David Marsh

We're seeing it happen! Building Lanning's Defense: The Linebackers FISHDUCK.COM Dan Lanning's defense this season did not live up to his standard, and it wasn't even close. Oregon's defense couldn't get off the... Need to get linebackers that fit what Lanning needs.

Garrett has been apart of a team that has won more cfp games that Lincoln. So there's that.

I agree! It's Time to Kill the Early Signing Period FISHDUCK.COM This year it has become abundantly clear just how broken the College Football post-season is. Between the coaching carousel... December Is Too Busy and Bowl Season Suffers FISHDUCK.COM College Football has changed so much in the past decade. In the early 2010s, the value of bowl games was clear for teams and...

I feel this year hasn't been good for him and I'm not sure how well he fits Lanning's scheme. Again, Lanning wants Linebackers who can do EVERYTHING and Sewell doesn't feel like he quite meets that standard. I've also read a few places that Sewell really wasn't playing 100% for the majority of this year. Previous years he led the Ducks in tackles. So I don't know what to make of it all.

Could also be a new analyst for the defense. But if he is hired as a full assistant coach, it is a risky hire but I'm not saying it wouldn't pay off but certainly risky.

Once players are in the portal recruiting and NIL practices are fair game and the problem with tampering is related to the transfer portal only in that it enables players to move easily. The problem with tampering is when coaches contact players from other schools looking to recruit them, this is and has been against NCAA rules as players can only be contacted (at least directly) by coaches from other programs once they are in the transfer portal. This is actively recruiting players on other teams and even bribing them with NIL offers, coaches directly talking about NIL is also technically a violation as anyone employed by a university is not supposed to coordinate NIL but every coach is doing it to some extent. So what we have here with tampering is really an issue of players who are not in the Transfer Portal who are being contacted by coaches from other programs (violation 1) and are being given an offer of money through NIL (violation 2) to leave their program and join another program (violation 3). If it was just contacting players who entered the transfer portal there wouldn't be a problem. Tampering has also done more of an end-around coaches directly as it has often gone through a player's former high school coaches or non-direct family members saying "hey there is an opportunity for you at X-program if you jump in the transfer portal" but what we are seeing now is brazen coaches recruiting players from other schools.

Trying to find a field general is going to be tough and I'm not even sure who is on the team right now who is going to step into that role. Usually a player like that steps onto the field and just takes that role without being asked. Maybe we see someone step up by spring.

Building some coaching consistency is going to be a big deal for Lanning to do over time. Right now he is only looking at two coaches leaving and two new hires as coaches which is a decent start. I think Lanning will have Stein for a few years before he goes off to pursue a head coaching job. As for Lupoi, it is difficult to say how long Lanning will hold onto him for, he doesn't strike me as a guy who has head coaching aspirations because if that was his goal I'm sure he could have gotten a head coaching job somewhere by now. But the new defensive coach coming in for Powledge is someone that it would be nice for Lanning to hold onto for a few years. During the Cristobal era there was too much turnover from year to year. Someone like Saban can get away with it because he is a veteran head coach and also perhaps the best college football coach of all time, he has a concrete vision of what he wants out of his teams and he knows how to hire the people to enable that vision. Cristobal, not so much on any of those fronts and it showed over time. Lanning needs to build some coaching consistency because with bringing in the talent that they are so far they can't afford for that talent to get wasted and the other big thing is to only expect a good portion of that talent to only want to stick around for three years before they go to the NFL. So there will be a constant churn of players (especially with the transfer portal) and it would be easier to ensure their productivity if the team has coaching consistency from year to year.

There may be a bit of a learning curve as there always is with freshman but the big thing here is that Lanning knows what he needs on his defense, more linemen. He typically runs a 4-2-5 for his defense which is why we have seen a linebacker purge this off season with the transfer portal. Looking forward to this scary batch of linemen.

The number of official visits if going up to around 75 next year. The number of official visits so far is in the 50s. This is how from about ten years ago where the number was 36 I believe.

"►The Board also overseeing the exploration of eliminating sport-by-sport scholarship limits “to focus on the number of student-athletes participating” in team activities each season." That is one of the more interesting things that is being proposed. I haven't got a clue what this is going to look like but is this potentially a back door for coaches to push players off the team by not letting them participate in team activities? But this is what I intend on keeping an eye on because it will effect how the transfer portal works.

Same thing we had with Cristobal until he finally left. Granted that wasn't to the NFL but basically the same thing.

I'm sure they're coming... Harbaugh is older and a more proven entity. Jimmy did make the super bowl once... Couldn't seal the deal and win it but he made it. I wouldn't be at all surprised if his end goal is an NFL return in the end. No recruiting to deal with which is where the vast majority of the work is at at the college level.

Prowledge was co DC and safeties. Lorig is special teams and to be blunt we need to judge him more on next year's performance than this year's. Under Cristobal special teams were neglected and it will take more than a season to fix. Special teams need a lot of work still but they should be getting some added love and improvement over time. Under Cristobal kicking was awful... Kick off was underwhelming... Punting was actually ok with Tom Snee. Returning was hit or miss with Mykael Write we had a few good returns but overall it was non-existent. Then pint return there generally wasn't much there either. It's being prioritized now under Lanning but they are certainly not there yet. And I do think some of the return coverage problems will take some time to figure out along with an improving defense.

The Targeting Rule is Not About Player Safety FISHDUCK.COM The NCAA recently announced changes to the targeting rule. These changes are not yet in effect, but... My thoughts on the matter and with a potential solution. The targeting rule is about the NCAA trying to look like they care about player safety while not actually doing much about it. Sre the targeting rule has changed the way players tackle and that's good for their health but it's a rule that is out of date with the problem.

But like Bo, Hendon broke the big rule about the Heisman... You can't get injured. But let's get real here if you play 10-11 games in a season and get injured and have to sit out and you are that outstanding of a player you should be considered. I mean Nix's game against Utah wasn't flashy but it was super gritty and showed why he was worthy of consideration ... Or at least should be worthy.

I agree in that Duggan probably should have won the Heisman. But he didn't have what Williams had... a two year Heisman campaign. Williams went into this season as a favorite to win the Heisman. USC is "back" and with all the hype around USC, Lincoln Riley and Caleb Williams, he was bound to get an invite to NYC at least. Then Williams put together a good season, I won't deny that, he had great numbers. And that was enough for USC and the heavy LA media market needed. If Williams and Riley stayed at Oklahoma he probably would have won it there as well. The hype train was all Williams this year and even a couple losses weren't going to start it. I think Stetson Bennett was also worthy of a strong Heisman look as well. He isn't flashy but he gets the job done for his team.

In a weird way I do think Cristobal helped prepare Herbert for the NFL. He was not developed to his full potential and did not get anywhere close to his ceiling at Oregon but oddly enough I think he was prepared for the NFL because he had to learn to play to his highest ability in an offense that didn't give him all the tools he needed. Whether that was scheme or receivers or play calling, Herbert had to make it work. He also had to learn three different systems in four years... Helfrich, Taggart and the Cristobal offenses. Fast forward through Herbert's NFL career and you have him in at least two different systems. In his first year he was playing for a head coach who didn't let him play to his full potential. But Herbert still won offensive rookie of the year. Just a random side note.

No one likes the Alamo Bowl... or at least Oregon fans. We shouldn't speak it's name!

We have an incredible defensive line class so far. I think if we can land Harbor by selling offense that's fine... Because there is always a chance you can sell him in defense later as well... If he is capable maybe a little bit of a two way player. I trust Lanning on this, he hasn't given me too many reasons not to trust him to date, so let's see what he can do.

That's failure to develop... Star ratings are really just a rating of athletic potential. There is a colation between star ratings and those players reaching the NFL. Five stars are far far more likely to make the NFL than a three star but not a guarantee. Cristobal failed to develop the vast majority of the talent brought in. I mean it took up to this point for Mase Funa a four star to really show his potential. I also think that is a huge reason why he has decided to come back for one more year. And the sad fact of the matter is that the teams with the most five stars are the ones who actually win national championships. Yes TCU has made the playoff... In a weak big-12 and with a whole lot of luck and they still didn't win their conference. Oregon is the only team to reach the national title game in the last 20-ish years that didn't have a favorable blue chip ratio where the roster is mostly composed of four and five stars. And Oregon didn't have the bodies to hang with Ohio State... Auburn was a different story.

I do think Brown and Bassa are looking to take those middle linebacker spots next year. Granted Justin Jacobs will be interesting to see where he fits in. He is taller and bigger so does he play one of those edge positions that still need to go into coverage from time to time? But I do feel like we saw the best overall performance from our linebackers this year during the game. Far from perfect but linebacker has been a liability all year.

I just wish we had Chase for more than one year. Granted I don't think he would have been too happy in the Cristobal offense but we also didn't have any receivers for years it felt like... Also in part due to the Cristobal offense. But still ... It did feel like a very fitting moment for the Cota family with the game winning touchdown. Maybe we'll see another C. Cota in 20-30 years.

Oregon has a facemasking penalty. But otherwise a pretty clean game.

That field at the holiday bowl was deteriorating fast. If you just look at the uniforms over the course of the game they were real muddy by the end. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some added slickness to it.