio state's and Alabama's.

Not sure we have room in the runningback room for another scholarship player. We have Irving and he can be a thumper. He isn't as big but he runs hard enough for it.

I do feel that is where this is going. Originally this was one very long article that started to explore the two parallel leagues. But I cut out that part and I am saving it for a future article. However, even the older and more traditional model is going to have to change. Whether that is a reduction in the amount of team activity and practice hours or just having some form of universal compensation. The traditional model as is is not going to work but what we have now is also disheartening for anyone that isn't in the top NIL group of teams.

At that point they'd probably drop any academic requirements entirely. Let's face it in the age of NIL some of these kids are only interested in the money anyways. If NIL wasn't a factor would Nico have chosen Tennessee? Would Rashada have chosen Miami? Probably not to both... They aren't going to either of those schools for the education either.

Mike Leach had an idea I actually liked the other day when he said players out of high school declare as amatures or pros and if they are pros they get drafted. I feel a draft of top talent would make things far more fair. But... Once there is a draft there is no illusion anymore that this is pro-sports. So I can see all the major players wanting to hold off on creating a draft indefinitely. That way they can at least continue to pretend this is still college ball. Right now I'm also feeling like the whole recruiting industry is part of the problem. However, there is no changing that either. How many of us get emotionally caught up and involved by decisions that high schoolers make?

This is a great question and one I don't think anyone has an answer for at this time. The transfer portal is already a disaster for student athletes as most who enter never find a new home and scholarship and that alone can be the end of their college careers.

I'm glad this rule change is predicted bit to go through. It would have sent NIL into another level of insanity. It would have also needed to come with rules of being able to sign more than 25 scholarship players a year if there have been too many transfers out of a program. Otherwise some programs might not be able to field a team. In some cases already this is becoming a problem.

1 San Diego State 2 University of Las Vegas 3 Oklahoma State 4 Texas Tech 5 Utah State or Colorado State - one that hasn't been mentioned but I think could work. I left Boise State off the list because they don't meet the academic requirements side of things and Idaho isn't exactly a worth while expansion.

From the sound of it, Oregon is really focused on a quality class over a quantity class. NIL is making it brutal to lock down a whole lot of blue chippers because it doesn't really matter how good of a recruiter you are when someone can swoop in with a big bag of money and change everything. But the other factor that makes this perhaps slightly less annoying is that there is always the transfer portal. So saving some scholarships for transfers is incredibly valuable and the only way that works is if you don't fill up the entire class as it is. So if we lose our on our recruiting class ranking due to a numbers issue I can live with that. The transfer portal is going to be the place to go shopping for the talent to fill those gaps in the roster right away. So far I am very pleased with how this coaching staff has managed to get talent from the portal.

I believe the B1G is also planning on doing away with divisions as the deciding factor as to who makes the conference championship game. As it stands the B1G west would be favorable to USC but if it's just the top two teams in the conference then they'll have to ensure they are better than Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Penn State. Or at least better than all but one of those. As it stands right now I think USC and Nebraska are on a relatively equal playing field. Nebraska is better than their record from last year. Then throw in all of that travel exhaustion and having to play half their conference games in some chilly conditions. Sure they play at Notre Dame every other year as it stands but that's just one game. Even the pros say that travel is the hardest part of the sport. And that's professionals who do it as their only job. Until things change, student athletes still have to be students at least part of the time to be able to compete.

The Bay Area sounds like a fantastic media market. Except it's all about pro-sports. They have the 49ers and the Warriors ... There are still Raiders fans there as well. And just a bit farther out you have the Sacramento Kings. You look at the stadiums for both Cal and Stanford and they are quiet and never really look full. If there are that many open seats for a live game then imagine how much fan passion there is for those teams via TV viewing numbers. Stanford makes more sense than Cal for NDs sake. But even though Oregon's media market isn't as good as the Bay Area, Oregon eclipses both in terms of national branding.

Cardwell or Irving ... Whoever really gets the start and the touches. I feel for receivers though it may be Cota. He showed in the spring game he had some Jeff Mael like tendencies that enabled him to get open or even just make the catch in traffic. Mael found a way to get the ball... I feel Cota has that ability and if it comes out then he is going to be the go to target for the QB... Especially in the red zone. McGee is going to be fun and electrifying to watch. Franklin and Thornton are going to have their moment and like McGee I feel all three can be home run hitters. But for receivers... I feel Cota is going to just make things happen when they NEED to happen.