Haywarduck

I ask this not to compare teams, but the position in polls. Is it really better to be #2 at the end of the season, or just in the top 10? I wonder this for a program which has never won a men's title. A perspective difficult for Oregon with its 20 mens titles. If Oregon had never won an NCAA mens title would it be worse to be #2. To be that hauntingly close, it might be better to be #6. I imagine we will hear about how close they were, but I suppose they really were 1st when you look at it.

Defense, Evan Williams some great highlights, but the effort with that mitt was relentless. Offense, Bo Nix, his maturity and guidance on the field was priceless. Most excited about is Holden. He had moments where he was unstoppable. My favorite Duck, Dan Lanning! He is Duck Football.

Three words describe the dawgs season ending game... The dawgs mens athletic program comes up short, again! National Titles, still zero, zip, zilch, nada! That one had to hurt, never even led one second of the game. Almost looked like they didn't deserve to be there. I don't think many can even come up with a plausible could have, would have, or should have. The dawgs just weren't good enough. Pretty sure Georgia would have sent them home too.

Strange, why would Dan Lanning be in Texas.............. and a follow up home visit. Dan knows how to seal the deal!

I love how you compare, and then make the statement you can't compare, well done. Comparing takes perspective, and then it comes down to subjective attempts at weighing feelings. We all know how we feel about Taggart and Cristobal. Most have a soft spot for Helfrich, and his downfall saddened those hopes, dreams. With CK he is a unique magic man from his Oregon days. Those days can't be repeated, but oh how they can be recalled with much fondness. With Lanning he wasn't a head coach and that perspective is key. He has to lay the expectations and processes for support staff, coaches, and student athletes. That process has to be tweaked more than most coaches because he hasn't done it, and no coach has been under him before. The fact Lanning hasn't done this before makes me beyond impressed. Kirby Smart is probably the best comparison, an assistant to head coach, and he went from losing two games in his second season to losing three in his third. That may be what we should be willing to expect, but who knows. But how do I feel about Lanning, I feel, unlike any other coach in a long time we have our Oregon Football Coach. He respects, reveres our past, and is guiding our program with the same traits we cherish. I feel we are in good hands, and the future is bright. I say this because I see a team of student athletes growing into a better team and stronger individuals. I guess I think about Lanning in his third season like letting autopilot drive my car. I haven't been willing to let that happen and am not sure when I will be. With the Oregon Football Program I am ready to let go and not nitpick Lannings decisions. I trust he will make the best decisions, grow, and will be here another 10 years if we want, love the guy!

Wish they both could have lost, but seeing the dawgs lose was good enough!

Love his quote, " as an individual, I must admit that I was taken aback and somewhat offended to see the U/O design on the Oregon helmet." Let me fix that with the real outrage coming next year, " as an individual, I must admit I was taken aback and somewhat offended to see our O/U QB wearing an Oregon helmet looking and performing so much better!"

Curious to see what a healthy Burch could do all season. I hope we see that fulfilled for Jordan and Oregon! Maybe we are seeing the impact of NIL money on guys who may have gone the other way in the past. I can't imagine it is too bad being a football player at Oregon when you are making a bit of money. I know it wasn't too bad just going to school when I didn't have much money at all.

I want to see Brayden Platt become the LB I have thought we had a few years ago with some of our great recruiting under the last staff. Brayden seems to have everything we want physically, but I want to see a guy who will lead the defense to a level we haven't seen recently. Sometimes guys get on campus and it is hard to keep them off the field. Sometimes a guy like Justin Herbert shouldn't have been kept off the field. I am hopeful we may have a freshman who earns some big playing time. The amazing part is he will have a couple seniors to guide him in his transition to college ball. With Jestin and Jeffrey knowing exactly what Lanning wants on and off the field Platt can become the foundation of the next generation defense. I want to see some young guys reach high level play, early. With some of the seasoned vets guiding their growth we may just have some young guys ready to take us to a new level on defense.

Ty will be successful wherever he goes, in whatever he does. It is wonderful to see young men show the characteristics of effort and persistence needed to overcome what life brings you. He may not even be as successful at his next stop as he wants. What he has shown is he understands failure is a necessary part of a journey. He will carry on and I hope he has an amazing football career at his next stop, he deserves it. All the best to an amazing young man with a bright future!

OSU has an alumni who went to high school in Portland graduated from OSU and then went on to Stanford, much like Phil Knight did at Oregon. The big difference Jensen is worth $1 billion more than Phil Knight. Most schools have wealthy alumni, the difference, most schools aren't as successful as Oregon, pretty simple. Oregon has been successful way before Phil Knight started giving money to the school and will be long after. The one constant, other schools will whine about Oregon's success. We aren't the most elite academic institution, the most gorgeous location, but we grind out wins by innovating, and never giving up, that will never change. Back to the bastard dawgs, they win by thinking they are better than others, selling that mentality to recruits and then always coming up short. I look forward to that happening again on Monday!

I can wait for the west to earn the respect we deserve. That respect should come from Oregon winning it all! All I know is the dawgs will be insufferable for decades if they win. If the dawgs lose then the whining can continue, and that will be all we need to go along with our Fiesta Bowl win. Darren, I love everything you have written up to seeing this title. I must say I momentarily questioned your Duck loyalty, but my policy is to agree to disagree.

And which guy on the leaderboard was recruited as a DB? That guy has so many favorite moments for me. It is nice to see a highly rated guy in Troy Franklin work out at the position. He seems to be at the front of a lot of highly rated and skilled guys coming into the program at receiver. I hope one of these guys can add to my favorite memories. I know Troy has a few, looking forward to many more!

I looked up 'freight train with dancing wheels' to see if that great line had been said before. What came up was your Fishduck post. I nominate freight train with dancing wheels as the best line of the year, and it just might hold up for the next 362 days! I want a freight train with dancing wheels in our backfield this coming season! Wow Chuc007 keep them coming!

Might be controversial, only read if willing to ponder. I think we need perspective to really pick Nix as the all-time great. Many programs have picked our coaches as the next great coach because of how well they did at Oregon. It was then proven the coach wasn't as good as they thought, just part of the Oregon coaching machine. Now I think Nix was great and did a wonderful job of picking Oregon as his next stop, with Dilly as his mentor. The problem is we need to see how the next qb does in our system. Will Dillon become the next all-time great, one year qb? Is Oregon just a qb factory with the system that builds up qb's and coaches? Remember Nix did pretty well before, but struggled in the culture, and system at Auburn. Same guy in the culture, and system at Oregon, and he thrives. Bo had the talent, but Oregon is where he bloomed, and the next guy just might too. This may be a controversial opinion, but something to ponder, is Oregon again, a qb producing machine. Dillon sure seems to think so, and so does Dante, again. Dante seemed to think CK was the qb whisperer, with Marcus as his proof, and DTR doing pretty well. He saw it wasn't Chip that made Marcus it was something in the water up in Eugene. I am grateful for the time Bo gave us, but I am also even more grateful for the culture, and system Lanning is again creating. I think we have a qb producing machine, again. My bet is we haven't seen the best, but I also don't like comparing Oregon players from different eras. They are all the greatest, because they came to Oregon and gave it their all! I love them all, just like my kids, and I won't go down that road of truly comparing. That is fine to do, but just not something I am comfortable with.

This leaves little doubt players are talked to about playing time and their future in the program by coaches. Players aren't just doing the math themselves if a players son is leaving. It also shows that if a player isn't seeing playing time coaches aren't behind the development a player is getting just through practice. Players need to get on the field if they are to advance in their sport. It would seem a coaches believe if you're not a starter by your sophomore season then you better transfer down. That is what I take from this transfer, maybe I am wrong? Makes sense if your thinking you want to make a NFL. Maybe it is also a position thing, he doesn't want to go where Lanning sees his talent at?

It will be interesting to see if Lanning had a Penix problem, not so much a DeBoer issue. We must remember Mariø beat DeBoer so the magic act isn't just the guy on the sideline. Last night Penix again proved he is the real deal. I also want to see if we need another Dye type player on defense. I mean a leader who has that magical ability to lead, will the defense to make those plays that seemed to sometimes elude us. Maybe a fully healthy Justin Jacobs will be that guy, or my pick freshman Brayden Platt. Oregon needs guys on the field who will a win, and others follow. A team needs a great coach and supporting cast of coaches who meld into a unit of leaders. I see this beginning to more fully happen. I believe this was one element holding us back. In the future I think we will see the systems and processes more fully integrated into a team firing on all systems under Lannings vision. The last element is going to be having another Nix type leader at QB, hopefully Dillon will be that guy. As mentioned we then need that same on field leadership on defense. I think that will happen too, and I won't even begin to talk about the special teams. Hopefully special teams gets gets it going as the other components have. We will need all things working. As we saw with Michigan last night, one part can potentially kill a great season.

I agree it is on the coaches to come out hot too. Jamey Chadwell is much like DeBoer, an up and coming coach most don't fully appreciate. Lanning hasn't passed the DeBoer test, and he now needs to pass the Chadwell test. The other element the Flames have going for them is they are playing for a higher purpose. A favorite O-lineman passed away earlier in the season and they have been playing like they have 12 men on the field since. I agree Oregon has to come out and show the Liberty team our coaches have a game plan that will shut them down and run them over. They don't have advantages, or those perceived advantages will only grow. I think this is a huge opportunity for Oregon and Dan Lanning. Can they rise up to this massive challenge. There are forces happening we need to shut down quick. If it looks like we are being out coached, or they begin to think they can beat us, it might be too late to come back. First quarter is key!

If you were a coach behind a guy, you knew well, and who had lost over 60% of his games coached you would probably stick around too, just saying. By the way, Mariø has a losing record everywhere but Oregon. Leavitt knew Mariø, and was probably blown away at his success at Oregon. Leavitt is a winner, and stuck around to watch the surefire train wreck coming down the tracks. The fact there wasn't a train wreck further proves what an amazing job Head Coach at Oregon is. I wonder how good Oregon would have been under Leavitt, especially compared to Mariø. Leavitt isn't an Oregon type head coach, but I bet he would have done much better than Mariø.

I always liked Leavitt, what a defensive turnaround he gave us. Leavitt just had too many skeletons in his closet, Mariø, on the other hand, has nothing in his closet.

There isn't a good reason Oregon should lose, but it won't be an amazing win. This is, potentially, a trap game, but what elements would we see if it does become a trap game. We may want to turn a blind eye to the possibility to losing this game, but that is exactly when it happens. The first obvious thing the Ducks could do is come out slow, once again. This isn't out of the question as Oregon has lost before because of this tendency. The second obvious thing which could happen is to lose the turnover differential. Unfortunately Liberty is number 11 in the nation in turnover ratio. The Ducks better take care of the ball. Liberty doesn't just rank high in turnover differential they also outrank us in yards per carry. If Liberty gets their rushing game going then their yds. per catch, which outranks us, will begin to hurt. Both teams score 40+ per game, but whose offense is going to get going early? While I agree Liberty doesn't have the Brock Purdy, Shough, Brown differential they need to be respected. The thing about Brock was he wasn't ever respected for winning, exactly what Liberty does. I think Oregon wins easily, but I am not as confident as I would like to be, and I hope the players and coaches aren't either!

The real deal, and may be the guy to bring back the title we won to begin it all.

I just hope we don't rely on team speed on defense too much. We need discipline and excellent tackling. If we rely on speed that may mean we are having to catch a guy in the open field. Speed to help on gang tacking I would love to see.

A recipe for disaster would be to come out flat and then give them turnovers. If that doesn't happen then I think the Oregon offense will be too much. Bo Nix and the rest of the weapons will be unlike anything Liberty has seen this season. That said they won't lay down, and Stein has to scheme for an all out assault out of the gate. Agree the offense Liberty has will provide a lot of challenges our defense has to be disciplined and ready for. This will be a challenge for Tosh and his players to show they aren't just highly rated, but ready for the test. Just wow on the effort and analysis by Charles! Thank you for providing the insights and expertise in knowing our opponent.