mikethehiker

Excellent keys to the game Alex! Ball control will be so important and it will be an interesting chess match as I'm sure the leg lifters will load up to make Oregon as one dimensional as they are. I'm also worried about the opponent going for it on 4th down in a possession battle. The best way to discourage this is not just sacks, but especially 3rd down sacks!

I also think two losses will be enough to knock anyone out of the PAC-12 title game. There are seven contenders in Oregon, USC, Washington, Utah, OSU, UCLA, and WSU. The race for the title game won't begin to take shape until one of these teams beats another contender on the road. To this early point in the season, the home teams have taken care of business. Oregon gets their shot Saturday. List or road games: Oregon: @Wash, @Utah USC: @Oregon Wash: @USC, @OSU Utah: @USC, @Wash (lost @OSU) OSU: @Oregon (lost @WSU) UCLA: @OSU, @USC (lost @Utah) WSU: @Oregon, @Wash (lost @UCLA) None of the other games will be gimmies this year but looking at the road tests above, USC may have the easiest path by just taking care of business at home.

I'm so excited for the big game this weekend and the opening kickoff can't get here soon enough! Most coaches are now electing to defer the choice to receive the kickoff to the 2nd half of games after winning the opening coin toss. In most situations, this sound strategy is an attempt to steal an extra possession by closing out the second half with the ball and getting it again after the break. One obvious way for this to backfire is that the team receiving the opening kickoff also has last possession. The other way this backfires is the opportunity to keep a potent offense off the field like we saw in the first half of the Stanford game. One stalled drive and you could be down by two scores, losing big in time of possession and digging an early hole. Against Stanford it was a couple of field goals, but against Washington or USC it could be a couple of touchdowns. As I watched the Stanford game and saw the Ducks possess the ball for 3 plays and 6 yards in the first quarter, I thought, "This cannot happen in our upcoming games." So the question is, "Would Coach Lanning rather possess the ball to open the game vs Washington or defer to the 2nd half?" By receiving the opening kickoff, I see an opportunity to jump ahead of Washington and put a little bit of pressure on both their offense and defense - something they haven't really faced all season. By staying at least one score ahead, it greatly reduces the opponent's margin for error. Playing with the lead on the road will allow both our offense and defense to play "downhill". The question isn't so much about probability of possessions, but more around dictating the flow of the game. For most other opponents, I would defer to the 2nd half. It's an either/or choice IF you win the coin toss. I'm interested in what our OBD community would do in Dan Lanning's shoes and why...

SEC has to move to 9 game conference schedule, right?

You're not the only one. And it's nothing like the NFL where players are under contract and there are salary caps. The mandatory 1 year sit-out must be restored with the exception of graduate transfers (like Bo Nix) or transfers to a FCS. I also support a 1 year sit out for head coaches to other D-I programs. What's good for the players is good for the coaches. The unfortunate part of the new NIL and transfer portal anarchy is that I believe it will greatly reduce the parity brought on by the 85 player scholarship limit. College football will never achieve NFL-like parity, but it had a much greater chance when coaches recruited right, built cohesive units over 3-4 years, and took advantage of rebuilding years for perennial power houses.

He looked to be in much better shape walking around on the sidelines at the end of the game after laboring in the first half. Easy decision to leave him out for the rest of the game. He stayed in full pads and celebrated with teammates after the game for quite a while. I asked Khyree if he was OK and he gave me a thumbs up FWIW. Video shows him walking comfortably.

What’s disappointing is to see the top 3 B1G teams all ranked higher than every PAC12 team implying that B1G is head and shoulders above PAC12. At the same time all the pundits declare the PAC12 as the best conference this year. We’ll never fully know because the PAC12 will now start beating the crud out of each other while the talent gap between the top 3 B1G teams and the rest of their conference is so vast, they only have to worry about two conference games each year. It definitely puts the PAC at a disadvantage. My prediction is that every team in the country has at least one loss heading into the bowl season with the exception of the B1G Champ unless those top 3 teams rock/paper/scissor each other which is possible if Penn St can finally get over the hump.

I definitely think they SHOULD be in Seattle for the Oregon vs. Washington. The other side of that coin is that Oregon could be featured on Gameday for any 4 of their next 5 games. The other hot spot in Week 7 could be Chapel Hill, NC where Miami at North Carolina could be an undefeated showdown. Not sure if/when Gameday has been to Chapel Hill and it gives them a chance to hype Drake Maye. We are always up against an east coast bias, but to make matters worse, it's a 7am vs 10am start time for everyone involved.

A little more energy finally on the Duck sideline; even a few smiles. Team has seemed tight and lethargic. Definitely need to rid some demons in this place.

K. Jackson walking it out here on the sideline. Walking very gingerly, favoring hip.

24-20 Beavers. Home field is HUGE this year in the PAC, because every team and fan base is frothing at the mouth with this being the last year. Utah will rest Cam Rising, until they need him. He makes his first appearance tonight, but Beaver D is a tough first night and it's not enough.

I said at the time that Oregon was blessed with a tough road win against TT when they easily could have lost. As others have stated above, Washington hasn't been tested. When you finally play a team at your level, the same running lanes aren't there, the passing windows shrink, you have less time for routes to develop and throw the ball, your extra defender in the box needs to stay in coverage, and uncharacteristic penalties can pile up. Both coaches and players are forced to think, learn, and make adjustments on the fly. Oregon has had the luxury of this experience already in game (which they survived) and continue to make improvements based on those learnings in the following weeks. It certainly doesn't guarantee success, but the experience will make a difference. Go Ducks!

100% agree it will be extremely tough to win in Washington, but big picture is that it's not the first game we need to win; it's the second game in the PAC-12 championship. As much as I'd love to win every game, the formula is simple for any team aspiring to win the PAC-12 this year: protect your home field and limit yourself to one road loss. No one is getting through the season unscathed. For Oregon, that means protecting our home field against USC, WSU, and OSU. Then steal a victory in Washington or Utah (and stop losing at ASU).

No.

Indirect comparisons can be fun predictors for Saturday's outcome and we do have a few clues. I think the key to all of our clues is Wyoming who appears to have a solid team if you ask Texas Tech and Texas. Wyoming competed at the LOS in both of those contests with the following rushing yard comparisons: 171-93 vs. Texas Tech 155-185 vs. Texas Oregon's win against Texas Tech will look better as the season rolls along and Tech's loss to Wyoming will look understandable. Shoot Wyoming hung with Texas in Austin for 3 quarters who had just beaten Alabama. Texas Tech is a more complete team than Colorado and so is Washington State (as shown against Colorado St.). Colorado had a gutsy win against TCU (no doubt) who had nothing really to scout with the Coach Sanders makeover. However, Nebraska (who cannot complete a vertical pass) outrushed Colorado 222 - 58. I expect to see similar stats for Oregon Saturday, unless QB Sanders decides to take off more often (Shough had 101 of Tech's 174 yards against us). This game should be sponsored by Tostitos with all the chips we'll see on shoulders of players and coaches. Colorado will fight hard, but Oregon will cover at home. Too much talent and the Ducks will be very motivated for this one.

I believe the nonconference contracts are established years in advance (sometimes a decade or more), save a rare kickoff classic contract that we've seen signed on a shorter runway. The general rotation of conference opponents is know for an established conference with the schedule (dates, not necessarily times) being set during the offseason. With all the recent conference changes, we're still waiting for a general rotation to be established including any divisions, rivalries, or pods. We'll likely know who next year's conference opponents are before the end of the season, with a final schedule set (dates) in the offseason after coordinating with schools, venues, and broadcast networks.

Thank you. So maybe Colorado actually thought they were deferring when choosing a side. What drives me bonkers is when TV announcers are completely oblivious to a critical sequence in the game. I'm not even sure they recognized what was happening let alone taking the time to explain a serious deviation to their audience.

I pride myself on being a student of the rules of the game and every once in a while a sequence occurs that perplexes me like the 3rd down do-over in the WSU game last year. Did anyone else catch that Colorado possessed the football on offense first for both overtimes in their win over Colorado St.? I'm not sure I've seen that before as I was expecting Colorado St. to take advantage of back to back offensive possessions vs. a tired Buffalo defense. I've always thought that's a huge advantage to winning the coin toss to start overtime. Was Colorado able to elect to go on offense first in the 2nd overtime? I know there was a delay in the game trying to figure out who chose which end of the field to defend. Interesting, risky, and subtle coaching move if Sanders gave his defense a breather prior to that final possession. Would you ever elect to possess the ball first in a college football overtime situation?

Open to additional analysis, but agree with some of the observations of others. It feels like a step back this year on the offensive line which isn't unreasonable given the significant turnover and growing chemistry. The eyeball test sees too many opposing jerseys in the backfield, Bo being pressed more often, and no significant push moving the line of scrimmage 2-3 yards downfield. Maybe the offense is still trying to find it's RPO rhythm which cautions the push downfield and explains the ineligible man downfield penalties. Our third downs seem longer resulting in too many punts against our only real test so far (again penalties do play a large role). Last year, our offense feasted on 10-14 play drives because we easily converted every 3rd and occasional 4th and short. Concerns may be overblown, but there is little margin for error (stalled drives) against the likes of USC, Washington, WSU, and UCLA (if we meet in Vegas).

Colorado made the move that finished the PAC off. DL's comments were ill advised (likely out of frustration as well) but largely accurate. They were here for a dozen years, contributed very little to raising the PAC's national prowess, and then bounced to grift off another conference. Colorado, USC, and UCLA were all so terrible for so long while Oregon, Stanford, and Utah carried the torch for the PAC. If I'm Oregon and a fan of Oregon, I'm still more motivated against Colorado.

Great thing about Colorado's early season surge is that it will give Oregon the first opportunity to knock them off and notch a Top 25 win while they're still ranked. I don't want to see Nix running the ball more than 1-2 times a game when necessary, because I want this to be a special season, not an almost special season. There are still plenty of options in the running game including incorporating more tight end sets like Dilly did last year. Also haven't seen offense connect on any good seam routes yet.

These are the Enchantment Mountains outside Leavenworth. A 20 mile circuit with 5000ft of climbing and 7000ft descending all in one day. All 16 lakes along the way were picture perfect! And the whole time I couldn't wait to watch the Duck game (I don't look at the scoreboard until I watch recorded games).

Great, great thoughts on the game. I watched the game over a day late, because I was enjoying beautiful alpine lakes. Major kudos to TT for fighting extremely hard after a demoralizing loss to Wyoming. Major kudos to Oregon for winning essentially their first real game in an extremely hostile environment making far too many mistakes. A few thoughts and silver linings: -Oregon lost this game without losing this game. We were blessed with an enormous amount of learnings without paying the price of an actual loss. We now have experience that Washington, USC, UCLA, and Oregon St. don't have this year. -Do you think Dan Lanning made a mental note of TT going for it on 4th and 2 from inside their own 35? -TT front seven resembled Georgia from a year ago. They were fast and left everything out on that field. I felt they did a great job disguising what they wanted to do on D. Nix rarely ever had time and was scrambling far too much. Our O-Line did not have a great day and will be blessed with a long, hard look in the mirror. -However, it was clear that TT was selling out against the run and bringing extra defenders. Our coaches needed to make adjustments and shorten up the routes. I know Stein loves to have all 3 wideouts on the field and get the ball to the playmakers, but we should have seen more 2 tight end sets to get hat on hats instead of the confusion on blocks we saw. It would have given us bigger bodies out there and caused TT to hesitate more when your blockers are also receivers. -I wish TT nothing but the best for the rest of the year and hope they win the Big12 title. I really like Shough and the humility he brings to the game. Hope he crushes it the rest of the year.

Ha, sorry Charles. I didn't even see who the author was. It took me a long time just to find the article. Trust me that I believed it too! And I believe it will be improved this year as well - but that means the coaches have to get more out of the players and put them in positions to be successful. I believe the players we got in the transfer portal are more versatile than those we lost. My prediction is 14-1 with a national title. No one is getting through conference unbeaten. However, we'll win the title and our experience at QB will be the difference against Ohio St., Georgia, or Alabama for the title.

For the record, I think 12-0 is bold and achievable. The bold part of the equation is avoiding injuries and overcoming the psychology of going unbeaten. You have to play with a chip on your shoulder every week. Being ranked #15 and picked to finish fourth in the conference should eat away at the team all season long along with Kirby Smart's infamous remark, "We have better players." The psychology of a perfect season is so fascinating. Having one loss takes a lot of pressure of the mind and one loss can teach so many lessons and grow a team in a way that 12 wins just can't. Either way, I want to win the PAC12's final season, whether that's 1, 2, or 3 losses.