My Duck-Buddies...my quotes pulled before the game, and then after revealing some startling differences from the past. Ten years ago...heck, even five years ago the Trojan commentary concerning Oregon was primarily disdain, before escalating to smears and insults. Even when they lost, they still had no respect for Oregon, and it was exhibited in nearly every thread on that USC board.

But I noticed when gathering "before" game quotes the other day that about a third of the quotes were complimentary of Oregon, even digging up facts about how Oregon has risen under Dan Lanning. Now the majority of comments were still denigrations, but I was surprised from so many that was, "I hate Oregon, but I respect them."

Not what I'd read in the past!

When checking for post-game comments--I was surprised again at the lack of insults directed at Oregon! Instead they gave begrudging credit, but spent most of their energy on the failings of their coaching, and how they are playing catch-up in recruiting. A percentage want to fire the DC, fire the Special Teams Coach, fire Riley, etc.

Below are some, with a sprinkling of my favorite memes of the past year I've saved.

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"Lincoln Riley is a FRAUD. I can NOT wait until the day that this BUM is gone! He constantly thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room yet his teams continue to beat themselves by playing DUMB football. They are SOFT, undisciplined, unprepared and lack self awareness! He crapped his pants again in another big game and Oregon is Flat Out better than us in every aspect but none is more evident than at Head Coach!"

"I mean we have zero defense. Oregon could legit score on every drive and we can’t stop a down unless they shoot themselves. Special Teams has been a joke for a few years now. The only positive is that our passing offense is elite."

"The loss isn’t really what matters, yes the expectation is to win these games at usc, however if you went out fought played clean and disciplined and lost by a field goal or touchdown it is what it is. But Oregon didn’t play a great game they didn’t look great and yet you played so poorly, undisciplined, and soft that you still lost by 15. How you lose matters and every time USC has a big game we are not up to the challenge."

"One of the bright side for today is knowing Oregon will likely get clown-stomped in the playoffs and 0 natty jokes stay alive."

"Don't hate it, but this board needs to come to grips that we're still a borderline top 20 team, not a contender. The posts this week; you'd think we had Acorns on our jerseys. This is going to piss off a lot of people on this board, we are A LOT like the SD Padres. Oregon is the Dodgers, ND is somewhere hovering around there. We'll nip at their heels and maybe beat them once a decade, but it's been LITERALLY this since 2011. Going on 15 years."

"Why is this team always soft against physical teams?"

This Team is NOT Soft!

"This was a bad win for Oregon. We were not overmatched. We were good enough to win with lesser talent and didn’t get it done. But we’re definitely on the right trajectory. And with better roster will get there. This is a different outcome in LA."

"They did whatever they wanted against our defense, and we are delusional as 'frick not to believe the team was not overmatched on defense. Couldn’t even run the run the ball against them. 1 dimensional offense wasn’t going to beat them."

"Yeah man. Oregon is good and give them credit for playing disciplined and not beating themselves but today special teams really let us down."

"We had opportunities to win this game or even get it close, despite not really stopping their offense that well. ST killed any chances we had. We have the talent to beat Oregon."

"That talent gap with Oregon will be closed next season."

"Oregon misses 6 starters today."

"Quacks were really good last year too."

"USC beat themselves with the special team mistakes. Oregon didn’t. I dislike Oregon but give them credit for being disciplined."

"Indiana has the 65th roster in football and Iowa has the 45th. We are at 17th. How many times in our history with Oregon have they had the lesser roster and still beat us? This is and has been 100 percent coaching."

Lincoln...Who's Your Daddy?

Thats an awesome pic!!

USC fans are in the five stages of grief. They always come up with their heritage when we beat them because we still don't have a title. They're having a difficult time accepting they are a "has been". It all changed in 2007. It was the first time we decisively defeated them. The year we should have won our FIRST NATTY. We are much closer to winning our first title than they realize.

In the beginning, the Champion of college football used to be the University of Chicago. Then for decades it was a school from the Ivy League. Those championships were decided by a “beauty contest” in the press, not by games on the field, as they are today. Since the college football playoffs began, USC has not been included as a participant. Whatever championship they won before the playoffs makes them as relevant today as the University of Chicago or teams from the Ivy League. All that counts is what is retained in the memory of an 18 year old player deciding what school he will attend.

They aren’t joking about special teams. I watched Benson’s punt return again and it was like USC expected him to run to his right. In fact, it looked like Oregon was setting up for a right side return. He ran to his left and blew right by everyone.

USC’s penalty on Sappington’s doink was idiotic. That’s a penalty 100% of the time.

1 hour ago, Grandpa Duck said:

In the beginning, the Champion of college football used to be the University of Chicago. Then for decades it was a school from the Ivy League. Those championships were decided by a “beauty contest” in the press, not by games on the field, as they are today. Since the college football playoffs began, USC has not been included as a participant. Whatever championship they won before the playoffs makes them as relevant today as the University of Chicago or teams from the Ivy League. All that counts is what is retained in the memory of an 18 year old player deciding what school he will attend.

All of USC’s championships are mythical. They have never won a tournament or a championship game that counted. All of their championships in the 2000’s were voted on.

All college football championships won before 1998 were educated guesses at best. Under the old system Oregon would have at least two national championships (2010 and 2024).

55 minutes ago, DrJacksPlaidPants said:

They aren’t joking about special teams. I watched Benson’s punt return again and it was like USC expected him to run to his right. In fact, it looked like Oregon was setting up for a right side return. He ran to his left and blew right by everyone.

USC’s penalty on Sappington’s doink was idiotic. That’s a penalty 100% of the time.

I cannot remember the last time a penalty for that particular infraction was called, let alone seen, in a major college football game... What athlete, at the CFP level, has any excuse for that move?