OceaniaDuck

Bo should start. Otherwise he might as well have opted out and start preparing for the NFL combine. Maybe spot TT a series here and there to see how he performs. If Ducks build comfortable enough lead late in the game, then let TT start the rest of the way.

Really happy Utah destroyed the USC Traitors. I hope that the UC Regents override UCLA's decision to move to the B1G and then the PAC adds SDSU to make the conference viable again. Lincoln Riley can take his all offense-no defense act to the B1G and enjoy on average 8-win seasons there. Calling on the rest of the PAC to do their darndest to beat USC in their final PAC season so we can give them a proper send-off with a sub .500 record. If it turns out UCLA is also indeed moving to the B1G, same call for UCLA. That will be awesome for the rest of the PAC to send one or both LA schools to the B1G with below .500 records.

If the Ducks want to win NOW, then yes unfortunately. Unless the next QB enrolling fresh out of high school is the second coming of Marcus Mariota. However, I agree with others on this board that Oregon needs to get back to developing QB's again and stop the vicious cycle of frequently relying on the transfer portal. The downside of that is maybe expect up to 3 to 4 losses in the 1st and possibly 2nd seasons while the QB develops. In our age of instant gratification, many will not be patient enough to go through this.

How about Chris Miller - former Duck QB? He has coaching experience and is a winner; also has Oregon roots, which hopefully provides a higher probability that he doesn't bolt to those dream jobs in either Florida or Arizona...

After reading all of the second-guessing and speculation on what happened in the losses to UW and Oregon State, the root cause really is that cheap shot on Bo Nix by a Fusky defensive player. I would like to think that with a healthy Bo Nix, most if not all the 4th down gambles would have been converted (assuming same game situations) and we would have won at least one, if not both those games. I really hope the Ducks hang 50+ points on those dirty Fuskies while pitching a shutout next season in front of their home crowd... Ok, enough venting for now lol.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if we even end up poaching an assistant at another PAC-12 school to be the Ducks news OC, just like how Tim DeRuyter was poached from Cal to be the Ducks new DC after Andy Avalos departed for Boise State. As to who that would be if that happens is anybody's guess.

Yeah, we got spoiled during the Chip Kelly era. But also remember that Chip's HC gig started out with a loss to Boise State and the infamous Blount punch and all kinds of associated criticism - the rest of Kelly's gig were some of the best years for Duck football ever. If DL and the assistants who are sticking with the Ducks assess what they did right and what they need to change, and learn, we'll be ok. Each era brought high points of their own - Taggart laying the foundation to recruiting blue-chip talent to Eugene, MC coaching the Ducks to their first victory ever over tOSU and winning a Rose Bowl, and so on. Can't wait to see what the DL era will bring to Eugene.

If Wazzu wins, then the Ducks will back into the PAC-12 Championship game against USC. Not the ideal scenario, but here's hoping the Cougs win.

I just hope Wazzu wins. I don't hate that team like I do the Fuskies lol.

Really disappointing. If we had just taken FG's when the opportunities presented themselves instead of gambling on 4th down, we'd more likely would have escaped with a victory. And we were playing at the Beavers home field so that possibly could have been a factor in their comeback. Just to put a little perspective, DL's first year record as a HC is actually not bad. Even Pete Carroll, Nick Saban and Kirby Smart didn't win 9 regular-season games in their 1st seasons as HC at USC 'Bama and Georgia respectively. All eventually turned out to be just fine lol. I guess what makes the losses sting nonetheless are 2 of the games we lost were actually very winnable, but due in large part to poor decisions, we lost and to our two biggest arch-rivals. Nobody thought the Ducks had a realistic chance of beating Georgia, so that loss was expected - although at the same time we shouldn't have lost by as large a margin as we did. I'm sure DL will learn from this season and next season will hopefully go even better than this one. On to the Holiday Bowl I guess. Go Ducks!

I tend to agree with another poster on this board where if the money's right, the challenge of putting out the dumpster fire at ASU and rebuilding the program from the ground up and making it his own may prove to be an alluring challenge for KD. Plus of course, as many have said, KD is an ASU alum and grew up in Arizona. I really hope that he does stay with Oregon for at least a little while longer. Although of course it will be disappointing, we can't blame the guy either for bolting back home so to speak. Also unfortunately, expect maybe a handful of his recruits to follow him to ASU should he become HC there. I'm sure DL has a short list of OC's he can call on to become the the new OC for the Ducks should KD accept the position at ASU. Heck, if we even become that desperate, Mark Helfrich or Scott Frost are available lol - Oregon's O was actually still pretty explosive under these coaches, it's just the D that was terrible due to poor DC hires that tanked Helfrich's last season at Oregon lol.

I'm also hopeful that Bo will be OK to play in the game against Utah. However, I have my doubts or else this wouldn't be a topic of conversation right now. If TT is starting, maybe KD needs to tweak the offense to account for his lack of experience and play to his strengths, as well as emphasize ball security. Maybe more of an option type spread offense similar to what Chip Kelly did when Justin Roper was thrust into the starting QB role in the Ducks bowl game against South Florida back in 2007. The vast majority of plays will be rushing plays with just enough passing to keep the opposing D honest. Oregon was able to move the ball and score handily in that game. Of course, the D will have to step up to keep the game from going out of hand. But if the necessary tweaks are made to the offense if TT is starting, I'm confident the Ducks have a fighting chance to just pull out the win.

Wow, that is fairly significant. Maybe, just maybe there is a chance to hopefully convince both USC and UCLA to stay in the conference, especially with the new CFP format.

Having no backup at QB that is prepared to step in and play competently when the starting QB goes down has been the Ducks Achilles heel for as long as I can remember. I cringed whenever I saw Bo Nix being used constantly on QB keeper plays, and unfortunately our worst nightmare came true in the 4th quarter at a critical juncture in a close game. I was thinking to myself as I was watching the game that KD needs to limit using Nix on those types of plays as that increases his chance of being injured. I'm not sure what it is that the Ducks seem to always have no prepared backup QB to call on when needed. That's another vicious cycle that maybe DL can break as he makes his assessments when it comes to game planning and preparation. As for TT, I think his time at Oregon is done - maybe he just needs to enter the transfer portal and maybe a fresh start at another program may somehow rejuvenate the fire in that kid. Also time to give Jay Butterfield a look and see how he does in actual game situations. Also, hoping Bo Nix will be ok.

I hope PAC-12 does its darndest to at least keep UCLA in the conference and then add SDSU to replace USC. Barring USC changing its mind, that would be the best scenario IMHO. Again IMHO, SMU not a good fit for the PAC-12. But then again maybe I'm just too old and a staunch traditionalist lol.

Mike Leach certainly helped to make the conference...um, interesting lol. In all seriousness, Leach IMHO was a great hire by Wazzu considering how difficult it can be to recruit players there, and Leach is the consummate "do more with less" coach (other than Kyle Whittingham). His schemes certainly gave Wazzu a fighting chance to win games even against the big boys in and out of conference. I do miss his quips during interviews - very good HC IMO.

Of course, we want to reward good work and DL so far has been proving to be a good hire. I do agree that we need to see consistent results before we give a blank check to DL though. One school that comes to mind which IMHO is a good lesson to tread carefully is Notre Dame, when they struck out two times in a row with Tyrone Willingham and Charlie Weis. Both coaches initially started out very good and won all kinds of coaching accolades but ended up fizzling out very quickly after the contract extensions were signed and bonuses were given. Unfortunately, Oregon has been considered a stepping-stone in recent times but hopefully DL will end that cycle if he pans out to be a great HC. As an aside, in the case of Marc Helfrich, IMHO what did him in was his poor DC hires. Oregon's O under him was actually still pretty prolific but the Swiss-cheese D especially under Brady Hoke couldn't stop anybody. The D under Don Pellum before Hoke came along was meh, but that embarrassing collapse after halftime playing TCU in the 2016 Alamo Bowl after being up 31-0 should never have happened. If Helfrich had made better DC hires, I surmise he would've been the Ducks HC a little while longer if not up until now.

If I had to do anything with scheduling, I would always schedule a OOC cupcake gimme as the first game, then go ahead and schedule the defending national champs for the next game if you want. With a cupcake gimme, at least the team can get a chance to shake off the rust, examine perhaps where improvement is needed in execution and build confidence with a win. And I agree with many others, the "neutral" field concept with SEC teams is a joke. Sure, the game is not technically at a particular team's home venue, but I would prefer a home-and-home series or at least alternate between West and South "neutral" sites or no deal. I do agree that in order to be considered among the best, you have to play the best and win at least half those matchups. As much as it pains me to say it, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say the SEC is the best conference right now as in fairly recent history, the SEC champs have more often than not defeated champs from every other conference in the natties. PAC-12 teams can definitely be powerhouses as Pete Carroll had proved when he was HC at USC. He understood that you need to dominate the trenches and I think that's where many very good PAC-12 teams unfortunately can fall short.

My hope is that somehow UCLA stays in the PAC and the conference adds SDSU to replace USC. Optimally, I'd love USC to stay as well but according to some articles I read, USC is a done-deal with the B1G. To me, the other proposed schools such as SMU and UNLV just don't seem like a good fit with the PAC. I just wish the conference never hired Larry Scott as PAC-12 Commissioner as IMHO, he was the main catalyst that drove the conference into the ground.

Auburn is a toxic dumpster fire anyways. IMHO, Harsin was set up to fail from his first day on the job.

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that IMHO MC will eventually right the ship at The U. He probably doesn't have the right kind of roster that fits his brand of football - yes, it was boring lol but it did get us a Rose Bowl victory - patience will need to be a virtue for Miami fans unfortunately. On the bright side, MC did continue to establish the foundation of recruiting blue-chip players to Eugene that Taggart started and he did get it right when it came to upgrading Oregon's O-line. I think we need to cut the guy some slack lol.

Agree with others that Thompson did not look impressive in the times he was put under center. Sad to say, I think the kid has all but given up and probably would benefit from a fresh start with another program that fits his skill set. I do agree with SmithRiverDuck that we need to keep Butterfield from being tempted to enter the transfer portal as well. Oregon used to to have a knack for developing QB's and that seems like a lost art now - remember when Mariota was starter from his freshman year with the Ducks and actually did pretty well in his first year? For all intents and purposes, Bo is gone after this season and like another poster had stated, we need to pray hard that Dante Moore is the real deal. Additionally, Oregon's Achilles heel has always been a lack of quality depth at QB. Once the starting QB goes down, it's a foregone conclusion that so goes the rest of the season. I remember when Dennis Dixon went down when the Ducks were purportedly in line to play in the natty, and then when Vernon Adams went down in the 2015 Alamo Bowl which resulted in that embarrassing collapse after being up 31-0 at halftime that allowed TCU to win the game in overtime. Anyways, back to TT, I think the kid doesn't want to be here anymore and we shouldn't force him to stay where he probably doesn't want to be.

I doubt DL will be interested in the Auburn job - that place is a toxic dumpster fire. Unfortunately, if DL ends up eventually taking Oregon to the CFP or even winning a Natty here, blue-blood programs that have openings I surmise will come knocking at his door - that's just the nature of the beast. If Georgia or 'Bama come calling, it's a foregone conclusion that DL will be done at Oregon lol.

I'm rooting for both of them in a shootout as I have one of the QB's on my FF roster lol. I'll be happy either way whoever wins although in one of the earlier posts, I do agree Mariota does need the W more at this point in his career.

IMHO, I think the Ducks and the remaining PAC teams are better off staying together as there will be more of a shot to make the CFP when the new format kicks in as compared to the chances in a crowded B1G conference.