OhioDuck

I would say yes, except for two things. One is I do not carry the history of the program that some of you do, Bellotti is the first Oregon coach I remember. And two, it's going to take more than three years to say that. After five years, if Oregon is still on an upward trajectory as it is now (getting to/winning NC game maybe), consistent top 5 team... then yes he's the best ever. I have heard some commentators talking about whether he is the best coach in college football right now. That's another question. What Dan Lanning has done at Oregon is certainly impressive, but that may take a few more years to determine also.

Back here in the east we have become pretty sued to Appy beating some pretty good teams (ask Michigan), not that OSU is pretty good. Beavers are definitely having a rough time.

I was surprised that Penn St. was able to mount a comeback they way they did. I'm not sure if it was just some scheme things as coach said after the game or what, but they almost pull victory out of the jaws of being dominated for most of the game. So, I would like to see them working on finishing against good teams. If we are up two touchdowns vs Indiana in the fourth quarter, lets win by three!

It's kinda cool though. I like Lanning's perspective. "This is a white out because we are here." There are going to be fireworks when the ducks come to town.

While the targeting call is somewhat new, they began changing this rule when I was in junior high school. Our coach announced it was no longer legal to lower our head and lead with the top of our helmet when hitting someone. We were then taught a form tackle, putting the facemask into our opponents chest while wrapping up with our arms. That was 1968. The reason was that some players were getting neck injuries when leading with the crown of the helmet. Aside: I broke my friend's ribs with a form tackle when I was in 7th grade. I'll never forget his screams of pain. I never could really hit someone hard after that. Later the son of a well known player broke his neck "spearing" an opponent, which pretty much proved the point. Now the rule is also to protect the ones being hit. This practice is dangerous and it has been for a long time! It has been very hard to get players to stop it, even with the threat of ejection from the game.

In Olympic boxing the hitting surface is a different color. Maybe the "crown" of all helmets should be a different color so it's no longer up to interpretation? It seems that the reason this was not called is because as the PSU player was lowering his head to target, he made contact before his head was all the way down to make it contact with the "crown" of the helmet. Some have said it was the "hairline". I think that's probably right but this guy shaves his head, so the hair line is the crown of his helmet.

I watched a full Ohio State game yesterday for the first time. They are good, but certainly didn't look unbeatable. The Huskies gave them everything they wanted and more for much of the game and the Huskies ain't the Ducks!

last week Ducks had 1 #1 vote in each poll. This week 16 in the AP and 6 in the coaches'. The Ducks are convincing people on the field.

Dang, that just makes me want to cuss! Get down there again and fumble this time!

189 -69 in total yards, a missed field goal could have been the lead for the Ducks. I have to think if Oregon dominates the yardage in the second half like the first we still win by 10 or 14. Gotta get some points out of moving the ball though.

Yeah, I'd crowd the box a bit. Throw in a few creative blitzes also, including run blitzes into PS's favored running gaps. From what I've seen the PS O line is good at holding their blocks, but as someone else said, not so good at actually moving people around. Often their backs have bounced around trying two or three holes before finding one they can get through for a good gain. Working with their hands and getting off blocks quickly will help, but also the line playing their techniques and keeping blocker off of the line backers will free up the backers to make plays. While PS's defense has played well their offense has not impressed me at all so far, running or passing.

If this game is well played, close and exciting both of these teams will still be in the running for the playoffs and the NC. Remember a lot of people wrote Ohio State off after they lost at Autzen last year. By the end of the season they were ready for the playoffs and won it all. If the Duck were to travel across the country and come up just short in a classic game, they could do the same thing Ohio State did last season. As I see it, and things could definitely change, there are five teams that could win the NC. Ohio St., Penn St. Georgia, Miami (even under having newly discovered the O Mario) and Our Blessed Ducks, not necessarily in that order. And I have my doubts about a couple of those being included, but not the Ducks. There are several teams that the pundit class said were going to be really good preseason that have not been impressive so far, but still manage to keep their high ranking (see LSU as the best example). The Ducks have been better than many expected. I expect them to stay that way.

Get that back healing up Charles!

Ducks 31-17 1 2 245

I can see why some would pick Penn St. but it's mostly home field advantage. So far, watching both teams, Oregon just looks bigger, faster, stronger and more skilled. I don't buy the holding back and Allard playing bad on purpose, give me a break. At this level athletes just don't do that. Of course the proof is always what happens on the field, The Ducks can't afford to play at any level less than their very best. And watch for a few wrinkles Penn St. hasn't shown yet.

I wouldn't go to VA Tech right now. They simply don't have the resources to compete in a portal/NIL world. Arkansas does and I seriously doubt any SEC school would other than UK would neglect football for basketball. That could be a great landing place if he does leave UO. Hopefully one more year before that happens, but I think when you hire great assistants, especially offensive and defensive coordinators, you have to be ready to lose them to head coaching jobs. There are certainly a number of great young OCs out there who would love to be at Oregon next year.

Marcus playing well for Washington at the moment also. Go Ducks!

I know the eye test is also a good measure, but statistically our D vs the run is quite good. We held OSU to 2.6 a carry. Take away one run vs the reserves we held NWU to 2.8 a carry. I'm not sure what we want. No one stuffs every run every time. We have a big test coming up vs Penn St. But let's look at this another way, Penn St. has a big test coming up vs OBD. Frankly I haven't been that impressed with Penn St. so far considering their opposition. This will be a big step up in competition for both teams. I'm liking our chances.

Ducks 61-10 2 5 210

Pretty much everything that's been said here... precision, effort, play hard and smart. Plus I will say no injuries!

Totally agree HDuck and NW has always been known for a tough running game even when they are not very good. As I said elsewhere, take away a 79 yard run vs our reserves and NW averaged 2.8 yards a carry. I'll take that vs a team that features the run any time.

Minus a 79 yard run in the closing minutes of the game against a lot of reserves, NW averaged 2.8 yards a carry. In the previous game NW averaged over 8 yards a carry. It was a big ten game on the road, not a top half big ten team probably, but still it was 34-0 going into the fourth quarter. I'm not worried about the run defense at this point. In fact considering the opponents I think Oregon's defense showed better than Penn St. did vs Villanova, a DI championship subdivision team.

I was wondering how he would do. At UCLA he was a frosh and the comfort he played with in high school changed as the high D1 college game was so much faster than high school. A lot of good football players struggle as a college freshman, especially QBs. I am tickled pink with his play through the first two games. He has been poised, comfortable in the pocket and rolling out or scrambling a bit to buy time. He has a great arm, but has also been throwing with some touch when needed and he's a big, strong, fast runner who can do some damage with his feet when needed. In all likelihood the Ducks are 4-0 traveling out to out in the middle of nowhere valley and facing Penn St. Watching the Nittany Lions the first two weeks I haven't been that impressed actually. Let's just say they seem to have a lot of Mario Cristobal in them. Oregon looks bigger, faster, stronger and deeper on both sides of the ball. The one question mark for the Ducks pre-season was Dante Moore, if he continues to play at a high level and even improves from week to week, I believe he will be up to the Penn St. challenge and beyond. Go Ducks!

Nevada Dawg, you have always seemed civil to me on this site and a welcome contributor. It's great when we can have fans from lots of different programs giving different perspectives. Thanks for your contributions.

yeah, I understand that and I just now watched the replay, didn't see it live. Go Ducks!