AnotherOD

Boise State does have the 5th most wins in FBS since 2000. Ohio State: 286 Alabama: 272 Georgia: 270 Oklahoma: 270 Boise State: 269 Clemson: 252 Oregon: 248 LSU: 247

Ok, saw Addison, Bennett, and Utu in there. Interesting.

Benjamin in at NB.

Anyone else get a good look at the starting OL?

No need to go for it there. It's a long game coach 🫤

Carl Williams not having a great return to college football on that drive. Did I count two pass and one run error? Hoping he settles in.

No more Gary Danielson on CBS today too. Still have Nessler but Charles Davis is replacing the retiring Danielson. Have hear some mixed opinions on Davis, CBS can't get worse can it? 😐

With four year now to judge, I think it is fair to suggest (not unlike Kirby), Dan is at his core a pretty conservative coach (efficiency offense, bend-but-don't-break defense). I think that is what we should expect to continue to see, even with coordinator changes. I also expect more sacks and pressures this year (as well as more vertical passing success); but, more from individual talented/experienced players making more plays, than any significant coaching, scheme, or play-calling changes. With a talent composition rating on 247 of #3 (and I have argued #2 when just looking at probable two deeps), it is not an unreasonable choice (don't risk shooting yourself in the foot by taking many risky calls, instead sum up and rely upon the benefit of winning a greater percentage of individual battles over the course of a game). Dan doesn't loose to teams with talent disadvantages, and really neither do Smart or Day. The open question is will Dan adjust at all against the other 10%? Makes me think a bit about Nick Aliotti. A guy often know as very bend-but-don't-break. I always though, while I understood the rep, Nick was always willing to dial up the pressure and take risks when he had talent advantages (or at least guys he trusted). I am not sure we have seen Dan do that too often yet? I've seen a couple breakdowns of the Indiana games this offseason showing guys regularly open but Dante running around with pressure in his face unable to find them. This D appears to loathe risking those open guys (and that's kind of how most of college football plays it in 2026). Indiana was interesting because often they didn't appear so worried (maybe Texas Tech too but I haven't see enough of them to really offer that observation with confidence). A working theory on Cignetti is he is recognizing and taking advantage (on a calculated basis) of patterns of conservatism (on both sides of the ball) that have crept into the college game today.

I had read, at least in this case, the QB battle was pretty close but Kastantin was given the edge due to being a better rushing threat (100 carries for 530 yards and 5 TDs last year). Novosad had 56 carries for -18 yards over 33 career high school games (I can't find any career rushing attempts in his 7 Oregon games). I believe Bowling Green (under Eddie George) has been known mostly as a run-heavy RPO based offense (favoring mobile dual-threat QBs). I also read Bowling Green will have five new starting OL (four graduating and one transfer), so that might have played a bit into the choice as well. I guess Novosad is expected to play unless Kastantin (perhaps literally) runs away with the job; but, Bowling Green is looking more and more like an odd choice for Novosad. Maybe it was his best available choice I guess?

Number 18 Ellis Powers. The kind of hit you don't really see in the game much anymore.

Not to mention missing 38 and 34 yard FGs in the 2024 loss to rival Michigan. Yet, to this day, you can't find a tOSU fan who will even consider the idea that Flemming doesn't run onto the field and drop a 43 yard FG right down the middle with time expiring to win that 2024 game in that environment at Autzen.

40-0 against teams that have won less than 10 games and 8-8 against 10 or more win teams, his first four years as HC. For comparison, Smart in his first 4 years was 36-6 and 8-6 and Day was 34-0 and 8-6, both two years away from their first NC. Dan's losses so far have been to teams finishing AP number #1, #1 #1,#1, #2, #2, #8, and #17. Those two close losses to number #8 and #17 were that first season after Nix took a shot to his leg late in game 10 that left him hobbled the rest of the season. Leaving out the Georgia disaster in the opener, Oregon's offense had averaged 46.6 points and 551.6 yards in 9 pre-Nix injury games, post-Nix injury it fell to 27.3 and 408.7 the final 3 games (and quite possibly no: Downs 4 plays, 8 yards, 1:41 Field Goal 4 plays, 8 yards, 0:35 on 11/12/2022). Dan Lanning just turned 40 like 3 months ago. When Cignetti turned 40 he was joining Chuck Amato's staff at NC State and going to work with a young Philip Rivers. When Saban turned 40 he was in the NFL and about 4 years away from taking his first major college HC job with Michigan State. Dabo was starting his first full year as HC at Clemson, 8 years away from his first NC, and Day in his first year as HC at tOSU, 6 years away from his first NC. In the history of college football, I only found 4 coaches that won a NC before 40, and only one in the last 50 years (Danny Ford Clemson in 1981). All four are in the College football Hall-of-Fame (Danny Ford, Bud Wilkinson, Knute Rockne, and Barry Switzer). Those 4 coaches had a career record of 529-129-18 (0.80%), and 10 National Championships. No NC yet for Dan, but 48-8 is (0.86%). He seems right on schedule.** ** Bob Stoops almost blows my little thing here about winning NC before 40 up, winning his first NC at Oklahoma at age 40 in 2000 and in his second season as head coach, but not quite 🙂 ** Don't quote me on all this I'm not 100% and got kinda tired of looking it all up, but am sort of confident in it 🙂

Nice to see Gernorris looking (at least) close to full go. Iheanacho looks giant. How much chicken do you need to make to feed 22 300+ pound college kids?

I appreciate the perspective but I'd argue the Beaver obsession was an AD not seeing the forest because of the trees; and, basically letting the inmates run the asylum. In 1970 and 1971, while losing two games to the Beavers, Oregon did beat USC twice, an 8-3 UW team, and UCLA down in LA. The 1970 team had finished second in the Pac-8. Signs of things going the right way. Of course it is hindsight, but Frei clearly had put together an excellent, borderline historical, young staff. He also had brought in a bunch of talent: Fouts, Rashad, Newland, Blanchard, Tom Drougas, John McKean, Bill Drake, Lionel Coleman, Tom Graham. Picking two head coaches that drug the program through 4 years of 11-33 after four previous years of 20-21-1 was a massive step backwards. 11-33 included only one win over a team that finished with a winning record (6-5). Its 11 wins were over teams with a combined record of 30-91 and 7 of 11 of the teams it managed to beat won 3 or fewer games). He did go 2-2 against OSU as AD with his coaches, beating a 2-9 OSU team in 1972 and a 1-10 OSU team in 1975; but, honestly, not so much to hang one's hat on. We don't really care if the trajectory is right into the ground as long as we beat the Beavers? Oregon football history: 242-216-28 (5 decades before Ritchey) 11-33 (4 Ritchey seasons) 4-7 (last year under Read) 40-66-4 (Brooks first decade) 51-43 (Brooks last 8 years) 116-55 (Bellotti) 173-50 (Post Bellotti) Oregon sort of has the reputation of being horrible for most of its history; but, since 1920, if you separate the 5 Ritchey seasons plus 10 years Brooks took to dig out of it (15 years) you get: 1920-1971 plus 1987-today: 582-364-28 = 0.612 (would qualify for tied for 26th all time) 5 Ritchey seasons plus first Brooks decade: 55-106-4 = 0.345 (would qualify 136th out of 138 active all-time) And again, I understand how boosters at the time might have pressured the young AD over the Beaver losses; but, only 2 of the 8 losses weren't close, by: 1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 15, and 22. A somewhat forward looking AD should have seen talent and a trajectory; or, at least, understood there would be no guarantee a 37 year old HC with two years of position coach experience was going to be any better. In a sense I guess he was fortunate OSU finally went in the tank, but so did Oregon.

I guess the point was about good coaching hires changing the trajectory of the program? If the UO had stuck with Frei and held onto a couple of his young coaches (like Seifert or Marshall) to take over (or hired Coryell or gotten Walsh or even Mora), might the program have built up to 8-3/9-2 type seasons sooner? Might having an AD willing to invest in football paid off in dollars behind those winning teams rather than deficits behind those losing ones? By the mid-1980s when Nike really started to take off, might Phil have gotten more invested about a decade earlier? Might the 2010 breakthrough years have possibly happened 20 years sooner? 🤷‍♂️