McDuck

Imagine the roughly 50 member travelling squad looking across the field at double that number on the sidelines backed by a sea of red clad fans. Intimidation. The RG sub headline the following day was "Nebraska $6 million program defeats Oregon's $500,000 program". The numbers may be a bit off but fairly close considering the fog of 45+ years.

In the early to mid '70's a poverty stricken Oregon athletic dept agreed to be the cupcake opponent for perennial powerhouse programs. One year they opened at Nebraska and the Register-Guard ran several articles on the Cornhusker program. One item I remember was that in many smaller communities they would fund raise to allow a reasonably talented local kid to walk on to the Nebraska team. With no limits Nebby would suit up 80-100 kids and I imagine a lot of them played in their 61-7 victory. The NCAA has given up on parity.

The scholarship limit is not 92, the revision allows schools to sign above the annual 25 player limit if negatively impacted by transfers. Again from the NCAA website, emphasis added. The waiver is effective immediately for the 2022-23 academic year only. The overall scholarship limit remains at 85 for the FBS and FCS. And, in the FCS, the limit of 63 scholarship equivalencies also remains in place.

Five of the recruiting gurus on 247 predicted today he is heading to Michigan State.

Reportedly a strong Michigan lean but talk of Jim Harbaugh jumping to the Raiders (he is a friend of the owner) could change that. I believe he announced he won't sign Feb. 2, probably to see how the coaching carousel plays out. My guess is if Harbaugh stays he is a Wolverine otherwise it is a USC/Oregon battle.

The 92 limit is related to transfers, it isn't universal. The quote below is from the NCAA website with emphasis added. The Division I Council this week approved a one-year waiver of the annual signing limit and initial scholarship limits in football to allow schools to replace up to seven scholarship student-athletes who leave school after the first term. NCAA website

Attitude

Important to note he is co-offensive coordinator. While it is true that at Oregon he was only pass game coordinator so this is a "promotion" it is title only and an excuse for more money. Last year both Joe Salave'a and Ken Wilson were co-defensive coordinators while Tim DeRuyter was defensive coordinator is both salary and function. I have no problem with his being interim HC for the bowl. I get the nostalgia for Mike Bellotti vs Bob Stoops but the situations were completely different. Stoops is about 60 and retired 5 years. Bellotti is over 70 and away from football for over a dozen years. More important is several Oklahoma assistants had worked under Stoops so it was an easier transition.

Speaking of Brown I was shocked to see the tweet from Moseley listing his stats.

Figured this section of the press release deserved special emphasis. He appears to be a great hire.

Suddenly Oklahoma has one scholarship QB, a Penn State transfer four star with only an appearance against Oregon in his two years of college. Could be a rough start for Brent Venables and his six year $43 million contract.

But he did need receivers who could hang onto the ball. From an O-Live preview of the 2019 WR group, emphasis added "Outlook: On one hand, it’ll be difficult for the top end of Oregon’s receiving corps to match the production of Mitchell last season. On the other, it’ll be hard for the group to be as inconsistent and at times downright poor as it was last season. The Ducks led the country with 52 drops last season. That’s inexplicable."

The best QB operating behind one of the worst O lines isn't a recipe for success. Williams is certainly more elusive than current SC signal callers but weren't all of them out multiple games with injuries? Also, the Oklahoma RBs are infinitely better than what the Trojans trotted out last year. SC does have better receivers though

While I share your worries I remember USC fans celebrated when they fired Steve Greatwood and he turned out okay. Oregon fans were pretty happy when Andy Ludwig departed and he is calling plays in the Rose Bowl Saturday. Personally I would prefer the staff was squeaky clean but I don't think that is the world today.

His previous position was one year as 'co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach' at Florida Atlantic under Slick Willie. Maybe any port in a storm?

If a team doesn't have enough players in the playoff isn't it ruled a forfeit? Why should a lower bowl game be different?

Probably a smart move to get out away from the Hawaii football program even as a step down. At least twelve players are in the transfer portal and Todd Graham would probably be fired if they had the buyout money. Apparently rumors of player mistreatment.

Oregon 31-28 1, 2 and 185 Travis Dye is MVP

UCLA couldn't meet COVID protocols. Guess they were 'day to day'. Apparently NC State is a bit angry. "Felt lied to, to be honest," Doeren said. "We felt like UCLA probably knew something was going on, didn't tell anybody on our side. We had no clue they were up against that. I don't feel like it was very well handled from their university. It would have been great to have had a heads up so two or three days ago we could have found a Plan B. Disappointing." ESPN

While I have plenty of issues with both Klemm and Lupoi none are related to poor performance at the NFL level. Dealing with a 25 year old man with a contract two or three times larger than yours is far different than working with a twenty year old on a scholarship. Ask Nick Saban or Urban Meyer. Pete Carroll was fired from his NFL position prior to landing at USC.

Why Tosh Lupoi leaving Alabama was long expected After some early struggles during the season, Saban stripped Lupoi of defensive play-calling responsibilities and handed them over to co-defensive coordinator Pete Golding, according to sources. Saban had poached Golding from UT-San Antonio in the offseason in part to alleviate concerns about Lupoi’s inexperience with the secondary and as a play-caller. Still, word is Lupoi seemed overwhelmed during practices and didn’t totally grasp situational play-calling. While he was still heavily involved in the defensive game-planning, there was no question Golding taking over play-calling represented a demotion of sorts for Lupoi barely into the start of his defensive coordinator stint. Additionally, it was clear within the program how much Saban valued Golding, especially given he fended off other schools including Ole Miss in order to keep Golding at Alabama. It gave Lupoi reason enough to look for a soft landing place once Alabama’s season ended.

Do I count seven defensive linemen out for various reasons? One transfer (so far) and three unexplained absences has me wondering if disappointment that Big Joe wasn't retained is a factor.

Giving credit where credit is due, Mario did a good job building esprit de corps along the O line.

Until Autzen Stadium opened the Dirty Dawgs insisted Oregon host them in Portland, basically a neutral site game every other year.