Not much to add that hasn't already been said... but I tried.

Hoping to write some more positive articles in the coming days.

Final Thoughts Before Oregon v Portland State

It’s been a bad week to be a Duck fan and we get the first sign of a potential program turnaround.

I think basically everyone is waiting to see what things were fixed over the short week. For me, I want to see if anything's changed on the OL. If both the tackles don't show improvement the offense is doomed for the rest of the season.

Thank you, David.

Oregon has a perfect opponent to get things right, and then an extra day to prepare for SC. SC plays Rutgers on Saturday with a 3:30 Eastern kickoff. I hope SC having to travel to Jersey and back will help the Ducks.

It will also help if Oregon has extra time to heal, particularly Jamari Johnson. There is no backup TE with Johnson's skill and experience. I think one of the reasons Dante looked lost last Saturday was due to not having a reliable TE target on the field.

OBD best figure things out soon. The competition hasn't been as difficult, and all three games were in LA, but as of today, I think SC is superior at every position group. Maiava is the QB playing at a Heisman-like level, and a freshman TE and freshman WRs have stepped up.

Ferguson going down stinks. A'lique Terry is an excellent coach. To date, it looks like Oregon made a lot of mistakes with O-line recruiting evaluations and with not being more active in the portal. Drew Mehringer is not on the field missing blocks.

Looking at the last three CFB champs, an experienced roster helps. But experienced players have to be paid, and even though it's at the top of CFB, there is a ceiling to Oregon's roster budget.

On the D-line, a lot of young talent portaled out. Is there anyone with talent pushing experienced D-line starters? And it would be nice to have Kingston Lopa at Cal. Last Saturday, Lopa led Cal to victory at Syracuse.

CFB roster management is a critical component of today's game. In 2026, did Dan and friends get it right?

In the vein of misery loves company, I note that last Saturday, against LA Tech, the uber-expensive LSU O-line surrendered five sacks and Sam Leavitt threw three interceptions in the first half, including a pick-6. (In his senior year, Sam and his West Linn High School teammates won the Oregon state championship.)

In CFB, if you don't have a quality O-line, you better have a dual-threat QB. In last season's playoffs, Trinidad Chambliss was the reason Ole Miss defeated Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, and in the semifinal game, he almost took down Miami.

The White Out loss to Oregon last season fractured preseason top-two-ranked Penn State. Beginning on Friday night, I hope Oregon starts a run that makes us forget the Broncos and Cowboys. But does this team have the horses to do so?

Sometimes a loss is the best thing that can happen to you........Even two (Ohio State) might be a positive.

College football has evolved. It's all about the playoffs.....the conference means little.

Let's see a more solidified O Line (there are some hurt guys but overall the players need to be mostly locked at their positions). I want to see the D Line getting home more often and causing havoc at the line of scrimmage. We need to clean up the mental mistakes. I'd rather have a penalty for playing aggressively than a stupid mistake like a late hit or a flagrant foul.

This will be an opportunity for Dante to use everything that has been said about him and turn it into an advantage. Can he properly disguise his pre-snap looks? Can he settle down in the pocket and throw receivers open rather than hoping someone is just wide open? Can he operate as a genuine leader and keep the team focused for 4 quarters?

I am hoping for a complete game of football from the Ducks tomorrow.