David Marsh

Top 5 is nice but as it has been pointed out repeatedly ... there is much different between 3-7 this year. The top 2 of Bama and Ohio State are significantly ahead but what is really important to a program is being top 10. Top 10 indicates there is enough top tier talent to compete at the highest levels. What you do with that talent is the next question.

Well... yes and no... remember that the freshman are those who have a full year of experience... so really because of 2020 it is a bit more deceptive. KT is a junior (in school anyways) but is considered a sophomore because of 2020's wacky season and 2020 not counting towards eligibility. So Oregon may be considered the youngest team in the country again (not sure just conjecture at the moment) but there are a LOT of players with some real experience now.

Modern Pac-12 refs... absolutely possible!

Remember the Oregon v ASU triple overtime extravaganza? Adams did make every throw on the field... some of which were blind where he just threw it up and an Oregon receiver came down with it. 2015, the lone season with Adams is one of those seasons where if he wasn't injured it could have been something special. The defense was bad but Adams made that offense terrifying.

A run game and a real offensive line. USC may be bringing in a great class in 2021 (though one that has a general lack of quality offensive lineman as Oregon got them all) they still have their dud of a 2020 recruiting class that is going to be on their roster for years to come. USC does have a good quarterback and some quality receivers and potentially a good secondary on defense. But USC just is really going to struggle if they are only airborne and can't protect Slovis.

Mariota on a zone read with Freeman. Mariota keeps the ball and makes a run for it... If things look bad he flips the ball out to Freeman and ... Wait... We've basically seen this before... In 2014 against Michigan State. So yeah do that... It will work just fine...

Absolutely... The ACC is Clemson. Everyone else is fighting for scraps. FSU had a few good teams early in the decade with a BCD championship in 2013 but Oregon actually played a significant role in FSUs downfall in the 2014 Rose Bowl route. The Big-12 is Oklahoma for the most part ... Maybe Sark taking over at Texas can get that program going again but hard to say as Texas has already consumed the last two coaches tray were considered rising stars in their own right. Honestly... I'm in the camp that if the pac-12 can start to fix their money problems then the PAC will be back. The PAC is still leagues ahead of any group of five conference in terms of money.

A power five team... Even a bad one... Is usually better than a decent to good fcs team. So having to play a 9 conference game season does make it just a bit more difficult to run the table. The PAC is also pretty odd in how flat it is... More so than any other conference any team can beat anyone else on any given week. Even the basement dwellers have teeth to steal a few games. It is imperative that Cristobal prepares his team every week to win and he cannot afford to drop games to unranked opponents... Or ranked opponents for that matter. There is a reason why pac-12 after dark is so much fun... Because the conference itself is wild. If you ignore the playoff stuff and just think which conference is the most fun to watch... It's the PAC. That said... The conference does need to prove themselves and win more out of conference games. 2021 is going to be a big show up and show out year for the PAC.

It's worth mentioning that though players like P Sewell, KT, N Sewell, and Flowe have all come to Oregon the ONE thing currently missing in Cristobal's pitch to the top tier linemen is proving to them they get to go to the nfl at a high draft pick. The offensive linemen taken in the draft last year were all pretty much recruited by Helfrich and taggart .... And none have been taken terribly early in the draft. Sewell being drafted inside the top ten would be HUGE for Oregon recruiting. If Sewell is taken in the top three even better.

I would like to say that for the record I think David Sweeney is a huge jerk and I think Cristobal is a far more humble and kind human being. They both share some interesting parallels in their careers.

Cristobal has been selling competition at Oregon as well. One of the things that Oregon is able to sell recruits is to give them the opportunity to be part of something special to bring tre first national championship home for Oregon. Most of Saban's pitch was completely expected... Basically come to Bama and get a chance to play for a national championship and a better chance to play at the next level. That is a really really tough pitch to beat.

Well... Washington in 2019 had a player lying face down in their end zone for a kick return... Does that count? They were penalized for it too.

The decline of the pac-12 really started after 2016... So it is a really recent affair on the whole. Basically it lines up with Washington's rise to power and Oregon and Stanford's fall from power. I'm tempted to look more into this with an article at some point this off season.

The more I hear about DeRuyter the more I think he might need some training from Cristobal in terms of becoming an ace recruiter but he has the personality for it. He also has the exact personally that fits with the culture that Cristobal is promoting.

People get wrapped up by the stars... More stars and more recruits with lots of stars. It's winning the the recruitment battle. More stars mean better recruits and that's what most fans just get stuck reading. I completely get there is a ton of nuance in evaluation... I do wish there were variations in the rankings but stuck with an arbitrary star system for now. I follow recruiting but I'm not a die hard... I could name some of the headliners but I couldn't name the entire class. I really appreciate your analysis Chico because it.is fun and readable. I usually skip over the scout recruit analysis because they all sound the same.

In truth I'm not sure... I think he is at the very least careful and deliberate as to where he wants to go and wants to do his due-diligence. If he was really after the drama he would be making more news on a regular basis. Pretty much all the news are the musing of fans and rumors.

Isn't Kenjon Barner with Tampa Bay? I though he was going to do some kick return stuff or is he on their inactive roster?

Jimmy doesn't want to hangout with Willie anymore? I doubt Leavitt would have worked well at Washington anyways... Lake seems to want a level of defensive control that wouldn't gel with Leavitt anyways.

This is a great demonstration of how a top tier talent can really do whatever they want with their recruitment while other recruits are finding the early signing period a blessing as they can sign and lock down their college early. Just an interesting observation ... or not...

Kinda sounds like we need another Troy Dye type player...

It is SUPER complicated with that rule... basically the only "free" scholarships this year are bonus year seniors (4-5 year seniors + covid year). Everyone else is given an extra year of eligibility but for the purposes of scholarship count THIS YEAR they are part of the 85. Though I am with you... I really really don't want to be in charge of organizing all of this.

Also DE Isaac Townsend is in the transfer portal as well... Article by Duck Territory 247

Harsh reality of it all as well is that this is a good thing... more room for transfers.

So was that Herbert guy...

It's certainly not bad news... his scholarship doesn't count against Oregon at this point. There are promising youngsters behind him that might beat him out but at the same time he provides an added level of depth for the offensive line.