Skibum

"A Silent Killer with great hair"... gotta love it! Seriously though, have a ton of respect for the young man for being true to who is, as a person and as a football player. His parents and family have to be super proud...

Totally agree with Dazed's assessment. Year 1 is a bit of a feel out year, everyone and everything is new. Granted some questionable play calls at times, but then I suspect it was a bit of coach Lannings mindset of being aggressive (maybe at the most inopportune times). What I will also be curious about in year 4 is; where will the PAC be standing as a conference in 4 years? Just read this article NCAA world reacts to major Pac-12 realignment news WWW.MSN.COM As conference realignment continues to grow within collegiate sports, fewer and fewer in-state rivalries will exist. A legislative bill... wondering if Oregon's legislature will do something similar especially since Oregon State is building a solid program under Jonathan Smith.

The UNC defense is bad (at least that's what the stat's say). Oregon's defense isn't much better (though they showed something agains Utah). Given that both Oregon and UNC have quality quarterbacks that were in the Heisman conversation earlier, I expect a high scoring game. I think Drake Maye is the real deal and we all know what Bo can do. I just wonder how bad Oregon's defense will be with the number of starters not playing in the bowl due to transferring out through the portal, or prepping for the NFL. But the thing I am really intrigued about is UNC's defensive back, Storm Duck. Storm Duck! That his parents named him Storm Duck and he isn't playing for the Ducks. but against the Ducks... the commentators are going to have fun with that, especially if he plays well! This game will come down to the coaching. Mack Brown is a wily old fox that's been around the block a few times. He'll have his team ready to play. Dan Lanning is the young up and comer with a ton of energy, but not quite the experience of Brown. Will be a really interesting match-up of coaching chops imho. I think this game will be closer than people think. If Oregon runs out to a big lead maybe we see Thompson get a shot to run the team... Here's hoping all the PAC12 bowl teams win out. I agree with Joshua, this will be a good game... Thriller!

Really happy to see Utah destroy USC. I would not want a team that stabbed the PAC in the back, that doesn't want to be part of the PAC12, be a PAC12 champion. Congratulations to coach Willingham and the Utes!

Excellent article, great perspective, thank you Drex!

Up 34 to 10 in the second half and can’t hold the lead to a team with no passing game. Beav’s, 27 unanswered points. Beav’s with no passing game (60 total yards passing!!!)… and still able to beat an Oregon team with more (supposedly) highly ranked starred players. That’s all on the coaches. The two rivalry game losses were all about the coaching, those were ugly losses. I trust the staff will learn and get better, as iterated by Charles. I do wonder about the fall-out from those losses in regard to what recruits think.

Ducks --the winner 34 to 28 --the score 2 --the amount of turnovers Oregon creates 1 --the number of sacks Oregon records on the opposing team 275 --the number of passing yards by the Ducks.

Ducks --the winner 35 to 31 --the score 3 --the amount of turnovers Oregon creates 2 --the number of sacks Oregon records on the opposing team 250 --the number of passing yards by the Ducks. The pundits all seem to be picking the Utes, somewhat understandable. I'm rolling the dice and counting on the defense to step up, play angry, and have their best game of the season with the backing of the Autzen crowd.

Love the positive thinking in the article! But, this will be a tough, tough game. Looking forward to seeing how the Ducks bounce back after last week. Kyle Whittingham is the coach that Mario wishes he was. Utah will be a tough game; the game will be dictated in the trenches. Rising is a good quarterback/leader but he’s no Penix, so our defensive weaknesses won’t be as hurtful. Utah’s defensive is I think better than Washington’s. So, depending on the Ducks quarterback situation (healthy Bo, or limited mobility Bo or…) and how dinged up the Oregon O-line is (I think they’re more dinged up than what is being let on) will probably dictate who wins. Fortunately, the game is at Autzen… so the Ducks have that going for them, plus I think they bounce back from the UW loss with something to prove about protecting their home field. I have a ton of respect for coach Whittingham and the Utah program. They are always solid and well coached despite maybe lacking some of the high-starred recruits. After how they handled the Pharoah Brown injury down there a few years ago, I thought of them as being a class act. Tough for sure, but with class. On another note: UC regents set Dec. 14 for decision on UCLA's Big Ten move WWW.ESPN.COM The University of California regents will decide Dec. 14 whether UCLA can depart the Pac-12 for the Big Ten. My hope/wish would be that UCLA stays in the PAC-12 and we add San Diego State or SMU(or TCU). That UCLA throttles USC (bye, bye traitor Trojans, don’t let the door hit you in the ass as you scamper to the BIG10 to get your ass kicked there you entitled university of spoiled children). And that the PAC-12 gets a killer media deal! One can hope!

Well, I’m not going to bitch about the loss, more than enough of that will be going around… championship teams do not/should not loose winnable home games to teams they should, could and need to beat. DeBoer and Penix did a better job of game planning and management, tip of the hat to them. After watching the men’s basketball team loose to UC-Irvine the night before (lack of defense and not being able to stop the long ball) I was worried the same might happen to the football team… and it did. So, I wasn’t totally surprised. The fallout from this loss is what I’m more concerned about: 1.) The Ducks are hurting a bit (physically and maybe mentally) with some major players injured or dinged up with a very physical Ute team coming to town and a very good Beaver team (that should have/could have beat the Fuskies in Seattle) they have to play in Corvallis. 2.) The national perception of the PAC-12 will once again give the narrative that the conference really isn’t that good. As both UCLA and the Ducks lost home games to perceived inferior teams at home (good team don’t loose home games to inferior teams). This will impact (IMHO); a.) Recruiting – will recruits from the state of Washington now think twice about leaving? Will the perception of the PAC-12 being a weak conference keep recruits away? b.) Media rights/negotiations for the conference – will the national narrative of a week PAC-12 hurt? 3.) USC will now be perceived as the best team in the PAC-12, because of their record a.) I hate USC more than the Fuskies… as an Oregonian I’m inclined to root/support all Oregon teams first and then will support Northwest teams over California all day. b.) With USC leaving it will leave an even weaker impression of the PAC-12 now c.) Without Travis Dye USC won’t be that good anyway (Okay, I’ll give that Caleb Williams is a really, really good quarterback and their coach is an innovative play caller) How will the Ducks respond/bounce back after this loss? Utah and the Beav’s are both good tough teams. How can the Duck defense get better with the personnel they have? The lack of pressure on the quarterback and the pass defense in general just have been awful for the caliber of this team. Who should be the back-up quarterback? I personally thought that Butterfield looked better in the spring game than Thompson. I like Thompson and want badly to see him succeed but he just hasn’t shown me anything. My guess is that he is ahead of Butterfield because of his running ability, but I’m not seeing any improvement in his game time play. Which one can read defenses better… under pressure? Okay, I’m done venting/ranting from my keyboard.

Ducks --the winner 52 to 13 --the score 3 --the amount of turnovers Oregon creates 3 --the number of sacks Oregon records on the opposing team 320 --the number of passing yards by the Ducks.

Hate the eggshell uniforms. Eggshells break. Eggshell = Goose egg; not a good number. And as I recall the teams history in the eggshell uniform isn't all that great. But, if the kids like it, who am I to say. If they want to go funky just do tie dye, it's Oregon after all.

Liked him (sort of) when he was here at Oregon, seemed like a nice guy, good speaker, great recruiter, eloquent presenter, players seemed to really like him... boring game time coach, questionable in game management/play caller, questionable player development. I could never see him calling for an onside kick nor managing the clock the way coach Lanning did against UCLA last week. Happy for him that he got his "dream" job and got to go home to Miami, that "dream" may come to be a nightmare for him, though. Still, he's a damn good recruiter/salesman. But, in the end "u" is really just half of an "O"... I think Christobal will only have half the success at Miami that Dan Lanning will have at Oregon IMHO. What I see is that every week since the first game, the Ducks seem to be getting incrementally better every week (even though I'm still concerned about our pass defense). That to me is good coaching, they're getting better every week. On the other hand The "u" every week seems to be regressing and their players don't seem to be getting better (or they don't seem to be buying in to what they are being coached/told).

Ducks : the winner 45 - 17 : the score 3 : the amount of turnovers Oregon creates 3 : the number of sacks Oregon records on the opposing team 250 : the number of passing yards by the Ducks.

24, 175, 190, 2, 3

Hadn't thought about a one year interim coach/coaching staff until your article. And I think it actually has some credence. It might allow for time to find that jewel in the rough. Trying to find somebody this quickly (a couple of weeks?) just to try and get aligned for signing day, does seem like a rush job. And given the pool of supposed candidates, limits a thorough indepth background search. IMHO: Regardless of whom gets hired, it will/should be somebody new and probably not without a lot of head coaching experience (if any). You have to start somewhere and take a chance. Okay this is just IMHO... someone newer, fresher, with some juice. We took a chance on a guy named Chip Kelly once (I don't want him back) and he blew everyone's minds away when he was here. I'm not interested in any old retreads looking for a paycheck... I'd be looking for somebody with the will to win, a will to establish a long term program, willing to recruit (it's been proven you can recruit to Oregon) and actually be tough enough to do it (and not just pay it lip service). Great article Charles, really one to ponder.

My thoughts (for what they’re worth): 1.) Oregon is a great HC job. The facilities, the booster support, the athletic infrastructure, the history, the PAC12, etc. all great attributes. I still think the PAC12 is a better all-around/overall conference than the SEC (granted that is my bias). 2.) The next coach. Someone that will want, would love, to put roots down in Oregon to stay. Somewhat along the lines of what was here in the past (how the Rich Brooks tree grew long term roots that grew coaches like, Bellotti, Gary Campbell, Jimmy Radcliffe, etc.), somewhat along the lines of what coach Kyle Whittingham has done (is doing) at Utah. a. Someone younger with juice (I don’t want the old guys back necessarily) that can relate to the younger generation (but still be tough on them) and provide long term stability. b. Someone that can teach a quarterback how to play under center when you’re one foot off the goal line. If you’re grooming these guys to be better and get to the next level (NFL) you need to teach them how to play with a quarterback under center. I’m fine with the shotgun, just not all the time. c. Someone that can coach quarterbacks. U of O has had a great tradition of producing great quarterbacks… and they all weren’t 5stars. d. Recruit, recruit, recruit… we’re used to that here now and know it can be done. Does it really make a difference? Only if you know how to coach what you recruit, or scheme to what you’ve recruited. Of all the coaching names I’ve seen tossed around, I’m not totally enamored with any of them (maybe Chris Peterson just a little tiny bit). I get the interest in Wilcox, Harsin and Sitake. Although, I don’t think Sitake will leave BYU since that is basically home for him plus, they are moving to a power 5 conference. I don’t think Chip should come back, he left once already and I think is fine at UCLA. I’m not a football coach or football savant by any means but, I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express once. So, my rhetoric is me as an Oregonian venting about Oregon football for the moment. I'd like to see someone that likes living in Oregon, and everything it offers, as much as I do... yeah, pipe dream probably.

That is a great question!! My guess would be, it depends on who the head coach is that the OC would be working under. If the head coach let's the OC actually run the offense and call the offensive plays, I'd say the OC would be worth quite a bit subject to scoring/winning. If the head coach stifles the ability of the OC to call and run his designed offense, then I think not much. But, yeah great question. In todays game a great OC should command a pretty substantial sum I would think. Then again, maybe all coaches should be paid based on production (i.e. winning, scoring points, defensive stops, etc.).

I love Bill Musgrave, he's a Duck hero/legend as a player. He's bounced around a ton as a coach though and just got hooked up with Justin Wilcox at Cal (one or two years now I think). Personally, I'd like to see a little more stability. If he was a young upcoming buck with a ton of juice I wouldn't be as concerned. And I have to wonder how MC would feel having an Oregon icon on his staff, that has coached in the NFL... would he feel intimidated? It's a different kind of pressure. And he couldn't get his nephew to Oregon, Luke is a Beaver... so, I have to question his recruiting chops (okay, just kidding sort of). Overall I think he's a solid coach. Just not sure how the dynamic would be in the coaches room with him and MC and I don't know anything about his recruiting capabilities.

Wonder if Oregon could get Andy Ludwig to come back here as the new O.C. (and head coach in waiting if M.C. leaves)? I like his style of mixing it up; shotgun, under center, run centric but knows how to spread the ball around, seems to know how to groom quarterbacks and... physicality. Utah beat Oregon at it's own game (at least what I hear preached about Oregon's football identity)... run game, physicality, etc. And with theoretically lesser talent if you put a lot of stock in recruiting rankings. This to me says something about the coaching. I have a ton of respect for KW and the entire Utah football staff. They know how to coach and prepare their kids; how to identify kids that fit their schemes and how to adjust their schemes to their players strengths and weaknesses... they don't give a c*#p about their opponent, they know what they can do. then do/execute it. KW is hardnosed, doesn't say much (to the outside world), works hard, and is respectful (maybe in a crumudgeonly way at times). I remember how he was when Pharoah Brown got really badly injured down there a few years ago, his concern and respect for Pharoah was heartfelt. There seemed to be respect between the programs then. I like Mario, I hope he stays and grows as a coach (but then I felt the same way about Helfrich, so what do I know). I think stability at the head coaching position is important for any program. It took KW awhile at Utah to get them to the Rose Bowl, but his teams were always tough contenders. If Mario leaves because of his Mom's ailing health, I can understand that. I have similar concerns about my own Mom. But, I also suspect his Mom is probably a tough woman that would tell him... finish what you started. Interesting times for sure. Oregon has talent and resources. But Eugene isn't Miami and Mom's count for a lot... And outside of family, there are tax implications when you get paid as much as college head coaches do these days (there's a reason rich people retire to Florida).

Wow! It has to be the Eggshell uniforms! Talk about laying an Egg... ouch. Bad uni choice. And to get beat by an Under Armour school... that hurts a ton. I can't imagine that a major Oregon fan isn't particularly happy this evening. At least the Duck is still entertaining.

I'd like to see an O.C. that will stick the quarterback under center when you're one foot off the goal line... and somebody that can develop quarterbacks.