David Marsh

The Oregon kicking curse continues.

This game is going to be a rock fight at this rate.

I'm not sure how good Ohio State's offense is right now.

Oregon State v Houston. Does the Beaver nightmare come true and they start the season 0-5? We'll find out soon!

Charles I love this graphic. Franklin looks angry. But Lanning's smile.makes him look like the one you Don't want to cross. Hoping to see some mafan Dan this weekend!

Bodes well for us against Penn State. Hoping we come out as No. 1.

I disagree, because Penn State never had an answer for Tez and Sadiq to a lesser extent in his breakout game. They took some risks on some plays because they felt pressure to score and because of those two takeaways which were absolutely the QB's decisions to make the Ducks out Penn State into a position they were forced to play by Oregon's rules. Match them score for score. Our run defense sucked... But we also did a pretty good job at times forcing field goals that game. Penn State went for 2 after a TD to try and get a point back from missing out on a TD and the Ducks stopped it I recall. This game is going to come down to who forces the other team to play their game. If it becomes a Penn State burning clock rock fight the Ducks will probably lose something like 27-24. But if Oregon gets some tempo and turns it into a Duck football game. The advantage goes to the Ducks as I'm not sure that offense from Penn State can keep up.

Absolutely. Teams go vanilla to now show any wrinkles they don't want to put on film, to a degree after all there is LOTS of tape out there for what most coaches have done in past seasons. In the case of Penn State they have their starting QB and RBs and a good chunk of their offensive line. I'd expect them to run most of the same stuff they did last year, minus the wrinkles for Tyler Warren. So the notion they're playing badly so false. If they were playing well they'd blow the doors off their competition earlier and faster and put out the second and third string and they'd keep running the score up. It's what Oregon did to Montana State and Oklahoma this year. We executed at a high level with caring degrees of interesting offense and then threw in the subs and they went to work.

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.