David Marsh

This is something that would be a bigger problem if Stanford had a running game that chewed up the clock which they really don't have this year to date. It also requires a solid defense that can get off the field quickly and then get that run heavy chew the clock offense back on the field.

I think job assignments and a deeper understanding of the defense is the biggest problem with this young Oregon team. Getting Hill on the field more would be a good thing. I do believe DeRuyter is looking at this and is not satisfied with the results and is working to improve it. I just wish it didn't take so long.

Something needs to be done to tighten the coverage up a bit. I sorta get the feeling that there is a general lack of expirence right now that is creating more missed assignments in the zone defense which then creates holes. Zone is a lot harder to get players to learn because the assignments are so much more fluid. It might be time for some good old fashioned man defense and get some heat on some of these recievers.

I think Arizona is very bad right now... But I think they are trending in the right direction. The coaching staff there is doing well... I think it is just a bigger disaster than anyone realized.

Hi Everyone... as the forum was not relaunched until recently I have been holding this back. I find power rankings fun because it is looking at teams and trying to determine a pecking order. These are more gut feels than based around raw stats and is looking to try and rank the PAC based on how good these teams are, rather than purely based off record. Their records do count and do matter but teams aren't static and should evolve as the year goes on. Without further ado... Pac-12 Week 4 Power Rankings 1. Oregon (4-0) (1-0) - Oregon still has the best win and even though they played by far their worst game of the year against Arizona they did emerge with a win by three scores. So for now they remain at No. 1. 2. UCLA (3-1) (1-0) - UCLA is the only other ranked team in the Pac-12 at the moment in the AP Poll. Though rankings aside, this UCLA team got burned by Fresno State in Week 3 but has bounced back with a dominant win over Stanford. UCLA is full of veteran players and many are playing their best football. Even with all that this team has some real vulnerabilities. 3. Oregon State (3-1) (1-0) - Yes, I am putting Oregon State in at No. 3. This Beaver team is stacked with veteran players, in large part helped by the covid-shirt. This team is hungry for their first bowl game since 2013 and they are playing like a team driven. Don't sleep on the Beavers, they are a seriously dangerous team and even more so because everyone has written them off for years. However, this is a team that is probably reaching its ceiling. 4. Stanford (2-2) (1-1) - Stanford is a resilient team and David Shaw is coaching this team up as best he can. This team is going to be dangerous but what is abundantly clear is that this team is still a far cry from the Stanford teams that led the conference a decade ago and battled Oregon for the conference crown. Right now it looks like the conference pecking order between Stanford and OSU will come down to when these two teams meet and right now I'm not sure who would win. 5. Arizona State (3-1) (1-0) - Arizona State is a bit difficult to judge because yes they are at 3 and 1 right now in their overall record. However, they have only played one generally considered good team in BYU and ASU embarrassed themselves in that defeat. Right now they are at No.5 but they are a distant No. 5 because they are still largely unproven and everyone beneath them feels much worse. 6. Washington (2-2) (1-0) - Now there is a good argument that Washington is possibly a better team than ASU. However, Washington still lost to an FCS team and were blown out in Michigan. Even with all that said they seem to have a decent defense and an offense that might finally be figuring themselves out. So far in Pac-12 play they beat a wholly underwhelming Cal team. 7. Utah (2-2) (1-0) - Utah isn't a good football team yet. However, by the end of the year they may just be a good football team. Right now this position is more built on Kyle Wittingham's reputation than current results from Utah as Utah's two wins are from two bad opponents. 8. Cal (1-3) (0-1) - Cal has regressed big time. There was a thought that DeRuyter wasn't a big influence on Cal's defense, especially with Justin Wilcox as head coach. Well, after four games it has become quite clear that Cal really misses DeRuyter as a defensive coordinator. 9. USC (2-2) (1-2) - USC is on auto-pilot this year. They fired Helton in game two, which was frankly rather poor decision. If they choose to fire him two games into the year it raises the question as to why they didn't fire him at the end of last year? Was something supposed to have magically changed over the summer and a different Helton and USC team was supposed to emerge? Well that didn't happen. USC might win a few more games, but making a bowl game is going to be a a climb and right now it is hard to imagine they are going to beat too many teams in the Pac-12. 10. Colorado (1-3) (0-1) - Colorado looked good out the gate this year and looked like they could knock out at Texas A&M team team that was at the time ranked in the top ten in the country. Though what became abundantly clear in that game was the fact that Colorado doesn't have any offense. Their defense looks decent to good but their defense alone isn't going to win too many games for them. 11. Arizona (0-4) (0-1) - It seems weird that I am putting the only win-less Pac-12 team in at No. 11 instead of dead last. They probably belong in last but this team feels like they are well coached but are completely lacking in the players they need to truly compete. However, they may have finally settled on a quarterback and if they can clean up the turnover margin slightly, 5 picks is way too many, this team has potential. Especially, considering a few of those interceptions against Oregon throws that didn't even have to happen. This team is going to steal a game or two this year and most importantly one of those games they might have a chance of winning is against No. 12. 12. Washington State (1-3) (0-2) - Washington State doesn't look like they even know what they are doing at this time. They had a chance to put the heat on USC and USC put in a true freshman quarterback in their first start who just torched this defense. Washington State held a lead against Utah in a low scoring game and just imploded in the fourth quarter and Utah went on to win the game. Arizona looks like they are on the upswing where they are figuring out what it takes to win... but WSU hasn't improved and really isn't improving. If Arizona were to play WSU today, I think Arizona wins which is why I have Washington State ranked below Arizona. Thanks for reading... this sort of thing is fun for me. Please feel free to argue with my thoughts as that is also fun! I will post another one after Week 5.

Beavers... Washington probably wont be ranked this year. Losing to an FCS team pretty much eliminates that possibility. However, the Beavers could make it into the top 25. This could give Oregon another opportunity for a ranked win. There won't be many of those opportunities in the Pac-12 this year. UCLA will probably still be ranked in a couple weeks, Stanford might end the season ranked... but probably not.

I don't think Oregon has a quarterback that can do what Moorhead wants to do right now. There really isn't much of a vertical passing game. If Brown is the QB and proves unable to make those downfield shots, I can see defenses opting to challenge Brown to take those shots (knowing he won't burn them) while bringing more of the defense forward to stop the run game and short passing game. Brown has run Moorhead's offense well enough to date but this offense has been a short to midrange offense looking at players getting lots of yards after the catch. There is a major learning curve happening with the players as well. Lets not forget how young this team is and how few games they have played.

The Targeting Rule may be changed at the end of this season. I am glad a few years ago they changed it to not automatically eject players with a targeting penalty and I do like how targeting is automatically reviewed. This rule really does seem to have good intentions to protect players and avoid head-to-head contact. Though I do feel there needs to be a change in that intent needs to be taken into consideration. Did the player, usually a defender, try and avoid the contact? Did the offensive player lower their head, should that be offensive targeting? We saw an Arizona runningback lower his head and Mykael Wright was initially called for targeting as he couldn't change his tackling approach in time, thankfully the penalty did not stick. My proposal for a rule change... There should be a rule to avoid head-to-head collisions, it just isn't safe to encourage this behavior. Granted, some times these hits do happen and players do try to avoid them from happening. If the goal is with player safety in mind then then when a head-to-head collision occurs with non-malicious intent (aka by accident), then both players should be taken off the field and trainers should give them a look over... this is for safety after all and make sure there wasn't a major concussion. Then the player(s) who initiated the hit should receive a non-yardage penalty flag where if they are in another head-to-head collision within the same game they are THEN removed from the game and flagged with targeting. If there is malicious intent on the play... and you can usually tell... then flag the player for targeting because that is dangerous behavior. I know many out there don't want anything done if there are head-to-head collisions but the sport of football will NOT survive if that behavior is allowed. It isn't safe for any of the players involved. Though I am in agreement, the current targeting rule needs to change it can hurt teams too much for what are for the most part strange circumstances. Wright didn't commit targeting against the Arizona player last Saturday, his original angle for the tackle was good and he did try to lead with his shoulder. The Arizona player lowered his head and changed the angle in which contact occurred. Players should be allowed to play when mistakes happen, especially when it is out of their control.

Cristobal has liked to start practice and do a full offensive and defensive install the week or two before spring break. Then let students go home. Upon their return they do another install and build up to the spring game.

I'm not sold that J Johnson and Redd need to step up. In trigh both have had some great moments as Ducks but neither have been dominant. They just need to continue to do what they have been doing... And other young receivers need to step up and break out. I would say Pittman needs to step up more, he has all the potential and this is the year that he goes off. Pittman is built differently than Johnson and Redd and we need Pittman to be the game changer. We have seen 4 years of Johnson and Redd already... I don't think we'll see anything new from them. We need the young receivers to step up and break out.

What about real feathers? Personally... I like some sort of feather pattern on the shoulders as it seems to fill the uniform out more. I know I'm probably in the minority here as well but I'm good with the use of a black uniform for football once or twice a year. I however, don't like the use of black or off colored uniforms in bowl games, or tournaments or anywhere that Oregon needs to show off being Oregon. Below is an image from the FishDuck from 2014 where Oregon was playing Washington State. I personally love these uniforms but they are mostly yellow with some black. Again, once a year ... sure. I know that I also have nostalgia for the early 2010's as that is the time where I really became a hardcore Ducks fan. Even though I like these uniforms well enough... I love some bright green and yellow uniforms even more.

I fairness the Ducks snuck into the big dance a couple years ago by getting hot in the pac-12 tournament and winning it all. Though the added bonus was that Oregon smashes washington in the finals who won the regular season.

We all wish VA had another year of eligibility... He was incredibly exciting to watch.

It is all about that deep ball. That;s what Oregon needs really badly right now. Adams was a master at the deep pass. If Oregon's offense is going to take it to the next level, we need someone who can throw a deep ball and just as importantly someone who can catch it!

In truth I haven't watched too many games... Just observed when the Ducks were badly behind they had a tendency to stay that way. They'll make the big dance but they need to learn how to buckle down and fight back to make the comeback. They've done it this year but losing to the Beavers in that way and getting blown out by USC should leave a bad taste in their mouths.

I know there is some gaming the system that is done to try and not let another team get too much of an advantage... But this one is pretty dumb and petty. Ucla is getting their starter and backup back next year. This quarterback from washington isn't going to see the field anyway... It could be possible but it is unlikely. Just let the guy transfer and if he sees the field in his first year congratulate him because it won't be easy. Besides... Washington I thought you had the best defense ever... Are you afraid???

Both the men's and women's basketball teams this year really seem to lack the fire when they are behind. They don't seem to have a Sabrina or a Pritchard type who rallies the team or puts the team on their back and carries that team when needed.

I have to say that I agree with this sentiment. I would volunteer for more Charles but I'm finding my plate quite full right now and with the prospect of having to go back into the classroom soon it will only get more full. Though I wouldn't mind the return of the old format if that is more doable... Or the forum is preserved but with only one topic unlocked to be written in as this will potentially reduce the amount of moderating that has to take place... Not sure on that one. Though old topics and can locked but viewable to they can still be read. This may have been suggested earlier but I don't remember.

It hurts... This year's team seems to go cold and stay cold.

The conference tournaments may actually be SAFER than the normal season. The teams are all cloistered in hotels and practice facilities where everyone is frequently tested. Where covid creeps in is when players leave their bubble so being home is more problematic. In the same vein the big tournament itself is probably safe ONCE everyone is tested and then isolated in the bubble... Which is easier to do when the stakes are so high. If your program follows the procedures and the culture enforces those rules then the tournaments should be pretty safe.

I would say the lack of consistency in the availability of our recievers was quite troubling this last season. Pittman was sidelined for quite some time after the first game. Then williams had a couple of break out games and was sidelined for a few games. In a year with a new quarterback Shough really wasn't given enough of an opportunity to really get in sync with his receivers as the cast was always shifting.

In 2019 Breeland was absolutely a terror on the field. Then he was injured. The rest of the TE group needed some work and were good in some areas but not others. Kampmoyer was a good blocker but until last year wasn't much of a pass catcher. Webb was/is a good pass catcher but needs developing as a blocker. Last year we saw DJ Johnson really emerge in the first few games then he went quiet. Kampmoyer returned and made some noise briefly. Last year I think it is really difficult to judge the TE group because all but Johnson were injured or just out of commission for the first several games. What will this group look like when they are fully healthy? That is the next major question. I think the Tight End position is probably one of the most complex on the field due to its weird hybrid nature. Having to be a skilled enough blocker to act as another offensive lineman but also have the ability to run vertically (not always far mind you) to stretch the defense and give your quarterback a big bodied receiver. That is a skill set that not every player has and needs developing. Yes, Wide receivers need to know how to block and sustain those blocks on the perimeter but they are taking on more knowns than what tight ends need to deal with as tight ends have to be ready to pick up weird blitzes and take on charging linebackers.

The bright side for Oregon is that it really does allow Oregon to maintain full or nearly full recruiting classes year to year. The attrition may be a problem for some as if players don't make it to the field right away may look elsewhere. However, that is where Oregon's culture is to counter that problem for the players who may truly see the field.

I feel like I wrote an article a few months ago that talked about this... Or at the least was rather similar. Still good national coverage for the Ducks.

Doesn't Oregon have a couple of walk ons in the transfer portal? Not saying they are not important but I recall a a couple entering the portal. The transfer portal is a quickly becoming a one stop shop for schools where it is difficult to recruit or group of 5 schools. I think it is more often than not a good thing for athletes because if they had loads of playing time and we're happy where they were they wouldn't transfer. So all the more power to them.