David Marsh

There was certainly special, though completely underestimated about the Pac-12.

It was a good "get right" game. But remember Rutgers has a pretty bad defense but their offense has been pretty good. Producing 300 yards through the air and a QB who has been throwing at close to 70% was reduced to sub 100 passing and only a 30% completion. So yes their defense sucks but their offense has kept them in games. So don't completely write this one off. But it's a stepping stone.

Crazy thing, as you know, is that Oregon takes walk ons from in State that could be on scholarship elsewhere. The NIL basically makes them scholarship without the scholarship.

I'm thinking part of this is Lanning also rewarding outright work ethic right now. Thomas by the sound of it is continuing to work his butt off and Lanning is rewarding that. That is not to say that Novosad and Moga are preparing to jump in the portal but it could also be a sign of that. But for now Thomas is the one working the hardest in the quarterback room and getting rewarded for his efforts. If Moore goes down with an injury, heaven forbid, that is when and probably only when we see the true qb2 come out.

Love it. Also... Just going to throw this out there. But does anyone think for a minute that James Franklin sat his team down and made them take their medicine like that? With that passion for getting better? Also anyone else notice that Lanning was doing the full team meeting in the indoor practice facility and not the comfy as auditorium they have set up for team meetings? Lanning made them take their medicine as he ripped them for their mistakes against Indiana. And the players took their medicine happily which showed against Rutgers.

For the pac-12 to survive and truly thrive your have to go back in time and prevent USC and UCLA from leaving and basically out in place a "you win it you earn it" to unequal revenue sharing. When it came to football both were the beneficiaries of the success of others making big bowl games as neither were terribly good overall for the last decade. Incentivize them to invest and reap the benefits. This would hurt the bottom of the conference but fine. That's the way things are. If the pac-12 survived the Ducks would have won the conference last year probably been ranked number 3 going into the playoff. And probably would have done some damage as they would have avoided the Ohio State buzz saw.... Which might not have been as much of a buzz saw because they wouldn't have suffered an agonizing loss to Oregon mid season. Probably would have lost to Michigan still. But may have won the conference? So who knows how things would have turned out. As for this season I think Oregon would win the Pac-12 again and would make the playoff. Granted, the whole conference would be a bit better than some of its pieces. Oregon State would still have Smith probably and would be middle to middle top of the pack. Cal would be the surprise team this year. USC would be probably number 3... Just because they'd be underperforming. Ok... Going to stop there because here's the absolute sad truth of this for me. The pac-12 is a way more fun conference to me. I did love that adorable canabal conference. It was exciting from week to week. Sure Oregon has had some of the biggest ranked games in our history in the B1G but frankly you say Oregon v Rutgers and I don't get that excited, even with or in spite of the result. But Oregon v Cal? Sign me up! I'd happily watch that game right now. Cal actually looks reasonably good this year. And FSU got Stanforded last weekend! I don't being on the receiving end of a loss at the Farm but let's be honest... If you have to play an academic school who would you rather play, Stanford or Northwestern? Give me Stanford because of the history and their supremely stupid mascot for a school that prides itself on academics. They are the color red... And their band made the dumbest looking tree imaginable and they play it off like we're the fools. Meanwhile... Northwestern has the uninspired... Wild cat. Ughhh. Yes... I do miss the old Pac-12 but I would rather be in the Big Bland 10 over being left out in the cold with Oregon State and Washington State. That is a date worse than conference death.

It's hard to rack up that many yards if your offense doesn't have the ball as often as it does. I looked up the game that has the record yards and that was Cal at Oregon in 2015 for 777 yards. The Score of that one was Cal 28 and Oregon 44. A lot more of a shootout type of game than a blow out. Basically to hit records yards either the defense needs to be really good or quite bad. In this case the defense played very well and kept the ball in the hands of the offense. Even though the time of possession (now a mostly meaningless stat) was slightly in favor of Rutgers 32 mins.

They are also getting paid well via NIL and if they invest it right they can set themselves up well after college. Better than the vast majority of college grads for sure.

SD has a group that has their view and they never want to be challenged. I need to do quite a bit of research, and not sure it will happen, but there is a narrative there that the Oregon linebackers are absolute garbage. I'm not at all convinced by their argument that has no analysis attached but is just angry screaming at anyone who disagrees. I know linebackers have tons of roles to fill and depending on what they are doing on any given play their impact may not be seen or recorded on a stat sheet. Again... I would need to do further research on this one.

There was a similar trend against Penn State. Penn State got a ton of generous ball placements that gave them first downs. Where Oregon got the opposite. I remember Dante running and clearly got the first down before he started his slide but the refs marked him short so the Ducks had it at 4th and 1.... Granted Davison ran it in for a TD next play but still. It does feel like th Ducks are getting the hard mode treatment when it comes to refs this season. I thought a couple of the holding calls on Saturday were a bit dubious. Not that they weren't legit holding but when things are for the most part getting ignored but flags flying at certain times it seems funny.

I think Fisch would be the best choice. And I'm not just saying that for the Husky tears, though that too. But honestly, I think he is a great coach and he has connections and probably understands the environment better than most. He can also adapt to get it done. Kiffin would be fun. Franklin I think needs a year off. The difference in how Penn State played yesterday was starkly different from the games post Oregon loss. Like someone cleared the room of the toxicity. Franklin became toxic at PSU after the Oregon loss I'm sure. He's a good coach and will find a spot but I don't think Florida is going to go for someone who has a reputation of losing the big games. Just my takes. I bet they go for Kiffin or someone flashy don't snub Fisch... If I were to place a bet at this very moment.

Against Indy there was nothing strange or interesting about the Oregon offense... Other than it's ineptitude. We had three strange plays in one series against Rutgers. It really felt like there was a lack of creativity from the offensive scheming side of things against Indiana.

Highly unlikely... Novosad throws a pretty nice ball and Moga has athleticism that Thomas just doesn't have.

Yeah this is fine. I was expecting something way more time dyed. But it's only the number and a badge. I think I might be a bit underwhelmed. I was expecting more. Even if it was more that would have been ugly... I was expecting more crazy. Oh well.

I was banned on scoopduck from talking and linking a FishDuck article. I think I have only ever posted over there 5 times. It's a crazy place over there that's for sure. Go there for the inside information come to FishDuck for the conversation. That's for sure. Thanks for everything that you do Charles.

Yeah I'm not sure about it. Just passing it on for the hell of it. But again I have no evidence. I also don't know quite how official the injury reports are. They need to be filed in know but how definitive do they actually need to be?

I don't think Novosad or Moga have redshirts at this point. Pretty sure Novosad used his in 23 with Nix's last season. Pretty sure Moga has also burned a redshirt sitting behind Gabriel. So I haven't got a clue what is going on but I'm pretty sure there aren't any redshirts here. Now.. i did read a rumor that maybe they are trying to get Novosad a medical redshirt and for that he can't appear in any additional games while being injured. But that's just a rumor and I have zero evidence.

One of the biggest difference between this week and last week was that last week's ref crew was a lot more flag happy in general. Oregon has gotten used to a lot of flags not being thrown for rough and boarderline holding play. Last week's crew was throwing flags... this week's crew really wasn't which has been more of the norm throughout the season to date.

They are fighting like hell out there. But Oregon has a fire in their bellies and is just physically superior. I want to say there are more players on the line of scrimmage than normal on defense..

Ok... I talked about how some of the new rules were good and others bad. The new rule concerning injured players I said was going to result in some dumb penalties. And I'll be honest this is one of them. Sometimes after some hits it takes a second for a hurt player to realized they're hurt.

Yeah... With Oregon's loss last week I knew I didn't want to be Rutgers. And I don't think Rutgers wants to be Rutgers right now..

Running the ball well does that.

Didn't they say this was a sold out game? I'm seeing a lot of empty seats.

Does anyone else suddenly feel better about our loss last week now? Just knowing that Miami is no longer undefeated and lost to an unranked team makes that feel so much better. Still not happy about losing but I feel better.

It's also kinda funny that Adidas US headquarters are also based in Oregon. So there is still a little bit of Oregon in their clothing.