Drake

The “angery” rodent grad student forgot to use spellcheck…Charles, your pictures of their fans always make me laugh. Rodents can go pound sand. Even their football coach bailed out from that dumpster fire.

The silly article time of year. My opinion about college football writers…their opinion only matters when they give your team accolades, or actually research an article, and actually write something that adds perspective into their subject matter.

Every time a new assistant gets hired the average age of our coaching staff drops. I am not familiar with the young man, but I am thinking the recruiting part sounds good. The younger coaches work hard to make a name for themselves. Locklyn may be a loss, but there are several highly qualified coaches that would love to have Oregon listed on the coaching resume. Btw…don’t let the door hit you in the (_) (_) on the way to buckeye land.

Just watched a news report about $30 million being stolen. Perhaps the rodents AD should be on the list of suspects.

Unlimited free agency. Media revenue seemingly spiraling out of control brought attention to the absurd nature of the NCAA rules on compensating athletes. It helped inflate everyone’s salaries involved with collegiate athletics except the athlete. A head coaching salary escalates to $5 to $8 million per year, while athletes maybe get a better meal plan. The NCAA would constantly wave its rule book in everyone’s face to make sure it stayed that way. The NCAA’s track record of defending legal challenges tells us all we need to know about its rules…completely out of touch with reality. The good news is that only 22 players can be on the field during any given play. While how much they are compensated spirals out of control…the irony of it all.

Perhaps we should just make peace with this tradition and move on. The rivalry had some meaning because of Conference standings. Take that away and there isn’t a rivalry.

NIL conversations…ughhh…a specialized law degree is probably going to be necessary to discuss it intelligently. Nick Saban can get a conversation started, but without some type of big money clout backing him, will Washington feel compelled to take any type of action?

The hiring of CK did not push tOSU into the National Championship spotlight. They were already a favorite before the hire. Therefore, Day and Kelly will be under scrutiny, and pressure, to produce that championship. The part that I like…. Oregon is on a collision course with them, and can impact that outcome. btw…I also am of the opinion that the college football world has caught up to “CK’s genius.”

Not sure anyone here communicated to you that this is our year to win a championship? The Ducks are replacing key offensive and defensive linemen. There are also questions about our defensive backfield. We have used the transfer portal to address some of our needs, but nobody knows how well they will gel with existing players. Even with those questions, I am excited to go to Eugene and watch Oregon play football.

It does seem rather absurd that the team has a pre-season rank as high as #3, and the coach is #25, or not even on a list. I guess the players recruit and coach themselves. All part of the list of things to ignore this time of year.

Kelly had to know that his head coaching gig was tenuous at best. If he still has a passion for the game then this move makes perfect sense. Kelly never really liked recruiting and NIL has further changed that environment. I read an article about some reasons Nick Saban retired. He was quoted as follows about his end of season player interviews: “I thought that we could have a hell of a team next year, and then 70 or 80 percent of the players you talk to want to know two things: What assurances do i have that I will play because they are thinking about transferring, and how much will you pay me?” Saban recounted. “Our program here was always built on how much value can we create for your future and your personal development, academic success in graduating, and developing an NFL career on the field.” His conclusion of this thought was that maybe the players attitudes don't work for him anymore. During his career he had been adding value to a players future, and the thought of being threatened of losing players if you don’t pay them enough to stay didn’t sit well with him. Media money, NIL, and the transfer portal have changed the game. Players can become instant free agents and go to the highest bidder if their perceived value is high enough. HC’s get paid for these headaches, but for some coaches like Saban, it ruined the game that he dominated for several years.

My thoughts, I would be annoyed. The fact that they are indirectly “pranking” your business vs. a personal prank makes it somewhat different. Letting it slide is probably the right solution once. It can take years to establish a solid business reputation, and moments to ruin it.

I think recruiting in the top 5 annually is a good indicator that you are becoming elite. Beyond that you have to win. If you don’t have the players, you won’t be elite. A coach has to be allowed to create their own identity, and I believe DL is still creating his identity. In a team oriented endeavor, everyone top to bottom must support each other, and be able to overcome the inevitable hardships that are encountered. Being elite takes hard work, and a commitment to do that work diligently.

Never liked it when Duck season ticket holders sell good seats to our despised rivals…I never sell my tickets online, but I do give them away to friends and family. I prefer to only see a small pocket of rival colors seated in the top corner of the stadium. If I need to miss a heated rival game…the tickets must go to a known Duck fan.

What someone says they will do, and what they actually end up doing can be two different things. If he buys season tix, does he pay the annual fee to the athletic fund? Buying the season tix may not be so crazy. I bet the going rate for tOSU game will easily be $400 to $500 online for decent seating. If someone is flying in from the Midwest they will want tickets in hand before leaving, So for 4 tickets they pay around $2,000 and travel expenses another $6,000. Therefore, paying around $3 thousand for the season is definitely not crazy when many of the unused tix can easily be resold online for face value. btw…i checked on season tix with four seats together…$779 each for the entire season.

Off topic, but it is a slow time of year for football news…perhaps this is interesting for those that live in Oregon. Here is a little perspective on planning projects that are “daunting”. The replacement of the current I-5 bridge across the Columbia river is one such project. It is over 100 years old, which makes it an antique that is used heavily every day. Anyone that has left an office in downtown Portland around 5pm, and then made the drive into Vancouver, will tell you it can easily take at least an hour on a “good day” to arrive at most destinations. A distance of 12 to 15 miles. Most cities have traffic issues, but when you need to cross over rivers it creates more complex problems to any viable solution. A strong earthquake with an epicenter nearby could easily render our “antique bridge” useless, or worse, collapse the span. Placing all I-5 North/South traffic onto 205 and its bridge across the Columbia, assuming it survives a quake. That freeway already has severe traffic congestion and delays. Portland and the surrounding areas regularly have earthquakes, with as many as 300 measurable quakes in a year. The vast majority are never noticeable. A bunch of small quakes is so much better than one big one. Replacing the bridge with one that is less of a bottleneck, and is seismically resilient, has been in the planning stages SINCE 1999. The bridge is actually a vital part of Oregon’s economy. I would like to think that makes it a high priority” for Oregon, Washington, and the Federal government. In 2020, the projected cost was $3 to $4 billion, now the projected cost is $5.5 to $7 billion, primarily due to inflation. The wheels of progress are slow (25 years and counting). If only all of our incomes would double every 4 to 5 years…sigh

In the end, the conferences that control the majority of the media money are changing college football, and thus college sports. They have “cherry picked” top teams to expand their football media markets, which further expands their wallets. Universities that consistently receive higher football media contract payouts win. A level playing field has never existed, but now the gap is really insurmountable. If we are left with two major football conferences, who governs the money grab? Will that governing body, which is starting to look like the conferences themselves, assess strict penalties for rules infractions to members of their own conference? Money is changing college sports, will we like who it becomes?

Coach Johnson led Oregon track and field to multiple national championships. Then things started to unravel and his contract was not renewed. The circumstances and rumors that led to that decision have definitely hurt the program. Nike and Alberto Salazar settled a lawsuit with Mary Cain with allegations of coaching abuse with regards to optimal weight for women athletes. Similar accusations had been circulating around Robert Johnson’s track program regarding optimal weight. Perhaps, not so surprising that his contract was not renewed.

No matter how many teams are in a playoff, and how many games each conference plays. Invites and seeding by committee will never be without some type of controversy. However, the CFP has taken steps to be more entertaining. Not that I think a 12th seeded team will have a chance to win, but because there will be interesting matchups. The playoff showcases meaningful games with top teams from around the country that normally may never play each other. Should be fun.

When Chip arrived at Oregon, Bellotti was looking to make large scale changes to the offense. Chip’s uptempo spread offense with zone reads was innovative and explosive. Looking at time of possession you would think Oregon was trounced. I have to wonder how much control that Ryan Day gives Chip. With a few quick 3 and outs does he get a nervous twitch about his new OC? Chip will have the highest rated players he has ever coached. However, they were already expected to compete for a National Championship before Chip arrived. Is nothing short of a Natty the measuring stick of success.

Utah and OSU created huge problems for DM. I suppose both defenses would have created problems for true freshman QBs. The obvious concerns are his 9 ints vs. 11 TDs, and the 25 sacks the opposition were able to record. Those are obvious red flags considering he was used sparingly a few games. The good news is that we have the luxury of having a 5* QB on our sidelines. He has potential, but he really needs to work at his craft. At least it sounds like the QB coach has solid material to work with. Let’s work on throwing it to the right guys and vastly improve his ability to read defenses.

Let me see… Big wallet donors contribute funds to bring in a coach, and then spend stupid amounts of money on NIL. Donors are now fully invested, and expectations soar. The coach “fails” to meet expectations. Donors put pressure on AD to fire the Coach. Coach gets fired, but still continues to receive millions from original contract signed. Big wallet donors contribute funds to bring in new coach… Wash, rinse, and repeat. The carousel never stops.

I guess I am not that grumpy when I go to the games. I Never have thought that the wave is something that I need to eliminate…lol… Let people have fun, if that somehow includes the wave, then I won’t stand in the way. However, I do think it is entertaining to watch the guy that is trying to start a wave, and nobody around him wants to help. I know the stadium needs improvements. For that, I will definitely get behind adding to everyone’s game experience.

Oregon's uniforms through the years WWW.NFL.COM Check out Oregon's best uniforms through the years. Nike has definitely helped with the branding of Oregon Duck sports. Having a retro uniform roll out is cool, and keeping things fresh year to year is what we do…however, there have been a few duds along the way that can stay permanently retired. I am not a huge fan of grey pants, and/or jerseys. I just need to remember that if the players and potential recruits think the uniforms are cool, then I am good with it as well.

Obviously it is early, but it looks like a solid beginning. One name missing from the top 25 is Alabama. Tough to stay at an elite level without the high level of recruits that they enjoyed while Saban was coach. I will be interested to see if DeBoer can keep both oars in the water while in the turbulent water of trying to maintain an elite level of recruiting, while replacing his OC, at what seems like an important time in the recruiting process. Have to laugh that Grubb, his previous OC, was hired by the Seahawks.