Charles Fischer

A 4.66 in the 40 yard dash by Bennett Williams...that's too bad.

No, many of his articles are now subscription only. I am a subscriber as I feel his time and work have helped us more than any other journalist, thus I never know if an article is subscriber only or not when I get the email from him. I will not be posting these on an ongoing basis, but thought this one reinforced many of our discussion points yesterday.

I think Lanning supported our thoughts yesterday..."Stage one is acquire the talent needed, and then Stage two is training and install." Two more years needed to get to 85% of what he wants, with the defense fully "arrived" in three years, 2025? If that should happen and we have a defense that gives up below 20 points a game--and Lanning has the explosive offense? We will be in the elite of college football; this can happen.

In case this is a pay-article only, I wanted you to see this, as it pertains to a discussion with Joshua's article yesterday. “We added a lot of pieces to the puzzle,” Lanning said. “I feel better about the group, but there’s a lot of room there for us to improve.” It’s March. We’re knee-deep in the college basketball season. The NCAA Tournament brackets are set. But last week I took a call from University of Oregon football coach Dan Lanning. “You want to write about Bo Nix?” he asked me. No. “Our running backs room is really interesting,” Lanning offered. Nope. Not where my mind has been, either. The Ducks (10-3) won the Holiday Bowl in Lanning’s first season. In the last few months, the coach landed a top-10 recruiting class, hired a new offensive coordinator and retained his star quarterback, Nix. Oregon holds its first spring football practice on Thursday. The spring game is scheduled for April 29. But I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the missing element of Lanning’s program — defensive identity. Lanning came to Eugene from Georgia, where he worked as the defensive coordinator. His expertise is on that side of the ball. The Ducks had some playmakers, but there were very few times last season that I found myself impressed with what was happening on the defensive side of the ball. Anyone else surprised at how forgettable the Oregon defense was in 2022? Consider: • Oregon lost two games (vs. Washington and vs. Oregon State) that it led entering the fourth quarter. • The Huskies 37-point output was the most points scored by an opponent at Autzen Stadium in five seasons. • The Ducks defense ranked No. 115 nationally in sacks. It was No. 6 in the Pac-12 in scoring defense, fifth in yards per game allowed, 11th in pass defense and 10th when it came to defending on third down. UO’s offense was creative, aggressive and effective. It had unmistakable identity. Kenny Dillingham called the plays. Nix became the face of the operation. The offense attacked often, scored a pile of points, and was fun to watch. Oregon’s defense? It had very few memorable moments. That has to change in 2023 if the Ducks want to make the conference title game in Las Vegas. “We’ve created competition more than anything this spring,” Lanning said. “We brought in some guys who have proven snaps and performance. And we’re looking for upgrades not just from outside the program, but from inside it as well.” Jordan Burch, a transfer from South Carolina, arrived through the portal. Lanning sounded excited about the big-game experience that the five-star edge rusher brings. Oregon also got a nice surprise when Brandon Dorlus announced he was coming back for another season. That all helps. And defensive tackle Popo Aumavae, who didn’t play due to a foot injury last season, amounts to a “new” addition on defense. The recruiting class was encouraging. Lanning added depth on defense and replaced some key players. The returning players will need to step up, particularly linebacker Mase Funa. But if there’s a burning question for Oregon this spring, it’s this: What is the Ducks identity on defense? Before I can talk about Nix, or write about the running backs room, I’d like to get an answer on that question. “We added a lot of pieces to the puzzle,” Lanning said. “I feel better about the group, but there’s a lot of room there for us to improve.” Phil Knight is 85. He comes up often when you talk about Oregon football. Not just because he’s invested a billion dollars in UO, but because the Ducks would very much like to pay him back with another Pac-12 title and a trip to the College Football Playoff. Nix’s return was wonderful news for Oregon. The hire of Will Stein as the offensive play caller looks wise. The resources are ample, the schedule is balanced, and the home field is advantageous. But unless the defense grows some fangs, the Ducks won’t be anywhere near as good as they could be. That’s the mission for Lanning this season. We all remember Chip Kelly’s offenses. They were a blast. But what made Oregon particularly lethal in Kelly’s 46-7 run in Eugene was how dynamic and attacking Nick Aliotti’s defenses were. Aliotti had been at it a long time, but adapted and evolved into the best defensive coordinator in college football vs. pace of play. Auburn’s offense scored 56 points in the SEC championship game in the 2010 season. Cam Newton and that offense put 51 points on Mississippi, 49 on Georgia and pinned 65 points on a Top-15 Arkansas team. Aliotti’s defense surrendered only 22 points to Auburn in the national championship game. I hardly remember what Oregon did on offense that day. Lanning sounded rested and ready for spring on the phone. The regular season is a grind, then came recruiting. It’s been non-stop since he was hired more than a year ago. Oregon’s coach told me he took a few long weekends in the last month to spend extra time with his family. Now, he’s eager to get some practices in and get started on the spring on Thursday. Me? I’m more interested in what the Ducks defense looks like at the end.

Pretty incredible that the Pac-12 has seven teams in the NCAA tournament....and Oregon was not one of them. Whew!

Fun article and great information Alex. I know some Eagle fans in this forum that would love your conclusions!

No. It is inadvisable to have six OL on a regular basis. You tip off the defense to what you will NOT do, or will do. Stanford could not score large amounts of points with that offense, and Cristobal already proved the same at Oregon with that mindset. On 3rd or 4th and short--fine. As a regular formation? No, I don't think the coaches will do it.

Words that people use to curse with, or call each other names with are now replaced--such as...."you don't have to be a _____ about it." (Put in Richard's nickname in and it is replaced) So that word and others automatically are replaced when written. If you had to deal with all the people I do--you would find the minor inconveniences of the software worth it.

We have had a number of analysis articles and posts explaining that, 1) he is the most flexible OC I've seen, as what he did last year was incredible, and 2) he uses a ton of one-TE formations, and will adapt to what we have. Will Stein: Oregon's New OC and Miracle-Maker? FISHDUCK.COM The title looks like classic hype to promote a blah-blah article, or serves as typical web click-bait. Yet those of you who have watched my videos and read my…

Duck 1972, I would not be surprised to see movement at Oregon in terms of position if the Ducks do not find a TE in the portal in two months. For example, the defense has TWELVE edge rushers on the roster, when you only need four, five at most? Most are TE size and probably played it on offense in HS as well. The coaches could find the best five edges, and let the bottom two know there are options elsewhere on the team? DJ Johnson transferred to Oregon as a TE/DE combo, so taking a freshman or RS freshman or two from the Edge position would not hurt depth, and yet give the young guns some potential PT this next year. Patrick Herbert is going to score!

And....to make the Bulldog defense work--you need athletic freaks at three positions on the field; the Jack linebacker, the Money linebacker, and the Star Defensive back. These players are called upon to do incredible assignments that only the most talented, well-coached, and disciplined can pull off. We are in stage one of assembling the talent, then comes teaching it and refinement, hence my four-year install. Last year? It was....

Joshua....your article had a ton of "ouch" moments for me, and while you are right about the defense--I still maintain that some bonehead decisions to eschew field goals, and to run Nix between the tackles decided our fate regardless of the weak defense. Now granted--we would have been chewed up at the upper levels, but it was there. I did not think that Oregon would give up 27 points per game in 2022 as they did in 2021; I looked it up and yep--you are correct. No improvement, it just seemed worse than it was at times. I believe now that the Lanning defense is a four year install, and a month ago--I thought it might be three. 2023 will be improvement, but not enough to satisfy most. 2024 will be a big jump, and 2025 we will "arrive." In 2019, Oregon gave up 16 points per game, but had an underwhelming offense. In 2014 Oregon gave up 23 points per game, while in 2012 we also finished No. 2 in the final poll, the Ducks gave up 21 points per game. For the 'Natty year of 2010, the Ducks gave up 18 points per game. What is a reasonable goal? Well Georgia gave up 14 points a game last year, and if the Ducks could split the difference and give up 20 or 21 points per game? If so...

Our forum behavior, as defined by the number of violations and percentage of total posts, went up a bit in 2022, from 2021. The bottom line? Over the life of the forum from late September of 2021 through the end of February of 2023--we have had 72,788 posts written with a total of 325 violations or edits done. That is nearly 45ths/100ths of 1% of all posts written, or rounded off going from 3/10ths of 1% violations up to 4/10ths of 1% of violations. Now I think that is a low number, but as a percentage of increase--it is not good. The problem is that most people want to write whatever they want to write--when they want to write it or they are out. Never mind the impact on the community, and that is today's selfish culture I've written about before! I would not wish the notifying/haggling 325 times on anyone. (Oh goody...I get to do that the rest of my life?) It is a shame that we lost a number of people because they loved the rules until the rules were applied to them, and they could not handle even a notification email. But the good news is that we attracted a number of great new members who write great posts. I love this community, and look forward to the great times ahead! We get along just fine, and then....

Thornton to Tennessee, and Swinson to LSU make no sense. They will play as much there as they did at Oregon!

IMHO, Dante’ is ready for the next level, and Ware is not. But I’m sure he’ll go anyway.

Especially if Oregon can negotiate a surplus amount compared to the OSUs, and WSUs of the world to reflect our bigger audience and market. If the Pac-12 can give us more than an equal share, and we can make the playoffs easier in the Pac-12 and thus make LOTS more money from that, (and national exposure that elevates the brand)...does it make sense to leave under those circumstances?

I doubt all of it... And Dodd has lost a ton of my respect in the last couple of months.

Incredible post Jon, and I think you bring up some superb points that nobody has anywhere. Thanks! Let's Fight Back!

Perhaps they projected that football players will be ruled as employees in the near future, and thus there will not be many non-revenue sports left to worry about travel hardships?

Not thinking ahead? What could possibly go wrong?

This is a hot-button topic with me, as I think they are all bogus--a way to get an extra team into the NCAA tournament. I am not just stating that just when Oregon has a great year, I am stating it NOW when Oregon could benefit from the conference tournament. I am against conference tournaments for all conferences in all sports, thus they would ALL have to be eliminated because you cannot have one conference getting an extra advantage. The Pac-12 just added a conference tournament in Baseball...how ludicrous. They play 50 games, and three against every conference foe and THAT is not enough?

That makes me ill. I LOVE Tom Petty, and am so sorry at his passing. So much incredible music...now forever tainted knowing this! Gators:

A Duck-Buddy of mine was able to personally talk to Rich Brooks in the last couple of months. When asked about what he thinks of Lanning? "Great coach...the best since Bellotti."

Your play explanations are just the best, and this helps us see how offenses attack secondaries when they could be running split coverage. Very cool and....

BTW....we have a stud relief pitcher up, Austin Anderson, who is from Roseburg--just as relief pitcher Matt Dallas is! (below) We got a couple of scoreless innings the other day from Dallas, and we have two from Anderson thus far today. We love the in-state Oregon players! Gotta love a guy with a Mullet!