David Marsh

Yes

This week I feel the need to restrain myself from putting "Pac-12 Refs" in as No. 1 because it feels like they are the biggest threat to any team in the conference for now. This week has been difficult for me to judge so here are my Pac-12 Power Rankings for Week 5. 1. Oregon State (4-1, 2-0) - Yes, Beaver Fans you deserve the No.1 spot this week. The Beavers beat Washington for the first time in... what seems like forever and they are 2-0 in Pac-12 play and continuing their upswing. I don't think they will make it out of conference play unscathed but for now they can live high at the top of the Pac-12 North. At the very least it should make for an interesting Civil War Game this year. To my college Mr. Z, enjoy this while it lasts! 2. Arizona State (4-1, 2-0) - I still don't know what to make of this team in truth. They are 2-0 in Pac-12 play so far having defeated Colorado (not too impressive) and UCLA (more impressive) but this team still feels overrated. We will just have to wait and see how well they do in the long run. 3. Oregon (4-1, 1-1) - Ughh... I don't really feel good about putting Oregon here but at the same time losing to the psudo No.1 of the refs makes their loss look less bad. Did Oregon deserve to win at Stanford? No. Did they deserve to lose? Possibly. Did they deserve to lose to the refs on a highly questionable call on what was the last play of the game? Absolutely not. Factor in losing to the refs, and the amount of injuries this team has had to overcome to date and sitting at No.3 in the Pac-12 feels ok. There is a lot of the coaching staff is going to need to do to make this team a contender for the Pac-12 Championship, namely fixing the QB situation but that will be determined the next game. 4. Stanford (4-2, 2-1) - Should Stanford be ahead of Oregon? Maybe, probably but again read what I said above about the refs and the last call of the game. This team is good and they are getting players back from injuries. They will contend for the Pac-12 North but if they stumble, Oregon has a clear shot to over take them. 5. UCLA (3-2, 1-1) - UCLA lost to ASU though beat Stanford, they also lost to Fresno State. They have their own set of problems to work out and actually look kinda like a mirror of Oregon where they have a good run game and short passing game but seem to lack that x-factor to get them to the next level. Their defense might be better than Oregon's but no one in the PAC has forced more turnovers to date. Still difficult to determine just how good this team is. 6. Utah (2-2, 1-0) - Utah had a bye last week so they are holding here for now. 7. USC (3-2, 2-2) - This team looks middle of the road. They beat a Colorado team that doesn't have any offense. USC lost to Oregon State, who are currently No.1 and Stanford. They have yet to play and beat anyone above them on this list so this feels solid. 8. Washington (2-3, 1-1) - Washington has had two road games under Jimmy Lake and two road losses. This last one to the Beavers. Washington has improved on offense but they are still a far cry from being effective. 9. Washington State (2-3, 1-2) - Washington State scored a win against Cal. They also appear to have far more offense than Colorado. The offense is a far cry from the Mike Leach Air-Raid offense that was the thorn in the side of the Pac-12 and their defense has some bright spots but not enough to make up for the woeful lack of offense. However, this may be the year that Washington State may win the Apple Cup against Washington.They may be sorting out some of their problems but beating a team that has only one win of the season isn't exactly a resounding victory. 10. Cal (1-4, 0-2) - Cal is bad, but they didn't lose to Washington State by that much so they really only deserve to be ranked only slightly below Washington State. This team needs an offense to make some noise, but their defense has fallen off a cliff since DeRuyter left. Cal's mission at this point is to try to get a win against a Division One program. 10. Colorado (1-4, 0-2) - Colorado and Cal are honestly tied both are bad but for different reason. I know a tie is a bit of a cop-out because this is a power ranking but at this time I think Colorado and Cal are equally bad. If the two teams were to play tomorrow that game may very well in a 0-0 game heading into overtime. Colorado probably has a better defense than Cal but Cal has a better offense and vice-versa. At the end of the day I would say these two cancel each other out. However, on October 23rd these two teams play each other so we will get an answer to this question. 12. Arizona (0-4, 0-1) - Arizona had a bye. Last week I had them at No. 11 this week as they didn't play and Washington State showed some life I let WSU jump them. Arizona may be better than the two teams above but we will just have to wait and see. Please feel free to argue with me. Am I too much of an Oregon homer for putting Oregon at No. 3 or is that sorta fair? Am I just too bitter after the Reffing fiasco Saturday night? Well... that's probably true. Here's to hoping Oregon gets their act together so we return to our rightful place at the top of the PAC.

And with walk on linebackers... And a depleted defensive line. And an offensive coordinator in the hospital. Excuses are all well and good for fans... But not coaches. Also the things I listed were outside the control of coaches. Fixing the QB situation is in the control of the coaching staff and that needs to be done.

This sort of thing certainly didn't help the moral of the team. This has been a super rough year for Oregon football between the injuries and now a coach going to the hospital. Hopefully it is nothing too serious and Moorhead will be back on his feet soon... and if not his feet hopefully able to call plays from the box if needed. Knowing that Moorhead was in the Bay Area when he went to the hospital does give the coaching some slack for the play calls because there really wasn't a whole lot of time for another play caller to get comfortable. But considering all the injuries and everything... it is remarkable just how many games this team has won so far. Hoping the bye week allows us to get Moorhead back for Cal.

Brown doesn't seem to see the field too well. He will often opt to pass into coverage rather than see the receiver who needs half a second to get open. So often there is a receiver open or just on the verge of getting open when that ball is thrown. Now under pressure, this becomes understandable but that isn't always the case.

orr.... we kicked a field goal... we really needed to finish the first half with a one score game.

The play calling seemed ok from my PoV but the execution was lacking. I also firmly believe a QB change wasn't even on the table for considerations because Moorhead wasn't there. Not that it would have been considered anyways... but just my 2 cents there.

The Taggart era cleaned the slate at Oregon. He got rid of the entire staff and in the process did bring us Cristobal. In the process Oregon lost so much institutional knowledge. Just think if Cristobal was on the staff during the Helfrich years and he was apart of the Oregon blur offense and then he ascended to head coach after that, would he have a different take on the offense? Taggart's offense was Taggart's offense, when he left he took his offense with him. He called the plays and it was his thing, for better or worse. There was far too much freedom in the institutional void of Oregon at the time that Cristobal really could choose what we wanted the offense to look like, espeically when his OC was still Arroyo, who hasn't done well offensively at UNLV. Not sure if things would be different... but it's worth thinking about.

I have gone from a non-fan to a die hard fan and all that happened in the Kelly years... a die hard fan that writes for this website. After a loss like like the one suffered last Saturday I find the need to detox myself and get some perspective and then I realize that all my internet activity is Oregon Ducks related or history, news, or board games. I find myself in the similar spot Charles, I find myself frustrated because the product on the field isn't terribly interesting from an offensive stand point. The defense being bend but don't break or just bend until breaking is kinda run of the mill for Oregon so it has to be a truly powerful lock-down defense for me to get excited about it. This Oregon team has kinda needed a loss like this to be a kick in the pants to get them to wake up... but I really do find that the players might wake up a little bit.. but the changes really need to come from the top. The offense needs an overhaul, it needs to be a modern offense. At the end of last year I did write an open letter to Mario Cristobal. I feel what I wrote then is still valid today. I don't think I will lose interest in the team, it has kinda become a hobby that has dominated my free time. I don't think getting rid of MC is the answer... because if not MC then who? No one should be making comparisons with ANY coach to Saban. Saban is an anomaly at this sport. Though MC really does need to get introspective and determine what needs to change is him.

It feels worse. That was a coaching error. This feels like the refs manufactured a Stanford win. Now, did they or didn't they? That's up for debate but it feels that way which is the worst thing a ref can do. The utmost priority to good reffing is consistency. Players need to know what is a penalty and what is allowed. Every ref team has their own variation and that is completely normal. But there is trust formed throughout play and players usually know when they pushed it too far with a group of refs. That trust was destroyed on that last drive. That trust was destroyed on the final true play of the game with that pi flag. That's why this loss hurts. It feels like it was stolen... Not by the poor play of the Ducks (there is that) but by a group that is supposed to be neutral on the field the refs. Blaming the refs should never be na excuse for a loss... But it really feels like the refs were pulling for one team at the end of this game.

If KT was called for targeting that was targeting too.

The reffing has been aweful in these last two mins. Oregon hasn't played great but that wasn't targeting... And why all of the sudden change what is acceptable okay for pass interference?

That was NOT targeting... He led with his hands and there was contact but that was not targeting.

Right now this feels like watching old school Stanford football where they burn all the clock. Only it's Oregon running the ball.

... not Sewell now.

Hopefully not too serious... It has been the narrative this year sadly.

We got that and now we need to punch it in.

No Moorhead on the field might be a reason to not play TT because there is no QB coach on the sidline. But I think there is still way more upside. I think Oregon is going to have to lose for a change to be made.

I think part of the fan frustration right now is that we can see Brown isn't cutting it. He has reached his ceiling and is isn't good enough. We would rather see Thompson with some freshman struggles rather than watch Brown, a sixth year senior, fail to play at the level nmthis team needs.

I would make the call personally. I'm not sure this coaching staff has the guts to make that call though. It's a big risk but Oregon needs something to give them some life.

Normally it is a handoff to a running back at least... Until this year it has been a handoff and let the running back take it into the pile. Now it is the QB?

I'm starting to feel like Brown is a selfish player with some of these QB runs. Oregon has killed it when they have attacked the edges but he keeps the ball on the read at 4th and 1 to go up the middle? Especially when lacking the starting center. So many times the past couple of games Brown has kept it when he shouldn't have. He is either making the wrong reads or thinks he can do better than the running back.

What was that??? Brown runs on 4th down? That is just straight up the WRONG decision.

I'm close to turning it off myself.

Brown has looked aweful so far. The interception was a bad and the rest of those passes have been pretty aweful and off target. A bit if a miracle there haven't been more interceptions with those passes.