Charles Fischer

OK, if it is going to be a night game, then a Friday night game...when there are few options for viewers is ideal. B1G fans wanting to check out Oregon will watch some and record the rest, thus our viewership on Fridays could be superb.

I will have more about the loss of Ben Roberts tomorrow, as I have some homework to finish tonight. Peyton Woodard is visiting Oregon this weekend!

Michigan State defensive lineman Derrick Harmon is once again in the portal and evaluating his options. (From On3) One of the top available players at his position, he entered the portal this winter with the coaching turnover in East Lansing. Teams like Auburn, Ohio State and Oregon were all in the mix. In 25 career games, he’s posted 71 total tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks. Sources have indicated to On3’s Steve Wiltfong and I that five teams are in consideration this time: Colorado, Michigan State, Ohio State, Oregon and USC. The Buffaloes and Trojans have landed visits since Harmon entered the portal more than a week ago. He was tentatively scheduled to visit Miami earlier this week, but that trip was canceled. USC landed the first visit and allows Harmon to play beside Bear Alexander, who nearly entered the portal earlier this month but decided to stay in Los Angeles. Colorado hosted the 6-foot-5, 320-pound Michigan State transfer this past week for its spring game. No timetable has been set for a decision. Derrick Harmon Ohio State is still squarely in the mix to land the Michigan State defensive lineman. The Buckeyes were very interested in Harmon when he entered this past winter and were able to get him on campus. Now a few months later, sources tell On3 that Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson has been in contact with Harmon and the two have picked up where their conversation left off when the defensive tackle withdrew from the portal. Oregon is in a similar situation to the Buckeyes. The Ducks were one to watch the first go-around and were able to get Harmon out to Eugene in December. Defensive tackle is a position Oregon has looked at in the spring window as the Ducks saw a departure on Wednesday with Benjamin Roberts hitting the portal. Sources have also indicated that Michigan State has yet to be ruled out. Derrick Harmon withdrew from the portal in the winter, opting to stay in East Lansing for Jonathan Smith’s first spring. Despite visiting Colorado and USC, sources said the two-time All-Big Ten Honorable Mention has communicated with the coaching staff this week. Now the Spartans are trying to convince him to return for a second time.

Shoots 37% from three? We need it! TJ Bamba becomes Oregon's third portal commitment this spring 247SPORTS.COM TJ Bamba is a Duck after announcing his decision today.

Oregon's pitching situation has been pretty surprising this season on the good side, but in particular...on the bad side. We have been happy with the gradual development of RJ Gordon returning from injury, the mental progression of Grayson Grinsell, and the gradual improvement of Kevin Seitter on Sundays. (Fantastic game against the Bastard Beavers) We also have to separate the issues from either injury or simply a bad day. Some days you step on the mound, and the control is not there. Seitter had that against Stanford, and Ian Umlandt had that occur on Tuesday night vs. OSU. Bad days are going to happen to the best of pitchers, and the challenge is when to replace them....since sometimes they pull it together and shine. Coach Waz recruited a ton of pitchers, and we had a ton of pitchers returning, yet for crazy reasons...we are still short good pitchers. Two of our pitchers from last year, Matthew Grabmann, and Turner Spoljaric, have lost the magic of last year and are not the same at all. Jaxon Jordan We have four superb pitchers from last year that have not even played yet, and probably won't in Dylan McShane, Austin Anderson, Isaac Ayon, and Leo Uelmen. If they were available--it would change everything for Oregon. It looks like Michael Freund is returning from injury, and Umlandt will be available for relief on the weekends, now that mid-week games are finished for the season. But we had two pitchers return on Tuesday that create some buzz and excitement for Oregon Baseball fans. Jaxon Jordan was a highly acclaimed recruit from JC (Moorpark College) who had a 3.17 ERA and was a closer who had 11 saves for them. Waz was excited about his work in fall-ball, and mentioned that he could become the Duck closer. But injury stepped in, when he tried to pitch earlier--got shelled. He pitched for an inning Tuesday night, and showed us good fastballs, and a pretty good curve/breaking ball that started at the batter's eye level and dropped to the knees for strikes. He is badly needed, and at 6'5" can really whip it. I suspect we will see a gradual introduction back as he builds up his arm. Brock Moore The bigger excitement was the return of big, 6'6" Brock Moore and his three scoreless innings. He is known for heat, and he was throwing 94-98 mph, but his slider and breaking ball were killing the Beavers. In particular his breaking ball was much faster than a usual one, thus the batter thinks it is a high fastball and lets it go. Then it does a backdoor drop for a strike that leaves the batter just frozen. This is VERY exciting, as this is just what the Ducks need right now in relief! Big series against No. 25 Utah at PK Park starting Friday night. Check it out!

I will have more information tomorrow about the importance of the loss of Ben Roberts. Also more about the trenches, as I have to finish my homework tonight.

Wow Jon, thanks for posting that. Those issues, in particular, rematches, pretty much assure that the field has to grow to 16. Do you favor more in the playoff? I do, to 16... No rematches; I've seen enough of Beavis...

Wowsa. I loved his improvement, but perhaps he saw too many ahead of him? Not one I wanted to lose, and perhaps freeing up a scholarship for a portal nose tackle? (Harmon, please!)

EUGENE, Ore. — The Big Ten Conference has released the opponents for Oregon’s 2024-25 conference season. Each Big Ten institution will play a 20-game conference schedule, playing three schools both home and away, while facing 14 teams once. Of the single-play opponents, member institutions will play seven at home and seven on the road. The Ducks will play UCLA, USC, and Washington both home and away next season. Oregon’s home-only opponents are Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue, and Rutgers. UO’s road-only opponents include Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin.

Yep, and unfortunately, Ohio State is not out of the picture. But it comes down to the total package, and Oregon may not have enough NIL budget to afford Harmon. After what I saw of the defensive line in the Spring Game, I am sweating it a lot less. We have some very talented young guns at defensive/nose tackle at Oregon. It is "good-or-good" to me as to whether we sign Harmon. I do not want to scare away great young talent either....

Agreed. When I wrote "eyeballs," I meant primarily TV and later on--streaming.

The facts are that he dropped way-too-many passes thrown to him. (10%!) And the rumor is that he bombed the interviews with NFL team executives.

Apparently, USC is interested in both players, and that would be fun to take their lunch-money again...

The other target is Safety Peyton Woodard from Alabama, who would be a sophomore. He was one of the top safety prospects in the nation, and Oregon recruited him they know each other well. He is from Bellflower HS in California, (John Bosco) and I believe has former teammates on Oregon's squad. He was listed as a "no contact" in the portal, meaning that he will reach out to who he is interested in, or has already decided upon. He is described as a high-character guy, and would provide depth at the position for now with a high upside.

First, the portal window closed last night for players to register to leave. Now, the schools have up to a 48 hour processing period before officially listing them on the portal, so I expect we will see some additional names in the next two days. Once in the portal--they can take their time deciding where to go and sign with. The word on other sites is that Coach Lanning is only after two portal targets among this spring group. The first is Derrick Harmon, the massive 359 pound Nose Tackle who visited Oregon during the winter portal period. Word is, that he is still very interested in Oregon, but is making a few other visits to check the size of the NIL bag.

Gritty Ducks Battle Back to Beat Beavs By: Rob Moseley EUGENE, Ore. — When the Oregon baseball team salvaged a win Sunday in its weekend series at Oregon State, Mark Wasikowski wasn’t surprised. His program, the UO coach made clear, was never going to roll over and accept defeat, despite a couple of closely contested losses to open the series. If that wasn’t completely clear Sunday, it sure became so Tuesday. In a nonconference matchup against those same Beavers, the Ducks fell behind by five runs in the top of the second, then stormed back to win, 9-5, before 4,130 fans who tied the sixth-biggest crowd in PK Park history. Bryce Boettcher hit two home runs, Brock Moore and three other relievers combined to get the final 24 outs of the game without surrendering another run, and the Ducks won their second straight against the Beavers to even the season series at 2-2. “These guys battle,” Wasikowski said. “Some teams might have just rolled over and said, you know, we're getting beat and this is embarrassing at home, it's not the start we want. That wasn't our team. Our team decided to take a different approach and that was nice to see.” Boettcher was 3-for-3 with five RBIs, and he had an assist from the outfield as well. The senior and two-sport standout from South Eugene High has only two more regular-season series left at PK Park, beginning this weekend against Utah. “Let me tell you, today was definitely a special moment,” Boettcher said. “To go out with a win against the Beavers means a lot to my family and I. Obviously you’ve got to stay about business and one game at a time. But I'm definitely taking a couple extra steps around the field and looking around and taking it all in.” How It Happened: A run of three straight encouraging midweek starts by Ian Umlandt came to an end Tuesday, as the sophomore left-hander endured a 54-pitch first inning. Three of the first four batters he faced walked, and a long grand slam to left field made it 4-0. The next two batters also reached, but Umlandt dug deep to get the final two outs of the inning and limit the damage. Moore took over for the second, and allowed a leadoff home run to OSU star Travis Bazzana. But Moore got the following hitter to ground out before striking out the next eight batters he faced, matching a feat Moore said he accomplished last season while at Menlo College. “He’s a good player, and he put a good swing on that one,” Moore said of Bazzana’s homer. “I just had to move on from that one. I was able to settle in pretty well and give my team a chance. Bryce came up huge — he was electric all day. It was just really fun to be a part of.” Jeffery Heard (Above) got a three-hit day going with a single to lead off the bottom of the second. With runners at the corners and two out, Carter Garate reached on an error that scored Heard. Boettcher then followed with a three-run homer, getting the Ducks within 5-4. With Moore still cruising on the mound, Heard tied the game in the third on an RBI single to score Mason Neville, who hit a leadoff double. Garate singled to lead off the fourth and Boettcher gave the Ducks the lead with a two-run homer — his third home run in three at-bats, going back to his final plate appearance in Corvallis on Sunday. Heard homered to lead off the fifth, and Maddox Molony followed with a single, eventually coming around to score on a wild pitch for a 9-5 lead. The Beavers best threat was in the seventh, when Tanner Smith walked to lead off the inning and Bazzana followed with a single. But Boettcher threw out Smith trying to go from first to third, keeping Bazzana at first as well, and the threat fizzled. “He's always been known as a really elite go-catch-the-ball defender who can run it down, and he's really been working on his throws from the outfield,” Wasikowski said. “He’s got a very, very good arm, a strong arm, and you saw it tonight.” On Deck: The Ducks open a three-game series against Utah at PK Park on Friday at 6 p.m.

Oregon relief pitchers threw eight scoreless innings after Umlandt's tough first inning, and Oregon's lead-off hitters got on base every inning we came to bat...which left the broadcasters speechless when realizing it.

Down 5-0 with Ian Umlandt shelled and gone after one inning, and Our Beloved Ducks came fighting back! A two run homer by Eugene's best Bryce Boettcher, and then a three-run homer by him!

Amen. It is astounding the size of their fan/alumni base. There really is no alterative to Ohio State or Penn State in their particular states, and Michigan is just huge nationally. We're in a GOOD PLACE now...

I can hardly imagine they lack money from their alumni, especially considering how much better they consider themselves than everyone.

This one is also on TV! Pac-12 Network, or Pac-12 Oregon, in addition to streaming.

We need cannon fodder for the schedule. We can't beat our brains against the best every week, and the perfect teams are those who are weaker, (on a given year) but bring a healthy sized number of eyeballs to the TV games. Rutgers, Maryland, Illinois, Iowa....

I never thought I'd see this, that not only are Trojans furious with Oregon's recruiting and success, we are truly in their heads. When a Hall-of-Famer cites Oregon to raise money...wow. I never thought USC had a funding problem...are their alums poor?

Good gosh the intrigue that occurs in the NFL on Draft day and leading up to it! Below is a very interesting video, especially the first five minutes--wowsa. What I Did Not Know... --Denver baited my Minnesota Vikings into trading up, to make sure that Bo fell to them at No. 12. --Alex Forsyth, former center at Oregon, prepped the Broncos about Bo Nix, which gave them a much better heads-up going in. --Sean Payton has never drafted a QB in the first two rounds...until now. More in the video...

We were already getting equal shares with the Rutgers and Northwesterns of the B1G, just as we gave the Pig-2 an equal share for a hundred years when they clearly did not deserve it. We have to do it within our conference, but no reason to be equal with anyone other than the SEC.