First of all, I got this from Canzano today. I continue to subscribe because he does give us good takes on Oregon, but I have to live with his bootlicking of Beavis and his fans. His newsletter/email today was mostly nonsense about the "New-World Pac-12" (New is not always better!) and legal mashinations. He did confirm that the Pac-12 members expect 8-9 million a year from their media contract. Whew!

Below is what he offered from his long interview with Tosh Lupoi, and I have to hand it to John...he got information we did not know for certain until now.

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JH: Lupoi’s defense was outstanding for most of last season. In nine of 13 games last season, Oregon’s opponents scored 18 or fewer points. But Penn State put up more than 500 yards and scored 37 points in the Big Ten title game (an Oregon win), and Ohio State scored 41 in the Rose Bowl (an Oregon loss).

I asked Lupoi what he learned in those two postseason games. He said that Ohio State Offensive Coordinator Chip Kelly figured some things out after the regular-season matchup in Eugene.

The Buckeyes noticed that the Ducks’ defense made pre-snap “checks” that were advantageous in Oregon’s 32-31 win in Eugene. In the second meeting, Ohio State baited UO’s defense into those pre-snap “checks” but were ready with on-the-fly adjustments that resulted in big plays.

“They did a great job of getting us into those checks and then really game-planning those checks,” Lupoi said. “And three touchdowns alone were within those checks.”

How does Oregon (and Lupoi) grow from that?

“Well, we can still have a defense that’s made up of those checks that helped us win and attack and play really well,” he said, “but also have come up with some new calls where you can just play out the integrity of the defense and not get in a check.”

Lupoi said “self-scouting” was a big piece of the offseason for him.

Great info, thanks. Chip would have the eyes to pick up on that - the guy who put the ‘read’ in zone read.

The sign of a good coach is the ability to keep on learning and adjusting. Some may consider Tosh not an elite DC which may be fair but he's far, far above average and Oregon would be hard pressed to find a better replacement. He helped with a national championship under Saban, I think he can do the same under DL.

Thank you, Charles. Nice opening gambit by Chip, but where was the response?

IMO, this no-show is on the entire coaching staff from the Chief on down.

In addition to Chip's adjustments, equally important IMO was the adjustments Jim Knowles made on defense. Caleb Downs moved up from safety and was a wrecking ball. The O-line that played well against TOSU in Autzen was manhandled in Pasadena. I don't think this happened as a result of strength and conditioning training post-Michigan.

It will be fascinating to watch the White Out chess match.

Next (Nest?) case. Onward and upward!

If only we didn’t start the playoff with a rematch.

As to the PAC media deal. I think there’s a ton of fuzzy math and we’re seeing a lot of distortion. One big one, I believe the conference is responsible for producing games on the CW. Not an insignificant cost.

There’s a reason they’re being tight lipped, if it was a “clean” $9m per team I think they’d be bragging more. They’re trying to kill shot the MWC with every breath, if the deal was almost double what the MWC is getting, it feels like we’d hear about it, loudly.

10 minutes ago, Jon Joseph said:

In addition to Chip's adjustments, equally important IMO was the adjustments Jim Knowles made on defense. Caleb Downs moved up from safety and was a wrecking ball.

So, when Ohio State came to the LOS in a particular formation--we countered. Then by studying us, Chip came back with a "counter-to-the-counter," and that is just great coaching. Did we continue to blunder into those same errors in the second half? No.

Keep in mind that the damage was done in the first half....those three touchdowns referred to. In the second half, Oregon outscored Ohio State, and as lame as that sounds--it is true. So we did do some adjustments, but not enough, as the Buckeyes were a good team.

44 minutes ago, Jon Joseph said:

Jim Knowles made on defense. Caleb Downs moved up from safety and was a wrecking ball.

Especially when Oregon didn't have Evan Stewart as a deep threat to stretch the Ohio State secondary. That really hurt the Duck's offense in the Rose Bowl.

Last year I feel the Ducks were shockingly thin at Wide Receiver. The starters were Holden, Stewart and Johnson. Lowe got some run with an injured Johnson but wasn't remotely the same caliber. Big drop off from 2023 where the Ducks had Franklin, Johnson, Holden and Bryant (who is returning in 2025 injury free). And big contributions from Tight Ends in 2023 that just weren't there for a long time in 2024.

I went over much of this in these articles.

https://fishduck.com/2025/01/rebuilding-oregons-offense-for-2025-the-passing-game/

https://fishduck.com/2025/01/rebuilding-oregons-offense-for-2025-running-back/

Here's hoping for greater depth out of the 2025 team which it already sounds like that may just be the case!

You can go to Canzano's podcast list and just listen to the Tosh interview without the other 2 hours.

Tosh also said he wouldn't recruit himself; he wants better athletes. He said some coaches try and recruit who they were and that just doesn't work.

Also, when asked about balance in a coaches life these days. Tosh said there isn't balance and that is the job.