David Marsh

I mean... Yeah... Oregon is the program that has made the transition to a new conference the easiest and is thriving. Not just in football but other sports as well. But I'd also like to say ... Oregon was fine staying in the Pac-12 if everything were to align to stay. uSC and UCLA jumped ship... Then Colorado... And then the rest of the four corners schools had offers from the Big 12. Washington said they'd leave and they'd need to take us... And we went with it. We were 5th out the door. So if we are finger pointing. Sure we'll take some blame but only what we're due.

I think it really is better. The problems for the defense have often come when the offense has failed to set them up for success. Just think if two more of Oregon's drives ended in touchdowns? They certainly has a couple drives that felt like they should have resulted in points if not for a penalty followed by a third down drop and that third down play that resulted in Dante falling down. Those two drives score touchdowns... And the defense looks even better. That final drive by Iowa should have been stopped for sure. But holding an opponent to 16 points is darn good.

It also feels like the refs are a bit in on it too. I said feels like ... I'm not promoting a conspiracy. Bear Alexander was held for so much of the game without a flag. There were some non flag PIs Iowa got away with. Meanwhile... Oregon got dinged on a PI call that was a non call. We did probably get away with a PI in there too but still. Did Iowa really play zero penalty football? Yes, they had one with kicking the ball out the end zone for the safety but the safety would have potentially happened anyways... So I'm not counting that one. But Iowa didn't play a zero penalty yards game. Make no mistake we are not welcome in the B1G still.

Davison was one of the names mentioned as being a bit dinged up before the game. He was going to play but I think they were going to try and limit him a bit. Though I LOVED the two runningback packages as Davison and Hill on the field together make a great combo... It was the combo on the field that scored the only Duck touchdown yesterday.

I think what happened was that Dante was exposed in terms of his receiver target preferences. His 1A and 1B Dak and Sadiq were out and then 2 Bryant goes out and he just looked a bit uncomfortable in terms of who throw to. Johnson stepped up big at tight end and he'll be deadly for years to come. McClellan is growing into a big threat but he a had a big time drop on third and long that should have been a clutch first down. Benson, probably 2b or 3, was quiet for most of the game until he wasn't and made some big time plays. I think Dante is going to have to work with this receivers a bit more and build some more trust outside of 1a and 1b. Probably didn't help matters that the first series was three incomplete passes. 1 was Dante's fault, 1 was Whittington's fault and 1 was kinda a mix of both sides where the ball placement wasn't great but the receiver could have still got it. Then wrap it up with an end zone interception and... Yeah the passing game has some work to do without Dak and Sadiq. Also... Do we move Whittington to receiver? https://fishduck.com/2024/10/should-noah-whittington-switch-to-receiver/

or or or... did you you know... Bryce Boettcher plays baseball?????

Get to the 7 min mark in the unafraid show and he says that the officiating was atrocious.

I saw too many and I haven't sat down to study the film. They were also super generous with all the short yardage gains for a first down for Iowa. That fourth down pile didn't look like he made it... But they gave it.. And there was another tackle on a RB in there that he might have barely gotten the line to gain but they placed the ball an extra yard for him. Feels like we are certainly on the outside of the conference still.

No... From what I've seen these injuries emerged from this last week of practice. Dak had a non-contact injury which sucks but they happen sometimes. Harley with a twisted ankle... They also happen not sure there's much a S&C coach can do to prevent that from happening. Sadiq apparently was begging to play today but from a health perspective they said no. He's been dinged up but from the sound of it he's played through it.

I'll rewind and say that drive had several bad defensive plays. 3 and long and Iowa gets a long pass. Fourth down and they get another long pass. Yeah that lady play stings as it resulted in points but that drive should have ended long before that play.

Delay of game? That clock was at zero for a solid second..

Last play before the end of the quarter.. Blatant hold on Iowa goes uncalled. Tackle had Bear from behind and dragged him away from the play.

Just going to say it. My last article critised Whittington and the trend continues... Whittington seems to want to prove me wrong and I'm ok with that. https://fishduck.com/2025/10/the-oregon-rb-rotation-needs-to-change/

With Harley and Sadiq out in more concerned about the run game they are both great run blockers.

Sounds like Lanning does chew his players out as well.. he just doesn't do it in front of the cameras. There was an interview where Dante Moore says that Lanning would cuss him out over some bad passes and a lack of ball security in practice. We just didn't see it because it wasn't on camera.

Some green... Finally!

Oregon Rutgers happened for the first time this year.

But who would he supplant on the receiver side of things? Justus Lowe started some games last year with Tez injured and he has barely seen the field this year. The receiver room has a ton of talent in it as well.

I wouldn't change our situation in this college football environment for anything. We are in the right conference for the health of our program. Looking at little brother is depressing enough to make me be grateful for where we are.

When Utah and Colorado joined the Pac-12 most fans felt the same way on the west coast. It took about 10 years of rather frequent games to build up a relationship between Oregon and Utah to make that game feel exciting. Oregon and Colorado got a supercharged relationship and rivalry with the Lanning v Sanders narrative but that only lasted a year. I know it will take years to get more excited about the games against B1G opponents. It will happen but it will take even longer for me to get interested enough to watch non-Oregon B1G games. With the Pac-12 I would watch a bad Washington State team and a bad Cal team throw the ball at each other for like 700 yards combined passing. I cared about those teams, not as much as Oregon but I cared enough to tune in. I know it will all take time and rivalries aren't built in a day, week, month or even a year. They take a good decade to form and longer if those games are every other year.

He was on the West coast for the Oregon years. You can't expect national media to pay attention to what goes on over here... Our game started too late at night for them to stay up for. Then before he was at Oregon we was at Bama and no one remembers what he was doing before that.

Oof... Yeah the injury hit him hard as he lost last season and the last recruiting class was just bonkers good. Interesting note... This does signal the LAST DB in that first Lanning recruiting class to depart the program. I believe now that all DBs recruited in Lanning's first class are now gone.

I haven't figured out the numbers but how much of the pass rush not getting home is down to the speed of the release? Feels like there have been a lot of quick passes opposing offenses have tried to use because they wanted to get the ball away fast. But I know that hasn't always been the case this year as well. Feels like MU is not as effective this year but TT is having a great year.

It's a very good defense that will continue to need to develop. I know our linebackers are kinda the weak link but they aren't as weak as I think their reputation is. They are asked to do a TON! Part of me thinks that maybe to set up the linebackers better to more regularly succeed something in the base scheme should change. But I'm not sure what that would look like or if we even have the right players to do that. Getting some redzone stops would be nice. However, a lot of the points scored on us in the redOne have also been either field goals or when we've had the backups on the field late in the game. Most drives don't get close to the redzone.

They beat Lafayette a couple weeks ago. And I know about as much as that school as you do. Soooo... I suppose it counts as a win.