David Marsh

Still early in the cycle. Never underestimate Dan. I'm going to keep that faith. Remember when it comes to NIL the Ducks don't get into bidding wars until the end of the cycle.

Best line of the article. "We're on the plane ride home and I told my mom like, ‘I want to go to Washington,'" Mariota said. "I had got an offer from Washington. Steve Sarkisian was up there and Sark was like, he rolled out the red carpet. I was like, ‘I'm going there. I'm settled.’ So we're sitting there on the plane and my mom's like, ‘You really want to go to Washington?’ I was like, ‘No.’" I can just see a teenager being upset and saying something out of spite and then verbally realizing that they don't want the thing they said they wanted.

I'm completely with you here. Keep the number around. It already has an almost sacred sense to it. Gabriel called Mariota to ask his permission. That's the Mariota legacy. Mariota would have said yes to whoever called to ask but you could tell he was honored to be asked. That's what the Oregon program is all about. Honor the player not the number and honor the player by keeping the number alive.

Now that would be a B1G regret from the other programs. We were supposed to be a filler program and not a contender. How soon until we add the rest of the B1G schools into our tears bucket? Husky and Trojan tears are constantly filling that bucket but I'm sure we can make room.

Only if some special talent becomes available. Lanning and co seem super happy with their guys right now and I think there is some real concern of anyone joining could disrupt the chemistry. If someone becomes available who is like an automatic first rounder and is a perfect pick for Oregon I'm sure Lanning will take a look. But beyond that .. doubt it.

Well to be a bit more clear. A charged timeout if the ball is spotted by the officials and THEN a player goes down and medical staff has to go on the field. Which is better but it still feels underhanded and the appearance makes it feel like player safety isn't being taken seriously. However, I'd say at least 95% of injuries are addressed before he ball is spotted and those would not incur a time out or penalty. Additionally, the Lanning rule has gotten some clarity in the rules update. Gotta love how Dan in year 3 with his 12 man brilliance has put a permit any mark on the sport with a rule change.

It's most likely the reason why he lost his job to Anthony Brown. Granted... I feel Cristobal did Shough a major disservice with how the 2020 season played out by throwing Brown in as a the starter for the Fiesta Bowl.

I was hopeful that Pleasant was going to put it all together. He has some amazing speed. But speed isn't everything and he didn't put the rest of it together. In a way I am happy to see that we have enough talent to push players out and that's how we lose players from the program. They get passed up on the depth chart and look for greener pastures. I wish him the best.

That's been working for Colorado. So... it holds true.

Looks like the opposite happened where it is rumored that Dan is the one who outed Nico's dad for shopping around. Lanning doesn't want him.

Every conference needs some punching bags. The bad things for the Beavs and Cougs is that they are already becoming that in their newly formed Scrap-12.

Again... Oregon State and Washington State both should have used that Pac-12 money to buy their way into the Big 12. Take no TV revenue until the next contract and throw some money to the rest of the big 12 as an entrance fee and live off the rest of the pac-12 coffers for a few years. I would imagine that would be preferable to their current situation.

To be honest... I wouldn't hate it. It puts an emphasis on a different skill set. In truth I think it would be kinda fun. Granted... As fans we'd learn even less about the team during a spring game than we do already. And yes... I know today is April 1.

Right now... I'm going with Riggs. I think he's going to have a breakout season. And I'll call my shot right now. He's going to be the No. 2 back for this team. I think Hughes will probably get the no. 1 job and Whittington will be a change of pace back and might even start the season as the no. 2 but I think Riggs takes that spot. This season hurt without a true one-two punch. It was James and then... Whittington but outside of a couple games Whittington never felt like he was on James' level. 2023 the Irving, James combo was fantastic as they really did compliment and elevate each other.

I remember reading a year or two ago about one of the big reasons for Altman's struggles in recent years. In short he hasn't had that many leaders who have to be told to go home at night. I remember in this interview Altman was saying that what made some of his best teams great was from the leadership of his gym rats that he'd actually have to tell to go rest. Players like Pitchard and Brooks who would just work. Part of that I feel is the culture of NIL and high ranked players when paired with the one-and-done mentality. Part of that I feel is a post covid world. I have noticed the years after 2020 that my high school students are wired differently. There just seems to be less motivation and resiliency on the whole. It's getting better but it's taken a long time.

My gut is saying no. He had a super special team that was robbed of a shot at the national championship due to covid. But since then he has brought in some of the best recruits in Oregon history and has failed to develop them. This year showed a good step in the right direction but the problem is that he had so many years of failing to develop talent that it's going to be difficult to rebuild some of that reputation. Could he do it? Yes... If given enough time. But will there be the patience for him to get there?

I think he'll get drafted but I don't expect him to start. However, I think he'd surprise many as he isn't the prototypical size for the NFL but he does have many of the other intangibles that NFL teams want. The two guys standing next to him weren't supposed to amount to as much as they have so far in the NFL. Wouldn't at all be surprised if Gabriel exceeds expectations.

For me the offense needs to get back towards the 2023 standard and exceed the 2024 standard. However... as Charles mentioned, it's the defense that needs to take the next step more than the offense.

There is part of me that wants to go. Only having the time available to do so these days is in awfully short supply. Maybe some day...

My understanding is that Moore is ahead in the starter race as it sounds like he could have stepped in for Gabriel last year at any time and run the offense. I think Novosad isn't that far behind and will certainly push Moore. And will likely be the backup quarterback. The reality is that we need a solid backup QB. As for Moga I have heard from a few insiders over the past few months that he is still a rawer talent. He had some flashes last spring but spring games tend to show off the improvisational skills in a way that a real game doesn't. Moga can certainly use his athletisim to improvise but can he run the offense smoothly and proficiently and consistently take what is given to him? Not sure he is there yet. I think it's great that the confidence in this room is so high that the coaches opted to not bring in a transfer this year. Players sticking around is also a massive benefit and shows how good Lanning is at maintaining and recruiting his own roster.

Keeping this staff around will only help build chemistry and continue to develop Lanning's vision for the program. I'm not at all surprised that Lupoi signed an extension as he doesn't seem too interested in a head coaching gig. If he wanted to be an HC he would already be one somewhere, he's got the resume for it for sure. Stein is a little surprising, never got a sense that he is climbing the ladder as quickly as possible and was going at his own pace. It'd be telling to see if he signs another extension and opts to stay beyond 2027 because that will really be telling as to where he wants to go with his career. Chip Kelly proved last year that sometimes it's better to be a happy coordinator rather than trying to take on the head coaching job, unless you REALLY want to be a head coach. The state of college football today is just a pressure cooker in the head coaching ranks.

I do think Championship Weekend needs to see a major face lift. For instance this last year Oregon was the de facto winner of the B1G going undefeated in conference play. Then they had to play Penn State, a one-loss team, in the B1G Championship and they won that but they could have lost. I believe in scenarios where there is a clear cut winner of the conference based on their season's performance should result in them winning the conference outright. Only one undefeated team and that played against other contenders for the conference, they win the conference. If there is no clear cut winner then there should be a conference championship game (based on our current desire to crown a champion). Otherwise play in games are fine as long as they don't affect those who have already earned their spot by their regular season record. I don't think the B1G had any other teams outside of the four that made the playoff that were even sniffing at the playoff. But the SEC currently would have had some fun with a play in game between some of those three loss teams.

No game on ESPN is starting before 7pm with this arrangement. ESPN was really missing the Pac-12 in their late night programming last year.

I'd settle for June at the moment.

Dink and Dunk is still going to be a staple of this offense. So much of the offense is built around getting the ball out fast and to play-makers who in turn make a big play. This last year it did feel like the deep ball was a consistently missing element of the offense. I don't see the offense going deep every series but it should be a bigger factor in the play calling. Nix went deep more often it felt like than Gabriel did this year and Gabriel threw a pretty good deep ball. The difference could have been in Gabriel's shorter height and his difficulty to see over the linemen at times and the offensive line's decline this year. Yes, the offensive line generally did well but I think a lot of that had to do with Gabriel getting the ball out fast so that the line didn't need to hold up for too long. However, the big game that stands out as an outlier is the win against Ohio State as Gabriel did go deep and that offensive line absolutely held up during the course of the game.