David Marsh

A few things this year happened that I think contributed to a mediocre defense. 1. Rebuilding the culture was the first step. The crazy thing is that the best defense in the Cristobal era was 2019 and that had some phenomenal youth with some veteran leaders. Troy Dye was a massive leader on the field and he was a Helfrich recruit. KT was able to get off to a great start because the defensive line and linebackers demanded to be taken seriously and that meant KT had a lot of 1v1s which he could win and did. A veteran culture on the defense was never rebuilt after 2019. 2. Lackluster 5-star linebackers... Sewell had been a monster the previous two years but when his role needed to expand in Lanning's Defense he really didn't seem to take it on with much success. Then Flowe was a loose cannon who was just as likely to get a late hit as a big play hit. Neither were suited for Lanning's Defense and Lanning has brought in linebackers who should change that. I think Sewell was exposed in this defense and it hurt his draft stock and it showed just how limited he really is on the field. 3. Installing the defense Lanning actually wants starts now. When Lanning came in his mission was to maintain the roster and see what he had and use it. It turned out he didn't have a roster that could run his defense so they really used a bend but don't break defense that we have been using for the past few years more or less. With a huge influx of recruits and transfer portal players that should change in a hurry. This year we should see more of the Lanning defense because he has more of his players. Granted the drawback is that he is limited in the number of veterans in his system as many will be learning it for the first time. One of the things he had a Georgia is that he had stacked talent and talent that could cycle in with deep knowledge of the system when players left. He doesn't have that knowledge just yet but it should be there soon. Great article Joshua.

I think swinson probably wouldn't have seen the field that much next year without some major leaps and bounds in development. Thornton doesn't make any sense at all. He was on the rise big time towards the end of the season.

Eating it as a net gain or loss feels a bit silly to me. Sure there is plenty of talent to be gained by the transfer portal but sometimes a team needs a net loss into the portal to accommodate incoming freshman. Stanford, as I have said a million times now, will always be a net loser because they can't bring in much talent due to their academic requirements. USC under Lincoln Riley is a meat grinder where they chew up and spit out athletes so fast that they don't look like a program that will be doing much development at all. Come in ready to play or get out.

I wouldn't count Florence out ... I think he could sneak into the starting line up.

It's the continuation of the notion that the west coast (without the LA schools) has no value. Will the new PAC deal be equal to the B1G deal? No it won't... But if it's good enough then buying into a B1G deal that will require more travel and thus more expenses for a harder path to the playoff doesn't inherently make sense.

And I think this serves those who jump into the transfer portal looking for greener pastures just fine. I'm more concerned about those students who know their ability and know the risk of not finding a new home is too great. But at the same time there are most assuredly programs that are pushing students out in order to make room for transfers and those students who just want to stay at their school and remain on a scholarship that they earned. I don't think there would be that many student-athletes who would take this approach of opting to be cut but remain at the school as many would like to still play football. But I do feel with the meat grinder that is taking place with college athletics that there should be a way that a coach can get rid of a player that gives the player the choice to stay at the school under scholarship.

The solution I am proposing is to extend this rule, with limits the current version for year 1 coaches is a bit much, especially if it is permanent, because right now the problem is that student-athletes who want to remain students at this schools can find themselves in various degrees of toxic football cultures with coaches wanting to open up more room for new players who can make a greater impact. This pushes the student to either leave or live with it which isn't fair on anyone. Coaching staves are working harder than ever to build the roster they need to compete and there will always be players who don't live up to their recruitment billing but those players should be given an option to be cut from the team but retain their scholarship for the duration of their eligibility at the school they chose rather than feel like they don't belong with their team by a coaching staff that would like nothing more than for them to transfer. It gives an option for players who really want to continue to be students rather than athletes. Right now College Football players really seem to fall into two distinct categories. One is the super star player grouping where they are big time players with NFL potential and they are receiving NIL money and basically professionals right now. The other category are players who were good enough to earn a scholarship with their school and some of these players are able to make it big but most of them will only contribute in a limited role whether that is scout team, special team, or even some limited reps during the game. These are the players who are the most negatively impacted by the rise of the Transfer Portal and NIL because these players won't have a home if they go into the portal. These are the players who really get "paid" through receiving their education. There may be Oregon pictures in this article but this isn't an article directly targeted at Oregon but rather all of college football.

He would be outside of year 1 now. But if he used this rule he could have used it in December and there wouldn't have been any announcements about players being removed from the team but retaining their scholarships. So he probably already used this rule and we just don't know about it.

How Oregon's DJ Johnson, Noah Sewell performed at NFL Combine - On3 WWW.ON3.COM On Thursday, Oregon's DJ Johnson and Noah Sewell both went through workouts at the NFL Combine in... Not sure if this was already posted but the NFL scouting comments were pretty harsh. Basically the report summaries say... Lots of potential physical talent for both Sewell and Johnson but lack development. This is pretty bad for our previous coaching staff in a lot of ways because they were the ones who should have really developed these players. It also feels like it answers part of the question as to why Lanning's Defense never came together in year one.

Sabrina is perhaps the most selfless player in the history of the sport. And I know some of you will be like ... Wait what? Didn't she set the record for triple doubles and carry the team on her shoulders sometimes? Yes... And that's what made her selfless. It was always about the team with her and she knew the strengths of her team and everyone's roles. Sometimes she needed to carry the team and put up a big night in scoring to win the game. Other games she just needed to take the shots that were open to her and get the ball to other players and let them score. She was the leader of a very special team. That chemistry isn't easy to recreate but it is up to the coaching staff to build some sort of team cohesion and they have failed to really do so. What is this team's identity? Sabrina's team was all about moving the ball around and letting play makers make plays. And then it was followed up with a stifling defense that punished opponents for their mistakes.

Is Marcus Mariota Destined for Coaching? FISHDUCK.COM Marcus Mariota is the greatest Oregon football player of all time. He won Oregon its first Heisman Trophy and still holds most of... Wrote this a couple years ago. I think the big problem for Mariota is that he needs a scheme that allows for him to run and use his legs, which is really hard to do at the NFL. He has never been a prototypical quarterback for the NFL and what Mariota needs is an offense that that is similar to what he ran at Oregon which isn't truly run at the NFL level because that's not the meta game for the league at this time. Herbert has all the tools to be an NFL quarterback and it showed right out the gate for him. Mariota needs a coach and a scheme that fits what he wants to do and what we are really seeing is that there really aren't that many teams out there that he would be a great fit for in truth and the teams he would be a fit for there are already established quarterbacks in those spots. Is he good enough to take those spots away? Maybe. Will he get the chance? Probably not. I do think Mariota would make for an incredible coach though and I would be surprised if he makes an appearance at Oregon at some point.

I would assume that part of the negotiations with these streaming companies will include the current production of the Pac-12 Network. The Pac-12 network isn't perfect but their production has been pretty good and their commentators do actually seem to know who the players are which is a big bonus. I will say this about the Pac-12 production, if it was just about production value I'd take an end of the day game with the Pac-12 network over ESPN or FS1 which both typically give poor production value at the end of the day. The other big thing at play here is that college football has a bigger following and is worth way more money so the production value will need to be better than MLS which is growing but doesn't have the following at all. So I would think if the Pac-12 network is picked up by Apple or Amazon that it would have the current level of production which is pretty good on the whole.

Reviewing Oregon's all-time special teams leaderboards 247SPORTS.COM k I found this pretty interesting. There are some pretty big names on this list but if you look closely most of those names pre-date the Cristobal era entirely. Camden Lewis makes the list which feels like a bit of a shocker but he has been pretty solid the last two years in truth though he does have limited kicking range. It is clear, however, that special teams has been neglected for quite some time at Oregon and that needs to be fixed and I believe Lanning is working to fix it. But getting special teams to the point where they are special again is taking some time as it is clearly a culture shift within the program. Oregon's Special Teams Aren't Special... Yet FISHDUCK.COM So far Oregon's special teams haven't been anything special. However, that isn't entirely a bad thing, as the worst thing special...

Some points on streaming services and why I think they are in some ways more consumer friendly moving forward for younger generations. 1. Cable or Dish is expensive on a monthly basis and getting a package that has Pac-12 Networks or just the few channels you actually want to have make it even more expensive. I know I was paying more for the cable TV that I wasn't using for the most part than the internet that I used all the time. I did finally cut the cable at the end of football season which is what I was only using it for as it was. 2. Cable and Dish companies are a real pain in the butt to deal with so switching on and off cable or dish isn't something that can be easily done. Yes, I was only using cable during football season so theoretically I could get cable for those 3-4 months a year and then get rid of it for the rest. That is possible to do but dealing with the cable company (in my case Comcast) is miserable and changing account information and returning equipment is just time consuming and awful. 3. There are streaming service options now for most games... youtubeTV is cheap compared to a lot of cable packages and that can get you access to the channels and games you want with a built in DVR and no special equipment needed. Well, I have a chromecast at home and I know some have a Roku so it is easy to watch on my TV screen but neither of those are that expensive and once you buy them you own them and never need to return them to a cable company. Once done with the season just cancel the subscription and that's it... no going to a store to return gear or having to call up a customer service line to cancel the policy. 4. So if it's on AppleTV or Amazon or whatever, that might be another sub for people to get but unless you use your cable TV all the time it isn't really an additional cost... at least for the younger generations (I'm in my 30s by the way). So for me getting a sub for AppleTV for a few months (even with something like youtubeTV or sling or whatever) would be cheaper and easier than cable currently. I know not everyone is ready to switch over to a streaming only lifestyle but it is certainly trending that way. The money might not be there now but it will get there real fast.

I know they are going to be in anlysis roles but it is interesting that they are being called "assistants". I wouldn't be surprised to see a rule change to the number of assistant coaches at some time.

It might take some sort of ramping contract to make it work for either. A lower payout at first but it grows. Streaming is becoming more and more the future of TV but it's not there yet. ION is interesting because they have the distribution but just having the distribution doesn't mean the PAC can cash in right away... People have to know where to find the content and that will take some time. So a contract that increases over time could be the way this has to go because PAC eyeballs will find it fast but the rest of the country will take awhile and that's what is also needed.

I read other articles that said he was more of a co-coach and I was thinking analysis role so it fit better. Still a great hire.

I think this is a good hire to offset the youth of Terry. Though aren't there only allowed to be 10 assistant coaches. Wouldn't this put Oregon at 11 assistants if he takes on an on-field role which is what it seems like he is doing. Did I miss a rule change on number of coaches?

His girlfriend is also at Oklahoma right now or is going to Oklahoma... One of those two things. Probably got some pressure there and from his parents as well and it was a good excuse to reopen his recruitment as he was feeling doubts about his decisions.

I'm not buying it that that was the problem. If that was the problem and he actually wanted to be a Duck he would have corrected it and resent in the paperwork. Afterall, he had to do a whole new set of paperwork for Oklahoma and send it into them. That is more work than fixing a single error and resending it to Oregon. It was an excuse to reopen his recruitment at the last minute, not the cause of him not being a Duck.

Or just do a draft. After all the media networks are the overlords of college football. Might as well build the leagues via draft every let's say 4 years.

Moorehead had a great response about how a quarterback should run (he was less clear on how much). "Touchdown, First-down, Get Down" If you can get the touchdown as a running qb take it... if not get the first down... if that's not an option just get down to avoid injury. All of this is easier said than done. I do feel a quarterback should run if they have open field in front of them and make the defense respect his legs. I also feel some zone-read play is also great because it can work a couple of ways. One, the quarterback and keep the ball and run for an open edge and take some yards. Or, two, the quarterback keeps it and passes it. Either way it forces the defense to have to respect the quarterback keeping the ball in a zone read play and can't just crash down on the runningback blindly. What I NEVER want to see is a designed quarterback run play that doesn't have a runningback in the backfield with the quarterback. I have harped on it time and time again and I will do so once more... the play Nix was injured against the Huskies was a designed quarterback run out of the shotgun in an empty set. Why wasn't a runningback in the backfield with him for him to at-least fake the hand-off and make the defense account for the runningback as well? This play didn't have a pass option and in truth that entire drive was basically pure run plays going through the runningback as it was so why switch it up at that point? That play felt like coaching negligence. Not just from a game play perspective but from the health of a player as well.

During that Washington State game Irving gained a ton of yards running the ball in the open field but when it got into the red zone... no Irving and we saw Oregon unable to punch the ball in for touchdowns and settle for field goals. I found it so odd that Irving was considered to be good enough for the open field but when it got down into scoring territory he was pulled. Yes, there isn't as much room to run but Irving showed time and time again he has the ability to break tackles and get yards after contact. Which is EXACTLY what you need and want in the red zone.

A great way to put it Charles. Also... I want to note that Irving only had 17 more carries than Whittington on the year. So it's not like he got the ball that much more than Whittington on the whole for the season but he was far more productive with the ball in his hands. Which also makes those goal line battles all the more frustrating to have Irving on the sideline when he is our most productive back. I get going for the power play with James but we also used Whittington in some of those goal line situations or went with an empty set with just Nix. Why not more Irving?

I don't think the conference was going to sit at 10 teams no matter what. I think San Diego State was always in line for addition, and I say this even if the LA schools didn't defect. It might have been slower but in the end I think SDSU joining the Pac is something that is inevitable. SDSU will add value to the conference over time. SMU, Colorado State, Utah State, Boise State, Fresno State, UNLV, and Nevada though... those are all schools that are far more difficult to determine their value to the conference.