SmithRiverDuck

I found this extremely interesting as well. Also, Tennessee coach potentially facing his old Texas employer. It says that once the teams are in, it seems that creating drama, or at least interest, is the next paramount criteria. Merit be damned.

The second half featured the Ducks we've been waiting all season to see. Dante's not only a complete beast, he's tough as nails. Good contributions all around. Shelstead, I thought, played his best game because of the pressure of being in a championship type game. Evans has barely scratched the surface of his potential. If the team that showed up for the second half tonight gets to the big dance where might they go? Holy smokes! They sure played elite tonight.

Ok, I'll pretend for a moment that I know anything about anything and I'm the guy in charge of evaluating Bo Nix for "Team X". The stats (especially after he reaches Oregon) check all the boxes. The guy is a winner of games. He's a leader. He's had a green light to change a call which speaks volumes to his understanding of defenses and the game. Let's go to the film: After analyzing pretty much every play he played in college two things stand out to my "expert NFL" eyes. 1. The throw across the body right before half against the Beavers this year. Wow! I want this guy. 2. 4th down throws against Washington and Oregon State for the past two years. Now I have pause. In the biggest moments he seems to be over-amped. The thing that all the talking heads don't say, because they need their jobs, is that it's a freaking crap shoot. One of my comebacks to anyone who maligned the NFL career of Joey Harrington was to say, "Well, let's put him behind Tom Brady's offensive line and see what happens." I spent the first two years of Justin Herbert's career screaming at the television, "SPEND SOME MONEY ON DEFENSE, FOR GOD'S SAKE!" They got Bosa and Mack, but no secondary help and here we are...... After the Ravens destroyed the 49'ers late in this last season I locked them into the big game. Then a guy named Mahomes made a guy named Jackson look absolutely pedestrian. I guess what I'm saying is that my prognosticating powers certainly don't seem any better than the "experts". But I'm not really sure they seem any worse......... Because.........It's a crap shoot. Bo Nix has certainly earned my admiration and hopes that he only rolls sevens and elevens during his NFL career.

If I was a Utah fan attending the game right now, I would get our section to start chanting, "NIT! NIT! NIT!"

I love revisiting UO history from time to time. Certainly the Disney story is as famous as it deserves to be and adds to our uniqueness in sports. My favorite use of our colors came from alumni Bob and Beverly (of course their last name is now escaping me) who met at the UO. Successfully owning a So Cal Anheuser-Busch distributorship allowed them to get into raising thoroughbreds. I'm not sure how many years I tuned into the Kentucky Derby just to see that yellow and green represented. I don't think I've purposely watched it since unless a customer in our establishment requested it.

Best wishes for a timely return to good health. Thank you for the wonderful work you've done for the forum of OBD. It's greatly appreciated.

I get calling for coach Graves' job. The losing is one thing. The player exodus is symptomatic of much deeper problems. This problem, or cancer, whatever you want to call it, is harkening back to the darkest times of Oregon Womens' Basketball. Past Paul Westhead to the Bev Smith era. I'm definitely in favor of a reboot helmed by Mark Campbell. I've also heard the fire Dana Altman calls on these threads. That I just don't get. I'm as frustrated with this team as anyone (Dana probably heads that list). But I don't see that the coach is the problem. I'll admit to being a total Altman homer. He's the guy I wanted during our last search, where we were willing to give our portion of the sun in order to get Tom Izzo (how's his team doing, by the way). It's just a tough basketball year for Oregon. Every time I start to believe in the men's team, they go out and let a Cal beat them and I see what I've been seeing all season. Another NIT quarter-final team. Maybe we can lose to Wisconsin again. With the women I can see a total rebuild is in order. With the men I have to wonder what a healthy Dante and Bittle would have been. Although, injuries would be my biggest question over the last few years. Bol Bol seems to be tearing up the NBA lately, but played all of nine games for us. There's a couple more examples. I do question that. But, we've got the only active coach not in the hall of fame that deserves it. That streak of winning seasons? Every other coach on that list is already in.

I do not buy (so far) the comparison between Peyton Prichard and Jackson Shelstead. Especially, when they say that Shelstead has the potential to be better. I have not seen the killer instinct from Shelstead and he has largely dissapeared these last few weeks.

It's been completely obvious for the past 2-3 weeks that Chip desperately wants out of Westwood. His name has been "linked" to every OC job out there. UCLA is going to get killed in the B1G next year. Chip knows that and he knows he'd be fired after next season. His stock can't get any higher than it is now. Was kind of half hoping the Raiders hired him and drafted Bo. Hell, I was fully hoping for that, but...... The tOSU twist is troubling though. I don't like it. But, it is what blah blah blah......... The regime changes in Eugene means Chip no longer has any insider knowledge of Oregon football. BUT. Chip has proven before how formidable his offenses can be with the right personnel. Would have rather seen him return home to New Hampshire as the head man to finish out his career.

If any losses that keep us out of the tourney come back to haunt us it'll be the winnable ones. Utah, Arizona. Those are two for sure that should have been w's. The team's playing mostly well. The comeback tonight for USuCk was disappointing. There are still too many stretches of excellent play followed by lapses. These lapses need to diminish. The Ducks need to complete the sweep of the LA schools. Follow that with a sweep of those schools up north and things will look good. A sweep of the bark rats would be great, but the way they're playing lately I can see a split. I hate losing to the Tinkle family after seeing them in the stands a few years ago being complete rear-ends. But it's enough that I snicker every time I say the word Tinkle. Sooooo many winnable games left to play. I hope that everyone can stay healthy and we can all go dancing in March. The dance is so much more satisfying when your team is dancing with you.

Dang, I can't see how to change the heading. He hasn't been hired yet. EsecPN says he's set to be hired.

MSN WWW.MSN.COM I've never been impressed by O'Brien. Hopefully that continues.........

I'm really hoping that the Ducks can continue to play at a high level as they begin to take on the better teams in the Pac. I felt bad for Dana last year when he had to call out the fans for not showing up to the NIT game against Wisconsin. I understood his frustration, yet the key component to getting fans to show is putting a product on the floor that they want to see. In all honesty we didn't have that last year. As I have watched the games so far, what I'm seeing is poor attendance across the board. Were there a hundred people at the game in Pullman? It was hard to tell. But I felt I could count them all. I saw a Stanford game that you could've heard crickets at and there have been plenty of seats at the USC games I've seen. So, it doesn't seem to be an Oregon problem as much as it seems endemic at least on the west coast. Hopefully, the Ducks continue their upward trajectory and the fans come out in response.

I prefer to think of the dawgs as the female word for dogs. As in "whiny little (female dogs)". But I'm pretty sure that terminology wouldn't fly past the profanity software..........

Bowl attendance has been very hit and miss. Ohio State has only sold 2/3 of their allotment for the Cotton Bowl. When you subtract the team guest tickets it's closer to half. Recession indicator?

I'm wondering if the new way of telling a kid he needs to hit the portal is calling them into your office and handing them a tray of avocados from Mexico............

That 69% completion percentage sure seems a lot more impressive when you see how many deep balls he's thrown.

I thought we were in the bag for Cam Ward, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see how everything pans out..........

Bo Nix announces that he will play in Fiesta Bowl vs. Liberty DUCKSWIRE.USATODAY.COM Oregon Ducks quarterback Bo Nix has announced that he will play one last game for the Ducks, suiting up for the Fiesta Bowl vs. Liberty. Good for him. I'd want the last film of my college career to be a good one too!

I feel like Oregon has gotten a fair shake from the CFP all along. We were the highest ranked one loss team. Now we're the highest ranked two loss team. I didn't believe there was any scenario that left the Pac out of the playoff. Not this year. Pac was too strong and everyone knew it. Until the last couple of weeks the Pac and SEC had flipped reputations and the Pac was considered the best conference in the land. Unfortunately, the usual cannibalization took place in the Pac and the conference limped into final stretch. Now we need to go win all the bowls and show the Pac was indeed tops this year. The Fiesta has always tried to get Pac match-ups when possible. It doesn't have the long tradition with the Pac that the Rose does. But for many years the Fiesta has been either the number 1 or 2 destination for Pac teams. The CFP is contractually obligated to put the highest ranked G5 into a NY6 bowl. We're they going to Make Florida State play them after screwing them over? No. This game will be a great opportunity for the 2024 players to show where this program is going. I expect the Lanning culture to produce the enthusiasm needed to ruin Liberty's undefeated season and to let the college football world know that the Ducks will be a playoff team next year.

I have no problem with Ward being a Duck. But that first name's gotta go. Do you think for an extra NIL million he'd be willing to change his name to Bo, Joey or Marcus?

I was hoping the aTm would wait it out for DeBoer and wave an ungodly sum in front of his face instead of going for Elko. DeBoer's too good to be a dawg. I'd prefer they had to go back to a Jimmy Lake type and his academic prowess..........

I started to pay more attention to the MSU situation when I saw Brenda Tracy's name because of the connection to OSU. I did read one unflattering story that insinuated Tracy's foundation and Tracy herself were hurting for cash. There were some texts between Tracy and another person that seemed rather incriminating to me. I waited for more of the story to come out, but it's been strangely silent since then. Between recorded calls and texts there is no question that Mel Tucker willfully participated in his own demise. But?............. If I get some time this afternoon, I'll try and find the original story and link to it. I don't want to post innuendo or speculation. Especially, if it calls a person's reputation into question. But it was a published story.

The post from TrojanHoss shows just how delusional the spoiled children fanbase STILL is. Heck, we purged the frustration from losing to them hatred DECADES ago. That happened in the 90's. And we've been better ever since. Sure, we still hate them. But certainly not because we're jealous of them.

I haven't added much to the discussion this season, mostly because everyone has been so spot on with their posts and speaking my exact thoughts. Great job everyone! I will say that I have a quiet confidence in this group that I've only felt twice before. Well, three times really, but Dennis Dixon's ACL had other ideas.........