David Marsh

I have it penciled that we go undefeated and make the national title game against Ohio State for the third time in the season. Oregon gets their first natty. And... Ryan Day is 0-4 against the Ducks and this creates a colossal meltdown in the Buckeye fan base.

What's sadder... A dabdge that says "PAC 2" OR "PAC 12" ???? I kinda want to say Pac-2 is sadder. Pac-12 is just trying to ignore the fact that anything happened and feels like a placeholder. Pac-2 draws attention to their problems.

Hey... Riley said that defense will come first now. And if he says that you know it must be true.

I love how this is like the third or fourth "major recruiting weekend" in a row. At this point I'm either thinking that the story is reposted or this is just what is expected now.

A couple of corners and a kicker. I think Lanning was making decisions based off Lewis' ability. In 2022 it was clear that Lanning didn't want Lewis kicking anything too long which is why in the longer end of field goal range the Ducks were going for it on 4th as it was also punting no-man's land. In 2023 Lewis' kicking was awful. 2022 was actually pretty good for Lewis but not so in 2023. Lanning may have solved the kicking problem bringing Sappington in from Oregon State.

Crazy thing is that talent wise the state cannot support one too tier program. The state of Oregon doesn't produce enough prep talent for one of the two Oregon schools to compete at a high level. The Ducks keep an eye on in-state talent but between Cristobal and Lanning both opted to be very choosy with it and both have tended to give in-state talent walk on status rather than scholarships. Meanwhile... The beavers are celebrating landing some top in state talent... They're three stars.

I still think that the team to win it all in any given year can have no more than one loss. One loss wouldn't disqualify them but the roster and coaching will just need to be that good to win it all.

This is going to make for some fascinating games this year. So let's just say Ohio State has a better secondary than Oregon. Even if that is true it's not by much. But I think anyone would be hard pressed to say Ohio State has a better quarterback than Oregon. And as for receiver corps... Oregon and Ohio State both have very good wideouts. So let's call that equal perhaps. Does Gabriel provide the x factor that lifts Oregon over Ohio State? Good chance of it. And that's only one game this season. Could this be the year?!

I told my wife that we can't do a fall wedding. She initially thought it was because I'm a high school teacher and that would be too stressful. I said it was because I'd be losing my mind if I had to miss a Duck game and if the Ducks lost it would forever taint the day.

My daughter and I seem to frequently dress as twinsies... Jeans and our green Oregon hoodies. She's two. My youngest is only 2 months but my wife has already purchased a few outfits for her to wear come the season. There will be pictures of me and my two girls all in green this fall. The best part of it is that my wife is a UW grad. She doesn't care about football which is one of the big reasons why our relationship works. Also... My inlaws bought my daughter a stuffed dog. The dog looks like a husky. And this is what she did to it.

I also felt that Lanning didn't want to come in and blow up the roster and the team. He wanted to build trust with the existing team and not come in and blow it all apart. He did a lot of recruiting the team he inherited. Remember Seven McGee and Sean Dollars. Both wanted to bail and transfer and they entered the portal only to return to the team. Yeah neither would amount to much at Oregon and both would transfer the following year. But there is something to be said he wanted to evaluate and build with the team he had which wasn't a bad team but it was far from the team he needed.

Also lost Burch in the first series of the second game. Burch was playing his best by this part of the season. He was probably worth 3 points right there as well. Especially in disrupting the run game.

One of my closest friends got married last year during Oregon v Colorado. Thankfully that game was a blowout and I could just check the score happily between pauses. The wedding was very small. Like 15 people small... So I did my best to look sane during a Duck game I wasn't actively watching.

I think a big part of Nebraska's problem is that talent isn't afraid of distance as much as they used to be. Texas and Midwestern talent would go to Nebraska because it was a rather close destination for a good program (they were good back then). Now if you're a Texas or Midwestern kid and you're offered Nebraska or Oregon which might you consider? Especially if you didn't grow up a big Nebraska fan.

Not really surprising. He'll probably compete for a starting spot there whereas he'll probably be a backup for the Ducks. It also sounds like he'd have an NIL scholarship with the Ducks. So basically be a walk on.

The question is even with expansion how much more to expand the stadium? There is something to be said for having a stadium size a bit on the slightly smaller side where demand outweighs supply. Empty or at least empty stadiums feel and look awful and can create a feedback loop that only makes them more empty. Keeping Autzen packed and loud is the goal.

I'm thinking another year or two depending on what he wants. Dullingham was much much further along in his career when he came to Oregon. I think if he stayed at FSU for another year he would have landed as ASU regardless. Stein has only been an OC at a P4 program for one year. He's good but he's not Chip Kelly catching lightning in a bottle in terms of innovation that propells a career.

So root for Cristobal to have Miami take out Florida. That would be a delightful turn... If Cristobal can find a way to hurt the Huskies again it would be pretty darn sweet.

I say the only way that the west coast schools would willingly leave the B1G is if they were given a media deal around 50-60mil per school. The loss in the overall pay out would be made up for reduced travel expenses. However, there won't be any deal like that out there and it wouldn't be worth it for schools to leave their current conferences for anything less.

Other scenario that would create a new west coast conference would be if the B1G and SEC get slammed by an anti-trust lawsuit so hard that it puts a massive reset on college football conferences. This might initiate the creation of the PCC but unlikely with the inclusion of OSU and WSU.

If the west coast teams get tired of the travel... The B1G and ACC teams really... Then they will go into discussions about creating a west coast conference. Though it won't be the Pac-12. Probably something like the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC). And the admission fee would probably be at the tune of 100mil for both OSU and WSU. If this were to happen it would be a conference for non-football sports. Which would mean that even if they considered OSU and WSU joining they would still be stuck in the G5 when it comes to football and it's revenue generation.

Oregon and Washington have won the same amount of CFP games. Sure Washington had one more CFP appearance. Oregon has won more bowl games andore major bowl games. Oregon has won a Heisman. Conference championships since 2014 I think are even if we are only looking at the last ten years. Extend the timeline past a decade and Oregon has done way more. And the Ducks will continue to do way more.

Do they still think DeBoer is there? I mean look at Michigan. They lost the coach who actually WON the championship and they aren't looking so hot right now as well. But to make things delightfully worse for Washington is that they can't point at their roster and say "hey look at the talent returning. We can be competitive without our former head coach" Instead they can point at the dumpster fire. At least Michigan still has talent on their roster.

This kid's size is massive! I wouldn't be surprised to see his star rating jump up to 4. You can't teach size and he has that.

It's the pickiness of Oregon that is also astounding. I was browsing offers for kids in the state of Oregon and the Ducks have offered very very few. 2025 Top Football Recruits in Oregon 247SPORTS.COM The 247Sports rankings are determined by our recruiting analysts after countless hours of personal... This would have been unheard of ten years ago. Lanning knows what he wants and the state doesn't produce the talent he needs. The Huskies, Cougs and Beavis are all bigger players for the vast majority of the state's talent. The Ducks are going big and that means southern California, Texas, the South and anywhere else in the country. Looks like Oregon might be locking up some of the State of Washington's talent over the Huskies as well.