David Marsh

Dollars looked the part of an Oregon back in the mold of LMJ and Barner... evasive and able to break free on the edge. Verdell isn't Oregon's back of the future, that belongs to Dollars and even Dye was running well in Moorhead's scheme when they limited the use of the pistol. I would say Devon Williams and DJ Johnson were huge this year. Both are big receivers and will be key pieces moving forward. Johnson is an incredible blocker but outside of a couple of drops he is a solid receiver. I will be great to see Webb and Herbert make it onto the field as both were sidelined this year due to injuries to the best of our knowledge. I think there is a lot of solid star power on the offensive line... I do think some incoming freshman might take some of those spots away as there are some weaknesses in the oline... granted the oline missed out on a lot of bonding time with a lost spring and a hasty fall camp.

Ohhh the flashbacks I just had when you invoked Hoke... I thought I had those memories nice and suppressed. Though in reality I would prefer to hold onto Avalos for at least another year. The defense was exposed more by the youth factor than scheme. The scheme failed when there was not enough on-field player leadership. Need to get this defense generating more turnovers. Though turnovers on the other side of the ball are way more troubling.

Can't be a top ten draft pick as an Oregon quarterback and not get a new head coach in your second year. Harrington, Mariota and Herbert. Hopefully for Herbert he gets someone who works with him rather than tries to smash him into a predetermined offense. The upside for Herbert though is that he is far more a prototypical quarterback than Mariota and should fit in just about any NFL system.

Right up there with Mariota v Herbert! A great time to be a duck!

If Avalos leaves I am sure Cristobal will find a great replacement. I do not find myself concerned about the defensive side of the ball at this time, even though the defense under-preformed this year, because of how young the defense is and how much potential they have. Whoever the DC is they will need to ensure they get the most out of the potential ability that is on this defense.

Schooler is a team player and Taggart moved him to offense out of need. Schooler really should have stayed on defense. He led the team in 2016 with interceptions. He actually reminds me a lot of Brady Breeze (and it's not just the hair) but both were ball hawking and physical safeties. It was a major shame to see him go to the offensive side of the ball and disappear.

It's the year of youth for all of Oregon's big sports right now. Football... Youngest team in the country. Women's basketball... Lost the big three that have been the core of the team for so long. Granted this women's basketball team still looks pretty good, especially fighting injuries. Mens basketball... Well Altman is constantly having to bring in new talent as the one and done problem isn't anything new to men's basketball but it always seems to be a struggle to hold onto talent. It is also the first year with out Pritchard who has been a key component to that team for four years. The future is bright... Even if it is marred with current problems.

I would say Cristobal needs to let go of his need for control over the offensive system. By the looks of it he really lets the defense do its thing. He can and should be involved in the system and aware of how it works. But he needs to step back and let the offense opporate. He hired an OC with a great track record... Cristobal needs to learn to let others make him look good by letting them do their thing. He wants a power run game... Fine... Have the offensive coordinator develop and execute a scheme that incorporates a more power run game. But let them do that.

We have gotten tastes of Moorhead's system. Though on the whole we haven't seen it and things have just not been consistent all year long. Next season there NEEDS to be a quarterback as the sole starter. There needs to be a leader on offense who makes the whole thing tick. The defense has found it's leaders and they are still growing. Those leaders will pull the defense together and bond. The offensive line has a leader in Forsythe as the center. But the offense on the whole is lacking in leadership. The compounds the nonreal system problem. A system provides built in leadership and identity. Without a concrete system there needs to be a leader to make things work... There isn't one.

MC would normally go for it... Th y shouldn't have punted. If they want to get back into the game they can't punt.

Looks like more just critical mental errors. Coaching can correct them and prepare them ... But the fact that they keep on happening is on both the players and the coaches.

3 turnovers.... No overcoming this against a solid team.

Need some good half time adjustments ... Especially on defense.

Agreed... Though what is also showing right now is how much more expirence this iowa state team has over Oregon. They are loaded with seniors and have almost played double the games of Oregon. More practice time, more game time and it is all very hard to make up. Especially for the youngest team in the country.

I'm for Helfrich coming back as offensive coordinator when Moorhead moves on... I know there is a FishDuck article somewhere that talks a lot about that. Though it does look like Oregon is figuring things out.

Better at slowing the run this second ISU drive... But struggling pretty bad to get any pass rush in.

But they also started out a whole lot hotter... USCs first drive ended in an interception.

Offense looked good ... They gutted the Iowa State defense pretty well there. Happy to see a successful drive after the first run by Shough of that drive.

Not feeling too good after that drive from Iowa state... The defense lacks the fire that carried them in the oac-12 championship game.

Verdell is out ... That means more Dye and Dollars.

The defense I think is hungry to prove themselves still. I feel far more confident in the defense right now than the offense.

Dorlus was lined up across KT a lot during the Pac-12 Championship Game and between Dorlus and KT they crunched the USC offensive line. Dorlus is a high rising defensive star in the making and if he is playing better right now all the better.

I think an expanded playoff could start to break up the status quo a little bit... Because it changes from... "If you want to win a national championship 5-star recruit you need to go to Bama or Clemson or Ohio State" .... To "5-star recruit if you want to compete for a national championship you need to be on a team that wins their conference." Once we get to auto bids for conference champions talent won't condense onto a couple of teams but spread out a bit. This is NOT a short term solution. Even if it were to happen next year (which it won't) it will take four or five years for things to break up. LSU winning last year I think gave the invitational a bit of a shock... Not too much of one they were still an SEC team... But it wasn't Bama or Clemson who won which sent the message of if IF you can get enough talent and the right scheme things can happen. A very very long ways off from seeing this status quo break up.

The majority of the ACC isn't any better than the Pac-12... they just get teams into the playoffs. And Clemson is pretty good still... not sure I would want Oregon to go up against them this year. Next year or the year after that I feel it will be a different story.

This is year no... Next year maybe... Defensive end and linebacker are the two places where I think Oregon will rival the teams we saw tonight the soonest. Perhaps the secondary as well if that continues to improve. Offensively... I think the offensive line will develop into something that will be playoff worthy but so much of the offensive line is building chemistry and they NEEEDED a full spring and fall camp to gel. Quarterback, Recievers and runningbacks will need some help. With this last recruiting class Oregon has brought in the raw star power talent... Now it needs to develop. 2021 will be the real test with a full off season. We will also get another taste of the offense tomorrow ... It has slowly opened up as the year has gone on... Need to see it take the next major step. Offensively Oregon is a long way from these teams... Defensively ... If we see them play to their potential (more akin to the usc game) they can give Oregon a fighting chance on a year or twos time. I'm very optimistic... And I have an article brewing for the early off season.