Jon Joseph

Stanford is now 5-1 vs #3 and higher ranked teams since its 2007 upset of USC as a 41 point underdog.

Sans the Ohio State game where he executed a great game plan, but still completed less than 50% of his passes, Brown has played the way his history said he would play. And not to demean his effort in Columbus, but who were those guys on the OL? Has anyone seen them since? At OH ST was the 1st time Brown has started against and defeated a top 25 opponent. He had chances to do so in the ACC and failed. He is doing his best but his best is not good enough to lead to a title and to elevate the talent around him. Of course I am not there at practice, thank goodness, eh Ducks fans, but I can't believe that one of the younger, more talented on paper QBs cannot beat out Brown? In general, I am concerned about QB development under Mario. Justin Herbert's talent was never allowed to show. Shough retrogressed as the 2020 season went on. Brown also seems to be retrogressing? And Thompson, Butterfield, Ashford are not capable of being coached up? As you so correctly noted, the team has talent at WR and TE that is being wasted.

Love the GIF! But if it's Michigan coming the penguins should be wearing khakis, no?

Great article. Nick Saban. Love the irony of seeing Nick in commercials with a duck! AFFLACK! Nick did learn. He wasn't all that at Michigan State. He arrived at the happy recruiting grounds in the south and prospered at LSU and is on a historic run at Bama. Nick evolved with the game. He changed his D from all-behemoth guys to guys who can run sideline to sideline. After whining, he brought in Lane Kiffin, opened up the O and emphasized recruiting skill players as much as smash mouth OL guys. He has had consistent assistant coach turn over and always seems to hire excellent replacements. It's hackneyed, but Nick has a PROCESS that works. A process that has NFL bound talent ready to go against opponents strong and weak. Because of Mario's recruiting prowess and because of the state of the Pac-12 conference, Mario will win a lot of games. But something is missing. The team can show up and play excellent ball in champ games vs Utah and USC and on the road against a team ranked #3 on nation, a team that 'never' takes an L at home. But the team also struggles against the likes of Arizona, the worst team in the conference. IBM almost failed. The new CEO of IBM looked in the mirror and made dramatic changes that IBM had not seen in 50 years. One of the IBM's of CFB, Alabama, was failing and floundering before the right leader was hired. It took Nick Saban one year to right the ship in Tuscaloosa. And like all great leaders, Saban adopted to changes brought on by the competition. He did not stand pat. I do not know of a single Ducks fan who wants Mario to fail. But Mario is at a cross roads. The road he is on is not producing results commensurate with the talent of his organization's 'employees,' the players. Mario by all accounts is a workaholic. But working yourself to death does not equal success unless you have a plan that will translate the work effort into positive results. I hope he will take this brief respite in the season and ask: do I have the right assistants; am I micro-managing my assistants; is our strength and conditioning program preventing injury or causing injury; are our practice habits working: and are on-field leaders being encouraged and developed? Sorry to go all Tony Robbins, but if Mario doesn't change we will see the same results season after season. Big wins against big opponents and a lack of cohesive effort against mediocre opponents. In any business you can recruit the best employees, but can you get the employees to function as a cohesive unit? If you can't do that you will never be a great leader.

I'm staying positive. In all of life you play the hand you are dealt. Mario is holding a very good hand. He has to play his cards right. Hopefully, the next two weeks will be 'tell the truth time' between the players and the coaches. A chance to heal physically and psychologically. As frustrated as us fans have been since Ohio State I would think and hope, that the coaches and players are equally frustrated. This bye comes at a perfect time. A chance to regroup, refocus and get ready to play winning ball down the stretch.

Just Win Baby!

There are teams that are nemesis for other teams. Yesterday for the 5th time since 2000 the Cardinal defeated the Ducks. But this was a Ducks team without its OC. This was a Ducks team missing the 2nd most important guy on O, the starting center. Alex Forsyth who Mel Kiper has ranked as the 4th best center prospect in the nation. And the officiating? Can we agree that a number of calls in the game were suspect? Yet, how many good things have we seen in 2021? A W at now #7 Ohio State when Oregon was a 2 TD dog and playing without the best guy on the team. How about untested young guys stepping up on D? How about a resurgent kicker who worked his butt off to improve? How about a solid punter who has helped greatly in giving the Ducks good field position? Oregon has 1L. Oregon is ranked behind a 1L team it defeated. And this Ohio State team has to play Penn St, Michigan and Michigan State. #4 Penn St plays at #3 Iowa this Saturday. The Ducks can move up in the AP while sitting at home and mending injuries. Cincinnati was helped out by SMU being ranked. But was most definitely not helped out with Navy defeating UCF. And will the win at Notre Dame turn out to be all that? ND at Va Tech Saturday will not be a gimme. And ND is not a lock vs an up and down SC team. And not a lock at Stanford. The Beavers is brewing up some secret sauce and the Beavers get ASU at home. Oregon could be facing a top 25 team at home in the final regular season game. The ACC? How about NO. Oklahoma? Will anyone be surprised if the Sooners are defeated by Texas on Saturday or in the Bedlam Game at OK ST. I think a 2021 Playoff spot for these Ducks is still very much in play. The Ducks are better than the rest of the teams on the schedule and the voodoo that is Stanford has already happened. Only 5 games into the season I am not ready to don a life jacket let alone abandon ship. Clemson a few years back was upset at Syracuse. That Clemson team won a title. Clemson a few years back lost a home game to Pitt. That Clemson team played for a title. How many of us believed this team would go 13-0? The Ducks used up the floating mulligan it captured in Columbus; something that was more likely to happen than not. 12-1 is more than doable and I believe it can and will be done.

Why would the B1G be adverse to this? 1. Alabama - SEC vs 9 Michigan AL at 8 Oregon Pac-12 2 Iowa - B1G vs 10 BYU AL at 7 OH ST AL 3 Cincinnati AAC vs 11 Michigan St AL at 6 Penn St AL 4 Oklahoma - B12 vs 12 Coastal Carolina Sun Belt at 5 UGA AL That would be 5 B1G teams in the field. That would mean B1G dinero. SEC with but 2 teams. How about a more likely to happen 8 team field with a G5 team guaranteed a spot? 8. Oregon at 1 Alabama 7 Ohio State at 2 Georgia 6 Oklahoma at 3 Iowa 5 Cincinnati at 4 Penn State That would be 3 B1G teams in the money. SEC with 2 teams. And with the Ducks and the Bruins defeats yesterday and Fresno taken an L at Hawaii and dropping out of the top 25, does GK want to wait until 2026 for the field to expand? There are still 7 SEC teams in the week 5 AP poll. But Ls do seem to count in the SEC. The ranked SEC teams dropped as they should have after in conference Ls. Kentucky at 5-0 deserves to be ranked. But 2L Florida at 20 is giving the Gators a lot of credit for a close home loss to Bama. No top 25 teams left on the Ducks regular season schedule. Best hope is for the Beavs to keep on winning and ASU winning out before the Pac-12 champ game. SMU is #24. I still think it might behoove the Pac-12 in the long run to invite Houston, SMU, #12 OK ST and TX TECH into the fold? 2 huge markets and many the dedicated OK ST and TX Tech fans. Hats off to Brady Hoke for getting SDS in at #25. Yesterday's loss to old nemesis Stanford is a downer. But there is still a lot of football to be played. Penn State at Iowa will obviously have a big influence on the week 6 rankings. Oregon may well move up a spot without playing on 10/9? UGA at Auburn will not be a gimme. And Oklahoma is by no means guaranteed a victory vs Texas. In 2021, the PO is still a very realistic goal for the Ducks.

Mike West - 'structural flaw' nails it. We see highly touted recruits not coming together to play team ball. 2 false starts on what should have been a game sealing drive. If that's not on coaching then who or what is it on? That is simply undisciplined play. Undisciplined play that cannot be excused by the age of the roster.

The Forum is FUN! No one likes to take a loss. But in any given season a handful of the 130 teams playing G5/P5 CFB run the table. Under this Playoff system it is far better to take a loss early rather than late. I do think what many of us are reasonably asking is whether the team can and will improve?

I agree DCDuckfan - I do not see team progressing, I see the opposite. Since Marion and I love him as a man and a recruiter, has been the HC, has he progressed at all in having the team ready to play and executing the game plan on game day? I haven't seen it. Mario has already attended the Nick Saban Rehabilitation School for Terminated HCs. I am not trying to be facetious or less than graceful to Mario, who by all accounts is a fine man. I simply have come to believe that the man's DNA will not allow him to be an uber-successful head coach. What we see today is what we have and will get in the future. Fire him? Who are going to hire who is better? I do know that at the end of the 2022 season Chip Kelly's buy out is $0.

Great observations. It is concerning that we saw a talented young QB retrogress last season. Seems that we are witnessing the same with a CFB QB who is about as mature as one can get. I thought from game 1 that Ty needed to see the field. I have seen nothing to change my mind. I just hope that TY will be coached up? I am starting to think that Moorhead is more the OC he was at MS ST and not at Penn St when he had Barkley in the backfield?

Charles, thanks for the tough to write 'mo(u)rning after observations. I believe this statistic speaks for itself. I n the last 12 conference road games Mario Cristobal is 6-6. This is generally in line with his overall record as G5/P5 head coach. Something is not 'meshing.' The game plan is not being properly communicated to and executed by, the players. Will 'this' change with another year of HC experience for Mario? Change due to the guys on the roster being a year older, but missing a guy like KT? I'm not holding my breath. The problems are systemic. At the end of the day one person is responsible for systemic issues. That is the person in charge of the operation.

IT IS A GAME. Oregon lost to its old nemesis. Tons left to play for including the final 4. Realistically, how many fans believed the Ducks would finish 15-0?

6-6, Mario's record in the last 12 conference away games. Pease insert excuse X+ here. No starting center? No OC coach? Not buying. No way. No how. IMO, there is no excuse for this record with the kind of rosters that are playing for Mario in a dog meat conference. NONE, ZERO, NADA, ZIP, NO WAY. Oregon is consistently losing on the road to far less talented opponents. How baffling is the win in Columbus? Today, defeat pulled from the jaws of victory. Blame the refs? OK. But the team that Stanford put on the field had no reason to have the Ducks down 17-7 at the half. No way but for bonehead plays this Cardinal team should have driven the field to tie the game. Love the man. Love the recruiter. But getting the team ready to play and to finish a game? How about NO!

NEMESIS - the unescapable agent of someone's or something's downfall. And hats off the the ref for calling PI on a play that had not been called all day.

HATS OFF, again, to Mario on the recruiting front!

McKee. Completing 68% of his throws and no INTs to date. Mr. T, please get in this kid's face!

He disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Never to be seen again. But he did intercept that ball vs AW Barn.

I RESEMBLE THIS REMARK + the photo too!

I come in peace. I have money down on Oregon covering -7.5 today. Do not shoot the messenger! However, there is no ignoring that the Indians/Cardinals have been a Ducks football nemesis. Since 1894, undefeated Ducks teams have lost their first game to Stanford on 21 occasions. 4-0 teams have lost 7 times to Stanford. 9 AP Poll ranked Ducks teams have lost to Stanford. Ducks teams ranked in the top 10 lost to Stanford in 2001, 2009, 2012 and 2013. BUT NOT TODAY! GO DUCKS!

Great observation, but I could not disagree more. Saban at Bama figured it out in year 2. At LSU Saban figured it out it out in year 2. Like you, I hope we see more cohesion down the road from Mario's squad in 2021? A flashback to what we already witnessed in week 2 in Columbus? Was that an aberration? The same guys who won on the road in Columbus are the same guys who played Fresno, Stony Brook and Arizona. How do all of these 'young guys' 'get it' in week two and not 'get it' in weeks 1, 3 and 4? And they 'got it' in Columbus missing a guy who may be the top draft pick in the 2022 draft? The D was porous vs Ohio State in the back end but Oregon won both LOS. Why? Because of desire, guts and want to. Because on O. the OC was engaged and involved. Where sans the Buckeyes is the effort? Why will the effort necessarily improve as the season progresses? Why not ball out now? Like the team balled out in Columbus. This is about attitude and want to. It is not about the youth of the roster. If the roster played like it did vs AZ in Columbus? Wildcats are blown out in the 1st half. The coach needs time to get experience? The players who the coach recruited balled out on the road at then #3 Ohio State are too inexperienced to ball out now? I'm sorry but I don't 'get it.' YET, Oregon is 4-0. Maybe this is a team like the FSU team that went undefeated in the weak ACC before Marcus et al blew the Seminoles socks off in the Rose Bowl?

FYI - To date, Stanford QB McKee, has completed 68% of his throws without an interception. Ducks need Mr. T to lead the assault on this guy. Stanford plays a ball control O. A style of O that can put up pints vs a bend-don't-break D.

A+. Thanks Utah. UCLA manhandled Stanford at the LOS. Ducks should do the same. Stanford was only in the game because of the same DB break downs that the Bruins showed vs Fresno.

In the booth it's Stanford alum all over again. Over/Under on when they 1st start dissing on the Ducks?