Nevada Dawg

I agree that the 25 schedule is more playoff friendly. Also, a year further down the road makes it more likely that the Ducks have the depth to weather a 3-4 game playoff grind more successfully than in 24.

As I have said on this forum many times, I am all in favor of this prescription. I believe most of the high power contenders are as well. It is typically the mid-level SEC teams that favor eight conference games to increase the likelihood of bowl eligibility. When will they learn that in our brave new world, the mid-level bowls will no longer matter and that many may disappear.

I think that the whole idea of guaranteeing certain numbers of playoff slots and byes to favored conferences stinks to high heaven. If the teams from the favored leagues are good enough to earn byes and the majority of playoff slots/payouts, so be it. But pre-ordained guarantees are going to turn many of us, who love the pageantry of college football and its traditions, off so bad that we choose to walk the hell away and not care any more. I already know three former college football fanatics who have done exactly that and will not even watch their own alma maters play any longer. The powers that be had better be damn careful that they don't kill the golden goose. If fewer eyes are watching what they serve up, things will not look so golden any more.

Interesting information to know I guess but pretty meaningless vis a vis eventual class recruiting outcomes (though I do believe that the Ducks will end up with a fairly highly rated class).

Interesting difference between the fan base here and in Athens. Threads on Winter Workouts at Georgia draw dozens of comments from fans asking which players are distinguishing themselves looking good for more playing time. Comparisons are made among players in various position groups, and most commenters have definite opinions on how things are likely to progress in Spring practice. Much of this may stem from information provided by insiders that stimulates lots and lots of commentary. It is often said in Athens that the ground work for championships starts in earnest in January and February. Thus far, I have not seen those kinds of threads here. That may be because Lanning is new, tries to keep a tight lid on goings on in winter, and hasn't yet attracted the team followers who have the access so as to provide information about the team like that which comes out of Athens. But I will say that this kind of thread is highly informative and super interesting and hopefully, we will see more of that in the future.

You guys have heard me talk about Lanning on several occasions and probably remember that I have always been high on the guy (though not always with some of his in-game decisions--new coaches always have some growing pains). He has a bright future indeed, but the simple truth is that he has yet to achieve a program defining big win. Let him win a B1G title and/or a few games in the expanded playoffs and watch him shoot up the rankings. I've also said before that Lanning hasn't had the roster depth to compete for Nattys. This is even more important in the age where a team might have to win 3-4 postseason games to grab the brass ring. The good news here IMHO is that the Oregon roster is starting to look like the kind of roster that belongs in the struggles that will come in the years ahead. I hope I am wrong here but I wouldn't get super excited about 2024. But keep building a quality roster with ample depth and we Duck fans could have something to shout about in 25 or shortly thereafter.

As for that happening to college football, I very strongly believe that your fears will be warranted. And for fans of teams outside of the Power 2, what's to keep them in the game (and larger viewing public) if their guys have little chance at ever winning the brass ring. I really do fear for college football and will say again that calling it "College" football is a misnomer. It has basically become minor league pro football, with the Power 2 being equivalent to Triple A in baseball, the other two former P5 conferences filling the Double A slots, and the others falling somewhere in the lower minor league levels.The NFL has to love it.

I agree with everything you said Hayward Duck with one exception and I'll invite you to clarify and/or correct any misconception I might be under. By what metric have the Texas Longhorns been elite over the past 15 years? True they won a natty in the 20-aughts, maybe 2005. But the Longhorns I've been watching have been underachievers since then IMHO and anything but elite. Indeed, they haven't even been notably good since then save last year. Maybe the difference in our opinions stems from us using very different metrics for "elite". I'm really not trying to be argumentative here but am puzzled a bit about Texas and elite being in the same universe, except for the one Natty year a long time ago.

Interesting perspective. I have been thinking myself about the development of an elite program in Eugene and would argue that we are not there by any means as of this date. Lanning is certainly doing the right things in recruiting and retention of players and assistants and working hard to establish a culture. But elite-ness is as much an attitude as anything, and with some successes in truly big games, which have not yet happened, that elite mentality will grow and ,hopefully, prove to be somewhat self-sustaining. I watched that evolution in Athens over a 5-year period 2016-2021, and Dan saw it too. Thus, he has the template and the drive to potentially make it happen. Keep your fingers crossed.

As a dyed in the wool Dawg fan, I have very mixed feelings about losing Dell McGee. On the one hand, he was such a valuable member of Kirby's staff who was largely unknown to all of us but the closest followers of the team. On the other hand, there maybe is nobody on the staff that I am happier for in getting his shot. He is a Georgia guy all the way having had a long career coaching at the high school level in Georgia. He knows the state exceptionally well and I suspect he will put a most credible team on the field at Georgia State--a decent smaller program by the way. I'll be rooting hard for him.

Yeah, I prefer chicken to duck as a culinary delight but Duck to chicken (by a mile) on the gridiron. I'm no fan of those Gamecocks from near your neck of the woods!

Without knowing the metric for "best" here, I'll bet it is Carson Beck (of course I am biased on this one).

The last two Raiders' head coaches took this Raiders fan toward other teams (Niners, Eagles) by their stupidity. I saw that the Raiders looked like a different team after canning Josh Mc Daniel last year. Maybe this wouldn't be a horrible place for Bo Nix to land.

When I am looking around for a football chat program to listen to, Matt Hayes is always high on my list (along with Greg McElroy). Good writer and solid analyst IMHO. He is like a lot of us who liv(ed) in the South and came to appreciate the dedication Lanning showed in all his coaching stops before landing in Eugene. I believe I was one of the first on the forum to tell you guys that you were going to love this guy. And given the history with past Head Coaches in recent years, I was overjoyed to hear that he quickly responded that he had everything he needed in Eugene and was staying when Bama came sniffing around. Gotta love that kind of loyalty these days and I suspect it will rub off on his teams.

Keep your chin up girl and rest assured that all of us on the forum are pulling hard for you and will be looking for forward to the resumption of your contributions to the OBD conversations.

In its defense, the NCAA was structured to govern amateur college football and not whatever the courts have made it today--a more nauseating version IMO. I am fine with NIL preventing what was close to involuntary servitude, and i am not even against the establishment of minor pro football leagues. But...let the damn NFL pay for it and let's not pretend it is COLLEGE football. Were it allowed on the forum, I might get a record number of downvotes for this post. But I could care less--this is my opinion and I am getting pretty sick of the exaggerated focus on money at all levels of the game that I once loved for its traditions and pageantry. That pastime. mi amigos, is dead.

I don't remember where I saw it but I read one proposal to move early signing day all the way back to the August period just before the season kicks off and keep the traditional February date for those who see the August commitment/signing date as to rushed. This proposal would certainly declutter the month of December for coaches but might severely limit the number of early enrollees who would like to be on campus in December for any ongoing Bowl practices and to enroll in January to get a head start on their freshman year/season. It is certainly true that December is a ridiculously busy time for coaches.

Love this post. Also it looks to be the beginning of a kind of thread I've wanted to see for some time on the forum and which is common on the Talkin Dawgs blog--one hinting on how coaches talk to and motivate players and discussing how players are adapting to the winter workouts. Many players on the Georgia team have commented that this is the toughest most stressful period of the year and the time when team culture and bonding is solidified. Interestingly, this is the time when even the biggest, baddest, most talented recruits often hit the freshman wall, learning that they aren't so big bad, and talented as they thought they were. They will either react positively to this information and grind all the harder or founder and become a risk of underachieving. Hopefully, the guys will buck up and start the process of developing into solid B1G level players, but all too often that that may not happen. Successful coaches treat this as an opportunity for significant growth, often by administering healthy does of tough love at this juncture. It is all part of the process of molding a good football team. So posters, let's hear whatever you can dig out about workouts and players' reactions to them. This information is muy interesante to this fan.

Probably shouldn't say this because I don't mean to dump on a kid who could start for Michigan, but my inside sources suggest that you might be happy that the Ducks didn't land him. My intel is that the Dawgs passed on the kid without making contact because he was lacking in the speed/quickness department (at least by Georgia standards). That resonated with me because Georgia needs safties, but they have mucho young talent that the staff liked better.

I was one who sharply criticized some of his in-game decisions (not always publicly) the first year I started following Duck football more closely. Some were dreadful to be sure. He doesn't seem to learn from mistakes but I'm thinking maybe it is time for us to FINALLY put this guy in the rear-view mirror.

Harvard and Yale are starting to show their cracks but it take a long time for them to become apparent. Academic reputations are often 20+ years behind the times.

The burnout factor and declining quality of life for head coaches will drive many, including some of the very best, from the college ranks in the coming years. Clearly it seems easier to "have a life" as an NFL Head or assistant coach than a college guy who, if not actively coaching on the field, is having to recruit, re-recruit the guys you already have, and to work at it 12 months of the year to achieve success you hope to have in today's college landscape. Head guys are going to have to be young, driven, and extremely energetic. Having a supportive family seems necessary as well. But I can almost guarantee you that we will see some apparent coaching superstars choose to walk away from their posts in the coming years because the required effort is too stressful. I have heard the story from several sources this year that, either before or immediately after the SEC Championship (after seems the more likely) Nick Saban leaned in to Kirby Smart on the field and said "Man I'm too old for this crap". Kirby claims to have been as surprised as anyone by Saban's sudden retirement, but I am pretty sure that he had a hunch that departure could well be forthcoming. It was pretty well known that Saban believed that portal- induced free agency and no regulations on NIL and roster tampering was ruinous for college football.

Early rankings mean squat in February. I remember one year, 2018, when Dawg fans were crying the blues in early April because the Dawgs recruiting class was in the 50s somewhere and one of its star gets thus far was a 3-star DB named Wildgoose (who ended up at Wisconsin and turned out to be a pretty fair player). The posters on the recruiting thread were asking what the hell is wrong with Georgia recruiting? Many were asking if Kirby and staff had lost their touch after being beat in OT the previous year in the Natty. Guess what. Recruits started snapping like popcorn over the summer and early Fall and the Dawgs ended up with the #1 class in the composite rankings that year. Many didn't see that coming, and the result illustrates well that early rankings really don't mean a whole lot.

Yeah I agree Jon--that's nuts and makes me wonder if these guys know what the hell they are doing. Florida actually has a tougher schedule than Georgia but I think there are few if any power-4 teams that would gladly trade schedules with the Dawgs. Also, as for the pickup TE from Stanford, he is a grad transfer I believe but will not graduate until May in Palo Alto. So he misses Spring practice, and it is hard to know how big a contributor he will be coming into a TE room that is stacked with talent, even after the exit of Brock Bowers. The kid looks like a very good football player however.

Well I have become a Niner fan again after my return from 42 years in Georgia in 2015. I thought that they played a decent game tonight overall but got beat in crunch time by the current best big game QB there is. That punt hitting the heel of the 49 player was a very bad break though, but we all know hat footballs can bounce funny. And he final nail in the coffin for this newly reminted Niner fan was that the game winner was caught by former Dawg Mecole Hardman who attended high school about 20 miles from the tiny hamlet (Royston) where I lived in Georgia. Happy for Mecole though.