David Marsh

The Huskies have escaped so many losses this season. They are the luckiest team in college football. I guess it's kinda true... better to be lucky than good. The Huskies are also pretty good... but they have had a TON of luck to survive to this point.

Did anyone else see Oregon use the pistol multiple times? Because I did and it actually worked! The pistol is a fine formation if used sometimes and used correctly!

Still can't do it.

Actually that one is pretty interesting. Apparently there was a discussion within the coaching staff about playing Jake Hansen, who would be the starting center for the next four years, but Hansen at that time still had his redshirt. Helfrich and the coaching staff were not willing to burn his redshirt for about a half a game's worth of play. The redshirt rules have changed a lot since then. Now players can play four regular season games and the bowl game without burning the redshirt. That doesn't defend the defensive collapse that game but I do agree with the decision to preserve a redshirt in a non playoff bowl game.

I saw a few low snaps... But not dreadfully low. Just that Nix had to bend down a bit to grab them. Those were in the first quarter. By the second quarter I didn't notice anything with the snaps. So maybe not perfect but darn close. None of the low snaps were ever in any danger but they could have been directly into Nix's hands rather than making him go get them. But that's a vertical problem and not horizontal which is far worse in terms of snaps.

Ducks feel asleep at the moment... Need to wake up and get rolling here.

This is fantastic insight! Thanks for digging it up. I wonder how much of that turnover are OC's realizing that they don't want to be connected with such a trainwreck. There are Miami fans who are clamouring for Dawson to be gone. These fans are the ones who still believe MC can turn things around. You don't burn through coordinators unless: A. You are Nick Saban/Kirby Smart and they keep getting hired away. B. You are a horrible coach to work with and the coordinators would rather bail. You can eliminate option A immediately for MC. The thing is that MC hires really well, on paper. So in most cases I'd say that option A is often the case. Or at least has been when he was at Oregon and to a degree while at Miami. Avalos and Arroyo took HC jobs, sure they were fired but they took them. Moorehead rejoined the HC coaching ranks at Akron, not a great program but he is closer to home and it seemed like after his heart issues he needed to step back from the power conferences. Other coordinators took new jobs elsewhere, so more option B where they find new jobs at the same level they're currently at. Cristobal is a master of the off season. He recruits great both in terms of players and coaching personal. This is what has kept him his job at Oregon and got him his job at Miami, he wins the off season. And in doing so he injects hope into the boosters and fan base to give him another chance. However, that show doesn't have much life left in it if he can't produce on-field results for Miami real soon. At Oregon Cristobal was given a little lead way with a Rose Bowl win and two conference championships. But we were all feeling fine with him at the end of 2021.

Last season for Kelly Graves at Oregon? Not sure if that's an upside or not as it kinda infers this season is going to continue to be awful. Though, a possible and not related upside is that Altman might be getting the men's team on track.

I think it was the on3 interview I read that said that Ohio State only had one person recruit him, their OC, while Oregon used a team approach. In that interview it said that he felt like he had a community to fall back on when things got hard because he had relationships with more coaches. Goes to show you that relationships are still absolutely the biggest factor in recruiting. NIL is massive as well but it's certainly more fickle.

I remember early on as head coach at Oregon that Cristobal at le as st felt more open to the press. He would talk about injuries more openly and the interviews were worth listening to. He became more cagy when he was losing more. Amazing how much Herbert covered for him and made his life easier. Losing has made him far more difficult to listen to. But then again winning is always a better place to be than losing. I suppose Cristobal could make his life easier if he would just win more games but to do that he'd need to get out of his own way.

The two have a past as head coaches in Florida and going against each other. I believe Leavitt was at UCF and Cristobal was at FIU and there was some negative back and forth. Let's just say there was bad blood before they were at Oregon together. It's a bit of a shocker that Leavitt stuck around for the first year of MC's HC tenure at Oregon. Because in reality it was probably a poor coaching hire from Taggart to being both to Oregon with preexisting bad blood.

They have already seen it... When they refused to take a knee this season and threw away a win. But Stanford is a wiley program that will create a whole lot of heart ache in the ACC even if they don't win the conference. I mean... Ask Deon Sanders and Colorado fans about their feelings towards Stanford this season.

Nope... Hoping for Texas to run them off the field. I would love for Oregon to still have more playoff wins than the Huskies. This might be the high point for Husky football for some time. The transfer portal is good but not good enough to make up for their awful prep recruiting. I don't like Texas all that much but a whole lot more than Washington.

But the narrative about Lanning will change and fan tomorrow of any losses will also shift. Also... The title helps with the clicks and that is still the name of the game in the internet.

I didn't see anything official about Franklin opting out or not. I know Popo opted out over the weekend. I didn't have a chance to edit the article to include that. There haven't been too many players who have publicly declared opting out. Announcing they are going to the draft doesn't mean they are opting out of the bowl game, but it could be implied that way.

But... For the majority of us the NFL offers ARE entertaining to watch.

I've never liked Texas all that much... But I'm rooting for them. Also... How funny would it be if Sark (a former UW coach) brings the Husky season to an end? Granted... Sark wasn't fired from Washington, he left for the greener pastures of USC.

If the coaches didnt think he'd fit the culture they wouldn't have offered. Oregon isn't USC, which is a roster of mercenaries. Lanning as a culture and he looks for people who fit it. Obviously he doesn't hit 100% of the time but no one does. And the transfer portal created a huge market of its own. Either pay the players on your roster or they'll leave. There is a reason why we have relatively few transfers and right now no starters have jumped in the portal. That's because they're getting paid. Also it's social media culture that is all about self promotion. It's the way it is and I figure I'd let them have their fun. I don't have a twitter/X account but a lot of people do. Also... Getting to the NFL does have a publicity component. If a team has a choice between two players with similar stats and ability... They'll pick the more famous player. Create more hype and sell more jerseys. There are always players who were free agents who weren't drafted but become stars in the NFL because they don't have enough of a profile... But it's always better getting drafted.

Board games are one of the things outside of Duck football that I absolutely love. Board games can have a large range of complexity and diversity in them which go far and beyond the games most people have probably interacted with. Monopoly, Risk and most games you are probably familiar with are awful compared to what new games are being developed and created these days. I haven't had a chance to play it yet but there is now a board game about college football recruiting. It looks like it has some interesting mechanics and I will have to give it a shot at some point. The four "schools/institutions) with their mascots are as follows... Oregon / Ducks - Oh yeah... it's the Oregon Ducks as one of the four players. Georgia / Elephant - Not sure how Bama and Georgia fans will feel about that merger. Odessa / Tiger - Probably in reference to LSU or Clemson or Texas (Odessa is in Texas). Not sure on this one. Iowa / badger? Squirrel? - Something like that... not entirely sure what their mascot is. But it looks like a lot of this can be scrambled. If you're interested it's on Board Game Arena which is the go to for online board games. I usually have about 9-12 games going on at any given time over there. Play Envelopes of Cash online from your browser • Board Game Arena BOARDGAMEARENA.COM Play Envelopes of Cash online from your browser with the whole world! After glancing through some of the rules it does feel like it doesn't have the nuance of NIL... as giving money under the table in an envelope is such a thing of the past and actually still illegal in College Football today. But it's still an interesting game concept.

At this time I believe only Kyree Jackson has announced he is not playing in the Fiesta Bowl. Obviously others can opt out at a later time but it looks like most everyone is staying for one more game.

I believe that Addison originally signed with UCLA. Got out of his LOI and then came to Oregon. Kinda funny that he is actually going to finish his career at the school he originally signed with.

I suspect this is the case. I also suspect that most of the team isn't even worried about what next year's team looks like as everything is still to play for now if they win.

The conference (every conference really) grades their refs on a game to game basis. I suspect the best refs will be the ones who call this game. Oregon has had some games where the refs feel more fair towards us. Last week's game against OSU didn't feel too bad in terms of penalty calls.

Lanning in some ways has a reckless aggressiveness problem. Just most teams haven't been able to punish him for it. I think Lanning has done a good job following the most recent loss to Washington to temper some of his aggression. He has opted for some field goals in situations where he may have gone for it in the past. I also think part of that also comes with the defense really coming into its own. I feel some of Lanning's offensive aggression stemmed from not wanting to put the game on the defense's shoulders to win it. I think if he was in the same situation as the end of the last game against Washington where he can choose between going for it on 4th down at midfield or punt... I think he punts and doesn't hesitate to put the game on the defense to end it. Oregon simply hasn't been burned as badly this season defensively following the Washington loss. Maybe you can say USC... but Caleb Williams made plays happen that any other quarterback, including Penix, wouldn't have made. I will say I love how Lanning plays to win and not just play to not lose. For more on this concept I wrote an article before his first game last year. Dan Lanning Must Play to Win FISHDUCK.COM Playing to win requires some risk taking. It will require Dan Lanning to take some shots, some of which will fail — but it is the mentality he needs if he is… We will see if Lanning truly has a DeBoer problem following the result of this game. If Oregon loses, then absolutely yes. If Oregon wins... I think this rivalry shifts to Oregon being in the driver's seat for the foreseeable future.

I remember reading about how that was the plan. Every other year or so rotate the B1G championship game between Indianapolis and Vegas.