David Marsh

I don't think it's been leveled... But the field's tilt has certainly changed and Oregon has reacted better than everyone. I don't see really any other non-traditional powers doing better, none are in the realm Oregon is in that's for sure. Though there are plenty of traditional powers that are struggling pretty badly. They have the resources but lack the organization to make anything of them.

About a month ago I wrote an article about the proposed changes to roster sizes in football and what looked like an overall cut. A cut that would have effected walk ons in particular. Link below... Football Roster Reductions Would be a Mistake | FishDuck FISHDUCK.COM One proposed rule change coming up for college football is reducing the team rosters down to 85-95, but... But now it seems like there has been a complete change in direction and a push to increase roster sizes. In football's case to 105. The On3 article doesn't mention walk ons last I checked. NCAA expected to approve increased scholarships across multiple sports, 105 roster limit for football WWW.ON3.COM The NCAA has approved new roster-size limits, paving the way for programs to give several more... This would be interesting as this might signal more specialists get scholarships. It's hard to imagine how top teams can load up even more talent but they'll certainly find a way. What are your thoughts? Is this good or bad for the sport?

Found my forum post on Pleasent.

I'd be a bit surprised if Pleasant doesn't breakout. In the USC game last season Bridges was in as Florence was injured. The coaches pulled Bridges down the stretch and replaced him with Pleasant to cover Brenden Rice and it worked! It wasn't perfect coverage but it was tight enough to keep the windows too narrow for Williams to make those passes under distress. Which is a tall order as Williams makes those passes all day.

If you're interested in this topic it's worth a watch. Personally... Based on my article link above I think it would be a good fit. But I don't think USC wins anymore games.

For LA.... Absolutely. Or he might just keep it... That's a viable option for him too. I mean you have to give it to him ... He doesn't care what anyone thinks of him. Love him or hate him, he doesn't care.

I have to agree but for some slightly different reasons. Lincoln Riley is a Perfect Fit for USC and That’s Their Problem |... FISHDUCK.COM It has been absolutely delightful as Duck fans to watch USC’s problems, not only this year but over more than... Just change out this article being about Riley for Sanders.

I think fans are itching to get in their own stadiums. Having early season neutral site games just don't feel the same. I'm not opposed personally. I think the whole season needs to be restructured and I'll have more articles about that in the future. I have one brewing about conference championship games and the playoff that needs some editing.

I'm fine with the Ducks flying under the radar a bit. Just means we get to rock the boat even more when we win it all!

How many stadiums have real grass. Just thinking of the former Pac-12... USC, UCLA, Stanford.... Cal maybe? I think the two Arizona schools were turf. The heat makes grass expensive.

Nice thing in a way is that early signing day has moved up this year to December 4th (a Wednesday). The B1G championship game is on December 2nd so that's championship weekend. So the big recruiting push for the majority of players is wrapped up. The portal is opening up which is the next big recruiting push. The reality is that it feels like move up bowl season or cancel it. Recruiting is the priority for most teams because bowl games are seeing so many more opt outs. Hard to do both but there are ways to make it easier..

Here's my look at the whole extra time thing. It really doesn't matter a whole lot until the papers are signed and even then with the transfer portal that doesn't even matter as much anymore. Coaches will tend to stay in contact and continue to recruit until it's all over and they are at another school and then there might be some back channel recruiting about the portal. If a player verbals today I know they are mostly locked in but it isn't ever over in this environment. If he's truly a Duck then he'll be a Duck in a couple weeks. The NIL games in the background heat up and cool down but they never go away.

The 2024 season will only happen once. And injuries are so critical and no amount of simulation can predict how they work out. A team might come out flat and play below their potential and that might cost a game. It's all human and simulations are fun but you're right they really can't predict a whole lot other than the Ducks should be a good team like how Ohio State and Georgia should be good teams. This is basically making the paper rosters play out. I guess it's good to know that the Ducks have a good roster on paper.

They are absolutely playing the NIL game. In this case if Pickett really and truly knew where he was going 2 weeks ago he could have committed two weeks ago. Drawing it out helps the agents involved and allows players who may have equal feelings about their finalists play the NIL game. Now ... Before I go too deep in this one and sound like a Texas, USC, Beaver or Husky fan.... LSU has a coner's coach who has a fantastic relationship with Pickett and was keeping LSU in it even when it seemed like they were out. Then proximity absolutely played a role here as there seemed to be a bit of a reluctance to the distance of Oregon. This isn't a new comment but something I've seen come up several times in his recruitment. It's why Miami seemed to be such a big contender. But what might have been the tipping point is the desire to play in the P2 (his dad mentioned playing on the biggest stage and in the biggest games) that means Miami is eliminated as the ACC is not in the P2. So if the distance to Oregon feels too far and the desire to play in the P2 is strong and LSU has one of the best relationships and comes in strong late with a nice NIL offer. LSU gets the win. The Ducks are going to be ok and will continue recruiting. In Lanning we trust.

DeBoer is still running high on the Bama brand and Saban is still knocking around that program despite his retirement. Bama probably kicked their NIL payments up a notch because the Saban discount is somewhat gone but Bama still has a massive brand, super high expectations and prime recruiting territory. The question is what happens if DeBoer can't win a national championship in a couple years? His seat is going to heat up a bit then. Playoff appeances aren't good enough for Bama.

That seems high to me. Sure the LA market is big. When USC is good I think they were a major chunk of the Pac-12 market but there are a lot of fair whether USC fans. All you have to do is watch basically any time Oregon came into LA and kicked their butt to see the fans streaming out of the stadium long before the game was over. As for UCLA, they have worked really hard to pack the bottom section of the Rose Bowl and prayed the camera didn't pan up... Because when it did all you saw was an empty stadium. But realignment is about media markets, branding and pretty much nothing else.

Just like the Big 12 before Texas and Oklahoma left, the ACC is only two (maybe three) teams from being a cinferyif left overs. The Big 12 has embraced their conference of left overs branding and has literally expanded it. OSU and WSU both would prefer to join a P4 over a rebuild. Even they know a rebuild won't help them in the long run.

I'm not sure this is "shade" but Oregon's NIL is perhaps the best in the country. Smart gets the Smart discount where he can get players with lower NIL because he has two national championships and can sell players on that. Saban and Bama had the Saban discount. Right now I think DeBoer is getting some benefit of the doubt right now. It'll be interesting to see how that holds.

Going to be honest... That helmet and the 2013-14 helmets were peak design. The newer wings aren't quite as good in my opinion... The ones from 2012-2014 seem to be painted or at least have a smoother design. The more recent ones are nice but the wings look more like a sticker than they did back then. I think it is impart the overall cost. Shinny helmets are expensive I'm sure.

But our current schedule design is to play 1 FCS, 1 G5 and 1 P4. Scheduling is getting a reshuffling for lots of reasons and I see the Beavers slotting into that G5 slot in the long run. We're going to have better andote frequent marquis matchups due to the playoff and B1G by default. Thinking of those big OOC games over the past years. Michigan State, Ohio State, Auburn are the big ones that come to mind. Two are conference opponents now.

These games are a critical part of the larger college football financial eco system. They just shouldn't count towards bowl eligiblity. The SEC would look significantly less impressive if you remove the at times two freebe wins against FCS opponents every year. With that said... Most barely bowl eligible teams looks less impressive record wise when you remove the FCS wins. Personally.... I think these games should be played, FCS athletics need them, but they should be played as Spring Games. It’s Time for a Real Spring Game | FishDuck FISHDUCK.COM The Spring Game is just a glorified scrimmage. It’s something all fans know, but we still get excited about...

But what if we keep scheduling OSU and they just never win. Think about it.... With the way these programs are diverging this could be a decades long win streak for the Ducks. Wouldn't if be fun if the Beavers start to see this game as an automatic L every year. Their fans would go crazy and then disillusioned and then resign themselves that they'll just keep scheduling that butt kicking to keep them out of the Big Sky. I think it might be worth the money for that.

Pickett moved his commitment date UP presumably because of the Ducks. And then McNutt set his commitment date two days later. Maybe I'm just sniffing the green and yellow flowers but it smells Ducky to me.

The biggest thing about the expanded playoff, and to a bit of a lesser extent conference realignment, is that scheduling those big OOC match ups during the season are less appealing because there is a greater chance than ever the two teams meet in the playoff. If Oregon were to schedule a home and home with Bama the earliest we'd probably play them is probably 2035ish... We have a good chance of seeing Bama in the playoff before then. As @Jon Josephhasn't done so yet... I'll point it out that making our schedule harder doesn't do us any good, especially when the SEC isn't going to nine conference games anytime soon. I see Oregon keeping the Civil War game around for a while. Then we'll have an FCS opponent, like almost everyone else, until a rule change. When it comes to FCS opponents I tend to like to keep those regional because that money keeps those FCS athletics afloat and I rather see that money go to PSU or EWU than a FCS school is Nebraska or somewhere. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Oregon schedule games against historical foes. I wouldn't mind an OOC game against Cal or Stanford or Arizona. There's history there and I'd like to see those games again. I've said it before but I don't have any emotional investment in Oregon v Maryland this season. But I would be far more emotionally invested if we played Cal. As for the civil war game... I think we'll feel a bit differently in a few years about that game. I think it's worth keeping for no other reason than a reduction in travel.

So it seems like they're saying that they aren't just buying players with NIL. But that means ... Lanning is a better recruiter than Sark and Riley? But no... That can't be... That would destroy those fan bases if that were true!