mikethehiker

Sorry to hear about the rough week David. Hope you’re feeling better now. I knew right after the Penn State win that I was VERY glad OBD had an extra week to gather their emotions. Evidently, it wasn’t enough.

I wanted to write this post prior to the Indiana game this past Saturday, but I didn't want to jinx the game. Due to a family function, I only caught the opening series for each team but the game had an eerie feeling from Indiana's first sack on the first play. Even prior to the Ducks running out from the tunnel. The low energy, the grey clouds, the lack of fire, the poor prep from the first snap - everything seemed off. This weekend was the two year anniversary of our last regular season loss - by far the longest streak in college football and longest streak in Duck history(?). Our Ducks now have one regular season loss in the past two calendar years. In this day and age, bad football games happen to even the best teams. What Oregon has accomplished over the past 24 months in the regular season is close to impossible. Let's take a look at what the very best in college football have accomplished in the last two calendar years since the Ducks last lost a regular season game on October 14, 2023 (all regular season losses): Oregon - 1 loss (#3 Indiana 20-30) Ohio St. - 3 losses Texas - 3 losses Georgia - 3 losses SMU - 3 losses Memphis - 3 losses Alabama - 4 losses Mississippi - 4 losses Notre Dame - 4 losses Boise State - 4 losses Miami - 5 losses Missouri - 5 losses Penn State - 6 losses Indiana - 6 losses Tennessee - 6 losses LSU - 6 losses Texas A&M - 6 losses Michigan - 7 losses Washington - 7 losses BYU - 7 losses Clemson - 8 losses Arizona State - 8 losses Illinois - 8 losses Oklahoma - 9 losses South Carolina - 9 losses This loss to Indiana stings! Coaches and players have a lot to learn from it. Maybe we do, too, as fans. However, there has never been a better, more prosperous time to be an Oregon Duck fan. Let's fight like crazy to finish 11-1 and start another long streak!

Ducks 41-10 2 turnovers 4 sacks 209 passing yards

Student athletes and coaches both should have to sit out a year when they transfer to another FBS program with the exception of graduate transfers who can play immediately. I know what the ramifications are and I think they're healthy.

Oklahoma is getting a lot of mileage for their win over a mediocre Michigan team at home. They are no where near top 5 in the country.

Before the last two drives of the 4th quarter, PSU had a total of 67 passing yards and 67 rushing yards. That's astounding!!! I was pleasantly surprised with our overall defensive performance, particularly in the ground game. Our tackling was superb! It would be very difficult to find a more dominant D-line performance by OBD in a big game like this. I was surprised at just how bad Drew Allar was Saturday night with making decisions and throwing accuracy. His long TD pass was an absolute dime though. Penn St. had some success running late, but almost all of it was Drew Allar on QB sneaks or busted plays. Even on the last drive, if you take off 20 (3rd and 9) and 8 (2nd and 10) yard scrambles from Allar, we were still holding PSU under 3 ypc (9 for 25 yards). They just had two big 4th down conversions (one was initially stopped short). Most of their rushing yards came from obvious or most likely passing downs.

Penn State 24-13 0 turnovers 1 sack 240 passing yards I hope I'm dead wrong, but 2 weeks to prepare and a must win situation for Penn St. They shorten the game and play mistake free. Oregon plays solid but makes a few mistakes (e.g. untimely turnovers or drive killing penalties) in a tough environment. Tough learning opportunity for a young team. Now I'm depressed already.

Ahhh. I appreciate the nuance with the rollout. Maybe the author took that same factor into account.

I think we have had one sack. It was in the 3rd quarter against Oregon State. I remember thinking when it happened, "Oh well, get the first one out of the way." With the one exception of the Rose Bowl last year against Ohio State (8 sacks), Oregon has had an unprecedented run of protecting the quarterback. 2022 - 5 sacks (#1 in FBS) 2023 - 5 sacks (#1 in FBS) 2024 - 13 sacks (#10 in FBS minus 8 sacks vs. Ohio St. We also gave up 3 sacks to Idaho, and 4 to Boise St.) 2025 - 1 sack (#2 in FBS)

Charles, I'm so sorry you won't make it to the game. I know you had to have been looking forward to this for many months. Praying for the pain to quickly subside and for increased mobility. I so appreciate all the work you do for this forum.

I like our chances much better on defense without TE Tyler Warren on the other side. It really wreaks havoc on a defense when you have to pay so much attention to one player AND you don't have the personnel to neutralize him. Hopefully, no more double teams, bracket coverage, or otherwise leaning the defense towards that player. Just let the boys pin their ears back and play. I know they have other great skill players, but I like our backend much better this year. Offensively, play calls have to get in quickly and our offense should presume they will not be able to hear a word. I wonder if we might sneak in a little more no-huddle and two-minute. Why give the crowd another 40 seconds to ramp up before every play? Neither team has had to play deep into a 4th quarter. So wear the defense out and don't let them substitute. Let's flip the script and outrush them. And please, if you have a chance to take your first 3 points on the road in a big game and hostile environment - KICK THE FIELD GOAL! I don't care what the score is. Put points on the board. (Only exception to this is down 4+ with under 2 minutes to play). All the pressure is on Penn St. Stay ahead of the chains. Stay ahead on the scoreboard. If they don't win this with their upcoming trip to Columbus looming, they are staring at a road playoff game.

I'm glad we don't have to play us at Autzen 😄 Yes, there have been some wild environments in our old conference. Fans can cause the home team to get frisky and turn what should be easy games into nightmares.

This week, OBD will face a harrowing task going into white out conditions at Beaver Stadium for a prime time, Top 5 battle with Penn St. This venue should not be underestimated in a way that Ohio St. appeared to have underestimated Autzen last year. The question I have is whether this Saturday will be the toughest road environment the Ducks have ever played in? I think it could be. There is bound to be some recency bias, but here are some potential previous candidates and reasons why I don't think they reach the level of this Saturday: 1) Anything prior to the 1990's - were the Ducks ever good enough to command the attention of a frothing fanbase like a Top 5 battle warrants? Did fans froth prior to 1990's like they do today? (Just kidding - I know they did). Also, I'm looking for good Duck teams where it was clear the venue affected their play and they weren't just overmatched. 2) Any Pac-8/10/12 venue. I have to be careful here, because if I discount Pac-12 venues, it throws some shade on Autzen as well. We all know smaller stadiums can still affect games in significant ways. There have been some wildly difficult conference road games like Washington (2023), Arizona (2009, 2013), Utah (every night game), Arizona St. (every night game), Cal or USC in early 2000's, or Washington St. (2018). But do any of them rise to the level of Beaver Stadium this Saturday? 3) Michigan (2007, 2024) and Tennessee (2010) - these are two of the largest venues the Ducks have played in, but the games ended up being uncompetitive and it turned out the teams were going in different directions. 4) Nebraska (2016), Michigan St. (2015), Boise St. (2009), Oklahoma (2004) - All tough road losses. 5) "Neutral" Site Games - Auburn in the natty (2010-2011), LSU (2011), Auburn (2019), Ohio St. in the natty (2014-2015), Georgia (2022) all proved to be virtual road environments, but not quite at the level of playing in Death Valley or Athens. 6) Ohio St. (2021) - We all have to admit that Ohio St. fans were not quite awake for this game. We came in under the RADAR, took the crowd out early and earned an awesome road win. Are there any other candidates for the toughest Duck road environment ever?

I agree with Charles that this team is still very young and has a ton of upside to improve by the end of the year. I was paying very close attention to run defense today and I do have a concern at the linebacker spot and I’m not sure what we can do about it this year. Boettcher plays his heart out and makes a ton of plays, but he misses some, too. And who’s after Boettcher? Jackson is consistently blocked. I watch Boettcher come across the field to make plays on Jackson’s side. Mixon is coming on, but I still see only 2 tackles. If we send Boettcher on a stunt, who cleans up behind him? Overall A for effort, but I’m not sure we have true, natural linebackers. I hope Tosh can coach these guys up.

Improved run defense. We shouldn't need run support from the secondary unless the numbers dictate it. Gap control, beating blocks, setting the edge, staying low, and improved tackling where the pile doesn't keep falling forward for 2-3 extra yards. Save the stunts for next week.

This summarizes my curiosity as well, but with the added element of new-to-each-other players all over the field. It takes time to learn to trust and gel. You start anticipating how the guy next to handles that blocker, that pulling guard, or that QB read and you complement their move with a move of your own (all at game speed). I am slightly concerned, but you have to believe we’ve been running a pretty vanilla scheme knowing there has been no competitive threat so far. Penn St. forums on the other hand are wringing their hands that their offense has yet to get untracked. They’re worried about Drew Allar shouldering high expectations and the slow start to the running game. They long for that one time last year when they ran all over us. Let them think that.

I don’t think it’s concern, but I’m interested in investigating why NW was able to sustain drives. They had a few unforced errors and questionable play calls that stalled their drives that we can’t count on great teams to make later in the season. Is it talent? Experience? Is it gap control? Are we not getting off blocks? What are the tackles being asked to do vs the linebackers? Was it a numbers game? We are interested in learning more about our defense along with the offense.

Ducks 48-17 2 Turnovers 3 sacks 308 passing yards

Ugh, sorry, I tried to embed the video. If someone knows how to embed, that would be wonderful. Here is the link at the right starting point - https://youtu.be/ayoTmCFl65w?si=t81RtucqaEYlWQ5u&t=1809

Oregon is a legitimate national title contender. Go to about the 30:54 mark where he is talking about Oregon.

This team seems to have a incredibly high "motor" right now. From beginning to end of each play and each game. It's all out, finish the play, and we're going to come at you in waves, because we have the talent, and we're going to use it all to wear you down. Even the best teams in the playoffs last year wore down quite a bit as the tournament played on. Depth will be huge! I'm still a little concerned about our run defense when we face more talented teams. We gave up 144 quiet yards on the ground to a team sporting a 18.7 QBR this week. Three backs averaged 4.3, 4.5, and 5.2 yards per carry and I was surprised and delighted at the awful play calling from OSU when they'd abandon the run. Hopefully, there's enough tape there to patch those seams. Go Ducks!

Oregon 52-10 4 OSU turnovers 6 sacks 235 passing yards I think Montana St. may be able to beat Oklahoma St. on a neutral field. I'm predicting high turnovers and short fields for Oregon, so not a lot of passing yards needed for 52 points.

I suspected this at the end of last year, but I really thought that 2025 was the perfect year to break in a new quarterback for Oregon. The last two years of college quarterbacks have had an epic run (C. Williams, J. Daniels, D. Maye, J McCarthy, B. Nix, M. Penix, S. Rattler, J. Travis, W. Howard, D. Gabriel, C. Ward, J. Dart, J. Milroe, S. Sanders, K. McCord). No one was going to win a national title without one of those from this list of generational talent. For 2025, if the best returners this year were Drew Allar, Cade Klubnik, Carson Beck, and an unproven Arch Manning, then this seemed as good of a time as ever to let your young players learn the ropes. Not only the QBs, but secondaries (and defensive coordinators) all over the country are probably sleeping much easier at night.

I didn't interpret the rotations we saw vs Montana St. as the rotations we'll necessarily see going forward. Lanning clearly indicated that he wanted to get a lot of younger players experience. That's invaluable tape to coach off of and it keeps our two deep fresh for another long season. We also didn't want to tip our hand to future opponents, but at the same time give them as much as possible to waste time in practice on (e.g. odd formations and personnel groupings). It looks like the coaching staff balanced it to perfection and got an outstanding result.

Great observations. I very much dislike FOX coverage of college football and I’m grieved that they are the primary broadcaster for the B1G. Gus Johnson is over the top too much. Good play-by-play guys can maintain a balance between exciting plays and dismayed fans from the opposing side. He grates on me to no end. They don’t keep a score ticker and they don’t give gamebreak highlights from other games. Those very much add to the Saturday viewing experience.