Haywarduck

I think you missed somethings. Completely agree, great qb play and explosive plays are critical. You can' just think you should be in the playoffs, lose to Utah twice, and repeatedly choke your bowl games. I suppose that is the BIG's problem soon enough.

The internet knows duck fans will click on anything related to the Ducks so pretty soon there will be articles on 4th graders interested in playing for our Ducks. As long as we click, the content will follow. Articles are also probably written by an algorithm set up on a computer. Thankfully we have Fishduck, not yet putting out articles written by an algorithm, right Charles?

Looks like all the travel needed to play in the BIG won't effect the trojans at all.....

And they couldn't even beat Tulane!

Thrilled Funa had a great game and he isn't going anywhere. He seems to be one of those guys who is buying into Lanning's system. He missed his senior year in high school yet was still a strong 4*. Seems like he might be starting to hit his stride. I would love to see him become all-Pac-12 next season.

I could see that being an interesting discussion between Harbor and PK. I know PK followed Tiger and others, and undoubtedly is aware of the unique skillset Harbor has. If Harbor signs I could see PK playing a role. Your scenario may play out and he potentially becomes a large Nike marketing tool. If football plays out he becomes an extremely unique weapon. If track becomes his goal then he just may become the decathlete or sprinter who goes to the olympics. I do think he will have to figure out where he wants to focus sooner than later. Neither road will be easy, and it is yet to be determined if he has that mentality of a champion. There are only a couple directions where he becomes a huge Nike profit center. I could see those as interesting discussions I would love to be a fly on the wall for. My bet is the Oregon brain trust is putting that proposal together, if they really want him.

Not sure the training required for the decathlon could be done by a two sport athlete. Agree he could undoubtedly compete very well at the event. His potential at the decathlon speaks to his overall potential. He could probably become a dominant DE, TE, some have mentioned LB but what could he pull off, doing two sports? I see him as a WR and a sprinter. Seems like many of the sprinters on the football team didn't train like dedicated track athletes. They just mainly went off their natural speed, and did the relays. Devon was a unique case, and might entice another attempt at high level track and football. I see maybe 100, 200 on the track and WR. The nice thing about training as a sprinter is it will undoubtedly transfer to the football field. With some high level training nobody will catch the dude. Metcalf is an untrained sprinter, and has no chance against track sprinters. Can you imagine Harbor with elite sprinter speed as a wideout? I want to find out what Harbor can do as a two sport athlete. I'm not sure decathlon is possible for the guy as a college student, football player.

The team which went 0-2 against Utah makes a case they should have been in the CFP. Unfortunately they didn't make the case that Utah wasn't playing in the CFP, probably their best, strongest argument. Can't wait until their delusional fanbase is out of the Pac! It should be clear for everyone to see: USC would have been competitive in College Football Playoff WWW.YAHOO.COM The Trojans might not have won a semifinal, but after seeing Saturday's two games, does anyone think #USC -- with a healthy Caleb Williams -- gets blown out? Unlikely.

There is no doubt, he is an ultimate competitor, and an extreme talent. I hope he is able to get to the Super Bowl and win before his career is over. I also hope he is able to get through medical school before I need him. I want the guy on my side when I need him. For now we should appreciate a generational talent on the field.

What I know is if we are to have a great season, Bo will have to be in New York for the ceremony. I would love to see Bucky there too!

The fly route, what is a defense going to do against this guy. The DB and the safety have to be aware of this guy all game long. If you have one player that takes two players to defend advantage goes to that team. He is a wide receiver in a TE or DE's body. The problem is he is a wide receiver, not a DE, or a TE. We can't mistake the skillset he brings. If he has hands the NFL is already wants this guy as a WR, we should too. If he can catch the ball even remotely like Franklin then he will be a human highlight film. Much like when Jordan Kent thought he was a basketball player, but he was too fast for the court he was on. It was obvious Jordan should have been playing football, wide receiver, from the jump in college. It was just unfortunate he didn't play football long enough to build skills for the NFL. He didn't stick on the NFL because he wasn't skilled enough. They drooled over his potential. The problem, he didn't start to play receiver until his junior year. As a comparison Bob Hayes was barely 6', weighed 185lbs. He was a threat every time he was on the field for the cowboys. Nyckoles is 6' 5" 245 lbs. and runs as fast. Again if he has decent hands, he has the potential going to light it up on every play. He will, at least, change the defense when he is on the field. Nobody is going to go one on one with him.

Could be a DAT type disruptor, a guy who makes you not want to miss a play because it could be a moment where you just can't believe what just happened. He would also be appreciated for his track abilities like no where else. I love to watch track athletes, men and women, who show grace and athleticism on the track. I would say I agree some 5* may not be worth the trouble, but we are tracktown, and that should influence our football team, again. We need speed on the football team, and this guy has boatloads, the guy can basically fly! I defer to Coach Lanning and the culture and team he wants to create, until he brings in a culture disruptor I trust Lanning.

My famous quote, when the microbrewery businesses were just taking off, 'who is going to buy a $3 beer, when you can buy a six pack for that much?' My hometown now has over 30 breweries, a friend sold his to Budweiser for a small fortune. You hit some and miss some!

No heat, no water, no football, but Charles saves the day with his FishDuck. Kind of highlights the unique, maybe small, but important roll FishDuck plays in many of our lives. A big thanks to Charles and all those who add to the site in their myriad of ways.

I will root for the Bruins tonight, still enjoy chip ball. I guess I also wonder how a trojan win will benefit the Pac-12 and not the Big losers? Let the trojans have a close game, but then choke it at the end. No physical injuries, just emotionally destroyed. That is all I want.

TE and special teams would be a very good fit. This might come down to Hayward making the difference. If the young man wants to run track and play football then there is no better place. Maybe Devon can show up for the official visit? Can you imagine how the safety will have to respect this guys speed? 6' 6" and top speed of 22 mph, you can't leave him one on one, or he is gone!

If the dawgs lose we end up ranked ahead of them. If they win, they beat us and end up ranked ahead of us. I couldn't care less about how the pac-12 looks. I just care about ME and my Ducks! I also know how much that would bother the dawg fans and that makes me happy.

I would say the three most important games are the beav, dawg and any bowl game. It could be argued the pac-12 championship game is important too. My take is the bowl game is the most important game to win. While the dawg and beav games are important, the bowl game is the final game. Rankings are made at the end of the season, not at the beginning or middle. While I hate losing to the mentioned programs we could jump the dawgs and stay ahead of the beavs in the final rankings. Of course next season the trojan game will be huge, but those games are going bye, bye, so they don't measure up anymore. Hopefully we can win all three in the future. I would say closing out the season with a win was the critical thing Lanning needed to do. How do others rank these games, or others?

The big games that count are the beavs, dawgs, Pac-12 championship game, and the bowl game. First season I'll take the bowl win. A coaches record in those games is what counts. Going forward I look for Lanning to improve in the other games too. Agree a ten win season was a huge accomplishment and what I wanted to see. This season was where Lanning laid the foundation. The foundation is the most important item, but in construction most can't see anything until the framing is done. We now get to see Lanning put the walls up on what will be the Lanning program. I look for those walls and the house Lanning is building to include trophy rooms for the big games. Those rooms will be nice and big with plenty of room for wins, and in the end the big bowl game wins too. Well done winning a meaningful bowl game against a very good team, and an excellent coach. One interesting note is North Carolina is the only team both Miami and Oregon played. Miami lost to NC at home, we beat NC in a bowl game.

I have to give props to McCormick's block, where he took out two guys, for Bucky's big run, wow! Bassa also played well, and made some nice tackles. I just love the worker bees, not just those who get all the glory. Great article Charles and analysis earlier by Dazed. I would add that it wasn't so much the wrong players Lanning had to work with. There was and is talent on the Duck side of the ball, no question. I think the problem with the Ducks this season was twofold. One Lanning was figuring out how to coach. When and how does he step in and take over from an OC, or DC. Lanning has an accelerant type of personality. If somebody has an idea he makes it bigger, and most often better. The problem on offense is he needed to deaccelerate some of the play calling. On defense he needed to step in, and still needs to step in and better guide what is on the field. That will be the test over the offseason, can he be a more active CEO on the defensive side of the ball. We had a coach who was the antithesis of this last time so this leads us to the second problem. The culture which was set by MariØ didn't work for how Lanning coaches. He wants guys to get better everyday, not just think they are better after arriving at Oregon. The fill the sleeve mentality wasn't a functional goal setting process. Lanning is all about improving incrementally and strategically. I think we will see improvement in both areas. We are already seeing turnover of players and some guys totally buying in. The test will be can Lanning turn the defense around. I have faith, and this will be the most exciting offseason development.

Oh we looked bad in the Alamo Bowl, almost like in the family reunion bowl against the beavs! Agree both were mostly coaching issues. I do think it will be fascinating to see the offense without Dilly. How much is reliant on Dilly, and how much can be replicated? I think with Nix's leadership we should be fine on offense. The question will be can the defense and special teams perform well enough to give the offense a chance to win the game. Will the havoc defense start to reveal itself, or just more prevent, that doesn't really prevent much.

Never understood electronic games, football was a year round event in my neighborhood. The best games were the mud bowls, in the rain. If there wasn't football there was, fortunately, always something to do outside, different era.

Another thing is Dowdell might be the runningback even MariØ could have been successful with the pistol being called over and over. The weapons upgrade next season for Nix and Stein might be something special. I love the idea of more deep balls, and hopefully Nix has even more time to dial in the throws to his wide receiver group. The offense might be the don't cry, after Dowdell runs over a few guys, and then bye bye as our receivers blow away the backfield on the next play. The 'Don't cry, bye bye' offense.

I am past the season, and giving Lanning an A for recruiting and hiring a new OC. I look forward to giving him an A for the bowl game too. A bit concerned about how he deals with the defense, but haven't lost the faith. As far as the season grades, he was a freshman, and hit it out of the park. First year coaches rankings don't account for a couple of these guys had never been head coaches. The key there is that the best thing about a freshman is they become sophomores. We are still learning about what kind of coach Lanning will ultimately become. I look at it more like, do we still want to pay for his education, not necessarily what were his grades. He is still well worth the money we are spending letting him learn how to be a head coach. That is what we do at Oregon, we develop coaches, don't just look at grades, and try to hire the A coach. You then have Lincoln Riley, an A coach, you know exactly what you are going to get. He wins enough games to keep his job and look good. He also knows how to pick and coach qb's. Riley has also lost every big bowl game he has been in. He couldn't even win the Pac-12 championship game. He left the SEC because he knows he can't compete on the big stage, or the big game. I like the upside to Lanning over any of these guys who may have graded out over our coach. I will take Lannings potential, with Oregon, over any supposed elite coach on that list!

Came to campus on his recruiting visit with a basketball, and never put it down.