Charles Fischer

I was thinking about our weak DBs...how I want Gonzalez on Bobo all the time, and a safety, preferably Bennett Williams on the Bruin tight end all the time. Should you come up with a unique defense for the extraordinary receivers UCLA has? We need enough in the box to stop the Bruin running game, but putting our DBs on an island with THOSE receivers and the timing they have with DTR? As if that doesn't much it up enough....often times when you add stuff--you slow down your players as they have to "think" about what they are supposed to do in this particular instance in this new defense. And the probability of a mistake, and an easy touchdown from a busted coverage goes way up. Sometimes you come out ahead by sticking to what you know and do best...but the UCLA coaches have all that on tape with a game-plan to attack it. Yikes! This will be real interesting to see what Lupoi/Lanning come up with. A defensive coordinator's nightmare, and I'm sure the Bruin DC, McGovern, feels the same way. What would YOU do?

I would include their offensive line coach; they run the ball superbly, and do not have the prize recruits doing it.

I agree and feel the same sentiment; his turnaround has been miraculous, and we fans have been the beneficiaries. I am grateful.

Fantastic analysis above, and another reason why I need my "Dazed" fix on a regular basis. I no longer place relevance on that above stat, as last year Oregon had 54 of the blue-chippers to Fresno State's one, but we still almost lost to them last year. Ditto with Washington State this year, and ditto with Bellotti/Chip teams of the past.

I couple of thoughts; 1) Oregon was down 14-0 in the Rose Bowl and came back. No lead for either team will safe, IMHO. 2) this could be a close game like year where it was decided by defensive play (the pass interception by DJ James) to finish it, just as the Mase Funa pick at Washington State did this year.

As I've written many times...we sent five or six rushers on Eastern Washington a number of times and got nothing. We call these clues... The shorter answer is..."we aren't very good at blitzing yet." And yes, it is surprising to me too.

Of course not, and I have written that many times. I would prefer Bassa at the "Money" linebacker spot instead of Flowe all the time. But I acknowledge that Flowe can get better, but he needs game reps. Better to play him against Arizona than against other opponents... He is going through the learning curve that Sewell did in 2020, and mistakes are part of it. (Although I believe it was Sewell's gap the Wildcat RB ran through for the touchdown, and it was Noah who was responsible for the RB on the wheel route scoring as well. That is two TDs in one game, and thus Sewell still doesn't have the position down like so many great Oregon linebackers of the past.) Michael Clay and Kiko Alonso Knew How to Plug Gaps...

No. The Bruins are too loaded on offense, IMHO, for us to say we will, "win with our defense." We cannot stop them; we work to slow them down and score boatloads of points as well. Long-story-short? We will "Chip Kelly" a Chip Kelly team on both offense and defense. Think of our overall team strategy in 2010-2015...as I believe we will be doing them both this weekend. And I LOVE it!

Yes, that is one of the questions the article referred to...Coach Lanning's youth. People often comment on an article by just looking at the title and they don't even read it! Happens often on my articles....people write stuff in the comments that makes me roll my eyes. (Because I dealt with their observation in the article, and they don't realize they've just been busted) No biggie.

I don't care if you are Zach Charbonnet, you better have a head of steam to take on this wired linebacker in Justin Flowe. Just watching that collision alone is worth the price of admission... My FishDuck Friends, I just spent four hours again going through games to find the plays I use for my analysis articles. I also note moments in the game to use my photo-editing software I have to grab a screenshot for my own use, and for the additional pictures for the writers of FishDuck. It is quite a process to convert the games to MP4, but it is cool to get the great screenshots like that one above. Justin Flowe...Whew!

Against and with Chip....I agree that both of those are great choices.

A very interesting question...."will Dan Lanning's youth ever show?" With all the surprises this season--I sure did not see that one coming. He is coaching this team like a veteran thus far, and it is a very intriguing question.

Akili Smith had an epic game vs. UCLA back in 1998 with all the marbles (at that moment) on the line... At the end of the game...I felt like Cade McNown did during the game.

In terms of the eyeball test...I am forced to conclude it, and it is a bitter pill to swallow. Their defensive backs play tighter, and their pass rush is MUCH better than Oregon's...despite the star ratings of Oregon players, and all the experience in the front seven of the Ducks. Giving up only 17 to USC, and now only 10 to Washington State? Geez. Between the regular season and the bowl game...the Beavers have a real shot at 10 wins this year! And if they had an experienced savvy QB like a Bo Nix, a Cam Rising or a DTR....they would be scary, IMHO.

Helf coached from 2013-2016, and Bellotti was the coach in 2004, but we get your point—it’s been a long time since the Bruins won here.

One thing I have to give them credit for is their movement. Players recruited by Mario move much better than I thought they could. And they pass-protect much better than I thought they would. These pleasant surprises make all the difference for the Oregon offense.

I just received the email from the University of Oregon. It is official, that ESPN GameDay is coming to Eugene for our big game! Oregon's "Duck" is featured a few times in this year's theme song...

Don't ANYBODY go down the "Climate Change" route on this, as it will create a political discussion and I will not allow the forum to go there. Let's enjoy a great day of college football!

No. 8 Oklahoma State just lost to No. 13 TCU 43-40 in two overtimes. Who is going to move up?

debbieduck wrote in another thread that I combined.... I just watched the game of the year. Bama loses. One domino that was needed to get to playoffs , just fell. Now USC needs to beat Utah.

This is a real "fork-in-the-road" year for Kelly Graves as a coach. I believe one of our writers will elaborate in the future...

As I wrote in another thread.... Let's see how it all shakes out between 1) the new media contract and 2) a separate streaming contract. That, and 3) the ability to get more the bowl/playoff money from our conference, (if you are the team going) and 4) the increased split for the Pac-12 from the new Playoff Contract. Way too early to predict our demise IMHO, as those are four major elements that affect our future that are yet to be known.

This 20-13 loss in overtime could be a killer for Justin Wilcox, as the Pac-12 continues to embarrass itself. We need to be top-heavy with two or three teams. Or one...

This has been in effect since the beginning, but very few seem to know of it. I wanted the non-members, (which is 85% of those are here) to know they could get this feature if they take a minute and sign up.

The original forum software has that feature, but here is the problem with it...we all observe what others write and see what they get away with. So if a bad post is up for a while, then everyone sees it and the new "low-bar" of behavior and guess what happens then? I see tons more of the same behavior soon. By the time enough people report it, (and few ever do) the post has been up all day and doing the damage to the delicate civil atmosphere we have. I have an axiom about that, "whatever you allow? You will see again, soon."