EastBayDuckDad

Ok, so that was fun. Love that #86 kid. A little Gronk and Kelce in him. It'll be fun when they come to Autzen.

Vegas may not always get it right, but it never does anything except set odds based on the money. I think Oregon will get the usual -3 for home field advantage. So it might be Oregon -3 or perhaps if the odds makers feel UCLA has shown enough to be a 3-7 pt favorite, either a wash or UCLA by -3. It'll be the o/u that is the most interesting as both offensives would be expected to thrive. A shootout might be predicted. Say, o/u of 65. I think it'll be Oregon -3 with an o/u of 65. Then we kick their heinies. I believe Chip no longer has a house on McKenzie View Dr. I understand you can see Autzen from there. Who ever lives there now will enjoy the view next Saturday.

Utah. Redemption for Utah after a rough start (except for a subsequent beatdown by the Ducks at Autzen, which is owed to them). Even if Oregon wins out and beats an undefeated U$C in the Pac12 championship game, getting into the CFP is a long shot given the 49-3 egg laid against Georgia to start the season. I'd rather see the troy-boys lose to Utah, win out, then get spanked by the Ducks in Vegas for a trip to the Rose Bowl. U$C to the Holiday Bowl. Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket....

One can cite the RB room's success after losing the vast majority of it's 2021 production. Or the creative use of the TE room in both run and pass offense, particularly in the 14-J package (love naming it after Josh Conerly, what a way to encourage high level recruits to come to Oregon). And of course the play of Bo Nix. Above all, I feel it's the coaching. Vast improvement in game management and offensive scheme over the last several years lead the list. Identifying problem issues and correcting them in practice follow that. The defense will come as Lanning installs more of his concepts. He certainly has the talent.

Thanks to Coach Eric for diagramming and posting video of the counter and counter screen to show how the one sets up the other. Setting up a pattern only to run something else off of it once the defense thinks they know what's coming is one thing that gets everyone excited about the Dillingham offense. I particularly like the Jumbo/Big Boy package with McCormack, Herbert and Conerly that keeps going right where you expect it to go with James over tackle. Until it doesn't, and Cam M. is standing all alone in the end zone with a TD pass in his hands because the opponent sold out in the box to stop the run.

Great insight, Charles. Quite the money exchange for failure. Though it is a bit apples to oranges, here are some fun numbers: Cristobal buy out $9 mill MC 2022 salary $4.7 mill MC bonuses saved $1 mill Asst coaches saved (est) $1.8 mill DL contract $4.6 mill Additional Asst. coaches salaries 2022 v 2021 $0.7 mill Oregon comes out way ahead financially and Miami picks up our bar tab.

Tucson has been a tough place for the Ducks over the past decade, and I predict it will be no different this year. In spite of the talent imbalance the 'Cats always seem to play up when they face Oregon and 135 yds of dirty laundry might be a game decider. The upside is that each game exposes a weakness that needs to be addressed and the following week Lanning gets after it in practice. Each subsequent game has shown significant improvement that seems to stick. We've seen passing defense, edge containment and tackling all improve after a bad outing. Penalties and attitude will be on the agenda for sure, and we can bet DL will hammer it home on the field and in the film room.

I don't bet on sports, but for once I wish I had taken the Ducks on points and the over. Had the score pretty close but way off on TOs and passing yards, though I like the idea of maybe trading the latter out for total Nix yards. A lot closer to my prediction, then. Rules for a tie breaker maybe not such a bad idea..

Yikes, Nolan's second interception of the day a pick 6. Utah 14-7 over the Beavs

Oregon 48-27 3 TO 4 Sacks 325 passing yds

Great analysis on this. I'm in league with Charles on not loving the BDB defense, but understanding why Lanning may be running it now with the Cover 2 approach. It is impressive that run defense is as good as it has been. The outside DL and LBs have been setting the edge well, so plays are getting turned inside to the strength of the D. Not as much so far with the pass game, compounded by inconsistent tackling in space. But with a few exceptions, Cover 2 has kept the deep ball controlled. If setting the edge continues to get better keeping mobile opposing QBs in the pocket and limiting the read down dump off pass to the flat, things will improve. Add consistent tackling and the BDB will do less bending and more stopping. The Stanford game will be a good barometer on the progress made. McKee isn't as elusive as the QBs faced from BYU and Wazzu thus far, but he will test the D at all three levels: deep, intermediate and in the short sideline game.

Let's hope this is not entirely accurate when it comes to OBD. Georgia v Oregon: Georgia 439 yds passing 132 yds rushing 571 yds total offense

Pac-12 in danger of eventual collapse as Big Ten considers further expansion, Big 12 interest looms - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM If the Big Ten can get one more significant payday, it may be curtains for the Pac-12 Pac-12 reportedly in danger of collapse WWW.SATURDAYDOWNSOUTH.COM Conference realignment continues to have significant impact on where college football is headed.

Very good article, Joshua, and an accurate read on Nix. My observation is that the Oregon offense under Dillingham has him playing to his skill set, which is accurate reads, short to medium range passes and controlled runs, planned off the RPO or scrambles when he needs to get out of the pocket. Nix's long ball is not his strength. In reviewing passing attempts over 30 yds, he more often than not will slightly over or under throw the ball. Luckily most of them are catchable. The long completions to Franklin and Hutson at WSU required each to break stride just a bit. One of the long passes in the BYU game led the receiver just a bit too much and he wasn't able to reach the endzone and the great catch by Franklin was a bit behind him. This tendency to underthrow was the reason the first pick in the Georgia game occurred, albeit to a very talented DB that played it perfectly. I'll bet Smart coached his secondary to that tendency given his familiarity with Nix. On the flip side, Bo's TD pass to Franklin late in the WSU game was on a dime, and the 4th and 2 completion to Irving was perfect. It was a do or die play and the reason Oregon came back to win. Both of those passes were in the 25-30yd range where Nix is most effective. With the O-line giving him a relatively clean pocket, Nix has the time to launch down the field, but his real strength is that medium pass. He is really accurate on those and can pick apart a defense. Oregon has the speedy receivers to get significant YAC, so that medium game is money.

Thanks for posting that, PDuck! Heard it on Steve Tannen's show yesterday and smiled for half an hour afterwards. Spanish play by play is rapid fire by nature of calling futbol matches (That's 'soccer' to you Norte Americanos). Prehm needs to polish up his high school Spanish though. It's 'Hasta la vista' baby! Goooooaaaaaaaalllllll !

Personally I would rather see Bo have a great season, then move on. Don't think he is a high end NFL talent, but he could carve out a decent pro career. He's married and will want to provide for his new family. Something tells me Dante Moore will find his place in the new system at Oregon. Maybe he waits a year or more behind TT, but I think it may be sooner rather than later that he takes the reins.

Heavens, that's Noah Sewell lifting DL towards the rafters. Like coach said, he doesn't pay attention to stats and they don't tell the whole story. My bet is that Kelly, Helfrich, Taggart or Cristobal ever had that experience. Something special appears to be happening here.

Middle Tennessee coach, ex-FSU QB Rick Stockstill slams Miami after upset win 247SPORTS.COM ... Wow, Happy Birthday and all that, but talk about rubbing Cristobal's nose in it. You don't often see an opposing coach win with such, umm, grace.

The beauty of Dillingham's offense is the mix of pass/run, variety of formations and deception. It seems to play to Bo's skill set perfectly, even if we got a bit of bad judgment on the pick-6 yesterday. Yes, the pass was tipped and well played by the WSU LB, but that ball shouldn't have been thrown. That said, give Nix the time the O-line is giving him to make the throws he can make and this offense just sings. Those last two drives against Wazzu were just plain masterful.

Charles, pretty much in agreement that Oregon can be a top 10 team at season end with a victory in a big time (Rose) bowl game to top it off. I don't really see them in the CFP unless they run the table convincingly with a defense that has improved significantly from where they are post-Wazzu. Unfortunately I see tOSU, GA, Alabama and Clemson in the CFP again, ho hum. I think specific goals will make for a satisfying season: 1. Beat Stanford next week without letdown after yesterday's coronary spasm inducing win. Finally extinguish the ghosts of Zach Ertz's bad call TD and CJ's fumble from Autzen. 2. Win the away games they are supposed to win convincingly: Arizona, Colorado and Cal. Their fan bases are nowhere near what WSU brought to the table so these three games should be less formidable. 3. Much as I hate to say it, UW is a much improved team and beating them, even at home, will be a challenge. Ditto for Utah, with that revenge factor thrown in. Mid-late November will be a real gauntlet for the Ducks and victories in those two games, followed by beating a very dangerous Beaver team at Reser, will define success for 2022. 4. If Oregon gets that far, knocking off a now exposed U$C (oh please, please!) in Vegas and a trip to the Rose Bowl would make for a great 1st season under Lanning. Then finishing with a win over Michigan or Penn State would be the cherry on top with a top 10 ranking assured.

Ok, so that was a grim performance in the 1st half. But offense outgaining WSU 2:1 and without the pick-6 we're up. And ......Hell yes!!

Oregon 28-17 2 TO 3 Sacks 290 yds

A step ahead. Watched the speed dial 60 minute version of the WSU-Colorado St on PAC12 Network and a couple things stood out to me: CSU is a horrible football team, particularly their defense. Yet they still got pressure on Cameron Ward, sacked him a couple times and forced a few errant throws with a bad pick. Ward is not terribly mobile but he does get the ball out in a hurry. If stressed he makes poor decisions. His 4 TD passes in the 1st half were to painfully open receivers going against undersized and one step too slow DBs. The WSU O-line was only fair in pass protection and the CSU front seven were pretty vanilla in their alignments, so Ward had enough time to pick the DBs apart. Even so, CSU got to him several times. As with the old Leach Air Raid offense, the run game exists to set up the pass, but the CSU run defense was so bad that the Wazzu backs had a field day. The WSU defense is stout, but again, overwhelmed a poor offense with a Swiss cheese O-line. That LB transfer from Nevada is a stud, but he's the only one that really stands out. The front seven brought pressure from everywhere with odd alignments, stunts and safety blitzes. The CSU QB, Millen was running for his life all afternoon. When he had time, he was able to burn the WSU secondary. I think Oregon will really stress WSU on both sides of the ball if they play sound fundamentally, stick to the basics that they did so well against BYU and avoid mistakes. Tackle well and finish, finish, finish. Oregon is far more talented than CSU, or Wisconsin for that matter and I think they will be able to run on the WSU defensive front seven, allowing Nix to get the RPO passing game going. So again, I think Oregon takes a step forward and gets the win, as long as the WSU 'ghosts of Palouse past' don't rise from the dead to spoil the trip.

Agreed on this, but getting a stop on 4th down should count almost as much as a TO. Oregon did that to BYU three times if memory serves and scored on each ensuing possession. Picks, lost fumbles and failed 4th down attempts that result in points for the opponent break a team's back.