Jon Joseph

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?

Good info. Thanks Charles. Makes me feel better about taking the Ducks -7.5.

Ankle injuries are so dicey. So easy to tweak on the field of play. Sure hope KT is good to go. Possibly the biggest CFB difference maker on D?

Cool! Thank you. I for one need all the help I can get!

David, sorry for the rant. Your takes are always well written and enjoyable. But I do see some irony here. When Mario was 1st elevated to HC, fans argued that he was 'young;' inexperienced as a HC. At the P5 level, this was true. Now, Mario is in year 3 and most of the guys on the roster are his guys. Is it a young roster holding the team back; or, is the way in which the team is coached during the week and on game days? If the culture you have instilled does not equate to guys being ready to play on game day, have you instilled the proper culture?

Great take David, thanks. I have a few problems with the 'youth issue' and ipso facto thinking Oregon will necessarily improve in 2022. One, I saw this team play in Columbus, Ohio versus the #3 ranked team in the country. tOSU gained a lot of yards but as Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said post-game, the Buckeyes were never in the game. Ohio State was dominated on both LOS. Two, I saw the way the team played vs USC in 2020 in the Pac-12 Champ game. I also saw many games where the team appeared not to give a whip. Three, I saw a team that should have gone to the Playoff under the leadership of 1st round draft pick and NFL rookie of the year, inexplicably lose at ASU. Then after keeping the Beavers in the game, the Ducks blew out favored Utah in the Pac-12 champ game. 4th, the youth of the team does not mitigate the abysmal play calling against a Wildcats team that should have trailed Oregon something like 35-0 before the 1st half. In other words since Mario arrived, I've seen this movie before. Why in 2022 will a switch all of sudden be flipped? Why in 2022 will the Ducks be ready to ball out in every single game and stop playing down to the level of the opponent? This inconsistency is on the guys making the big bucks, The Coaches. The inconsistent play we have seen over three seasons is not aberrant because of youth, it is systemic based upon the coaching the players are (not) receiving. I am more willing to forgive youth when a young player who is trying his best makes an error of commission. What I am seeing from this Ducks team from the HC on down is a team-wide error of omission. A continuing failure not to play hard and play smart from the opening whistle until game's end. I see players going through the motions. Where is the will to dominate your opponent? If a team doesn't have the will, it can take an L versus any team it plays. I note that Alabama had to replace over a dozen starters chosen in the 2021 NFL draft. Bama is not infallible, could have lost at UF, but the team despite the youth of the roster balls out in every game. And the team overcomes injury to great players. I see unfocused, disinterested play falling on the coaching staff. After 3 years of watching 'THIS,' I am not willing to write it off on the age of the roster.

Great take + great YTD conference rankings. However, and I certainly do not wish to diss the Ducks this weekend I'd have ASU above Stanford? Stanford destroyed SC, but so did the Beavers. Stanford won at Vandy but it was a struggle. ASU shot itself in the foot in Provo. 4 false starts on what could have been the late game winning drive! I think we learn a whole lot about the Bruins and the Sun Devils this weekend? UCLA is -3.5. But I will not be surprised, especially if DTR is not 100%, if ASU wins this game? Nationwide, whole lot of shakin' goin' on this weekend. My top 5 today all in: 1.Bama 2. UGA 3. Arkansas 4. Florida 5. Mississippi 2 of the above 5 have to take an L on Saturday. I have the Ducks, off 1 big road win and 3 scuffles at 6. But because Clemson is ranked and Texas is not, the Ducks and not the Hogs, is the only team with 2 Ws vs the AP top 25. Man, if SC doesn't win at CU Saturday, will anyone want the job?