David Marsh

And to be blunt... being able to hit those check down passes is critical at every level of the game. Missing those throws kills drives more than missing the long bombs. I also love how being a "check down passer" is seen as bad. Nix has made plenty of great deeper throws and shown off his skills over the years. But sometimes you just need to hit the guy whose open and let him make a play.

I love and hate that that's the case for Oregon. On the one hand it is a wonderful showcase of our unparalleled fashion. On the other hand... readability is diminished in what is effectively an all star game that has a LOT of Ducks in it and you want the average viewer to see that.

Absolutely possible ... But I wouldn't take that bet because it is just as possible Boise drops one of the two.

I also found it funny that at least one person on that list had Boise State making the 12 team playoff. No way they are getting through Oregon , Oregon State and Washington State next year undefeated which is what it's going to take as a G5 school to make the playoffs.

I could see a couple more teams, well maybe just one, joining the B1G from the former Pac-12 if they prove they're serious about football. Let's get real here... Utah has the best shot. They have a strong fanbase and if they dominate the Big 12 they'll see a way into the power 2. Utah has to be on par with a few B1G schools in terms of value I'd imagine. Don't really see anyone else being able to make that leap. If Cal and Stanford were going to do so they probably would have already.

Most of the ESPN pundits put two pac-12 teams (well formally Pac-12) in the playoff. Oregon and Utah... I kinda feel that could have happened the conference stayed together anyways.

Nahhh.... Eugene is good but..... Southern California and Texas. and probably every city where there is a B1G school for good measure.

Why would the NFL need collectives? The best players come to them because the NFL is the end game for football players. The Canadian Football League is a cancellation prize for not making the NFL. Players have their own agents who work pretty hard to get their clients in front of prospective teams. In short all NFL teams have free agents come to them and then they get to sit back and hand pick who they want and then negotiate the contracts to see who they will end up taking. Collectives at the College level are there to be the source of payment for players' services. Even then they get some "non-coordinated" instruction from a schools coaches as they determine a deal. The whole process at the college level is horribly messy and not something the professionals have any interest in adopting, especially when they don't gain any advantage from doing so and is probably illegal for them to do so as it would circumvent the salary cap which is what creates some degree of fairness in the NFL.

But he is at Georgia which is at the heart some of the best recruiting in the country and he has two National Championships to his name. Right now Georgia is king in terms of recruiting with Alabama losing Saban. On that note I never found Saban that warm, or charismatic but I am sure he is a different person around his players than he is in front of a camera.

Punic.... my phone auto corrected. Sadly it thinks "public" is more applicable than "Punic" but I talk about the Punic wars all the time, it should know better! Meanwhile I never go in public.

After which Pubic War? One two years but they did ... Two took over a generation and they didn't really .. And we'll the third pubic war there wasn't even a Carthage afterwards but a soldering pile of ruins the Romans built over and called Carthage.

I think Bassa and Jacobs will take another leap with some youngsters stepping up in some meaningful second string snaps. But the biggest thing is to make sure that the inside linebackers know the scheme and can react faster. Being able to read and know if they need to stop the run or fall back into coverage is key in Lanning's defense. Linebackers have to do so much that system and its no longer strictly stopping the run or rushing the passer. It's all those duties plus pass coverage. I think Jacobs and Bassa will both be solid. However, I do feel that Lanning might be concerned about the development of the back-up linebackers. They need to be ready to play this year in meaningful ways and be ready to be starters next year.

Oh Josh... Oregon has made the playoff. They played in the FIRST playoff game in CFB history and got the first win! I know 2014-15 was a while ago but still.

Another reason why Championships Games are a liability rather than a true reward.

Oregon announces Brian Michalowski as inside linebackers coach for 2024 season - On3 WWW.ON3.COM On Wednesday, Dan Lanning announced several updates to Oregon's coaching staff following a... The loss of coach Meat a few weeks ago meant that Lanning could hire or promote a new coach to the staff. Everyone assumed that it would probably be a cornerbacks coach because that was the coach we lost in Meat. However, co-DC Chris Hampton was given positional coaching for the entire secondary, probably with a pay bump. And now Lanning has promoted an analyst in Brian Michalowski to inside Linebackers coach. In Lanning's scheme there are two inside linebackers. The outside linebackers are not always typical linebackers in terms of size as they are really edge players and are kind of hybrid players between a traditional linebacker and a defensive lineman with an emphasis on rushing the passer. It's no secret that linebacker has been one of the weaker positions on defense, though they took some major strides as year where it looked like Lanning may have started to sure up and fix Oregon's soft underbelly. Has Lanning Fixed the Duck Defense’s Soft Underbelly? | FishDuck FISHDUCK.COM The Oregon Ducks’ defense has maintained one major problem for the last three years. Simply put, it has a... But it's clear Lanning isn't satisfied currently with inside linebacker play and by making a full time position coach to exclusively work with inside linebackers is a significant step. He wants more out of these players so look for them to make a major leap next year.

There is a big problem with NIL. Namely that schools don't pay players but 3rd parties do. Schools and coaches are technically not allowed to facilitate the deals or know how things are being done... But most know enough to function. NIL isn't capped at the NFL level because the NFL has contracts that bind players to an organization for a period of time and those organizations play those players. So NIL money is money for advertisements and things where the company paying the player is getting a major tangible benefit from their payment. Mahomes is paid for his advertisement work and the companies get to put Mahomes on stuff but that isn't how Mahomes makes the majority of his money, it's a side gig. Granted a side gig that pays better than most of our jobs. For the majority of the players at the college level most NIL deals are their paychecks and primary source of income. And for many all their NIL deals include is some social media posts. Players aren't bound to teams with the portal so they are free to shop the best NIL deals. The other major factor at play here is that the pool of players is so much different at the college level than the pro. For the NFL all players need to go through the NFL's gate keeping to be considered worth adding to a team. The biggest of these gates is the draft, get drafted or signed to a team and you're getting paid and may be worth other teams looking to sign you later. But at college there are thousands of players at varying skill levels. Some good and will get drafted and others good but won't be drafted. NIL pays these players not the schools. So how do you put a cap on something that schools themselves can't regulate? You really can't. So what would have to happen is that schools and he NCAA pays players and NIL is banned. That way it can actually be regulated. NIL at the college level is directed at schools but not run by schools. Whereas at the NFL, NIL is directed at a player regardless of their team. Mahomes would still be in state farm adds even if he played or another team. Division Street is paying for Dillion Gabriel because he's going to be at Oregon. They wouldn't pay him anything if he went to Washington. NIL can't be regulated.

This is totally worth your time and a watch. It breaks down what recruiting rankings mean and why they matter... or don't. Short answer... some positions have better ranking accuracy than others find out more by watching!

There is the potential that Oregon and Ohio State play each other THREE times this upcoming season. 1. Regular season game. 2. Conference Championship Game. 3. Playoff game at some point -- assuming that both teams only have 1 or 2 losses total (and possibly only to each other) they both make the playoff and have a chance for another rematch. What if Oregon and Ohio State end up playing their third game against each other in the National Title game? That would be crazy but it is theoretically possible.

Are the Huskies good dogs? sorry... dawgs. I suspect not.

Football is the sport I try my very best to not miss a game. I missed a chunk of the pac-12 championship game this year because I foolishly scheduled something on that evening without thinking about it. Oddly enough that worked out for the best because I didn't spend the evening agonizing in front of the TV but went to zoo lights with my daughter. Other Oregon sports I follow loosely and rarely watch games. I don't really have the time or patience. Basketball I used to love but I find it just doesn't have the same exciting flow and suspense as a football game. Also not a whole lot of trickery can happen in. A basketball game. It's fine and I might tune in come the end of a season but not during the season. Baseball and softball... Just can't get into it. But I'll pay attention to websites saying the teams are doing well. Same goes for pretty much everything else..

In the portal era ... The best teams won't have to take years to rebuild. I mean this should be a rebuild year based on what we lost but it's not. It's a stock up and reload and get ready for the next season. It doesn't matter who we lose after next season because they will be youngsters who step up into those roles or Lanning will go into the portal to find someone. Top tier programs and coaches won't be looking at big rebuilds if they're managing their rosters properly on a year to year basis.

I think he'll do just fine. It doesn't look like he is the DC but just a position coach and he has had success at other stops. I don't think he is a top DC by any stretch but I think he had a bigger problem in that he worked for Riley who doesn't care about defense. Now, it's funny that Riley is saying that defense needs to come first but I'll believe it when I see it.

Not saying he shouldn't bring players over from Washington... but Alabama kept things a whole lot closer with Michigan than Washington did. I have a feeling this is what is comfortable for him to do rather than doing what may be best. He has also lost a few Bama players to the portal as well but Bama's roster from raw talent is still better than what Washington had at the peak of last season.

I'd still argue that Chris Petersen made Washington into something. The only players left on that roster are DeBoer guys and some Lake guys. Looks like there isn't a whole lot left. Sure DeBoer brought in some key transfers, namely Penix, but holy crap he is talking a huge game right now. The funny thing is that as Duck fans we have felt betrayed by two of our head coaches, Taggart and Cristobal, and have gleefully watched their struggles after leaving Oregon. But I don't think any of us harbor the hate for Taggart and Cirstobal anything like what Washington fans are feeling for DeBoer right now. and I love it.

I'll check with the young people today... Looks like "Fire" might be the knew version of cool, but I'm pretty sure that is outdated now as well.