David Marsh

Oregon has a lot going for it... namely Knight money and LOTS of it. but in terms of recruiting... all those schools have it MUCH easier than Oregon. Remember.. Cristobal just makes it look easy but he is out working everyone to get Oregon a top 10 recruiting class. On top of all that... I would say Oregon fans have the same expectations for our head coach as any of those programs. While we want a National Championship that is not our base expectation... our expectation is being in the conversation and we will be patient but at some point the coaches will have to deliver or it will be a very angry fan base. Right now we are content with conference championships, top 10 recruiting classes, and the dream of what can be tomorrow...

Good information RatherBe, thanks for the break down. The other thing I would like to point out that this year more than most has forced schools to be dependent on hype, reputation and above all brand. Without official visits getting potential recruits on campus is incredibly difficult and if you were a young player who had to choose a school without seeing it in person what are you looking for? Relationships with coaches is always to no matter what is going on... after that it all comes down to the trajectory of the program and the program's reputation. USC has picked up a handful of recruits this year because USC has a good reputation and is close to home and is a safe choice. Alabama is a safe choice for a lot of talent because you know pretty much exactly what you are getting if you join that program. Being a Washington State or an Oregon State it must be really difficult right now more than ever... they usually struggle to get many four-star athletes and in a year where they can't get students on campus it is even more difficult to get one to commit. Branding matters... and Oregon has that in its favor right now in an abnormal and brutal year for recruiting.

Everyone will think usc is good without any results for years to come. USC has been on the verge of a breakout season where they return to form like they were in the pete carroll days... People have been saying that since carroll LEFT USC. The assumption is usc will be just on the verge of a return to greatness for years to come. We just need to keep on beating them.

Not that far outside the norm for Cristobal. He has said it every single time he has hired a new coach. Leavitt to Avalos ... upgrade... Avalos to DeRuyter ... upgrade Arroyo to Moorhead.. upgrade YES it is also true that all these hires are pretty much objective upgrades but still what else is MC going to say... "eh... we found a guy... he seems ok"? ... that works at Washington but not at Oregon!

For the conference's competitiveness it is a problem... HOWEVER, if the Pac-12 is to be "saved" or is to survive in this current environment it is less important to have many good teams and more important to have 1 or 2 really good teams. Clemson carries the ACC and has given the ACC football relevance even though most of the ACC is terrible. Alabama elevates the SEC and while the SEC is more prone to having other programs rise up year to year Alabama is a mainstay. The B1G needs Ohio State more than Ohio State needs the B1G at this point as OSU is the premier program in the B1G. We saw this last season the conference bend over backwards to make sure OSU had a shot at the playoff. The Big-12 may be in a similar position as the Pac-12 if it wasn't for Oklahoma reaching the playoff as often as they have... granted they haven't won a single playoff game but they bring the Big-12 a level of relevance as winning the conference with only one loss is a way to make the playoff. The Pac-12 needs one or two very strong teams that can make the case that the Pac-12 can field a playoff team. If Oregon and USC are able to take control of their respective divisions and make the Pac-12 championship a win-and-in (the playoff) game then all the better for the conference. Spreading out the talent at this point only serves to maintain the status quo of the conference, irreverent in the eyes of the college football world. Though spreading out the talent would help solve some of the long term problems of college football... but that would take some significant institutional change at the highest levels. So for now... Oregon and USC need to battle it out and forget the rest of the PAC.

That is some INSANE wishful thinking... It looks like they just looked up all the top recruits in the west and put them on a list and called it good, or at the least just put a dream list together.

Well... not without out working everyone!

Which is why a couple months without Pac-12 football this fall while everyone else seemed to play was absolute hell! Oh... Two sec teams are play... Who cares they are probably both over rated anyways and if one is Bama they will probably win... Yawn! Oh the ACC is playing... Anyone interesting? Wait.. don't care moving on... The Big-12... More like the big smell. The pac-12 has their issues... But I do care more which makes all the difference. Though I do find myself actively rooting against whoever is playing washington.

As the big brother in Oregon... Yes, we can support little brother as well. They can never support the ducks but we can give them a little support. I do wish the beavers well and want them to win 11/12 games a year...

Yeah... we can say Washington won the North by the dumb rules of 2020. By the same dumb rules Oregon won the Pac-12 Championship. So I'm ok with that. Washington is back sliding... their offense was non existent last year ... doubtful it is going to improve too much. They have lost their best defensive coordinator and have gone with replacing their coaching staff with purely internal hires. Washington has also lost a lot of talent on the field and with a recruiting class in the 30's that doesn't set them up to reload. No... Washington will not win the North next year.

Oregon, Oregon, Oregon, Eugene .... where's the debate in that one? Though in all honesty... how can Oregon lose the best uniforms and best helmets... that is objectively impossible.

Need some real leg power for kick offs. Lewis just doesn't have the leg strength to get that ball deep enough. Top tier teams don't allow for kick returns as they put that ball out the back of the end zone. Kattleman has done a fine job taking over place kicking and has some pretty good accuracy and range on him. Snee has been fine at punts... mostly because I can't think of any negatives with any regularity from Snee. Though kick offs have been dreadful. Good to see Cristobal and co addressing the kicking game.

If that happens... that will send a huge shockwave through the College football world. Oregon landing KT was a small rumbling but Oregon landing top tier talent from time to time is bound to happen. Look no farther than Oregon landing DAT before KT. Oregon landing Flowe was a pretty big deal as well. But if Oregon lands JTT that is Oregon landing some of the best five-star recruits for three years in a row.

The Don Pellum example is an interesting one... It didn't work out well in the end for Oregon but the hire itself wasn't really a problem. The Pellum hire was a promotion from within which really was the Oregon way at the time... Promoting from within was what Oregon did and it's long tenured staff had a lot to show for the success of that method. The Pellum hire didn't work out but the idea was to maintain the Alioti style defense that was working for Oregon. It is also worth mentioning that the 2014 Pellum defense did get Oregon to the national championship game with only one loss. It was a bend but don't break system that was really good at taking the ball away but it had some major flaws. The wheels came off in 2015 and as much as anything else it coincided with a depleted roster on defense that only got worse the following year. At that point the coaching really wasn't developing the limited talent they had. Promoting from within may or may not work for washington but the dependence of promoting from within is signalling some potentially deep problems. And as a Duck I'm happy to watch the Huskies struggle.

No way to avoid that... though the new redshirt rule really does help as new players can earn their way on the field their freshman years. Then the higher quality players the more of them might opt to leave after three years. Which does open up space for youth to get more playing time. In terms of runningbacks there is an interesting problem... Verdell has the most experience, and has at times shown some true skill. However, he doesn't really have the size to be an NFL runningback, nor does he have the durability. This has put a bit of a bottleneck on the runningback position, though the competition will still be intense.

Our new DC has made his first media appearance. Worth a watch here!

Promoting from within isn't inherently a problem. It allows for a team to preserve the scheme and relationships and development of players to fit that scheme. It can be a very good thing. However, what I find interesting is that with the promotion of one coach to DC they moved an analyst into a position coach role. Again, not inherently a problem... BUT Washington is inviting stagnation into the program. New blood brings new ideas and new ways of doing things. Filling all these openings from within means that only a defensive analysis position would bring an outside hire.. and if it doesn't someone lower down the ranks becomes an outside hire. Overall... Washington isn't gaining anything new in terms of defensive scheme and innovations and isn't gaining anything new on the recruiting front. All good things for Oregon. As for Oregon... I do expect Cristobal to hire a safeties coach who is an ace recruiter to balance out the coaching staff as he brought in a strong X's and O's guy as DC.

So UW has hired a new DC and Jimmy Lake has opted for an internal hire. This would also appear to come with some significant moving of personnel around. (Read right here) This actually looks great for Oregon as I seriously doubt this staff reshuffle is going to be an upgrade for Washington. Hiring from within can be a good thing... but this looks more like a lack of confidence on Lake's part and an unwillingness to let anyone touch his defense. We will see if that holds true next year but this on the whole smells like a downgrade for Washington... and I LOVE THIS HIRE!

The linebackers really lacked leadership last season. Isaac Slade-Matautia and Sewell led the team in the tackles so but ISM didn't really seem to lead the linebackers like Dye. Sewell is a freshman and grew a ton over the season but it is usually a bad sign if you need to rely on a freshman as a leader of the defense. Please note.. Troy Dye was the leader of the defense in 2016 and we all know how that year turned out, even though it was some incredible growth for Dye and made him one of the Oregon career greats. Sewell was often in the backfield this last season but he missed soooo many tackles. He has the speed and the power to be a huge play stopper he just needs to square his shoulders better and line up his tackle instead of landing a glancing blow. Would Henry To'o To'o save the Oregon defense? Not sure our defense is in that bad of shape to be honest, it wasn't a pretty season defensively but that was mostly due to how youth heavy the roster was. A year of growth and expirence goes a long way. He would however, be a MAJOR asset for the team and one that Oregon would be thankful to land.

Sometimes I wonder about that... sometimes I think he was just thinking on another level than the defenders by doing the completely unexpected and making it work. No matter what he was certainly one of the most fun players to watch. VA: "I'm going to throw this ball into the back of the end zone... someone will catch it" Defenders: "He's running backwards and in circles... get him!" Ball is thrown to the back of the end zone is caught by potentially TWO defenders. VA: "That worked out well" Defenders: "What the **** just happened? How?"

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.