Ktmguy2018

I know, it was against EWU defenders but Ferguson is an absolute monster. He had a good game against Georgia as well, but watching him destroy several EWU defenders on his way to scoring was a thing of beauty. I will venture to say that his production and connection with Bo is going to open up the down field balls to the wide outs even more. I am excited about where this offense is going!!

Folks, I take preseason rankings with a grain of salt probably as much as any of you do. I had no idea if Oregon was the #11 team in the country or if Utah was the #7 team in the country. I still don't know if Alabama is the #1 team because they had a scrimmage against Utah State. What I can see, and I have hard time admitting this...is that the SEC is at a different level. I know, Oregon had A LOT that they could have done better and I am not at all thinking this season is done. In fact, I am very excited for the remainder of the season to see how the Ducks perform! I am enthusiastic about the coaching staff, the roster, and where we are heading. But, nobody...and I mean NOBODY can deny that Georgia had superior personnel on the field on both sides of the ball. Their speed was undeniable. Their size was intimidating. AT THIS POINT IN TIME, Georgia wins that game 9 out of 10 times. Oregon and Utah played for the Pac-12 Championship last year and Utah is/was considered by many to be the torch-bearer for the Pac-12 CFP hopes (USC dominating Rice doesn't count). Florida was unranked at the beginning of the season. I know I said I don't take preseason rankings very seriously, but an UNRANKED Florida team looked very good against the #7 Utes. Utah played a heck of a game in a hostile environment. But Florida matched them step for step and I couldn't tell you which side was more talented because they seemed pretty equal. The harsh reality is this: The SEC is on a different level. Not all the teams (talking to you Vanderbilt and Kentucky); but the quality of players going to those schools is a mountain that Oregon and Utah have to scale if they want to be considered one of the powerhouses outside of the Pac-12. I believe it was Todd Blackledge from the announcers booth who said that Georgia has a roster full of 5 star athletes, not just at few positions. They reload with 5 star athletes...or something to that effect. I strongly dislike the SEC. Always have. I hate that Mariota and crew didn't get to face Alabama in the national title game. It is a HARD pill to swallow that the SEC conference is better...but the results were on the field yesterday. We all saw the talent disparity, not just in Georgia/Oregon but in Florida/Utah as well. I believe Oregon plays for the Pac-12 title again this year. I believe that their offense will get rolling and we will see some big numbers put up. And maybe, just maybe at the end of the year they will be in a position to seize a playoff spot. But, at this point in time we are NOT equal to Alabama, Georgia, or Florida. Time will tell if the Ducks can show themselves worthy to be in that discussion.

One thing I also noticed was that the defensive backs for Georgia are fast. Our receivers rarely had separation. Now, what I don't know is if that had to do with route running, but my hunch is that it was the speed of Georgia's DB's.

My hope is that the yellow and green O starts to look very familiar alongside those other schools.

If you haven't found it yet, it is actually: canesinsight...

April 23rd, at 1pm! I will most certainly be there to see how different things look. An opportunity to see some new RB's, maybe a little QB battle between TT, Bo Nix, and Butterfield. Not to mention some young receivers that may finally have the opportunity to stretch the field! And I haven't even mentioned the defense.....! If you haven't had the opportunity to watch his speech at halftime of the duck basketball game, it's a good one!

You know, my adult son made a comment a year into Cristobal's tenure. He said, "I won't like watching the ducks until they get rid of that coach" We had many discussions about that comment because I had bought into the hard nose attitude that Cristobal projected. My son would say "Where's the passing game? Yeah, they are trying to establish a run game but slamming it into the line will eventually stop working. Where is the originality, the explosive plays? Dad, they are boring...." He grew up playing football, QB in high school, Duck fan since he could walk, and watched Dixon, Masoli, Mariota, etc. Now, seeing your graph, he was right....I need to be sure to tell him!

I watch the Wisconsin Rose Bowl with DaT just to remember what it was like to think we could have a home run on every play...and just when the defense focused on DaT, LaMike hit the jets...

The interesting thing is that his QB absolutely locked in on him from the snap...the defense knew right where the ball was going and they still could not stay with him.

I was wondering that myself....and Seven McGee was coming on too.

They said he took his name out, then put it back in....I guess we will have to see if he stays in...or is out...

But there IS this news:

I would have liked to see more of him at Oregon. Kinda bummed...

I know most of the folks on this forum have been duck fans through the good, the bad, and the ugly. We care about the entire Oregon brand and want to see success in all athletics and academics. Tonight, U of O got some tremendous PR from the national championship game. Both Herbstreit and Fowler mentioned multiple times how the Georgia defense was performing, crediting the players and Dan Lanning. There were at least three occasions where those comments were followed by "the new coach at Oregon" or something similar. An earlier graphic in the game showed Lanning on the sidelines and that he was recently hired as the Ducks head coach. In another year where the PAC-12 is noticeably absent from the playoff, getting that kind of spotlight beamed on the program is invaluable. The fact that it came on the biggest stage in college football, and the outcome was impressive from the defensive side of the ball made the attention that much better.

How fired up will Noah Sewell, Justin Flowe, and the rest of the defense be to play for a guy that brings intense enthusiasm, great scheme, and a national championship win to the sidelines!!!

From that article: "The 2022 Oregon offense promises to provide a new-look systems with Nix and the new coaching staff set to take over from Cristobal, offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead and quarterback Anthony Brown who all depart this off-season." 'nuff said!! I am excited to be a Duck fan and experience this new enthusiasm and excitement at Autzen!

I think this game showed the chasm that exists between programs that recruit well, have a great coach, a great system, and have loads of talent in the 2/3 deep subs versus a team that may have a few star players, a good coach, a good system, and their talent drops off in the 2/3 deep. Cincinnati was able to hang with Alabama for a time. When fatigue started to set in, Cincinnati could not match the talent level of Alabama's subs.

There is an interesting read on a "state-north-of-Oregon-with-a-canine-mascot" fan board regarding this hire. The fan comments range from "he's a traitor" to "he really wasn't THAT good" to "*bleep* the Ducks"!! An interesting quote from the article is this: "There’s no way to sugarcoat that this is a disaster from an optics standpoint" The comments from the fans and the writers perspective of how bad this is for the aforementioned "state-north-of-Oregon-with-a-canine-mascot"....well, it makes me smile! The link if you are interested:

Dye's contributions to Oregon run far beyond his yard totals, TD totals, and win/loss records. This guy had a HEART for this team. I can recall at least two games where the offense seemed to be content with 3/4 speed and Dye was playing at a whole different level. Dye led by example, putting everything he had out on that field. I watched so many runs where I cringed as he barreled into a defense with reckless abandon. He always popped up and I would breathe a sigh of relief...until the next play when he did it again. In an era of NIL deals (not against those but it's a can of worms), transfer portals, and looking out for Numero Uno; Dye is a reminder of what is good about college football. I selfishly want him to stay so I can watch one more year...

Boys and girls, lofting the oblong ball into the air is what we call a "forward pass"....having very talented and fast people run under the ball to catch it and continue running is called a "downfield game"....it is a facet of a successful offense. Maybe next year we will see more.

Maybe, just maybe the next time we play in the Alamo Bowl, we can put the previous two games together...have the first half of the TCU bowl game with the second half of the Oklahoma game... *Sigh*

Well, clearly SDSU cannot POSSIBLY be in the same paragon, the Creme De La Creme of academic aristocracy that IS University of Washington....oh wait....where is Jimmy Lake now??

Bing Crosby - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas and Silver Bells. Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Eve Sarajevo Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton - any one of their songs. Adam Sandler - The Hanukkah Song

THAT is a classic!!! One of the best ever, Eh?

Like most of you, I watched the Lanning press conference and was impressed with the enthusiasm and excitement that he exuded. I didn't expect to hear him lay out his offensive/defensive schemes (although it sounds like he wants to stretch the field), so I listened more for his approach to life. What struck me the most was this comment: " But just as important as creating championship teams. We're going to create championship fathers. We're going to create championship husbands. We're going to create championship men that the University of Oregon and our alumni and fan base can be proud of." That one hit me. This guy WANTS to win a championship with Oregon, he wants to see our players successful on the field. But this may be the first time I've heard someone say that they want to build men of character that will be good people, fathers, and husbands. Now, I'll be first to admit that I don't listen to other coaches press conferences at other schools, so maybe this is from the new-coach-press-conference handbook. But I saw a sincerity in the guy that just made me believe that genuinely cares how these young men do after college. I am the first to admit that I want the Ducks to be successful and win. But who of us cringed when Cliff Harris and Darron Thomas were stopped and Cliff uttered those infamous words. Or when Masoli was charged with burglary for the laptop thing. I know you can't stop young men from doing stupid things (or even us older guys); but if Oregon can be a school of winning AND high character men; Lanning has done his job! My $0.02.