Charles Fischer

I was at the butt-kicking in Hawaii in 1988, as I planned the trip way ahead of the season and when Musgrave went down....so did the team. We were 6-1 until he got a collarbone injury, and then we lost every game to finish 6-6, and it was painful.

Thank you Graziani93. Please keep in mind my Duck-Buddy....nobody wears halos here. Yours-truly has made some doozy mistakes, and last December I listed a bunch in a pinned post, owned up to them, and apologized to affected parties. I am also trying to get better, but as the moderators will tell you--I lose my head once in a while. Thank goodness I have these wonderful moderators who will text me to ask about a recent post of mine and ask...."are you sure about that?" So, I am a flawed sinner like all, just trying to get better.

Bird Bomb Dropped... (One of two--ya think they might have changed the game?)

I will politely disagree, and count my lucky stars that you are not Phil Knight for a day. Dan Lanning is one of the nations best DCs, and he will get it done at Oregon....but it is not there yet in just his 14th game. That was true for Kirby, Nick, Dabo and any other great coach you can name. Wilcox is an above average DC, but Nick Aliotti was better, IMHO and Lanning is ahead of both. I do not have time to post it now--but an exchange on the sideline between Lupoi and Lanning showed me who was in charge of the defense. The body language shouted Lanning in charge, and the defensive brain trust of Lanning, Lupoi and Hampton is evident to me. Tosh admitted in a news conference when he was hired that he, "came here to learn how to become a better DC from Dan Lanning." Remember that? I believe this brain trust will get it done.

This forum should be four to five times larger after being in existence for two years. We are about the same size as about four months after we began, and frankly--I do not see that changing. Why? Because with all the good new people that join us--we lose an equal number of good people who do not want to live within our rules requiring everyone to be "polite and respectful." It says a TON about all of you, as you are bucking against the current incredibly selfish culture. The list of former members who used to be active and left, (I did not ban them!) would blow you away. "I remember that guy--he wrote great stuff! What happened?" He broke the rules, and received a notification email from me. Not a ban, not even a warning, just a notification of violating our rules. Then I tell them, "now let's move forward and forget about it," but no--they decide that if anyone should hamper their ability to write whatever they want to write, whenever they want to write it? They leave... Today's selfish culture! The sad truth I've learned is, most people do not want civility these days. And that is why we remain in a "stable" size of forum. It blows me away, as I thought the vast majority of people would want civility, but that is not the case. It is true. You are the rare few who don't want politics, and do not want the nastiness of the rest of the world here. Please take pride in being here, and being an OBD member, as it does make you unique, and a cut above the vast majority on other forums. It is safe to read here, and safe to post. Whew! The good news? With limited growth--I have less moderating issues than in the first year, and that's a good thing! And this forum will never go away; the ads pay for the costs, we have selfless moderators volunteering their time to keep it clean, and it is my own personal GREEN REFUGE that I cannot live without. I don't care if there were only five of us left; I would rather have rational discussion with four, than be a part of the nonsense everywhere else. I love this community. Charles

Thanks again to Coach Boles, as I love this new variation. The stress it puts on a defense to be perfect is incredible, and with our athletes on offense--something is going to pop open.

I noted also that SEC and B1G of 2024 each had seven teams in the top-25. The SEC is no longer going to be the default "best" conference! The final 2022 standings had seven from both, with the B1G having an overall higher ranking for the close of 2022. The SEC honks pondering that concept...

So we have EIGHT Pac-12 teams in the top 25? The pinnacle of the conference....just in time to end it!

We have taken this thread to its logical end, as she is being believed and he will have his day in court. I am not going to delete it, as I did with another thread today, but will lock it. Let’s stick to football here, and let the crimes of others be discussed extensively at forums built for that purpose.

Desert Duck! The final score was 38-30, with Oregon winning, and I take the total number of points away from the actual score to look for the lowest among everyone. Desert Duck predicted 38-31 Oregon, and thus was only off by ONE point! EastBayDuckDad was only TWO points off with his 38-28 prediction. Mic was only off by THREE points with a prediction of 35-30. Too bad we did not have donated prizes for such great efforts! I do want to congratulate LB48 again for winning last week, as his victory may have got buried in the stream of posts. Pretty darn good predictions!

I haven't time right now to get into it much with other forum duties. But I will admit that MindGames is right--we have not yet seen what we hoped for, and I thought Texas Tech would be an excellent indicator for us. They looked a step slow the whole game, and I have three main thoughts about the secondary. First--we have new people playing with each other and they have not meshed like a tight group becomes. It was a first start for Evan Williams, and I was surprised to see Jahlil Florence starting at corner and playing as much as he did with all the veteran corners we have. Dontae Manning played a ton and started versus Portland State--and not so much in Lubbock. A second area deals with knowing the Dan Lanning defense; they are still getting used to assignments in game-time series. I sense this defense is harder to learn, and once the learning curve takes place--it is worth it, but the learning curve appears to longer than I thought. A third area was our opponent; that was a very impressive offense, and I cannot tell how many times I was watching and just spoke out loud...."that is a great play." They had great play designs, with clever ways to attack the defense. This was a hard offense for newbies on defense to contain. I gotta tip my hat to TT, as they had some superb execution to create big plays. While painful, it is just what we needed in preparing for Colorado, OSU, WSU, Washington and USC... And MindGames MD? WELCOME to the forum, and do share your thoughts often!

That is what I am doing too.

You tell us?

Let's move to a new thread on the forum about the game!

Kinda interesting how similar it was to our third game last year against Washington State in the Palouse? We come from behind and clinch it with a pick-six on defense? Mase Funa's Pick-Six...

The title was obviously tongue-in-cheek. Game prognosticators like I are similar to economists in their projections: "Rarely correct, but never in doubt!" Let's start the after game discussion here in this thread. My short comment? "Tyler Shough lost his confidence in clutch situations at Oregon, and has not got over it." He is a good QB, but one who teases you and chokes in the end. The Red Raiders are a good team and I salute them.

We know only what Lanning has told us....

Yup. We have software that removes words that can be used improperly, and replaces them automatically with others. I understand that sometimes the words are not meant in a bad context, but the software does not know that and I do not have the time to pamper everyone. Be nice, and be clean with language and we don't have issues.

I will officially start the thread with....today we will find out just how good the defensive secondary really is. I believe the Red Raiders will throw the ball quickly, thus few opportunities for sacks. So if Our Beloved Ducks cover well for three seconds, then we should win more of those plays. IMHO...the longer the plays go to three seconds and beyond when Texas Tech is passing, the better things that can happen for Oregon. A game like this is an indicator for how well the Ducks can deal with all the tough passing offenses of the conference. Games like this are what all these portal transfers were brought in for...

Here we are my Duck-Buddies, the thread for pondering the actual game as it happens. Let's discuss before, and during the game! The vast majority of you are GREAT in this thread, but you must remember that this forum is different, as we require civilized discourse. Discussion of negative is fine, but don't vent on us! Rule No. 31d covers GameDay Thread Conduct, and it is not hard for the vast majority of us--just a tiny few who need to reign it in when things don't go well for Our Beloved Ducks. Let's Have Fun Posting During the Game!

I’m unable to respond much, as I am out of town and only on my cell. The fact that it was immediate adjustments on defense—is a massive improvement over what we saw in the UW and OSU games. We have had great progress in this defense from the beginning of last year. There was a perfect “Simulated Pressure” in this last game that was so well executed and timed. More to come!

I believe there may be a mistaken notion embedded from my article, and that I am a Tosh Lupoi advocate. Tosh is a proven commodity as one of the nations, best recruiters, and we benefit enormously from that. I also believe, and what I said many times, in that “greatness and weakness, emerge early.” Tosh has shown greatness in recruiting from the beginning, and weakness as a defensive coordinator, calling, defensive plays. No denying that from me! However, he acknowledged his weaknesses upfront, when he was first hired, and between him and Hampton in Lanning—I believe it is the consensus of the brain trust that is calling, and monitoring the defensive plays. In the end, Lanning is responsible for the entire team, and this is HIS defense, and he knows it. I believe the defense of play-calling will be least above average this year. There was a “Simulated Pressure,” applied in this last game, that was absolutely perfect. I have seen tremendous improvement in the execution of the defense from the beginning of last year to where we are now. I believe it will continue.

And they really weren’t pushups, but more then I can do!

That makes complete sense to me too, but you can imagine how my jaw dropped watching the game on Sunday and seeing five surprise starters. I am also trying to raise attention to important points the rest of the media is not. If I can add some additional ponder points for us all to consider through the season to enjoy the entertainment that much more, that I’m on the lookout for it. With all of the tons of websites writing about the Ducks, how could they NOT write about this and make a big deal of it as I am? Or at minimum simply raise the question? I do not believe I am that insightful, but I do not have an explanation for the absence on their part.