oregon123

I don't see any of those on the list becoming great players at Oregon. Justius Lowe and Blake Purchase have made some plays. But even those guys are not good enough to start for Ohio St, Georgia, Texas, etc. Oregon is growing and growing means the pretty good are no longer good enough. The standard is rising. Lanning might be planning on playing a lot of the incoming true freshmen. Hill, Davison, Dak Moore, Finny broke the mold - talent trumps experience. In years past, a lot on that list would have broken through with some time and won a starting job or got on the field quite a bit. Blake Purchase did that. But with what is coming in, it is harder for those kind of players to ascend at Oregon.

Remember when Masoli was something like a no star guy and beat everyone out for the starting job? Masoli had a strong fighter vibe. Beaver does not come across with that kind of confidence. Beaver should have thought it out before joining the Ducks. If he wasn't going to come to practice for a season and compete on the practice field, he should have committed elsewhere. Oregon has turned into a top 5 kind of program recently. They were there for a while under Chip Kelly and now they are back to that level. Oregon should be getting 5 star QBs to play for them. They just recently got three of them through the portal.

https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/football/2026/01/14/oregon-football-portal-targets-update-2026/88161363007/ Some names to keep an eye on.

My biggest disappointment was not seeing Luke Moga get on the field and run like Dennis Dixon. Not as a starter, but as a backup in package situations.

First order of the Day: What is the value of a conf championship game? In the case of Ohio St vs Indiana - it was huge, since they didn't play each other in the regular season. Same with Oregon vs Penn St last season. Second: How to keep the conf championships and still do the playoffs the right way? I would say to have 'wild card' games at about the same time. Would the losers of conf championship games be knocked out of playoffs? That would provide some real value. What about a duel bracket? Teams that play for conf championships and then the wild cards You would have the power 4 - 8 team bracket going down to 1 team, while playing a 8 team wildcard bracket, and then the winner of the two brackets play each other. Or put them together at the final 4. AND NO STINKING GROUP OF 5 AUTO QUALIFIERS. If they are good enough, they can get chosen.

This is big news. I don't know who or how many Indiana is losing. Oregon could be the top contender in the Big 10 just based on defections. Biggest NFL defectors for Oregon are the receivers and Dillon - and they can be replaced. The biggest news is that Oregon is bringing back its entire starting D line. Each one will tweak their weakness in order to get better. Nobody really reloads anymore like Alabama and Ohio St used to do it. The portal thins out depth. I think Ohio St will take a drop in talent next season.

I don't buy into the 'we beat expectations' argument. This team has an abundance of talent, yet still a few weak spots. The program is NOT in the gutter. It is fair to say that the Ducks under performed in the biggest game of the year, twice in a row. It is also fair to say that Oregon lately has been getting closer and closer to being a 'complete' team, but not quite there yet. So how does Oregon get and keep elite talent at all 22 starting spots? Players come and go. Many of the transfers only play for one season. Developing players that should step in one day are jumping into the portal. Great players are leaving early for the pros. Lanning had to prep for Indiana while both his coordinators were doing other jobs. He had to recruit the portal at the same time that most every other team was done playing for the season. And he had to recruit the portal not knowing what players would return. Even if someone wanted to... it is still way too early to question the state of the program. Currently, college football is hard for any program to get it all figured out. Getting blown out deep in the playoffs is a function of the other team knowing your weaknesses and how to exploit them. Dan Lanning is a smart guy. He is bringing in an abundance talent like no other coach has. Chip and Mario have brought in some top players, but Dan is bringing in more. But there is still work to be done. We just have to be patient. According to my train of thought, Lanning is still learning what kinds of players he needs to get to the top and what kind of players he can sign. I don't want to mention names, but some players have not delivered and others are inconsistent. The 'program' doesn't have a crystal ball. As long as we keep seeing progress, the program is on an upward trajectory. We just saw this season what kind of improvements could be made to the secondary and how a unit of receivers came together even with injuries. I think he can do this kind of magic on the other position groups, but it won't be automatic and it won't happen all at once. I'll give a few 'what ifs'. What if the linebackers were a little bit faster? What if the O line was a little bit more athletic, quicker and more nimble? What if Dante was a better scrambler? What if the team had fewer key injuries? What if the edge players could get to the QB faster? These are things for the program to work on. Not reasons to throw in the towel and quit being positive. How much do you want to bet that most if not all of these issues will be worked out come fall?

I thought that was going to happen THIS season. Lets hope they stick around and don't jump ship.

There are a few categories of transfers, so it seems. The star players on lesser teams who want a bigger stage. You don't know how they will do vs better competition. The highly rated HS players on top teams who are not playing. You don't know how they will do against any competition. The ones on good teams in good leagues who are playing and just want a change for whatever reason. These guys you can look at film and see how well they will do. Some get pushed out the door and some just think the grass is greener somewhere else. Some have been working hard on their bodies and developing. Some have already peaked in high school. Some get injured and are never the same again. Some just don't have very good skills. And some turn into really good players. If you are a coach and you want to keep a guy, you better play him.

I would not be worried about the D line transfers IF they had some good players coming in... But all those guys are already taken by other teams. Looks like Ducks are messing up in that department. Maybe they are having 'conversations' and some players will enter the portal and sign with Oregon? They are way to thin at DT and noseguard right now. On the other hand, none of the ones leaving have really 'popped' so far. Maybe Lanning is looking for a different kind of body type? This is one area to keep an eye on it. Of course in this modern day, signing doesn't mean a whole lot. It is when a player has blown all the NIL cash on jewelry and cars is when he is really committed, so it seems. When Lanning was getting ready for Indiana, his coordinators were probably not paying much attention to the upcoming game and certainly NOT recruiting for Oregon. While that was going on, the top portal names were getting snatched up by all the other teams. Fixing the holes in the roster this late in the game is where Lanning is going to earn his paycheck. It won't be easy. And getting blown out is not a good look for the quality transfers out there.

Most of us saw that the Ducks were dialing it in, but we did not factor in how much Indiana was peaking. Kind of like last year in the playoffs too. If they played again a week later, I think Indiana would still win but with a more reasonable score: 35 - 24

Tobi Haastrup is the one player I was high on to develop. So there must be a reason he is going. Mothudi was disappointing to see him go. All the others I think the team will be fine without them. I wish I had seen Luke Moga play more as a Duck. I wanted to see some flashes of Dennis Dixon. The best way to know if Oregon lost a guy who would have been really good is to see what he does on his new team. For the most part in recent history, we have not been missing much. On the other hand, the incoming transfers under Lanning have mostly been very positive. I would like to see some edge rushers come in to this cycle. I also think they need to add some more O linemen. They can always use another Derrick Harmon or Jordan Burch. Inside linebacker could be a need, or the staff might be high on the young players who have yet to play much. A positive note on the outgoing bunch is how many young players are staying (at least for now) to develop. I think that when this thing is done and set, we will be amazed at the roster upgrade for 2026. I want to see an overall increase in team speed.

I don't think the strategy was in place for playing the best teams in college football in the playoffs either year. That is the big one. How you play JMU is not how you play Indiana. To play Indiana, you have to play a little 'not to lose' and try to hang around for a while. While still taking calculated risks. Since training camp, some players have been getting hurt in practice. Why wasn't Luke Moga put in, who has better running ability? Why could they not stop the run inside their own 10 yard line? No excuse for the blocked punt. I think there are a lot of questions that could be asked, but when you get right down to it, the players were beaten by better players. But yes, I was expecting a much SMARTER effort vs Indiana, which I did not see enough of. And considering how they lost to Ohio St last year, they should have hung in there later vs Indiana instead of getting blown out so badly. That 4th down call did not look like a smart call. But Dan Lanning has a lot to learn as a head coach. He is getting most of it right. Now we just have to wait until next January. I think next year will be different. And I expect Indiana to take a giant step back even more than Michigan did.

Not too sad at all... Dante had a Jeff Lockie bowl game kind of day. It doesn't mean the program is down the toilet. Just a missed opportunity. Like soooooo many others: (if my memory is correct down below) 2001 (?) Ducks not chosen for championship game 2007 Dennis Dixon gets hurt 2010 Dyer was down! 2012 DeAnthony Thomas misses block that would have let Mariota score vs Stanford (and made playoffs) 2014 year Couldn't bring down T. Prior and stop him from running for first downs 2019 Mario lost that game to Az St which kept them out of playoffs (they had a very good team that year) 2023 Losing to Washington in pac12 championship game kept them out of playoffs 2024 Lost in playoffs to Ohio St - Oregon did not play well in any aspect of the game, well below talent level 2025 year All those mistakes vs Indiana in playoffs By my count, that is 9 missed chances for a national championship in a quarter century. And it is probably going to take a few more before they finally kick the door down and get one. As long as Dan Lanning sticks around and Phil Knight stays alive, they are going to have more chances. But lets be real for a moment. Were any of those Oregon teams I listed above the very best team in college football that year? I don't think so. They were close. Yes, very close. But not the best. When they do have the best team for a given year, it will happen. It takes players. A whole starting 22 of them plus backups. Next year, a new QB, new O line, help at DT, new edge players and linebackers. A lot of those are on the team right now or are going to be come this fall.

Here is what I was thinking about all day long on this Saturday... You take the exact same game, exact same roster, except you trade quarterbacks - who wins? Dante made some very good plays and some very bad ones too. Mendoza was close to perfect since his fumbles did not hurt his team. One thing that has been consistent all year is the Ducks not stopping teams in the red zone. If the Ducks were a championship level team, they would have made Indiana settle for field goals on some of those mistakes. The pick 6 to start the game was not the reason they lost. Oregon tied the game on their next drive. Its like Zero Zero after that with 3 and 1/2 qtrs left to play. Stats pretty close to even except for turnovers. 2 lost fumbles, 1 pick 6, 2 turnovers on downs, 1 blocked punt, and a missed field goal (which kind of counts as a turnover in a way). That adds up to 7. Can anybody win with that many mistakes and not getting any turnovers from the other team? Sacks was another uneven stat. Mendoza could have been sacked more and Dante could have avoided one or two of those. And that is why Oregon got blown out so badly despite, yards, first downs, penalties and time of possession being fairly even.

Earlier in the season, I thought he ran much tougher than Limar. Best wishes to him for sticking it out to the end of the season.

I'm not demoralized. In the past, I knew that Oregon was at its ceiling and could not get better enough to beat the real contenders. But now, I see a machine that just needs to tweak what kind of players it wants to bring in. And also what kind of coordinators they need as well. It will take time. This year, they went out to the portal to find a new O line. It mostly did not work out vs the best defenses. And the D line is not getting QB pressure like it should. Upgrade those positions and then they can compete much better. A bandwagon fan looks for new gear to buy while trading teams. A real fan rides it out. What is most sad is that this year could have been it. Without the mistakes, the Ducks could have kept it fairly close and maybe got lucky in the end.

Oregon has more 4 star and 5 star players, more accolades, more of this and that. But what did you see? I saw Indiana linemen who were leaner, faster and more aggressive than Oregon linemen. I saw an Indiana QB who could run for big gains while Dante just lowered his head and got sacked and on another play, barely got touched and went down. When you play good teams in important games, those kinds of things get highlighted. Another year and some new players, so we are not doomed forever. Dan Lanning will see this and make corrections. I hope. On the plus side, Oregon does have a lot of good and capable players. RBs, TEs, WRs, DBs are all good. Get more athletic as a team and the problems are mostly solved. Recruiting is getting better and better. We are not there yet, but getting closer and closer. Ducks have been beating all but the top talent that makes it to the finals. They just have to get a little bit better. So when you look at recruits on sites like Duck Territory, don't just look at the number of stars or who offered them. Also take a look at their pics in uniform and their highlights. I think that will give you a better idea of what kind of player they are. Your eyes do not lie to you. I think the future is very bright because of who they are bringing in, despite this disappointing game. Part of the reason why Chip Kelly was so successful at Oregon was that he had athletes at QB, O line, D line, edge, and linebacker. Oregon had to get bigger, but now they need to get back to being more athletic. I think we will see that soon. Starting with Nasir Wyatt. When he is on the field, things happen. So Duck fans, I say the glass is half full, not half empty. Actually more than half full. The rest of the liquid to fill the glass to the top is in the recruiting classes and the portal. I can feel it.

A long season plus the portal and don't forget redshirts. There is going to be attrition this time of year. This is why college football waited so long before expanding the playoffs. On top of all that, there was a long school break and the kids are just getting back to classes again. What team has focus and has their backups ready to play?

Oregon wins 30 -20 flip the score from last time 1 to 1 sack 275 yds passing

I have two main points to the question at hand. Protect Dante Moore No pass interference penalties on the Ducks (or very few) This 2025 Indiana team is very much like any other semi recent over achieving team, except for one exception. They didn't flame out vs the big boys at the end of the season. So there is no reason they will wake up and realize, 'hey, we are just a basketball school'. They are going to be tough. Ducks are not just going to dominate them because Oregon has higher ranked players from high school. It is going to be team vs team. Oregon has a very high ceiling if they can fix their problems and play for all four quarters. Oregon has a good blocking running attack, the best QB arm in football, and athletes at receiver. They also have a suffocating defense, when they put it together. Indiana beats team who beat themselves. Oregon beats teams. That is a huge difference.

College football is spiraling out of control. I just want the Ducks win one national championship. Then I will decide if it all is still worth it. Remember that big time eclipse? I think it was in summer of 2017. I got worked up for it. Saw it. And now I no longer care. College football is getting really bad with all the nonsense, but we still want to win so badly. What is going wrong with other teams is eventually going to catch up and happen to us. At some point, I am going to say that 'getting worked up over 18 year old billionaires is just not worth it'. Lets hope Oregon takes care of Indiana then rides the momentum to a natty and get one in the books. The NBA lost many of its fans with their own brand of nonsense. And those fans are never coming back. College football is (was) great because it was played by amateurs and everybody (except Alaskans) had a team. Look at national champions from way back when. Lots of teams from all over the country. Even Idaho (Boise St) was a national player for a little while. Now there are only two real conferences. And only a handful of real teams in those conferences. Yes, Oregon is now one of them. For now. Phil won't live forever. The Nike heirs may not care about Oregon football. This is why we need it NOW. Washington has a psuedo championsip(s) in their historical locker. We need ours.

When they make comments like that, it just shows how bad they know their team sucks. They had it going for a little while, then their coach left and he is not doing well at bama and the Huskies are not doing much anymore in Seattle. But they were actually a real threat when DeBoer was with them. It is a lot like how we were doing when Helfrich had to coach with his own players and not Chip's anymore. (it wasn't good) The head coach matters. I can only think of one team recently that had a smooth transition - Ohio St. Maybe... they will get desperate enough to throw all that Seattle tech money at Lane Kiffen? Oh Boy. Wouldn't that be something?

Since they are going with green helmet, I would have gone with green pants. But a good look all the same. The yellow trim on the numbers goes good with the yellow feathers on the helmet.

Does Dante need to play much better or is it on the offensive coordinator? Hmmmm... I think it is a bit of both. I like the fact that Dante has had a full season leading this team for the rematch. Will Stein has also had a full season as OC with this current unit. The offense has a new O line this year, new QB, some different receivers and two freshman RBs who are playing a lot. I think that the experience of playing together for 14 games is going to make a difference from the last effort vs Indiana.