Charles Fischer

It looked good against Colorado last year...

I will admit this looks good on TV...

Are there going to be enough fans to fill in behind the Oregon bench?

My FishDuck Friends, what Dano is doing on the quality side of recruiting as never been done at Oregon before. Yes, we've had some flips that have moved Oregon's Rivals ranking down to No. 12, but it is still early. Note how few we have compared to the others, thus our ranking has a ton of upside for later. Note also the average recruit ranking for 2025 is an astounding 4.07? That has not happened or been sustained before...geez. No. 2 in the nation for quality--wowsa. 2025 all-teams football recruiting team rankings N.RIVALS.COM 2025 all-teams football recruiting team rankings by Rivals.com Note how for 2026 class, we have five verbals and all five are Rivals 4-Stars, for a perfect 4.00 average! Both classes at 4.0 or better average? Insane. 2026 all-teams football recruiting team rankings N.RIVALS.COM 2026 all-teams football recruiting team rankings by Rivals.com Can you believe it?

Wow. In another rare instance, Rivals is giving a higher ranking than the others when usually--Rivals is lower and tougher to qualify. Dutch Horisk is a Rivals 4-Star, and he was offered by a pretty good group of schools other than Oregon, such as Texas A&M, Penn State, Tennessee, Miami, USC, and Oklahoma. Others see upside! Dutch Horisk | DuckSportsAuthority N.RIVALS.COM Dutch Horisk - 2026 4 Star Strongside defensive end for St. John Bosco (Bellflower, CA) on Rivals.com

Right. You need access to the B1G Network on TV or online.

Dan Lanning says Matthew Bedford will miss time, but confident he'll play this season 247SPORTS.COM Dan Lanning says Matthew Bedford will miss time, but confident he'll play this season

Everything Oregon HC Dan Lanning said after the Ducks' second fall camp scrimmage 247SPORTS.COM Everything Oregon HC Dan Lanning said after the Ducks' second fall camp scrimmage

"Can't stand this guy's arrogance, listen to his comment about SC, so unprofessional IMO. No other coach from any of the interviews I have seen took jabs at another program." "The more I hear media bash SC, the more I understand it's from a place of fear, not hate. They are so scared for us to return to glory it's pitiful." "Their whole program is built off jealously of USC and desperation to be USC." "Was idiotic to let these parasites into our conference to begin with. We continue to play checkers not chess at the administrative level." "They don’t respect us, they constantly get brought up in conversations with us so they want to differentiate. I don’t hate it, I just wish our coaches would match energy for once." "They measure the success of their program against usc and usc makes it really, really easy for them to feel good about themselves." "One truth. They have been owning USC in recruiting. We have the players they either don't want or allow us to have." No. 44 Freshman Teitum Tuioti sacking Caleb Williams "Please let us face them in the BIG10 title game and we bury their stupid rear-ends." "Well, he wasn't wrong, but yes, coaches usually don't talk $hit like that, but it is what it is. Be better, don't let them "beat the mess" out of you..." "Tosh talked about how he has to remember some of these early enrollees should be at prom instead of preparing to beat the mess out of USC and others. This board is just soft." "It’s only a slap if they were a true competitor. It remains to be seen if they survive. They’re already poking the bear that is Ohio State. Everyone is laughing at them for that." "Meanwhile a portion of the USC fanbase are obsessed with giving the ZEROS a platform." "Tosh was spot on. We aren’t on Oregon’s level. Truth hurts." "1 Heisman trophy and a couple of rose bowls means nothing. I know the truth hurts their fans to the core that they don’t have a championship." "Tosh is perfect for Oregon. He has always tried to find the shortcut at any cost rather than do it right just like the Zeroes. At the end when there is a real accounting get back to me on who owns who." "They will never be on our level." "Oregon lives to win the offseason and choke when it matters."

Here is the video SoCal fans have their panties in a twist about. The quote is at 7:56, and I have it qued up at 7:50 so you can hear what they are all pouty about... My Duck-Buddies....I should be more mature than to post stuff like this, but unfortunately, I can't get enough of it! Good thing I never said I was noble...

Kinda cool story... Lenoir suggested Wilks make 49ers Super Bowl strategy change SPORTS.YAHOO.COM Deommodore Lenoir revealed he approached former 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks about a strategy suggestion before San Francisco's Super Bowl LVIII to the Kansas City Chiefs

All that bastard DeBoer at Alabama needs is a 'Tide defense, a 'Tide O-Line and then three exceptional receivers with an exceptional QB...of which he can get at Alabama. He will be trouble...

"Listed at 6’2″, 200 pounds, he was a model of consistency during his junior campaign. He made eight of his nine field goal attempts, connecting on a long of 46 yards. The newest Duck converted all 36 of his point after attempts and 82% of his kickoffs resulted in touchbacks."

The biggest question many Oregon fans would have...."is he related to former great Oregon QB Tony Graziani? No, because Tony is Graziani and Rocco is Graziano.

Free for the first year, and for us Baseball fans, and other non-revenue sports--this is fantastic. Yes, it is nearly $90.00 a year after the first year, but what great hook to get us started in this next year. I got my B1G+ going!

Look...I am not a big fan of everything Canzano writes, nor his coverage of the Big-12, the Pig-2, etc. But he is covering Oregon well, and is worth the subscription over time, IMHO. You just have to hold your nose when he sucks up to Oregon State. He does bring value to our discussion of Our Beloved Ducks, and I am very relieved to see some of the quotes below. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Oregon's football coach is talking with purpose. Dan Lanning is entering his third season as Oregon’s football coach. He’s got a 22-5 record and a positive trajectory. But the stakes have never felt higher, particularly for a program that aspires to win a national championship in its first Big Ten season. I’ve talked frequently with Lanning since he arrived in Eugene. We’ve discussed movies, his childhood, family vacations, and his football team. There was a shift in mentality this summer as Oregon’s head coach approached what will be his most significant season ever. How has his thinking changed? What resources is he drawing on? Where is his focus? I’ve collected a series of things Lanning told me in 1-on-1 conversations and my analysis. In his words: “It’s football — you’ve got to go out there and win. The formula to win hasn’t changed. You have to adapt, meet your team where they’re at, figure out what their strengths are, and lean into your team’s strengths. We’ve got to lean into what our hedgehogs are, find out what our strengths are, and attack the things we need to improve.” Lanning is leaning into an ancient Greek parable here. The poet Archilochus wrote: “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” It knows that it needs to stick to its strengths to survive and thrive. I don’t think Oregon is interested in curling into a ball this season. But when Lanning said this to me, I wrote it down. I wondered if the coach left last season — one that came with a 12-2 record — thinking he didn’t lean with a singular focus into his team’s strengths. Oregon’s coach read Jim Collins’ best-selling leadership book “Good to be Great.” The book dives into the ‘hedgehog principle’ as a strategy tool for business leaders. Collins studied the characteristics that cause companies to go from good to great. Lanning knows he needs to take the next step. “You bring in a guy and know ‘Ok, this isn’t going to be Bo.’ Dillon has done an unbelievable job of being authentic and being himself, getting immersed in the team really quickly, and taking on some of those leadership traits.” The development of Bo Nix was fun to watch over two years in Eugene. The quarterback evolved immensely in his second season at UO and became a much better player. Lanning knows Dillon Gabriel can play (69 percent completion percentage and 30 passing TDs last season) but he only gets one season at Oregon. He’ll only be around for eight solid months or so. Gabriel’s ability to acclimate quickly, pick up Will Stein’s offense, morph into a leader, and find his talent ceiling is one of the biggest keys to the season. “We’re going to be the best version of us if players are holding each other to a higher standard. Those aren’t just words — those are actions.” Oregon’s transfer class is incredible. The recruits were not just limited to Gabriel, who starred at Oklahoma, either. The Ducks have former Alabama safety, Peyton Woodyard, former Washington corner Jabbar Muhammad, ex-Michigan State defensive tackle Derrick Harmon, and former UCLA quarterback Dante Moore, among a host of others. I’ve thought a lot about team chemistry in this transfer-heavy era. Coaches value older, more experienced, players but does going heavy into the portal come with a sacrifice to team culture? Lanning is talking about player-led leadership here. He knows that Gabriel and the other transfers are going to have to quickly find a healthy culture. They may be able to get through the first five weeks of the season on talent, but if the Ducks are going to make a deep run into the College Football Playoff, they’ll have to find unity. “Everybody’s got ice cream in front of them, whatever your favorite ice cream is. What I don’t want to do is get caught looking at everybody else’s ice cream while mine melts.” Lanning showed up to Big Ten Football Media Days in July armed with this quote. He used it in a variety of settings, including a 1-on-1 interview with me. Keep in mind, that Oregon’s coach had spent a couple of weeks being asked about the buying power of his NIL collective. Division Street, Inc. might have the deepest pockets around. The Ducks have terrific resources and the support of Phil Knight. Lanning isn’t running from any of that stuff, but he showed up to media day interested in shifting the narrative away from program-to-program comparisons and, again, talking about fostering a singular internal focus. “I’m continuing to grow and learn as a coach. There’s risk involved in every decision I make. Mine affect the entire organization. It’s important for me to be aware of that. That doesn’t mean it has to change the mentality of the team and what I believe in. I’ll tell you this, if we’re not good at converting on fourth down, we’re not going for it on fourth down.” Lanning and I were discussing his ‘go-for-it’ decision-making in the regular-season loss at Washington last season. He says he regrets not kicking a field goal before halftime and taking the three easy points. I didn’t mind that Oregon’s coach went hyper-aggressive at the time. It’s on brand and shows a deep belief in his players, but he can’t afford to misfire with strategy as the stakes rise, particularly this season. Will he go for it on fourth down against Ohio State? I suspect he will. But I’ll take note of what Lanning does as he makes those calculated assessments this season. It sounds like he’s been doing some deep thinking about it.

Funny...how could I misread it! Wowsa...got get my eyes checked. Thanks for the correction.

Could he be a LIFER at Oregon? Lanning said. "And my family and I made a decision a long time ago, this will be, for us, the last place that we coach .... That means I have to win." Graham said. "I wouldn't worry about Dan going anywhere else unless he wins three or four national championships or something, and then he might want to go win a Super Bowl."

GREAT article... Lanning's youth is matched by his confidence, variety of experiences and ability to draw people in. A former coach he worked with said he's "as comfortable in a room with a $20 million donor as he is with the third-string linebacker." "He's got a lot of experience for a 38-year-old," Todd Graham, who first hired Lanning when he was the head coach at Pittsburgh, said. "[Oregon has] a synergy with him and he's just getting started. This guy, he isn't even close to reaching his potential."

It is from The Athletic, and thus cannot copy the article, but below are some tidbits that raise some eyebrows... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Big Ten got a lot bigger. I don’t know that it will actually be better, though, in 2024. Ohio State may be the national title co-favorite, and Oregon is on the cusp of contention. B1G Prediction: Ohio State 12-0 and Oregon 9-3 Ohio State: The Buckeyes are loaded, and there’s not a close second in the conference. An offense with TreVeyon Henderson and Ole Miss transfer Quinshon Judkins in the backfield and Emeka Egbuka, Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith on the outside seems unfair. An Oct. 12 trip to Oregon figures to be the big test, but I don’t see the two on the same level. Oregon: Don’t expect much of a drop-off from Bo Nix to Oklahoma transfer Dillon Gabriel, who could have a field day throwing to Tez Johnson and Texas A&M transfer Evan Stewart. He’ll benefit from an offensive line that allowed just five sacks last season. The defense needs to take a step up for the Ducks to win the conference. Dan Lanning made some nice adds in the portal. Mr. FishDuck: Recent preseason AA teams have put a chunk of the Buckeye defense on it. They truly are loaded, and I did not realize how much they are stacked this year.

Agreed. That is when it happened... But nobody even knew Pat Kilkenny existed until he showed up an Alumni function prior to the Rose Bowl...something Beavis doesn't understand--"Winners want to work with winners." That rules them out...

Continuing to use the Pac-12 name...

Don Marsh asked that these questions be added to the discussion... Of course, the biggest “What if” is…well, there are three. “What if” a skinny young kid named Phil Knight doesn’t decide to run track for the UO. “What if” UO doesn’t have an innovative head track coach named Bill Bowerman. And perhaps the biggest “What if,” “What if” Mrs. Bowerman says, “Hell no, you are not using my waffle-iron.” I would never not want to acknowledge the contributions of Coach Bill Bowerman and the incredible generosity of Phil Knight. Without them, none of this happens, or at least it is hard to imagine it. When Phil Knight asked Coach Bellotti, “What do you need to succeed?”, a commitment was made that changed the fortunes of Oregon football for forever. The Moshofsky Center was the first piece in what would soon become state-of-the-art facilities for Duck football. In addition, it’s important to acknowledge all those folks who make the NIL thing work. It’s a new era in college football and without the generosity of lots and lots of folks, we would not be where we are today. Go Ducks.

My FishDuck Friends, in the first full football season, (2022) the number of violations on this forum averaged 16 per month, with the worst at 34 one month. We averaged a violation of rules percentage of about 4/10ths of 1%, of which I was delighted with. (Even if it created a lot of hassle and my time taken) Good gosh...we only have 20 violations for the year after seven and a half months in 2024! I LOVE this community!