The Kamikaze Kid

Since year one, Lanning has not lost a game against anybody that did not play in the championship that year. How many other coaches have played five games in three years against teams that played in the championship? If Lanning were at Bama and Deboer was at UO, we all know who would be favored to win the title first. This article shows the fear that UO may have already moved past Bama on the current era tier list. How many more years does Mario need for "his" guys to get it done? Riley? Now Deboer is on that list. The media is afraid of the impressive trajectory the Ducks have been on since Lanning's arrival. A bad matchup due to the boneheaded playoff format is all that kept the Ducks from meeting the Buckeyes in the championship last year. This year's team may be the best ever by season's end after the young Ducks gain starting experience. That doesn't bode well for the traditional super powers or their fan bases that these writers need to appease. The Ducks are the new villain on the block and I'm loving every minute of it.

I really wish ASU had pulled off the upset against Texas. That would have been a big fat L on the SEC forehead.

It might take a few law suites to finally establish some sorts of order to the free for all that is going on now.

The Fighting Prowesses strike again!

1. Men's hoops 2. Ladies hoops 3 Baseball/ Softball

There is no "pressure" mounting. There are no "doubts". There is possibly the most talented team the UO has ever assembled that will just need some live game reps to gel into one of the best teams the UO has ever had. They may have a stumble or two in the season while gaining that experience or they may not. That's why they play the game but this is nothing more than manufactured pre season drama.

Yes please do. I love reading your takes.

Ever since he arrived, Lanning has appeared to be two steps ahead of being two steps ahead. I have always laughed at the suggestion that he just drops bags of cash on recruits because he seems more about getting the best guys that fit his system rather than the biggest stars out there. Just look at how he absolutely stacked the last two classes as he relied on the portal for high impact players. Now that his team is two to three or four deep at nearly every position, he's set for the next couple years and can just focus on retaining his roster and let the competition spend themselves silly on unproven high school kids. At the end of the day he's made UO a legit destination for legit dudes to come and train for the pros while competing for championships in school.

Beyond ridiculous. SUC will soon bloat themselves up with a $100,000,000 plus roster of prima donnas that will just demand being handed the bag without feeling the need to put in the work. How soon does the era of load management hit college football? They aren't under any contract to actually play in the games. Do these multi millionaire college kids start skipping the less viewer rated games like Rutgers or Northwestern and just play in the highly viewed match ups? There are so many ways this mega bucks era can blow up on itself and I'm glad that SUC is so willing to be the guinea pig that finds out first!

I think Sports themselves is the U of O brand. Investing in them at all tiers should make financial sense in the big picture.

Having the longest streak would be cool if it happens but I'll still root for the Dawgs over Bama any day.

Wow.

A sold out and raucous crowd at Mathew Knight Arena was treated to another Sabrina Ionescu shooting clinic last night as the New York Liberty played an exhibition game against a good scrappy team from Japan. After hitting six three pointers many coming from typical Sabrina range, Ionescu and the Defending WNBA champions won against the Toyota Antelopes 84-61. Nyara Sabally also got in on the act with seven points and six rebounds. New York Liberty down Toyota Antelopes in Eugene: Highlights, score

Ouch indeed.

I just hope that SUC is ranked in the top five. It will make their Pop Tart bowl appearance that much sweeter!

I always love these O line breakdowns. Nice to see the youngens are are handling some advanced techniques. Maybe the depth might be better than it looked on paper before the Spring Game.

I think the 4-4-2-2-1-1 format would be great if it were accompanied with a conference post season pitting 1 vs 8 2 vs 7 etc with the winners of those match ups moving on to the playoffs. That way 8th place teams in the power 2 conferences still have a path to the playoffs as would 4th place teams in the B12 and ACC. That would also mean even lower ranked teams would be in contention for that final spot late into the season. This would provide that March Madness type magic that keeps basketball riveting without expanding the playoffs that much. If a 5-8 ranked team in a conference can't win a road game to make the playoffs, then they wouldn't deserve to be in the playoffs anyway. If they can't get that win on their home field, then that higher seeded team showed that they didn't really deserve that spot as well. This system seems perfect to me and I really hope it happens at some point. As for conference champions, that could be declared after the highest seeded team in the conference playoffs wins. If one loses to eight and two loses to seven but three defeats six, then that's the conference champ for that year. This seems like the best path forward to me both in entertainment value (highest viewing ratings possible) as well as for fairness to all the teams in the conferences. This format could help keep conferences from getting too top heavy (same 2-3 teams at the top every year) and let even average teams feel as though they still have a shot.

Not only does the Spring Game provide some welcome football entertainment halfway to the next season, it also provides the fans an opportunity to directly partake in recruiting by showing the future Ducks what a real fan base looks like.

My next day thoughts. The passing offense will be ridiculous. Moga as a periodic wildcat could be lethal. By the fall, the D should be Lanning’s best. 54 yard field goals? Yes please! Many Ducklings look impact ready right now. PS I will never get tired of seeing Rich Brooks being honored on his own damn field!

What a great day. Beautiful weather, nice crowd and some good spring football.

I’m liking how the D has stepped up. Good sign for things to come.

Novo looks pretty good so far.

What a great time to be a Duck fan. Lanning's mix of enough NIL to be competitive plus no nonsense recruiting is building the most solid team in Duck history. I don't really care if we lose five stars that chase bigger bags elsewhere. Personally, I'm a little confused why elite players chase the money at all in college. If my eyes are on becoming an elite NFL player, then the training to get there would be my priority. I don't see moving from team to team, coach to coach and system to system as the best way to get there. The same can be said for taking a big bag to play for a back water team. The average NIL offerings for top talent should be sufficient for a college player, then once properly trained, the NFL contract should more than cover the long term financial goals.

Man am I hyped. For me, the Spring Game at 59 = Christmas at 9! Getting ready to head out and looking forward to seeing which youngsters are ready to take over the two deep this year.

By my count OBD went 7-0 against the top 10 picks and that is with two UM players counting as one loss. Cam Ward gets two losses so it evens out. Anyway, I don't think I've ever seen a similar stat before.