HappyToBeADuck

Wonderful take Haywarduck! IMHO, the first thing people need to do is respect others feelings and opinions. Then open their eyes and ears and embrace what is truly around you. Learning from the past and of the traditions and the quality of our values is the baseline for all of us to move forward as Oregonians. And Oregon Duck football is part of that tradition. Good teams, bad teams and mediocre teams have played on that field for decades. Each team putting its foot print in the deep history. Knowing where you come from helps us to appreciate where we are now. Coach Lanning and the staff will get their chance to leave a specific foot print. Let's hope when it's said and done the Natty trophy is on display.

Thanks Coach Boles for simplifying the basics and looking for future articles that get into specifics. It takes a great deal of top level position groups to scheme an individual open. We have an outstanding, experienced OL, young, yet talented TE group, hungry wide receivers and bigger running backs on the 2022 roster. Most all are battle tested and have tasted victories and butt-kicking defeats. The QB position group has monster potential. 2-5☆'s and 1 high 4 star highlight the position. The team needs all 3 to understand, implement and execute the plays. Spring practice will help all this unfold. Nothing lass than 40 points per game will lead the Ducks to a CFP appearance. Don't depend on the defense to bail you out. Score often then score again and for good measure score some more. The schedule is very difficult. With Georgia, BYU, Utah and possibly USC on the schedule the strength of schedule is there. Stop taking the game off against less talented teams and this could be a fun season.. I for one am ready for games being decided by half time.

Thank you Annie for posting the spring practice schedule. It can't start soon enough... So many unknowns to be answered about the coaches and players. Getting a small glimpse of what lies ahead will be the shot in the arm that the OBD Forum appreciates.

Both teams would have to be unbeaten to have a game day crew on campus. That would mean Utah would have beaten Florida and is ranked in the top ten. Should Oregon beat Georgia, BYU and win all its games upto October 15th, it's conceivable that the PAC could have 3 top ten teams. That's how you get national attention.... Whether it's Utah or USC in the PAC title game, Oregon will have their hands full. Can't wait..........

Yes they did, Jon. That turn around and coaching adjustment by Coach Lanning gives me great hope for our Ducks future. It was so agonizingly frustrating that anyone and everyone could convert a third and long against the Ducks. All season long.......yet the coaching staff could not figure out how to stop it from happening. Better adjustments ahead will be a delightful surprise.

It's difficult to tell what Coach Lanning needs or if he has what he needs to make his defense work with this group. In the Natty, not the SEC Championship game, the defense played with discipline. They played with speed, violence and self discipline. They handled a team in the Natty that would dominate the PAC. Team work, self discipline, speed and violence coupled with scheme can make up for alot until Coach Lanning can recruit his players. Go Ducks..

I was not impressed with last seasons coaching staff or schemes. It's not really a stretch to see that the on field talent won many of those games. It seemed like the coaching staff went on automatic pilot after the incredible victory at tOSU. After that the team underperformed a little less each week. But the young talent, coupled with superb play by Sewell, Dye and a few others kept winning against inferior PAC opponents. Once the bloom came off the Rose against Utah, the coaching staff bailed. Once the. CFP was unattainable, MC had no reason to stay. Naturally the staff looked to their immediate future. But the young talent kept fighting. It takes good coaching with solid game plans to win big games. This way way way way way to early forecast is meaningless. What matters is can Coach Lanning and his staff lead this talent on the field. How many first time coaches get a talented team handed to them? A team that inspite of an uninspired coaching staff won in the shoe! The coaches and their ability to lead this talented roster will determine whether we play in the Rose Bowl, Holiday Bowl or some toilet bowl. I am anxious to see........

Not sure who reached out first but glad they met. Face to face, ears wide open and full on communication. If Coach Lanning wants to fully embrace the history of Oregon football then Harrington is a great place to start. Then Coach Belotti would be the next stop. As a Duck fan, I would like to return to the concept of family. Coach Lanning and his staff are now part of the Oregon family Build and grow from within that family took the program from barely making the Independence Bowl to 2 Nattys. Not to mention multiple Rose and New Years Six Bowls. It was a successful business model that endured 4 decades. A smart HC could learn a great deal from that model. Especially the business and continuity aspect......... Not so sure I would take any advice on who to hire as a head coach from the players. But those former great players would be a welcome addition at high end fund raising events.

The only reason I would be in favor of this potential home and home series would be for the national exposure the Ducks would receive. The ESPN talking heads would be all over this. A 8 pm EST kick off when the game is in Miami and 5 pm PST kick off in Eugene. Don't schedule the game unless it's prime time and bid it to the networks. Both games would be seen by top recruits. Top talent from the southeast could attend the games. Could be a big time plus for the Ducks. Or not..........

Log Haulin thanks for posting the article. It was a very fun, optimistic read but a way to early optimistic read. IMHO, simply too many unanswered questions. QB play, RB play and how will the Defensive players adjust to the new scheme are just a few unknowns. A bigger unknown is the coaching staff? Can they get the players to buy into the new program? How are the coaches at teaching and motivating players?Only a handful of the players are the coaches actual recruits. What other top talent will leave via the portal later this spring? However, there definitely is potential NFL talent on the roster. This roster is packed with players who already accomplished the impossible in the shoe. But this roster also wet the bed against Utah and Oklahoma. It is the off season and optimism carries us thru to Spring ball. My heart says 11-2 and the less glamorous Fiesta Bowl. If all goes well 12-1 and a CFP appearance match up with Georgia. Why not? My analytical process says that is possible. If the coaching staff is CFP worthy they have a roster to work with that is CFP worthy. It must jell with a win over BYU, a twin sweep of Utah, and 9-0 conference record. As others mentioned it sets up better in 2023 than 2022. But it is possible. For all the OBD forum fanatics a 8-4 or 9-3 record is not what we want. I don't blame you for disagreeing with me. However, losses to Georgia, BYU, Utah and at least one conference road team are seriously in play. But 2 things are certain that we can hang our hats on. First, numerous sports writers, beat writers, etc will be posting Oregon Duck football click bait. Some positive, some negative! Great ponder points for this awesome forum. Keep posting them. Second, in September these talented youngsters will step on the field against Georgia, giving it their all. Go Ducks! Coach Lanning very few coaches get a roster this loaded. Make it happen!

Axel, you make some excellent points. Under no circumstances do I feel a super conference is the best direction. It could very well be a Mega mistake...... Rivalries would not have to disappear in the PAC 20. We need those NW rivalries. But consider, do we haveany real rivalry with Colorado, ASU , Arizona or Cal. Would it be bad to play Baylor, Houston, OK State or Texas Tech every 3rd or 4th year? Especially if each school could reap $75-$100 million a year from Network contact's and the P-20 channel. How would that be a negative. That kind of money salvages the non revenue sports. Especially women's sports. Also, as a fan, none of us have to watch games we don't like. But I for one would love to know that the next Marcus or Justin can watch the P-20 network. However that's a dead horse because the SEC and B1G are positioned to dictate what future players watch. Including women's sports. We may not like it but more big changes our on the horizon. Too bad the PAC decided to be a spectator and not a participant.

30 Duck..... thank you. You are so right that the SEC schools share a vision of being the dominant conference. But consider that the SEC leadership makes quality business decisions. They use forward thinking with great vision. While most conferences and schools were reeling from the financial disaster of the pandemic the SEC expanded with 2 blue blood programs. Now with the virtual collapse of the NCAA we should expect further expansion. Jon may be spot on with the creation of a 24 team super conference. Think about it OBD forum, that conference will not have to share a dime of any money with any other division created this August.. They can and will court additional schools to join from coast to coast. The top schools in one conference will command the lions share of money from ALL the networks. Just a side note for those who may feel that the SEC did the BIG 12 a underhanded, dirty deal. My son did not ask our competitors if it was okay if he took their customers or expanded our company foot print. It was business survival. Expect the SEC to decimate other conferences and maybe come to a college town near you. Fun times.

Jon, this topic is so depressing for me on so many levels. I am glad you keep bringing it up though. Let me share with you a real life experience that parallels the choices that confronted the PAC Conference and P12 Cartoon Network. During the latter part of the Great Recession, my son came to me with 2 business decisions. I had turned the company over to him to run in 2006 just after he graduated college with 2 degrees. But in 2009 the economy was struggling. Some of our customers were closing their doors. Decisions about the future had to be made. First decision. Dad, all of our competitors are laying off people and cutting back to save money. That means potential customers will be seen less by our competition. If mom, you and I take pay cuts we can keep all of our field staff in place. We can go see our competitors customers. Our company can take over their service and product needs We did and as result we doubled our account base in 2 years. We took less money in the short term to make more money in the long term. Second decision. After we eliminate our local competition then we must expand our virtual foot print. More boots on the ground in more states. Seeing more people, sharing our products with more eyeballs will bring greater returns. 12 plus years later, from that conversation, we have grown the account base 6 times and revenues are up 400%. Our paychecks are substantially larger today. Forward vision and a plan of action prepared us for the future. We were also positioned with cash and staff to grow during the pandemic. 2020 was our greatest year of 42 years of business. We exceeded 2020 sales in August 2021. Opportunity and preparedness must meet at the same time to capitalize on the moment........ Do we feel the P-12 Network team was prepared to actually build a sports network platform? They weren't capable. They spurned ESPN and or Fox Networks offer to partner with them. They couldn't come to money broadcast terms with all the cable giants. Thus less eyeballs watching resulted in less money for the network and each school. The 12 Presidents and the tennis guru did not want to share revenues. They didn't want to take less money. Essentially the got what they wanted, less money....... Then the great opportunity was presented by the giant Texas Longhorn and Oklahoma Sooners egos. Their departure left the PAC with the opportunity to eliminate a competitor. But better yet, simply merge those 8 assets and expand the PAC footprint. The opportunity to grow without spending any money. The opportunity to add 50 million plus eyeballs at the right time. Enter media marketing rights negotiations with a full house. Nope the Presidents didn't want to take less money by sharing revenues with a lesser conference. Please understand they didn't have to share any revenues with the merger. This was complete as ignorant a business decision as any person with academic prowess could make. So OBD Forum ask your self: Were the 12 Presidents prepared when the opportunity presented itself? I think not......... sorry for the rant.

Personally I put very little stock in any poll or analysis this early in the 2022 process. Even the good ones like SP+. Consider that there is no way to quantify or qualify the impact of the transfer portal. MSU and Baylor gave us a good snapshot of what the portal can do. Were they the exception or the rule? With 3,000 plus players in the portal, how do you measure the negative or positive gains for each team? It's safe to imagine rosters will change after spring ball via the portal. In or out teams will be affected. That top 10 is a safe bet but a hollow, empty presentation without Utah in the top 10. We all have eyes and saw the powerhouse that Utah became once they settled on Rising. Utah boat raced Oregon twice. They gave tOSU one hec of a game. Way better than expected. Utah would beat 5 of those teams listed ahead of them. And give the others a run for their money. No matter the analytics used....... Fortunately, Oregon, USC and WSU get a chance to beat those teams above them on the field. Not sure where Florida ranks but Utah has a good opportunity to take them out. Nothing like walking the walk. Man it seems like eternity for spring ball to start. September feels like it's in another dimension. Go Ducks.....

I had all day to ponder this article and all the really solid comments. Honestly it is painful to ponder how one coach, one single coach, could undo a near decade of vurtually unstoppable offenses. Nothing was broke, very little needed to be done offensively when MC took over. IMHO, MC either lacked vision or was completely lacking in his ability to keep up. Perhaps in his need to control everything he simply choked the life out of the Ferrari. He did not know how to handle this amazing, high performance machine. The control freak put a Governor regulator on the throttle. To me it is unfathomable and fricking unforgiveable............ So to the article. How do we get back to our offensive identity? That must watch offense. First the coaching staff must have the desire to want to score lots of points. Don't talk about it just take all restrictions off the throttle. You all remember those 6 play, one minute and eight second scoring drives. A thing of beauty that decimated opposing defenses. An attacking, high speed offense. Then the damn defense get the ball back to the offense with great field position. Install and teach that attacking defense we saw in the Natty. Force turnovers.... Improve the special team units. Make them a force to be reckoned with. You know old school football with a heavy dose of thunder and lightning. Recognize that the Oregon Duck football team got to 2 Nattys by scoring points. Lots of points. Put those scoring teams on the field with a top ten defense and what do you get? Oregon Ducks first football National Championship. It's about damn time, isnt it?

Good point Annie. Too many unknowns at this point to have any idea how Oregon will do next season. The on field talent necessary to win big is in place. But games are won in the fall, on the field. Not in imaginary way to early polls. Can Coach Lanning and staff help the players overcome the big time losses in their last 4 games? Those losses were beat downs. Can the coaches meld the talent into a team? The pieces are in place........ A win at Georgia and the Ducks are in the CFP discussion from week one. Go Ducks...........

Jon, I support you on this. It is beyond frustrating. The leadership in the PAC 12 has "no marbles" . As the Larry Scott curtain is being revealed it is becoming more evident that the 12 dwarf presidents were the true decision makers. Or should I say the lack of decision makers. Many, if not all the dwarfs need to be eliminated from making athletic department decisions. It appears GK is just a figure head. These decisions are a recipe for a few schools being poached from the PAC. Eventually schools who don't have top level donors will be left behind. Question is, which conference will poach the top teams from the PAC?

Thankfully, someone stood up and fought for the players by taking this all the way to the Supreme Court. The scholarship value and educational opportunity is a valuable commodity. But it comes with strict rules. I sat thru an NCAA athlete indoctrination meeting when my youngest son entered college. There were no you can do this just an hour of you can't or you don't. For the players, family, friends and boosters it was an eye opener lecture. Everyone is going to have their varied opinions and feelings. Probably no real solution. But the NCAA and the hard a$$, arrogant school presidents deserve this. They didn't budge or give an inch on this topic. THEY WANTED ALL THE CONROL AND MONEY......... And they still do.. Someone on this forum posted an article a few weeks ago. I think it was a Conzano article. It covered the potential future divsions and how the process will work out. It also covered NIL. The article was insightful but a hard read. I was really taken back by the comments of the President of the Oregon State Legislature. The Legislature is trying to put a bill in place to protect the players and their NIL rights. Yes the US Supreme Court, in essence, granted the players the rights to their Name, Image and Likeness. It's their rights to market, not the schools. The Legislature contacted the U of O and OSU presidents to get their input. Their ideas, especially on jersey and merchandise sales. And how to share those revenues. Guess what, the President of the Oregon State Legislature was surprised that the 2 school presidents offered very little support for the idea. They weren't interested in sharing any of those revenues. Yet the player has the rights if you put their NAME on the jetsey. Keep in mind these were 2 of the 12 presidents who shut down expansion because they didn't want to share revenues with a lesser conference. WTH.......... As much as this is frustrating to most, just let it play out. Let it seek its own level. Keep this in mind and maybe it can provide some perspective. We pay our 14 employees absolute top dollar with full medical and retirement options. We want them to be motivated to work and produce. They perform the work, we pay them.The school offers a scholarship, room and board and education. The players work hard to earn playing time and most earn their education. That's the work agreement between both parties. Nothing more, nothing less. It's just business. It is a work place agreement. Now, if any of our employees add to our customer base and increase our revenues they get highly compensated for that. Isn't that fair? So when the P-12 media rights increase each school will receive millions of dollars more each season . Do you think they are planning on sharing any of that money with the players. NOT A CHANCE........ Chances are this side of the football business will get worse before it gets better. But this is between the schools and the players. This time the players have the power. Personally, it is painful to watch, but I support the players.

The article certainly pointed out the obvious going forward. Future recruits have and will continue to have their eyes on both young coaches. Winning performances on the field by the Ducks and Trojans open the door for multiple good things to happen: All the networks involved in covering college football want and need both schools to dominate all OOC and conference games. Both schools, when winning, command eyeballs. Both schools will garner prime time game slots. Multiple USC/Oregon P12 Title games will upgrade the national perception of the conference All the 8 to 14 year olds will be watching both schools. They are the future of CF and as a result, both schools can keep all the top West Coast talent. Herbie and the game day talking heads will be gushing about both schools. CFP appearances will be on the line The loser will get a New Years 6 bowl game. More money, more needed money for all the conference teams. Why invest any money in your athletic department when Oregon prints money for you. As top winning brands both schools can and will recruit the Deep South and Texas. But championships are won the field. Both coaches have to translate recruiting and transfer portal success to the field. Talk is cheap, everyone at both schools are in the honeymoon faze. And Utah will have a big say in this process

The butt sniffers have a history of making some bad decisions when it comes to hiring and retaining head coaches. Since Don James retired, other than Petersen, it has been a parade of missteps. Culminating in the ultimate mistake by the lake, Jimmie Lake. (That was fun to type). in the near 30 years since James they have been to just 18 bowl games with a 6-12 bowl record. Is that academic prowess or what? I really enjoy their rise in academic prowess coupled with their gridiron demise. Apparently top level recruits are taking notice, too.... Let's journey back to 1908 when the butt sniffers hired their greatest coach, Gil Dobie. Dobie had coached North Dakota Agricultural to 2 undefeated seasons in 06 and 07. At the time of his hiring the huskies were playing as an independent. In 1916 they joined the Pacific Coast Conference. Dobie's teams went 58-0-2. Winning the PCC title in their very first season. The Dawgs could not retain Dobie and he left to coach the Naval Academy for 3 seasons. Then off to Cornell where in his 2nd, 3rd and 4th season they were undefeated and national champions. They let a undefeated coach get away who went onto to win 3 national titles for another school. Though in fairness Cornell probably offered much greater academic prowess. Their are probably a number of reasons Dobie left the near decade undefeated huskies. How does this reason sound? School president to Dobie: Great job on another undefeated season. Sorry I didn't get to see the games. How many undefeated seasons now, 3, 4? Dobie to school president: No this season makes 9. School president to Dobie: what did you want to talk about, Gil? Dobie to president: I would like to talk about a pay raise. School president to Dobie: Hec Gil UW is a powerful academic school. You are lucky we let you coach our great school. Dobie to school president: Okay just want to let you know I will be taking my coaching ability elsewhere. School president to Dobie: Best of luck to you Gil. Well that may or may not have happened. But Gil Dobie put 3 real National Titles on his resume. Not an imaginary, shared title like the huskies. Let the academic prowess continue to rise and the football woes continue for the huskies. It just makes me smile.

Great post and comments on this thread. Had to read all a few times to ponder and digest all the good thoughts. In advance, I apologize for the following rant. Media rights should be handled by an experienced team, led by an experienced leader. This team should have vision, forward thinking, an open mind and keen negotiating skills. Not be handled by 12 Arrogant, narcissistic, know it alls who sent some sort of tennis guru to handle negotiations. This magnificent brain trust spurned network merger offers for the P-12 Network because they knew they could build and run their own sports network. How has that turned out for the brain trust? Larry Scott isn't the only person who should have been fired. The way GK and the 12 dwarfs handled expansion leaves me feeling apprehensive about their ability to negotiate their future media rights. They were presented a major opportunity to change the landscape while adding a good chunk of Texas eyeballs to the P12 footprint. What a powerful bargaining chip for media rights! All 4 time zones (West Virginia) that include Texas and the West Coast. See any forward thinking or the ability to improve your bargaining power in the brain trust? The networks need programming product content. Good quality product to sell advertisers that attracts eyeballs. This conference needs to improve the on field product, top to bottom........ Chip and MH's Ducks were must see TV. Games against Stanford, USC, UCLA and even the butt sniffers were nationally televised. Game day came to town and the ESPN A team called some of those games. The product was outstanding and like Pavlov's dogs, the networks came to the table.........let's get back to that type of product or move to a conference who appreciates a committed national brand. This is big business now. I don't have much academic prowess but the Good Lord blessed me with common sense. My Dad, with patience and love honed my business skills and negotiating knowledge. And my wonderful Mother taught me to be courteous and humble. From all that, my advise to the brain trust would be as they enter media rights negotiations..........leave your arrogance at the door. Admit you failed with the P-12 Network and openly seek out a partner(s) who is willing to fix that. Being open and humble will open the door to multiple offers. Recognize that currently your only bargaining chips are west coast eyeballs, the need for late night time slots to be filled, Oregon s national brand and an emerging Utah. Fortunately, Oregon and Utah proved that on the field we can compete with a CFP blublood. Now GK and the 12 dwarfs it's your turn. Prove that you belong at the media rights negotiating table or put a team in that can. However, due to your shortsighted vision, your team will be bringing a dull butter knife to a 50 caliber gun fight. Good luck..

Glad to see the butt sniffer, toilet water drinking huskies rolled in with the 93rd ranked national recruiting class on 247. 11th in the PAC. They sure got some prime time talent , most likely, filled with academic prowess. My hand got tired scrolling down the list of all the schools.

Just heard on James Crepea show that Mario hired the DC from Maryland to the same position. The guest on show said Mario has been Lazer focused on recruiting and he was taking his time with the hiring process. Sorry I was driving and didn't get his name.

Great article David. You covered many angles and provided alot of info. Thanks........ Baylor and Michigan State had stellar 2021 seasons via the transfer portal. USC, LSU and Ole Miss are jumping off that bridge too. Only time will tell if this is a path that leads to the CFP. If the CFP and a Natty are truly the goal then Sparty and the Bears fell short. 10 plus win seasons are better for the fans and HC survival regardless of the portal route or via high school recruiting. IMO, some of these programs are selling their future short if they depend heavily on the portal. Recruiting and player development should be a programs foundation or backbone to long term strength. Use the portal to fill in those immediate needs. As time goes by, coaches who depend heavy on the transfer portal may be sending many negative signals to future recruits and parents. For example, when you come play for me, just know I will always bring a proven talent in ahead of you, if necessary. Because, I the coach must win now, I don't have the time or patience to wait for you to develop. Most players and parents know that the path to the NFL is thru player development, physical and mental growth and quality playing time. The portal is a game of chance. Vernon Adam's or Dakota Prukup? Quality playing time and player development or lack of is a driving force why 3,000 players are in the portal. Yes NIL is a factor. Are their 3,000 high paying NIL deals? Not a chance. If only 2% of high school athletes get scholarships then these youngsters have already hit the lottery. Leaving for a NIL deal, yet giving up a $100,000 plus value package with a college degree attached, is high risk decision making. Leaving for playing time, better coaching or a happier college experience makes sense. But not for a possible NIL deal? A bird in hand is better than 2 in the bush. Most of the time those 2 birds get away. So, coaches must win now or they can lose their annual lottery payout. The portal has the lure for a quick fix. The coaches will not be excited to invest time and money in developing talent, only to lose them to the portal. Players will use the portal seeking potential greener pastures. High school recruits will be looking at coaches and their schools with a whole different attitude. WOW, welcome to the new college football world.......

Boyle, it appears, is strong in all 3 areas of kicking. He can punt, handle kickoffs and kick field goals. In case of injury to Snee or Lewis, he should be a strong back up. Nice to have a good backup. Snee and Lewis could transfer out at anytime. Snee could head to the NFL after 2022. Glad to have a HC in place that is building depth.