MikeJ

Well, we missed 3 tackles there, but at least their receiver fell down on his own.

If we don't get a stop here this game is in danger of being over. 3 points in a half?

Just not getting any pressure on Penix.

It just feels like we're leaning heavily on the pass and forcing things into tight windows without letting plays develop, first option only.

It's painful watching the mediocrity on both sides of this Florida-FSU game and knowing FSU is still in the running.

I hope not, but I hear you Charles. tOSU losing close today, the recent talk about Texas getting into the playoff, and Alabama pulling it out, it just gives you a nervous feeling.

Probably better UW won. There were a couple key plays where Cam could have easily taken off running for a first down and didn't for some reason, leading to punts. A few missed interception chances also. UW looked so shaky.

Ugly win indeed. The bad: lackluster performance, at Autzen, with too many penalties (although I thought we drew some ticky-tack calls), and the offense managed to score fewer points against SC than Colorado, Cal, Arizona, Washington, ND. Some genuinely weird play-calling as well. The good: if you're going to have a sloppy, flat, under-performing game, doing it in a win is good. And Bucky is OK (big scare there). Clearly Lanning and Nix weren't happy with the performance, so maybe a good reminder/wake-up call approaching the Civil War.

I've been a Utah fan for almost as long as I've been a Duck fan (and always root for Utah unless they're playing Oregon). I graduated from Oregon in 1990 and from grad school at Utah in 94, have lived in Salt Lake for 32 years. I'll miss the games against the Utes and the Pac-12 schedule at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Utah is a great program and is going be at or near the top of the Big-12 on a regular basis.

I think Utah will contend for the Big 12 title right away and probably win the conference as much as any team going forward. TCU and Utah will be vying for it for a while. The Utes will have a great chance to make the CFP.

Congrats to Matt. I'm not sure how much of the load he was carrying as co-defensive coordinator, but it represents the loss of another high-level member of the staff. I'm hoping for not only a great new coach/recruiter, but someone we can keep for a good stretch of time. The ability to attract great coaches carries with it the likelihood they'll get poached and move on to bigger opportunities, but stability is also important. Observing Utah over the years (I've lived in Salt Lake City since graduating from Oregon), coaching stability is one thing they've really benefited from.

I agree Smith72, that one really frustrated me because I'm literally talking at my TV set before that play that we need to just run it again. They couldn't stop the run. We had 2 timeouts and 40 sec left, 2nd and 5 from their 16. Just don't put it at risk. Heartbreaking.

Ugh. I don't know why we didn't run it there. They haven't been able to stop the run, we have 45 sec, 2 timeouts left, and have 2nd and about 5 from the 15 or so. Why put it at risk.

I was sad to see him go. I know we're loaded at RB now, but I thought he looked fantastic last year and was set to be our top back. I think he's going to be great for Cal.

Wow, what a day. I watched Autzen Audibles last night and a big topic was whether any difference-makers on defense could still be added. Lanning delivered on that and then some. It seemed like more good news every time I refreshed the browser at work. Huge day.

Well, I'm happy with the result (went to Utah after graduating Oregon and live in SLC). But it would have been us lighting up USC tonight if we could have maintained some semblance of focus and effort in the 4th quarter last week. What should have been.

That thought bothers me a bit too KK. Another ending to a year where you have to wonder where a departing coach's head was at the end. We need some stability.

We looked afraid to tackle on most of that drive.

We're going to run out of time to make a defensive adjustment.

The interception play call was questionable not just because we were repeating a play and increasing the likelihood it would be sniffed out, but honestly at this point I think Dillingham has to account for Nix's bad tendencies. That's not the first time he's thrown a pick in similar circumstances this year. That was to a side of the field which, if picked, was likely to be returned for a TD. It just felt like an unnecessarily risky play (given Nix's issues) on 1st and goal. I feel like Dillingham shares in the blame for that one.

I'm a '90 Oregon grad and die-hard Duck fan, but went to grad school at Utah have lived in Salt Lake City the last 31 years (and I'm a Ute fan except when they play the Ducks). I would say Goutes18 and savagefund have it right. Oregon is a pretty well-liked team among Ute fans. Ute fans are pretty passionate, and a greater rivalry may be developing, but there is little hatred there at this point. Ute fans' ire is directed towards BYU for the most part, with USC probably leading among Pac-12 schools.

Yikes, terrible decision. I feel bad for him. .

Thanks Charles for putting that in writing. I believe it did hinder Oregon's progress and now I feel slightly less crazy for thinking so. I'm a longtime (35 years) Duck fan ('90 grad) who has lived in Salt Lake City for the last 30 years, so I'm very familiar with both teams. I actually said to a few Ute-fan friends of mine in the week leading up to the game that beating Ohio State might have been the worst thing that could have happened to Oregon this year. That drew some puzzled looks of course but I was only half joking. It has been pretty apparent to my eyes at least that our limited passing game was going to become a problem at the end of the season and certainly if we had made the playoff. I would have rather risked losing an extra game or two and taken the chance on developing Thompson during the season so we had more options now. Even if the playoffs were our focus after the Ohio State game I still think taking a chance on developing Thompson better during the year would have been smart. Even now I'd like to see if he could be worked into the mix a bit before we (hopefully) face Utah again in the title game. If we get beaten badly by Utah again it will put a pretty big dent in our reputation as the top program in the conference.