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Well, no Peacock, crappy Hugh's net, resorting to am radio today for Ducks game. At least I get to watch the Trojans crumble.

My feeling is that after a year of practice if a player isnt ready for game time they should move along. Maybe transfer to a Portland State level team. I come from the school of hard knocks so my feelings may be different than some.

Exactly. If what is reported is true, that was extremely dangerous and idiotic and deserves very significant consequences. I’m not the coach, but if I was, he wouldn’t take another snap in an Oregon jersey. Maybe he should go talk to Henry Ruggs before it’s too late.

My worry is if they game plan to stop the run and come out in a loaded eight-man box. The QB will need to check out of that and throw to the edge. We can't afford to run into an eight-man box as much as we did against Nebraska. We will have to dump the screen, or we have that RPO to the TE out the backside. Let's see if we get any checks from Riola at the line.

CHIP KELLEY (oops, I mean) Northwestern Wildcats 34-10 1 1 141

Careful wish you wish for.

Im preparing my self for the possibility of shutting it of by halftime.☹️

We have the runningbacks to get it done.

I disagree about throwing a kid that isn't ready out there to the wolves. It could ruin any chance they have of making a real impact with a real OC and a real QB coach. Is he just going to go out there and get wrecked and lose all confidence? Are these coaches going to realistically put him in position to actually be successful or is he an attempted bandaid for an offense that is bleeding out? Would any game expirence, even if bad, outweigh these possible detriments to his development? I get the merit of wanting to try out a young guy in in trying out a guy who is not ready are we doing them a disservice?

Awesome coincidence! I hope it's worth watching.

The game is being televised on Peacock. If you don't have Peacock streaming, I see that it is also being broadcast on NBCSN (Sports Network) on cable.

Excellent take. That kind of perspective is why we are projected to win by bettors.

Go Navy! Halftime: Note Dame 14 - Navy 13

My Son went to McDs yesterday and won 2 month free sub to peacock on the monopoly game. Haha! Guess I will be watching the game after all

I say send QB coach Bro packing and bring in anybody that knows what their doing ASAP. Harington? Helfrich? Akili Sr? I don't care. Lanning should pay them out of pocket if he needs to. Whatever it takes to get a dang adult in the QB room because that has been the heart of the problem this season. Moore needed to read the field better. Raiola needs to improve his mechanics. Smith Jr needs to understand the position at the college level. Tight End guy/ QB coach knows non of that and it has shown game after game. Any QB coach that knew what they were doing could have done something with a 5 star another 5 star and a 4 star to work with. Until they have a coach that knows what they're doing, it won't matter which under coached kid you put out there so it might as well be Akili.

Let's discuss the game before and during, here in this thread with fellow intense Oregon fans. Being critical of coaching decisions and player performance is FINE, as that is what we do in a forum. But do not get personal towards the players, coaches, or fellow OBD forum members. But being angry, joyous,....all of it is normal and fine, so enjoy the game!

If they use KJ in read option, it would open up run game IMO, he might just make the zone run game go. They can also ditch the wildcat and go with an empty RPO for a quick pass or keeper run. They could even use a RB as his lead and get another blocker at the point of attack. I think we would be better on second down and on time with the sticks and for sure third and short. I would also see what factor he brings pulling the ball and running when Pass Pro breaks down. I'd have already run some scripted series for him.

While I don't expect Akili Smith, Jr. to come in and raise our offense to another level, I hope that he gets some playing time the rest of the season so that the coaches can evaluate whether he could be the answer long-term at Oregon. If not, they may need to replace our entire QB room sooner rather than later. IMHO, Dylan Raiola or Brock Thomas should be the starter and you play the hotter hand that week (don't wait until the 4th quarter to make the change, if one is struggling). If Akili Smith, Jr. lights it up then perhaps he gets the start next week. What are your thoughts on how the coaches should handle the QB room the rest of the season?

I still have the Tshirt. I think I'll wear it today.

Besides Oregon-Northwestern, which college football game are you most interested in watching today? For me, it's USC vs. Ohio State. While Ohio State is without its starting QB, I'm interested to see how that game plays out and if it is the final nail in the coffin for Coach Lincoln Riley, given the rumblings seem to be getting louder and louder in Los Angeles.

Interesting how quickly things can change. Dante Moore, Arch Manning, et al got all of the pre-season hype but both of them have struggled to read defenses and make the correct decisions. They have the physical tools but need a lot of work before they are ready for the NFL. Hopefully, Dante Moore goes to a team where he can sit and develop for awhile before he is expected to lead an offense (ala Patrick Mahomes or Jordan Love). Someone mentioned that QB development is a major issue in college football. Hopefully, Oregon can hire a top notch offensive coordinator and QB coach. =============================== NFL scouts favor Drew Mestemaker as first QB taken in draftESPN conducted a midseason poll of 25 scouts and executives, asking who the top quarterback will be in next year's draft. Not surprisingly, the choppy play of top prospects yielded drastically different results from the August QB1 poll. Seventeen of the 25 scouts in the midseason poll voted for Oklahoma State's Drew Mestemaker. The 17 votes are the most a quarterback has received in the three years ESPN has conducted the poll, with the overwhelming conviction about Mestemaker perhaps more a surprise than his general emergence. (Mestemaker got zero votes in the August poll.) One scout summed up his vote this way: "Mestemaker seems like the only real choice at this point." https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/50335830/nfl-scouts-favor-drew-mestemaker-first-qb-taken-draft

Jay Johnson has been around a long time. He's not known as the most creative play caller. His most successful year was running lots of outside zone with Kenneth Walker III at Michigan State. He used his great vision to find his hole and cut. Unfortunately, Oregon's not a great zone run blocking team, but we have shown a tendency to value being able to run the ball of late and that goes for several reasons. One is we're not good in pass blocking and we need to stay out of third and long and keep third down convertible. One of the things that we need to key on this game should be that Nebraska has the 20th-ranked run defense, Illinois the 59th, and Northwestern is worse at 88th. Furthermore, the Ducks ran for 5.6 yards a rush against Illinois. We should be able to run the ball against Northwestern effectively. If they would have stayed focused on the run last game, they would have possessed the ball more, stayed out of third and long, and early in the game when they had momentum, they probably would have scored more, widened their lead, and exerted better game control. So, we should stick to the run game, show a lot more dedication in it, and work to try to keep ourselves out of third and long. While Johnson ran a lot of outside zone with Kenneth Walker III, Oregon's current strength dictates sticking primarily to gap schemes like duo and counter, while mixing in occasional zone looks. It will be interesting to see the blocking scheme he favors and the balance between zone and gap in his calls. Additionally, the offense needs more creative ways to get Dak the ball beyond predictable screen passes, slants and crosses. This includes lining Dak up as a running back for a couple of touches, running traditional running back screens (which fit Johnson's background even if not typical for Oregon), and throwing to him on wheel routes to force a linebacker into one-on-one coverage, giving opponents wrinkles they haven't seen on film. It is also imperative that Jamari Johnson isn't forgotten and gets featured in the passing game as well, giving the offense another versatile mismatch in heavy personnel sets. Another metric we should be looking at should be that Nebraska had the number #1 third down conversion rate defense, and Northwestern's number #68. It should be pretty simple to conclude that if we can effectively run the ball against Northwestern and get into third and manageable, we should be able to convert on third down. Ultimately, these adjustments tailor the offense to protect the offensive line's weaknesses in zone blocking and pass protection, staying out of third-and-long situations prevents defense from bringing wide defensive end sets with speed rushes that our tackles have been struggling against. Staying in third-and-short simplifies reads and allows the ball to come out quickly without waiting on deeper routes to develop and the quarterback getting happy feet or feeling pressure.

Young adults (especially young males) make bad decisions. I'm speaking from personal experience. If this is true, he needs to be punished by Coach Lanning and staff to send a message to both him and the rest of the team, but I agree that the punishment shouldn't be too severe, if this is his first offense. Perhaps suspended from playing the rest of the season (but allowed to be around and practice/workout with the team) and having to do some community service related to the violation?

A great article, and the comments are also fun to read. That Oregon Chip Kelly era almost seems like yesterday, and then I have to remind myself that it's been 15 years. I don't care that Chip pretty much sucked as a head coach wherever else he went. All I know is that over those 4 years at Oregon, he flat out made magic happen, and caught lightning in a bottle. He made and caused changes to the game while winning at about an 88% clip rate, 4 straight BCS games -- winning two, and came within 3 points of winning the National Championship. I became a Duck football fan in the early 70s, and back then, Chip Kelly era stuff was at best a dream. I'm glad that Chip appears to have found out where his skill set is best utilized. He clearly is a genius offensive coordinator. It's one thing to go to Ohio State and win, it's an entirely different ball of wax to do it at Northwestern. So, while I'm obviously rooting for our Ducks to crush Northwestern, there's a part of me that's also rooting for Chip Kelly... but, of course, not to win today.

It should be a privilege to be a Duck. With $0 NIL, it should be a privilege of a lifetime to get a free education, playing the sport you love, on the biggest stage available. There are millions of young men who don’t get this opportunity. They work multiple jobs for an education. They take on a tens of thousands in student loans that could take decades to repay. They fought hard every night to earn the right grades, and worked just as hard at football but didn’t have the size or talent. They didn’t stay out late getting drunk and committing felonies evading law enforcement. And you know what? It’s not difficult at all to stay out of trouble. The vast majority of citizens can do it. Whether it’s coaches or players, it shows a tremendous amount of disrespect for the team, the university, and the whole community. If someone had been hit or killed, they wouldn’t have a second chance. If convicted, there should be no second chance. There is always redemption for everyone, but being an Oregon Duck is a privilege, and you likely lost that privilege.