Grandpa Duck

If the Ducks hire Chip, which I oppose, there is one unmentioned aspect of his work that we badly need. Chip's teams at Oregon were in better physical condition than any other team we played. We won many games in the 4th quarter when the opposing "D" had hands on hips. At Philly, when the players bought into his conditioning philosophy, they did well. But the pros are not college kids, and would not sustain the program Chip demanded. If Chip could bring that conditioning back, reducing the injuries, he just may be the right person.

If they do that they will have to have a compliance officer watching his every move!

And for probably the only time, beginning with when we both posted on eDuck over 20 years ago, I agree with Duckbill. There was a long hiatus where I not only lurked and did not post, but also did not even view Duck sites. Just too busy doing other things. In addition to those staff named above, add Peter Sirmon. It's long past time the Duck people who make the big decisions, Phil, Penny, Pat K and Malitus (sp?), probably a few others, considered who we are and who they are. Northwest people are different from most of the rest of the country. I will be far more comfortable with a staff made up of people from our area of the country. Oregon played some great football under Bellotti and Helfrich. We can do that again with people who have the full confidence of their staff and players. Obvious to me that was not the case over the past two Utah contests.

There's another name that should be stricken from this list, Chip Kelly. Do people not know that Chip got Oregon into probation and himself suspended from the NCAA for two years because of improper payment of a scout! He left Oregon because he had to leave Oregon. Having a head coach who does not like to recuit is a nonstarter.

DuckIt, you may want to check your source on those comments. Let's look at what articles quoting the two people involved have to say about it. It's easy, just search "Helfrich recruiting Mariota". The Mariota recruiting to Oregon process started with Helfrich watching film of St Louis High School's starter, Jeremy Higgins: Ted Miller ESPN Senior Writer EUGENE, Ore. -- It all started in the fall of 2010 when Mark Helfrich, then Oregon's offensive coordinator, found himself curiously captivated by game film of the backup quarterback for the Saint Louis School in Honolulu. He had been scouting starter Jeremy Higgins, but it was a corner route from the skinny, nameless substitute that most arched his evaluative eyebrow. That pass -- "A rope," Helfrich effused -- was impressive, and Helfrich liked the way the guy moved around. Reminded him of Jake Plummer. So Helfrich called then-Ducks receivers coach Scott Frost into his office and asked him to watch the small handful of plays they had of this youngster. Helfrich wanted a second opinion because junior backup quarterbacks aren't typically pursued by Oregon. Frost confirmed to Helfrich that no, he wasn't crazy. The skinny kid looked as if he could run around and hurl the rock. So a few months later, as the 2010 recruiting season seamlessly turned into the 2011 recruiting season, Helfrich found himself standing in the shadow of Diamond Head, Hawaii's iconic volcano, watching that skinny quarterback named Marcus Mariota, a nonentity among recruiting services, in spring practices. He was the fastest guy on the field, and the ball flew from his hand in that lively way that makes QB coaches swoon. "I remember it like yesterday," said Helfrich, savoring a favorite and often-told story that doesn't seem to get old to him. "It was like a movie ... "I called [then-Oregon head coach Chip Kelly] 15 or 20 plays into the deal and tell him, 'This guy is unbelievable.' And Chip's response was, 'Offer him.' That was the extent of that discussion." As for Oregon being Mariota's "dream school", not so fast: Marcus Mariota admits he almost committed to Washington Huskies over Oregon Ducks Zachary Neel August 11, 2021 9:01 am PT In a recent podcast interview with GoDucks’ Rob Moseley on the Mighty Oregon Podcast, Mariota broke down his recruitment between the two schools, and what ultimately led him to choose Oregon. Here is a snippet of the conversation: Mariota: Well, I had been talking with Coach [Mark] Helfrich and Coach [Steve] Greatwood for a little bit before then, and they asked me to come up. They wanted me to basically show out your talents and your gifts to the coaching staff and kind of see where that went. It was funny because I took an unofficial visit to Washington the week before. You know, they offered me, I was excited, I was leaning towards going to Washington. Moseley: Oof. Mariota: I know! Moseley: Painful thought. Mariota: I know, that would have been… Life would have been very different. I'm not saying you were not told that a friend of the family gave a tip about Mariota to the Duck staff. I suspect recruiters get hundreds, maybe thousands of those tips every year. Far too many to follow up.

Didn’t Helfrich find Marcus in Hawaii when he went there to see a different player?

If we look outside football to the places other successful, long-term Duck head coaches left to come here, Altman from Creighton, Graves from Gonzaga, a smaller school like Coastal Carolina just may mane a lt of sense, 30Duck. I know, basketball is not like coaching football. But I well recall Pat Kilkenny flying all over the country in search of big name coaches before settling on Dana, who has stayed here.

If MC flies to Miami tomorrow, it’s not to see his Mom. He could have done that today. I get that rationale second hand.

Our “offence” was offensive!

How soon you forget Chip vs.Boise State.

. . . MBW (my beloved wife) just opined. “We’ve had a lot of times when we were the victor. It’s a lot easier to be a victor than it is to be a schmuck. Now we’re a schmuck!”

I suspect some Duck fans may be locked in a past when there were recruiting difficulties at Oregon. They need to put themselves into a mode of the last three or four years, under Cristobal. That's where the 18-year olds are. Oregon has huge advantages over most other schools. Winning these next two games is significant, but not necessarily determinative of how this class finishes.

I prefer to look on the bright side. When Brooks hired Belotti the offense improved immediately. When Belotti hired Kelly the offense improved immediately. Joe Morehead's offense has been said to be too complicated for our inexperienced back-up QB's to learn the whole playbook. There is somebody out there who can come in and improve the offense. Just could be that Mark Helfrich is that person. He certainly would not have a community or physical surrounding learning curve to overcome.

Oregon 31 - Utah 24, 2, 2, 304

So if we were playing a eight game schedule this year, why is it all of you believe the Utah game is necessarily the 9th game that would not have happened? Because it’s toward the end of the season? Makes just as much sense that we played Portland State in place of Colorado or Arizona. what makes sense is a nine team conference where everybody plays everybody.

There simply are not enough quality women players at Oregon to provide sufficient numbers for scrimmage, especially when there are as many injuries as we have right now. Sabrina's older brother was one guy who practiced with the women's team. I know there were others. Trying to make the link of a practice work, so you can see how they go at it, but I'm not skilled at that. Doesn't want to go in the box below. https://www.facebook.com/OregonWBB/?__cft__[0]=AZUnL5cZ_dKfg0eBIhomET3qpwo7DsU8lZ7Gl8aLcXPe_-Q24xK1Qg3WUIqHJUofqVETQ69C_-AG-lgpBqJrM4LAhGZQ6SNA2WjlylfUe8NijsnS3sipOYHK-0sY8J9Prb2rPBTBQ2JvRnejAATRKhG6IwXXEWFKPD-0aRg9cm6oHg&__tn__=kC%2CP-y-R was live. November 13, 2020 · Live look inside an Oregon women’s basketball practice. #GoDucks

I think most any of our uniforms would go very well with those cleats. I hope they also go with most any field surface for traction purposes. Time will tell.

TV money to the conference benefiting all schools. Some games are scheduled far in advance to secure the most lucrative TV slot. We played a Friday night game October 15 against Cal, and UCLA played Saturday vs. Washington. Then we met UCLA with with eight days to prepare and they had seven. It will be forever thus.

Joe Morehead grew up in Pittsburgh, not that far from Akron. He and his family have to be concerned about his health. This could be as simple as Joe and his spose deciding they needed to be closer to home and extended family.

I certainly enjoy the analyses of Mike and Jon, and others here who know far more than I about football coaching. Yes Mario is not a complete coach, evident in the special teams failures of the Utah punt return, actually the punt placement itself as well, and the OS onside kick. I am certain there are several other indications of his incomplete development. However, I have some substantial expertise in human character character analysis, and there, Mario is about as completely developed a coach as I have observed. Just look in the quote above in this thread where he says, in effect, "We didn't use Herbert to run the ball because it was the right thing to do." We had a coach not too long ago who got us into NCAA probation and himself suspended for two years because of payment to a recruiting scout. I don't want to see that kind of thing happen again to OBD, and I am about as certain as I can be that things like that will not happen under the current head coach. Having that confidence is worth a lot of special team errors.

Great coverage, Charles. Thank you!

. . . about the direction of Oregon football, watch Mario's interview below. It is what he is. And, if something happens, like a player leaves with no explanation, think about this quote from the interview: "We're systematic, from a cultural standpoint as well. When you come here to Oregon you have to do things our way." And this you know, but he said it again: "Our place here is truly dedicated to the trenches, on both sides of the ball." I can see this guy in a recruit's living room telling the lineman about his experience coaching guys like him, and the number of graduates from the lines that Oregon has put into the NFL. And, I can see him telling a QB recruit that they are going to be protected by those linemen. The RB's hear about the holes that will be opened for them. The interview is 27 minutes and well worth your time.

I missed the first drive in the live TV cast, Saturday, but watched it last night on PAC 12 sixty minute replay. I was surprised by how many plays were "up the middle" runs in the nine-play, 75 yard drive. 1. Brown run for 12 yds. 2. Pass for 5 yds. 3. Pass for 13 yds. 4. Dye run for 9 yds. 5. Dye run for 6 yds. 6. Pass, incomplete. 7. Brown run for 7 yds. 8. Dye run for 3 yds. 9. Dye run for 19 yard TD! All the runs were between the tackles, but the O linemen have so much lateral movement, sometimes it's hard to tell just where they created the hole after the back hits it. Some may not enjoy that kind of play calling. For one, I found it very pleasing. I suspect Jonathan Smith did not.

How about just eliminating field goals and extra points and starting each team at 25 yd line? TD or no count.

And if you want to see just the plays, the 60 minute version is on PAC 12 network at 8 pm tonight.