David Marsh

Players have the ability to transfer got whatever reason right now. I do believe players should have the ability to transfer once if they so desire, especially in this day and age where there is so much movement among coaches. I see nothing wrong with wishing players and coaches the best as they move on. I think Cristobal leaving is a real opportunity for Oregon to upgrade. If Lanning can recruit as well or better than Cristobal then we have upgraded because Lanning is a better X's and O's coach and Cristobal. So why should I be mad Cristobal or any player leaves if it gives us an opportunity to upgrade? If they stay at Oregon against their will are we going to get a better performance out them? Maybe but certainly not guaranteed. Yes, with Cristobal leaving and any player leaving there is the feeling of rejection. Cristobal leaving cost us some big recruits and this class is a bit of a wash because of it but we are setting up for a new era of Oregon football, one that may be better than the last. So be nice and wish them well... We may reach higher heights without them than with them.

Absolutely possible... But will anyone with that kind of money want to pay for specialists? Wouldn't they prefer to pay for any other position on the field and get some real star power for their dollars?

Then the baffling kicking disaster that was the Utah games... But I won't hold that against him... Again distance and ball placement on those attempts was pretty bad. One was outright blocked which wasn't Lewis' job to provide protection and it's not like the snap and catch was messed up. Also... A few more points would have helped moral in those games but they would still have been losses. I am fine with Lewis being the kicker for next year ... But I really feel we need someone with a bigger leg for kick offs. Lewis struggled to get that ball reliably in the end zone for touch backs. Matt Wogan many years back was super unexciting from a fans point of view for both teams. He basically got rid of the opposing team's return game by kicking the ball right out the back of the end zone every time.

As far as Ohio State and it's fans are concerned it's season ended with their loss of Michigan. For Oregon's fans are we much better? Our excitement right now is all wrapped up in the coaching hires. Personally, I'm not all that excited for the Alamo Bowl... I'll watch (unless it is really bad for the ducks then I'll turn it off) but I'm not anxiously awaiting Wednesday to come for the game.

The Oregon offensive line has underperformed the last two years for sure. Lots of raw talent but MC hiring Mirabal wasn't a good choice for player development it turns out. We have seen amazing glimpses in what this offensive line can do ... But nothing consistent enough.

Camden Lewis is kinda the new version of Maldonado. Also Aiden Schider broke some records for kicking and consistency at Oregon but he was a walk on (at least for the majority of his time at Oregon). He tried out for an NFL team and hated it so he stopped his pursuit of that.

I hear that kickers, long snappers and punters don't train the same way and that can be a rub for some. The other side of it is if there are scholarships for kickers then wouldn't everyone just want to be a kicker? No... I think the vast majority of those who play football and grow up watching football don't look at the kicker as the person they want to be in the field. Again... As fans we want to be able to ignore the kicker, punter and long snapper for the entire game. We want them to be SUPER boring because if they do their jobs right we don't know they exist and if the game doesn't depend on a field goal to win the offense has done its job. No die hard football fan dreams of being a kicker. Beyond that only a handful of the best of the best specialists make it to the NFL. Then once in the NFL they do have long careers which makes it difficult for new specialists to make it to the NFL. Might as well give them a scholarship at college... Or maybe at the very least a partial scholarship... Give them something.

I'm also getting real interested who is being targeted for the coaching positions on offense. It looks like we have our OL coach.... But what about the others?

I think there were a few major factors at play beyond just whatever was going on within the Oregon football program in terms of relationships with the other coaches. 1. Surgery was serious enough that it seems to have shaken him. Oregon is a pressure cooker with expectations and recruiting and JoMo could see this has something negative to his health going forward. 2. With health being a concern bring closer to home and family would be a plus. He is also on the older side and has made enough money to retire whenever he wants to. 3. He wants to be a head coach again but due to his health he doesn't want to have the pressures of a power five program. Akron will be thrilled with him if he just shows progress, this is not a pressure cooker job. If he gets to bowl games and wins them then he is set at Akron. 4. Family... He has a family and I am sure he wants to spend time with them. A power five school really doesn't allow a head coach or an OC to really have that much down time. At Akron he will not be recruiting nationally, he won't have the resources to do so for starters, so he will have more time at home. I do think everything is linked with this health and his family, in response to his health. Akron at this point in his career looks more like a job to take to retire from rather than a stepping stone job. I wish him the best, he made Oregon a far more watchable team this year than the previous few years and I thank him for that.

What bowl game? Oregon didn't go to a bowl game in 2016 and certainly not an Alamo Bowl Game ... and if we did go to such a bowl game I would have forgotten all about it.

From what I have heard he was cleared of any wrong doing which is good. Though hard to clean up the reputation damage that it might have caused.

Absolutely and that was mostly because of Dillon Mitchell who made it into the NFL, this NFL speed. No idea how well he is doing now but I know he isn't a big name in the NFL so hasn't made the transition.

Also a credit to Lanning and Moss for opening up a dialogue as quickly as they did. Moss was going to sign but postponed the actual signing which opened the door for Lanning and Oregon.

I'd say Travis Dye makes the list for this season. In 2019 I'd say it was Herbert and Troy Dye. Those Dye brothers are just brutal competitors... They also like winning in Seattle. Troy played with a broken thumb and Travis had potentially his best game in an Oregon uniform.

Well.. I won't entirely be like 2021 if Nix is the starting QB... our defense WILL be better under Lanning ... so at the very least we will probably win by more than one score... but the scoreboard might look something like... 21-3 Oregon. Though I do feel Nix is completely a safety net for this coaching staff. He has worked with Dillingham and Lanning is familiar with him because Georgia has played Auburn so he has studied Nix's tape for his own DC purposes. Lanning and Dillingham don't actually know the roster terribly well besides who's on it and the depth chart and maybe Dillingham has seen a little bit of practice but in truth it is all a mystery to them. Especially when they are not inheriting a starting QB. Taggart talked a lot about how there was an open competition at QB when he took over but everyone knew it was going to be Herbert. Then Cirstobal took over and knew Herbert was the starter for the first two years... and then no need to go into the last two years we all know what has happened there more or less.

Pittman is going to FSU. Good for him, wish him the best and he gets a chance to play against MC next year.

Oh yeah, absolutely agree as well. This last season we had way too many games that ended with the defense needing to hold off one final drive to win the game.

Haven't heard about him building a relationship with Dillingham.. but if true I wouldn't mind getting him back. After all we did just lose TMac from the 2022 class. Pittman isn't bad.. the scheme relegated every receiver to the sole role of a blocker. Receivers should be blockers but they should also have opportunities to have fun and catch the ball.

Only because the Cristobal offense loves to give the ball over to the other team at the end of the game and put it on the defense to win it with a final stop.

But... Are they a FishDuck member? This is after all where the real hardcore fans come to discuss the ducks.

Not sure how much more he could have done honestly. He was not allowed to contact recruits on behalf of Oregon until last Monday when he was officially hired. Lanning also couldn't have been officially hired before Monday because there is an Oregon law for any state job that the job must be posted for a week before hiring can take place... And Monday was exactly a week. Then once Lanning was hired the recruiting dead period had already started. A recruiting dead period means no visits onto campus and no in home visits and basically any in-person visits are prohibited. However, phone calls and zoom calls are permitted. There has been a lot of fuss made about Lanning not being on campus... But in truth it's irrelevant because he can use a phone to call recruits from anywhere. Georgia is going to play in the playoff and that gives Lanning a unique opportunity to get some more playoff experience which is something we as fans WANT our head coach to have. I am sure he is spending every non- Georgia waking moment of the day recruiting... Whether that is players or future staff members. And even if he was solely in Eugene there is only so much he could have done anyways and for the current recruiting class there really isn't anything more he could have done besides sell something that isn't him or the program he wants and we don't want that from our new HC anyways.

Loads of potential... really looking forward to seeing what he puts on the field next season for Oregon. I know the FSU numbers suck... but FSU has been an awful program since 2016 when Jimbo Fisher fled FSU for Texas A&M while leaving FSU on fire.. Then Willie Taggart added some gasoline to that fire while finding new ways to break it... and only now is FSU finally heading in the right direction. So I'm willing to give Dillingham the benefit of the doubt here.

I think this is the case with many programs... However, not every program is has the goal of reaching the playoff. Hell, most programs don't even have the goal of winning their conference these days. Let's take a look at our Beaver friends ... This is the first year they have made a Bowl game since 2013! The goal for the Oregon State program right now is get to a bowl game. Jonathan Smith has done that! The second goal is win a bowl game... we will find out how that goes this year. The third goal is repeat the first two goals. The fourth goal is to start making a play for the Conference Championship. The goals at Oregon are completely different than those at Oregon State. We were angry at losing a Pac-12 Championship. Beaver fans would have been sad to lose but they wouldn't have come close to the anger Duck fans felt with that loss. The standards at Oregon are different... as Duck fans our tollorance for Cristobal was starting to wear thin this year with the results and we are currently 10-3. Double digit win seasons are difficult to achieve and as Duck fans we are angry about that because we know this team could do better and should do better. It makes complete sense why someone like Justin Wilcox might not want this Oregon job. It might be his dream job... but stepping into the HC job at Oregon comes with expectations of making a conference championship game NEXT year. Jonathan Smith at Oregon State has a ton of love and loyalty from the fans and university... the Lanning Honeymoon is now, but how long is that going to last? I'm not arguing against Oregon's standards... just trying to put some perspective on those standards.

How about a QB who can pass a ball more than 3 yards down the field?

The basis of the argument is... It took Smart 12 years to get a big time head coaching job and Lanning is getting one after a much much shorter time period and needs more time to learn... also implies that Oregon has zero talent is not setting Lanning up for success. An interesting take and Lanning will probably have to learn some hard lessons next year. However, every single coach learns hard lessons when they become a head coach. Smart doesn't have things all figured out... I mean he did lose really badly to Alabama and Georgia's offense is based around their defense dominating. Maybe Lanning has already learned that lesson which is why in hiring Dillingham he is hiring the guy who was the OC when Auburn put up 48 points against Saban in 2019. It's a risk... but I think it is a risk that Lanning and Oregon are willing to take. Lanning doesn't seem like a typical coach from just listening to him speak and reading about his coaching story. He seems like he is a fast learner... perhaps faster than Smart... and delaying the Head Coaching opportunity for him might not help him develop much more, or at least not allow him to develop and grow much faster.