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I will be rooting for both teams to embarrass themselves

How about when they play USC today at 4:30 Pacific in Memorial Coliseum? I think I have to cheer for UW today.

Thanks to Mike West for the extended commentary. I was especially interested in the observation regarding the MINT. Further thoughts from this amateur observer, on the defensive side. They did play rather well against USC, considering that USC is a good offensive team with talent and clever schemes. The run defense was better. They got stops on third down. Our DBs rose to the occasion late with some timely pass breakups. And they did blitz a little. I wonder whether Washington's explosiveness would be better utilized in a gap penetration scheme. Someone posted an assessment from a trio of guys, one of whom is a coach named Eric. Thanks for that. He pointed out that Matayo actually did pretty well in setting the edge in the run game. Again, I wonder whether the scheme they are playing offers him the best chance to get sacks. Prehm and Skopil at Duck Territory are saying that the biggest disappointment has been with the safeties. One of our safeties is a thumper who has generally struggled in coverage. That should not surprise anyone. The unpleasant surprise has been Perich, who was supposed to an all-league quality player. Buried in the comments at ATQ was the statement that Hampton has tried to use him close to the line of scrimmage, as he did with Thienemann, and that is not working. According to that theory, Perich would be better as a deep safety focusing on coverage. This is possibly the biggest mystery about the defense to this point. Thoughts?

Dan takes in local game. Dan Lanning Makes Local Recruiting Push During Oregon's Bye Week

Non-Conference schedule released. Zags make the list. Oregon MBB: Ducks reveal non-conference schedule for 2026-27 season

They look very good.

SSDD - CFB Eligibility Insanity - https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football/breaking-news/article/kentucky-appeals-court-dissolves-injunction-that-granted-38-players-including-thomas-castellanos-seth-trimble-and-mark-mitchell-a-fifth-year

Unbelievable end to No. 1 Montana State at 0-4 Idaho. Another clock keeper's dream game. Clock probably should have run out, but officials kept 1 second on the clock, and Idaho completed a 25 yd pass with 1 sec. to start the play, then a 2-pt conversion to win it 35-34. Idaho went 80 yds in 49 secs. Idaho now 1-4 this season, first win over a No. 1 team. Montana State is defending FCS Champion. Montana State now 5-1, 19-game win streak comes to an end.

A nonpareil opening act. 👍🤞😍 Hats off to the Ryans, everyone on the design team, the fired-up student standing-room-only section, a reborn Aiden Chiles, Chipper, Jerry Neu, David Braun, and a smash-mouth O-line and D-line. Buckle the chin straps. Teams with B1G run games are headed to Autzen. Iowa State East? A good B12 squad isn't cutting it in the Big Ten. And the former Nit Lions coach is no longer undefeated. Pitt 35 - VA Tech 33. No easy day. Bring it on!

They were only able to run for fewer than 40 yards at Indiana. It is hard to tell how good or bad their run game is. It certainly looked world class this evening. Maybe Indiana's run defense is super good, or may Penn State's is horrible, or some of both. The game this evening certainly makes the Northwestern game more of concern for us. BTW: Chiles looked like a Heisman candidate tonight.

For anybody interested in a quick recap.

Chip may not like to recruit, but he can sure coach offense! I noticed on short and goal the QB lined up behind center with a quick handoff. In similar situations at USC, the Duck QB was in a shotgun with a deep handoff. The RB was tackled behind the LOS when a defender came in around the end - unblocked. Reminded me of Crystobal. They may be hard to beat.

Man, #72 rushing when the overwhelming number of teams ahead of them played way more FCS and gutted G6 teams. Not an accurate picture of reality IMHO. Look at Penn State. Getting rocked tonight. Look at Michigan State. Who is Nebraska really? You don't know until conference play. Rutgers and Maryland consistently beat up G6 teams and get pummeled in conference play. That said, I looked back to the beginning of the year after we got obliterated. We were all shocked. This is the same team practically. Sans a very solid group of defensive lineman that left because the starters stayed. Looking at Max Browne's take had me thinking basic coverage rules have been thrown out the window all over college football. Safeties are all over the map, and sometimes 30 yards from the line of scrimmage. That's ridiculous. Safeties are supposed to shut down deep routes first, dig routes next. I rarely see a safety in position to stop a dig route when deep routes are not an issue. That is criminal in my book. Furthermore, I watched a lot of Mint Defenses this week. They are ALL getting shredded. OCs are directly attacking every weakness the Mint provides. All of them. It is the equivalent to everyone figuring out Chip's Zone Read Offense. My opinion of course. I believe the Mint is trashing basic coverage concepts. I also believe OCs have discovered exactly how to manipulate number advantages to gash the system when they run the ball. The system is nearly ten years old. It should not be a surprise. Is it any wonder talent deficient teams like Iowa still hold teams to 20 points per game with a more traditional defense? Including elite teams? It shouldn't. They focus on shutting down the running game, and take their chances against lethal passing teams. This is exact why I have been advocating placing this 5 guys at the line of scrimmage on defense. Sure, the risk of 7 in the box against a bunch of gazelles is a risk. How is Iowa getting it done with "much less talent"? Give a talented guy a task, let him cook. Force him to find solutions. On offense I am flustered. But this team is scoring points looking awfully disjointed. That is a good problem to have. Again, scheme is my issue. We're way too predictable in my opinion. And when your OL isn't functioning as you want it to, do something different damn it. It is not that hard to figure out. Our OL looked much better against USC. I see problems fundamentally. Guys are standing instead of keeping their pads low. Some of that is lack of quickness, some of it is pure basic flaws. I also didn't have a problem with putting six lineman on the field. Often. It worked. And just to be stupid, I have no problem teaching one of them how to catch a ball. It would be hysterical watching a 300 pound guy running after a checkdown catch. I'd pay 500 dollars to see that all game. We do want we want to do instead of looking at what people give us and go after it like our lives depend on it. If you can't dominate a team, take their dominance away. For example, if chip simply passes the ball on Auburn he smokes them. Football is basic. Teams are doing too many exotic things. The elite guys are chewing that nonsense up. Guys play harder when they're successful. They don't when they think too much. Or they experience "same as it ever was" repeatedly and are unsuccessful. That is what I believe OBD are right now. They're trying to get too cute. Just line up and punch guys. Not literally, but make people feel pain. You do that with simple stuff. You don't have to think, you just have to hit. That has been lost on this team. I have already said it, business as usual must go. Doing the same thing that isn't producing the results you want isn't smart. It's stubborn. That's not a knock on Lanning for me. He STILL gets this team to win when they aren't matching what elite teams do. It's only when he faces the elite that he has problems. So he just needs to grow into being more elite. That requires looking at what they do and starting to attack it appropriately. That's it

34-13 final. I'd say the Wildcats are the third best team in the BIG right now behind tOSU and Indiana. With that run game, they'll be a problem for anyone they face including the Ducks.

NorthWestern rolls to over 400 yards rushing on a drive ending in a field goal late. They now lead 34-13.

Penn St sees their comeback take a terrible turn as a TD is followed with a horrible pass in the dirt to a wide open receiver on a failed two point conversion. NorthWestern now leads 31-13.

NW’s rush game is tearing PSU to pieces!

Another TD makes it 31-7 heading into the 4th. This team looks legit and will give the Ducks trouble. Expect them to be ranked next week.

31-7 now

Whats up with Penn States D?

Oregons reputation for elite QB play, 5 years in a row will drive elite wr into Lannings lap. 3 different QBs in five years. And their might be a 4th, I have only seen play 3 quarters of football. He looks like a Dog for sure.

Right now they lead Penn St 24-7 in the third quarter. Chip Kelly has another offense looking dangerous. This team is 3-1 taking Indiana down to wire in their only loss.

Consider this a success. Lot´s of reaction. My thought is that LR needs to get all of his head coaching goals out of his head before he would take an OC position... much like Chip Kelley. After failures at a couple of NFL teams and then at UCLA, he was finally ready to be an OC... but even then he wanted back into the NFL. Is he going to be content at Northwestern???? Time will tell. I don´t think Lincoln is ready to be an OC just yet. Saban did a good job of rehabilitating spent head coaches. Lame Kiffin, Sark... He hired Sark as an analyst and then moved him into the OC role when LK left. I don´t see Lanning wanting to run a rescue mission just yet either. His hires are all of people who are up and coming high energy young people... not older guys needing a retread. All that said, if Lanning would take him, I trust Lanning to do the right thing for the team.

I think the Ducks defense is still a work in progress but playing three ranked teams (two on the road) all with good offenses probably has something to do with it. Has any other top 25 team played three other top 25 teams that are still currently ranked? After next Saturday it will be four teams. Just something to factor in while trying to understand this team. I also don't think that FCS games should count in statistics.

Thanks to Mr. Fishduck and all participants for the question and discussion. Random thoughts... Oregon is ranked #15 now and has played #18, #19 and #22. Are the Ducks overrated at 15? What would our statistics look like if we had played the schedules of some other supposed contenders? Is Oregon underperforming its talent? Offensive linemen are 5-6 of the 11 starters, plus or minus the tight end. Does Oregon have the offensive line talent of a top five team? Coach Terry's units have often been in competition for the Joe Moore award. Has he lost his touch or is he working with less talent this year? Or perhaps with talent that he not had enough time to develop? Joel Klatt said that Oregon's defensive line is playing a "read and react" concept not an aggressive shoot the gaps concept. I cannot tell, as I do not do film study. Is the lack of TFLs and Sacks partly a result of the scheme not the players?