spartan2785

I would like to see Moore start to actually look to become more a gunslinger, he's too conservative, that last throw was an atrocious decision, no chance to get the first down, he looks scared to make a decision.

Always excited for Ducks basketball. No idea how the season will go, we'll be reliant on Bittle and Shelsted. We need both players to be just a little more consistent, we'll need better shooting from our role players. I'm excited to see how the international players do, that's something a bit new for this team. Seems like Wei Lin will at the very least be exciting to watch, feels like he could offer a new element with his ability to create.

I've always been a bit surprised at the lack of investments from some schools in the B1G. I get that for some of these schools have other sports like basketball or hockey that are very important to their fanbases, but for instance a school like Minnesota, which is a massive institution just doesn't seem to have a lot of money in football. It took them forever to get their own stadium, and while Minnesota isn't exactly swarming with recruits, it is the only game in town. Wisconsin I wouldn't include in the disappointing programs since for much of this century they have been in and around a top 25 program, classic school that once ever 5 years had a really good team, you could probably include Iowa in this. Illinois is another one, massive school, only state school that has major college football, St. Louis, Chicagoland, you can't find the talent or the money to make that next jump? I know in this case Notre Dame is huge contributor to this, but I feel like if there was the commitment to football that is another program that could be much better. Maryland should be better as a program, you have D.C, Baltimore, Virginia, close to New Jersey as well for a recruiting bed, I'm sure there is some money in that alumni base (heck Scott Van Pelt should have tons from ESPN😂). You will always have basement dwellers, but a few of these programs have to be considered underachieving overall. Funnily enough the one program I would not expect to be better is Indiana. You have Notre Dame in the state, and your entire state is traditionally obsessed with basketball. I do think when you talk about Oregon, we are unique in college football, and while our athletic department should be praised for its ability to maximize our strengths, nobody else has the benefit of being Nike's testbed for innovations, nobody has our branding, and nobody has the single donor like Phil Knight. We are one single donor away from being right where OSU and WSU are now. Credit Oregon for making the hiring choices, the innovations, the marketing, all of that, but none of it happens without Uncle Phil. Anyone of the universities mentioned above could have been us if they had a figure and company behind them (Maryland has UnderArmor...but c'mon that's not the same as Nike)

This is the answer. If we want to look back wistfully, then the answer is poaching Texas and Oklahoma when we might have had the chance. We should have done whatever we needed to do to make that happen. With those two we are better conference than what the B1G was and almost is now. Our TV deal would have been competitive with the B1G and SEC I believe with those two. We would have had substantially more teams in the old 4 team playoff, and most likely a couple national titles. In some ways I do miss the old Pac-12, I miss more consistent schedule for the non-football sports, I miss having a variety of start times for football games instead of the constant 12 or 9 start times. I certainly don't think anyone should wish the league had survived on the 30 million that was offered (at least from Oregon's perspective). I don't like what has happened in a lot of ways, I don't like that OSU and WSU were left behind, I don't like the idea of Cal and Stanford being in the ACC, those 4 university deserved better than what happened to them, you might disagree, but each had their history that deserved better respect, there is no reason Rutgers, Northwestern, Vandy, or Mississippi St. somehow deserve more than those institutions when it comes to sports. It's of course just the way things have turned out, but it isn't right in my view, especially when you consider what college sports can mean to a community.

A non 12:30 Kickoff!!!! Finally something different, it got a bit ridiculous having the game at the same time over and over again.

I am surprised it was that much of a dominating performance. I thought we would probably win a route, but after the first possession it was just one way traffic the entire way, I also was surprised to see Rutgers have no success at all in the passing game, they have good receivers and a decent QB, but it was just stifled for the entire night. Great job by everyone.

I think the problem is largely Stein being very predictable, he doesn't adjust very quickly, he gets stubborn in his philosophy, he doesn't set up plays very well for later, a great example of this is the lack of fake screens to open up the go route on the outside, we were excellent at this during the Kelly and Helfrich years.

I'm sure they know it, it wasn't like this is what they wanted to happen, but in the end it's a bit of a zero sum game, either you have the horses or you do not, and if you don't have the talent than you have to find ways to get around that schematically. I'm sure the coaches are very aware that the talent has to start picking up, last year was improvement recruiting wise on the line, this year they have good start, hopefully by next year or the year after we'll see this bear fruit. I guess when it comes to QBs, I trust the coaches, if they felt like getting transfer was the key to winning a championship I'm sure they would do it, they had confidence in Moore, he's been great so far other than this last weekend, I still don't think it's a given that Nix or Gabriel would have been significantly better. I don't really think any coach out there has a policy that they will always bring in a transfer QB, they look at their roster and decide who would be the best fit for the program. Sometimes that means bringing a guy who has two years left, sometimes one, sometimes it's a guy who has been learning the system and was a 5 star QB who everyone in the building said was ready to be Heisman candidate. I know this....if we are known to only play transfer QBs, you can say goodbye to any chance of recruiting 5 star QBs as freshman, not a single one will be willing to wait their turn to eventually sit behind whoever is comes in the summer, and if they do come, they'll be transferring within 2 years at a minimum. That does not mean that the coaches can't decide that the 5 star who came in is automatically dialed in to play.

We were forced into taking transfer OL because we didn't recruit the position well enough or develop the talent we did have over the last 2-3 years. Big time programs don't rely on 3 transfers on the offensive line. If you need a guy to fill in a hole it's fine, but you have to develop the talent yourself if you want a dominant offensive line, the data back this up. The question over transfer QBs is one where I wonder why any QB would come here if all we do is start transfer QBs, if we develop the rep that we only start transfer QBs, why would any incoming freshman come here? What would be the point? Lanning believed in Moore, it's not a guarantee that Nix or Gabriel would have won that game, it's not a guarantee that either one would have beat Penn St.

Yeah, the O-line recruiting has been sub-par for several years now, we also have developed the talent we do have, it's hard for lines to come together when you have 3 guys who are completely new to the program. We're just not that good in the trenches, D-line is good but not elite, and the linebackers are again good but not outstanding. A lot of the warning signs were there, even if we do go undefeated I would say we should be left out, we won't have a single good win on the season. Really disappointing to see.

Was Joey Harrington ever a guest picker? Sort of wish the guest picker could be more local legends than just nationally known. I'm sure the crowd would love a LaMichael James or Luke Jackson or even a Cole Hocker.

I'll be honest I feel horrible for the Beavs, I know plenty of great Beaver fans I feel really bad for them and the school. Great campus (better than Oregon in my opinion), Corvallis is a good small college town. I totally understood the anger from them and WSU, I understand the money grabs they made, and most of it was justified in my opinion, they were simply trying to survive as an athletic program. I'm not going to say that Oregon should have done anything to save them or other elements of the old Pac-12 or its members, but I find what is happening to the Beavs to be really really sad. It's absolute free for all in athletics now, nobody is doing anything for others, it's always about what is best for ourselves. It is what it is now, there is no loyalty, it is mostly if not purely about money, college sports is simply not what it once was. Oregon State is probably one of the best examples out there of the casualties of this new world. I know a lot of people on here make fun of OSU, and maybe it comes from people that you know, but to me it's just sad, Oregon is above making fun of that program from what my point of view, it's just rubbing it in at this point. I think of it like Michigan making fun of Central Michigan.

Very "meh", whatever, the thing that annoys me about being asked to wear yellow is that it's later in the season and I don't have any yellow sweatshirts or jackets, so with the weather I'm most likely not going to buy an overpriced piece of clothing at the Duck Store just to fit into the crowd.

You're right Charles, I do remember that now that you mentioned it, I don't think (I could be totally wrong) we used it quite as much in a single game as we did against PSU, correct me if I'm wrong.

Unfortunately I think Miami is for real, I don't see another loss on their schedule, I certainly don't see two losses. It will be interesting to see who they play in the ACC title game, if they play Georgia Tech I think the Yellow Jackets could upset them. They'll be in the playoff this year. One thing is that I don't think Cristobal is getting in the way of his OC this year, I could be wrong, but that team look like a legit top 5 team. Hope I'm wrong and Charles is right though!

Hard to say, I think I might actually lean Texas. Penn St. I don't think is a fraud, I think they just had one of those weeks where their focus completely left them and they got hit by a team that was playing with a new look on life. They got completely hood winked by a offense that was a different look, Nico at QB was let off the chain to do what he does best which is the scramble game. Clemson is doing what Clemson always does now, they maybe would have only two losses right now instead of three normally, but they aren't really doing anything different from what they've been doing for the last 5 or so years. Texas is probably the biggest disappointment considering the talent coming back, they should be much better in every facet of the game, but they haven't executed at all. To lose against a Florida team that looked dead in the water is inexcusable. Sark has usually been seen as a QB whisperer, but Arch is so far from a playoff caliber QB that it is shocking to see a player that hyped look so lost when he isn't beating down lower level opponents..

The two RB look that they've started using with Hill and Davidson is probably the best wrinkle they've added in a long time to the offense. It helps that Davidson is such a great lead blocker. Reminds me a little of when West Virginia had their heyday with Steve Slaton and Owen Schmitt. Hill and Davidson are much better than those two, but the way they play is similar in that two RB look.

I really don't mind this sort of stuff. Networks need people to talk about the teams, it's hard to really have a great idea about who has taken the next step in practices, NIL has changed the game in terms of how different teams are year to year. I really don't think anybody could foresee Penn St. losing to UCLA, in the case of Texas, I think that team looked the part last year, they brought back a fair amount of players, and the QB was the number one ranked QB prospect when he in high school. I do think the hype over Arch was way overboard, but again networks need things to air, so they talk about the programs, players, and coaches that will get the most eyeballs. One thing that would help would be to wait to rank teams until about this point in the season. It wouldn't stop commentators from doing rankings or really stop the hype around certain programs, but it would help to not have that number next to the team when there hasn't been any football played.

I look at this more in terms of reps, it's not who starts the game it's about who is getting the most reps. I think we've really benefitted from no one running back getting worn down over the course of a game. It's pretty obvious the coaches are doing an excellent job with this group, I'm sure they'll continue to make good decisions.

Okay, this one is pretty funny, Neuheisel Jr. still looks like he's a student and he's been around for a while now.

Doubt it, it's still Oklahoma-Texas, I don't think they ever miss that game.

It certainly helps when you have a major talent upgrade in the players around the QB. I think Stein and the program certainly do a good job developing QBs, but if you look at Gabriel he pretty much had the same type of season, difference in record was simply playing for a team with a better defense. Nix and Moore had substantial upgrades in the guys around them. I think they certainly improved their own skills while here, but it's hard to not notice how many more weapons and protection they have compared to their former teams. I'm hopeful that our next QB will be one of the guys who we recruited out of high school, it would be good to see we can develop guys from their freshman year to when they begin to start.

I honestly don't think this really means anything. I doubt a players would be talking about how eager they are leave college for the pros at this point in the year. Most players in this situation would say something similar, doesn't mean that he isn't being honest, just means it's way too early to be making predictions on if he will leave or not. I don't think anyone can make predictions in this new age of NIL, it's way too complicated now.

Awesome, I see the injury bug has returned to Oregon basketball, I guess hoping for more than 1 year of injury free basketball was too much to ask.

There will definitely be some takers, it's just a matter of what level they are. I'm willing to bet that Hughes could still get a call from a reasonably upper power 4 team, no idea who, but with the production he had at Tulane, I'm willing to bet somebody will have a spot for him. Makes no sense to stay here when you have two freshmen who are already ahead of you in the pecking order.