Goutes18

I have to say that the comments about Utah have been totally appropriate and I haven’t taken offense to any that have been posted. If most of the posters don’t want to stick it to Utah twice next year I would be disappointed. We swallowed a lot of bitter Duck pills before last year! I just wanted to provide some perspective since I follow Utah closer than most on the site. I appreciate being able to participate. The posters here really know football and are passionate fans.

A win at GA makes the path to the playoff WAY easier for the Ducks. Reeling off 12 straight after a loss is possible, but is a near impossible task in the pac-12. The Ducks would have to either beat Utah twice or the Utes once and sc in the championship. Get the win week 1 and it is possible that by 10/15 there could be 3 undefeated teams in the conf that are ranked in the top 15. If that is the case, very good chance game day is in SLC to hype the trojans for the natty and Oregon can be positioned to make their run and can afford to lose to Utah and then get a win in Vegas. Also, I feel obligated to at least weigh in on some of the Utah comments I have seen the past week or so. IMHO: Utah is not a top 5 team yet - maybe top 10 since polls before the season are just BS anyway The defense last year was average in many ways even with Lloyd. Inconsistent pass rush, sloppy coverage in the middle of the field and not enough depth in the secondary - It will be better in 2022 and the LB’s will not be the big drop off people expect. Utah won down the stretch because they could finally score and they bring back a lot of fire power. I am not sure Utah can beat Oregon or sc, but I am sure they can score on them both. In the Rosebowl Utah started a CB that was a RB that had never played D in college because of so many injuries, so if healthy, they will be a lot harder to throw on. But honestly at full strength they couldn’t have covered Wilson and Olave. Nix is a huge upgrade from AB, but he will be playing against a better Utah defense. The big unknown is how much the emotional lift the Utes got last year from tragedy and how that plays out without that next year. I still think Oregon is the most likely to win the PAC-12, but not sure it can be a playoff run unless they win week 1.

I vote for the win over Georgia!

I saw another thing from Wilner today talking about Utah’s preseason rankings. Said he doesn’t think they are a playoff team - me either. He had an interesting list of the top ranked pac-12 teams and where they finished the season. Not a good omen for Utah. Shows pretty clearly who the best and most respected team has been in the conference over the past 10 years Here’s a look at the highest-rated Pac-12 team in the AP preseason poll in each season since expansion, followed by its end-of-season ranking: 2011: No. 3 Oregon/No. 4 2012: No. 1 USC/not ranked 2013: No. 3 Oregon/No. 9 2014: No. 3 Oregon/No. 2 2015: No. 7 Oregon/No. 19 2016: No. 8 Stanford/No. 12 2017: No. 4 USC/No. 12 2018: No. 6 Washington/No. 13 2019: No. 11 Oregon/No. 5 2020: No. 9 Oregon/not ranked (short season) 2021: No. 11 Oregon/No. 22

I am sure the offense will be markedly better than last year. There is a glaring difference between what I saw with MC in game 2 vs. Utah and Lanning in game 2 vs. Alabama. Oregon’s offense didn’t look like they made any adjustments, so Utah just stuck to what worked in game 1 and it worked exactly the same in Vegas. As many have noted, there were some real weak spots in the Utah secondary at the end of the year, but MC didn’t do enough to try to exploit that with an offense that had the talent to do so. Contrast to Lanning and the adjustments he made to his defense after they got hammered in the first game., Maybe MC had already moved on but I was shocked at the way they game planned for a team they had just lost to a couple of weeks earlier.

I follow the cowboys pretty closely (one of many character flaws). They have been really good in the draft the past couple of years so this may be a positive sign. They probably thought he could be another Micah Parsons. But keep in mind Jerry’s people had to talk him out of drafting Johnny football. He loves players with big personalities. They remind me of SC sometimes. Tons of talent, lots of hype early and big under performers when it counts. Hope KT does well with the Giants!

They just ordered some extra bulletin boards at Utah - I’m sure Lanning did the same. Can’t believe the crap that the sc sites put out. They have paid for some real talent, but all the hype is seriously ridiculous. Who exactly rated their O-line number one in the country? Did they watch any of their games? Guess we will see on 10/15. Bye week for the Ducks I think.

From the FishDuck archives!! Maybe not my absolute favorite, but do really like it and Charles won’t kick me off for this one.

Oregon has definitely had the top stars when it comes to the draft recently. It is interesting to look at how that compares to overall draft picks. Since 2000 usc has dominated the pac-12 - almost 2x the next team - Oregon (another indication of how bad their coaches were). The last 5 years the trojans have looked more like the rest of the top teams in the conference with the top 6 grouped pretty close in that time period.

I guess they want to try to help UCLA catch up!

Does the CA legislature not know that the Trojans have had direct pay for play for decades?

Didn’t Oregon beat UCLA in Pasadena last year? Better team this year and better coach IMHO. DTR is just a slightly better version of AB but with lot’s of LA hype. Plays great against weaker teams but not the better defenses. Not a probable loss although it will take a good effort to beat them. -byu is surely capable of beating Oregon but on paper not a probable loss at home - but will take a good game to get the win. GA is a probable loss and Utah is a toss up for me without having seen the new Ducks play a real game. So stretch it to two “probable” losses, and drop another game as often happens and you are at 9-3. I hate it that so many “experts” are dissing the Ducks and giving them the chance to use the underdog, everyone is against us card - that is the Utes mantra! Perfect for a new coach to have help managing expectations and a great motivational tool.

I understand the angst with a new coaching staff, but I think 9-3 should be the minimum expectation. 1 - As much or more talent than last year (MC left a pretty full cupboard) 2 - Bo is better than AB (even with a lapse in judgement from time to time) 3. - Lanning and staff are better at game planning than MC and staff - proven coordinators and position coaches (The test will be in the next couple of years to see recruiting, retention and development) 4 - At 9-3 you still don’t have to beat GA or Utah and get to drop one other game with the only tough road test being in Pullman 8-4 is still a realistic scenario, but I think would be disappointing and you should expect better. It would mean possibly starting 1-2 and/or possibly not winning the North - I just can’t picture that. Just imagine what a disaster it would be for the PAC-12 to have a championship game with Utah and WSU!

Oregon fans definitely showed for the spring game! I never really understood why Utah doesn’t draw well for their spring game (snow/rain/hail plays into it) but then loud rabid fans sell it out every game for the season??? The SC fans will show during the season, be late, spend most of the game on their phones and sit on their hands unless it is a long pass touchdown, because that is the only play they understand.

Bo is the guy right now. Dillingham knows him and needs someone he can trust with his system right out of the gate and he just looked better. The question was where does the future lie. I think that really comes down to how well Dillingham can develop a quarterback. He looks to have the resume of putting a good offense on the field - but can he develop young talent to be great at QB? He didn’t have Bo long enough to show development year to year and I just don’t know what he did at FSU and Memphis regarding development. The two young qb’s have talent, but don’t look ready. If he can develop them they could be awesome. I don’t think Oregon will have trouble recruiting really good qb’s - but will need to develop them to have a great one consistently. My two cents is Butterfield is a lot closer to where you need him than Ty and I think one will likely leave (after spring game next year).

Hate to say it, but Williams looks good. Still think they have some underlying issues that will bite them against better teams, but they should be able to score and will look flashy and get a lot of attention for the conference. No reason to think that they couldn’t be 6-0 when they show up in SLC 10/15 based on their talent. That is the test to see if they are the real deal or still a year or two away. I expect a shootout - hope it snows!

DJ was the player that caused me (Ute fan) the most discomfort. He looks like a real impact player. I try to be objective on KT, but honestly not as big of a fan as some. There are always extenuating circumstances (coaches etc) but it just looked like he didn’t play as hard at the end. DJ just looks like he plays harder and a lot of passion. Also not loving the WR’s and TE’s. Will be hard to cover for most of the teams Oregon plays including Utah who still looked shaky to me in our spring game.

I am watching on the PAC-12 network. It followed the Utah game. Bo has all the tools - but he needs to take better care on his throws. My impression so far after the Utah game and part of a half in Eugene - take the over when Utah and Oregon play!

I agree that Chip will be happy to use the snub to fire up his team. Utah is a notoriously slow starter and has looked terrible in week 1 games many, many times including last year. The big stage should help with focus, but I think it is very possible that they could fall flat in the swamp. Hope not! Would be great to see Utah and Oregon get big wins week 1

He’s obviously an idiot. No one wants Utah at 4 more than me, but that is crazy. Show up in Eugene 10-0 and then you can be 4. And usc top 15 after last years dumpster fire - give me a break. Chip must be super pissed that the trojans are everyone’s favorite without having done anything. I think Utah and Oregon split this year - it will be interesting to see who wins last.

Love the approach. Sounds like a big improvement. Special teams hurt the Ducks in the first Utah game a lot - and it was coaching.

I have been looking at recent mock drafts by “experts” to see where pac-12 players might go. It is all over the board and some of them make no sense at all - just trying to come up with something unique to get a click I guess. I looked at 6 this morning and here is where the pac-12 players landed: Thibs - 3,4,1,7,4 and 10 (??) London - 10, 15, 8, 18, 27 and 16 Lloyd - 31, 18, 15, 21, 18 and one not a first round pick fuskie CB - 14, 21 12, 25, 14 and one not a first round pick Any one on this board could do a mock draft as good as the ones out there!

I think this take on Utah is spot on - It will be hard to replicate the emotion that the Utes had based on their unique sad situation last year. It was a different feeling than I have ever seen at Utah. Also the qb debacle at the start of the year shows a huge weakness in an otherwise strong coaching staff. Never should have had Charlie Brewer start over Rising - they just have a hard time evaluating QB talent - game vs practice skills. This will be what keeps them from being great every year. Still the team to beat next year in the South with the talent they return. It seems unlikely they could beat the Ducks twice again though! Oregon should fear no team in the PAC-12 right now. I don’t think usc will take 3 years to build back, but Riley can only do so much next year with the dysfunctional group he inherited. the good news is all the hype they get will be a positive for the conference by getting more athletes to look out west. Lanning has already proven he can capitalize on that.

I am not sure the refs were better last year - I just think people had forgotten some of the incompetence because 2020 was such a messed up season. I know one thing for sure - I would never have kept a leader in my company for 7 years with the mediocre performance that Coleman and team have had. There has to be a better option. I thought the Mountain West refs were terrible when Utah was there and then was shocked at the Pac-12 poor quality. And I agree - just because they didn’t apologize doesn’t mean they didn’t have some major mistakes. Just because you haven’t gotten a speeding ticket doesn’t mean you haven’t deserved one.

The trojans do spend a lot of time trying to convince people that they are back as “the” elite team in the pac-12 and feels like they have way too much focus on Oregon (who they won’t even play this year) instead of the teams in the south. Utah coaches will surely use this as a motivator - they love the disrespect card. So much talk about being a blue blood, but schedule practices around the Masters schedule???