Charles Fischer

Mr. FD: This is not all of his article today, but some tasty morsels I found interesting. I would suggest subscribing and supporting independent writing that is right here in Oregon. (Beyond FishDuck of course!) JC: "I think UCLA is going to pay close attention to the distribution number the Pac-12 ends up with in the media-rights deal. After increased travel expenses and the actual travel burden, how far ahead do the Bruins actually feel like they ended up? Who knows? Maybe UCLA will be happy and win a pile of Big Ten titles. But ex-Nebraska athletic director Bill Moos told me that the move to the Big Ten was an eye opener for the Huskers." 'It ain’t going to be an easy road for USC and UCLA,' Moos told me. “At Nebraska, we took teams into Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State… let’s just say, there aren’t going to be any 10-2 seasons.” Mr. FD: WOWWWWW. JC: "Strike or not, live-sports programming is unique. It brings large and immediate audiences to the screen in a way nothing else can. Interesting that Disney and ESPN cut $3 billion in content expenses from the balance sheet, but didn’t trim a dime from its live-sports programming budget. I expect the spending in that area to continue, particularly as ESPN moves towards becoming an all-stream, direct-to-consumer product." Q: What about the recent ACC deal with CW? Any idea how much that will boost their revenue/distribution? How might this impact Pac-12 negotiations? JC: "It was a distribution play by the ACC. It solved an ongoing visibility problem for that conference and will sprinkle a little revenue over the members. Everyone in America can get the CW. The network will broadcast 50 football and basketball games a year until 2026-27. Next season, the CW will air 13 football games, 28 men’s basketball games, and nine women’s basketball games. It will sweeten the revenue pot a little, but it was more of an exposure move." "The dirty secret? We all know that the Pac-12 would have been mocked for doing the exact same deal."

The big problem is what was already stated; Oregon was the elite No-Huddle Spread Offense at that time, and while Petersen ran a good offense, it was Pro-Style and was not a fit. Neither side wanted to bend on that issue, if I recall correctly. AJ Feely, Petersen, and Joey in 1999. (Incredible Photo!)

Look, it is a slow-Sunday, and a perfect time to view a video. I know that everyone is predicting Matayo Uiagalelei, and Teitum Tuioti to be the breakout freshmen at Edge-Rusher, (JACK LB) but I think you ought the check out the speed and skills of the the best player in Colorado last year, Blake Purchase. Great play recognition, but tremendous closing speed! Whew! A natural at shedding blocks...his speed just shouts in the tape. Keeping him from Coach Prime, who could build a defense off him, was huge for the Ducks. Just watch the first 3.5 minutes....good stuff!

By the middle of the season, the sportscasters on TV will be saying...."I don't even recognize this Oregon defense compared to last year!"

Really good call. You are right, he would, but premier pass-rushers get paid the VERY big-bucks in the NFL, thus I could see saving all his energy for defense. We will have some big fall-out at Edge Rusher, (12 of them) as there will be four or five who will be so far buried in the depth chart by the end of the season that they will consider transferring. They are the body-profile to move to Tight End as we saw DJ Johnson do...

Now I gotta politely disagree. The players below are from before Lanning, and NOT having them would make quite the difference. It will be primarily Lanning's team in 2024.... Offense Steven Jones Terrance Ferguson Jackson Powers-Johnson Marcus Harper Troy Franklin Kris Hutson Defense Trikwese Bridges Dontae Manning Bryan Addison Jamal Hill Jeffrey Bassa Mase Funa Brandon Dorlus Popo Aumavae Most of those above will be starters, and all will be playing extensively. I think saying that it is 85% Lanning's is a stretch, but without both Lanning's additions and core that was here--we could not contend for a Playoff spot as I believe we will.

Completely correct. If Mario has stayed--I believe we would have seen most to the receivers transfer out, and a ton of the rest of the team. It was a bad vibe, and would have been an "endure" type of off-season for the fans. Compared to where the team would have been under Cristobal in 2022, (5-7) versus what it was under Lanning, (10 wins) it is quite the difference in my estimation. How many wins did Miami have?

He is No. 5, and they move him around, although most often at right defensive end--a perfect "JACK" linebacker on the LOS in the Lanning 4-2-5 MINT Defense. Note once he catches the ball on a pick--he runs like a running back! When he goes for a tackle--he explodes into it--in a blink of an eye. Whew! Nice spin move to the inside, and he really reads the plays well, and sheds blocks superbly. Really good run defender... He did not have great stats last year, because the "Thibs" effect. When you are the only Edge-Rushing star on a team, you will be double and triple-teamed, and they will run plays away from you. Opponents can't do that with Matayo, Dorlus and Popo in the middle or on the other side of Burch. All of them will benefit from the presence of each other. Wanna bet that Dorlus has a big year because Burch is there, and vice-versa? Only 3.5 Minutes...

C'mon...you have to admit...it's funny!

Huh. So all those people out East tuning into ACC games could see Pac-12 games later in the day if we struck a deal with CW? How this works out between Tier 1 and Tier 2 rights between TV and streaming is going to be fascinating, and has to be complex as heck figuring out right now.

Like Dennis Dodd and so many others--state the worst, and no apology later when wrong! The Pac-12 needs a great contract for many reasons--guys like this Troll being another.

We gotta keep track of all these haters who are trying to hurt Our Beloved Ducks... Such banal utterings, and he is not embarrassed? Wowsa.

From a pay-site, and have not confirmed all, but those who have spent time on his Twitter say he is quite the conspiracy theorist who is trying to stir the pot. Problem is--he's got our recruits coming to his show and concerned about our Media Contract--before anything is announced. Another guy who says he's been in the business for 30+ years, and I've never heard of him until the last two weeks! Trying to make his bones using Oregon....

This will be a great service to OBD members and readers, and the subsequent sharing of information by others here on the forum will be so incredibly helpful. I will make it a Pinned Post at the top for a long time, and bring it back often as people need it. I really believe that it is much easier than people envision. (The ones who are concerned) And for those who cannot install or figure it out, (like ME) you hire a tech guy, and once it's done, it's done!

My phrase about how well Chip would do at UCLA? "His upside is about nine wins....Mora or less."

Chip did not run at Fairley. The play was designed to go outside, and Barner took it inside himself. (Orange line is where he went, and the yellow lines are for where the play was designed, based upon the Zone Read. The play was blocker superbly on the outside, and he would have jogged into the end zone at the pylon)

Yes, the quality of assistant coaches assembled by Brooks and Bellotti have been consistently overlooked. Chip could not duplicate it in Westwood, and Mario cannot in Miami. For Lanning? So far, so good!

I cannot believe what the Huskies say, and internalize about the Ducks at times. (Below is from another site, as an Oregon fan summarized their ongoing excuses pretty well) Husky Narratives Explaining Why Oregon Out-Recruits Washington 1.We (Oregon) pay recruits -everyone pays recruits wake up! It’s called NIL 2.We (Oregon) has always paid recruits. Okay assume we did so did UW, in fact they were busted for it two times so quit acting like you never paid recruits. Rick Neuheisel practically wrote the book (see above) on illegal shady recruiting while at UW calling recruits in their driveways etc. 3.Oregon just recruits talent; they really recruit the hidden gems that only they can see. What a load of baloney this is. Do they realize how many coaches watch tape on kids these days, in fact many schools pay people extra to watch even more tape and give them suggestions. So it ain’t just Oregon not recruiting the hidden gem we don’t see why isn’t Nick Saban, Kelly, Riley, Kirby, or say Sweeney seeing these hidden gems like the Husky staff apparently only does. In addition the odds of hitting on these hidden gems is so huge and the kid actually panning out to be a impactful starter is the reason schools don’t waste scholarships on these kids like Washington does 4.The Husky staff is so great at finding and developing “hidden gems”. DeBoer has been there one full season, quit acting like he developed anyone. He got lucky with Penix and a few other transfers that’s the development you claim your staff did. You took proven talent transfers. I recall them saying Lake was the best at developing talent how’d that work out? Now suddenly DeBoer is when Penix is gone we will see how great he really is, Penix is a generational talent making up for a lot of real issues on that team 5.Our players at Oregon leave. You bet they do, when you are buried on the roster as a four star and can’t beat the four or five star ahead of ya, I’d transfer too if I wanted to play. Btw the incoming freshmen at your position is 4 or 5 star so if your not playing much your junior or senior season you’re odds aren’t looking great going forward. Ignore what you see at Oregon; UW is creating the MOTHER of All Recruiting Classes 6.They are gonna steal Mothudi later. Whatever so much for their kids flipping and they never wanted him and it’s deceitful to the program but it’s great when they do it to another school. Talk about hypocritical. I don’t expect them to say" great job," to Oregon, but they continually lie to themselves to make them feel better and it’s just ridiculous and unreal. I love Oregon but I am objective enough to admit we have shortcomings in our programs too. In the end what’s frustrating is Washington fans can’t seem to wrap their head around the fact that it isn’t just Oregon kicking their a$$es in recruiting--it is pretty much everyone. They haven’t kept an instate Washington recruit of consequence since Sam Huard, who transferred btw, and kids don’t want to play for Washington like they do Oregon or Usc or say Ohio State. I mean if they don’t get honest about this, they aren’t gonna fix it. Btw I expect them to hire a big time recruiter this off season like Donte Williams and pay him a bag of cash to help cuz DeBoer been there 3 years and has proven he can’t recruit talent.

I do not think that most are making that accurate observation. Like you, I believe it is fading very fast, thus the major shifts going on, and I believe the Pac-12 can benefit. I think most of us have forgotten the impact of removing the networks--this could put more money in the conference's pocket eventually?

I am going to wait and see what the media deal entails before condemning it. We have discussed it extensively before, but there are some big advantages to being first. It would be nice to lead, and have others play catch-up. We will double our audience with streaming, and Oregon will especially benefit. P.S. We don’t need a bad deal now, we need a good deal in the next 11 months.

I cannot copy the entire paywall article, and I would certainly subscribe to John's work, as it is worth it. With that, there are some tasty nuggets in his writings... --The Disney CEO announced how the company is looking to sell an equity stake in ESPN to attract a partner for it's direct-to-consumers streaming game-plan. --Canzano is wondering out loud how this all might be meshing with the talks between ESPN and the Pac-12? Could this be a reason for the delays? --A member of the Pac-12 CEO group admitted to John that, "Not a reach. Disney and others going through serious shifts in last months.” --Canzano suggests that ESPN could end up in partnership with Apple, Amazon or Google, companies that have the needed funding--that are already streaming live-sports programming? --Couple the fit of the Pac-12 Network infrastructure with a streaming partner such as Apple or Amazon...and this might match up well for all parties involved! --Is the selling of ESPN equity and the major shift going on between cost-cutting at Disney and ESPN a good or bad thing? The Pac-12 CEO Group member felt that this shift and delay is “eventually good," and "will be worth the wait.” A ton to digest... This might just work out well for the Pac-12, and leave the other conferences wincing!

I love it! Waiting for our moment...