David Marsh

It's a pity that Cristobal didn't have any patience for him and his development as he could have been something special at Oregon. However, those what ifs always trickle down as if Shough was a star at Oregon we might not have gotten Nix.

And the solution in both cases is more DATA!

Looks like former Oregon DC Andy Avalos is the recruiter of the year in the Big 12. Good for him... his Boise State head coaching stint didn't go well for him but glad he found a landing spot.

And we haven't seen many NFL coaches be successful at the college level. Pete Carroll just continues to be the exception. We'll see how Bill B does at North Carolina but most of us doubt he'll turn the program into a contender over night.

Spring portal opens up if that's the case. Granted they have to enroll inorder to enter the portal. So if they weren't planning on enrolling till the summer they're mostly stuck. Pretty easy to get out of a letter of intent these days too. So who knows anymore.

And if his goal is to be in the NFL he frankly needs to get out of college. The two are two different systems and there tends not to be a ton of cross over. In short you didn't see a lot of coaches just move between the two on ayearly basis. Certainly not head coaches anymore... If he wants to be a head coach in the NFL he needs to be in the NFL circle. All comes down to his personal goals.

The defense right now is good, you don't post a 13-1 record with an awful defense. But it really does feel like the defense needs to get more out of it's players. Part of my on-going thinking is that is the defensive floor too high? Should the scheme be made more adaptive so that younger and newer transfers have a better opportunity to learn it faster and see the field faster? We'll have to see... what many others have said is that this year will be year 4 for Lanning and his recruiting classes are going to need to start to emerge as older players who are experts in the system. However, having said this the 2022 class that Lanning brought in has almost gone via the portal over the past few years. I think that was a salvaged class for a first year head coach that was quickly eclipsed by the portal. But it will be interesting to see what the 2023 class is going to do this upcoming year.

The biggest thing in trying to determine the best backs or any position is it all comes down to the era they're playing in. James and Barner played in the era of the blur and the new uptempo style. Because of that they put up insane stats with that scheme and other teams not adjusting. Does that make them the best? Maybe... Granted, I feel they're probably no. 1 and 2 on my list followed by Freeman. But what about DAT? Statistically he doesn't pop as much as the others but he was a massive game breaker. Maybe no. 4 But now I'm completely bias of that era of Oregon football.

No argument from me. I think the linebackers have done fairly well in Lanning's system. A lot of people have said they are under performing put the standard they keep trying to grade Lanning's backers to is a downhill run stuffer or pass rusher. Which isn't the sole role of linebackers in this defense. I think they need to continue to work on their coverage skills though. And it was you Mike who made a comment about the Oregon defense last week and was the inspiration for this article. Thanks for that!

You mean you DON'T want to be a Beaver fan?

Top Heavy wins National championships. Balanced is far more fun to watch from a strictly chaos standout. This is the Old Pac-12, a super fun conference to watch. Unless that is you have National Championship aspirations in which that probably isn't happening from a balanced conference. But still... fun to watch! I think I watched more SEC games this last season than I ever had because of the chaos. The chaos is super fun and I enjoyed it... I just don't want negative chaos around my Ducks. I want my Ducks to WIN without drama!

I'm completely behind Lanning and I do feel he is the one to get us to the promised land. He WILL win us a National Championship the only question is when. In reviewing this season I am nit picking everything. It is one of those seasons that the final goal felt so close but the team fell short and now doing an autopsy and figuring out why is the next step. As always, thank you for your insightful comments Jon.

Probably more than anything else it's the players. The Oregon secondary has been different every single year! I think Tysheem Johnson has been the only consistent face in the secondary for the past two years. Florence would have been, but his injury kept him out this season. Sure, Reed was in his second year with the Ducks and made an impact, but he isn't getting drafted or more to the point I'd be shocked if he is. Linebackers have had consistency as there have been three guys in rotation in the last two years. Bassa has been back there all three with Lanning and he has great qualities, but he was never a Troy Dye player... Speaking of which Lanning needs a Troy Dye in his backer corp. A great tackler and coverage guy and a fantastic leader. Defensive line felt good this year at times but still feels like it lacked that lock down ability on the run. I do feel the biggest problem continues to be the secondary. Hoping to see that change soon.

But if those wins are vacated the biggest problem is that Washington WILL hang a National Champs banner for the 2023 season. We all know those Huskies would totally do that the minute those wins are vacated.

The funny thing is that both of Ohio States last two championships can thank the playoff. 2014 the playoff expands and Ohio State slips in as the No. 4 seed. 2024 the playoff expands and Ohio State gets in because it's a 12 team playoff.They did then go on to win it all both years and taking out our Ducks in the process. But still in both years the Ducks would have been in the championship running regardless. 2014 we were ranked no. 2 and if it was still the BCS we'd get in... However the BCS favors undefeated teams so probably sitting that one out for the undeserving FSU who would have been demolished against Bama. Then this year if it was a 4 team playoff .... Well that is harder to figure out who would and wouldn't have been in besides Oregon. There were no other clear cut teams in by the old 4 team model of 1 loss teams... So maybe Notre Dame but they had that really bad loss to NIU. But in both cases it's clear that if the playoff hadn't expanded OSU would have been OUT.

2 loses, one of which was inexcusable to Michigan... And they had to play up to their roster's massive potential. No poetic justice... Just lucky the playoff expanded this year.

Just remember... Washington is NOT a stepping stone school.

Nope, you're not crazy. I think the Ducks could have beaten Michigan last year. The one team that played a type of game we matched up poorly against was Washington and we lost twice.

Unless it's not about ease of the job. I suspect he has a goal or desire to get a super bowl ring to go with his national championship ring. Can't get that without being in the NFL. In terms of comfort these guys are set up for life with what they're paid. Ease of the job isn't really a factor. It'll be all about his goals and what he wants to achieve.

I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if he takes the leap. I have a feeling he really wanted to stay in the NFL but between the Eagles and the Niners he needed to rehap his credentials.

If true... Next year may have some very nice depth at offensive line that we haven't seen in awhile. This could mean some more fun heavy set offensive line packages and more rested linemen if the chemistry is right. This year the offensive line was nothing sort of a miracle. Started off the year with two key players out in Iuli and Bedford. Never got Bedford back and we got Iuli back right when Harper went down. If not for that luck I think Oregon would have been sunk... But very shallow offensive line last year and I think it showed. Hoping next year brings depth.

Kudos to Kelly Graves for putting this team back on track. He's figured out something.

I'd agree with this. Though what i do feel it shows is that Kelly has long moved on from Oregon. I think when he retires he'll happily come to Eugene and be welcomed as a hero to the program when the Ducks inevitably honor him. But the warm welcome to Chip coming to Autzen otherwise I think is over. He got a very warm welcome in 2018 in his first year at UCLA and since he never beat Oregon that sort of continued.

Tampering is happening everywhere. The reality is that it could be someone on the NIL side of things who is no official affiliation with the program. There is no way to police any of it in the current environment. I am 100% certain that Lanning isn't calling players from other teams because that would be a traceable violation. We're the B1G bogeyman this year... we're going to come up as the bad guys even if we didn't win it all.

It's possible. Article had a lot of "could" and "should" language in it. I think Lanning and CO will move him wherever he needs to be. The bigger DBs are a huge get though.