CountryProf

Maybe Mario wouldn't have a problem with it if they booed more physically?

Joy. Complete joy. Something I haven't felt with respect to a college football game since the Marcus Mariota days.

The man is a leader, and he's experienced at reading defenses and managing offenses. He quickly rebounds from adversity, has some great skills, and has shown that even somewhat old dogs can learn new tricks. I didn't expect most of this at the beginning of the season, but if he continues to play this way and help teach the younger quarterbacks on the roster how to do likewise, I think I'd be crazy not to want him to play next year.

I remember that 1980 Portland State team that held the record of 105 points. Neil Lomax was the quarterback. The son of close family friends, Aaron Bell, was the backup quarterback. To my recollection, he never got to play in a game, because coach Mouse Davis was either trying to successfully drum up attention from NFL scouts, beef up his own resume, or both.

Thanks for this great analysis. You raise my football IQ several points with every article you write. I'm guessing Dillingham will see the flaws in his game plan just like you did after watching tape and reflecting on the game, and part of me wonders if he was being perhaps overly cautious about Bo Nix extending his legacy of forcing pass plays If he doesn't adjust appropriately in future games........ are you up for being Oregon's new offensive coordinator next year?

It looks to me that when Oregon's stellar offensive line can give Nix enough time, he can plant his feet and throw rockets downfield.... and that we have a few very fast receivers with very good hands. I suspect we can do this against other teams as well.

I don't get the referees decision to reset the down count for Washington State after they punted the first time. It was first down, the quarterback threw the ball out of bounds under pressure, so it would have naturally been second and 10. He was then penalized with intentional grounding, with the penalty being loss of down. That would make it 3rd and 10. If it doesn't, that would mean there was no penalty for intentional grounding.

I actually grew up in the Willamette Valley for 16 years before my dad was transferred to Southern California and I ended up going to UCLA. Long story short, it's a lot easier to be nostalgic about growing up in the Willamette Valley than it is to be nostalgic about living in Los Angeles for 4 years. I would root for UCLA in the past ( and sometimes USC, where my dad graduated from) when they weren't playing the Ducks or the Beavers. But since USC and UCLA decided to covertly betray tradition for profit by announcing they're switching conferences......... no quarter, no prisoners!

A hopefully helpful tip: to access the " Mark forum as read" button using Chrome on an Android tablet or phone, click the "hamburger icon" ( the three horizontal black line stacked on top of each other) in the upper left corner of the web page, and then click the "Mark site read" option. The "Mark forum read" button doesn't appear on either of my Android devices as displayed in the tutorial. Thanks for the heads up regarding the new reading marks option, Charles!

That dog is me.

IMHO, the initial post in this thread didn't get enough attention on this forum. This is the best fact-based assessment that us coaching-staff-outsiders have regarding why Nix is still the starter--along with observations of Ty's playing time during game 2 that suggest he hasn't yet developed the leadership qualities Nix has learned over the years.

I recall many in the media (and beyond) initially doubting the leadership abilities of Mariota and Herbert. They were 'too quiet, 'too soft spoken'. Most of us don't learn how to lead until we are repeatedly put into a leadership position. I bet Ty will grow into a leader given some time.

The name sounds vaguely familiar..........I think he might the illegitimate little brother of Ducks Great Troy Dye.

Glad you made that point. It's all too easy to dwell in the disappointment we all felt last Saturday. Much better to look forward to the upcoming Journey and appreciate the development of these young men and their young coaches.

From what I've read, especially regarding later last season, Oregon's offensive line play was not optimal for multiple reasons. There were a lot of injuries, Mario Cristobal checked out the last few games with his eyes on moving to Miami, and Mario`s plain vanilla offensive schemes put undue pressure on the offensive line. Regarding the latter point, Mario would try to pound the ball up the middle so often, just hoping that the sheer physicality of his line would open gaps, that defenses quickly learned to stack the box and stifle those plays. It doesn't look like Lanning and crew will suffer from Mario short-sidedness, and Oregon's offensive line appears to be pretty healthy and deep at this point. I've read a few of Charles Fischer's articles on this site that question the ability of Oregon's offensive tackles to effectively block pass rushes. I don't have Charles'experience and expertise regarding such issues, but I've learned from experience that it's typically a good idea to trust his analyses.

I hadn't thought of that. It must be very frustrating for an analyst like you not to have the information you need up front to maximize your understanding of what might happen in the game. It's also frustrating for people like me to not be able to benefit from the careful analysis that analysts like you provide in advance of big games. And, I think Lanning being this closed mouth gives him the best possible tactical advantage he can have against Georgia. And we're going to need every single advantage we can get against that team.

I love that. Very well stated.

I worry about him. I've read that the Falcons have one of the absolute worst offensive lines in the NFL. I don't want to see such a beloved player turned into a punching bag, like he often was at Tennessee. I really hope he gets a true chance at a second wind. I'd really like to see him shine again. Watching him go toe to toe against Justin Herbert when he stepped in early in the Raiders-Chargers game after Derek Carr was injured a year or two ago was a beautiful thing to see. It was a pleasure to see Herbert and Mariota perform that well in a professional game.

Thanks, Axel. I'm happy to be corrected, especially on something like this

In regular season play, Oregon is 12 and 7 against USC and 15 and 7 against UCLA since 1994. So, we have more or less owned Los Angeles college football spanning the last 27 years. I understand many USC graduates have trouble grappling with double digit numbers, but that poor author needs help.