Washington Waddler

Looking at the length of some of Miami player’s pants, think they’ll end up in speedos before too long

Was this his plan all along?

The patients are now running the asylum, and have created their own formula: 1) get recruited and sign letter of intent, but remember who also wanted you. 2) wait. 3) enter transfer portal. 4) sign with one of those who also wanted you (or someone else) for a boat load of NIL $$. And who can blame them? They’ve just flipped the script, and taken advantage of the greed that now has college football by the short hairs.

With the way the transfer portal has altered how players calculate their opportunities, it’s not just those going who see no playing time for themselves, but those now more than willing to go who see a big NIL pay day. Rather than just tumbling the SEC, we may instead be looking at a domino effect that will put us all in the same boat.

Signing a letter of intent by some highly recruited players seems to have morphed into a staging option to gain NIL leverage in the transfer portal if they fail to see the immediate playing opportunity they expect in the coming year - none and done. Don’t see this emerging reality changing any time soon with congress still arguing over the antitrust issues at the heart of NCAA/university control vs student rights.

I’m not sure any of these expanded play-off options would work towards the highest quality end product without serious thought given to reducing the number of regular season games. This isn’t basketball; it’s football, and the majority of those that would be playing are not pro material in either talent or physical resiliency. Injuries are always a major unknown, which is why we never mention them until they happen. But, we know what a factor they can be, and that just ratchets-up with the intensity of play-off mode. Yes, injuries are part of the game; and yes, ‘next man up’ is an equally intriguing and exciting part of that. I’m just not convinced the majority of college teams are built to take the beating of some of these proposals without something giving way if the number of over all games weren’t limited.

Nothing wrong with questioning so long as you follow-up your criticism with ideas on how to make it better.

Good news. I just prefer developing with in the system as opposed to changing partners after every season. Can be messy, but the benefits are numerous. Now we need to rebuild, and return the OL to Joe Moore status so Dante can continue to develop.

Got to be, unless your bay area or LA sensibilities delude you into being tempted by a time-share offer in Corvallis or Pullman.

As a fan, I get caught up in the naive “everything is coming up roses” positivity that excites the recruiting phase of our team’s development. I want nothing more than for these young men coming out of high school to follow their Duck dream and achieve their goals. For me, the hard part of today’s college football is accepting that it’s become nothing more than a business — NFL Jr. I must admit, my enthusiasm and excitement are tainted by the fact that the student athlete as once known no longer exists. Nevertheless, just as fans of the Steelers or Browns remain so inspite of players being nothing more than commodities, I remain a Duck. I like you only if you’re useful to the team. From the naive point of view, this reality can almost feel like a broken promise: “you said you really wanted me, and now you don’t?” But I’m equally sure today’s promising high schools athletes understand this, and are coached to accept it as part of growing up: there’s only so many spots at the table. I’m literally old school. I miss the humane, college student-growth aspect that once shared this table with the athlete. As a fan, I don’t pretend to the conceit of being a savvy and harden NFLish insider who knows how the game is played. I neither need nor want that vanity in my life. I just want the best for these young men.

They just changed that in the past two years. Use to be the last word in that chant started with an ‘L’ instead of an ‘H’

Dante’s natural ability is unquestioned, but the longer his lack of development lingers, the more his coach-ability comes into question.

Hard to over come his built-in advantage. His team culture is built on developed, no name portal players who see an atmosphere that fits hand in glove - a comfort zone for “the misfits” who can then bond together to show the world what it really takes to play football. And, it ain’t stars.

Absolutely true. The problem is, we’re all getting a bit tired of saying that.

That’s the difference between a low budget, blue collar program like Indiana whose coach(es) has a keen eye, and depends upon under-valued portal talent looking for a chance to prove themselves on the biggest stage, and high budget programs wallowing in entitled high schoolers that require time to mature into ‘no stars’ before coaches can often really see who wants to play.

Addressing two themes of high interest. 1) The lack of Duck butts at the game. The vast majority of Duck fans are not sitting under the roof in club seats at Autzen. Going beyond the cost of season tickets for most is a major budget consideration, especially if tickets, flights, hotels and car rentals are involved for more than one game. The inequity of geographic game location for west coast fans is obvious. Indiana fans had an 8 hour drive to the game. That’s unlikely to change unless markets like Las Vegas, San Francisco and Seattle are willing to ante up to join the circus. 2) Lots of stars vs less stars. As pointed out by others, what Cignetti has put together at Indiana isn’t so much about stars as it is about his eye for developed players from other programs willing to transfer to his. Dan’s budget allows him to recruit top drawer, and he does a great job at getting some of the best high school talent in both athletic ability and attitude. But, the motivational edge is always going to go to, as Mendoza put it, “the misfits” whose “strong culture and unity” gives them a ‘Dirty Dozen’ mentality that doesn’t require bulletin board material in order to make them want to show up at every game, and show the world the true value of stars. Dan too gets developed players to transfer, Thieneman and Canady being good examples. But, if there is anything to be learned from Cignetti’s focused strategy, it is a possible sea change in emphasis away from high school starry-eyes to developed players ready to prove themselves on the biggest stage, irregardless of stars.

Yeah, our big game record as of late makes it look like we’re living in Tornado Alley. OBD builds this thing over 3+ months only to watch it get shredded. But, that’s football, a little like riding a hot number in Roulette. You put it all on the line every week, and what happened the previous week no longer matters - win or lose - until it’s all over. Well, for this year it’s all over, and it’s dark right now, and it’s hard to recognize who you felt you were just 4 hours earlier. So, you take a deep breath, pick up the pieces and start again. No quit. That’s life in Tornado Alley - until it isn’t.

Everytime Kiffen’s move to Louisiana is mentioned, it always brings to mind one of Mike Leach’s memorable quotes: “LSU would be a good place to stand during a lightening storm.”

Hey, it worked for him when he was told to take a time out in kindergarten, so why not now?

Kelly’s right. He needs to hire Sabrina.

I believe we have as good or better quarterback whisperers on staff as anywhere else in the country. That said, as much as the vast majority of Dante’s issues can and need to be resolved through practice and game time experience, I occasionally wonder about that intangible connection between QB and offensive staff. How tricky is it to find that right switch to flip that assists in allowing all those moving parts to slow down, and settle into a confident awareness of the game?

No sweat (or water off your back) — after all, I live in Port Angeles, but held onto my mid-valley area code when I moved here from Eugene.

What’s interesting about most of those comments is how all of that Duck hate can’t mask the panicky fear that we’re headed for a championship. When the stone-cold Husky faithful are thinking like that, maybe there’s hope for them yet. Nah

Thanks Charles for all the hours you put in to keep this forum the considerate and respectful site that it is.

It’s a Peach!