David Marsh

What's been interesting is seeing how Lanning and Stein have really changed up larger game plan to take care of opponents. Against Oregon State and USC Lanning didn't want them to possess the ball too many times. So they concentrated on slower drives. Well against USC the first two scores were so fast that it looked like the game might become a boat race but there was some intentional slowing the game down with the run game. Against OSU, Lanning knew they wanted to possess the ball and hammer the defense. Oregon is really deep so that didn't quite work but doubly so when the defense kept coming onto the field rested from long offensive drives. The downside in both games... Oregon didn't score as many points as they could have if they played with more tempo. The upside... Two solid wins.

From what I keep seeing year after year is that the B1G is pretty awful after Ohio State and Michigan. I think Penn State was overrated this year, sure they are a top 25 team but not top 15, they lack an offense. Wisconsin should be good again at some point but they may be a year or two away from being relevant. But who else do they have? The Pac-12 has been the most competitive and entertaining conference for the last decade easily. We haven't been the best conference or produced any National Champions granted, but in terms of top to bottom and competitiveness there hasn't been a conference that has competed in that department. Sad to see it go but there is still one more game to be played for the Ducks. The B1G just doesn't look as good from a top to bottom in terms of competitiveness. It will make Oregon's entry into the conference certainly interesting because the Ducks are going to mess up their entire dynamic.

And... Oregon may have dismantled OSU so badly that I wouldn't be entirely surprised if they were ejected from the top 25. Which would mean Oregon doesn't have a top 25 win... again.

I think in some ways that is why we may not have seen a "correction" because Lanning and co want them to be physical and because of that physical play they broke up a number of passes that would have been catches otherwise. I do remember after the Texas Tech game, which did have Pac-12 refs, that Lanning basically said he wasn't concerned by a couple of the PIs because the players were playing physical and sometimes a flag gets thrown. It felt that way a few times tonight where the flag was thrown but any other conference's refs wouldn't have thrown it to begin with.

Watching the game and the flags that were thrown I kept saying to myself, and whoever in the room that would listen, so usually no one, that those flags were most crap. There was physical play on Oregon's side but I kept thinking that a good portion of the PI flags on Oregon wouldn't have been flagged in the B1G or SEC. They would have let the players play a physical game against each other. But in the Pac-12 getting too physical at DB is often a flag. Granted what frustrated me most is always the late flag where the play is over and everyone starts to reset and the flag flys in. But I think this Oregon team is going to be just fine in the B1G next year because of the physicality of this team. And I'm really starting to think that the Pac-12 refs just don't let the DBs play all that physical. Unless you're Washington in which case you can hold receivers all you want and ram opposing players with your helmets.

In truth it sounded like Herbert probably won the starting job or near to it before the season began. He had all the physical upside and was grasping the offense pretty well but he just didn't have the expirence. We tend to think of Prukop being a bad QB but he really wasn't. He wasn't Mariota, or Adams or even Herbert but he wasn't bad. The defense let the 2016 offense down big time, the offense's numbers were down from previous years but I'd say that is a bigger factor of never having the ball and the defense never getting off the field. As for Thompson... I'm not feeling it anymore. He feels like a serviceable backup. But he has had prove it moments on the field. Garbage time reps aren't about experience for backups anymore but moments where the backups can prove they have what it takes to be a future starter. And he hasn't proven it to me anyways ... But I don't have a say in the matter.

Temporarily suspend the new sign up part of the site? Sucks for those who want to sign up as true duck fans but a pause could break the cycle.

The problem is that there is always someone there to see it... just not USC fans. They all left after the end of the first quarter to avoid that LA traffic... regardless of what the score was.

You forgot UCLA! They are... 57 on Rivals. With 3 4/5 Stars.

Well Oregon has a good pitch here. Come to Oregon and learn under some elite coaches and an elite minds. Play for a head coach who cares about defense and is going to push you to get the most out of you. Or... Come to USC where we will have a DC. What else do you want? Or... Come to Washington where we might have a head coach ... But how do you feel about TAMU? Maybe?

Both teams gave up big time. Both of them effectively removed a coordinator. USC fired Grinch and Colorado at least demoted their OC, even though their issues had nothing to do with scheme or play calling but they just didn't have the bodies. It's funny how similar those two teams are.

Last season Nix was a rather close no. 3 rusher on Oregon's roster and led try team with 15 rushing touchdowns. He was injured on a run, of which I disagree and have ranted extensively by the playcall. This season Nix hasn't ran as much either by design or choice or both.

It's annoying but I think there's a good chance he does. They left him in against Georgia State a G5 school in a blowout win last week to inflate his stats. Nix sat out almost an entire half of a game against ASU who isn't very good but they'd a have a few more wins if they played a G5 schedule. Nix will have a chance to make a big statement win this Friday because OSU is better than TAMU by a long shot. And the ballots for Heisman aren't due until after championship weekend which will give Nix another shot to make a statement. However, if Heisman voters turn their ballots in early that game won't matter to them. Also... Why can they turn ballots in before championship weekend????? That feels ridiculous, it make sense to do the award before bowl season but there are still 5 mostly high profile power 5 games left in championship weekend that most Heisman candidates are in.

He has been good with the transfer portal... Or more to the point he was good with the transfer portal for one year that has translated for two years of results.

Number 5 feels like a good fit. Herbert went 6th and that has turned out well for him. For the vast majority of quarterbacks going no. 1 or 2 is a big risk because they'll have an awful team around them. A little later in the draft gives them a chance to have some prices to work with. So if Nix is drafted at 5 that's all good with me. I want him to see some success in the NFL like Herbert.

There's another one too... Oregon wins both the civil war and the conference. Oregon holds the last win over EVERYONE from the Pac-12. Oregon beats OSU and we hold the last win over them for who knows how long. We beat Washington we own the last win over them in the conference, yeah we'll play them next season but still this one would be a dagger. And then Oregon has beaten everyone else in the conference upon the last meeting. The only two teams we didn't play this year were Arizona and UCLA and we beat them both last year. We can potentially leave the conference with wins over everyone! Not even an undefeated Husky team can say that!!!! (They lost to UCLA last year and didn't play them this year)

If a qb on Oregon's current roster starts I'm kinda hoping and expecting it would be Novosad. Thompson has had moments of looking comfortable out there ... But against ASU he went back to not looking that good out there. His pick was pretty awful and very avoidable. His touchdown pass was good. But frankly I kinda expected another score out of the second string offense against ASU. The offense stalled out a couple of times when it really shouldn't have but there were errant throws and a pick.

They brought Bo in so fast, because they had to due to the transfer portal window, that I don't think they honestly knew the full picture. This is what they knew for sure... 1. No expirence in the room with Anthony Brown gone. 2. Ty Thompson didn't have that many opportunities in game and he looked not great but he was a true freshman so that isn't wholly surprising. 3. They wouldn't have had a ton of time to look through a lot of practice tape. They did probably talk to coaches a bit but most new coaches really just want to do their own evaluations. I think Nix was a no brainier. Is Thompson made a giant leap in development and beat out Nix so be it but without doing a full evaluation which Lanning frankly didn't have the time to do as he prepped with Georgia for their championship run and hired a staff and recruited both the current team and the recruitment class... He wouldn't have truly had enough time to do a full evaluation of the room. Grabbing a transfer in Nix meant they had something. And unlike Oregon's QB room at the time, Lanning himself had some an evaluation of Nix because he'd studied Nix's film as a DC for Georgia. Then he got Dilly rather quickly in his staff building and Dilly would have input having coaches Nix as to exactly the type of ayer he was and it was an easy get. The easy game footage to evaluate about Thompson would have just said... He has some physical skills but he really was there yet in game three of 2021 the game where he has his most play time because Brown went out with a minor injury. And MC's teams never saw the backups in the field for many garbage time reps because he refused to fully put opponents away and the starters tended to still be in the field against even lesser opponents for the final whistle.

I found Oregon picking up Nix was interesting. More than anything I felt it was because Lanning and Dillingham didn't know anything about their QB room and both knew Nix either personally or knew what he was capable of. The Nix we have today is way better than the Nix who transfered to Oregon. Oregon is in large part what they are today because of Nix's leadership as well. I don't think Williams would bring that type of leadership. However, it's really hard to gage because the Trojans are a team who have obviously given up but who did they give up on? Riley, most probably or Williams or both? It's hard to gage who Williams is as a leader because he has only ever been with Riley in college. I think Williams was a big part of their rally against Oregon where it felt like a comeback was possible before the Ducks shut it down, I don't think that was Riley inspired. But to the overall question... I think Williams would come with such a huge price tag NIL wise he wouldn't be worth it and there is the possibility that he disrupts Lanning's culture. So not worth it.

What has happened under Lanning is what I'm referring to as modern physicality. Cristobal was focused on beating the other team up physically and being more dominant with brute force. Lanning is not only using the greater physical ability to beat up on other teams but he is mentally challenging them too. Get players out of position and then beat them up with physical ability. I mean a great example of this was Herbert's second touchdown that came off a long run. But his blockers were big linemen and the whole play started with Herbert releasing off a block to take a short pass. It was a physical play that used brute force by getting big guys into space but it also had a mental element where the defender let Herbert release and the defense didn't and couldn't react to the convoy of big linemen running down the field. In one of my favorite articles I've written j talked about this whole focusing on the jumbo formation. I've linked it quite a few times this season but I'll do it again. Oregon Football is The Embodiment of Modern Physicality FISHDUCK.COM As Oregon fans, we heard all about physicality from former HC Mario Cristobal over the last four years... It's not enough to be the bigger team anymore but you have to stretch the opponent's mental ability. Making an defender think is absolutely the worst thing you can force them to do because they'll be slower. MC was and is predictable and that allows the other team to play a whole lot faster. Lanning makes the other team think which slows them down and let's the physical advantage dominate the game.

Yeah and Oregon broke the will of at least two teams that once graced the top 25 if not three. No team that has played Oregon has been the same afterwards. Always for the worse as well.

Wouldn't have minded the yellow helmet to add a splash more yellow but I also think the yellow helmet has black wings which doesn't benefit the overall look. Overall it's good! Edit... I didn't notice the white pants at first. The yellow helmet would certainly not work. Also I'm not sure I like the white pants with this look. Yellow pants!

It's crazy to think how the Ducks are cruising right now. Most teams have pulled out the duct tape and are cobbling together some semblance of a team in November and hope it works. ASU was on their 9th offensive line configuration this year last Saturday. Not saying that ASU is a good team suffering from injuries but by November a lot of things about the personnel lineup look rather different than it did at the start of the year. Oregon is running effectively the same personnel. They are changing things up because they want to and less because they need to. Or teams are like Washington and have been insanely lucky to date. But luck doesn't hold out forever.

I never liked the idea of basing SoS based on where teams are at this late I to the season because no team is the same as the year goes on. Colorado and USV both imploded big time when they were met with with teams that could beat them. Both fell apart down the stretch and yeah it's easy to say neither team was all that good. But earlier in the season they were in different places. Utah was a team that hung around in the top 25 for a long time with loads of injuries until they finally fell apart. Does that make them a bad team for the entirety of the season? No, but they fell apart down the stretch. Week 5 Utah was a very different team than week 12 Utah. You can say I'm just bitter that Oregon doesn't have any top 25 wins at this point when Oregon has played and beaten a good few top 25 teams over the course of the year but they aren't anymore. I mean if Oregon thunos the Beavers real good this week and the Beavers lose a bowl game they might not be a top 25 team for the final poll as well. I'd also say that Arizona is a way different team now than they they narrowly lost to Washington. If that game was to be replayed today I'd bet on Zona without a second thought but Washington didn't play the current Zona team, they played the team from the end of September which was worse than they are today. Rankings shift as the year goes on... Oregon is not the same team they were in mid October when they lost to Washington. And if they play in the conference championship game they'll be a different team then. Teams suffer injuries both minor and major and teams lose focus. We'll see which teams are left standing regardless of their records.

Cristobal did manage to win a Rose Bowl in year two for Oregon and win back to back conference championships and get our first win over Ohio State. In short ... Oregon fans were frustrated with Cristobal but he did at the very least give us something to satisfy us even if he was never going to take us to the promised land. For Miami... He has them bowl eligible this year. So I guess that's something.