Don't. Just don't.

Review the season. OBD were who we thought they were. Before the season, during the season, and now ..

Young, inexperienced, mistake prone, wild swings in performance. Dan Lanning elevated a team that had NO BUSINESS earning a semi final berth.

This very forum continuously questioned this team's capacity. It started the first week of October. Why are we surprised? Denny Green has been saying all year "we let em off the hook!". All year.

The team was coached up. An explosive offense earned 28 points against a defense that should give up 35 . No LB speed, still vulnerable at safety. Never set the edge strategy, prone to allowing key 3rd down conversions. Horrible in the red zone.

A QB with all the potential, but nowhere near enough experience. Some say he's soft. An OL that can win a battle in a box, but has trouble moving laterally. Injuries at key skill positions all year.

What can you expect when an incomplete team faces an execution juggernaut? Some of this is coaching, but golly, the team had flaws any elite program will attack.

Dan Lanning is ahead of the curve by a galaxy When all is said and done, players must execute. I hope nobody in Duck Nation is claiming OBD came even close to executing well on Friday.

The Program is in the best hands it has ever had. There is no such thing as perfection. It's the pursuit that matters. It's the journey folks. Life is about the journey.

Thanks Mike West. I have to admit that I shake my head at some of these threads that question Dan Lannings capabilities and/or decision making. I trust our Head Coach and those he assembles around him. GO DUCKS!

Let's Go Ducks!

I am not questioning our program at all!!

Love Dan and I hope he continues to love Eugene!

We had a great season and I expect one next year too. Only one team per yr is the Nat Champion... Final 4 not so bad for an injured team, one with some questions at several positions and Offensive and Defensive coordinators holding two jobs.

Yes the interception to start and the fumbles were killers, as were the continual plays by Indiana Qb and his receivers,

Dan will figure it out.... I am certain of this! All things in their own time. Go Ducks!! Throw the ball lol.

Great post Mike, and I thank you for it.

My pet peeve are people who almost never post....until we lose. Then they come out of the woodwork to complain. Who needs that?

As far as I'm concerned...those who post here on a regular basis about all the goings-on with the program, and all the topics have every right to complain and state their issues with coaching or player performance.

That is the purpose of a forum...to discuss the good and the bad. But I don't have much patience for those who only show up to complain. Of course those who that this pertains to will not make the connection because...

Some fans are like Huskies...

Mike, that is the right attitude. Getting there is more than half the fun.

PS. Charles, This is the Only site I visit.

No pay sites... Nothing else! I have x and news etc, but the

rest of sites are paid click bait garbage compared to the site you provide.

Thank you again for all your time, commitment, knowledge and of course your own dollars!

Remember this about Indiana. They have a sixty five year old head coach, a fifth year senior QB, a senior laden transfer portal class led team, and a staff that has had no defections.

They are a great team, built to win now. But, they haven't had to deal with the expectations, coaching losses, or other teams poaching their players yet. They've had an extremely easy regular season schedule. Before we crown them the next dynasty, and question everything that has made Oregon great the past two decades. Let's see if Indiana can sustain this level.

Yes, they will likely get a national title, and yes it will be the greatest two year turnaround in the history of the sport. But sometimes timing is the thing. Think about Clemson, and Dabo in the 2010's. There was a word called Clemsoning being thrown around. It described falling apart on the biggest stages.

It happened to them in the 2016 title game against Alabama. But they came back, the ACC turned into a walkthrough after Florida State collapsed. Clemson got into the playoff and finally won it all. The next year Alabama smoked them in the semis, people forget that result, because the year after that, Clemson smoke Alabama in the championship. To win their second ever title, and second in three years over Alabama.

Dabo was a genius. Clemson was the next dynasty. The Alabama killer, destined to do dominate as long as Dabo stuck around.

But then, the Tigers got handled by LSU the next year, and Ohio State the year after that. The next thing you know, you have a coach losing coaches like Venables to Oklahoma, and Morris to Arkansas. The Tigers have made one playoff appearance since that Buckeye beat down, and it was with three losses.

Suddenly Dabo can't handle the transfer portal, and he can't hire a staff that's able to win the mighty ACC.

Oregon is humming along, with a third head coach that has gotten them to either the National Title Game, or semifinal playoff appearance. The fourth coach that they had wasn't fired, he left for his alma mater, and is in the National Title game. A shot he only got because of him being successfull at Oregon.

Let's give Indiana their flowers, it's an incredible team. But I am still waiting to see how they follow this up. It's only going to get tougher, now Indiana is about to face the other side of the aisle. Getting to the top for the first time feels great. But everybody is coming for you, Michigan is coming for your players, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State. Pretty big poachers with deep pockets.

1. I don't buy into the 'we beat expectations' argument. This team has an abundance of talent, yet still a few weak spots.

2. The program is NOT in the gutter.

3. It is fair to say that the Ducks under performed in the biggest game of the year, twice in a row.

4. It is also fair to say that Oregon lately has been getting closer and closer to being a 'complete' team, but not quite there yet.

So how does Oregon get and keep elite talent at all 22 starting spots? Players come and go. Many of the transfers only play for one season. Developing players that should step in one day are jumping into the portal. Great players are leaving early for the pros.

Lanning had to prep for Indiana while both his coordinators were doing other jobs. He had to recruit the portal at the same time that most every other team was done playing for the season. And he had to recruit the portal not knowing what players would return.

Even if someone wanted to... it is still way too early to question the state of the program. Currently, college football is hard for any program to get it all figured out.

Getting blown out deep in the playoffs is a function of the other team knowing your weaknesses and how to exploit them.

Dan Lanning is a smart guy. He is bringing in an abundance talent like no other coach has. Chip and Mario have brought in some top players, but Dan is bringing in more. But there is still work to be done. We just have to be patient.

According to my train of thought, Lanning is still learning what kinds of players he needs to get to the top and what kind of players he can sign. I don't want to mention names, but some players have not delivered and others are inconsistent. The 'program' doesn't have a crystal ball. As long as we keep seeing progress, the program is on an upward trajectory.

We just saw this season what kind of improvements could be made to the secondary and how a unit of receivers came together even with injuries. I think he can do this kind of magic on the other position groups, but it won't be automatic and it won't happen all at once.

I'll give a few 'what ifs'.

What if the linebackers were a little bit faster?

What if the O line was a little bit more athletic, quicker and more nimble?

What if Dante was a better scrambler?

What if the team had fewer key injuries?

What if the edge players could get to the QB faster?

These are things for the program to work on. Not reasons to throw in the towel and quit being positive. How much do you want to bet that most if not all of these issues will be worked out come fall?

For me, it's just very frustrating that indiana seems to have it all figured out. I need to remind myself that coach lanning is still very young in coaching and he'll get it in time.

Sometimes it takes a bit of luck. Dyer was down?

Indiana has older players (including QB) and smart coaches, but recall for a moment these 3 games this season:

With the score tied 13-13, Fernando Mendoza’s interception gave the Hawkeyes the ball at Indiana’s 29-yard line with 2:50 left. On third-and-5, Iowa’s perfectly called screen pass inexplicably was thrown short of the wide-open running back, which led to a missed field goal. Given new life, Mendoza moved the Hoosiers to midfield but faced a third-and-10 at Iowa’s 49. In the face of an all-out blitz, Mendoza completed a slant to Elijah Sarratt that went for a 49-yard touchdown with 1:28 left.  Final 20-15.

Omar Cooper Jr.’s toe-dragging touchdown catch in the back of the Penn State Beaver Stadium end zone to give Indiana the lead with 36 seconds left, and the win 27-24.

Offense was largely a slog for the Hoosiers — hardly an indictment given the Buckeyes’ superlative defense — but it was the way Indiana flipped the script and bullied Ryan Day’s Ohio State offense into submission.  Neither team scored in the last 22 minutes of the game in Indianapolis.  Indiana got a TD with 8:00 left in the third quarter for the final lead/score:  13-10.

The first two of these three were true road games, so kudos for that. But, luck meets opportunity were part of the equation.

8 hours ago, oregon123 said:

1. buy into the 'we beat expectations' argument. This team has an abundance of talent, yet still a few weak spots.

2. The program is NOT in the gutter.

3. It is fair to say that the Ducks under performed in the biggest game of the year, twice in a row.

4. It is also fair to say that Oregon lately has been getting closer and closer to being a 'complete' team, but not quite there yet.

Very good post

One thing I will say, I expected the defense to be much worse this year. Much much worse. So they totally over performed. That doesn't mean they didn't play their best on Friday. But they were supposed to get smoked.

I know Ohio State was ready to embarrass that unit again. They didn't get the chance, and Indiana didn't get to completely show his much they could have scored had the offense simply played normally. The defense got beat like they should have been according to the level of talent the unit has. I expected the offense to light up the scoreboard. All it takes is execution on that side of the ball. They're not consistent.. yet.

It's been my take that the offense needs to score 41, 42, 43, 44 or 45 on elite defenses. As in plenty of future NFL starters (not draftees, starters). I expected that all year because I had calculated the defense would be a major weakness.

The offense isn't there yet. Way too many mistakes all season. Way too many.

But this year's defense beat expectations by five galaxies as far as I'm concerned. Maybe even ten. Twice they held the most explosive offense in college football this year to 28 points (given our offense and special teams gave the Hoosiers opportunities Sheldon High could convert). I recall a similarly explosive offense netting 36 and 34 points against a more experienced defense just two years ago. I just didn't expect this year's defense to come close to being better. They were. That is beating expectations in my book.

I also didn't expect the offense to have the potential to blow up any defense. That just didn't make sense to me. Not enough experience on that side of the ball. I expected an offense that could control games, but not run away from teams. Against elite defenses, the offense pretty much performed consistently. That was the case last year as well except when Lanning went for the jugular.

Clearly that isn't good enough. The defense needs to shut down elite offenses like we've been shut down (less than 20 ppg), and the offense needs to average well over 40 ppg against NFL caliber defenses. That must be the standard.

Physicality isn't the standard. It is a feature. Lanning has emphasized being a physical team. Scoring boat loads of points Always, and obliterating elite offenses is the standard. Physicality means nothing if you don't do those things in my mind.

I believe Lanning gets the team there. I say that because I have seen enough to recognize Lanning and his staff gave Dante Moore more than enough opportunities to throw TDs in the October game, and Stein showed enough variety in Friday+too late in my opinion, but Stein is damn good enough for me)...

If Lanning "goes to the doctor", I hope that doctor says you need to average 28 in the first half. You need to mop up the game with another 14 in the second half.

That's just me though. Lanning isn't a dummy. I am sure he has figured out your best defense is your offense and vice versa.

I'm hoping I see 16 or 17 slashed throats next year. And 16 or 17 broken bones from an oppressive defense.

Mike, that is the perfect summation of the season we just witnessed. I keep going back to the 10-2 and 9-3, or worse, predictions from the talking heads. Some that had Oregon missing the CFP altogether. An O-line replacing two tackles and a guard. A defensive backfield with few proven performers. A transfer QB with great skills but erratic freshman play. Plenty of youthful 4-5☆ depth but not a lot of experience.

I've been an Oregon fan since I moved here in 1987. Attended tons of games at Autzen, three Rose Bowls, a Fiesta, Cotton and a NC (Dyer was DOWN!). I've watched Brooks to Bellotti to Kelly to Helfrich (sigh..) to Taggart to Cristobal to Lanning.

What Dan Lanning has accomplished with OBD is remarkable. The culture, recruiting, assistant coach selection and leadership are arguably the best ever. And he is still a very young head coach who would probably be the first to tell you he has a lot to learn.

The sniping about the bad endings to the last two seasons will continue and there is much valid criticism to be had. But I would challenge any and all critics to propose an alternative head coach and system that will get Oregon it's first National Championship ahead of the current one.