Starting with the snap counts. Brown, Sala, Forsyth and Bass played every snap.

The university has a lot of generous benefactors. I don’t always post a donation of a million dollars, but this is something that should help Oregon’s rapidly improving Law School. Also, notice Oregon Tower looming over the landscape. This symbol of Oregon track and field will connect the university to its track legacy to everyone who visits the campus.

I will do a Fifth Quarter tomorrow, but wanted to share some early thoughts:

- Anthony Brown did not play 'bad' he played within himself this game and did not try to do too much. His stats were good precisely because he did not try to force passes down the field. I think that is about the coaching this week and Moorhead did a really good job giving Brown plays he could make. Yes, he is limited and that is hurting Oregon's offensive production.
- I thought it took too long before Cardwell got a carry, but I think he should get more.
- Travis Dye was the best player on the field for most of the game.
- Noah Sewell played beast mode for a good part of the night. Some people might have missed it, but late in the 4th quarter, he laid on the field for a few minutes and the shoulder he hurt earlier this year was clearly still bothering him. He led the team with 12 total tackles and 1.5 TFL.
- While this seems to get me shunned, my quick staff analysis: the reason that they are sticking with Brown is NOT because he is better; it is because he takes fewer risks; he makes fewer mistakes. I do think that if Oregon wants to get to the next level offensively, the offense is going to have to be willing to take some risks.
- Clearly Seven McGee is not hurt and I think it again shows the conservative nature of the staff. A fear of making mistakes is a sign of allowing pressure (expectations) get to you.
- At this point barring injury or an ugly loss, it looks like conservative 'not to lose' football will be the path for the rest of this season.
- The Ducks had 9 more penalties and 2 fumbles, so we could hardly call this team disciplined or mistake free.

On Twitter his mom posted a broken heart emoji. Must be a significant injury.
Any update?

We all knew it, this is a nice summary.

6’6” 290 and still growing. Grant is from deep in the heart of SEC country, Baton Rouge LA. I haven’t identified the other recruits in the photo. I have checked Grant’s stats and they aren’t impressive. However, he is being recruited by other D1 programs, so perhaps he has joined a summer track program and shown a lot of improvement. As of now I don’t know the story on him.

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Something hit my brain last night while Brown was running around that whole 2nd half.

Should my expectations of what the QB position contributes to the offense change?

If the intent is to use him in the run game in this way, I think the answer is yes. Perhaps this season our QB isn't going to be asked to throw for 300 yds and 3 or 4 scores to be successful.

I don't like my passing QB running for a hundred yards but, if he's a running back that can throw enough to be dangerous while giving me that hundred on the ground on planned runs.....I'm along for the ride this year.

Let go Ducks!

EUGENE, Ore. — The Oregon football team has earned its highest Associated Press ranking since 2014, moving up one spot to No. 4 in the latest top-25 poll released on Sunday. UO also moved up one spot to No. 5 in the AFCA Coaches poll.

The Ducks (9-1, 6-1 Pac-12) are currently No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings, and are coming off a 38-24 win over Washington State on Saturday night in Autzen Stadium.

Oregon is in the top five of the AP poll for the second week in a row, and its No. 4 ranking is the highest since the Ducks closed the 2014 season at No. 2.

The Ducks will head to Salt Lake City this weekend to face off with No. 24 Utah on Saturday (4:30 p.m. PT, ABC). Oregon would clinch the Pac-12 North Division title with a win over the Utes or an Oregon State loss to Arizona State.

Dana’s on 🔥

Here we go up in the press box. Great fun catching up with Scott and Brandon before the game at the tailgate. Here we go, 45 minutes until KO.

I thought I did well on this pick until I ran this this morning and found out BluesDuck, Fishman and the DSA average all got the score prediction exactly right. Wow great job!!!

Died at 87. One of the toughest men to ever play the game.

We give our odds here.

Interesting the Ducks' next opponent not looking as good this week as last week.

Unlike the football trend my heart wasn't challenged. Oregon scored NBA style vs what looked like NBA defense (not very much) and passed the 50 point pace easily before the first quarter was done and matched it by halftime. From there things slowed down a bit but another 86 point game created a sizable margin.

Against an enabling SMU barrier the Ducks hit at least their first five 3 point shots, from the hands of four different marksmen. Overall Oregon didn't miss many shots at all and had offensive rebounds on some of the misses. This team can score a lot of points regardless of who is on the floor in what will become Altman's routine rotation. I think the combination of Guerrier and Williams is going to be close to what Duarte and Williams did last year. Eric has improved an already good game Quincy has the same skill set, a little less developed, than Duarte had. We'll see.

"We'll see" is kind of the operative phrase for now. There is a lot promise and some things to work on. This is only the second time this group has been out on the floor for real so it should be a few games before they gel, then continue to improve. Last night the primary improvement needed was foul shot shooting though Altman has a few other factors that need more than just a little polishing. Every guy on the team should be shooting 100 or so foul shots, when they are tired, some of them with a coach to point out whatever little things needing adjustment. In the first game the Ducks shot well from the stripe so I am not terribly worried about what they can do,

Big man play is another creaking joint in the machine. I saw things from all three that I liked, and areas that need some work. Frank again, as in the opener, show flashes of dominance but not a complete game. I'm not worried when he is out there as I would be if we had to rely on Johnson or Bittle. Neither has what I would want from a starter though I think both can get there. They also are too obviously freshmen for whom the game has not slowed down yet. Johnson seems to have pretty good eyes as evidenced by a nice assist. Bittle can get to the right spot but can't easily complete his defensive assignment without fouling. They'll get there.

While the Ducks played some nice defense, forcing most of the turnovers SMU had rather than waiting for unforced errors, they are still at the point where they are learning what their teammates will be doing so they can rely on them. It's a pretty normal thing after so little time on the court together. Under the basket, the combination of bigs and quicks causes the opposition some real problems. Not so much from beyond the arc. If the Ponies shot as accurately on open shots as the Ducks did, it would have been a closer, maybe exciting for visitor fans, game. Once we have a couple of reliable guys in the paint on defense, I think this will improve. Those quicks will be able to play closer to the three point line.

It also seems like the Ducks aren't really in game shape yet. No dangerous surprise. They started out fast and were more than SMU could handle as evidenced by the lopsided score early. The visitors closed the gap to 15 by half time and lost the second stanza by fewer points though the Ducks did outscore them again. I'm sure some of it was due to halftime adjustments but more than I liked came from missing shots, both from the outside, where misses are more common anyway, but also cripples that should have been gathered, and had been in the early part of the game. The miscues were by solid players and I expect that with some time on the court this will become less common. I really think the guys were just a little spent, not used to 40 minutes of competitive basketball.

Still, I am extremely happy with what I watch out there. The team is miles ahead of where they were at this point last year, Having no extreme Covid limitations is part of it while having Richardson healthy is a bigger deal. He is the next Oregon first round draft pick, maybe not as high as Duarte, perhaps ahead of Pritchard. Williams and Guerrier provide a solid steady influence. I haven't said much about Jacob young yet but will be doing so along with everyone else soon. I think he's another first rounder coming. Most of his damage has been in the first half when he exploits, sometime creates, opportunity and finishes. Once he is needed for a full game he will answer the bell and could be "the guy" in addition to Richardson.

Wow!.

I'm a little concerned about losing some guys to the portal in the off season, but what the heck, the talent pool is going to be outrageous for the next few years. Altman also was able to talk about them in the post game last night. He mentioned that Johnson has OAD aspirations.


Starting at 8 minutes discusses the 3 signees.

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A Baylor win cushions our playoff chances if we win out.