14 hours ago, Charles Fischer said:

I agree; those other traditional blue-bloods have their 'Nattys, and while Oregon is an elite team at this time, we will not be a blue-blood until we win a few. Hence those other programs have their traditionals established, and Dan would just be following in their history already built. The expectations would be high, and he would simply be trying to "match" what has been done in the past.

At Oregon...he can establish a legacy unlike any other prior coach in Eugene, and I think he wants to. He has stated that he wants his boys to all graduate from the same high school, and the youngest is now 11 years old, thus I believe we have six years of him, minimum.

He strikes me as the type of guy that once he has won a 'Natty or two at Oregon...he will have "done-it" at the college level, and will want to match the best defensive minds in the NFL.

Although he could be a "Lifer" here if he wanted to!

Recruits....Come to Oregon!

Blueblood, ha!! A meaningless term to me. I guess it's a way to make Nebraska feel good about itself. But realistically Oregon is, has, and will be a better program than Nebraska for twenty plus years now. You've been better than Texas, USC, Notre Dame, Florida, Penn State, Miami, Florida State, Texas A&M, LSU,Tennessee, and yes even Michigan as well.

Yes I realize 6 of those have won National titles in that time period. But Oregon has performed at a higher level consistently and lost two title game appearances.

7 hours ago, GatOrlando said:

Blueblood, ha!! A meaningless term to me. I guess it's a way to make Nebraska feel good about itself. But realistically Oregon is, has, and will be a better program than Nebraska for twenty plus years now. You've been better than Texas, USC, Notre Dame, Florida, Penn State, Miami, Florida State, Texas A&M, LSU,Tennessee, and yes even Michigan as well.

Yes I realize 6 of those have won National titles in that time period. But Oregon has performed at a higher level consistently and lost two title game appearances.

Don't forget to throw Princeton (28 championships), Yale (27), Harvard (12), Minnesota (9) and Army (5) in the mix of blue bloods. Everybody else is "new money" compared to those teams (minus Notre Dame).

35 minutes ago, DrJacksPlaidPants said:

Don't forget to throw Princeton (28 championships), Yale (27), Harvard (12), Minnesota (9) and Army (5) in the mix of blue bloods. Everybody else is "new money" compared to those teams (minus Notre Dame).

Exactly, what is a “blueblood”? Where is the line drawn where past championships become irrelevant side notes? Are basketball recruits impressed with our 1939 title?

I’d say at the very most for number of years, going back to 1998 and the start of the BCS era is a reset point IMO. Accomplishments prior to 1998 are interesting, but might as well be in 1939 at this point.

41 minutes ago, JabbaNoBargain said:

Exactly, what is a “blueblood”? Where is the line drawn where past championships become irrelevant side notes? Are basketball recruits impressed with our 1939 title?

I’d say at the very most for number of years, going back to 1998 and the start of the BCS era is a reset point IMO. Accomplishments prior to 1998 are interesting, but might as well be in 1939 at this point.

1998 is a reasonable One True Champion BCS demarcation point. But please allow me to put forth an argument that titles before 1998, should not and are not, forgotten.

1997 - The championship was split between future conference mates Michigan, ranked No.1 by the AP poll, and Nebraska, ranked No.1 by the Coaches poll. No one passed away as a result of CFB having two champs and not 1 True Champion! For the Michigan and Nebraska athletic departments and fans, these titles matter. As it would have mattered and continued to matter for Ducks fans.

The AP Poll has ranked CFB teams since 1936. In 1968, when some of us were sophomores in high school (Sigh 👨‍🎓), the AP Poll started releasing a post-bowl-season poll. The Coaches' Poll followed suit in 1974.

Current Big Ten teams that won a split title: UCLA and Ohio State split the title in 1954, 1965, Michigan State, 1970, Michigan and Nebraska, 1991, UW🤬. Southern Cal has won three split titles, in 1974, 1978. and 2003.

The two most contentious splits came in 1973, when Alabama was awarded the Coaches Poll title, and after defeating Alabama and coach Bear Bryant in the Sugar Bowl 24-23, Notre Dame topped the AP Poll. Big Ten Network regular Coach Gerry DiNardo was a Senior and third-year starting guard for the Irish.

Even pre-Pawall, there was furor in Dixie in 2003 when 2-loss LSU beat the SEC's BCS punching bag, Oklahoma, to win the BCS, and 2-loss USC was named the AP champion after defeating Michigan in the Rose Bowl. SC's 2nd loss that knocked the Trojans out of the BCS came against UCLA, coached by Karl Dorrell; a huge upset. Sophomore Matt Leinhart, who would go on to win the Heisman Trophy, QB'd SC.

LSU and SEC fans cried, 'Foul!' SC fans cried, 'SEC bias! We would have mashed those Tigers into grits!'

The BCS in 1998, when CFB bought what SEC commissioner Roy Kramer was selling, the need for one true champion, is, as you so noted, not a bad dividing line for many (younger - please try to avoid the waving cane 👴) CFB fans. But until last season's 12-team field, the BCS and 4-team PO participants were often challenged, including in year one of the 4-team PO when the B12 co-champs were both excluded, through 2024 when undefeated FSU was excluded.

Even last season's field was debatable, at least south of the Mason-Dixon, and in Bristol, Connecticut; 3-loss Bama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina should have been in the field! At least they should have been in, right up to the end of the first quarter of the game between Tennessee versus Ohio State. 🤣

Before I depart this mortal coil, I'd love to have to decide on whether OBD's 1st title was the best 😍.

Bob Them Cats!

16 hours ago, Mike West said:

When Taggart sealed his reputation as the dumbest coach to ever leave a program, OBD had the very best recruiting class EVER...until this upcoming class that is. One glaring misnomer (not attributed to you David-you brought a great summary to the entire season as Taggart basically left everyone feeling completely soiled, including the very solid staff he brought-which refused to join him at Florida State) is until Justin Herbert lunged for that fateful TD, Oregon's offense was running at an unprecedented clip to the degree that Taggart's Gulf Coast Offense would have obliterated Chip's legacy. And I do mean obliterate. It was scoring a staggering 50 plus points per game.

I had to go back and look at the schedule.

The Ducks dropped 77 on Southern Utah out the gate. This was the highest amount of points scored until the Lanning Ducks dropped 81 on PSU. So that 77 is going to inflate numbers a bit.

42 points against a 4 win Nebraska team.

49 against a 7-5 Wyoming team.

35 against 7-5 ASU (this game was a Duck loss)

45 against 5-7 Cal

Which makes about 48 points per game. Though I'd say the competition doesn't put up a great measure to what the a healthy Herbert lead team could do.

Where the meat of the schedule landed with the best teams in the conference that year, Washington, Stanford and Washington State all came when Herbert was injured. Burmeiser was certainly not up to the task of leading this team as a true freshman.

The other big team in the Pac-12 that year was USC and Oregon didn't have them on the schedule.

I'm not saying the Taggart offense was bad but looking at who it played against gives me pause. It would have been better with a healthy Herbert against heavy hitters in the schedule but we'll never know how well.

Herbert was also just an amazing quarterback who made every coach he played for look good offensively.

As always I value your comments and view point Mike.

Plus I distinctly recall that while Taggart's offense scored in bunches in the 1st half, the 2nd half was a completely different story where it completely stagnated. This happened most of the time that season.

2 hours ago, David Marsh said:

Herbert was also just an amazing quarterback who made every coach he played for look good offensively.

He didn’t make Mario look good offensively. That’s an impossible task. He made him look like he had an offense.

7 hours ago, DrJacksPlaidPants said:

He didn’t make Mario look good offensively. That’s an impossible task. He made him look like he had an offense.

Herbert won a Rose Bowl on his own.

That is making your coach look good!

More on Cristobal in the next installment of this series I promise! So much from that era I want to discuss!

13 hours ago, DrJacksPlaidPants said:

Don't forget to throw Princeton (28 championships), Yale (27), Harvard (12), Minnesota (9) and Army (5) in the mix of blue bloods. Everybody else is "new money" compared to those teams (minus Notre Dame).

To me those championships are like all the al heavyweight titles you have in boxing. I was born too late to see a real world champion.

On 8/8/2025 at 10:32 AM, David Marsh said:

I had to go back and look at the schedule.

The Ducks dropped 77 on Southern Utah out the gate. This was the highest amount of points scored until the Lanning Ducks dropped 81 on PSU. So that 77 is going to inflate numbers a bit.

42 points against a 4 win Nebraska team.

49 against a 7-5 Wyoming team.

35 against 7-5 ASU (this game was a Duck loss)

45 against 5-7 Cal

Which makes about 48 points per game. Though I'd say the competition doesn't put up a great measure to what the a healthy Herbert lead team could do.

Where the meat of the schedule landed with the best teams in the conference that year, Washington, Stanford and Washington State all came when Herbert was injured. Burmeiser was certainly not up to the task of leading this team as a true freshman.

The other big team in the Pac-12 that year was USC and Oregon didn't have them on the schedule.

I'm not saying the Taggart offense was bad but looking at who it played against gives me pause. It would have been better with a healthy Herbert against heavy hitters in the schedule but we'll never know how well.

Herbert was also just an amazing quarterback who made every coach he played for look good offensively.

As always I value your comments and view point Mike.

On 8/8/2025 at 10:32 AM, David Marsh said:

On 8/8/2025 at 10:32 AM, David Marsh said:

I had to go back and look at the schedule.

The Ducks dropped 77 on Southern Utah out the gate. This was the highest amount of points scored until the Lanning Ducks dropped 81 on PSU. So that 77 is going to inflate numbers a bit.

42 points against a 4 win Nebraska team.

49 against a 7-5 Wyoming team.

35 against 7-5 ASU (this game was a Duck loss)

45 against 5-7 Cal

Which makes about 48 points per game. Though I'd say the competition doesn't put up a great measure to what the a healthy Herbert lead team could do.

Where the meat of the schedule landed with the best teams in the conference that year, Washington, Stanford and Washington State all came when Herbert was injured. Burmeiser was certainly not up to the task of leading this team as a true freshman.

The other big team in the Pac-12 that year was USC and Oregon didn't have them on the schedule.

I'm not saying the Taggart offense was bad but looking at who it played against gives me pause. It would have been better with a healthy Herbert against heavy hitters in the schedule but we'll never know how well.

Herbert was also just an amazing quarterback who made every coach he played for look good offensively.

As always I value your comments and view point Mike.

Everything you mentioned is a sign of an excellent offense. Since when does scoring 77 on anyone a sign of an average offense? Thirty five on the road against a 7-5 ASU when you played poorly. OBD played poorly in Pasadena 7 months ago. They didn't drop 35(in fact that offense averaged just over 35 all year-another sign a poor performance yielding 35 points is a sign of an elite offense, and none of Cristobal's teams ever averaged 35 ppg). Thirty five was the lowest the offense scored when Herbert started. Think about that a moment-that is as good as any elite team in conference play. OBD dropped 69 on 1-11 little brother.

On 8/8/2025 at 10:32 AM, David Marsh said:

We all have our perspective. Mine is the Gulf Coast Offense was the only time Justin Herbert matched his NFL stats, and performance. Plenty of NFL experts dismissed that year because he looked so "horrible in Cristobal's offense. To the degree they even questioned his ability to even last the rigors of the NFL. The other perspective of dropping the majority in the first half? I don't really mind. If the game is over at halftime, what does it matter?

Thirty five on ASU, 42 on Cal, 48 on Arizona, 69 on OSU. Outrageous numbers in conference play-no matter the competition. Exactly what an elite offense does against below average competition.

In my estimation, we will never see 7 games in which a QB averages over 50 points a game, on any competition. Not only is that a high bar to achieve, it is a high bar to overcome. Records are meant to be broken. Let's see if any Oregon offense ever achieves those marks with an NFL bound QB.

On 8/8/2025 at 10:32 AM, David Marsh said:

I had to go back and look at the schedule.

The Ducks dropped 77 on Southern Utah out the gate. This was the highest amount of points scored until the Lanning Ducks dropped 81 on PSU. So that 77 is going to inflate numbers a bit.

42 points against a 4 win Nebraska team.

49 against a 7-5 Wyoming team.

35 against 7-5 ASU (this game was a Duck loss)

45 against 5-7 Cal

Which makes about 48 points per game. Though I'd say the competition doesn't put up a great measure to what the a healthy Herbert lead team could do.

Where the meat of the schedule landed with the best teams in the conference that year, Washington, Stanford and Washington State all came when Herbert was injured. Burmeiser was certainly not up to the task of leading this team as a true freshman.

The other big team in the Pac-12 that year was USC and Oregon didn't have them on the schedule.

I'm not saying the Taggart offense was bad but looking at who it played against gives me pause. It would have been better with a healthy Herbert against heavy hitters in the schedule but we'll never know how well.

Herbert was also just an amazing quarterback who made every coach he played for look good offensively.

As always I value your comments and view point Mike.

Let me try to put this into perspective (my perspective lol): Justin Herbert threw two very bad INTs in Tempe. Both times he locked right onto his target, and once he looked a CB in the eye and threw it to him. It was one of his worst performances. Despite that they scored 35 points in that losing effort. Last year's team averaged 35 ppg. The year OBD went 13-0 in Big Ten play, they average 35 points per game. Justin Herbert scored that in one of his worst performances ever. That to me is a sign of an awesome offense. Not an awesome QB, an awesome QB in an awesome offense.

That also was the lowest scoring output by Herbert all year. Another sign of how awesome that offense was. To even bolster my perspective, NFL experts judged Herbert would be a wash-because of the way he played in Cristobal's offenses. If you go back to the Gulf Coast Offense, and apply the eye test with his NFL performances, they look pretty damn similar. As in you can't even tell if he's playing against NFL defenses or college defenses.

When NFL experts were describing their opinions I had to laugh, because they either forgot the Gulf Coast Offense performances, or they were looking at Herbert delay often because of the offense he was placed in under Cristobal. I surely didn't forget those Taggart performances. They were unforgettable in my eyes. It looked way better than Chip's offenses to me (and I'm sure I'm quite alone in that opinion). Herbert looked like a monster. Like Fouts at San Diego monster. Like Joe Burrow at LSU monster. Kinda like nothing we've ever seen at Oregon, and probably never will see. And yes, I am saying Herbert looked better than Mariota in that offense. Because as we have seen, it carried into the NFL, unlike Mariota outside of Chip's offenses. And for me, that is a much more objective measure. Had he stayed healthy, he clearly wins the Heisman. Not to mention at least a 10 win if not undefeated season. That's what that offense was. Unleashing a Heisman performance.

I realize many, if not legions of people do not respect Willie Taggart. Film doesn't lie, and the film was revealing a ridiculous performance out of Justin Herbert every week. Check them out on YouTube. They're still there. Don't judge the guy you dislike, look at what his offense actually did. Look at what it made defenses look like. Watch the incredible decision making, and laser accurate throws with a set of WRs that weren't considered elite by any measure.

I realize I am quite alone in this discussion. I'm ok with that. I live in Vegas. Where you lose money if you're wrong. I'd put money on this one. Win or lose. That's how strong I feel about it based on what I've seen over the years. Of course, I wouldn't ask anyone to join me, and only bet the money you can afford to lose. And you all know the one time I bet the farm-and won (against Herbert the year before ironically-and on those damn Fuskies).

On 8/8/2025 at 12:01 AM, GatOrlando said:

What's ironic is many Gator boosters were willing to pay the Napier buyout and go after Lane. I think Lane is just a more loud mouth version of Dan Mullen. Dan couldn't or wouldn't put in the effort to recruit, and Lane would prefer to recruit out of the transfer portal because he doesn't really want to put in the time to get high school kids and mold them. It would be a massive mistake to give that guy 10 million a year.

I want an offensive guy that will bring back the fun and gun system Steve made famous. I would like a guy like Dillingham if that were possible. But I think it's only fair that Billy get a full year to show what he can do. Lane Kiffin can play his little games in Oxford, let Auburn or LSU hire him. I don't think Lane will pull a Malzahn, Fisher, or Orgeron and win a random title with one freaky QB run. I think he's a 7-10 win guy at best.

I kind of liked your offense last year. I believe the OL was a bit of a hinderance to its effectiveness. Both QBs looked good at times, and would have performed better if they weren't under constant pressure. I'm also hoping Lagaway stays healthy. The guy really makes the team better. They play with much more intensity. They are a darkhorse SEC Title contender in my opinion. And of course, now that Saban is gone, everyone is sleeping on Alabama. Alabama scares me. They have a coach that elevates his QBs, and they have a QB that fits that system in Simpson.

Lane Kiffin ruined it for me last year. They blew games they shouldn't have, which dulled my enthusiasm for him (still like him, but I'm suspicious of him big time).

1 hour ago, Mike West said:

I kind of liked your offense last year. I believe the OL was a bit of a hinderance to its effectiveness. Both QBs looked good at times, and would have performed better if they weren't under constant pressure. I'm also hoping Lagaway stays healthy. The guy really makes the team better. They play with much more intensity. They are a darkhorse SEC Title contender in my opinion. And of course, now that Saban is gone, everyone is sleeping on Alabama. Alabama scares me. They have a coach that elevates his QBs, and they have a QB that fits that system in Simpson.

Lane Kiffin ruined it for me last year. They blew games they shouldn't have, which dulled my enthusiasm for him (still like him, but I'm suspicious of him big time).

Napier plays it way too cautious for people wanting what most Florida fans see as the program that brought offense to the SEC under Spurrier and Meyer. Remember most Big 12, ACC, and PAC TEN fans said SEC football was ugly. People forget that many Saban teams won with QBs like Greg McElroy. Remember 2011? The BCS title game that was so bad that it finally gave us a playoff.

But Napier calls the game very old school, and he's said it is because we haven't had receivers. Well Billy that's part of your job. When you get transfers like Mertz and Elijah Badger, and you don't even get in the game for guys like Jeremiah Smith, Brandon Iniss, or all of Ohio State and Alabama's past three deep receiver classes that all consist of Florida born and raised dudes, that's a problem. It isn't like the boosters wouldn't give you some extra cash as they were willing to raise the cash for your pretty hefty payout and the amount it would take to pay the overrated Kiffins buyout at Ole Miss. You just have to abandon this old school approach that makes you think it's still the good old days of smash mouth 90's Phillip Fulmer vs one of the Shula boys.

Running the ball the first two times on three quarters of your drives, or throwing a screen isn't innovative. You can't expect Lagway to shrug off two defenders on third and long to deliver a drive saving throw. You know why the defense blitzed on third downs? They didn't respect any of the receivers. They knew we didn't have any vertical threats or even a crossing route that a tight end could run. You had a RB on the edge and three non threatening receivers running straight verticals. Three verticals and a tight end that couldn't block in on protection!

To quote Charles Barkley" That's terrible!!!".