David Marsh

Aliotti determined that he needed a defense that had the endurance because it would have to play a lot of snaps against a fresh opposing offense that could control the clock. The other major point of bend but don't break is to not let anything go over the top of it. High powered offenses can win shoot outs but trying to limit the opponents ability to keep up is better. Ideally... Yes... Having a wrecking ball of a defense that just forces constant three and outs would be best.... But that also requires a lot more high level defensive lineman. Oregon, and many other schools, can get the athletes for the high powered offense but not the ones for a power defense. So bend but don't break was born in the modern era out of need to fix a problem. Also... Gotta burn clock some way and if you look at the Kelly Helfrich offenses they needed the tempo to make up for the agile but smaller linemen they had. Bend but don't break did at least burn a lot of clock and when done well limited the opponents points. But the end of the game the opponent was making lots of mistakes out of sheet desperation and the score board. Bend but don't break didn't give them any easy scores... They were going to have to drive the field and hurt themselves while burning the clock they desperately needed.

White... We should never let them wear purple in our house!

I'm cool with this look. Wish it had some green but I'm ok with the bright yellow. Better than last week's uniforms.

Especially in the day and age where you need to consistently post 40 points per game to win.

The personnel that Lanning wants, or seems to want, are some big time Defensive linemen who can rush four and dominate the pass rush. We really don't have that at this time but we aren't bad either. Then to have some linebackers who are flexible and can move between pass coverage and run defense seamlessly. Oregon's linebackers currently don't seem to be able to do this consistently. I do feel the secondary coverage has improved drastically over the course of the year. I don't feel the secondary is the biggest weakness at this point. Need some more pass rush to get some more pressure on the qb to make more mistakes though, that is what is really hurting us right now more than anything.

Neither of those teams are good this year. Now, record alone doesn't really play a role in recruiting but it is telling. Maybe he isn't feeling confident that either of those teams will get him to the playoff and if that is a goal of his then Oregon may become a bigger destination.

I fully expect Lanning and Klemm to dive into the transfer portal to get an offensive linemen or two as well. There will certainly be talent in the portal Oregon can get that will be better than what they have in reserve right now.

So I'm pretty late putting this together this week. It's been a crazy week on my end so this is really the first time I have had the chance to actually put this together. At this point the Pac-12 is really broken down into three distinct sections and I'm going to do a top-down order this time rather than a bottom-up. There are also three distinct tiers of teams in the conference at this point and there probably won't be any real movement of teams between these tiers. Top Tier 1. Oregon (8-1) - Oregon is just doing what they need to do, win. Bo Nix should be getting an invite to New York for the Heisman even if he may not actually win it. This Oregon team is the best the Pac-12 has to offer right now and now the Ducks get ready to enter the final stretch of their schedule where they will face at least 3 ranked teams, and possibly 4. We will have to see if the Beavers can sneak back into the rankings. 2. UCLA (8-1) - The Bruins are still the No. 2 team in the Pac, even if the polls have USC ahead of them. The big difference is that UCLA beat up Utah and USC lost to Utah. That alone is why UCLA should be ahead of USC. 3. Utah (7-2) - Utah is not out of the Pac-12 race at this point though it feels like they have been written off at this point. This is mostly because everyone is expecting Oregon to get revenge on them in a couple weeks. If Oregon knocks out Utah then Oregon and safely write their ticket to Vegas. It also feels safe to have Utah at No. 3 because it appears that Cam Rising is back at starting quarterback. 4. USC (8-1) - USC is a hype machine this year more than ever. They are ranked inside the top 10, again, and yet they have only played one ranked opponent to date and that resulted in their only loss. With that said USC is still a good and dangerous team. However, their defense is suspect as they gave up 35 points to Cal, a team woefully lacking an offense this year and those Cal points were not garbage time points, Cal was in this game but couldn't quite put together an upset. The Middle Tier 5. Washington (7-2) - In all honesty you could rank these three teams in any order you want and it would be acceptable. These teams all feel equal and it all just comes down to who has home field advantage and a little luck. Washington has a good offense but their defense is woefully lacking. I think we are all looking forward to the Ducks demolishing the Huskies this Saturday and also the Huskies don't have a good track record of traveling the past few seasons. 6. Oregon State (6-3) - The quarterback position comes back to haunt Oregon State. They should have beat Washington last Saturday but sub-par quarterback play meant they couldn't put the game away. Their defense is probably the best in the Pac but they still need to score points. 7. Washington State (5-4) - WSU beat a bad Stanford team and look like they are finding their early season fire power again. Washington State sits in the middle of the Pac at this point along with Washington and Oregon State and it feels about right. The Bottom Tier 8. Arizona (3-6) - Status quo here, Arizona has some of the least amount of talent in the conference but their offense is deadly. They just lack the defense to actually win games, but this place in the rankings is tenuous for Arizona as they will need to beat Arizona State to really hold onto it. Granted this is the top of the bottom tier of the conference so it's not saying much. 9. Cal (3-6) - Is Cal finding some offense towards the end of the year? Well maybe a little but they still aren't that good but they did push USC to the end of the game losing in the Colisium by only six points. It is difficult to say how good Cal will be next year but at this point it feels safe to say that Cal isn't making a bowl game this year with games against Oregon State and UCLA still remaining on the schedule. Even their match-up against Stanford isn't a guaranteed win at this point. 10. Arizona State (3-6) - What to actually make of this ASU team is difficult. They aren't good, that's clear but they aren't devoid of talent either. They put up a strong fight against UCLA, though it never looked like they were going to upset the Bruins, and earlier in the year they hung close with USC until the fourth quarter. This team has talent and needs some strong coaching and some stability to get them back on track. However, they are really going to be a rebuild and take several years to get back to being a competitive football team, but for now it is clear they aren't the worst team in the Pac-12. 11. Stanford (3-6) - How did this team beat a Notre Dame team that just defeated an undefeated Clemson team? Well, that's college football. Stanford just can't seem to put it all together and probably wont this year and maybe not next year. They are, however, better than Colorado even though they won't play Colorado this year. 12. Colorado (1-8) - No surprises here.

Oregon seems to be creeping up on that chart. Keep in mind that it started out very very bad for the year. I would be interested to see what we rank minus the Georgia game where we only had one 3rd down that resulted in a stop but Georgia also didn't have many big time explosion plays as all of their TDs required them to drive the field. Oregon's 3rd down offense is also an inbuilt systemic problem that is a carry over from the previous administration. Cristobal's teams did a very bad job getting off the field on 3rd down in both the 2020 and 2021 seasons under two different DCs! Getting 3rd down under control is going to be a long term project. The good news is that Oregon is making progress but they have a long way to go still. Colorado converted too many 3rd downs when they shouldn't have been able to move the ball that well.

That's a great example of Millner proving he belongs on the field. He has the ability and is showing out in the limited reps he had. Did he learn a few things during these garbage time reps? Yes, absolutely but those reps were more than anything else about him proving his ability.

I guess he was a runner? It sure looked like a sack to me...

A lot of that young talent is seeing the field in meaningful game reps not just the end of the game. So they are getting and earning their reps. Those garbage time minutes are really a reward for those who have worked hard or are "prove it" minutes where those players aren't learning so much but proving they belong on the field. So the narrative around those minutes are about learning is really an old one that doesn't hold true. Simply put... if you can't see the field as a player during meaningful snaps you are either very young and still developing... or you'll probably never see the field during meaningful snaps because the coaching staff will go to the transfer portal to find someone to fill that spot right away next season. There are opportunities for growth and the true freshman are certainly not doomed but the way the roster and game is being managed is all about getting results now.

Also shows he does read all the same stuff we're reading.

That's a hell of a response. I do think even if Auburn were tempting to Lanning I don't think his family would buy into it. He's here long enough to give his kids a normal routine and allow them to be kids and not kids that are constantly moving.

Bo has an advantage over many other pac-12 qbs who deserved the recognition. He's from SEC country! That and his story of a comeback hero at Oregon is too good for many to pass up. I'm not saying he's going to win it... But I'd say he has the best chance since Mariota that's for sure. Not just for Oregon but the entire pac-12.

I want to say he has had a few reps.

I doubt Kiffin would want the Auburn job... Auburn is in way worse of a place than Ole Miss and Ole Miss is his program at this point. Why leave a program that is on the accent for him for a program that is a complete mess? Well... money is a reason... but I'm sure Ole Miss will be competitive to hold onto him.

Adding SDSU isn't a big risk at all for the Pac-12. Nov 17th is when the UC regents meet to discuss UCLA's future but regardless of that outcome USC is gone and there will be at least one spot to fill. Might as well add SDSU and lock them in now. If the Pac-12 can hold onto UCLA, then I would say the conference is in a pretty safe position. USC will get to go to the B1G and probably find themselves losing a lot of games due to travel fatigue, in all sports.

I think they could score more on us than they did on the Beavs, I think the Beavs have the best overall defense in the Pac-12 this year. They don't have the offense to match which is why they aren't even in the running for the conference championship. A big portion of UW's passing game is deep shots. Oregon gave up a touchdown to Colorado because of a miscommunication that shouldn't happen this week. But you are right the key will be getting pressure on Penix which Oregon hasn't done a great job of on the whole this year. We should have DJ Johnson (or at least I hope so!) back this week and that would be a big boost for us on the pass rushing front.

Problem is that 2/3 of the Pac-12's top ten teams right now are going to the B1G in a couple years.

Ball control is going to be real important here. So Oregon will want to run the ball, burn the clock and score at the end of sustained drives. Washington's offense is potent but the problem with all pass happy offenses is that they can go quick when it comes to time of possession. Quick if they score and quick if they go three-and-out. Keep Penix on the sideline and bully that Washington defense. With fewer possessions Washington may get a bit desperate and make some mistakes and that is where Oregon needs to take advantage. It's a very simple game plan... far more difficult to execute. Thankfully... Washington isn't a team that travels all too well.

Auburn is a rebuild at this point. And though we love to make fun of Cristobal, the fact of the matter is that he can recruit and he built the backbone of this roster. Yes, Lanning absolutely dived into the transfer portal and got some key players, Bo Nix being one, and did a solid job finishing off the last recruiting class. But players like Franklin and the enjtr offensive line and DJ Johnson were all Cristobal recruits and are central to this team. Auburn doesn't have a roster that would allow Lanning to walk in and get successful outcome year one. He is successful at Oregon because so far he has shown he is a fantastic coach but he also had a solid foundation of talent to build from that was being underutilized. Will Lanning flee after a year and risk being the next Willie Taggart? I doubt it... And we all know Lanning is getting a pay raise after this season. Mullens and Knights aren't going to let him go so easily.

Yeah... Can't watch the ONLY NFL game I was interested in this year. Oh well... Maybe some highlights later.

Michigan and OSU will play at the end of the year which will probably eliminate one of them for us. TCU has been lucky the past few weeks... So hopefully that doesn't last. But I think we are looking at 2 SEC teams in the playoff right now plus one B1G team. If we can win out there won't be much room. Thankfully we have some ranked opponents to smash. Washington is ranked again in the AP poll. We'll have to see if they are reranked by the committee.

Granted I do feel we felt the loss of Johnson as a pass rusher and Taki is still out. It makes sense to sit so many guys to get them some extra rest.