The Kamikaze Kid

I don't really care who's in the final four but I do find it highly ironic that "every game is a playoff game" except conference championships.

Sure Lanning blew it. Needless gambles when you already have momentum spells disaster. When all heck is breaking loose maybe calm and steady David Shaw type coaching may be better than rolling the dice. This was a learning year for him and the cost of his education was a trip to the playoffs. Ouch! Still this year was playing with house money. Until the defense gets solid, they are not winning a playoff game or an NY6 game. Shore up the D, get a good OC, learn from mistakes and move forward. In a year when half the Pac was top 25 caliber, the Ducks were still just two 4th qtr melt downs away from the playoffs with a bad D and a first time head coach. The glass is much more than half full.

Bandwagon fans fill stadiums, go nuts in the stands and buy merch. They do have an important role to play for successful teams. They just don't contribute much when the chips are down. I kind of like when my teams struggle at times. It shows me who the other real fans are. One of my favorite Autzen stadium moments was during a game with UCLA in '79. UO had the ball with a minute to go down 35-0. On forth and long they faked the punt and got their 6th first down of the game. All 5000 or so fans that were still there in a pouring rain storm immediately started going berzerk and doing the wave. The UCLA players all were looking at us as if we'd lost our minds. In those days there was no bandwagon, just fans, and I still loved it.

If the Ducks get that A+ OC hire wrapped soon, defensive players may think they could be the missing link the D needs to be a playoff caliber team. That's how I'd feel anyway.

Sounds like he should go play for Hugh Freeze.

Expect guys with C- performance grades to be shown the doo….. uh I mean enter the portal.

Outside of a playoff caliber teams OC, with the offensive success UO had under Lanning in year one, I'd think he could get pretty much anybody he wants.

Yes. If he gives us back a scoop and score, I'd call that even.

TT seems like a good guy and I wish him luck in life but a fumbled hand off turned scoop and score in his one and only play in a game is the last play I'd like to see from him. I'd consider the starting audition closed.

I'd say bring in a couple senior QBs. I don't think Moore would be too concerned being behind a legit first string caliber guy for a year. Being a four year starter, he probably feels he has a legit chance to win a competition. If you want to go to a playoff caliber team, you have to expect stiff competition for a starting spot.

Sounds like Moore already views the Ducks as HIS team and he's keeping HIS guys locked in. With Lanning visiting him on Friday, it makes me think the OC hire is done and that will be a topic of discussion.

Biggest thing I got from the article was that the recruiting class is in a group chat and they're all standing strong on commitment post Dilly's move.

Five-star QB Dante Moore locked in with Oregon 247SPORTS.COM Dan Lanning will be out to see the heralded Detroit passer on Friday.

I think we didn’t see him play at all because he may have been a “silent redshirt” like Cardwell. Can’t imagine the coaches watching TT’s on field performance and saying “that’s what we’re looking for in QB2”. Ive been expecting him to be a Beaver for awhile now. I’d still wish him well if it happens.

Since this is the grumpy thread, I'll chime in with a thought. Could all the disastrous razzle dazzle play calling in crucial situations late in the season have been Dilly's attempt to wow ASU into offering him the coaching gig? Consider that with the following situations. The swing gate at the goal line against UW when straight ahead power football marched them right down the field. The ridiculous razzle dazzle attempt with TT and Thornton when nursing a lead with methodical first downs had been working against Utah. All the forth down plays that failed with too much lateral ball movement in the back field. Again straying from simple and effective for cool looking gambles. If hindsight is 20/20, this theory could explain some of these head scratching decisions that together grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory in attempts to create highlight reel plays instead of simply trying to win games.

I think that when he found himself third string, he decided to take a red shirt and portal out. Ducks are more loaded at running back than I can remember. And that's even with Tre Benson portaling out last year.

By late October the Ducks were 7-1 and putting up good offensive numbers. Only one of those seven wins came against a current top 25 team (UCLA) and just one against a former top 25 team (BYU). The rest were: Eastern Washington, WSU, Stanford, UA and Cal. Not exactly a murderers row of defenses. An eight game sample size against mediocre defenses was enough to hand the keys to the flaming dumpster to a 32 year old unproven head coach. Sounds about par for the course for ASU.

Maybe they should have Larry Scott lead the parade. The grand daddy of them all has not aged very well.

LH, This subject is worthy of it's own topic. Taggart goes 7-5 in his first P5 coaching gig and FSU just HAS to have him no matter what the buy out is. Mario eeks out a Rose Bowl win with a future all pro QB, our OC out foxes an tOSU DC in over his skis and Miami just HAS to have him regardless of the buy out. Dilly does a nice job at calling the first few games of his career and ASU just HAS to have him. I think what they all want is a piece of the Oregon magic but it does not leave with the coach which they all either found out (FSU) are finding out (Miami) and will find out soon enough (ASU).

This feels like the classic Las Vegas wedding. Dilly's going to wake up the next morning in a dumpster fire. ASU's going to wake up next to a 32 year old guy that called a few nice games for a year without any other meaningful credentials or experience. Soon, they'll both be looking over that contract with a huge hangover and bloodshot eyes.

UNLV probably hopes to fast track football success to get that Pac 12 invite.

I think Dilly has a lot to lose. If he had stayed and UO was in the playoff hunt the next few years, he could have walked right into a UO level type job like Lanning did. Now, to me it looks like his career path is going to be 3-4 years at a dumpster fire, 2-3 years back as OC somewhere then 2-3 years at another dumpster. If he manages to put that fire out then 2-3 years at a WSUish low expectation school. Then if he exceeds expectations there he may find a UO type job. I'd rather have stayed at UO a couple more years, really build up my buzz and fast track my career.

Great stuff. We're all mad, puzzled, concerned that the Ducks had two abysmal forth quarter melts downs that cost them an 11-1 season. I think it's best to take a glass half full approach and appreciate the fact a first year first time head coach was in position to win both games in the forth quarter and be 11-1 in year one. Jonathan Smith got to play with house money year one and just get his feet wet guiding a horrible team and look where he is now. It should also be noted that if UW and OSU were both playing at the level they were last year, Lanning would be 11-1 right now. The Pac has vastly improved this year and has many of the top ten offenses/ QBs in the country. Mario would have been much closer to .500 this year if he stayed. Even if they did finish 11-1 this year, they would not have been a real threat in the playoffs due to the weak D. The bitter way the season ended may be a long term blessing in disguise much like the UGA game. The honeymoon is over. Lanning has seen the Ducks weaknesses and will have to go to work and address them. He has also seen his own coaching flaws and will work on them as well. From everything I've seen so far, I'd say he'll have the problems fixed sooner than later. The glass is much more than half full.

A few Thoughts. Former head coach = See ya after another good season. OC/ Receiver coach = See ya by Junior Adams. OC with their own system = Relearning a 3rd offense in three years. = Portal storm + unknown results. I'm pretty sure who ever the new OC is going to be will be one of the top three guys on Lanning's speed dial list. Barring an OC who's already on a playoff caliber team, I'd bet he could get anybody on that list he wants. I'm also pretty sure Lanning (and the team) likes this offense and will want someone familiar with it (Someone from the Norvell tree).

I think Lanning's gambles fall into two different categories. First is the river boat gambler. He's a fierce competitor looking for any opportunity to seize the advantage. This shows up well in his middle eight dominance but doesn't look so good with so many 4th down failures. Like any gambler that seeks long term success, you gotta know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em. He's in the learning process at this point. I predict he'll be better in the future. The next category I'd call crises management. When all hell is breaking loose, desperate times call for desperate measures. Against UW he was watching his D get destroyed the entire second half and knew giving back the ball was going to end badly. I think he thought a 50/50 shot at converting that 4th down was better than the 0% chance of stopping UW so he rolled the dice. Against OSU, pretty much the same scene unfolded except this time his punter dropped the ball on the one yard line after having a punt blocked. No trust in the punter, no trust in the D equals another desperate gamble. I'd way rather be a UO fan watching our young head coach figure things out while nearly making the playoffs than be a Miami fan wondering what the heck did we just get ourselves into.