Haywarduck

It all comes down to the qb and what the qb can do. If a qb only sees one dimension, what is right in front of him, you are limited. If the qb can't deal with the excitement of game time, even without a crowd, you are limited. We were limited by our qb play. A leader of a team, in any capacity has to see the whole game, what is developing and be able to play a game of chess when the opponent is playing checkers. We were barely playing checkers out there on offense. This was especially true once the defensive coordinators started studying tendencies. When a good defense played us, Cal, OSU, they had players, we got out gamed. USC had players, but they weren't a team and won't be under Helton. You don't tackle the punter, if your an elite player, when you have good coaching. I felt sorry for the guy, for a second, but he chose sc. What we need is a very good qb. Maybe one will develop, but more than likely he will move on to campus and take over. We also need at least one go to, NFL caliber, receiver. I am not sure we have seen one on the field in a while. If we get one, and the qb develops, then maybe, our offense can come alive. Until then we are just wishing Cristobal can do a magic trick. He is no magician, nor is he an offensive genius. We don't need either, just elite talent, and plenty of time to jell. Until then the O will be in prevent mode, more like unable mode. That is what the Oregon O needs, unless somebody has an epiphany, but those just don't happen too often, or often enough.

I will also add most here feel secure enough to share opinions and admit when they have been wrong. This is the beauty of opinions, they are opinions, not facts, they don't define you, it is just social discourse. I think the problem on other sites, situations, is opinions define a person and they get backed into a corner. Here you can express an opinion, adjust an opinion, or like me, sometimes, express an opinion to light up another way of looking at things.

I tend to look at Charles this way, and that is why Fishduck is such a great place, call them like you see them.

I stand with the mustache. It is time to give Katleman a scholarship, and forget about the touted, entitled, confused recruits who aren't the playa Henry is!

I would argue that it may not be the lack of coaching up, it may be the fact we are recruiting kids who have reached their peak. When we recruit kids who have only played football, and have gone to all the camps they may not have much upside. In the past we recruited more diamonds in the rough. Kids like Patrick Chung came in at 16, and few knew about him. There were plenty of kids like Patrick, but now we have the elite who everyone knows and the expectations are high. The qb position has been a poster boy position for this trend. We use to only recruit kids who had talent and they became great with coaching and scheme. We now have kids come in with the hype they should just take over. This then lends itself to disappointment and the we don't coach up kids thinking, my two cents. I will also say we are going to hit more homeruns with the elite talent. We just have to accept the flops and realize they just were over hyped.

And a picture of ace recruiter Scott Frost after signing Justin Herbert

If Herbert didn't end up at Oregon he probably would have ended up an Eagle, not a Tiger. No big program wanted Herbert, much like Josh Allen. Both of these qb's struggled because of coaching, but more importantly they struggled because of the receivers they had to throw to. Burrow won the Heisman, much like Johnny football, because he had the receivers who would catch anything. I support Cristobal's efforts at putting elite receivers in place to support the qb. I think we will see a better offense going forward, and the coaching will be just fine. With talent around him the qb will thrive, and a better running game will also help. The question I have is what would have happened to Herbert at EWU, a pass happy school? I think he probably would have been drafted about the same place. Herbert had all the tools when he came to Oregon. Another question is why did the baseball playing, talented qb's like Herbert and Allen fall through the cracks? One answer is they didn't attend all the elite camps where colleges are told who to recruit. The emphasis on this type of recruiting has to end. We need to get away from the one dimensional guys who have reached their peaks. Again I support Cristobal going after elite talent to surround our qb's. I just wish we went after more diamonds in the rough, maybe the last scholarship player on our depth chart is that guy. That is why I still believe in Ashford, and want to see more qb's recruited who play more than football, and maybe didn't attend all the elite camps. This is also why I get excited when I see some of our recruits were wrestlers, track guys, basketball players. We need guys who know how to play, and play in a broader sense than just the football field. This is also why I get extremely excited about JTT coming to Oregon, a true multi-sport athlete. My Sunday rant, thanks for reading.

Dane Sipo, a small town walk-on who always dreamed of being a Duck. The impact of these walk-ons is invaluable. No stars, no scholarship, no fanfare, but he has what every player needs, a dream, and the passion to make that dream come true. A sleeper in the true sense of the word, nobody believes in this kid more than he does.

I have no inside information, but Big Joe is from the same village, in Samoa, as JT's dad. This type of connection can't hurt and I think is under appreciated in Oregon's ability to recruit. Oregon goes after the parents like no other program. Oregon does go after the recruit, but I think Oregon is especially effective at recruiting the parents also. With the Jaqua Center they can assure the parents that kids will have world class academic support. Compare our student center to any out there and students, especially parents come away impressed. The other leg to the stool in assuring parents is the Marcus Mariota Center. Parents aren't just thinking about game day, they want to know their child will be taken care of physically. The MMSPC is another area where the parent is assured their little baby will be taken care of, better than anywhere, which is important. So as we look at JTT's decision his outlook is of the upmost importance, but don't underestimate the way Oregon influences the parents. Cristobal is creating a culture where the student athlete feel like it is a family. The parents also feel that same emotion for different reasons. Another, under appreciated reason why Oregon is killing it on the recruiting trail.

If this conversation happens the it would be a good step, “Hey Mario, I couldn’t wait to play you guys and your mediocre offense. The conservative nature, the predictability, and overall ineptness made it such a joy.“ I would say until a few of these conversations happen we won't see much change, other than the talent level. I would also say that keeping Justin from running might have saved the season as we didn't have depth at the qb position. This is something we saw this year. Maybe Justin and Mario had an agreement that he wouldn't run until the season was in the bag. I also agree our receivers were not the guys he is throwing to now. How many times did guys drop Justin's passes, we blamed the coaches, but the WR's we had didn't have the game to handle Justin's throws. All the pieces weren't together on offense. As the pieces upgrade so to will the offense, but Mario needs an epiphany to truly change. I just hope the conversation you mentioned happens, and others too, which might push us to the offense we all know we can have. We can be a school where our offense and defense put fear in other programs. The defense is well on it's way, time for the offense, to again, rear it's head!

I think Cristobal wants to be the reason Saban retires! Wouldn't it be nice to see Cristobal take the torch from Saban like Mahomes may do with Brady this Sunday. I can dream right!

Notalot you raise an interesting point with your Coach Elliot fact. He has turned down head coaching opportunities. At what point does more money start to lose its influence? I think Cristobal may be thinking this way, along with the fact that he is man of integrity. Cristobal has a goal and feels he can reach that goal with the support he is receiving. Will he leave for more money, I don't think so. What is he going to be able to do, have a couple more bedrooms in his house? Oregon has proven itself as a great place to coach and become successful. With a few more seasons Cristobal will have built a culture and process a CK type coach can take even higher. The process at Oregon isn't hire the shiny object, the highest rated coach, and demand he win now. We build a program that becomes bigger than the head coach. The rivals article was more of the programs that can hire the highest rated coaches, who, often, have little integrity. Good for them, but I like the Oregon Way!

The recent article pointing out the top programs for coaches, by 'rivals', made me wonder just how attractive is Oregon. Do coaches thrive when they come to Oregon? I would argue coaches do thrive at Oregon. Before coming to Oregon Bellotti, much like Cristobal, was a losing coach who Brooks put his faith in as OC. He became a legendary coach, much like is happening with Cristobal. We also hired Koetter and Tedford who received head coaching jobs, first time for both. Much like Arroyo and Avalos who recently went on to head coaching positions after coaching at Oregon. This is often a coaches dream, get the head coaching job, and Oregon has proven to be one of, if the best place to do that. CK was hired as head coach after being an assistant, and like Helfrich, thrived under the foundation which was layed down before them. Both of these coaches faltered as that foundation was gone, and fell apart. This is the last point most of these coaches did much better while at Oregon as compared to when they left. There is no better example than slick, who got his dream job at FSU, and the whole world fell apart around him. I think, we again, have a foundation being layed down for long-term future success. The assistants and processes are being put together to ensure we can withstand when Cristobal leaves, hopefully after a few Natty's. I think Oregon has proven to be a place where coaches thrive and they should think twice before leaving!

My metric is do these programs build coaches or buy coaches and, too often, become coaching graveyards? I would say every coach we have had became a better coach than when he first arrived. This is how I would rate coaching jobs. This seems to be a list of places you try to get to when you think you have proven yourself. I am surprised slicks dream job isn't on the list. I wonder if there is a program which has produced as many head coaches as Oregon. Also how many programs have 5 straight winning head coaches and the one before that we name the field after, and he had a losing record. You want support, be able to get better at your trade, come to Oregon.

There are coaches graveyards, well said, and places where dreams come true. Coaches come to Oregon to fulfill their dreams. Brooks was able to become a NFL head coach, from this small little program. Even slick and Helfrich got their dream job, but it didn't turn out that way. CK and too many assistants to list get their dream jobs, Avalos and Arroyo the most recent. One might also ask the 5 coaches before Saban if Alabama was a (the) top job. My bet is the next Alabama coach will say exactly what the previous coaches would say.

That has got to hurt, maybe as much as the best recruit in a long time from Washington signing with the Ducks! Let's hope we can do both. One note is the last time we got the top recruit out of Washington was the beginning of the worst downturn for the husky program. Here's to getting the top recruit and hanging another dozen or more on the dogs!

Perennial preseason champs, much like ND, even though ND use to win some. Must be the gold color which makes them think they are flawless. The nice thing about being preseason champs is you rule for months on end without losing your place, or doing anything, the husky way!

Well said and I bet he doesn't dance around when he pancakes JPP, just does his job. I have no problem rooting for an Oregonian in the Super Bowl, doing it the Oregon way.

I hope we get both and they end up playing with the ball some. Both of these players would have been moved, in the past, to our offense-centric focus. Lately the supreme athletes are going to the defense. Both of these guys have impact player on the offensive side of the ball written all over them. Speed and power on the offensive side of the ball is what we need to help out our new qb. Time for the offense to get some players!

2022 should be an interesting year in recruiting. Seems like there will be more mystery along with hits and misses with the lack of football being played. Hopefully there will be fall football and the scouts will have to be busy. Sounds like this kid has some decent upside, welcome to the flock!

The problem and why so many are still considered young is last season wasn't a full year of football experience. I suppose like those mormon kids who come back from their mission, all is not lost. What we have is a bunch of older freshman and sophomores. They will be bigger and more mature. The other side of the coin is everyone else has the same situation. Agree the whole imbalance going forward will be an interesting one to watch. Those programs with lots of talented kids who stay around for 5-6 years are going to be beasts with this whole extra year. Some programs where the kid go pro early might be at a disadvantage, interesting times indeed.

With To'oto'o, love that name, and a more experienced LB crew we just might start looking more like the LB program I predicted months ago. Oregon just might become linebacker U with this addition. Last season Sewell showed amazing talent, but his intensity needs to come under control. He flew by a few tackles he will wrap up with more coaching and practice. I can't wait to see Noah's potential with a more refined approach. Justin Flowe, the second highest rated recruit in program history, will be an amazing addition when he becomes healthy. The competition for playing time is going to lead to even more transfers, but an incredible LB crew! This crew will be like no other, mark my words!

I think we are missing the size of the impact of Nike and Phil and Penny Knight. The invisible hand of PK is a huge draw that Slick was able to leverage, Helfrich and Frost were blind to and Cristobal is taking to a new level. There are plenty of remote colleges, with good coaches, and academic and athletic programs. The difference is Nike and how our facilities are put together. Cristobal uses this to bring in the elite talent. The problem, which has been discussed ad nauseam, is the way the football program plays some of it's games. We can't lose to weak teams in a weak conference. You state Clemson has lost one conference game in 3 seasons, right there is one item that has to change, completely shift. It also isn't just how we play some of our games. We need have scheme where we aren't predictable and go out and blow people away, like we use to. This is what Bama has become and what we need to become, again. One area I will continue to harp on is the speed factor. We need to bring in and highlight speed again in our program. I don't think any program is the perfect blueprint for Oregon, but the necessary steps are pretty obvious. Fortunately Cristobal is fixing many things, and is a man of integrity players love to play for. I also love the picture Charles posted of Cristobal when he was on the sideline at Alabama cheering on his players. The guy has unique passion for his players, he also has a unusual singular way of creating compassion for his players. Cristobal is the right guys, he just has to fix the onfield issues on game days, that can be done!

Mario has to be one of the best, but Saban is pretty good. I agree iron on iron is the way to get better, and fortunately Oregon is getting some pretty good talent to line up against, much like bama.

Bingo, sometimes I'm a little too subtle.