DrJacksPlaidPants

Willie Taggart was a rung on a ladder that helped Oregon climb out of the hole that Helfrich dug. He recruited a decent class and hired Mario Cristobal who replaced him and became a higher rung on the ladder. The final rung on the ladder was Josh Wilcox. Had he accepted the job, OBD would have had consistent 3 and 4 loss seasons and would probably be in the Big 12 at this point.

He didn't redeem himself with the Lanning hire. He tried to fumble that one too, but an old Duck alum came to his rescue when he turned down the Oregon job to stay at Cal.

MSU has a run-heavy offense. Their FCS Walter Payton Award winning QB, Tommy Mellott, has graduated. He only averaged about 180 yard passing last season, but he helped them average 300 yards rushing/game with his legs. Their new QB is a transfer from Stanford and he has some experience, but he looks to be more of a threat with his legs than his arm. They do bring back a 1000 yard rusher, but their top RB from last season transferred to New Mexico. I didn’t see any real game-breaking WR’s either. Their defense only gave up 300 yards/game, but gave up 400 to NDSU in the championship game. They have a few other transfers who are described in this article. https://msubobcats.com/news/2025/6/3/bobcats-add-five-new-players-to-football-program.aspx?path=bobcat_club

I tend not to argue with Bama fans about football. I find it's just best to let them have their opinions and move on. NBC NewsMan fatally shot in Alabama after argument over college f...The deadly shooting occurred during the University of Alabama-Texas A&M University football game.

Both fan bases act the same, so they get the same treatment from Duck fans. Both have a superiority complex from past success. There was a time when Oregon was circled on their schedules as a sure win. Now that Oregon has caught up and passed them they take any small victory they get and blow it out of proportion. My favorite is when they talk about all of their national championships. The Fuskies have 1/5 of a championship from the 60’s and 1/2 of a championship from the 90’s. USC likes to brag about the two AP championships they won in the 2000’s. It should be one, but the AP doesn’t vacate championships for cheating. They both remind me of Al Bundy reminiscing about his four-TD game in high school. Their past is all they have left to cling to.

This used to be the correct strategy back when NIL didn't exist. Get as many great HS players as you can and pray for a minimal number of busts. USC is sticking to that philosophy but they're using NIL money knowing some of it will be totally wasted on players who don't work out.

This is the correct answer. I think the Oregon staff is making wiser use of their NIL dollars. Likely spending the lion's share on proven players. I'm sure there are a few HS players who will be deemed worthy of some NIL deals, but we'll see who they are when DL starts flipping guys in December. I was listening to a Dabo Swinney interview. As many of you may or may not know, he has taken some heat for taking his time in adapting to the use of NIL for recruiting. He has now adopted this same philosophy. He doesn't use NIL to recruit kids out of high school. It's only for proven players either already on the team or transfer portal targets.

I really hope the tie-dye is just what the fans are expected to wear. I have a great deal of respect for the Nike team that develops OBD’s new uniforms, but a Greatful Dead uniform combo might be on par with Lewis & Clark, Webfoots, et al.

Ther is a school down in Australia called Prokick Australia. It's where many of the NCAA football programs go to recruit their punters. The benefit of recruiting punters out of this program is they focus their training exclusively on kicking and punting. Also, their balls spin the opposite direction as American punters because they're from the southern hemisphere which makes their punts bounce backward instead of rolling into the end zone.

Montana has some potential. They could own all categories if they just opened up a cage and let a wild grizzly loose on the field during pregame (think Ralphie, but with a huge bear). They could also increase their home field advantage by keeping a live grizzly on a leash on the sidelines (think UGA, but with a huge bear). The opposing team would definitely be less focused on the game.

I believe Texas Tech’s mascot is the only one to die during a game. Although, UGA came close in the Sugar Bowl when meeting up with Bevo.

The Duck is too popular to be relegated down to the mechanized category, but he should be #1 in both. Mike should be #1 in the live animal division due to the fact that if he gets out of his cage somebody is dying. Finally, as much as I despise USC, their mascot should replace Texas Tech's on this list.

Great point. Look at Gus Malzhan. He was fired mainly because he didn't beat Bama enough. Looking back, his 3-5 record against Saban was better than any other coach in the SEC during Saban's time in Tuscaloosa. The next closest was Les Miles at 3-7.

I know everybody gives Bama grief about their soft non-conference schedule, but they always schedule a FBS team out of conference. In the past 10 seasons they have played the following non-SEC FBS teams. They may not have been very good teams, but they didn't know that when the schedules were made. 2015 - Wisconsin 2016 - USC 2017 - Florida State 2018 - Louisville 2019 - Duke 2020 - COVID, they play ell SEC teams 2021 - Miami 2022 - Texas 2023 - Texas 2024 - Wisconsin

USC will be coming off a bye week, but Nebraska will be their second road game in a row after going to South Bend. USC will be Nebraska’s second home game in a row after playing Northwestern the week prior. Nebraska has a better QB situation and they’re playing a blue blood at home in front of their fans. They’re also playing November 1st so weather might favor them as well. USC has more talent and I think they will win, but they do have some factors working against them.

Their toughest games this season are in South Bend, Lincoln and Eugene. If they can win one of those and beat Michigan at home, they could probably be a playoff team. They have a lot of talent, but their success will depend heavily on the play of their QB Maiava. I think OBD are in the same boat with two pretty difficult away games (PSU, Iowa) and a new QB and OL.

All three of them have some talented WR’s to throw to. None of them are going into bad situations offensively. Sure, Moore has a new OL and he loses Stewart for the season, but DL didn’t leave him with a bare cupboard. I remember thinking Bo was a bust because he wasn’t really all that good at Auburn. Then he got to Oregon with Troy, Ferguson and Tez and became a first round draft pick. Being talented is one thing, but QB’s need to have good talent on the other end of their throws.

He may get to play early in Chapel Hill, but he’s going to one of the dullest atmospheres I have ever experienced. Their stadium empties out at halftime no matter the score or the opponent. Even when they had good teams with Howell and Maye at QB their crowd sucked. You could actually hear the opposing QB calling his audibles as if he was only a few feet away. I’m sure the price was right, but flipping from OSU to UNC only makes sense on the hardwood. The football team will always be little brother on that campus.

The dagger to the heart of the Helfrich era was 70-21. It was inexcusable. He could've taken Oregon to a bowl game that year and still would've gotten fired. However, his lack of leadership was evident during his first season. Under Chip, Oregon had never been blown out. Helf managed to lose at least one game in blowout fashion every year he was at Oregon. 2013 (Arizona), 2014 (Ohio State), 2015 (Utah), 2016 (take your pick).

Some of the uniforms of 2015/2016 had major "Jump the Shark" vibes. Obviously, the two you mentioned as well as the gray "blue collar" Radcliffe uniforms and the Webfoots.

I agree. I always liked the “Belotti Bold” font on the 2006-2011 jerseys.

He was good at finding QB’s. He found Mariota and he went after Adams as a grad transfer. Both great Oregon QB’s. I’ll also give him credit for Herbert even though it took Ryan Kelly’s de-commitment for Helf to offer him a scholarship. Otherwise, Herbert would’ve probably been a Bobcat. BTW, Ryan Kelly never recorded a college stat.