David Marsh

USC has had a massive end of season meltdown. Washington and Oregon broke them and UCLA shattered any illusion they should be deserving of a conference championship.

Don't know if I agree in that offensive PI... I think it's another instance of big guy v small guy and big guy gets the penalty. Last week Brenden Rice had a massive push off against Bridges for a TD and no flag. This doesn't feel that bad.

If the beavers beat the Huskies then both will probably be top 10 teams. Oregon scored two wins against top 10 teams in two weeks that's just fine. Especially if the Ducks can look dominant in the process. Depth is being tested down the stretch... The Ducks have it where most teams don't. Oregon went three deep last week at corner against USC. Most teams that would have to do that would have given up their entire back end of the defense. Ducks got burned but not bad enough. Beat ASU, beat the Beavers, win the Pac-12 championship and they're in the playoff. The formula hasn't changed.... Just WIN!

Selfish behavior I'm sure contributed and surely created a toxic lovkeroom over time in sure. But... That dismantling they had by Oregon couldn't never have been won by Colorado with their talent or lack there of. That loss probably opened lots of rifts in the lockeroom. A close loss to USC hurt for sure. The loss to Stanford was certainly the gut punch. They needed that win to stay in bowl contention. WSU was the nail in the coffin. Look for the Colorado roster to see tons of turnover this next off-season.

Good chance of it. Sanders will get them pumped for the off-season. They'll get some additional talent. Probably make some new hires, probably at OC, I can't imagine the guy they took play calling away from sticks around (not sure if he already left or not). Then go diving in the transfer portal and get some new flash. Then top it all off by playing in the Big 12 which is weaker than this year's pac-12 by a longshot. Yeah they'll sell their tickets.

Colorado is just giving the ball to the Wazu defense. This is embarrassing for the Buffs.

This looks like a team that has given up.

Correct on transfers. Every player gets a freebie and the Sanders kids used theirs to get to Colorado. I am also pretty sure that the NCAA, as toothless as they are, won't sign a waiver of "my dad got a new coaching job." I think Sanders stays put for a year and then either gets another job or leaves coaching entirely. I kinda get the sense that he is in it for his kids. But I think he also has an even younger son so who knows. I also don't think Stein is a shoe in at UTSA either. He may be able to get the job or he can stay at Oregon for a year or two more and end up with a Power Conference job (no idea what number to put on it right now). UTSA isn't his dream job, it's just where he had an opportunity and I'm saying he isn't grateful for it but I could see him waiting for a bigger opportunity to be a HC which would come if he stays at Oregon a little longer.

He's got the flash. And TAMU has the same problem USC does... It wants to hire flash and a quick fix.

Realistically... He needs probably 2-3 more years before he's probably considered for a head coaching job. Now I say this and I'll probably be outright wrong. But I think he needs to continue to mature. He's grown a lot while being at Oregon but I don't think he's ready to be a head coach.

It seems to go in waves. Oregon had a good few games where penalties weren't that high and then we get some games where we get loads. It just needs to be more consistent.

This was ASU v Washington. This lack of a flag meant that the next play was a bad pass on a 4th down and was Washington's pick 6 which won them the game. This lack of flag absolutely lost ASU the game.

Also... Remember this apparently ISN'T holding or pass interference!

I think there is also some stuff that is getting flag that shouldn't be. There does seem to be a greater willingness to flag bigger guys when they play against smaller guys and we've had a lot of that this year. Also a lot of ticky tacky non sense at times against the ducks. I mean we had a complete phantom PI call on a fourth down last week. The defender did absolutely nothing wrong and was making a play on the ball and wasn't holding but was flagged. That penalty wouldn't have been called in a other conference. I think there is a little bit of SEC coaching physicality going on at Oregon that results in Pac-12 refs throwing flags that shouldn't be in any other conference. Now stuff like false starts need to be cleaned up those are universal in how bad they are. Holding on the offensive line can be cleaned up a bit but the problem is I keep seeing defensive linemen get away with holds and at a certain point it's difficult not to get in a grappling match. This is something like big v small and the small guy gets away with it where the big guy doesn't. I didn't play basketball at any significant level beyond recreational and at just about 6ft I would go against guys 6.5ish at times, my team was really really short, and I could get away with a ton against those bigger guys. Same holds true at higher levels where smaller guys can get away with more. Why doesn't this seem to happen in the SEV or Big Ten? It does... But those linemen tend to be a bit bigger even if they aren't the 4 or 5 star guys. Less kitty is taken in them I suppose. And/or the refs are just better trained.

Helfrich isn't coming back to coaching. He had his dream job and he reached the highest point in his career in 2014 and he is never going back to that height. He has plenty of money and doesn't need to work but he does seem to enjoy doing some commentary. I think he likes not recruiting players, which is what coaches spend by far the most time doing, and I think he likes spending time with his family. Personally, I'd be shocked if he returned to coaching. I believe there was a story from a year or two back that Kelly was looking for a new OC and Helfrich turned him down outright. Scott Frost... He's a maybe though.

I guess it is how do you want to define a blue blood. It's one of those funny things that for many or most of them most people are in agreement but we don't know why. Texas... Blue blood Alabama... Blue blood Ohio State... Blue blood Oregon... Not a blue blood But is the fridge cases where it gets weird. I would say money is certainly a factor. Having won national championships at any point would be a factor. Needing more than one national championship is also important. I would say Nebraska was at one point a blue blood. Are they still a blue blood? Is USC?

Knew we were due for egg shell one more game this year. Hoping we get new uniforms soon. Getting tired of this look at the moment. Then again ... Supposedly after the 2021 season if Oregon was the home team for the pac-12 champ game there was supposed to be a new uniform roll out. That didn't happen that game and I don't think we've seen the new uniforms to date either. So maybe with a successful end of season???

Lesser blue blood then? The money is certainly there at TAMU. They have the resources to make a big splash in the college football world but they just haven't gotten the hire right. If they get the right coach they could be sitting at the top of the SEC and even making runs at the national championship. They have all the resources needed.

When they don't have the boosters to enable them to keep up with the rest of the blue bloods. There is a reason why the TAMU job is covered... It's got massive resources behind it. I'd say they're a blue blood program even though they haven't won anything significant for quite some time. Same goes for Texas and USC and any other traditional blue blood that's been down. If they have the money and the history they're a blue blood. Oregon is new money but we don't have the football history yet.

During the game I heard Pleasasnt's name called during the two point conversion attempt for the Trojans. Pleasant is a FAST corner from the 2023 recruiting class for the Ducks. He has mostly been on the scouting team this year but I have a feeling he is going to burst onto the scene in the next few games. Against the Trojans Oregon really had to dive into their depth at corner back. Kyree Jackson and Jahlil Florence both went out with injuries, though they look like they are returning soon, and Donte Manning and Trikweze Bridges came in as the next two up. Manning left the game, supposedly with a minor injury as well and Niko Reed took his spot down the stretch. Bridges appeared healthy but was relentless picked on by Caleb Williams and arguably USC's best receiver in Brenden Rice, though it did look like Rice got away with some offensive pass interference as he pushed Bridges out of the way while the ball was in the air, but still. But Bridges didn't seem injured and the Ducks were hurting down the stretch of this game to ensure USC didn't manage to make a game of it late. USC needed a two point conversion at some point to get in striking distance and they went for it. What was really surprising in all this was that for this two point conversion attempt the Ducks put true freshman Rodrick Pleasant on Rice. The pass wasn't great and it was incomplete but Pleasant kept up with Rice and was position well enough to ensure he couldn't make a play on that ball. Even if that ball was caught Rice wasn't going to have an easy time getting to the end zone. Not perfect coverage but good enough here. But talk about faith in a true freshman here putting Pleasant on the Trojan's best receiver at this point in the game. In all Pleasant only played three snaps. But one little tidbit of information I came across today from the practice reports out there is that Pleasant is practicing in his Ducks jersey and NOT the scout team jersey. Could this mean that Lanning, Lupoi and Hampton are all gearing Pleasant up to take over the second string spot from Bridges? One thing is for certain, Oregon is going to need some lock-down corners in a probable rematch against Washington. I also wouldn't be surprised to see Jackson and Florence with limited reps this week against ASU to ensure they rest up and heal up. So will we see more of Pleasant on Saturday? Just putting this out there for everyone to keep an eye out for him to see what happens. Oregon has more depth than anyone in the conference and that's the X-factor come November. In past years if Oregon had lost that many corners against this USC team that could have spelled last minute upset but they hung in there and won it.

Now... get those penalties under control gentlemen! Granted... I do think there may have been some shenanigans with USC's defensive front. USC was penalized once for giving off disconcerting verbal signals that could make the offensive line jump. And lets be honest here a team doesn't get that penalty if it happens only once in a game, they get that penalty if they keep showing signs of a similar behavior. I wouldn't be surprised if it was USC's defense yelling out signals that sound like Nix is calling to hike the ball. There were just way too many unusual false starts against USC. Yeah, the Ducks have a problem with false starts at times but that was way more than normal.

And incentives if he wins the conference, makes the playoff, wins a major bowl game (of which a CFP semi final counts) and another bonus if he wins a national championship. He gets a bonuses for appearing in those games and another for winning them!

Or he has a driver. So much of recruiting is done on a phone these days. Not so much the phone phone but the mobile computer we call a phone.

That's a whole other article... Oregon's win was a major part of Jimbo's downfall. The Ducks pulled the curtain back on the FSU opportation and started to unravel the culture there. And Jimbo jumped ship and shocker ... Didn't transform TAMU because he didn't truly change the culture there either.

I know we've heard coaches say they're not leaving before... But Lanning went above and beyond with his statement of saying he's not leaving. He has always come across as an honest guy and has always been open, about anything other than football practice that is, so I'd say he's not going anywhere and telling the truth.