Charles Fischer

Now keep in mind that I celebrate for any reason about Our Beloved Ducks, and if we are currently No. 1 in passing yards allowed...good. But I gotta ask...would it be the same if we were in the old Pac-12 with all the skilled passing attacks? (NO.) Does being in the Big-10 skew our defensive stats...where rushing defense yards are going to suffer, but passing defense looks good--for simply being in this conference? I say..."YES." We have yet to face an above-average passing attack this season, and won't until we play USC and the bastard Huskies. You know...former Pac-12 members? Naturally the stats are also skewed because we have not faced Ohio State, who arguably has the best passing attack in the nation at the present. Yet Oregon faced a great passing attack in Indiana, and that was not the reason the Ducks lost. So maybe we are good at pass defense? True Freshman Brandon Finney Jr. is a STUD...

Not a surprise, as the last two recruiting classes had players that jumped ahead of him on the depth chart. Hard to know how things would’ve turned out if he had not been injured… I wish him the best.

Great stuff, and thanks for the research, Kamikaze. As the season progresses--our defensive backfield, in particular the newbie corners, are certainly improving. This can allow more one-on-one coverage, and crowd the box to stop the run. Most Big-10 QBs, (I put Iowa in this category) cannot outscore Oregon through the air, IMHO. That being said, but Washington and USC have good passing games, but I won't worry about them for a few weeks. You are right Kamikaze, as this defense is good enough to win with, and if we can clear some items on offense...

I do not know your age, but there are many of us who are "Greybeard" age here. We have an excellent perspective and appreciation for where we are at, as my first year of Oregon season tickets had Chris Miller as quarterback of the Ducks. And again...we are all entitled to our different opinions here without throwing ancillary shade on anyone else...

Which is worse...how pathetic this is of Beavis fans, or how Washington State fans feel at this moment?

It is fun to have a guest writer, and Don has been a loyal reader of this forum, as well as a great Oregon and Iowa fan. Superb information, and thanks Don!

I completely agree with you, especially later when a certain receiver returns...

Cristobal lost to ANOTHER unranked team? Makes me SO SAD....

C'mon Mustangs! MAKE MARIO MAD!

A ton of great games today in all conferences, so let's discuss them here!

Thanks Mike, and great effort and observations. But I look at it from a bigger perspective; you are going to get gnashed by offensive teams, and in the Big-10...you are going to give up rush yards because running the ball is this conference. But in the end...we only gave up one touchdown, set up by a fluky throw downfield where Thieneman fell down before a routine pass-deflection. Seven points is nothing, and we should have had at least 35 points in this game on offense, where it not for our own penalties. It reminds me of the Purdue game last year; they rushed for over 200 yards on us, but Purdue lost 35-0, in the stat that counts. Yes, we can improve, but it is not as glaring a weakness as pass-protection by the offensive tackles, or the inexperience at QB against Simulated Pressures, IMHO.

Amen, Duck-Brother. In the end...it is just our opinions, and we are all free to share them here. Once in a while I see a post where I have to bite my lip to restrain myself, and follow my own rules. But the opposite is the norm; every day I am learning from all of you. Recently we have had some epic threads of really well thought-out, and reasoned posts. Are they right? Will their thoughts come to pass? Who knows? But it darned fun to ponder about the points that so many of the wonderful members of the forum present. Not a large community, but an elite one--especially in terms of civility and decorum. And all the great readers of this forum!

In the early season, and especially after the Penn State game....Oregon was the toast of college football. The buzz about the team, Dante Moore--all of it was now much worse than I realized at the time. It is hard to not get full-of-yourself with that kind of fawning media attention. Even though we were used to the spotlight last year...Our Beloved Ducks are not accustomed to being in cross-hairs of national media the way a few teams such as Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State are. It is routine for them, while Oregon is still a little thrilled to be spoken of so dearly. Now...the attention on Oregon has faded almost as fast as viable HC candidates for Beavis. Well OK, not that much. But you get the idea; in the Tuesday ESPN Playoff Projection for next week--multiple pundits predicted that Oregon will drop in the Playoff standings, with a danger of not even being in the projections, as anything below 11th puts you out. (The Group-of-Six get the 12th spot) And frankly...our remaining schedule is tough, but not enough to impress--even if we win them. So already I can sense millions of CFB fans writing off the Ducks, and I think this is the perfect scenario that puts a-chip-on-our-shoulder. It can inspire our players to improve beyond what anyone could project for Oregon. It's happened before! Agree? The media has no use for us now...

OREGON ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2025 CROSS COUNTRY/TRACK AND FIELD | @OregonTF Big Ten Sweep in East Lansing The Men and Women of Oregon are the 2025 Big Ten Cross Country champions. EAST LANSING, Mich. — Oregon swept the team titles at the 2025 Big Ten Cross Country Championships Friday morning at the Forest Akers Golf Course in East Lansing, Mich. The Women of Oregon successfully defended their Big Ten title from a season ago while the UO men won their first conference title in cross country since 2008. Individually, the Ducks also collected a pair of titles with first-place performances from Abdel Laadjel for the men and Diana Cherotich for the women. Friday is the first time Oregon has swept conference team and individual titles in the same season since 1988. It’s also the first team sweep for Oregon since 1995. With Friday’s efforts, Oregon has now won 29 conference cross country titles—17 men, 12 women—in program history. Laadjel is the 10th Oregon man to win a cross country title and Cherotich becomes the ninth UO woman to run to an individual crown at a conference meet. Dating back to the indoor meet this past winter, the Men of Oregon have won three-consecutive Big Ten team titles while the Women of Oregon also secured their third Big Ten title. Oregon has now won six of eight conference titles in cross country and track and field since joining the Big Ten. How It Happened: Leading from the first 1K split of the race, the UO men placed eight inside the top 20 including first-team performances from Laadjel, Michigan native Evan Bishop in fourth place and Aiden Smith in sixth overall. The Ducks placed five on the All-Big Ten Second Team—spots 11 through 20—with Benjamin Balazs (12th place), Connor Burns (13), Simeon Birnbaum (17), Tayson Echohawk (19) and Jack Meier (20). Meier also earned a spot on the all-freshman team. Laadjel is the Ducks first conference champion on the men’s side since Edward Cheserek won four in a row from 2013-16. Laadjel (23:11.6) held a spot inside the top four at every split point and over the final 1K ran clear of the field, crossing seven seconds ahead of runner-up Riley Hough of Michigan State. Oregon snapped Wisconsin’s seven-year run of Big Ten cross country titles. In the second race of the day, the Women of Oregon turned in a record-breaking collective effort with a meet-record 18 team score. The Ducks put their top six inside the top nine of the women’s 6K. Cherotich led the team’s 1-2-3 finish with her winning time of 19:31.3, followed by teammates Juliet Cherubet and Silan Ayyildiz in second and third, respectively. The previous Big Ten meet scoring record of 22 points was set by Wisconsin in 1985. Dalia Frias was Oregon’s fourth runner across the finish line, good for a fifth-place finish. This is her first cross country season since 2022. Mia Barnett matched her seventh-place showing from a year ago while Anika Thompson was a career-high ninth place. Big Ten Championships Results MEN (top 5) 1. Oregon – 36 | 1-4-6-12-13 2. Michigan State – 68 | 2-3-16-23-24 3. Wisconsin – 90 | 8-9-10-30-33 4. Michigan – 100 | 11-14-15-26-34 5. Washington – 135 | 5-20-29-37-44 1. Abdel Laadjel – 23:11.6 4. Evan Bishop – 23:28.2 6. Aiden Smith – 23:32.7 12. Benjamin Balazs – 23:44.0 13. Connor Burns – 23:44.9 17. Simeon Birnbaum – 23:55.4 19. Tayson Echohawk – 23:56.0 20. Jack Meier – 23:56.3 39. Jeffery Rogers – 24:17.3 61. Sergio Del Barrio – 24:35.1 75. Anthony Fast Horse – 24:46.9 77. Michael Mireles – 24:51.8 WOMEN (top 5) 1. Oregon – 18 | 1-2-3-5-7 2. Penn State – 78 | 4-8-12-25-29 3. Northwestern – 96 | 13-14-17-24-28 4. Washington – 103 | 11-15-19-22-36 5. Michigan State – 147 | 6-31-33-37-40 1. Diana Cherotich – 19:31.3 2. Juliet Cherubet – 19:46.2 3. Silan Ayyildiz – 19:47.8 5. Dalia Frias – 19:57.0 7. Mia Barnett – 20:10.8 9. Anika Thompson – 20:13.4 26. Ali Ince – 20:38.0 69. Katie Clute – 21:28.6 79. Allura Markow – 21:37.5 99. Landen LeBlond – 21:58.3 143. Hannah Seubert – 22:49.7 -- . Ella Thorsett – DNF Up Next: The postseason continues Nov. 15 with the NCAA West Region Championships in Sacramento, Calif. The top-two teams automatically advance to the NCAA Championships (Nov. 22).

We lose recruits to other schools all the time, as you KNOW USC outbid the Ducks often. The narrative about uniforms has been around 25 years, and then the narrative about Oregon being "finesse," and not physical, and now the popular narrative is "fully-funded NIL." Opposing Coaches--It Must Be Tough.