SmithRiverDuck

Yes. This is where I see us as well. With Tennessee right above us at #5. That's fine. There is much to sort out moving forward.

On the bubble is a fun place to be once things start to break your way. Winning out is an assumption when playing this game, so that's not a part of this discussion. So, good on the Domers for taking down those fraudsters from South Carolina! Had I been writing the USA Today article listing winners and losers from today's action, I would've listed the Pac-12 as a winner because the conference has effectively taken the ACC's place with Clemson's loss......... Except, ...........for the players formerly known as the Horny Toads. Are we suddenly the biggest Texas fans on the planet??!!..................HOOK 'EM HORNS!!!! My best guess as to how this shakes out come Tuesday afternoon: 1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. Michigan 4. TCU 5. Tennessee 6. Oregon Onward and upward, my fellow Duck fanatics. We're still on the ride! Lastly, if anyone could supply me with some fresh Fuskie jokes I'd be appreciative. I like to post them on my Facebook page every. single. day. leading up to the (almost) yearly kicking of the puppies. The only puppy I'm willing to kick, let's be clear! This sign hangs on the beer cooler at my little tavern out in the woods. It gets a good amount of laughs

Like Chip Kelly, he covers his non-people skills with a schtick. Kelly's quip about Stanford's attempt to slow us down by not cutting their grass, "A school like that you'd think they could afford a lawn mower" is indelibly etched in my forever mind. But, in the end it is a schtick. They may not take us to the promised land. But my people rater is based on who I'd like to party with. These guys rate fairly high........Saban, not as much............Dan Lanning? Rising. Not for his quips, but for his enthusiasm.........

Tomorrow's headline: Meltdown on the Palouse........... Ugly.

Did Dillingham read the article about how good he is and on the list at ASU and get a big head? The play calling is horrible horrible horrible!

I'm worried. Not just this thread, but every thread here at OBD that has to do with this game the Duck confidence almost has a smugness to it. That no matter what happens, in the end, our "overwhelming talent" will prevail. It almost has a "decided schematic advantage" feel to it. Granted, after the first week's debacle there is reason for confidence. One thing you want to see in a team is week by week improvement. And we've certainly seen that. I would definitely feel more comfortable predicting this game with a few more weeks of data on each team. If one looks at the rise of the Ducks since about 1994, two teams consistently thwart Oregon's desire for national glory. The one not named Stanford will be our opponent this weekend. I was in the stands up in Pullman in '94. We left early because of the 11 hour trek home and the game had been decided. Two things bother me about this game. Tomorrow, and historically: Heart and over-achievement. If I had a nickel for every time I've watched the Duck's heart be victorious over "overwhelming talent"......... The first two-thirds of our football glory years were built on the "over achievement" of our 3 star players. Both Brooks and Bellotti (and their coordinators) relied on the diamonds in the rough to reach greatness. Other programs (Fresno, Boise, etc.) openly emulated and succeeded with a similar blueprint. But WSU (much like little brother) has always considered themselves our equal while trying to mold the diamonds. We've moved on to mining already shiny diamonds while WSU and OSU still survive on the 3 star potential diamonds. This is what makes them so dangerous............... But enough of the possible doom gloom.........Here's how I WANT the game to go...........No, scratch that. I want 52-17 Ducks. But I don't think that would get me a win in this contest. So: The winner: Oregon -At first I was troubled that no one had picked the Coogs. Even with a reasonable explanation of something like, "We're not ready to be great yet", or whatever. But then the other voice in my head who's not a douchebag said, "We want our team to win. Why would be pick the other team you idiot? This ain't Georgia." And then the first voice who's kind of a dumb guy said, "Oh yeah." The Score: 43-38 - 43?............Hey, I'm pulling numbers out my hind end. Especially at this point of the season. It's like trying to pick Lotto. As far as I know, weather won't be a factor (for once in Pullman), so anything's possible. I just don't see a 17-14 D battle. Maybe 24-17. But this doesn't feel like that to me. Turnovers for Oregon: 3 -Two picks and their last-gasp onside kick. Too specific? Sacks by Oregon: 1 - This trend will be reversed later in the season. But not this weekend when the ball will be thrown quickly. Passing yards by the Ducks: Any chance I could go with a range here? Say 216-387? Seems like coach Dillingham might be best suited to answer this question............Ok, fine. No range. Then I'll go with 267. Very good, but not spectacular. Because it won't need to be. Our run game is going to run the Cougs right out of Martin, all the way off the palouse, pretty much to Moscow........you know, Idaho.......... Finally, back to 1994. After dutifully attending Friday classes, an 11-hour drive meant a very late arrival in Pullman. The Motel 6 didn't have any rooms left but gave us the room that had been used by housekeeping and there was a pizza place still delivering. After seeing the rest of the town in the morning I was surprised that they actually managed to have a Motel 6 in such a nothing place. So, in the end I made up a joke about Pullman and it's one of my all-time favorites. But nobody seems to love it as much as me............. Some towns they call a cow town. And some towns they call a one-horse town. Well, Pullman's not just a cow town. It's a one-cow town.............

Did anyone watch the NFL game on Prime last week? I had it on in our pub for the customers. The picture was HORRIBLE! Watching it on a standard definition channel would have been much preferable. The sound and picture never was in alignment. The announcers would say what was going on and then several seconds later you could (sort of) see it happening. So unless Amazon can produce a high def picture that matches up with the sound I'm a big fat no.

Been a busy day out in the woods and I haven't got to read any comments. Sorry if this has been said already......... Basically, the only that saves this from being the worst debut in Oregon history is that no players climbed into the stands and clocked anybody.............. I implore coach Lanning to never again use any playbooks left behind by coach Cristobal. In the appendix of that playbook you'll find instructions that no matter how badly the quarterback plays, no substitution is to be made. This was the most egregious error of the game. The defense was also eerily similar to last year with no defenders within the tv picture of receivers. They say that the most improvement a team makes is between game one and two................The Ducks could use nothing more than improvement...............

I want to see a different Richardson next season. I want to see some FIGHT in the guy. Hell, he's practically Pritchard's adopted brother! Learn from your brother! Gimme half the heart Pritchard has and we win the Pac going away..............

Canzano takes a lot of crap for his self-serving, aggrandizing, smirky prose. Deservedly so, at times. But perhaps, what is so maddening about the guy is that at times he can be very thoughtful, insightful and right on the mark. I'll give him props for being on the "dump Larry" train from the very beginning. Most of the stuff that made my blood boil and head want to explode about Scott came from him and Mercury writer Jon Wilner who I consider the best in the business. Kliavkoff seems to be doing most everything right so far. Pray he can fix the Pac Network sooner rather than later. The Track & Field championship programming was a complete joke. And if I have to watch another basketball game staffed by students at the controls and equipment, I'm just gonna go to the damn game..........

I gotta plan! Let's never lose another game ever. Problem solved. This calls for a cocktail........

One of the things I love about St. Paddy's day is that I'm almost always in compliance without having to think about it..........

Get some from Madagascar. That place is hilarious! Ok, the movie was..........

Nick Allioti's great strength was changing the D to match his personnel. The bend but don't break I think most of you are referring to was during the Chip era when the D was spending so much time on the field because we took approximately 38 seconds to score the last touchdown. The key component to that D was the clamp down in the red zone. And it worked. I don't think we could've kicked more A in that compressed space than any other D I can think of. At other times with an over-achieving linebacker corps the blitz became the weapon of choice. With a ball hawking secondary we had some of our best run stopping ever. At the time it may have been easy to call him Allow-alot-i. But with hindsight I've been more than impressed with how he upcoached 2 and 3 stars into 4 stars or better and designed his products with what he had to work with instead of trying to mold pieces that didn't fit together into his perfect vision of a defense.

35-13 with Cristbal personally losing at least 4 of the 13.............

They called Yankee Stadium the house that Ruth built. I call Reser the house that burritos built. You can legitimately call Autzen the house that Brooks built. Virtually nobody begrudged Coach Brooks when he got the opportunity to coach the Rams. He had certainly paid his dues while taking Oregon from nowhere to the top of the Pac. Then the Rams screwed him over and let Dick Vermeil win a Super Bowl with the players Brooks had acquired. So, I've hated the Rams ever since. Almost thirty years later, and although I like some of their players, I still could not root for them to win a couple of months ago. But I couldn't muster any love for Cincinnati either. So, even though an all-female 80's pop band was not playing in the Super Bowl I still rooted for the Bangles........Mmmmmmm, Susanna Hoffs.........*tiger growl* And yet, Brooks comes back to helm the Atlanta defense and help lead them to a Super Bowl. Then for an encore he helps Kentucky remember that they also play football. The man is a legend in Eugene and Lexington...........

I would wager that the money spent by PK has bought more glory than that of Boone Pickens at Okie State. It's not an exact science.........

The Ducks played pretty well tonight, barring a few lapses of several minutes each, which is a recurring theme. Excellent minutes for Johnson and Bittle. The Aggies are scrappy for sure. I don't know much about the next group of Aggies Oregon Plays. I'll have to look into them. Much was written pre-game about the Ducks travel plans, or lack thereof. Dana mentioned that they'd ride a bus overnight if they had to. I wonder if that was his way of asking to borrow Uncle Phil's plane without actually having to ask for it. I know that's they way I like asking for things....... If Oregon can shoot close to what they shot against Ootah State when they play A&M they'll have a fighting chance. I've thought for quite some time that it'll be an extended cold shooting stretch that will end the season. Hoping it comes right after the NIT championship...........

I agree this isn't Altman's fault. Except everybody knows he's a basketball wizard. Which means he knows he's a basketball wizard. This particular magic spell blew up instead of producing a winner. Hey, it happens. I still think he's one of the best wizards in the business. I suppose since ESPN2 is one of the few channels I watch on the ol' satellite tv, should they accept an NIT bid I'll be watching. I just don't see what a couple more games would do for this group of players. If I ever see Franck Kepnang dribbling ten feet away from the rim with his back to it again I'm going to shoot my television. But I like Franck. And Dante. With the right players feeding them the ball I think their play would totally change and be more effective. I don't think Franck wanted to be dribbling the ball out in open space. But that's the kind of position he and Dante were put in all season by the other players that decided to take things one-on-one and try to drive to the hoop through three defensive players only to dish it off at the last second to an unsuspecting big man in a bad spot. There should be a decent exodus of players soon I hope to make room for the future players that are highly regarded and moldable by the wizard.

I think you're correct, Charles, in saying, "Most fans." But for those of us who've been more than just casually invested over these many years, I believe it's not a difficult concept to grasp. We've been exposed to it before. While Chip's offenses were scoring every minute and thirty seconds, we knew that the D was spending more time on the field than before and therefore was bound to give up a few more points along the way. This was the first time Oregon employed actual depth, instead of the 2's always being on the bench, only playing because of injury or very brief rests for the starters. It's the heart of the golden age, so far, of Oregon Football. For a brief few years we we're (very often) so far ahead of the competition that the young guys (especially on defense) got to play significant minutes and get ready for their future starting assignments. I'm still impressed how Nick Aliotti adapted to the blur offense. It's one thing to have to deal with it as an opposing DC. But Aliotti had to live with it in his own house. The idea of not worrying about total yardage given up, but to clamp down like a vise in the red zone paid so many dividends for Oregon. I don't think many Oregon fans appreciated that until Nick was gone.

The shooting bug has infested both the men and the women lately. If the men don't shoot lights out tomorrow the game in Tuscon could be very ugly.

Me too. Unstoppable. That's the word I use as well. The most unstoppable offense I've ever witnessed.

By many accounts the name he is accused of calling Adia Barnes is an apt description.

Obviously from September on, wins and losses will dictate the mood of us Duck faithful. But so will work ethic, heart, toughness, selflessness, intelligence and even humility. I hope our coach is able to instill some qualities into the team that we can write about admirably. Create an exciting brand of football. Give us tenaciousness on defense. Don't ever not show up. Always be humble even when you're kickin' butt! You will have our undying loyalty. I heartily agree that we're out of the gate fast, looking smart and sharp. It isn't hard to bump that 4.5 up to a 5 when you compare it to the press coming out of Miami and Seattle.

The media is focusing on Oregon taking Iuli away from Miami Mario. But to me the big take away is that the fuskies weren't ever in the conversation at all. #rivalnolonger