The Kamikaze Kid

It took two complete second half defensive melt downs to keep themselves from going 11-1 in Lanning's first year with mostly Mario's guys. I think 11-1 is a reasonable expectation but 10-2 would still be a good/ great year. More than the record, I'm looking for improvement on D including some disruptive havoc plays that Lanning wants to be the identity of his D. If that happens, playoffs should be within reach this year.

Sounds like fun!

Taking a big NIL deal from the home town school? $1,000,000. Prepping to be a top NFL draft pick by a defensive master mind? Priceless.

Not only are repeated negative posts an issue, so are repeated negative topics. It seems like every couple hours another B12 is gonna devour the Pac thread sprouts up with the same old stuff over and over. And once again we post repeated viewpoints on repeated topics about repeated rumors found on the interweb. I'd never want to discourage anybody from bringing up something Duck related to discuss but maybe not every article out there on the same topic needs to have it's own thread. Readers of the forum can skip past repeat topics no problem but moderators need to go over every post on every topic. Normally, I enjoy doing this as it keeps me engaged in the Duck fandom out there. But this is what repeat topics look like to me. Writer A says the B12 is going to...., According to writer B, the B12 is going to...., Writer C says it's a done deal that the B12 is going to.... You get the point. Most of these writers are just posting whatever they can to get easy clicks from frustrated fans. Rumors need no sources and can generate endless clicks with click bait headlines.

I could see the offense bringing in QB2 for a couple series in the game for a change of pace like the J14 steam roller last year. Could be a way of keeping 4-5 star back ups invested in staying with the team rather than transferring out.

I think we're seeing the final days of static contract payouts to conferences by television companies. TV is losing it's stranglehold on viewership yearly to the internet and losing it fast. Cord cutting is a real thing and this will have to be taken into account sooner or later. At some point, contracts will have to be based on true market value not just speculation based on market potential. Just looking at the Pac there is no way you can convince me that Cal with the bay area market or UCLA in Los Angeles has higher viewing numbers than UO in a mid sized college town. In fact many if not most major universities are situated in college towns. It is why the term college town exists in the first place. Most of the SEC exists in "small markets" with extremely loyal fan bases. Also, handing out money hand over fist to perpetual bottom feeders in the SEC or Big 10 doesn't make sense long term in the era of dwindling media dollars. In short, I think bloated media contracts with a lot of dead weight baked in will soon become a thing of the past. With media delivery switching towards streaming, it would make sense to reward contracts based on loyal following and support to get the most out of the money spent. In this day and age there are independent media outlets with higher youtube followers than CNN or FOX or anybody else. I am sure the same can be said for Universities with active social media presence. I can see a day soon arriving were streaming companies pay out meager lump sums to conference members but reward individual universities with compensation based on the number of views per game. If the UO for example had 50,000,000 world wide social media fans and promoted their up coming games on various social media platforms, then had around 10.000.000 viewers per game, that would be far more valuable to the streaming service than UCLA with no fans or Indiana Vs Northwestern in the Big 10. If Streamers payed out just $1 per view, that would be $10,000,000 per game based on this example. This would reward universities with active streaming presence and ignore universities with milk toast support. I think this is the direction media contracts will be headed. I don't think jumping into a conference halfway across the country will be required to be rewarded for true media value.

"DeGraaf is a big-time pickup for Washington. He’s the No.702 player and the No.34 tight end in the country for this cycle, per 247Sports Composite" Bravo Fighting Prowesses. Bravo.

What may become the game changer just may be how media contracts are designed in the future. The internet is quickly replacing cable for the viewing audience across the board. It would not surprise me if the next round of deals are primarily focused on internet viewership numbers. Net statistics are easy to track and can provide fairly accurate statistics for advertisers and media companies. If for example UO vs anybody is shown to produce 10,000,000 views per game internationally but lets say Purdue has 90% less, nobody is going to want to hand over twice as much money to the Boilermakers than the Ducks. It could be quite possible that UO could make as much if not more than UCLA and USC and never have to leave our west coast conference to do it. I agree with Dave's take on phase one. Just weather the storm short term and hold the conference together then prepare for the fast approaching future.

fuskies public reaction: Great. One is all we need! fuskies private reaction:

The AP must not have gotten the memo. The preseason rankings always must start with: 1 USC 1 fuskies 3-25 don’t matter

Any streaming deal that the Pac signs will feature the Ducks front and center as the biggest international brand the Pac has. If the deal includes payouts for viewership and UO becomes China's team, that could easily dwarf any payout the Big10 could offer.

In these uncertain times, everyone is making a plan B. Reports of someones plan B should be placed in the of course file. The media landscape is undergoing drastic changes right before our eyes. Chord cutting is a real thing and network layoffs reflect that. Streaming is the future but not the present but do you sign a media deal for the present if the present will soon become the distant past? When this is all said and done, I'd expect the Pac to be in a position to be on the cutting edge of the streaming wave with a contract that rewards view shares. The Ducks just may become the Pac's leader in international visibility as an Amazon or Apple or whatever becomes an international leader in streaming sports content. I feel like we are in a classic darkest before the dawn moment.

I hear you but I’m sure the ACC would much rather do it all over again in five years (Or right now) than just be done with it for the next twelve.

Dilly may be good but last year that was Bo throwing to Franklin and handing off to Bucky while being protected by an A+ line. He’ll have a much different roster to work with. Setting up way to high expectations in year one of a massive rebuild may not be the way to go.

With the ACC looking to self implode and get gobbled by the Big and SEC, I see a Pac/ B12 merger on the horizon which may be the best solution in the long run. I don't like the thought of 20+ school conferences but I do think that regional rivalries will always be the heart of college sports.

Popcorn! Getcha popcorn heya!

Pate sees what's going on and what's coming up. UW improves their recent record against the Ducks to 3-15 and believe they're back. USC believes moving to the Big is leaving UO in their dust. SUC going 8-4 and traveling across the country just to do while UO routinely collects 11-1 seasons, playoff births and owning LA recruiting is far more likely. Streaming media deals will soon start rewarding high value schools directly instead of over bloated conference deals that just squander precious resources. UO has been and will continue to be must see TV and that's just the way it is. Someone will always want a piece of that pie.

Uh oh. Not the dreaded vote of confidence!

I think this is where Lanning's zero star mentality will really pay off. Stay humble and just get 1% better every day and earn your respect on the field.

Hey Jon. Always love your takes. You seem far more knowledgeable in the business world than I and I acknowledge that I'm talking way outside the box on this one. What I'm envisioning is a couple different new approaches combining to create a completely different approach to media deals all together. Since the Pac happens to be the last conference up to bat, it may be the benefactor of being the guinea pig for this new approach. First, since ESPN is exploring going streaming only, might it not make sense to partner up with Amazon? Amazon has a far wider reach not only in the US but the entire world than ESPN will ever have. In turn, ESPN already has the broadcast infrastructure that would take Amazon years to develop on their own. It seems to me that a partnership between the two would launch them both to the front by far in the world of sports streaming. Next I'm also talking about a new type of media contract that rewards the schools involved based on viewership numbers as opposed to fixed numbers simply due to being associated with a specific conference. I don't think anybody would mind giving a huge national brand like UO a sizable payout for top level viewership. I just don't think they would want to be anchored to committing large wads of cash to WSU vs Stanford. Also the fallacy of the tiny UO media market vs the huge bay area market for Cal or the LA market for UCLA would be exposed. I see uncharted waters on the media horizon and companies wanting better assurance for the bang for the buck ratio moving forward. Just some thoughts while we count down the days to September.

With so much going on about conferences possibly collapsing, ESPN looking into all streaming, continual chord cutting across the nation, I think staying put and signing a short media deal might be the smartest move. At this point I could see some sort of ESPN/ Amazon partnership develop that absorbs the Pac12 Network. With new frontiers in media delivery on the horizon maybe new types of media contracts develop as well. What if individual schools just started taking in revenue per game based on viewership results? If things headed into that direction, it wouldn't matter what conference the Ducks were in and income per school would be based on value per school. This model would seem to make the most sense for all parties involved. For example, instead of giving every school in the B10 $80M a year maybe tOSU earns $100M while Purdue only earns $20M. It seems like the media outlets could simply funnel the money toward the real money makers and not waste it on the bottom feeders. It seems like some sort of reality adjustment will have to happen sooner or later. I don't the the B10 wants to become the B30. I also don't think schools like UO or FSU want to have to start flying all over the country just to make a buck. In the end this delay in a media deal may be a good thing as it seems the winds of change are blowing all over the place at the moment. Some times the best move is just staying still and avoiding the wrong move.

Howdy AMCDawg. Congratulations on back to back championships. It looks like UGA has build a solid program that is going to be dominant for years to come. I'd say most of us Duck fans are quite impressed with what Coach Lanning is building up here in the Northwest. Outside of simply being over matched in game one last year, our biggest issues that got exposed last year were a shakey defensive roster and lack of QB2 development. Both of which bit us in the butt and knocked us out of the playoff picture. Since then, Lanning has done a major overhaul on the D and has brought in a good freshman QB and just landed the commitment of a potential great one. Things seem to be moving in the right direction. If your Dawg community ever wants to have some fun, feel free to introduce yourselves to the most obnoxious and delusional fan base on the planet. That would be the purple mutts up north that consider themselves to be the one and only true dawgs. You could get to hear for yourselves from dawgman and the dawgpound how their tie for 1st in 91 is the ONLY championship that actually matters and their return to the top is just moments away. Poodles yapping like wolves is all we ever hear up here. If you ever get offended by our dawg put downs, don't worry, we're not talking about you! Anyway good luck next year and hopefully we meet again in the playoffs.

Legend. RIP

If super conferences (20+ schools) are on the horizon, then the Pac, B12 and MW should just reconfigure themselves into two 20ish school conferences. The Pac 10 + B12 Texas schools TT, Baylor, TCU, Houston and BYU + MW schools SD St, SJ St, Fresno St and UNLV + SMU or UTSA would make a solid multi time zone conference with nearly every major media market west of the Mississippi. The B12 could have the remaining MW and add others as they see fit. I think the B10 and SEC will gobble up the Prime ACC schools and the remaining ACC schools probably join up with the AAC or something like that. Seems like some sort of epic seismic shift is on the horizon. If ESPN and Fox see it to their advantage, I could see them altering media agreements to accommodate it. Personally, 20+ schools per conference seems too big to me but I'm probably too old school for these newfangled times.

At this point, I'd just like somebody to get the Pac presidents on record as to what their goal even is. If the true goal is to maintain their self image as the Ivy league of the west, then it would save us all the trouble of hoping for a positive outcome by sticking together.At that point "Conference of Champions" will simply mean gymnastics, la cross and tennis trophies. If they actually want big three sports relevance and the revenue that comes with it, then they should be pursuing expansion ASAP without looking down on any school that could help them achieve those goals. I see a glaring fork in this road. Lip service to achieving both goals will just end up find them achieving neither. I believe this is why GK is in an impossible negotiating position and no new news has developed in months.