WiseKwacker

Hah! A Betamax reference; I love it. Yeah, I'll admit. I was one of those who bucked the overwhelming VHS wave. (Hey, Betamax was technically superior, I tell ya!) Hope your power's back on by the time you read this.

That game was SOOO bad. My buddy had it and we played it often for lack of anything better to do. Inevitably, on my first play, I'd line up my guys on offense and stick the dumb felt "football" into one guy's arm. Then, we'd flip the switch and let the vibrations begin. Sure enough, my ball carrier would be the guy with a bent piece of plastic underneath and the guy would just go around in circles in the backfield with me yelling, "Go, you idiot!!" We got some REAL enjoyment from a game his dad had. It was Foto Electric Football. The game just consisted of a set of offensive play cards and defensive alignment cards. There was a light bulb in the box under the "field," and you'd each put in your play card and then slowly pull back a reveal card to show where the ballcarrier/passer went. Wherever their path intersected with a defensive guy's position was where the ball was downed. It was a lot more satisfying when a play worked for you.

Good for him. I'll be rooting for him--wherever he lands--on Sundays (and Mondays...and Thursdays...and Saturdays...) I know of his two older brothers. Does he have any younger ones? Cousins? Kids?

The guy had a monster game. If he can avoid injuries, he's on his way to a great pro career. Watching him run down RBs from the opposite side of the field is pretty impressive.

This definitely hurts, but you gotta move on. In this new age of NIL/transfer portal football, I think you have to plan ONE YEAR AT A TIME. With Bo's decision to play another year, we've got our QB for 2023. Now, let's get some great defensive players to sign.

Interesting article, Alex. In answer to your question, my opinion is simple: "Heck, yeah, I trust Dan Lanning." My summation of this season is as follows: The team played way above my expectations after the opening game blow-out loss against Georgia. Then, Bo Nix got injured against the Huskies. The Ducks consequently lost that game. And, after an amazing win against Utah, the Ducks--with a still-gimpy Nix--lost a heart-breaker to the Beavers. From my perspective, if Bo stays healthy this year, the Ducks would've been in the CFP. I think their porous defense would've resulted in a blowout loss in the semifinals, though, so I'm happy with the Holiday Bowl as a building block for the new coach.

I always hated it when the Ducks had to play his Cougars. That's gotta be the highest praise you can have for an opposing coach. The guy had a fascinating mind; always a great interview. You never knew what he was going to talk about when he went on some tangent. Truly a sad day for the sports world.

Nope.

None of these transfers are particularly surprising to me, with maybe the exception of Flowe. Then again, I was generally disappointed with the lack of impact he had on our defense in the first half of the season. Then, his playing time shrank late in the season. I'm far from being a competent analyst of defensive schemes, but I know that size, speed and quickness are of little value if a player can't play effectively within a team's designed defensive plan. Maybe there's a connection there? Anyone? Anyone? Last year, when players like Pittman transferred out from Cristobal's program, I found it alarming. I felt players were recognizing what we fans were also seeing: a boring, sluggish offense. This year, when players transfer out, I feel differently. Frankly, I'm buying what Lanning is selling. I believe in the guy's sincerity. I assume he's had a heart-to-heart discussion with each of these guys. And, after this next recruiting cycle, I think we'll have a better idea of whether or not he's recruiting a different "kind" of athlete than Mario did. Certainly, that'll be a difficult thing to identify right away, but it should become evident over time. My hope would be that he would be able to recruit better athletes than teams like OSU and Utah bring in, and then have them perform as well as a unit as Willingham and Smith have done with their athletes. I wouldn't bet against him. And, hey, we got a pretty good transfer from Colorado this year, sounds like there'll be 60 or 70 of his former teammates ripe for the picking in a week or so...

As my dear grandmother used to say, "Oh, fiddlesticks!"

Can't say anything about his on-field potential, because I didn't see him throw more than two or three passes in his time here. I sure liked his sideline demeanor, though. As one of the taller players, it was easy to spot him when the cameras shot sideline reactions. The kid was always right there, seemingly the first person to congratulate Bo on a great play or great scoring drive. He seemed like a really positive teammate despite the fact that he wasn't seeing the field. I wish him well. (I wonder if Stanford is a potential option for him.)

Good read, Coach. Thanks for sharing your ideas. While we don't know whether there's any interest in either direction among these three, I think they would each make a more reasonable hire at OC for the Ducks than some of the other names that have been thrown out in the past few days. It'll be interesting to follow how this all unfolds from here.

It took my 24 hours to recover from that gut punch yesterday, but now I'm back on this great site. (Thankful at the end of this holiday weekend for Charles Fischer's diligence in maintaining this great site.) Count me among those who feel like we snared a future great one in Coach Dan Lanning. Yeah, the Duck defense was a disappointment this year as they certainly didn't meet my preseason expectations. The offense, though, was a HUGE positive surprise this year. And, despite yesterday's debacle, the special teams were much improved this season compared to the past few. Really, the offense was unstoppable until Bo hurt his ankle in the Husky game. As far as I'm concerned, if Bo had stayed healthy in that game, the Ducks would've won it. Likewise, with a healthy Bo Nix, I think the Beavers would've been too far behind yesterday to win that game. I bring this up only to point out that the team was on track to securing a possible CFP spot when their most valuable player went down. Yesterday, Lanning again gambled and lost on a 4th down in Duck territory. Both the Husky game and Beaver game 4th down gambles might've gone better with a healthy Bo Nix. Since the Ducks didn't have that in those instances, it's fair to question the wisdom on the call. On the other hand, the Ducks' punt team had a blocked punt and a fumbled punt, so Lanning's confidence in that unit couldn't have been lower. In addition, the Beavers were absolutely gashing the Duck defense with run after run. Thus, I don't think his call to "go for it" was as horrible or illogical as many are making it out to be. And, as others have said here, recruiting is a key. I'm of the opinion that recruiting is both an art and a science. The science part is what you get with player measurables, accolades and ratings. That's all important. But, there's also the art of recruiting. That's what gets you guys like the Beavers have, who are not 4-star or 5-star guys but still develop into beasts who knock the snot out of you and make great open-field tackles. I think Mario was a master of the science. I have a feeling Dan Lan will be a master of both the science and the art. Time will tell.

1. Platypus Punch-Out 2. Battle Between Two Usually Civil Alumni Groups 3. Uncivil War 4. Civility War 5. Bucky Ducky Bowl

Nailed it--again--Darren. Fun read, and I was harmonizing with you from my easy chair on that Whittington slide. (I think I was screaming louder on that first offensive offensive play of the second half, though. My F-bomb may have broken a few windows in the neighborhood.) There was a lot of negative talk about the Ducks' defense following the UW loss. Frankly, after watching Penix dissect the Beavers' strong secondary at the end of their game, I had a pretty good idea going in that the Ducks' secondary wouldn't be able to stop the Huskies' passing game. They couldn't, and we saw why the Huskies have one of the top 2-3 passing games in the country. So, the defense "bounced back" with a solid game against the Utes. Well, Rising clearly wasn't 100%. Beyond that, his receivers dropped numerous throws that were catchable. My take: the Duck defense is not as bad as it looked against the Huskies and probably not as good (at least from a "points allowed" perspective) as it looked against the Utes. As to any criticism of Lanning and/or Dillingham vis-a-vis lack of back-up quarterback readiness, I can't agree on that point anymore. I have NO opinion on Butterfield, other than to say he seems like a very positive cheerleader on the sidelines. Thompson? Body language and facial expressions--both in the game and on the sidelines--say it all. I think the Ducks need to hit the transfer portal for a QB next year while seeing what Moore turns out to be. This week's game in Corn Valley promises to be a dogfight. Can't wait. Bring on the Platypus Punch-Out!!

Nice article, David. Count me among those at the start of the year who were clamoring for more chances to see either Thompson or Butterfield on the field in the second half of games. I'm over that now. Watching Thompson come in for mop-up duty has become painful to watch. There's something about his demeanor and body language--on the sidelines and in the games--that appears to be 180 degrees different that Bo's. Nix appears to be supremely confident, relaxed and in charge; Thompson... On the general subject of back-up QBs getting playing time when a game is out of reach, I guess what I was hoping for this year would be what we saw at the end of the Cal game. That kid, Kai Millner, came in to the game and really showed what appeared to me to be a Division 1 skillset. I realize that there's a different approach to what plays you call when you're waaaay behind versus when you're waaaaay ahead. Beyond that, though, Millner showed that he clearly had a handle on their offense. I haven't seen that yet from Thompson.

OMG!!!

The Adam Stack story is one cautionary tale about highly-rated kickers. Another could have been the Camden Lewis story. He, too. was rated "five star" coming out of high school. His first couple of years as a Duck kicker were just short of a nightmare for me. His knuckleball kicks were horrific to watch as they either missed or barely made it. Quietly, though, the kid has turned it around and has become a very reliable kicker () for the Ducks now. Seems to me that it's pretty hard to look at a high school position player and guarantee success in college. Quarterback--with the position's demand for mental as well as physical development--seems to be consistently the most difficult to predict. Kicker has to be right up their with quarterback, though. Hard to run tests on a guy's ability to focus and shut out distractions.

Sorry! I...can't...hold...back...

Sorry to weigh in a bit late on this one. Haven't spent much time here the past few days as I've been scurrying around outside my house, trying to finish a number of projects before the weather turns. My two cents: You've got THE BEST website covering all things Ducks I can imagine. The reason it's so fabulous is directly related to all the work you've done to 1) establish rules of civility, 2) communicate those rules to everyone who uses the site, and 3) enforce those rules--through clear communication to the rule breakers--when there are violations. Bravo, Charles. So, as a former teacher, here's how my thinking evolved vis-a-vis establishing "classroom rules." (Not saying you haven't done this already, just restating things in my words.) I started out trying to list all the violations that would be breaking the rules. Every time I thought I'd built the definitive list of violations, some kid came up with a new variation. I finally realized there were an infinite number of potential violations of the rules. Instead, then, I wrote the rules according to what kids SHOULD be doing. For example, one rule was that all students should be "safe" in their behaviors. So, when any of the myriad of "unsafe" behaviors occurred, the kid was reminded by me that he/she was violating the classroom rules. Other rules related to kids being kind and respectful. Thus, when I had to look at a problem situation, I only needed to ask the kid, "Was your behavior respectful?" Upon a few seconds--maybe minutes--of reflection, most would admit that their behavior wasn't. Clearly, you're dealing with adults here. And, you're dealing with adults who are often writing comments in a moment of passion. As a result, I guess it's understandable that many would be offended when you challenge them. Seems to me, your standards are clear and fair. When you've challenged a comment I've made in the past, my reaction was one of embarrassment. I felt I needed to apologize to you for having to waste your time contacting me about it. So, if someone gets so bent that they quit this site over a flagged comment, good riddance. Just one more thought, Charles. You have put in so much effort to make this site as outstanding as it is, you MAY suffer a bit with being too close to things to have the perspective that some of us outsiders do. To your credit, I think that's why you posted this in the first place. With that preamble, I'm trying to delicately suggest that you may be trying to look for specific reasons the three examples above either are or are not in violation of the rules. Sometimes, I think you need to throw out the "science" part of the process and just go with what your gut tells you. I trust your gut, Charles.

I really like this kid from what I've heard from him. Hope he has a great year leading this team.

Yes. Rumor has it that he mainly wants to be able to give an Ole Miss coffee mug to his great uncle, who's an Ole Miss fan.

Was not impressed with ANY of the committee of running backs in game #1 against Georgia. I was prepared for a season of mediocre offensive football. Whoops! As a former boss told me frequently over the years, "Withhold judgment until evaluation is complete." While evaluation is not yet complete, I've seen enough in weeks 2-5 to know that my initial impression of Irving (and Whittington, to a lesser degree) was premature. Irving is the real deal.