DuckHeart

OSU collapsed the pocket and at the same time kept Gabriel from running. Gabriel was tackled 12 times for minus 43 yards, this includes both sacks and intentional runs. How many passes were batted down? I think eight or nine. I don't see how Stewart would have made much difference---Gabriel would have not have had the time to throw to him deep, he would have been on his rear end. Jim Knowles (OSU's DC) out schemed and out coached Will Stein---by a lot. Makes sense. Knowles is 59 and has coached 35 years with around 20 years as a DC. Stein is 35 and has coached 11 years. He has very limited OC experience, two years at a Texas high school, one year as co-OC at UTSA and the last two years at Oregon. On the other side, you know Chip's background as both an OC and head coach both in college and the NFL. Tosh Lupoi, kind of, has two years of DC at Alabama (that is being generous) and two years at Oregon. It is not clear to me whether DL is really the DC or how co-DC Chris Hampton fits in. Regardless, Oregon was way out coached on that side as well. The good news is that Oregon's young coaching staff should get better. The biggest question is whether they will learn and grow.

Seems pretty much to be a simple matter of contract law. Can't believe that Mullens did not know this would happen. Ducks made the decision to go to the Big 10 knowing the consequences. I'm OK with that.

He has a clear path to start at Cal. Oregon's QB room is full of talent and with Moore as the starter designee with three years of eligibility he saw the hand writing on the wall. I don't see this as much of a loss.

Tez was as 15th in number of receptions; 41st in number of yards; not in top 60 for yards per; 11th in TDs. Ducks are not pass happy on offense. Ducks have other receivers. That goes against winning individual awards. And that is OK, it's a sign of a very solid team and program.

Agree. I think we are getting ahead of ourselves with all the DL is a genius talk. Yes, the 12th man ploy was great and call it genius if you want. But DL still needs to learn when to take the FG. And when it's 4th and 2 at midfield you might want to punt, pin them deep and rely on your defense to get the offense a short field.

I got the point. I was just trying to point out the "alternate universe" fallacy. Yes, the Ducks weren't perfect and they won. But OSU was also not perfect and they almost won. Many OSU fans have made the point that their team made lots of mistakes---couple of turnovers, unforced penalties and were still in a position to win at the end. And do you know what? Neither team will be perfect in the possible Big 10 title game which will be on a neutral but majority OSU field.

I'll disagree, we don't know if any of this would had played out the same way: Say for instance that Bassa's interception was correctly called. But who can say what may have happened next? Maybe on the next play a Gabriel pass would have bounced off of Ferguson's hands and into the hands of an OSU's safety who then took it to the house. And talk about opportunities which went awry, how about the strip fumble down near the goal line? Sure, it was a hell of a play by the Ducks but heck let say in our alternative universe that OSU should have had points on that drive. No, this was not an almost 43 to 24 Duck victory. It was a really close game between two really good teams.

Cam Ward is carrying Mario on his back. That's worth votes.

Ducks' ox gored; Beavers' ox gored; it's a matter of perspective. I was an attorney for 40 years. If I learned one thing is that perception of justice is in the eye of the beholder. I haven't done a deep dive in the Pac 12 to 2 debacle. My take: The Pac 12 was going to die. The networks wanted it to happen. WSU and OSU got screwed in the process, U of O and the other departing teams owed them something. U of O and the other departing teams surely gamed planned their departure; they would have run it by advisors including high priced attorneys----the 10 knew what they were doing. There were contracts and bylaws, rules and regulations along with financial and public relation issues. Those 10, again being fully advised, apparently reached an agreement. Good for them. There was not theft in the legal sense. There also weren't thefts in ethical and moral realms. Just a bunch of entities doing a work out of a difficult problem Now, back the Merry Christmas! Jerry

These days it's not about having another hat on the table for drama; it's about having another team in the auction.

No failures. Two head coaches and three offensive coordinators (I think that's right) saw him in practice and in games. And I bet all of them saw pretty much the same thing as we did. We all wanted Ty to do well, in fact we all wanted him to do great things on the field. It didn't work out and it is best for him to move on.

He was joking----and seems to be a good guy and likely headed for the big time.

One G5 team gets to play in a New Years game every year. Liberty has the pleasure of being this year's choice. Examples like Beavers vs ND aren't relevant as they aren't in a New Years game. Sure Oregon got the short end of the stick but that doesn't mean corruption etc.

Bo's decision to play is totally within character. Sure, other players make different decisions and that is totally fine. (Some of you on this board would make a different decision.). But he loves football, loves Oregon and loves his teammates. I think he made his decision based on those feelings----and based on the code that he lives by. Don't forget, Bo is really intelligent. 3.9 GPA, got his degree magna cum laude from Auburn. He knows the risks, he also knows himself; good for him that he does.

Refs do sometimes get in the way. This time he was in the way of the ball. Sometimes a defender gets rubbed off a ref. It happens and when it happens it doesn't mean anything other than it happened. The ref is considered part of the field; no replays or do overs.

Lot's of talk that a successful college QB will get $1 million to $2 million in NIL money. What's the market for Moore? He flashed talent but also showed he wasn't ready to start at UCLA. He has the upside to be great. Our staff knows him; recruited him; had him but lost him. I think the Ducks go after him.

Beavers are ranked 10th----the highest two loss team. That seems pretty darned respectful.

Win out and the Ducks are in the playoffs. It's really pretty simple.

23-16 Ducks win. And this is the game where Lanning calls for a FG when its 4th and goal from the 3.

Convert on 3rd down. Ducks do that and they win.

Wasn't Nick A working on Saturday? (I don't see him in the pic.)

Sione Vaki is an absolute stud. He reflects the Utah program and the toughness which is built into that team by its coach. Vaki plays two ways, a great safety turned into a dynamite offensive weapon. If he gets going on offense then it will be tough. Stop him and the Ducks win big.

When has a one loss Pac 12 not made it in? Hasn't happened. Worry about Utah if you want to worry.

My interpretation is that Phil Knight swore when Oregon didn't convert. Why do you think it was because of the decision to go for it?

I can't understand why anyone who is legally an adult (18 years old) should not be able to profit from their name, image, and likeness. These are not legally kids. Yeah, lots of downside to money at an early age. The young immature adults may blow it on cars, expensive apartments and so forth. They may not pay their quarterly estimates of federal and state taxes. But that is where the school can provide guidance. The school can----gasp----educate the student athletes on contracts, money management etc. As I see it, the major problem is that the governing bodies stuck their collective heads in the sand and pretended that the Supreme Court would rule in the NCAA's favor in the Alston case. I disagree with a lot of what Justice Kavanaugh says in other cases but I agree with what he had to say in his concurring opinion: “Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate. … The NCAA is not above the law.” The NCAA basically was saying that a very big business could exempt itself from anti-trust laws, reap huge benefits for coaches and others and agree (conspire in other words) to pay the players nothing but tuition, books and room and board. The NCAA's position created the mess; can the NCAA come up with legal regulations of NIL payments? Possibly but don't count on it. Is this bad for the traditional college sports fan? Well, maybe. But so what? And let's not forget the rampant cheating (paying the players) that has always been part of major college sports. And the Ducks have not been innocent. I was at Oregon 1972-1976. I saw Ronnie Lee in his new Chevrolet Monte Carlo. I was told by an employee of Joe Romania Chevrolet that the basketball team was on the dealership's payroll.