David Marsh

Oof... That's painful. Glad it's not me and not my Ducks!

Morning all, wrote an extra this week. It's short, at least by my standards, but here are some of my final thoughts before game one! Final Thoughts and Prediction for Oregon vs Boise StateIt’s game day tomorrow and Boise State is coming to Auzten.

42-10 Oregon 2 TO 5 Sacks 310 Passing Yards

I think we get more sacks because the secondary should be better than last year. No where to throw the ball and their the QB has to throw it away or they go down. Veteran QBs know to throw it away quick but the younger ones will hold onto it and go down.

These are fine.. like many I am ready for Generation O to go away (next year!). Again, its the color palette just doesn't allow for much mix and matching. There are two sets of gear the Retros and the Modern and they don't mix. That's my biggest complaint. But the biggest takeaway here is.... Devon Jackson getting to spotlight the uniforms. Usually the player who gets to spotlight the uni is someone who has worked their tail off during practice. I've heard that Jackson might have the breakout year we've all wanted to see from his this year. Let's hope that's the case!

I think it would be a huge win if Crader and Wilson both start. Shows putting in the work over time does lead to getting opportunities at Oregon. But best man up.

I doubt it is a talent problem. Lanning and co made a push for Seaton because they had a relationship with him during his recruitment and he would have added a nice additional piece to the offensive line but I think they also dropped out of the bidding war because it wasn't a make or break moment for the offensive line. If Oregon needs linemen they'll go out and get them. They did for the 2025 season where they grabbed 3 linemen from the portal and started them. Then only grabbed one this year and it sounds like he hasn't carved out a starting role yet. That in itself is telling that there is talent on the roster but it comes down to putting that talent on the field. We'll know more on Saturday!

It's Marsh Duck Monday! Today looking at the offensive line or what become of the offensive line. https://marshduck.substack.com/p/will-oregon-have-a-rotating-offensive?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=8foswi

A colleague of mine knows one of the coaches at PSU and was saying they've improved a lot this off season... But still a long way to climb.

Lanning will run it up as much as he can in the first 2.5 quarters and then he'll let the reserves out. And I say he'll run it up not out of a vindictive desire to embarrass but to give his ones practice of playing full speed in a game. Half way through the third if the score is lopsided the ones are coming out entirely. Lanning doesn't care about the spread. He'll get his reserves in to see what they can do.

The info has been floating around for a few days now from another site on notes from the last scrimmage so I feel it's probably not a secret anymore. It sounds like the kicking game is getting better and made some big kicks in the scrimmage. But the thing is that until the game is on the line and the kick is do-or-die we don't know if they truly have ice in their veins. Offensive line seems to still be a work in progress... I love the pieces they have but they need to figure out the chemistry. For Moore I think some of it will be the offensive line chemistry keeping him safe and some plays to enable him to get out of the pocket safely. In both games you mentioned the Ducks couldn't do what they really wanted to do to protect the quarterback in establishing a running game. Oddly enough both games also saw injured starting runningbacks. In the 2024 Rosebowl James went out of the game with a concussion. In 2025 we were obviously down Davison and Whittington. But making sure we have a good offensive line is going to be key this year.

And/OR.... Send Dakorian Moore out on a Go-Route as well... see if a team can over any of them.

Marsh Duck Monday! Going to be honest this one feels like a bit of sunshine pumping but you know what it's the season for that. Also... The info we are getting from the program has been great. Even though I know we haven't seen it in action yet. We Are Hearing All the Right Things Around Oregon Football2026 feels like it could be the year for Oregon.

I think this is more of a matter of ranking problems. Of which I agree the rankings are awful. The B1G is grossly misrepresented and the SEC and Big 12 are both over represented. Yes.. the Big 12 has only put a total of 2 teams in the 12 team field but I think they're hard pressed to make a reasonable argument for more representation. I feel 16 teams could be good. But 24 just feels ridiculous. I have some alternative ideas for future articles. Also... This isn't my best. The draft was sitting there since June and I finally put it out there. I was too busy last week.

Happy Monday all, today I take a look at the notion of the 24 team playoff. The 24 Team Playoff Will be Bad but PopularThere is no stopping the College Football Playoff from expanding to 24 teams.

I wrote on recently that kinda goes into some of this stuff. But of bad luck and a bit of unpreparedness. Just How Close are the Ducks From a Championship?During Big Ten Media Days Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning said the Ducks are close to winning it all but is this just fan service or are the Ducks really that close to winning it all?

Futurama becomes true! In Futurama in the sports blurnsball (baseball attached to a rubber band for fun) all the players wear fractions because all the whole numbers are retired. College football might be headed in that direction. I can't wait to see which 5 star recruit gets 7/8ths!

Just going to shamelessly plug an earlier Marsh Duck article. https://open.substack.com/pub/marshduck/p/chris-hampton-is-the-next-evolution?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=8foswi In the post practice interviews I would say that both new coordinators feel like they understand the problems they need to fix from last season. Hampton said Red zone defense was a problem last year and Mehringer effectively said the offense needs to not stall out. Those interviews usually don't give us much to work with but in addressing those concerns they are telling us they are aware of them. Ow can they fix them? We'll find out.

Happy Monday! Here is this week's Marsh Duck Article. Enjoy. https://open.substack.com/pub/marshduck/p/five-ducks-im-exited-for-in-2026?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=8foswi

I know Azz followed Chip into the NFL and to UCLA where Chip eventually fired him. As for Helf and Frost... those guys were fantastic as position coaches and coordinators. Together they coached up the ONLY Heisman in Oregon history. Helfrich found Mariota and brought him to Eugene and coached him his first two years, redshirt and first year starting) and then when Helf became HC it was Frost who helped polish Mariota into the Heisman winner. Both were great as position coaches and coordinators at Oregon. Were they good Head Coaches? Not really... Though Oregon only made the National Title game twice... and Helfrich and Frost were at both of them. One of which Helfrich was the head coach for.. so that's saying something to. They didn't get the job done but arguably 2014 was the best season in Oregon history with a Conference Championship, a Heisman Winner, a Rose Bowl Victory, and a Title Position. Here's hoping Lanning tops that this season. But yeah I think Bellotti would have hired those two guys. I think Bellotti did a better job building a cohesive staff.

That guy was special. He was just the heart and soul of the defense. He contrasted with Herbert's leadership style in such a way that they complimented each other.

Rivalries require hate that goes both ways... Yeah USC is a rival. Washington is a rival. Oregon State has been losing rival status for awhile because as Duck fans we don't hate them as much as Beavs hate us.

Or more likely... Your team got that bye by playing an extra game so it's 16 games anyways. The "bye" just shifts their bye week. Champ games get open game at the end of the season and the winners get their bye week while the first round goes on. Losers get an extra game with no reward.

Georgia's back to back titles came with some pretty old teams that lost loads to the draft which meant they lost juniors and seniors and then reloaded and did it again the following year... And lost loads to the draft. Those teams got old back in the day because of the wait your turn mentality.

I would agree with that. Lanning has a rematch problem that I know I wrote an article about at the end of last season. I might need to republish it. But from this last season the defense was good against Texas Tech and TT doesn't have the offensive firepower their stats showed but still. But it felt like it didn't get the attention needed. I am only guessing because I am not in the know... But did Lupoi take his hands off the defense and the lack of leadership not allow for Hampton to take over more when he should have? Could Mehringer taken over more offensive duties from Stein? Or did Lanning not want to make those changes because he didn't want a chaotic loss to blemish his new picks at coordinator? Again.. I know nothing and am just saying things.