Charles Fischer

Dale Bliss did not give proper attribution credit; the article clearly states Mike Ostrom as the author.

Wow. The helmet is NOT white, but "white-marble." "The Ducks wills also wear a new helmet combination featuring a white marble base with black wings and black face cage." Cool! Kinda reminds me of gravestones?

I love two aspects of it: --the jersey number is black, but when the light hits it--it turns to green. Cool! --that helmet ROCKS! I may want to change my avatar to that soon! Leaving Huskies in the dust...

Amen Duck-Brother. Most of what they suggest is stupid-as-hell. The only yellow anyone has are T-Shirts, so suggest yellow EARLY in the season, when it is warm and the clothing fits the climate. Fans wearing black just drowns out the color in the stadium, and is just plain dumb.

Mike, I thank you for the guest article, and the points you brought up about the track record of Dan Lanning after a rare loss. Lanning does not lose to teams he should not to, such as Cristobal teams playing down to their opponent. An opponent has to be GOOD to beat Oregon, and when they do--Our Beloved Ducks bounce back extremely well. Great to have those stats, and opinions of notable podcasters as well. And ANYONE can offer a guest article for FishDuck.com...just email it to me charles@fishduck.com and I will provide the pictures and publish. We have had many outstanding articles like this over the years from Mike, and new perspectives are always welcome here.

Amen Darren....now we will Oregon's Eye-of-the-Tiger emerge!

Passing the ball is not the problem, IMHO. Leaving the pocket too early, and not seeing open receivers downfield was the passing game problem.

Considering the track record of Indiana's offense...holding them to 27 points is a good result, and it should not have been too much to ask the offense to score 28 or more. I noticed they tested the other freshman, RS freshman Iffy, and while they caught him with some interference...overall he played much better than a RS freshman would be expected to. We played senior Theran Johnson at corner often, (Northwestern portal transfer) and he had his difficulties with the Hoosier offense, but also made some plays. Thanks Alex, for a reminder about Brandon Finney Jr., (below) and I'd like to think that our newbie corners made some strides in technique and experience from what they learned from such a big game. It will help for when they face the upcoming passing games, such as Rutgers this week.

Now, now. I am just trying to comfort my Duck-Buddies. Let's play nice...

Disagreement and discussion is good, but I've learned not to appoint any of the experts as "right," because I imagine the Oregon coaching staff might have some disagreement with their analysis. Remember, Geoff blocked in Chip Spread offense, and Wrightster was under Bellotti? Things in CFB have changed since then. For example, they did not have to deal with "Simulated Pressures" back then.... https://fishduck.com/2023/10/keys-to-the-wsu-game-that-fishduck-is-watching-for/ Pressure can come from unexpected directions, as these “Simulated Pressures:” are an overload on one side.

That was a hard loss, but whenever I want a laugh and be amazed at the talent of the University of Oregon a cappella ensembles' award winning performance from 15 years ago...I pull this up. It is only five minutes, but I promise you will be impressed with the talent, and how can you NOT laugh at some of the antics? They remind us that there are things worse than losing a football game....like a bad romance!

To so many of you who disagree with me: Good. I love to see other opinions, as we hash it out and all the feedback gives everyone a better perspective on the topic. I still believe in having an experienced portal QB, especially considering that moving that way would not be an experiment for Oregon. It has already been a proven strategy here and other places. How good would Indiana be if they had started a young QB who they had been developing? Great discussion, and again--it is so nice to have a community where we give strident opinions, but not take shots at each other. Refreshing.

I agree with you. Perhaps if he was in the box--he would see receivers downfield being missed. His reliance on the "check-downs" has become excessive, at least for this game, IMHO. Although an experienced QB would make him look better on the sidelines!

I think we are safe with Will Stein as well!

Last spring and summer--you read my words about how, if ANY team can get a great, experienced portal transfer quarterback...it is OREGON. We've proven how our coaching benefits them, and their experience gets us through the tough moments, and the tough games. I thought it was dumb to NOT take an experienced portal quarterback. "There is no replacement for experience," I stated, and I could not understand why we would stand pat, when, as Indiana demonstrated....good, experienced QBs are out there, and can get you through the epic games. Would we have lost that game with Bo Nix at QB? With Dillon Gabriel at QB? No. They would have been able to create more points because they have BEEN THERE before with Simulated Pressures coming at them. But...as the season began, I began to believe Tez Johnson, and the quotes from coaches that surfaced in the telecasts of the first couple of games. But Saturday showed us..."there is no substitute for experience." Dante Moore will grow and improve, but it will be at OUR expense, of losing games. This is what every QB goes through; there were times he rolled out too soon. Step up and lead your throw downfield to the receiver breaking open. Don't get happy-feet, and cut half the field off before you have to. Yes, I know it is hard to recruit QBs to be back-ups, but this is a new era with NIL, and coaches must adapt. Last year's 12-0 regular season would have been 10-2 with a talented, but inexperienced quarterback, and Gabriel was the difference in a bunch of big moments. He had been there, and done that. Of course Dante could grow into a superb QB by the end of the 2026 season, but how many games do we lose when an experienced QB would not have? This is an option teams did not have in CFB before, and Oregon should be capitalizing on it with no apologies, IMHO. Regardless...we will still see a ton of WINNING Football.

That massive thud you heard was the Bandwagon Oregon fans jumping off. This is a good gut-check time for real Duck fans, as loyalty is something to be admired--even when you lose. We have a few people here who, like a-pig-in-mud....love to wallow in the negative. And that's even when Oregon is good. But I can't complain; everyone is stating the negative, and that is what a forum is for, and the negative will give us satisfaction later when Our Beloved Ducks learn and improve from this experience. And the big thing...I don't see anyone venting on us, as stating negative is usual and fine, but venting is extreme negative done ten times. Thus this loss reflects the positive of this forum; we, as a community have grown. While we are a small number, it is something to be proud of...to be associated with such people of civility and honor. This team will be quite different come December, and I don't mean the Penn State type of different, IMHO. It will be fun to watch the progress, and thanks for everyone for maintaining dignity, and not joining the Bandwagon Oregon fans. I am an Oregon Fan....NO MATTER WHAT.

You know, there a ton of fans out there where I would enjoy what is happening to Penn State. (Like Buckeye fans?) 'Lion fans I do not wish this upon. PSU fans don't deserve this, but as William Munny said to Lil-Bill in Unforgiven....

This Thread is for News Articles ONLY. You can always start a new thread with any of these articles for discussion.

DrJacksPlaidPants. I groan not because he won, but because he was the only one who picked Indiana, and against Our Beloved Ducks, and was correct. Good on him, and congrats. Thanks to all for being a part of this contest every week, and for being a part of this unique community. As for Our Beloved Ducks?

Boy was I wrong. We got beat in the trenches, and that is where I thought we'd win. And Dante Moore ignored open receivers further downfield, and focused too much on the check-down option. Drives were stopped by not throwing to open receivers downfield, and by sacks given up by our offensive line. I salute Indiana, as they were great in player performance, and coaching. But Oregon has much more upside, but can we attain it yet this season?

Here we are my Duck-Buddies, the thread for pondering the actual game as it happens. Let's discuss before, and during the game! I have made a major change in how we will moderate our GameDay threads. Bottom line, is that you will be allowed to spew your frustration, to vent, as you wish. But Note the Parameters: --This is for GameDay threads only; you have to behave in the regular forum threads as in the past. --You cannot take shots at those who disagree with you, just like in the forum during the week. Remember how we discussed this upfront in this thread. Let's Have Fun Posting During the Game!

Thanks for providing that...as context is crucial. Maybe this could provide a little bulletin-board material for Tosh today?