Grandpa Duck

I am enjoying the escape from the confines of the Pacific Time Zone.

Lots of good points, Oregon123, particularly that a strong Oregon State program redounds to the benefit of all of the state, including OBD. One thing, though, it’s not a probability that the good OSU players will transfer, that is already happening. Addicus Sappington?

This coming Saturday night the Sam Houston Bearkats, 0-8, will be in Corvallis to give the 17.5 point favorite OSU Barkrats an opportunity to make it three in a row! Will fans storm the field again should their team get the trifecta? “Barkrats vs. Bearkats” , there’s poetry in that.

This is not the first time Oregon has been a leader in pass defense stats. Way back, in the days of coach Don Reed, or thereabout, at this time of the season Oregon led the passing stats for at least the Pac-?? (not sure what the number was for the PAC, but it probably was 8 or 10). The Ducks did not have anywhere near the quality of DB's we have now at that time. The reason we had the best pass defense stats was simple. Our run defense was so bad no opponent needed to run the risk of throwing the ball. They just ran it up the middle and bead the crap out of us. I know this was the era when the beavers beat us eight years in a row with nothing more than a big fullback. There were two of them, Shilling and Pifer. Spelling may be wrong. Each of those fullbacks started as a freshman and when the first graduated the second came in. The Ducks would be ahead at half time and the beavers would just start running the ball up the middle. In those days Autzen was a mud field. If you were around then you know what I am saying is true. If you were not around then, count that among your blessings.

The the mighty beaver back yard ( never was a “Nation”), prevails!

Coug’s miss a short field goal to stay behind 10-7 with 1:05 left in game.

The “New World PAC 2” Cougars are still doing their utmost to reach back into their past and “Coug it” for the rodents.

OH, NO, MARIO!!! Never was a coach more “snake bit.”

For Utki, PERS is not funded by taxpayers. The money an Oregon coach pays from his or her salary into PERS is matched by the Oregon Athletic Department which is not taxpayer supported. That money is invested by the Oregon State Treasurer in the same investments that State of Oregon funds are invested. Those investments have earned a lot of income over the years and the return for retired former State of Oregon employees from the investment of their own money is substantial. However the PERS funds are totally separate from any tax revenue. The taxpayers of Oregon do get a huge benefit because the total funds the State of Oregon Treasurer has to bargain with potential sources of investment are greatly enhanced by having the PERS funds along with taxpayer funds. The entire PERS funds, which grow every year, are there for investment. However the taxpayer funds decline to a low amount with each two-year State budget. Yes, I get a monthly PERS benefit, but none of it comes directly from the taxpayers. I worked for SAIF Corporation, which, like the Athletic Department, is not taxpayer supported. SAIF is totally dependent upon premiums paid by Oregon employers.

Oregon has the No. 1 pass defense in the country at 124.5 yds per game and the #4 defense overall. tOSU is No. 1 and Iowa No. 2. Some of the OBD defensive players are young and will be Ducks for several more years. Our quarterback, Dante Moore, started the first four games playing, pretty much, at the level of Bo Nix’ second season and Dillon Gabriel’s only season as a Duck. So, he was being compared to the two quarterbacks who have more college football experience than any others, ever. Nix started 61 games, Gabriel, 64. Nix was not well regarded in his early years at Auburn, and Gabriel had detractors at Oklahoma. He admitted that his spring ball as a Duck was pretty rough. Each of them opted for more college football at Oregon because they felt that they were not ready for pro ball, and they were correct. For each their best season was their last season. Both are starting in the NFL, and both started as rookies. Oregon did well by them. Dante’s first four starting games as a Duck were against probably the weakest defenses OBD will face this year. He came out of the blocks going full speed ahead. He was not sacked in any of those games. When he came on the field against Indiana Dante had previously started 10 games, five of which were at UCLA. As fans, we were spoiled and had unrealistic expectations. Dante is in only the early stages of learning how to deal with a pass rush. As he gets more experience, he, and OBD, will be just fine with him leading the team. While we don’t like to use him much, the OBD punter, James Ferguson-Reynolds, is a weapon other teams must spend a lot of time preparing to face. He can kick the ball a good distance using a standard kicking style, and he can place the ball well with a “sidewinder” style. Also, he can run and pass very well, making the fake punt option available on every punt. So, we fans have a lot to be happy about, and, I believe, much to look forward to.

Remarkable that this deep into a thread about uniforms no one has mentioned that by rule the visiting team wears white jerseys unless there is an agreement between the teams before the season.

During much of the second half, Brock Thomas’ best plays were handling errant center snaps that totally destroyed timing. Putting Moore back in the game would have been extreme gross negligence under the conditions. Thanks to Thomas, OBD avoided what could have been two or three turnovers. And, Thomas managed to avoid giving up the ball to Wisconsin without a trace of Panic!

LaMichael James had amazing moves and feet. Didn’t have Davison’s power, but he could go sideways as well as any I have seen.

Bo Nix just hit Franklin for a TD in Broncos v. Cowboys. Either the third or fourth connection between the two for the day. For me it's CBS on Comcast.

Maybe there is a quarterback out there who can be successful “without good protection “, but from what I saw against Indiana and Wisconsin that quarterback is not starting for OBD. It amazes me that those two opponents’ pass rushers have no difficulty getting into our backfield and our pass rushers couldn’t find theirs with GPS.

Were I Lanning the Ducks would never wear black uniforms again. Aside from the quarterback not being able to see receivers through the upraised arms of onrushing defensive linemen, black is unlucky for Ducks.

Ducks 45-0 3 T O 3 sacks 324 yards

It's difficult to compare OBD in the PAC to OBD in the B1G because the team of today is very different from the team Mario coached. We have substantially bigger, faster and better players than Mario had. The coaching staff is the best ever at Oregon, by far. We have never had the depth at skill player positions and defensive backs that we have today. And, we are a real player in NIL, which means Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel, and current players like Kenyon Sadiq, Dakorian Moore and many in the trenches on both sides of the ball. The thread about the QB room on this site tells us we have six QB's who would be starting at other PAC of old schools plus there is farmed out Saopolotele who was a Duck only long enough to realize he was not going to play much for a while. If we want him back, he'll be here, in my opinion. We are not the only program that has improved in the B1G, obviously, but the PAC companions that made the move with us have not improved. Regardless of what conference your team lands in, the message in college football today is get better or fail.

Some thoughts not mentioned above. Thomas looks to be having a lot of fun in garbage time. I suspect Lanning/Stein are not having Thomas throw passes because they don’t want an appearance of running up the score, and the same would apply to the other quarterbacks. The basic stuff OBD run during mop up time is not much prep for replacing the starting QB. One or more of the backup quarterbacks is running the scout team. It was my job as a 3rd backup QB in high school, 1956, before film of an opponent was even a dream, to meet with the two coaches who were sent to scout the next team on the schedule and study the formation they used and some of their plays. Then our scout team would do a walk through with our defense. With all the film available today that may no longer be the process, but if scout teams are still being used, one or more of the four Duck backups are filling that role.

Beck’s 4th interception does it. Louisville 24-21. Still 27 seconds left.

But Louisville is two touchdowns ahead of Miami on ESPN!

Ducks 48-10 2 TO 3 sacks 302 Yds pass

The following partial description of committee procedure is from the NCAA website: "What will the committee use to rank teams? From the CFP website: "The selection committee ranks the teams based on the members’ evaluation of the teams’ performance on the field, using conference championships won, strength of schedule, head-to-head results, and comparison of results against common opponents to decide among teams that are comparable." How does the voting process work?According to the CFP website, it begins like this: "Each committee member will create a list of the 30 teams he or she believes to be the best in the country, in no particular order. Teams listed by three or more members will remain under consideration. At the conclusion of any round, other teams can be added to the group of teams under consideration by a vote of three or more members." You can read about each step here. There's more. If you're interested search "College football playoff committee rules."

The all-white uniforms give me a feeling of confidence. When I was about thirteen I joined the junior firefighters because the local fire department had two regulation pool tables above the truck garage. The game we played was called “eight ball”. Of the fifteen numbered balls, 1-7 balls are solid colored, and 9-16 have a stripe around the ball with white on each side of the stripe. The eight ball is black. After the break the first shooter could pick between the solids (called stars) and the striped balls. Another name for the game was Stars and Stripes. The game was won by making all seven of your chosen balls, then making the black eight ball. It took us several turns to get to shoot at the eight ball, and usually not get that black ball in on the first try, or even the second. When I was fifteen the fire department put one of their pool tables up for sale and my Dad bought it. We kids knew our Dad had a misspent youth, poker, pool and so forth. All of that ended when he started dating Mom. But, there were stories that he was the county pool champion and occasionally some old guy would remark about his exploits at pool. He had the marble-topped table installed in the large room over the garage and had it leveled and completely refurbished with new bumpers, pockets and felt. Then Dad gathered my three older brothers for a game. Maybe I should say for a display of his skill. I was just watching while Dad would spin the cue ball off his target ball into position for his next shot, planning at least two, and sometimes three shots ahead. He would shoot, reach for the chalk and be moving into position for his next shot while the balls were still rolling. Always getting just the right amount of chalk on the tip of his cue stick. He could make that white ball dance around the felt. One evening I challenged Dad to play eight ball and after losing several games I asked him why it was so difficult for me to make the eight ball. He said: “Michael, when you look at something, what you see is the reflection of light. The color black doesn’t reflect much light.” So when I see OBD garbed in black I expect that the QB will miss seeing a few wide open receivers. Much easier to see them in white, or even bright yellow. Chrome?

Thank you, Annie. Very informative.