Desert Duck

It should be a great game, especially since it's in Eugene.

Exactly. And ASU stinks.

Two weeks ago, I thought that then 4-0 UCLA was likely a pretender. I also said that I thought they might likely be 4-3 after 7 games. I was wrong. 42-25 UCLA with 9:26 in the 4th.

Sorry... and don't hate me: Arizona 44-41 2 3 273 And GO DUCKS!

Watching it frame-by-frame makes it even mo-betta.

Thanks for the reminder. Admittedly, that does slip my mind on occasion. That was a huge handicap for Helfrich to walk into. I still don't think he was going to be the answer long-term, but will never know for sure.

Correct... 1995. The Knight's put up a matching donor fund for the Moshofsky Center, which shifted the $15 million fundraising program for the Mo into overdrive. Construction began in '97 and the Mo was opened in '98. But I particularly like that the Knight's first huge gift was to renovate the U of O library in 1994. And pretty much since that time, the construction projects have not stopped throughout the entire university.

As usual, the Beavers are wrong. When you look back at what Brooks had to work during his tenure from '77 - '94, which was very-very little, and even though he only had 3 seasons with 8 or more wins, most of us realize that what he accomplished was actually rather amazing. I feel like he virtually willed that '94 to the Rose Bowl. And Belotti following up that Rose Bowl team with another 9 win season in '95 -- also in part a testament to Brooks, was beyond impressive. To your point, Oregon showed first that they could win... and win with very few resources. And about that time, the Knight's came into serious, serious money -- and fortunately for the University of Oregon, they have been phenomenally generous with it to his beloved alma mater. Because, as said beautifully in wonderful movie The Right Stuff: "No bucks, no Buck Rogers."

Helfrich got "Chip Kellied." Chip and his unprecedented Oregon 87% winning record, 4 straight BCS trips, and 1 NC trip, ruined it for any coach who was going to follow him. I don't think Helfrich was going to be a great coach for us long-term, but had he followed anybody other than Chip, more than likely, he would have had at least a few years to try.

Everything changed for Oregon football when Phil & Penny Knight bought in. Everything.

I am regularly being reminded at how fortunate we were that Miami came calling for Mario. And Lanning came to Eugene.

"I just think if things stay the same or improve, as Lanning preaches each week, the future is bright, but it won't be easy." Great comments and I totally 100% agree. I also think coach Lanning more than has the ability to reign in the discipline issues very quickly. I'm hoping and expecting to see a different team in that regards this Saturday.

"The Ducks have a spotted history against Arizona, and some of the best Oregon seasons have fallen in the desert..." We've only played the Cats in Tucson twice over the last 9 years. Both times, we played a very inferior Arizona team -- and lost. As a very unpleasant reminder, in 2013, we arrived with a 9-1 record, favored to win by I believe at least 20 points, and UA proceeded to severely dismantled us 58-21. It was one of the most miserable Duck games I have sat through. Obviously, on paper, we should handle the Wildcats with ease this Saturday. But when you have a team that has shown themselves to be rather undisciplined, and cocky, the door is wide open for anything to happen. Still, I think Lanning will deal with much of the undisciplined behavior this week and I'm confident that we will take care of business this Saturday. Looking forward to watching the game in Tucson this week

The Duck have proven themselves to be rather undisciplined, and if that is not quickly corrected, will cost us at least two games. "... but their (Oregon State) lack of depth it shouldn't be too formidable of a game." When playing @ Oregon State, over the last 10 meetings we've had in Corvallis, we've gone 5-5... and some of those losses have been against some rather crummy Oregon State teams. This year, on the right day, Oregon State could beat anybody in the Pac-12 as evidenced by how they took USC to the wire. To underestimate this game would be a huge mistake. And while on paper we should crush Arizona, our last two meetings down in Tucson have resulted in two losses against a very inferior team. Undisciplined teams have a way of losing games they should win. Hopefully we clean things up quickly before we arrive in Tucson this week. And after playing 5 years of college football and still throwing deep into double coverage, I have no idea what it's going to take to break Nix of that problem.

If we win next Saturday, I'll be happy.

Exactly. That's why my 44-24 prediction needs to enter the discussion And when I predicted Nix would pass for 369 yards, I think what I meant was that we would rush for 369 yards. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Sorry... but that's your fault for not taking into consideration playing time for the backups

I predicted Oregon 44-24, so I like my final score numbers best But the rest of my numbers were atrocious. Of the three final score numbers you list, I'd go with EastBayDuckDad because his numbers were closest to each teams final score numbers (total point differential of 3). FG Lumber was way off on each team's final score numbers, even though he had the closest spread number.

I might be missing it but I don't remember seeing teams like Alabama, Georgia, & Clemson displaying this kind of bush league behavior. Right now this team is quite undisciplined, and if it continues, it is going to cost us at least a couple wins.

There are losses... and then there are 49-3 humiliating beatdowns on prime time national television. I seriously doubt many people will be forgetting that one by the end of the season.

Exactly. I don't know of any fan who doesn't want to Lanning putting in his backup QBs later in the game when we clearly have a win in hand. We all know that we only have one season with Nix, so we need to give these guys as much PT as possible and see who can perform. But yeah... TT just looked lost out there. If I did not know that he was a junior, and you told me he was a freshman, I would have no problem believing it.

On the subject of if "Nix ever gets injured we are screwed if Thompson is our backup" -- I think almost all of us agree with you. On the subject of Lanning "putting in our second string in the 4th quarter," for many reasons, that's exactly what he should be doing.

The penalties were off the charts nuts. They've got to immediately fix this problem. The fact that they still stomped Stanford while getting 14 penalties for 135 yards, is pretty amazing. But this will be our demise against good teams if it continues. Regarding Bo, obviously he looked amazing when running the ball. But several times his decisions when passing were like the old Bo with throws into coverage that did not make sense. At least two times we were very fortunate his passes did not result in a pick.

I don't know... maybe it's just me, but perhaps during the game, the players should focus on things like --- the game. Along with little things like not getting 14 penalties for 135 yards. And the fans focus on being fans and having some fun while they're at it.

Or maybe he's just not very good.