Jon Sousa

Herb Singleton

Well done, CD. Great analysis.

Indeed. I wish young talent would recognize this. A paycheck is hard to turn down.

And yet, did Tennessee get any value in return? Are they on top of the SEC? Are they out recruiting the rest?

Thank you, Charles. I didn't want to be the only person to express doubt about Brown. He had a couple of chances to lead the team down the field and they failed to score. There was a reason that Shough started in front of him. I don't think he is the starter next year. I hope we have someone better. Hoping Butterfield or Thompson. Problem is we didn't get to see a spring game last year, so we have no clue where the back-ups might be.

Great post. I just want to point out that it makes a big difference if those are mostly upper classmen, lower classmen, or a mix throughout. Last year some expected we should walk all over Iowa State because we had a lot more stars than they did... but those stars need to be developed. Last year the Ducks were the youngest team in football. Next year, they won't be, but how many of our elite athletes will be seniors? Not as many as will be on the rosters of tOSU, Clemson, or Alabama. Two more years of recruiting are needed to have an even distribution (less transfers) of talent throughout the roster. Two years will include redshirt seniors.

Yes and Yes. I remember the first bowl game the Ducks went to under Rich Brooks - the Independence Bowl in 1989. After watching the game with my father in law (a BIG Ducks fan), I said, "Well, now all the fans are going to want to go to another bowl game." He responded pensively, "Yes. Yes they will." I miss that guy.

Nice to have 4 in the composite top 25. In the past we frequently had 6 pre-season with more getting votes. And, yes, it is also nice to be on top of the PAC. Voters recognize that 2020 was not a good indication... and that next year Oregon will not have the youngest team in football.

Which is one reason, at least for now, that the Ducks should not shy away from a difficult OOC schedule. If everyone in the conference scheduled cupcakes and THEN we are 2-7 in bowl games???? It will be hard to get 3 teams in the top 25.

Definitely possible. Elite 8 is just inside the top 10. In the tournament, anything is possible. COVID is still the elephant in that room.

Three conference losses to whom? This isn't just any conference. These are top 10 teams we are talking about. They had their work to do before 3 conference losses. So many 5 stars? Yes! But all incoming freshmen. We lost three top 10 draft picks, including #1 and #2. 5 incoming freshmen 5-stars cannot replace 3 draft picks, no matter where they were drafted, but 3 top 10s??? No way. Only one of the 5 five-star freshmen has broken into the starting 5. It is not surprising that 4 did not; what is surprising is that one did. The other 4 are doing great and contributing a lot of minutes. I think the Ducks are right where they were expected to be by this time in the shortened season (remember: very few OOC games to warm up on). Come March Madness, COVID will still be ruling the day. If they can stay away from the bug, the ladies will make another deep run, even if they don't (and they probably won't) win the PAC 12.

This is why I said, "and rightfully so..." We have done very poorly in OOC games and bowl games recently. But that doesn't explain why so many people want to say that the PAC belongs in the G6. How many conferences in the G5 have had half as many teams in the top 25 in the last 10 years????? We treat the PAC 12 as if it is totally unredeemable and yet the last 10 years every single team has spent time in the top 25.

I'm probably not remembering well, or maybe just not as connected, but I don't remember a whole lot of good bye's and public well wishing in past departures.

This makes a point I was trying to make the other day even stronger. The PAC 12 is considered a week conference, and rightfully so, BUT... In the tweet above it shows that EVERY SINGLE TEAM in the PAC 12 has been in the top 25 (a minimum of 7 times) in the relatively short time that the PAC 12 has existed. Has EVERY SINGLE TEAM in the SEC been in the top 25 during the same period??? The B1G?? The ACC?? The BIG12? This is confusing to me. Are we a weak conference or not?

Speaking of Dillon Mitchell, "As a junior in 2018, Mitchell set the school record for receiving yards in a season with 1,184 on 75 receptions and 10 touchdowns." One reason DM had such a great year is because no one else could catch the ball. That was the year of the dropsies. Which brings up the whole problem of having one "go-to" guy. Every opponent concentrated on shutting DM down when it became obvious that he was the "guy". It is much better to have 3 guys who are "go-to". How many times have we seen USC with two or three great receivers. You can only put your best CB on one of them. Most teams only have one good CB and that guy is usually on the other team's best receiver. If you only have one "go to guy" things become as predictable as Oregon's running game was in 2019 on fourth and short. Spreading it around and having 3 "go to guys" allows you to have a very unpredictable passing game. Oregon is recruiting well; no need to have only one "guy".

I see that this can truly be a problem (as bad as my grammar sometimes). Is there a way for Average Joe to flag something that should be looked at? Not trying to change your editing policy, just trying to help.

This would have to be adjusted for the size of the conferences. We have 6 in each division. The B1G has 7 in each division while the Big 12 has 5. Sounds like a good idea to me.

The only reason I want to edit (generally) is that when I read my post later and I see 1) spelling or grammatical error I want to fix, or 2) I see that the way I stated something could be misinterpreted and I want to clear it up. On a certain fishing board that I frequent I sometimes don't catch my errors until hours later or even the next day. I have tried in vain a couple of times on Fishduck to clean up something only to find that I could not... because I was too late.

Looks like KG is a lot more than a "turn a program around" coach. He turn it around a long time ago. Now he seems to be creating a dynasty.

Love it!

Very sad. Up to now we have at least been able to play in all sports allowed. We really don't have a clue as to how much COVID affected UO Football this last year.

Totally agree here, David. Any of the top three you mention could run away with it.

Hopefully we can have a somewhat "normal" spring. COVID will still be ruling the world in March. If ever there was a year to start your spring a little later, this is the year. Last year was the year to start early, but we didn't. (But, how could we know?)

Herein lies the problem. You can offer a guy the OPPORTUNITY to play both sports, but when both sports are being played at a very high level at the same school, it is difficult to get playing time in both. Armstead got on the court a few times but he was a bench warmer most of the the time. He might have been a starter on a lesser basketball school. He tried to live his dream, but when it became obvious that basketball, that wasn´t going anywhere, was getting in the way of his football development, he announced he was going all in football. His bank account is thanking him. I agree to let him try. It´s his life and his dream. Maybe BB will work out better for him. Be a star on Altman´s team and it´s a sure thing.

13 seems good for the Ducks. Not so sure about about USC and UW. They seem to always be overrated early. Both of them "just missed" the PAC 12 championship. What I don't understand is, If the PAC 12 is so weak, how can we have 3 teams in the top 15??? This seems like a normal occurrence. Discounting last year, in 2019 there were 5 PAC teams in the preseason AB poll with three more getting votes. That means that some people who are supposed to know something about football thought that there were 8 out of 12 teams in the PAC in the top 25 in the country. In 2018 those numbers were 4 and 1 for a total of 5 teams that got votes. In 2017 it was 4 and 4 for a total of 8.