David Marsh

I struggle to take seriously a list that has USC as both overrated and underrated.

Pundits going to pundit. And I'll do the same thing.. Ducks win it all this year! Let's go!

Been using the forum via chrome on phone for weeks now without an issue. This probably doesn't help at all.

Not surprising ... Stein has used runningbacks as receivers all the time. It's not unusual to see an empty set with the RB lined up as a receiver. Often the RB motions back into the backfield but sometimes they don't. I think it shows he is deeper in the playbook this year and it certainly makes him more of an option for playing time. I think we'll see Hill this year but unless he has a deep grasp of the full playbook I think he shows up with a particular see get of plays. Don't forget blocking as a RB as well. That's the price of the puzzle that usually takes freshman the longest to develop. I'm by no means trying to finish Hill. If he's good enough to play he'll play. But there is so much that does into the position to learn and develop that we haven't seen freshman really break through outside of specialized roles. Jordan James as a freshman is a great example, he was a short yardage back. He developed into more his sophomore and junior years.

The Oregon runningback room is bonkers. It was surprising that we didn't lose any RB talent to the portal. But we added Hughs who looks to be a major beast in his own right. But we also have Whittington who is apparently having a great camp as well right now. And Riggs who looked fantastic against Washington in his limited play. So that's three right there. Harris is making some progress as well as a big back but I think he gets drowned by the depth chart. And now it looks like it's going to be hard to keep Hill off the field. All I can say is that is kinda a good thing Hughs and Whittington are gone after this season just to maintain our younger backs on the roster for 26.

Going to be honest. A 24 or 28 team play off sounds awful! I don't care how many autobids or whatever, the tournament field is too big for football. We've already seen and talked about how the new expanded playoff format has diminished the importance of the regular season. Afterall Ohio State was a 2 loss team that won the national championship and in any of the old formats playoff or BCS they wouldn't have made the national title game with two losses. Expanding the playoff into 3 or maybe even 4 loss teams feels excessive and diminishes the prestige of making the playoff. Might as well make the whole season basically one big playoff. Build all conferences around a group stage mini tournaments and take the winners of those groups into a bigger conference pool. A 16 team conference (SEC) would have 4 groups and then there's a winner's bracket and some tiered loser's brackets that allow a play in route as it basically becomes double elimination at that point. This could be interesting and fun. I watch some StarCraft 2 tournaments and they do a group format into a double elimination tournament all the time. It's fun. But it isn't college football.

I'm only fine with Michigan keeping their title because that means Washington can't claim it. Though they might try anyways.

Should be a good opening test for the team. If this team has playoff ambitions then it should be a 21 point win at least. The calibar of athlete is just night and sh between the two. Montana State will be well coached which will also give Lanning an opportunity to out coach his opponent and not just brute force the game with superior players. Ohio State and Ryan Day typically just brute force their way to victories with better players which is why they lost in Autzen to Oregon. Though they did come prepared to play and coach in the Rose Bowl and the results were different. But Lanning needs to continue to work on all aspects of the game. Offense, defense, special teams and coaching. Montata State has good coaches and will give him and his staff and opportunity to improve as well. I think the offensive line will be better to open the season for one reasons. Depth! Last season due to injuries to Bedford and Iuli absolutely killed the depth before the season started. Oregon has more depth and I'm sure is preparing better. This season I'm sure the coaches are going to know every line up and backup line up for the offensive line. Oregon also has probably 7 or 8 linemen who will play in the rotation this year. Sure they had some holes and some depth problems at the end of last season which is why they went into the portal and if you're going portal shopping you're going to buy the best players possible. Which is why they got the best linemen out of the portal when I think they probably had a starting squad on the team pre-portal but no depth. Lanning always treats the portal as a way to upgrade the team and not just fill with bodies.

Washington claimed a Pac-12 (at least North) Championship in 2020. They didn't play Oregon so they counted that "no-contest" as a win for them even though they couldn't field a squad.

Especially when Oregon didn't have Evan Stewart as a deep threat to stretch the Ohio State secondary. That really hurt the Duck's offense in the Rose Bowl. Last year I feel the Ducks were shockingly thin at Wide Receiver. The starters were Holden, Stewart and Johnson. Lowe got some run with an injured Johnson but wasn't remotely the same caliber. Big drop off from 2023 where the Ducks had Franklin, Johnson, Holden and Bryant (who is returning in 2025 injury free). And big contributions from Tight Ends in 2023 that just weren't there for a long time in 2024. I went over much of this in these articles. https://fishduck.com/2025/01/rebuilding-oregons-offense-for-2025-the-passing-game/ https://fishduck.com/2025/01/rebuilding-oregons-offense-for-2025-running-back/ Here's hoping for greater depth out of the 2025 team which it already sounds like that may just be the case!

If UCLA was better at football I'd say they still get to go to Pasadena to get their butts kicked. But they don't have to wait till January anymore.

The ability to make long field goals is an absolute game changer. A 60 yarder in a game is rather unlikely as a missed field goal gives your opponent great starting field position. But if the game is close and it's the end of a half of the game itself... Yeah a 60 yarder could make or break the game. Incredible work by Sappington!

Didn't mean for it to sound like it was suddenly fixed vs BSU. But the effectiveness of the offensive line vs BSU in the second half was much improved over the first half.... Improved not good. They figured out who should be in the lineup. It took another week for that line to start to truly gel as they looked decent to good against OSU and then two weeks later against UCLA it looked good. It's a credit to the coaching staff that they could apply a bandaid like they did in the early season (and then later in the season with injuries) to make the line as effective as it was. 13-0 is super difficult and they managed to do it without having the strongest pieces of their offensive line available.

Well Idaho was pre-band aid where they flipped some players around. BSU they figured out the line rotation in the second half... But there were SOOOO many unforced errors that put that game in jeopardy. The Herbert fumble followed by the Gabriel fumble (on the recovery of a bad handoff) was 14 points right there that kept the game close. Neither were offensive line problems.

I would say this group is stronger than last years. I think they did a fantastic job applying bandaids to last year's group. But the reality is that last year's group had some fundamental weaknesses that were exposed against elite defensive lines that could reliably get pressure on Gabriel.

I've read those comments too on another site. A lot of complaints that Oregon's five star recruits have failed to become major NFL stats. But again our list of five stars is quite short. But college ball isn't the NFL and though the five star status denotes potential NFL draft success it is important to note that college ball is not the NFL. I think DAT failed to have much of an NFL impact due to his size. However, at Oregon and in college football he was monster in part because of his size and his incredible speed. The NFL has pretty much optimized football for their roster sizes and limitations. Players who don't fit the mold physically need to find a way to fit the mold if they are going to have a successful career. Some can... Some can't.

Here are the stats for 2024. In short massive drop off after 5 star. So recruiting rankings are still a good rating of potential.

Shame it didn't work out. But from a culture perspective no team can afford to have a player engage in fighting with other players. I wish him luck wherever he ends up next.

Bear seems like a guy who got really wrapped up in the NIL and stardom stuff. USC was not a fit for him and I think he just assumed he'd get a starting role and that didn't happen. Lanning knew the potential of Bear and knew his culture would either mold him into a player or he'd effectively quit on the team and be a non factor. Bear knows he needs to step up and work if he wants to have a shot at the NFL. I think we all know how bad USC's culture is based on the exodus of talent at the end of last season. Bear knows this is his last shot to make the NFL and it sounds like he is taking it. Probably a mix of Lanning culture and guidance and Bear getting his act together. Here's hoping for a monster season from the Bear.

I would love that. I know it makes zero financial sense for the B1G but if Cal and Stanford were added to the B1G and there was a west coast pod I'd be incredibly happy. I won't miss the Arizona schools or CU or Utah as much as I miss playing the old Pac-8. And I am not old enough to have any concept of the Pac-8 but that's where the West coast football tradition lived and it could be felt. As for OSU and WSU... Yeah... They'll need to invest a ton to get P4 recognition. But I'd love to see Oregon v Washington and USC every year.

I didn't put it in the article... I've been writing articles too long lately as it is... But there is also a recruiting rivalry side of things. Oregon recruits the best against the best. So we step on other team's toes all the time. USC thinks they are eating our lunch right now in recruiting with their class of 30+ but we'll see how it shakes out.

I think our old Pac-12 rivalries in particular Washington and USC are our no. 1 and 2 rivals right now. We have the history and the hate. They don't have that new match up feel but rivalries don't have a new feel to them anyways... They are old and full of mutual distain. Right now we are planting the seeds with our new rivals. They will take years to emerge.

I think they start at 0-5. WSU has a much easier schedule than OSU which is saying something.

Nebraska makes my extended list. We split a home and home with them in 2016 and 17. But a big part of a rivalry is the hate and I think Michigan beats out Nebraska right now because Michigan fans are probably annoyed by us. Where there isnt anything between Ducks and Cornhuskers. Michigan State has the Oregon State connection with Johnathan Smith and we've played them the most of any B1G team in the last twenty years.

It's pre-season make fun of rats and cougs time. Oregon State has a truly awful and messed up schedule because OSU and WSU went full scorched earth on the only conference that would help them... the Mountain West. These schedules are absolutely dreadful and the sad fact of the matter is that for the Beavers and Cougs they might not even dominate these schedules they threw together out of desperation. Oregon State BeaversOregon State Football ScheduleView the 2025 Oregon State Football Schedule at on3.com. The Beavers Football schedule includes opponents, date, time, and results. Washington State CougarsWashington State Football ScheduleView the 2025 Washington State Football Schedule at on3.com. The Cougars Football schedule includes opponents, date, time, and results. And perhaps the saddest part of it all is that OSU and WSU play each other TWICE! Anyway... here are my record predictions. Oregon State 7-5 Washington State 9-3 I think both come out with winning records but I think they both take some embarrassing losses. And even if one of them comes out of this with say.... 11-1 these schedules are so bad that they aren't getting a playoff invite no matter what.