mikethehiker

Prior to Troy Franklin, Dillon Mitchell was another extraordinary talent. To your point, I would be thrilled to have a freakishly imposing receiving opposite Jeremiah Smith for the next couple of years. We used to say unequivocally that defense wins championships and you still need that be in the conversation. However, the Alabama vs. Clemson prize fights starting in 2015 has proven that grown-men wide receivers will win championships. Ohio State proved it again this past season.

Inexperienced QBs benefit from a lot of on-field leadership around them and we lost a ton of leadership from last season. For those reasons, I have tempered expectations for the 2025 season with hopes of making the playoff. This is not a championship or bust season, but I'm actually looking forward to it. This is our first real chance to see all Lanning's high school recruits (I include Donte Moore here - he originally committed to Oregon) lead this team. We'll finally get to see what all this 4 and 5 star talent can do and how well our coaches can develop that talent. Getting at least one playoff win would be a tremendous step forward in 2025 for a younger Duck team learning to gel.

The fact that we didn't hit the transfer portal for our 2025 starting QB, gives me a lot of confidence that coaches trust the talent in the QB room this year. This may be the most intriguing spring game with regards to QB competition since 2012 between Bryan Bennett and Marcus Mariota. Most outsiders presumed Bennett was QB1, but talent, decision-making, and intangibles all broke Mariota's way. Bennett was also likely the stronger locker room personality. Moore vs. Novosad could be very interesting this spring and fall. I hope they both look outstanding and we have two solid options for 2025.

I truly thought this was going to be the golden age of Oregon's defense with this LB corp. 1. Justin Flowe — 2020 2. Noah Sewell — 2020 3. Mase Funa — 2019 4. Keith Brown — 2021

Pritchard Cousinard Brown Cook Bell That's the toughest, grown man lineup I could come up with.

Great analysis and article. It will be frustrating if Ohio St. doesn’t boat race the next two teams like they did us but I have a feeling they had extra motivation for OBD. I don’t want to get my hopes up again like I did this year, but I’m sure I will. It was a great season and every team minus one would have happily traded their season for ours. I’m ready for growing pains next year if it means we get to build a defense like 2024 Ohio St., 2023 Michigan, 2021-2022 Georgia, or prior Clemson and Alabama teams. That seems to be the common thread even in the NIL era. We can’t keep patching holes in an undeveloped roster.

Tough way to end what we all thought was a magical season. I too thought the days of not looking like we belong were behind us. I'm sure there are 34 reasons why we lost, but it can't all be pinned on one coach. Coaching is not what made us look like we didn't belong on the field. We've made huge strides on the DLine to match our OLine (although both struggled in the Rose Bowl), but we are undersized still (compared to past champions) almost everywhere else you look - QB, RB, receiver, LBs, DBs, and safeties. TE is also been a strong position for us. Ohio St. looked like monsters yesterday and it's hard to believe that was the same team that came to Autzen. What on earth is anyone going to do with #4 the next two years now that he's figured out how big he is?

Oregon wins! 31-27 1 turnover 4 sacks 290 passing yards

The only thing going through my head watching this game is frustration at the stupidity of the playoff designers. Penn State loses CCG and breezes through two rounds of the playoffs without breaking a sweat. OBD will be fighting for our lives tomorrow after the only unbeaten season in 2024 and hands down the #1 team. I guess I’ll be upset at Ohio St. also since they laid an egg against Michigan. They need to pay the price tomorrow - we need to vanquish them!

While our D-line is stout, the back half of our defense are home-grown linebackers combined with a renegade secondary that punch above their weight class as a whole. Will Ohio St. have the patience to stay with their run game? Wisconsin had no choice. For our defense, we don't need to stop every run play. However, we get one TFL or no gain, and now our defense plays ahead of the sticks and gets off the field. It just takes one stop on one drive. So yards per carry can be a little deceiving.

I can't but help see the parallels between Ohio St. this year on their revenge tour against Oregon and Oregon's revenge tour last year against Washington. I think they end the same way and Oregon will show the nation why they are #1. I'm fascinated to see if our front 5-6 can control the line of scrimmage like they have much of the season and numerous times against Ohio St. in October. I'm looking for run stuffs, pressure on Howard, and batted balls at the line of scrimmage. When was the last time we Duck fans have had the privilege leaning on our defense to win big games for us? What a joy! On offense, Gabriel continues to shine brightest on the biggest stages and Oregon has the most versatile offense in the country. Ohio St. has a great defense, but Oregon is not like the others. My biggest concern is Oregon's offensive performance against Ohio St. in the red zone. After two early touchdowns in our first game, we went 0-3 scoring touchdowns from inside the 10 yard line - two drives stalling inside the 2 yard line. As much as I'd love to see Oregon put their stamp on this one, there is just not much separation between these teams. Oregon 31-27.

My guess is that most of us are cautiously optimistic. We will remain that way after a Rose Bowl win. We know only different levels of heartbreak and will not feel relief until we finally raise that trophy. The knock that there are no great teams in 2024 stems from the fact there are no great blue blood teams in 2024. If Oregon runs the table, it will be the greatest run ever in a college football season. We will become an official blue blood.

It is agonizing, although I do think the 37 day lead up to the 2010-11 title game against Auburn was much more agonizing. I'm very confident in what Oregon has shown this season. Both teams have counter schemes for every scheme. It will come down to players making extraordinary plays in crucial moments and Oregon has demonstrated that multiple times already this season.

I don’t know guys. I’ve heard from 536 different sources online that Ohio State has “re-engineered” their defense since our last meeting and are doing things no one has thought of based off fan input. Maybe we should play it safe on offense and just punt.

I would call it selfishness over incompetence. Everyone (schools, TV networks, players, coaches, conferences, bowls, NCAA) is looking out for their own interests. No one is interested in giving an inch for the betterment of the sport as a whole.

Tez is a matchup nightmare for any team. You can’t just hand him off to 1-2 defenders. Everyone in the secondary has to know where he is. Tez along with our Oline, DG’s quick release, and screen game are why defenses don’t blitz us much. I pray that they do. Our YAC will set Rose Bowl records. Ohio State’s win over Tennessee has put them in the same place they were last time we met - overconfident.

If this weekend of games in the first round of the College Football Playoff showed us anything, it’s that teams ranked 9-12 have no business competing for the national championship. What could have been a nice, fitting end to a season in a destination bowl game with more equally matched foes, turned into a death sentence traveling to teams ranked 3-6 in terrible winter conditions and little fan support. And that’s where it ended. No bowl game. No festivities. Not even a Pop Tart. It’s over and none of the games were enjoyable or competitive. Most years felt like 1-2 deserving teams got left out (e.g. Florida St. and Georgia last year), but never 8 deserving teams. I personally think the perfect number would have been the top six ranked teams, rewarding the top two with a first round bye. What do you think? Was 12 still the right number?

No problem with this. The recruiting never ends now (see Dante Moore). Go get some experience and come back in 1-2 years ready to make a big difference.

Injuries have been the cause of our most sever PTSD almost every time. Come January 1, Oregon will be at their healthiest all season barring something terrible happening in practice. Every team will have to overcome injuries and adversity to win it all, not just OBD. In fact, one could argue that Oregon will be best positioned heading into round 2 because all teams advancing will have won dog fights in round 1. OBD will be rested, healthy, and not overseeded. I don't think Georgia is in a good place and their defense will not be good enough to carry them.

If Oregon makes it back to the "Natty" this year, Cliff Harris has to come back for the pregame speech, right?

These are literally the safest picks an analyst could make at this point with no real insight to share. I really like our chances after surviving the Rose Bowl. Evidence all season has shown Georgia is offensively flawed with or without Carson Beck and I don't believe they will make it to the title game. And please keep underestimating Arizona St. and Boise St. One of those teams is going to pick off a favorite. I don't think Texas makes it through both Clemson and Arizona St.

A rubber match occurs after a split. It's over Texas. You don't have one Top 25 win this year. Not one.

Wait, does DJ Uiagalelei have any more years of eligibility left? Just kidding. The only transfer I'd be interested in is a healthy Cam Rising if he's able to swing another year. That guy is a freaking baller.

Next year is going to be as good of a year as any to develop your next signal caller. The outgoing crop of top tier QBs with talent and big game experience leaving after 2023 and 2024 are going to leave a significant vacuum in that Top 5-10 quarterback list. The most proven big-game experience potentially returning will be Drew Allar, Jalen Milroe, and Quinn Ewers. I'm fine putting our next highly talented and developing QB in the box with those guys with Will Stein running the show. If we have the right pieces around Dante Moore and Novosad, they still have the opportunity to have OBD competing at the highest level.

This is going to be an ongoing issue until something gets fixed, expecially for the B1G Conference with almost all of their members being up North and all the bowl games in southern locations. It's one thing traveling to one bowl game over the holidays. It's quite another to travel to 3-4 games all residing in the heart of SEC and traditional Big12 country. HUGE disadvantage.