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The first question isn't who the OC is, it's what's the system that we want to run. Stien had a spread option horizontal RPO with the zone blocking scheme and I hated it since day one. It won't win a Natty. You got Air Raid or Air Raid Hybrids, Spread RPO-Concepts, Veer and Shoot, Pro-Style or Pro-Style Spread. Riley Runs a Pro Raid at USC that I really like. They run that out Oklahoma counter gap play really well and blocked us up on it perfect a few times. Charlie Wiess Jr runs a nice spread RPO I like at LSU with Kiffin Kendal Briles runs a Veer and Shoot - spread them out and run first, deep shots and high tempo Ryan Day runs a Pro-Style Spread at OSU I like. He runs power gap, zone, RPO, and will go under center play action pro passing concepts. Day is multiple and when you try to take one thing away, he will attack what you give him. Pro-Style like Todd Monken at UGA when Lanning was there. I love Todd, great play caller with his play action mixes, used those elite TE's. Lots of QB under center for hard play action and half-backs in the backfield. Pro-style like Monken protects the ball the most of these, watch Lanning go that route. We'd have won the Natty last year with Monken as our OC and Dante in that system. We'd have steam rolled Indy.

The annoying part of Lanning's schtick is it's very front runnery. That's not how to do it. Be confident and know who you are in adversity too. But instead of his cocky schtick he appears meek. How about more even keel? How about, to me , pathetic message it sends when Ducks vs Them only seems to come out after wins. No son, adversity is often the best teacher. I dunno. I think Lanning is a good enough guy which I appreciate but maybe I would appreciate an actual high quality coach with less charisma than whatever Lanning currently is. Right?

And if we do fire Dan who else are we going to hire? He just needs to be honest with himself and truly evaluate his staff.

I think it was even worse than that. It seemed to go between the extremes of absolutely bland, safe predictability to absolute willy nilly. The run game is finally looking great so let's pass it nine straight times. Let's dink it to Moore around or behind the line then go deep to a second stringer. The creativity of the Oregon offense reminded me of that Australian breakdance lady. Sure she's doing something nobody could have predicted but why?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he feels, Been there, done that.

Pardon me for asking, but did you read it? If you did, I'm wondering which part(s) you so strongly disagree with?

He also put more value into being clever than into being wise, which is also a recipe for failure.

Just stop, they are not firing Dan, period. If anything he had great success at a young age. Now he has to deal with professional angst for the first time. He will be fine.

Agree with all of this. The fire Dan crowd just isn't thinking critically enough about the circumstances. Dan's ceiling is high. He's proven that. The college football landscape is getting more parity every year for the next 5 years. Firing a coach to find someone else that can guarantee a Natty is a fools errand. Look what happened at Penn State if you want to see the risk of firing someone that has been really successful, because you feel that winning Natties is the standard. And I've always felt Penn State is our best comp, not Ohio State or Michigan. We are a tier 1.5 school and I enjoy us when we are in the championship discussion.

Here's a bit of college football trivia which calls attention to the situation as a target. In the last 50 years of AP football polls, only 5 teams have been pre-season No. 1 or No. 2 and finished the season unranked. Obviously Penn State last season which started at No. 2. Then in the 49 prior seasons just 4. Including No. 1 USC in 2012. All 5 of them finished unranked ...and for a couple it was Top 20 (not 25) final ranking years. Those 2 might have made top 25. But, and this is significant, all 5 of them finished with 6 wins or more, and above .500, including 6-5-1 Notre Dame which was No. 2 and then unranked in 1994. Unless the Ducks get their s..t together they could be the first to go from preseason No.1/2 to under .500.

When you look at what was Mehringer’s approach to being a coordinator, it has all the ear marks of a position coach who can’t see past the personal, one on one, and into the whole of offensive strategy. His focus on making one individual (usually the quarterback) completely responsible for making things go is an opposing defense’s dream come true.

Agree to a T.

For most people, admitting that you're wrong is the hardest part. Merhinger was with him from the beginning when they first stepped foot in Eugene so firing him wasn't easy both personally and professionally. Performing a candidate search and hiring a new OC is a far easier task.

Even if we want Chip I'm not sure he wants to come back. It's worth a call, but I wouldn't expect it to go anywhere.

There is no way this is a fire sale tear down rebuild. We can all share and stand behind our feelings and opinions. But the sky hasn't fallen, yet. Doom and gloom is for those who have no hope or a plan to fix the problem or overcome the roadblocks. That is not the case here. The primary problem, the OC got fired. That is the first step in the fix. Yesterday, Meh, sealed his fate in the first quarter when he went away from the succesful run first scheme. That scheme was succesful on the first scoring drive. And very succesful the entire 4th quarter of the Nebraska comeback/victory game. Why the Duck Offense abandoned that play calling is beyond me. But lets keep our focus on that most of the same players were on the field. The same players who were previously succesful.The talent is still on this team. The players, in my opinion, did not have the proper coaching and play calling. The Ducks were down 4 NFL caliber receivers and without their 1st round NFL QB. What offense wouldn't struggle with that. The players are still talented The Illini defense crowded and double teamed DM and played within 10 yards of the LOS. Playing against the back up QB (Who needs more quality coaching and seasoning) and 8 freshmen/sophmore skilled position players. Not to mention a few freshmen lineman.Then the weak play calling made this easier for Illinois defense by calling desperation plays. I am trying to keep this all in perspective despite the deep disappointment I feel. There is no quick fix for this seasons dilema. We simply need the starters back on the field. And an uptick in assistant coaches. About 70% of the college teams face that every year. DL is a young quality coach and i cannot support those who want him out. He is responsible for his coaching decisions and always accepts the blame. Not to throw water on those that are on fire but DL will have no shortage of quality OC's apply for the job. I am certain that agents have already reached out. This is fixable and DL will surely grow from this. Remember you cannot compare DL to Cignetti. This is Dan's first HC job! Cignetti had been a successful HC before he came to Indiana. Go Ducks! Get healthy and grow thru this diversity. This old gray beard is very dissapointed but I love my Ducks

Well fire Kai too and replace him with Leftwich.

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.