Drake

The defense flocked together for the “dead duck” tip drill. Two deflections, and an interception on one play. Very cool. Defensive poetry in motion.

According to Ichabod Finebaum, all of the BIG teams would have a tough time beating Vanderbilt. Any given season a schedule can be difficult, or easy within a mega-conference. Many projected the Ducks to have 2 losses with our current conference schedule. They were wrong…I suspect if we played a schedule of nothing but top teams of every conference we might lose. Happiness is not about getting all you want, but enjoying what you have.

It’s never going to be a perfect system. Win and loss record has to be a major criteria. Schedules will always range from very difficult, to less difficult. How do you objectively measure less difficult. Key players get injured, so beating a very good team with key players injured should not be considered a “good win” ? Having an SEC team complain about how difficult it is to make the playoff doesn’t gain much empathy from me.

Jordan James went from probable to warrior mode. Such a solid performance on a night where offensive highlights were few. The offense started strong, but red zone mistakes kept the badgers in the game. In an alternate universe, it could have been 21 - 0 in favor of the Ducks, early in the game. The defense started strong, and ended stronger. Matayo played like a senior moving his way up the NFL draft board, and was my defensive MVP for this game.

Players are beat up and tired. The 8 week stretch we knew was going to be difficult is finally over, and we are still standing tall. Great job!!!

The first PAC 12 championship game was at Autzen. I’ve heard the fans of Oregon represent very well there.

While Cignetti is having a COY performance, and a raise is warranted, according to 247 his 2025 recruiting class is currently ranked 13th in the BIG. While I expect a potential uptick with Indiana’s recruiting, Cignetti will struggle to consistently compete with a below average level of recruiting inside the conference. He will need to improve dramatically. No matter how good of a coach you are, size, speed, and depth still matters.

Pretty sure nobody wants Paul Finebaum to play for them. I am sure there are more than a few that would love to have him put on some pads and put him in the circle drill.

Love that he highlights the effort of our bigs on the DL. The battles and effort along the line get overlooked at times, and they are just as important to the team success as our QB.

Not just #1, a unanimous #1 in both polls, which is very cool, since this is a first. Difficult to be critical, or complain. I will sit back and admire what this team has done, and remain cautiously optimistic looking forward. As DL reminds his team every week….they can’t control the narrative of what others say, or think…FEBU, do your job, talk with your pads, and let’s go play some football.

ESPN has $1.3 billion reasons they would want to see more SEC representation in this years CFP. Proven viewership numbers that they can sell to their advertising clientele. I would think that they would love to take a 3 loss SEC team over the BIG 12 champion if they could get away with it.

My guess is that they are focusing on finishing the season strong. The coaches, and players, also avoid any questions regarding sloppy play, injuries, transfer portal rumors…etc. The coaches also have to focus on putting the finishing touches on the 2025 recruiting class. Not enough hours in the day based on what the team is trying to accomplish. Have to keep current players focused, and impress potential recruits.

An error. Apparently we played with mainly LG’s, and Ajani watched.

The physical, and mental challenge of navigating through a new conference schedule is difficult all by itself. Being ranked #1 makes it even more distracting. Physically, players are banged up, and mentally the team is expected to play mistake free ball each and every game. While Wisconsin should not be feared, they should be respected. They will be very motivated to knock the Ducks from the unbeaten ranks.

I think the AD has simply chosen the two of you to step up your game.

With these comments would Ryan Day survive if tOSU “reworked defense” falls short against Indiana?

A predictable offense can be stopped. As an example, Oregon fans hated the pistol formation of the MC era, because opposing defenses knew what to expect. tOSU, Michigan, and Penn State have generally ruled the Big for years, without the need to make adjustments to their style of play. This year Oregon is equipped to handle top teams with speed, and size, on both sides of the ball. Having a QB in the thick of the Heisman trophy race gives us the upper hand. I don’t expect to boat race the BIG every year, but with our level of recruiting, we will definitely dominate many BIG teams if they don’t start to adjust their style of play.

I think SUC will need to stand behind a coach at some point. Riley is a decent recruiter, and to replace him they would be need a top coach, and recruiter, that can assemble a staff quickly. We struck gold with DL. Oregon gave a very young DC full support to assemble a top staff and go after the top players and recruits in the nation. Oregon fans hoped it would work out well. All the while, SUC nation was sure that Riley was the solution to years of mediocrity. When you are completely wrong, and overpay for something that is less than you wanted, what’s next? Let’s say they hired a guy like James Franklin. Good coach, and recruiter. Would that fan base be happy losing to Oregon, and tOSU most years. Doubtful.

Oregon has had many great college level receivers, with memorable catches and great performances in games. What is interesting, at least by my count, since 1990, the NFL has drafted 10 Oregon QB’s, and 8 receivers. I dont know the metrics the NFL uses to evaluate WR talent, but Oregon’s WR’s are often overlooked. Evan Stewart is a good one, but WR has to be one of the more difficult positions to have the speed, size, and agility that the NFL desires in any given draft year.

Consistently win the Ugliest helmet award.

Kudos to DL, and staff, that have brought in talent to compete with the top teams in the nation. Not really a villain, but the normal bullies of the conference know that the new kid is pretty darn tough.

Worst…Potato salad stadium before they spent $150 million on lipstick to put on that pig. Best…Tailgating at Stanford in the grove of trees, with the trees. Many tailgate setups have white table cloths, and great Cali wine on the table. We were serving salmon, and burgers to a fairly large group. Some Stanford alums tailgating nearby came over with a few bottles of wine to talk football, and for some of our food. Their stadium experience is more subdued, but had fun tailgating with those fans.

Colt without the heroin addiction. Colt was an athletic marvel that had demons that he could not overcome. He ended up in being sentenced to jail, escaped out of a window, and somehow found heroin, then overdosed. He did survive. He was definitely an NFL caliber athlete Sadiq is still growing into the role of a TE. He creates mismatches for a defense. He has the speed of many college level DBs, and a clear size advantage. Fun to watch.

Sounds like a cheap seat on a discount airline. Seems to me they increased the number of seats years ago because someone had built a stadium with more capacity. Rather than make the stadium larger, maybe they just moved the seats closer together to get a few more rows.