David Marsh

I said it in a other thread but I'll say it here as well. It all comes down to what the coaches do with the portal concerning QB. If no QBs are added and none leave for the portal these coaches feel really confident in what they have. If they add a QB that will be telling in itself. If a QB leaves for the portal and then they add one... That might be for depth or that the coaches don't like what they have. We'll have a better snea eof this in December.

It will be interesting to see if he keeps his job after the season that's for sure.

I have a feeling we'll find out soon just how good the coaches feel about their QB room. If they go after a transfer portal player it means they don't think they have "it". But if they don't grab a QB from the portal.... Then I'd say we are all in for a treat next year because they feel real good about what they have. In the one series where Thompson had the full playbook at his disposal he looked confident and made some nice passes. Not saying he has suddenly found it... But there is a lot of development going on behind the scenes that's for sure. It was the biggest jump in Thompson's play I've seen yet.

The biggest frustration of it all is that MC does hire top level coaches with often amazing track records (not all but many). Once the off-season comes around MC is going to absolutely kill it. He is going to make some nice new hires and wrangle in some amazing recruits and transfers. Everyone will be filled with hope that maybe now and this time the pieces are in place. And then you get basically the same season all over again. Cristobal Has Spoiled Fans By Winning the Off-Season FISHDUCK.COM Mario Cristobal will be Oregon's head coach in 2022. The only way this doesn't happen is if he opts to leave...

ASU was also forced to play a backup QB and some other backups. They didn't have greater starters and they had zero depth and had to dive into their bench and found... Nothing. As for Cal... The offense is actually pretty good. Their QB is going to be special. I think Cal has a better QB than Utah right now but Utah has the linemen and a bulkier defense. Cal's offensive line play was decent as well and Ott is certainly a good runningback. The ACC may be an easier conference for them to play and find success oddly enough. The travel is going to be awful but I think Cal is going to probably win a good few games in the ACC next year. I see Wilcox growing as a head coach but he isn't there.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Ducks wanted a night game for a blackout. We haven't wore black this year yet.

True... But usually Oregon can bring enough eyeballs to make it worthwhile.

Cal has Franklin pretty blanketed right now... So we get the Tez Johnson show. Which is pretty good... Even though he was part of the problem on two turnovers.

Oregon is currently serving up a 2013 Jared Goff special... Wet conditions... Check Oregon forcing turn overs... Check

Cal is using tempo... But as Duck fans we all know how dangerous tempo can be for your own team when you play a defense that deals constant 3 and outs. The cal defense may get too tired at the end of this one.

Tez Johnson scores... Me... Waiting for the flag. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a flag at kick off that rolls that TD back.

For me it comes down to play selection.... I felt the goal series by KSU were generally underwhelming. They were basically trying to do the same things they did in the open field but with a short field and they just didn't have the space to operate. Running the QB against a team that had shut down the run game in a short field also felt silly... Or at least running the QB without doing anything to create space with scheme. They went power against a team that was beating them with power.

Their 3rd down play was also just awful.

I wasn't aware of the live sports fee potentially. But if you use your Xfinity log in it might work. I ditched Comcast last year so I'm not 100% sure at the moment.

Do you have Comcast for cable? If you do you automatically have peacock. Also peacock has had a sub deal out there for 99 cents a month. Not a huge fan paying it but $12 a year is a lot cheaper than anything else out there.

Looking at the slate of games today ... Probably the only spot that the Oregon game could be reasonably "traded" for is the Oregon State v Colorado game... That's ESPN at 7pm start time. I say traded for is because sure Oregon is a top 10 team but Cal's record isn't great and the Bay area fans arent exactly an audience that will tune in in droves. The Colorado OSU game will get a good amount of eyeballs for the same reasons why Colorado has gotten eyeballs all year. Only pac-12 game on a major broadcast network is Washington v USC which makes sense... It's the best game in the conference this week. The only other not pac-13 network game remaining is UCLA v Arizona at 7:30 kickoff... This is a week that pac has been relegated to the back burner.

Arizona in 2012. Zona couldn't get close to the end zone... But they couldn't make any red Zone field goals either.

It seems Oregon has been banished to the pac-12 network today... Again. This is our fourth game on the network this year. The Ducks haven't been on the network this much for a very long time, of ever. Next week we'll get something with more visibility but we may be back on the pac-12 for ASU.

It would help if I could count... Lol Yes 6-0 before Ohio State. I don't teach math for a reason.

Best way to slow down fast tempo offenses... Control the line of scrimmage ... Especially against run first offense which is what Cal is... Everything starts with Ott, contain him and the offense slows down. Follow up with some QB pressures and sacks... Which Oregon should do with their defensive front and that will slow the game down. Cal either goes 3 and out real fast. And we see something akin to what Stanford did to Oregon last decade but with far more scoring ... Or Cal has to put together long sustained drives that way clock... Which may not end in points against this Oregon team which will turn around and put points up and put pressure on Cal's QB to make big plays... He can do it... But our defense isn't USCs.

Completely doable schedule .. We don't know what Oregon will look like next year, especially in this day and age of the transfer portal. But I think the Ducks should be 5-0 before Ohio State.

Also any of those goal line plays at the end of the 1st half... Jumbo formation!!! It was a learning curve game for this staff for sure. And as long as they learn their lessons we'll be good. It did feel like they were getting cute with the pass game when they should have leaned on a run game that was pretty effective, especially if they got a bit creative with the looks. The Utah game felt like an incredibly well designed game plan and a very dialed in staff. If they keep bringing that level of prep the Ducks will win out. That Utah game was absolutely solid offensively and defensively. I'll also just throw it out there that the Oregon defense didn't feel as dialed in against Washington as they should have. They didn't have that Utah focus if you will.

What makes Nix good is that he has learned to play within the system. He knows the system very well, but he is at his best when he doesn't need to play hero and for the most part he hasn't needed to do so. He can manipulate the plays at the LoS like a pro and work the system against opponents. I think Mariota had many more physical gifts than Nix, but the difference is also in the systems. Oregon’s blur offense of the Mariota era fit him like a glove, and Mariota could run it like no one else at Oregon has been able to pull off. Nix has a prostyle offense that is pretty complex in its own right. But in both cases the QB depth after the first QB was highly questionable. The backups just haven't proven they can operate the systems better than the starters by a long shot.

I'm not a big fan of "midnight green" but I do love that bright yellow number. I also like how the chrome helmets are in the rotation. They aren't my favorite but I do like them as they go with everything and look good with anything.

I'll be honest... This is the least of the NCAAs concerns or what should be their concerns. Thr NCAA got slapped down with the NIL case and since then (and even before then) they have been content to take their cut of the revenue and let the conferences and media companies do what they like. If the NCAA really wanted to help college sports and protect athletes they would have stepped in and created a media deal that would have been equal for all power conferences and then a deal for all G5 conferences to insulate tradition and conference realignment. Fans have been upset by conference realignment schinanaigans more than anything else ... Sure NIL has made some upset as well ... But conference realignment has destroyed traditional rivalries. As Duck fans we are fortunate enough to be one of the "winners" in realignment as we are going to the B1G. But Utah, Colorado, and both Arizona schools are going to the Big 12 which is a second rate conference but that's till a better position than Oregon State and WSU are in with no conference. Where has the NCAA been in all this? No where to be found except happy to accept their check. This has been an article in the making for myself for some time... But I haven't figured out how I would like to frame the narrative and it's an off season article because I much rather write about football games during the season itself. Sorry for the rant. I do agree that the SEC and ACC shouldn't be allowed to play significantly easier schedules... Or more to the point I feel there should be a standardized schedule regulation put in place by the NCAA but they don't want to upset anyone and draw attention to themselves... Just collect their check.