Haywarduck

We have to grow and build as the season progresses. The question is can we develop enough to beat a very good BYU team. The biggest unanswered question is how tough is this team going to be at Autzen. Our previous coach did pretty well at Autzen, losing only once, his first year, in overtime to the team called a color. Does this team step it up a notch when defending it's home turf. We know they have to learn how to turn it on when on the road. WSU will be another test there. The question I have is will this team do what most fans expect? We need the Ducks to win at Autzen, beat teams they are expected to defeat, while beating the beavs, the dawgs, and this year the trojans if they get to the championship game. Those are the boxes I want to see checked off under Dan Lanning. I wonder how many will get checked off this year. Winning the big game on the road is one I can wait on.

Troy Dye, a legend...... at least this season, his brother and I don't wanna hear bout it!

What next, Notre Dame throws in the towel on their new coach? Where would we be if Dan was 0-2, or 1-3?

Was it the forced ball or the lack of precision, and putting the ball where his player has the best shot at catching the ball? Seems like Nix, sometimes lacks the ability to put the ball where it needs to go, rather than just in the direction of the open receiver. Against better competition if you don't put the ball exactly where it needs to be it will be a 50/50 or worse ball. We were fortunate the 'or worse ball' bounced off the defender and into our TE's hands. Going forward those passes need to be on the other side of the receiver. What I saw with Ty was bullets right to his receivers. He seems to throw a ball much more like Justin does, but it is a small sample size, so far. Bo earned the next start, but I was more impressed with the balls Ty threw.

Whenever somebody writes and uses absolutes such as zero, nothing, never, the best, absolutely, or only once, I know they are trying to sell something. I will say you know absolutely zero if you think we learned nothing from watching Ty last night ;). I will agree next week is the chance for Nix to step up, and win a big game, I hope he does. Just winning games we should win isn't the standard anyone wants to see at Oregon under Dan Lanning. The next step is to win the big game, and here they come!

Football is all about rebounding off losses and building as the season progresses. CK barely beat Purdue at home after the loss to BSU. He then won the next game against Utah. We need to win the next game against a team from Utah, and it won't be easy. The game after that might be the toughest, at WSU. The big question is can the Ducks keep building, or as Dan Lanning likes to say, get 1% better everyday, every play? That is the question we all want to know! I am still excited about this team and Dan Lanning!

The most important thing we learned was we aren't as bad as the Georgia game had some people thinking. How good are we, we still don't know. Good news is we have a starting qb and two very capable back-ups. Nix is number 1, but Ty looked good enough to take over if we have an injury, or need a change. There is an upside to the defense, I am just not sure how much. Much better performance by the D, but next week we need to see another level. DJ Johnson is still my favorite player! OSU and WSU are real football teams. Wow, the Pac-12 isn't just two teams, and then the rest. The dawgs should have a wakeup call against the Spartans. You can't buy a team! Texas A$M lost to the Mountaineers, and next week against the hurricanes will be the rebound game. College Station will be an ugly place to play after that show. In the end we don't know anything other than we love our Ducks!

I have to say it, 'It's never smoky in Autzen Stadium!'

I have to say it, 'It's never smoky in Autzen Stadium!'

Agree we need to worry about being in Oregon football fan ready condition. Do we have tickets, or the channel, food, beer ready? If one is having ribs an incredible amount of planning has to go into that, if one wants to do it right. The Fishduck chicken would take days of planning. The choice of beer is a daunting task, so many choices, but still an important commitment. The details are all important. From making sure the weber is ready to go, to who to ask to the game day experience. If you ask the wrong people, it can ruin the whole game. The talkers need to know, talk during commercial time, and not during play time. Blow any of these selections and the outcome of the experience is adversely affected. We should all be grateful we have an EWU game to get it all right. Come midseason we should have it down like a well oiled machine. I suppose this should make us realize just how hard Dan Lanning has it, right?

I remember seeing Clemons come on the field and look like he wouldn't ever be a good qb. Justin more recently had it early on, as have others. I don't think we know much about either of the guys on the bench at this point. I do agree they need to see garbage time, but at some point they need an opportunity. I hope Nix can turn the corner, but sticking with him if he struggles too much isn't going to help the program either. I definitely wouldn't say outright putting any of these 3 guys is trashing the season.

I can support Bo Nix winning for Oregon, no problem. I do admit he isn't my qb, just as I didn't view AB as my qb. I long to identify with my qb again, that is my problem. I can also wonder what could have been with Robby, who was my pick, and cheer him on from a distance. If Ty or Butters doesn't take over I will still wonder if they had it, or have it, and feel they deserve a chance to show it. I will never boo Bo, or attack the coaches because I know I am just an ignorant fan, and Bo is in a tough position. That is why opinions aren't worth much, but those who have proven to have answers make the big bucks. I look forward to seeing and supporting those with the answers, even if we have some struggles. I will also share my opinion, respectfully, the Fishduck way!

I'm ok with two RB's, five not so much. I also don't think it is an instincts problem with Nix it is just how he processes situations. I agree, like many qbs, when he is comfortable, and not rushed, he can play pretty good football. The problem is when games are won on a big stage, or large moments, it isn't calm and easy. The other problem with qb's is, like guys such as Tom Brady and Joe Burrow, they don't always get the playing time they should get. We know who Bo is on the field, we don't know who the guys are behind him. Robby Ashford already has better stats than Bo after transferring. Robby's stats were actually better than the starter for Auburn. What kind of stats could the guys who were ahead of Ashford have if they get a shot at starting? I want to know. I do want to be clear, while I know exactly what I want to see, have answers for all the problems, I realize my answers, undoubtedly aren't as good as Dan Lannings. This doesn't stop me from having those opinions. I support Dan Lanning 100%, but will never stop having my opinions while acknowledging my knowledge base is way, way lower than the staffs.

I actually think Bo Nix is already out and we are seeing exactly who he is and always will be. He might be good against EWU, and some will breathe a sigh of relief, but Bo isn't Oregon's future. I would argue he is Oregon's recent past. At RB we aren't looking at our past, and I hope it isn't our future. Having 5 guys share the ball will never give anyone time to get into a rhythm, and has never been Oregon's, or really any teams road to success. Maybe we are just seeing our OC and HC not being able to make the tough choice? They need to move to the future at qb, make a choice at RB. The smart choice was Bo against Georgia, but not going forward.The easy choice was playing 5 RB's, but not in the long-term. On defense I will give them some slack to grow into the elite players many thought they already were. Before the game it seemed like we had a few guys who were better than Thibs, but we still need to find our 'alpha,' or just some leadership. All is not lost, but we seemed to still be searching for leadership and that is what I want to see. The one position the staff seems to have decided on, the qb, now needs to become who he has never been, and still isn't. I'm ok with the staff changing their mind on that one. At RB, the staff just needs to make up their mind. On defense the staff and players needs to continue to develop who they are. What we saw isn't who anyone wants our defense to be. I look for some soul searching within the players on defense. From that I hope we see havoc on the opposing sides offense, which grows as the season progresses. Right now our defense has no soul. That is unacceptable!

I completely disagree with his second sentence when he stated 'the loss had zero positives.' When a team full of talent sees what talent can do when it listens, and works with a higher purpose amazing things can happen. The Oregon team that travelled to Atlanta had no idea what it was going to take to become elite. That same team now knows the level that it will take to reach the top. Now it is time to work towards that height with this new knowledge. For example, as discussed, Seven now knows how hard he needs to work to be in position to catch a pass. He might be magic once he gets the ball, but in big boy football the whole pattern, and time the ball is in the air is a high level competition. In practice it may not play out that way. In top10 football, and at the next level it does. It is time to put the positives of experiencing what it takes to be elite, and put that in better motion. Talk is cheap, getting it handed to you is priceless.

Wow, that would be a new low for the next generation Oregon Fan. I do think there is a subset of fans who don't appreciate just how difficult it is to build a program and culture. I could definitely see some boos is we struggle against BYU, but hope we don't see that. Let's hope we can stay above booing while the process of building the Dan Lanning Ducks evolves.

What I want to see is two things. Our total defensive rating to never be at #122 again under Dan Lanning. We should be a top 40 defense by the end of the year or better. The other, related thing, is yds. per play. Giving up over 9 yds per play should also be an insult to everyone who puts on an Oregon uniform. Never again, and the defense needs to tighten up starting this weekend. Dan Landing is a defensive coach, and it is time to see a new start of the Oregon defense we expect. The talent is there, and this is an FCS opponent.

I continue to find it interesting fans can't see the difference between a back-up playing in a blowout win, and not putting a back-up in when involved in a blowout loss. A coach, teacher, mentor should put inexperienced students in situations where they can succeed, and they can grow incrementally. Bo doesn't need that and won't get that opportunity. I will admit I want to see Ty as much as the next fan, but trust the plan. What we are seeing is what most programs go through constantly. The back-up is the most popular player on the team. We have been fortunate for most of the programs history to have more than solid qb play. We seldom see the back-up dilemma most programs go through. If Oregon blows out EWU and Ty doesn't come in for some reps then I can see the questions having legs. Bo was recruited, brought in because he had experience and because of the Georgia game. The Bo experiment didn't work so far. We were blown out and he struggled. Now he has to prove he can lead us against lesser talent. If Bo fails again, against lesser talent, then it is certainly time to move on. I look for him to light it up, and Ty to get some playing time against EWU. That is the plan, but I doubt Bo will have all season to get it right.

I will counter, and say we may do well as longs the turnover differential goes in our favor. There was no way we were going to beat Georgia with two pics in the first three times with the ball. We may lose to a few teams we should beat if we do the same as the season progresses. You play an EWU early in the season because you know there is a good chance there will be mistakes at that point in the development of a team. What we actually need to do is turn the tables on the turnover ratio and have the defense get a few. That is what I will be watching in the next few games. It is also why the qb play will be critical to our season. If Nix gets a boneheaded pick by EWU then his snaps should dwindle, or end.

Oregon's first three offensive opportunities, punt, interception, interception. If the defense was given more support out of the gate by the offense we may have seen a different defense. I get the Oregon defense didn't shine, but they had no support from our qb, and our offense didn't get much either. The qb discussion is on point in my opinion. The qb sets the tone for the offense and defense, and Bo needs to lead us forward or get out of the way.

EWU at home is going to be the kind of test Lanning should have had in his first game as a head coach. The following week playing BYU is the perfect step up in challenge to begin to see how well the Ducks can play. I look forward to seeing the start of the season we should have seen, and forgetting about the mistake of going to a neutral site in Georgia, to play Georgia for our first game. I also look forward to seeing the beginning of the true qb competition. Nix was brought in to deal with playing Georgia. Nobody should start their first game playing away against the National Title winner. Bo failed in his first test. If Bo struggles against EWU, we will see the competition begin in earnest. We are also going to begin to see the Lanning era begin starting this weekend. This team might as well consider itself 0-0, with a crazy preseason lesson.

Oh yeah, when it rained it was game on.

Agree, all these players need time. Georgia relaoded, coaches just said, 'do what the last guy did' and they kept it up. Oregon is going to need time and they will step up.

It was one game. I also invite Georgia to come to Eugene, and Autzen, anytime. You whooped us, now prove you can do it on the road.

And the reason you don't travel to an underdog is because you just might lose or as in 1982 tie a team who only wins two games that year. I remember those Nebraska games and the reason that tosu game was so sweet was because of those memories against them back in the day. I also remember the game where Notre Dame showed up at Autzen. Oregon, under Brooks, tied the domers, and it might as well have been a win. That was a huge game for Oregon, and the program at the time. That game might have saved Rich Brooks job, a huge tie. That game was also the second game after losing 41-0 to the domers in Indiana. So the moral of the story is Georgia better not show up in Eugene because they just might get shocked, and lose. I would love to see Georgia try and come to Eugene. Come on Dan, work your magic and get Kirby to bring the Bulldogs to Autzen, what, are they afraid of us!