David Marsh

Also the ducks went back to the run game which has helped now. The trend can be that if Oregon gets too pass happy we start to hurt ourselves. Need to keep that run game going.

I think James would have gotten a touchdown on that run too if he had the ball in his hands instead of Nix. A touchdown is touchdown so it's all good.

Nix had more TD passes than incompletions last week. So yeah... No drops... At least nothing dramatic.

That ball was in hutson's hands...

Wow this offense is so out of sync today. Really hard to watch so far..

Cristobal on years one and two I felt was quite open in his media interviews and then they got real cagey. Lanning is personable but he doesn't give any details about ... Anything really. As for the local media... I feel that Adem Grief and Tyson Alger did a great job with their content. But they have both long since moved on. Oregon live sits behind a paywall and frankly it isn't worth paying. It's not that good. DuckTerritory is ok... But their forum is awful and I don't feel they really give that much insider content these days. So I don't think I'll be renewing. Also they have plenty of free content. ScoopDuck is better I feel mostly because there are more sub only stories and they do a lot better job I feel in being consistent in their inside info posts. Granted... Most inside info these days is just recruiting news. Their sources inside the program give them info on recruiting but at the same time there is basically an agreement they won't release info that they want to keep private. It's the arrangement for us to get anything. Scoopducks forum is a bit better ... But not much to be blunt. If you want thoughtful stories it's Canzono's new site which I think is pretty good and feels more free and organic than his Oregon live stuff. But some people can't stand canzono, I don't always agree with him but I usually find him interesting. Then there is fishduck which I'll be honest I have aajor personal bias about... But if you look at any of those previously named forums we are the sourge of the earth and only slightly better than Canzono. Those forums don't want any opinions other than that of the majority. But there aren't too many options right now. Most sites aee news sites and only report what happened and don't actually analyze it.

Good article... but you can tell he is not from the west coast because he refers to Oregon as "OU" and no "UO"... OU is Oklahoma! Thanks for the link it was an enjoyable read. I think if Cristobal was having a fantastic season at Miami with strong quarterback play we'd be a bit salty and annoyed as well. However, Cristobal is having an awful season which brings us joy as we are having an amazing season so far.

I think when Wilcox was offered the job it came with a LOT of strings attached. Probably something like veto power over any of his desired coaching hires and he would have to fit the mold as to what Mullens and Knight wanted Oregon to look like. I get the feeling that Wilcox was told upfront as a part of a potential hiring that he would have limited control and have a short leash at Oregon. Wilcox has done an ok job at Cal. Cal does not have the resources required to be a strong football program. They were absolutely hammered by health regulations in 2020 and 2021 where they dropped a game to Arizona last year because they couldn't fully practice due to an outbreak and quarantine protocols in Berkeley. I feel he may get his team back on the trajectory he had them on in 2019 which as a steady up-ward trajectory. For some reason though Wilcox can't seem to find offense at Cal. He had Beau Baldwin (former Eastern Washington Coach and now Cal Poly) and he had a brilliant offense at EWU but it never materialized at Cal. I suspect Wilcox was getting in the way of his OC much like Cristobal.

It really only happened once... but the "War of the Roses" was everything that is great with inner-state rivalries. The winner gets the biggest prize, the Rose Bowl. That was a high stakes game and the reward felt just as epic.

Texas A&M is a dumpster fire right now. Players are not buying into the culture Jimbo Fisher is selling, probably for multiple reasons. But I do feel NIL is probably one of them. Many are planning on jumping into the transfer portal at the end of the season by the sound of it.

The top recruits in the country tend to want access to the playoff. Now the playoff is going to expand which will give more teams access but that is still only access for the best teams in the country. Simply put a dominant team from the Pac-10/12 is going to have more access to the playoff than a team that comes in at 3rd or 4th in the B1G or SEC. If you have been following my power rankings on the FishDuck Forum you will see a trend in the Pac-12 right now. The bottom of the conference is very bad while the middle to top of the conference is pretty respectable with Oregon sitting at the top looking like the most dominant team. Getting to the playoff is going to be easier for the Ducks and it may get even easier in the short run when the LA schools leave the conference... granted because of the stupid Pac-12 scheduling requiring all California schools playing each other every year that means Oregon is left only playing and embarrassing one LA school a year. I actually feel this part of the expansion has played a major role in hurting the Pac-12's reputation over time because the games that bring in the most National attention are always the Ducks v LA Schools... or some other blue blood. So only having one of those games a year has hurt all three programs in reality.

We play them next year and I believe they get to come to Autzen.

I think if we are looking at an expanded playoff then we may have to look at changing the whole season. Reduce the regular season games from 12 to maybe 10? Add in some interesting end of season match ups. The problem with my proposal is that players just might opt out earlier. Granted we are getting to the point with opt outs that it feels more and more like a why bother playing at all once you've been declared a sure thing at the next level but we can leave that conversation for another time.

He did have some nice pressures and I think his controlled pressure was great. He didn't give DTR any other option but to lob it up. Well I guess the other option was to throw it out of bounds.

Just for fun here are ScoopDuck's Power rankings for this week. Week Eight: Pac-12 Power Rankings - On3 WWW.ON3.COM A new 'progrum' is atop the ScoopDuck Pac-12 power rankings this week. Dan Lanning's big win vaults the Ducks ahead of the Bruins. They look strangely familiar...as they are the exact same as mine. But I did publish mine first so that means something right?

Oregon is a place where Lanning can really make a name for himself and do something special. Oregon wants a National Championship in football as we don't have one so he could be the first to bring it to Oregon and create a dynasty at Oregon. He goes to Alabama (when Saban retires) or any SEC school really he is just another coach who needs to fulfill the promise of a National Championship. At Oregon he can fulfill the DREAM of a National Championship. Also at Oregon he gets to build his program the way he wants to build it for the long run. Jumping ship means he has to start that process all over. Its a major draw to those who want the stability but isn't for those looking for the next job. It's also a lot more difficult to create sustained success rather than running when things start to go bad and starting over somewhere else. There are two reasons why Saban will never leave Bama... the money is incredible and he has built a program that is completely his and going somewhere else is starting over. For Oregon to hold onto Lanning it will be making sure he is paid well and getting him to buy into his program to the extent that moving doesn't look desirable.

I've been saying it for years... but the Pac-12 is the most COMPETITIVE conference... not the best just the most competitive where anything can happen in any week. Well almost anything... I don't think Cal or Colorado are any good and I think the next two weeks Oregon should just roll over them and give some back-ups some reps.

I think they are asked to do more than they did under Cristobal... also lets get real here they didn't do a terribly good job covering under Cristobal either. We have had a soft underbelly for years now and this is what Lanning inherited from both Avalos and DeRuyter and most importantly Cristobal. Flowe is a wrecking ball but in truth he just sort of runs wild and can make plays but doesn't seem to understand what he is doing just yet. The Lanning defense uses linebackers differently than these linebackers were originally recruited for and they are still learning. They need to learn faster than they are right now because this is probably the weakest unit on defense. I say this because the secondary started as the weakest but the secondary has really grown and is doing a much better job now. DTR threw the ball away multiple times last Saturday because everyone was covered and he couldn't get away from the pass rush anymore. This defense is close to putting it all together... and once it does it is going to be terrifying. But until that point there are too many weaknesses and gaps between the pieces.

Also... the argument of punishing just USC and Texas doesn't make too much sense. UCLA and Oklahoma are also leaving and are they not being punished by refs? Oregon v UCLA actually had one of the best reffed Pac-12 games this season. The refs made good calls for the most part and didn't throw really any flags that made me yell at the TV because they were obnoxious or questionable. They let the players play for the most part. I feel they may have missed a few calls but nothing too egregious.

I'm not buying the USC side of the argument... USC has gotten away with a ton of penalties in other games. They get away with their linemen holding all the time. Now... USC is definitely getting punish next year in terms of scheduling. USC is supposed to travel to Autzen in 2023. Now there is an argument that could go either way... one argument is that they didn't travel to Autzen in 2020 like they were scheduled to so it is their turn to travel in this match-up. However, the 2020 scheduling was supposed to just keep the home-away games as scheduled to the best of their ability and scheduling would continue "like normal" the following year. Basically, Oregon played at Washington in 2019, in 2020 Washington was supposed to come to Oregon but couldn't because they couldn't field a team, then in 2021 we traveled to Washington like we were originally planned to anyways. What happened in 2020 is that UCLA traveled to Autzen in USC's place due to scheduling complications. In short... under "normal" circumstances we should be traveling to USC in 2023 but I have heard USC gets to come to Autzen to get yelled at and beaten up by our Ducks in their last season in the Pac-12. That seems like punishment to me.

The Runningback rotation has really settled down to three at this point. Bucky Irving, Noah Wittington and Jordan James .... Dollars gets a few snaps a game but really not much.

So this week there were a lot of teams out for a bye week and really we can confirm things we have been seeing on the field. This conference feels really split this year between a strong top and a really bad bottom. 12. Colorado (1-6) - Colorado may have their next head coach in Mike Sanford as they are playing with a lot of heart right now. But they are still bad and are going to need a good recruiting class and a solid off-season to rebuild. Are they they worst team in the Conference? Well we get to find out that question this week when they play Arizona State. 11. Arizona State (2-5) - Arizona State lost to a Stanford team that didn't score a touchdown. Let that set in for a moment, Stanford beat them by kicking five field goals. They came within inches of winning that game but couldn't do it. This team is like Colorado, they are a fighter but they will need an off-season to rebuild. 10. Cal (3-4) - Cal is bad... real bad. Cal lost to Washington in their own house and Washington is a team that doesn't travel well. It was an awful game to watch, as Washington doesn't have a defense and Cal doesn't have an offense. Also Cal's stadium was so quiet that you could easily sit and read a book without being distracted. The most problematic problem about Cal right now is that they are not improving from week to week. 9. Stanford (3-4) - Stanford just got their first conference win in the last ten games and they didn't score a touchdown. This team is still not good and in truth the bottom four of this conference are all looking awful right now. Stanford gets the top spot in this bottom four only because they are actually improving. 8. Arizona (3-4) - Arizona was on a bye week so not much to say about them. They have been improving and it will be interesting to see how they do coming out of their bye week. They do get USC next week so it will be interesting to see how well they do, I do expect USC to put quite a few points on them. 7. Washington (6-2) - Now we reach the solid middle of the conference. Washington is an ok team. They are all offense and little defense and as they beat Arizona they should be ranked higher. But isn't if funny that Washington went from a team with all defense and no offense under Jimmy Lake and now they are just the opposite. 6. Washington State (4-3) - Washington State has lost three games so it feels a little weird that they are ranked above Washington. They are ranked higher simply because they have a solid offense, like Washington, but they have a more aggressive defense that may be the difference maker when those two teams play against each other. 5. Oregon State (6-2) - Oregon State is going bowling for the second year in a row as they dismantled and embarrassed Colorado at home. The Beavers probably have the best defense in the conference at this point and they have a solid rushing attack. But their quarterback play is still problematic even though they seem to have that position settled for the time being. It would be great to see the Beavers get themselves ranked by the time they play Oregon but that feels unlikely. 4. USC (6-1) - USC was on a bye week so I'm not moving them. They have incredible skill positions and a very good quarterback but they are still weak on the lines and that will probably be their downfall against UCLA. Does this USC team deserve to be moved up? Probably, but that is more dependent on Utah right now than anything else. 3. Utah (5-2) - Utah beat USC and was on a bye week this last week so I'm not moving them from their previous spot. This is not the same Utah team that owned the conference last year but this is still a good football team. 2. UCLA (6-1) - UCLA is still a very good team and right now I feel they will probably grab the second spot for the Pac-12 Championship game. They have a far better defense than USC which will be key in their shootout with USC. 1. Oregon (6-1) - Oregon is the most dominant team in the conference. This offense cannot be stopped or even slowed as they have scored more than 40 points in the past six games and that won't be slowing down this week when they head to Cal. Beating UCLA was a big big win and a much needed win for Oregon's reputation and even the Pac-12's reputation. Oregon will probably be the first team to lock in a spot to the Pac-12 Championship game.

I heard that Iowa basically dumped their entire NIL budget on him. Granted, it's not Iowa per se but rather their boosters. If Oregon can offer something reasonable or reasonably close I could see a flip happening.

If they played this Saturday I would say Georgia has the edge, our defense still has a long way to come but I do think it would become a shootout type of game. Oregon did move the ball rather well against Georgia but we couldn't finish drives. Georgia would probably win because they'd get one or two more stops on our offense and our defense, but it wouldn't look anywhere near as lopsided as it was to start the year.

I know I don't personally watch on a regular basis because I am a Pac-12 person and I have more of a west coast bias and interest. I get tired of hearing about the SEC and B1G.