Dr Hilarius

I can’t remember the last time I learned anything new about the Ducks from anywhere other than Fishduck articles and this forum. The only reason I ever read articles from elsewhere is to see if the rest of the world has figured out what we already know. And for that, I owe a great debt of gratitude to our fearless leader, @Charles Fischer

@Pennsylvania Duck I love this!! Best “middle 8” teams in the country this season As an engineer, clock mgmt seems like a no-brainer to me, and yet, some coaches (e.g. a certain Mari0) are soooooooooo bad at it. So this year I have been paying special attn to the middle 8, and the results… Chef’s kiss!! A work of beauty. Spotless and precise. I can’t fully express my delight in words.

@PittDuck Great question! I wish I knew the answer. I am not an expert by any means, but I am seeing a much improved defensive line. Could it just be that there are fewer opportunities for linebackers? Or maybe the LBs are doing such a great job getting into position that they’re forcing the play away from them toward DLs and CBs? Again, I am not an expert, but it doesn’t seem like the LBs are getting beat, they’re just not getting their names called. What am I missing?

I will stand by my prior post on this thread… IMHO, if Ducks go 12-1, they’re in the playoffs. A) No team has gone undefeated in the Pac since CK and LaMike. The committee knows and appreciates this degree of difficulty (i.e. 9 conf games). B) The Ducks would have 3 top-15 wins (ucla + utah + ucla/usc/utah) if they won out. C) The committee evaluates the “quality” of a loss, and the qualitative evaluation includes all the extenuating circumstances. D) Most importantly, the committee knows this is entertainment. Ducks can only make it as #4, and a Duck-Dawg rematch would prob get more eyeballs than a lot of Natty matchups. While they would never admit it, they’re human. Of course, the counterpoint is that if all 4 other P5s have undefeated champs, Ducks are out. But I think the likelihood of that is less than the Ducks winning out. The voters have been giving the Pac some love this year, and I think a Pac champ w a 12-game winning streak gets the nod over any 1-loss P5 runner-up.

“The Kick!” i love it!! 😎😍

@Desert Duck Okay, I admit I might have been caught up in the moment… The Onside Kick is most definitely not === the Pick, but as @Charles Fischer said, it is ~ the Pick. I was a frosh driving back to Portland when I heard the Pick live on the radio and camped out overnight for Rose Bowl tix later that year. So I am 💯 reverent of the Pick. The Onside Kick is ~ the Pick bc it signaled a new era in Duck football. DL described the decision-making process… A) they used the BYE WEEK to learn an extra play B) the extra play they picked to learn is essentially a FORCED TURNOVER C) they managed the WEATHER and game clock to determine when to use the extra play D) they learned/taught the play to PERFECT EXECUTION That is 3D chess and is my/the new bar for OBD.

KD and DL just out-Kelleyed CK. Whoa.

KD gets the first half game ball. Frigging brilliance.

I agree 💯 When DeBoer was hired, I was much more concerned than I was w the Riley hire.

This might be superficial, but I wouldn’t trust Feld to get my coffee, let alone understand the subtleties of preventive therapy. And we all sure saw a lot of Feld—that guy really knows how to find the lens.

thanks @Pennsylvania Duck This was exactly my suspicion, and now I have arguments to substantiate my confirmation bias. Go Ducks!! 🦆

This is def an up year for the Pac. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/notre-dame-vs-stanford-updates-live-ncaa-football-game-scores-results-for-saturday-27009357/live/

I will keep reminding peeps that GA lost to AL 41-24 and then beat AL barely a month later for the 2022 natty. If ever there was a real reason to give a team a mulligan is when that team is playing its first game w a brand new coaching staff and QB against the reigning champs. tOSU lost to Northwestern the first game of the season and won the Natty later against the Ducks. I will argue that a 12-1 OR team doing a rematch against GA would be a MUST-SEE tv. Mark my words… a 12-1 Duck team is in the CFP 💯.

I agree @Charles Fischer . Mari’s OLs should have been better. Sewell would have been great no matter where he played.

And Utah is the highest 2-loss team. The Pac getting a little credit.

I could not agree more. This team shows discipline that we haven’t seen in a long time. Penalties were cleaned up in 1 week.

It was pathetic. Good news is the coaches simplified things, and it’s much improved.

FG Lumber would have been the winner under the prior scoring. I added the score to demonstrate that the point spread gives a less accurate picture of the game that was played. IMHO

Actual Ducks 45 Furd 27 @EastBayDuckDad Ducks 48 (delta 3) Furd 27 (delta 0) total delta = 3 @Mic Ducks 45 (delta 0) Furd 24 (delta 3) total delta = 3 @FG Lumber Ducks 35 (delta 10) Furd 17 (delta 10) total delta = 20 IMHO, the official “we-won-by-x-TDs” is harder to get perfect but is a less accurate picture of how the game was played.

I think the closest to the actual score is more important than the point spread. EBBD and mic tie for first. On to the tie breakers…

coaches can be very risk-averse and close-minded

Ducks 42-10 4 turnovers 6 sacks 420 yds passing

That sure was a satisfying smackdown of the Fuskies.

Another former-duck-assistant-goes-back-to-alma-mater-to-head-coach fail.

For some strange reason I never thought the Ducks were out of the game. It’s not a brag, but a reflection of how much had changed in 3+ games. If Mari were running the show, I prob would have turned it off after the 3rd. But Dilly had the O moving all game. And there’s no question that the Ducks have more quality depth than the Cougs. So I kept the faith that we could/should win the 4th quarter. (Mari wouldn’t have scored 29 points in the whole game, let alone in less than a quarter.) But those are just the logical reasons. There’s also just something different about the way this team plays. They carry themselves differently. They make mistakes but don’t implode. They just do their business. They seem to be channeling different emotions. This new culture is led by DL, but the tragedy of Spencer Webb has surely changed the outlook. Both Utah and tOSU had 2 of their best seasons after losing teammates. I know I would be extra motivated to play every second of every game my friend couldn’t play in.