EastBayDuckDad

Excellent observations in the article, Alex. Avoiding injuries and a step up in defensive efficiency make every game in 2023 winnable. As far as USC goes, what I saw in their win over SJ State was that in spite of better personnel, their defense is still very vulnerable to a good rushing attack and a mobile QB. Oregon checks both of those boxes. Williams is dynamic with a big accurate arm but could be lulled into throwing picks against better competition. The Spartan coverage was very soft and he found wide open gaps most of the time but took some chances with the ball that Oregon can exploit if DB and safety play is solid. And Zachariah Branch is the real deal. The announcers gushed on him and crowned him the 2nd coming of Reggie Bush. He reminds me more of DAT as he goes down easy once corralled, but you've got to catch him first. Lanning and crew now have a heads up that he needs to be game planned for. Time for some football!

Great article. I have a lot of faith (hopefully not misplaced) in the new O-Line based on the experienced transfers and returners that rotated in with the starters last year. They appear to be holding their own against the significantly improved D-Line in practice, likely as good or better than the majority they will face this season. They don't need to open huge holes for the RBs, just enough to get to the second level. Many of the yards Bucky got last year were after first contact and he didn't need a lot of space to get there. The biggest question is can the line play enough as one unit to protect Nix for that extra second to get the ball off to the right read or break off a first down scramble.

frick-i-de-doo-dah. What a unique take on getting into the CFP by Cowherd. So who died and made U$C king? They laid an egg against Utah (who staged a great 2nd half comeback) in the 2022 Pac12 championship game then squatted out a whole baker's dozen against TULANE !(kudos to the green wave). "Check out my crib" Riley whiffs on the big games routinely. No way they back in without beating Oregon or anyone else in the PAC championship. The beauty in all this is that we get to stick in the craw of the spoiled children for decades to come in the B1G.

Murray = Oklahoma (not TA&M) Burrow = LSU (not tOSU) Williams = U$C (not Oklahoma) So. Nope. Bo = Oregon, not Auburn. The team you did it with is the team you win it with.

Take Brutus and make him slightly less yellow. Squash his big round head at both ends so he looks a bit like a pointy football. Lose the silly cap and, voilà, you have Stewie from Family Guy! So yeah, that's a bit creepy. But not more than Purdue Pete, voted the creepiest mascot in all college football. He's supposed to be a big friendly boilermaker, but Purdue had to change his appearance as he was scaring small children. Does Purdue Pete scare your kids? He's voted creepiest and second worst mascot in NCAA WWW.JCONLINE.COM Quality Logo Products Bog conducted a survey this month that found Purdue Pete as the... And as pointed out on the Michigan State website, msu.edu, the lack of a Michigan mascot may be more than it just being "undignified" to have one. Like impossible, as in essentially extinct in the 'Wolverine' State. "There are currently no wolverines in the Wolverine State (other than a few in Ann Arbor). The last known specimen is in the stuffed animal collection of Gary Kaberle of Traverse City; it was killed in the 1860's. As far as is known, there is no evidence that wolverines were ever commercially trapped in Michigan." So yes, Puddles is going to have a lot of fun as the new cool kid in the B1G.

And that (snicker) is just (guffaw) plain (hahahahaha) MEAN! (I blow a mouthful of IPA out my nose and convulse on the ground).

Adding Cal and Stanford to the B1G certainly works on an academic level. It would create a west coast pod that would reduce travel for the teams and preserve some sense of the traditional PAC. It solidifies all of the western major media markets and might actually generate some CFB interest in the SF Bay area. There are no other natural landing places for the two premier academic institutions in the west. A revamped Pac with the likes of SDSU, Fresno St, UNLV, Boise St, etc isn't really much of a fit. Forget about the Mountain West. Big 12 maybe, but still not a great option. If Cal is able follow UCLA to the B1G there won't be any political friction or payoff problems within the UC system once you get past the partial share issue. That should bring UCLA on board. Stanford could go it alone ala Notre Dame but likely couldn't generate the same financial incentives for linear broadcast as the golden domers. Stanford brings big value in the non-rev sports and certainly WBB. And it preserves the Big Game if Cal moves with them. U$C is going to whine no matter what. Their biggest fears have already come to fruition with the addition of Oregon to the B1G. Push comes to shove, I think the Trojenz won't fight the tide if every other B1G institution wants to let Cal and Stanford in.

I might be the only one who thinks this, but here goes. I'm sick of the crocodile tears shed by sports journalists like Canzano, Orem, Fentress, Meek, Crepea, etc. over the Ducks selling out OSU, $10 of extra church group parking fees at Wazzu, and the rest of the PAC for a 'few dollars' of media revenue. Like any of them would turn down a big payday to jump from a smaller west coast media outlet to a national position with CBS, Fox or ESPN to further their own careers. They need to write a story and it's legit to mourn the passing of the PAC given it's rich sports history. It's their job and for the most part they do it pretty well. I lament what has transpired having been a Pac8/10/12 fan my entire adult life. But to lay this at Oregon's feet after the hamstringing that U$C and UCLA delivered to the conference is disingenuous. Champagne Larry and some enabling university presidents ran it into the ground, not Phil Knight. The same crowd that applauded NIL and giving some payback to players should have a hard time keeping a straight face when proclaiming that Oregon is cynically chasing the dollars by making the only sensible move available: Joining the B1G. The dollars to support all college athletics has to come from somewhere. College football is big, big money. How the heck else do you come up with a contract so lucrative and ironclad that you put a 20 million dollar buyout provision in it so some other institution can't pilfer your HC away without real pain. The media, fan bases, broadcast providers, and the advertisers and donors that float the boat have injected an insane amount of cash and drama into the process. Is it any surprise that we have ended up here? There, got it off my chest. In the end I just want to see Oregon thrive. Maybe win a national championship under DL. Watch the next Sabrina and the WBB team defeat another team USA. See the men in another Final Four. Maybe go to Omaha to cheer Waz and crew. Don't blame Oregon for doing what they had to do.

Looks like we will be getting that promised home game with tOSU after all. Then more rounds of the same. And playing Wisconsin in some venue other than the Rose Bowl. When you look back at the Oregon v B1G match ups in the last 15 years, there have been some great games, with the Ducks ending up on top in most of them. As far as the new expanded playoffs go, to see the B1G and SEC put 4 or even 5 teams in each year is not a stretch. Oregon will be a good bet most years. As a born and bred west coaster, with extended stops at Cal, Arizona and finally Oregon, I hate to see the PAC die. But survival dictated this move as did the SoCal schools breaking ranks. And as far as U$C goes, karma sure is a beach.

I don't know if eyeballs on screens matters much in all this, but since subscribership and ad revenue still appears to, here are some numbers of interest. Most viewed games of 2021: tOSU v Michigan. 15.9M Alabama v Auburn. 10.4M Mich v MSU. 9.3M Georgia v Clemson. 8.9M Ala v Tex A$M. 8.3M Ala v Florida. 7.9M Norte Dame v Florida St 7.8M Oregon v tOSU. 7.8M Most watched Pac12 game was Oregon v Utah at #28. After that at #30 was Washington v Michigan. Fact is that PAC football (at least in 2021) outside of Oregon, was not must see TV. And that took playing in the horseshoe at Ohio State. USC and UCLA didn't register much. If there is a brand in the PAC that brings a market, it is the Ducks.

Since Nebraska used to be Colorado's regular rival in the B12, that boomerang for the Buffs makes sense. Arizona and ASU are bitter rivals and play for the Territorial Cup every year. I would imagine that one won't jump without the other, but who knows at this point. I'm sure every remaining team in the PAC?# has a contingency plan for what is increasingly looking like a meltdown

Quacking the Roster: TE Transfer Casey Kelly WWW.ADDICTEDTOQUACK.COM Film review from Kelly’s last three seasons at Ole Miss before transferring to Oregon Excellent In depth analysis of Ole Miss transfer Casey Kelly by Hythloday1. There may not have been much fanfare with him coming to the Ducks via the portal, as he was an underweight low 3☆ out of high school, but he is much bigger now and has a lot of potential that was not utilized by Kiffin. I expect he will be much more effective in Will Stein's offense under the tutelage of Drew Mehringer. Interesting that as of today he is not listed at Go Ducks on the official roster but maybe he will be as soon as fall camp starts.

Without medically geeking out too much, cardiac arrest in a young athlete due to either an electrical event or a structural abnormality in the heart muscle that stops the normal contraction. It may be brought on by a blunt impact to the chest, like what happened to Bill's player Damar Hamlin. Sort of an inverse of the classic chest thump that used to done prior to starting CPR. More likely the exertion during intense athletic exercise cues a sudden 'short circuit' of the normal conduction pathway and an arrhythmia where blood doesn't pump out of the heart. This isn't a heart attack per se, which is traditionally a complete or partial blockage of one of the primary coronary arteries which can lead to immediate heart failure, no heart function, and death. The arteries in a young athlete's heart are fine, and if the heart can be 'restarted' and the cause of the malignant pathway found and corrected, the prognosis is excellent. It seems to happen more in young male basketball players than other sports but it still pretty rare. No real evidence that the Covid vaccine is a culprit so far.

Bassa's sack was impressive given who he beat. #63 for UNC was a senior last year, started every game at left guard for the Tarheels and had over a thousand snaps in his college career. He had graded out in the mid-80s in several games and knew he was protecting one of the best QBs in the nation. No slouch. At the Pac12 media day Bassa impressed with his obvious smarts, presence and what looked like leadership potential. Although he didn't grade out well on PFF last year, I would anticipate a very different score for the 2023 season. With the talent now at the edge and D-line, I would think the Mint LBs will create havoc and have some great days.

A nice treatise on why statistics are deceiving. Here's the one statistic that really matters: How many 4 and 5 star recruits say "I grew up a Rutgers/Georgia Tech/Duke (insert school with bigger fanbase sited by this study) football fan and would rather get an an offer from them instead of Oregon"?

Left out Cornelius and Conerly but acknowledged JPJ and Angilau on a "rebuilding" O-line. Ton of 1st and 2nd team talent if that group gels as anticipated. Also no Burch or TFerg. This PFF list will look different in a few months if everyone plays to potential.

I think PDuck had it in another thread on Pro Ducks but I'm glad it has it's own thread. Absolutely must watch video. Sabrina's ability to set her feet and have near perfect repetitive mechanics for each shot is muscle memory at it's most refined. She has better shooting motion now than when she was the GOAT at Oregon. Here's hoping every young hooper in NYC wears her jersey and follows her example.

Bo Nix makes his calls at the line of scrimmage. He pumps and dumps it off to Bucky who puts it in the endzone. Push up that margin of victory. Ok, no more cheesy investment puns, I've had enough.

Autzen Blitz'ems? Thundering Earth-Quackers?

Finebaum's perspective outside of the SEC reminds me of the old New Yorker cartoon with the same degree of sniffing condescension:

It's a funny indicator that g*d-given is turned into Good Gosh-given by the algorithm AI.

OBD wisely avoids the discussion of religion in these forums, but I think this is a valid topic if tread wisely. I'm hoping there is enough of a distinction to make general comment. Acknowledgement of the faith environment that a lot of these kids were raised in is important for parents and recruits. They want to know that it will be supported and nurtured. Players like Bo Nix are not shy about their beliefs and appear to be leaders by example. There is a reason you see players from both teams kneeling together in the endzone after games. Lanning's personal beliefs aren't really advertised and I don't get the impression anything is shoved down the throats of the athletes or they are told to comform to any belief system other than 'team first'. I did get the impression from some exit comments of players that followed Mike White to Texas few years back, that incoming softball coach Lombardi ruffled some feathers with her beliefs. That is the only exception I can point to and most of what I read was pretty veiled. These kids are told from childhood that they are gifted athletically and many believe those gifts are Good Gosh-given. Maybe that is parents telling their potential superstar kid to not get too big for their britches. Mormon faith is strong in the Polynesian community, traditional Christianity in the south and so on. It would seem supporting that would make sense in recruitment.

AI for sure. Unless it is a really, really boring Fusky fan who wonders why no one talks to them at the office water cooler or at cocktail parties.

I'm sure someone in that superior academic institution's braintrust will figure out a way to make those numbers work.

One gripe. The home plate umpire was really inconsistent with the strike zone. Calling low and away to both sides of the plate hitters was painful to watch. The called strike three on Ceballos was the worst. Blue missed the catcher interference on Nishida's at bat and Waz had to hold his feet to the fire to get a review. We can only hope they move him out to second base and have someone else behind the plate I think the review umps got it right, even on the calls that were against the Ducks and too close to call in real time. If they are as consistent tonight as they were last night, the game won't be altered by crappy umping.