All Activity

A total rebuild would be a 4-8 season. An 8 win regular season and a bowl win would be 9 wins. Some coaches get bonus money for winning 9 games. One thing is clear we have as much talent as any team on the schedule. Does not mean we will win 9, but the season is not lost.

Here's my quick run down... Offense Must Replace Mehringer - OC (gone) Koa Ka'ai - QBs Jack Smith - TEs A'lique Terry - OL On defense I'm less sure but I think Hampton isn't a must fire but probably bringing someone in to be a co-DC with him would be good. I think CBs coaching has been ok but not great and should be on the table replacement. Edge coaching as been ok this year but I feel we could and should get more from this unit. Elijah Rushing looks like a flop at this point as a former 5 star but is that because he needs to be coached up more and hasn't gotten that? TT and MU are long time vets and are producing but it's the young guys I'm worried more about. So probably put edge coaching on the chopping block as well. Linebackers is tricky ... Because linebackers in Lanning's system have to do a LOT of stuff and are they getting the coaching needed to succeed with all their roles? I'm leaning towards no at this point. Now as a general trend here I am basically targeting most of the youngest coaches on the staff. Most of these names are in their first to third year as position coaches as the general trend is inside grad assistant promotions. The staff needs a gutting and retrofitting for sure. But Samples and Douglas have killed it at runningback and receiver respectively. Both were by the way outside hires. When Lanning has gone outside to hire he has done a fantastic job. Inside promotions are the root of so many of these problems. I still have faith Lanning can get things back on track but the bigger goal is not just righting the ship but upgrading it. But get the right hires and use the portal effectively and it's back on track. Rebuilds aren't what they used to be with the portal. Also a lot of NIL money will open up at the end of the season with these seniors leaving.

I am half in and half out on Dan Lanning. IN: recruiting, and he did hire some really good assistants, some of his "project" recruits are doing well, and he does well in the portal OUT: only a small percentage of O linemen that he got from high school are working out I can give him a pass for the bad OC hire, but he couldn't do anything about it to improve half a season later. I also have been concerned about players getting hurt in practice. Can he even operate without top notch assistants? I think it is a fair question. Is he just a "CEO" type of head coach who can recruit the kids and hire good assistants? If so, then OK, lets roll with it as long as the product on the field keeps being good. If Kirby Smart or Nick Saban or Ryan Day had the same problem, could they fix it a week later? I think that also is a fair question. I also think as fans, we can live with a blown season. It has happened before (2016). What if the players don't want to come anymore? That would be the big loss. I think Dan Lanning gets some "time" to right the ship. It is way too early to fire him now. What if 2027 is just as bad? What if all the good players leave and all the good recruits decommit? I am starting to think that the most important person in a football program is the AD who hires the head coach.

I don’t think I would rely on AI.

And, you can bet, even Chicago feels at times too far west for him.

When you’ve experienced the decades of success that we have, and that others envy and covet, coupled with our financial entitlement from Phil Knight, it’s little wonder that Duck haters are a dime a dozen. So, what else is new? Water off a Duck’s back.

Love your updates JJ. Fun reading. I'm so tired of media bias and dishonesty. It's clear very few actually watch many games. It's also clear there is no clear definition for SOS. None of this would matter, except you can't make the playoffs without it! And now nothing but a Natty matters. Oh bring back good bowl games with good matchups. Please. If only!

The Week 8-9 AP Poll is out. Oregon is not among the Others Receiving Votes (ORV). Five Big Ten teams are ranked. B1G teams among ORV: 2-loss Iowa No. 26, 2-loss Minnesota No. 31, and 2-loss USC. With a loss at No. 25 Wisconsin, the Trojans drop from 16th to 31st. Absurd! No. 15 Iowa loses a rivalry game on the road to 2-loss Minnesota by three points and drops out of the Top 25. B1G losses count. Six B12 teams are ranked. Texas Tech has a sorry strength-of-schedule (SOS), lost at unranked Cincinnati, and only drops to 13th. If you want to see what a mobile, athletic QB can do, try to watch the play of No. 6 Utah QB Devon Dampier in last night's win in Salt Lake City against No. 18 Houston. Yes, Dampier threw two picks, but he was the first B12 QB since Vince Young in the 2006 Rose Bowl victory against No. 1 USC to pass for 150+ yards and run for 150+ yards. In today's CFB, where better than average O-line play is sorely lacking, having a dual-threat QB helps the cause. Nine SEC teams are ranked. 2-loss Texas and 2-loss Ole Miss are ranked in the top 12. Five 2-loss SEC teams are ranked above 1-loss Northwestern. NW's sole loss came against No. 4 Indiana by two points in Bloomington. Texas lost a neutral-site game to unranked Oklahoma and at home to 2-loss Florida. So what? After some scary games are played on Halloween in Week 9, the Playoff Committee's first Top-25 ranking of the 2026 season will be revealed on Tuesday, November 3rd. Will SOS matter? Will losses in the SEC count? Make no mistake, based on its out-of-conference record, the SEC deserves polling love, but not this kind of unconditional love. Based on this week's AP Poll, Ohio State, Indiana, and UCLA would be in the playoff field. Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama, and Texas would be in. No. 12 Ole Miss would be knocked out by G6 No. 20 Boise State; 1-loss Boise State is also ranked above 1-loss Northwestern. Boise State's loss to Oregon is forgiven; USC's loss to Oregon is not. SSecDD. On3College Football Rankings: AP Poll Top 25 after Week 8 re....

I don't think that's true. There are a lot of really good coaches at Oregon already. OC and O line coaching fixes a lot of the issues.

This was after brick after brick after brick.

Or Sayles Outofbounds Jr

Neither was Inyer Backfield

I guess Threau Shortofsticks was not available?

This is a hit piece. Low hanging fruit. The writer is lazy and ignorant. He has a "if you cant kick a man when he is down, when can you kick him?" Writing style. Trash article that has no substance and was only written to cause more damage. What a hack

After throwing in some search parameters into Google AI they seem to think that Byron Leftwich is available and could clean up the mess as a QB whisperer. He is currently volunteering as a QB coach at Colorado making it possible to actually hire him. I have no idea if he has any clue about calling plays but he was a solid quarterback in his day and should be able to help the young QB become better. Always fun to see what AI has to say about things.

Oh come on. Firing Merhinger was the easy part, now what's DL gonna do?

Possible candidates that I can think of though I'm not close to an expert on this topic. Maryland coach Mike Locksley. He was the Alabama OC on their recent championship team. Maybe a better OC than Head coach? Jonathan Smith. Former OSU/ MSU head coach. Either a former no star or low star recruit that helped turn the lowly Beavers into one of the most dangerous teams in the country in the early 2000's. Great OC and head coaching results ay OSU and OC results in the NFL. Chip Kelly. Would he come back full circle? That's all I got but OC knowledge is not my wheelhouse.

Aranda is a defensive guy

I appreciate the positive attitude but a good hire or two isn't going to fix this mess. This is more a fire-sale-tear-down-re-build.

To keep things consistent Lanning is hiring Runnup DeMiddle as OC. Trust the plan...

My prediction: OBD 10 Northwestern more than that. OBD 0 Ohio St more than that. OBD 0 Michigan more than that.

Helfrich was in the same place in 2016 and he wasn't given another chance to f right the ship. That was in part due to the recruiting not picking up fast enough with sanctions going away. Lanning is in no danger of being fired but he does have to earn our trust back as fans. But here's the thing... Lanning gets to work on retaining his roster now. Work on scouting for a new OC (and other position coaches even if they haven't been fired yet) and prep for the portal. In this day and age the portal and some good hires can bounce a team back into contention real fast. Lanning has shown he can make good hires but he is going to have to make some big hires here and he can't let his ego get in the way of any potential changes to scheme.

The hiring will indeed be a process. What concerns me immediately is, who will be the acting OC against Northwestern?

I have no idea if this guy is a hater or not. But I'm wondering what you think he says is hateful and/or inaccurate? I think he provides a rather accurate assessment of where we are. We can choose to bury our heads in the sand, and see where that takes us. Or, take a stone cold look at reality and begin to make the tough decisions to turn this program back around. As we did today, starting with the firing of our OC.

The fact that DL found Dilly and Stein in consecutive hires proves that he knows how to find great coaching talent. I think this time around his devotion to "loyalty and working your way up" (like he did during his career) overrode what worked at these critical positions. That devotion isn't a bad thing and is very admirable however he can step in and help the DC if they're struggling like he obviously did with Hampton. But he doesn't have that ability to help on the other side of the ball and should've been more cognizant of that. Let's see if he's truly learned his lesson and goes through a thorough interview/hiring process for the new OC.