David Marsh

Practice report today was reassuring from the Gabriel interview. He was saying the practice had picked up. Assuming it's true. That Idaho game was the least energy a Duck team has put forward from start to finish in the Lanning era. The Ducks have had slow starts and sloppy starts at times under Lanning. But that Idaho game has the offense feel comatose from start to almost finish. The defense saved the day with that last minute interception that allowed the offense to take a knee. I was having Cristobal flashbacks where the Ducks played down to their competition every game..

Right now I am personally putting forward more optimism than I feel. Kinda trying to force myself to be happier than I actually am about the outcome of that game.

Two reasons... 1. Anyone who watched the game could see that this Duck team was lacking in energy and meeting its potential. Gabriel did throw for a ton of yards but the Ducks failed to punch in all those yards into points. Fix some of the red zone mistakes and the Ducks score 40, a good many of those mistakes were self inflicted. Those would all be cleaned up in a week. 2. Betting lines are designed to encourage people to bet. A lot of people still feel the Ducks should win by 19.5 points this Saturday or a lot of people feel that's not possible. Betting lines are less about the outcome and more about getting people to separate themselves from their money and to do that it's about creating a line that feels plausible one way or another.

And it came true!!! It brings me great joy to know the suffering of the FSU fan base. I know we've only ever played them once but still ... Don't like that team or fanbase. Though I am thankful they took Willie Taggart off our hands. So no hard feelings for that one at all.

The part of the Lanning locker room so each we heard was great. I am also 100% sure they didn't record most of it. The video hits the right notes as to how we're all feeling about this game. It's short and still worth a watch.

Their stadium probably has enough empty seats for these games that if they are desperate enough they can show up in person.

That comes on October 12th. We can smack Ohio State out of Autzen in style and then be above the radar. But for now silent running.

You know what makes me feel better. We aren't Florida State. They had about just as lofty expectations this year and they may start the season 0-2. At least we are 1-0. On Saturday we get a chance to prove ourselves again and hopefully don't disappoint this time around.

The problem for OSU and WSU joining the MW is that they'd both be fairly good MW teams. They'd completely overturn the conference. Usually in the conference realignment is that the conferences adding teams want big brands that won't upend their current status quo. Looks like Texas might be a surprise in the SEC in a few years. If Oregon gets its act together we could still be a surprise to the B1G this year. USC might also be a surprise to the B1G this year as well.

Running under the radar is where we have thrived. So let's have some quiet running for awhile.

My bad on that one. I thought it was off a failed 4th down conversation or a fumble. I guess I'm blanking on parts of the game because the whole thing was so awful.

Both scoring drives also started in Oregon territory. Idaho struggled to get to midfield if they had to drive the entire thing.

I believe this one is on peacock.

Well without a significant jump in improvement... Yeah I'd say that's fair if not generous.

Lots of football to be played. Oregon has a great shot at redemption this weekend. Having a game that feels like a loss but isn't one on the stat sheet can be a very good thing to get everyone on track.

Pickard was playing center right? When he was in... I think coaches getting too cute and rotating offensive linemen was part of the problem as well on Saturday. I guess if this is true that Pickard played well it might mean everyone having a week to get their heads out of their collective tears and working together as a unit might help us see a drastic turnaround.

So do I...

We did add a portal guy in Bedford. As for adding a second... There is very very very few quality linemen on either side of the ball in the portal. Oregon does a good job cherry picking what we can and is one of the best programs in doing so. It would have been nice to add more but linemen usually take a year or two to develop as it is. Outside of the Conerlys and the Sewells of the world.

Absolutely! I think there are lots of things that can be done to get the offense rolling. The defense looked fantastic with its starters. Yes, there were two scores but both came when the offense handed the ball over on our side of the field. Idaho never drove the entire field to score, it was our OWN fault! Fix ourselves and we'll be rolling.

Dave Ilui is our number 2 guard and is out with injury. (Prep recruit) Bedford is out number 1 and is out with injury. (Portal) We went through all our depth right there. Additionally they did move players in and around that rotation which probably just made things worse.

I was looking over the game and something stood out to me. There were a TON of names I didnt recognize in the game. It looks like a lot of freshman got to rotate in and out of the game. Which is good in a blow out ... But we never reached a blowout. I think it was a big part of the game plan to rotate 2nd and 3rd stringers in early and often. It failed. Idaho is a better team than Portland State. Last year Oregon scored so much against Portland State because Oregon ran a vanilla offense and there was nothing that PSU could do to stop it. Idaho was well coached and a better team and their plan out coached Oregon. Top down Oregon didn't respect Idaho. I am looking for the starters to be solidified this week.

Nix reduced the number of sacks for sure. But the previous three years of offensive lines at least were better. It's the run game stats that pop. The tackles are solid in our current line. The interior needs to settle but we were also without one of the starters through camp and one of the primary back ups. So we'll also see what happens when things start to settle.

Which makes surviving a game like this a nice wake up call for the team. We won and get to move on. Learn the lessons and don't overlook an opponent. Fans get to overlook opponents because we don't suit up. But the team we saw out there today is looking at 6 losses at least if they don't get their act together. I think they will. There were a few linemen out this week. I believe both Bedford and Ilui were out. Both had carved out significant roles for themselves by the sound of it. So I'm hoping that a week or recovery will get the offensive line ready to roll again.

Charles wrote this article about Bird Bombs in the Stein offense before he came to Oregon. Is Oregon’s OC Selling “Bird-Bombs” to Recruits? | FishDuck FISHDUCK.COM I have to admit to being pleased with the current line-up of receivers for 2023, along with the additions present for Spring... Nix threw more than we have him credit for last year. Those were the plays that he would get an incompletion if he was going to throw incomplete. That is not to say that Nix missed a ton of those throws only that he never seemed to miss otherwise. I also think that right now we are really missing Franklin. Stewart is supposed to be the next big deep threat at Oregon but we haven't quite seen that just yet. Idaho certainly did out work Oregon at the line of scrimmage (when Oregon was on O). Idaho also did a fantastic job defending sideline-to-sideline so even when Gabriel rolled out he didn't have the time and space to make the throw. Idaho played out of their minds well. Our Ducks though had horrible line play that let the offense down as well. Our runningbacks just struggled to punch into the secondary because there just weren't any holes. Then our attempts to attack the edges were poor because our offensive line didn't seal the edge and give a running lane for them either. It's going to be a long game next week if the offensive line doesn't pull itself together and fast.

Gabriel is a pretty good runner. He had some of the most rushing yards at Oklahoma last year. Granted they didn't run the ball that much, but he can absolutely run. He opted not to run. Whether by his choice or play design. He is a pretty accurate QB but I'll be honest I found his play uninspired. I found Nix to be quite boring but that was only because he was so ruthlessly efficient that there was often no sense.lf drama. He was got it done. Gabriel just doesn't feel like he's at the same level as Nix. I'm hoping that changes and quick.