David Marsh

Defense held Boise to under 3 yards per carry that's pretty good. BSU didn't rush for 100 yards (but some sacks in there influenced these numbers as well). It just wasn't consistent and Boise scored on drives we helped with penalties.

We were so close to grabbing all the momentum and shutting this game down at multiple points throughout the game. We just couldn't manage to do it on both sides of the ball until the fourth quarter.

Well... should have been 14. But apparently the refs can't notice something obvious. I walked in the room and saw the replay and was like... "oh kick-catch interference... no big deal for the Ducks, we still have the ball." "wait... whhhaaaaaaaaa???? How is that not kick-catch interference?" In short... it was kick-catch interference. The refs just had a flare for the dramatic.

I feel the bigger problem was them working together as a unit. Compare this to 2024 and that offensive line and this one was much much better. Gabriel waa getting demolished against BSU. I have faith because that offensive line was worked out. There are two games to sort out this line before it gets tested for real again.

I think the play calls in the second half were MUCH better. The fourth down play calls were awful. But so much of the bad play calling came when the Ducks got cute rather than good ol straight up football. When the Ducks played straight up it tended to go well... Vertical passes and running the ball with Davison. Play calling must improve.

Threw together a quick little article on some of my initial thoughts on the game... couldn't help myself. A win is a win but that was ugly. Quick Quacks - Oregon v Boise StateOregon beat Boise State 34-27 and here are a few quick take aways on the game.

Ok... So I had to look it up. Driving from Boise to Eugene is 7 hours and 40 minutes ... About. The plane trip is 1:40 minutes... Then Eugene to Portland is 30-50 minutes but with all the other delays let's just rack that up to an hour. So plane time wise let's say 2 hours for Eugene and 1 hour to diver to Portland, including getting from campus to the Boise airport. So we are at 3 hours. Normally Eugene to Oregon is 2 hours... So 4 hours round trip. But but but... It's a Friday night with some rain and these are busses we're talking about and not cars. So the waiting and travel from PDX to Eugene is probably closer to 5 hours. Whole travel total is probably around 8 hours for them today. They might as have driven from BSU to Eugene.

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.