David Marsh

On another thread this was the combo I predicted. So called it! But also... What times will the lights go out for the glow in the dark go into effect? Isn't that when Penn State scores? That doesn't feel like a smart move.

Wouldn't surprise me... Also... think of things this way too about some of the runningbacks. We've had 4 games. They've all maxed out their redshirts. If the plan is to redshirt them now they had a chance to prove themselves and they might sit the rest of the season. The first four games were a great chance to test the young runners while giving the vets a chance to rest. Whittington probably could have played against NW if it was against a better team like Penn State but why risk it? Limar will be an interesting one to watch moving forward. He has had some nice flashes but he hasn't been Bucky Irving or Jordan James. At this time I don't think we have an Irving or a James. Hoping someone emerges.

He'd certainly be on a hot seat right now with his loss last week. But getting absolutely embarrassingly demolished by Oregon in week 2 probably did him in before the more recent loss. Oregon didn't truly break Jimmy Lake either... But it is amusing to make a list of coaches who played Oregon and then were fired before the end of the season.

I'm anticipating Davidson and Hill to get a LOT more reps as the year goes on. They are making some pretty good leaps in their abilities. Other interesting note... Riggs had some good runs in garbage time with a two back set up and Davidson was a blocking back. That wasn't the first time we saw a two back formation as earlier in the season we saw a couple different ball carriers get a carry with Limar acting as a runningback blocker. I will be keeping an eye on any two Runningback formations.

Coaches Oregon broke.... Jimmy Lake Mike Gundy Trent Bray??? Wel'll have to see.

And they have played Nevada, FIU and Villinova. I'm not saying that we have played great competition to date but we have certainly played better competition and better athletes. Montana State may be FCS but they played a disciplined game. They are 2-2 right now with their only losses being to FBS teams. Oklahoma State is bad but they have some larger players on the line of scrimmage. But they are still very bad. Northwestern is a Big Ten team though not a top tier Big Ten team. They have some bigger linemen some play makers but not a great team but I think they will surprise someone this season. Oregon State is also bad but they are improving week-on-week... kinda. But they could probably beat Villinova at football and probably Nevada. They should have beaten Fresno State but they couldn't manage to figure out special teams. They are a G6 team for sure. Both teams have padded the stats a bit for sure but we have played slightly better opponents than Penn State to date.

Kiffin vocally said he wanted the Oregon job in 2022. He wants to go somewhere that will support his pursuit of a National Title. Ole Miss doesn't seem to be giving him everything he wants or needs. (Or maybe they are but he can't put it together.) I was on the Kiffin train at the time because I didn't know who else could elevate the program. SUPER happy we got Dan Lanning but at the time none of us knew about him.

Hmm... Aller isn't on this list. This will create a wrinkle this weekend for sure.

I think the coaches wanted him to take one more series. Against North Western I think the coaches looked at the end of that game and realized they took their foot off the gas a little too soon and allowed NW to bloody their nose a bit. Giving the back-ups reps is great but they did embarrass the final score for the Ducks. So Moore's last series may not have put any extra points up on the Beavers but it did eat clock.

I wouldn't say Lanning's teams are playing to the opponent's level. But he tends not to run up the score when the game is in hand. He will throw in back-ups and let them run the offense or run the ball. The only reason our North Western win looks less good is because the back-ups gave up 14 points. The starters gave up 0 even though NW had some good drives but made some critical mistakes. Lanning will not leave in the starting QB to run up the score and pad their stats. Gabriel was in the game so much last year because the game needed to be managed till the conclusion. The Oregon offense was good but not great. This year the game has been put away by the 3rd quarter's conclusion and the 4th is time for the back-ups.

You can probably go back three years and find the same criticism I make of the Ducks in the early season all those years... lack of consistency in running the ball and being a bit too pass happy. We might end up seeing the rotation settle down a bit because of the need of consistency but at the same time I don't know how that would even look. Who do you take carries away from? Limar is coming along nicely but he's not there yet. Hughes has loads of potential but isn't there yet. Harris has shown flashes. And there is no way that the freshman duo of Hill and Davidson can be denied the field both are electric in their roles. Now add Whittington coming back at some point soon. And I know I left a name or two off this list.

First off Lanning doesn't care at all about the spread. He's concerned about winning and ensuring the health of his team for the long run of the season. We have depth and can take some hits, already have taken some hits but can't take needless hits. Second off... the line for Oregon to beat Oregon State at 34 points was absurd from a betting standpoint. The Ducks got pretty close but a spread like that usually requires running up the score and with Lanning as the head coach that is a tall order to ensure they get those points. The Ducks did it against Ok State because they couldn't stop anything. Personally I'm just happy to see the Ducks break the 40 point mark this season.

Ok... It's probably just the British side of me but every time I see "Mummy Duck" I'm thinking of a mother duck. Not a mummified Duck thing. But a full glow in the dark white uniform for the Penn State whiteout could be absolutely insane. But... If we do that we better win.

Against Oregon State he did a fantastic job in one play (that I remember) that he came down into the line of scrimmage when the run bounced outside. He beat his blocker and maintained the edge and turned the runner back right into a lineman. No credit on the stat sheet but he was absolutely a major reason that that particular play went for effectively 0 yards. I haven't sat down to review all the film but I'm sure he is everywhere.

I think moving a safety down closer to the LOS might help keeping the explosive runs at bay. The Ducks have been doing that and it might be just what they need. Adding a body but not committing a body.

On mobile I just have a picture of a defeated Beaver.

The one drive OSU scored it looked quite bad. I will say the Ducks turned around and made a point to take the run away. Right now we are all pursuing end of season perfection. Though we are not yet at the end of the season... Or even halfway.

I think we were all saying the same thing last year before Ohio State. The Ducks stepped up and took out a team that was better than us. Dan might be a master motivator but outside of ok State we haven't seen our Ducks play with their peak intensity yet. Yes, ok State is a very bad team but the Ducks came out ready to dominate them and they did. Haven't quite seen that fire out of them yet. I will say this.... The Oregon offense has looked much better than last year's.

That and Washington State looks pretty bad. The missed tackles are ridiculous. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see WSU's coach jump ship by year's end. He's done pretty good for the Cougs but there isn't much of a future there.

Wisconsin looks BAD. Their offensive line is getting wrecked last I saw. Flipped over to Utah v Texas Tech.

I could see everyone around the program being done with Gundy. But if Gundy feels like he wants to stay it might be difficult to get rid of him. I don't know what his buyout is but if it's too high and he doesn't want to leave himself OK State might not be able to get rid of him at this time. With the Beavers in know they couldn't get rid of Mike Riley as every time he went 6-6 he got an automatic contract extension and his buyout effectively grew. Riley was a good enough coach to reach a bowl game almost every year so he seemed to do the Beavers a favor by opting to leave and go to Nebraska... Who paid them! Come to think of it Riley did the Beavers a big favor and it might have been intentional. He leaves and gets the Beavs out of his contract with a pay day from Nebraska. As for Gundy, it might take a few weeks if Ok State doesn't have the funds on hand right now to buy him out. They'll have to figure out where to get the money as many contracts require a substantial payout upon being fired.

I'll be honest... I was for changing the name away from Civil War. It's actually my second article on FishDuck. However, I did have the expectation that the game would be renamed and thus rebranded into something new. That was back in 2020 and there has been NO effort to rebrand this game. The teams are now in different conferences and the fans have moved on. There was a moment where this game could have been renamed and the fans would have gone a long with it in a year or so. Come on... Platypus Bowl with a trophy and throw in a bunch of new marketing around it. Fans would have disliked it at first but after a year or so would have been fine with it. Also... putting a trophy front and center in the rivalry would have made it very B1G (despite little brother not being a member). But nothing happened. So I went back to calling it the Civil War years ago. Calling it "Rivalry Game" or whatever has no character and it's frankly too clunky for any fan to adopt. One of those instances where basically anything would have been better than "Rivalry Game."

Bye... At least the Ducks get to play a real game and go through the real motions and hit people. Hard to reach tackling when you don't tackle to the ground. Only way to reasonably get those reps is in a game.

I could see Oregon wearing these in this game. White but with black pants, cleats, and Hemet.

I lost track of where I saw it.. but the three linebackers all have very similar snap counts against Northwestern. Jackson had the most, then Mixon, and then Boettcher. I think Oregon's linebackers are fantastic this year as a group.