It has been posted that Noah Whittington had a season ending leg injury. Has anyone kept up on Noah's progress in
rehabbing the injury. Hopefully he will be full go for spring ball? Go Ducks! PMM

Some would say that the 1989 season under the leadership of head coach Rich Brooks was a significant improvement and achieved notable successes – but I think it really only reinforced how special the 1988 season could have been and the kind of grit Musgrave had that season.
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Moss having a really good game. I wonder if he's one of the reasons Nelson split?

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Maybe OS???

Sometimes they try too hard.😏


And I think that's Andy McNamara in the video. He used to be one of the SIDs at UO.

Who says that Oregon is no longer a sprint school?

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From Mandel's Mail Bag, The Athletic

Which of the four West Coast schools is the least prepared to move to the Big Ten, and why is it UCLA? With the loss of a defensive coordinator and multiple defensive players to USC of all schools, the loss of a potential star quarterback in Dante Moore, and the No. 17-ranked recruiting class out of 18 Big Ten schools, it would appear that UCLA is not just settling in for mediocrity, but for a bottom third finish in the Big Ten for the foreseeable future. Thoughts? — Michael in Charlotte, NC

UCLA is in trouble. No other way to say it.

We’re so conditioned to see middling programs just keep throwing more and more money at the problem, whether it pays dividends or not. UCLA has done the opposite. Six years ago, it fired Jim Mora after a 46-30 tenure that included two 10-win seasons. Six years later, it opted to stick with Chip Kelly, despite a 35-34 tenure. The aforementioned Lynn was the Bruins’ highest-paid assistant this season, making $1.02 million — which put him at 51st nationally, according to USA Today.

But this all stems from past financial mismanagement of the athletic department under former AD Dan Guerrero, coupled with the pandemic, that put UCLA into a deep athletics deficit — $28 million in 2022, $131 million over four years. AD Martin Jarmond, who began his job in May 2020, has spent the entirety of his tenure digging out from under that debt. The Big Ten became the Bruins’ financial lifeline, but clearly, the school is not willing to emulate what desperate football powers do and spend money it doesn’t yet possess.

There’s no indication the school is prepared to spend big on football, and UCLA is a complete non-factor in NIL — which is unfortunate for Chip Kelly since he relies heavily on the portal to be competitive. Not surprisingly, the Bruins’ fan base is, accordingly, checked out. UCLA averaged 47,950 at home games this season, down from 70,000+ a decade ago.

As best I can tell, the strategy is to spend as little as possible until UCLA gets budget-neutral before making any heavy investments. This may be the wise thing to do financially, but will likely result in a particularly rough induction into Big Ten football.

Brutal day for Texas A&M and Oregon State​

Wednesday’s portal hit Texas A&M and Oregon State especially hard. The Aggies, who signed the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class in 2022, saw several of those prospects enter the portal, including defensive linemen Walter Nolen (No. 1 overall) and LT Overton (No. 6), and tight end Jake Johnson (No. 106). Offensive lineman Chase Bistontis, ESPN’s No. 61 recruit in the 2023 class, who started throughout his freshman season, also went into the portal, alongside starting cornerback Tyreek Chappell and reserve defensive back B.J. Allen.



Oregon State knew Aidan Chiles was headed to the portal, but the promising freshman officially went in Wednesday, along with tight end Jack Velling, who had 438 receiving yards and eight touchdowns this season. The Beavers also saw safety Akili Arnold, who had 60 tackles and two interceptions, officially enter the portal. Arnold’s brother, inside linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold, also is set to enter the portal soon. Mascarenas-Arnold leads Oregon State with 107 tackles and added two interceptions and two sacks.
-- Adam Rittenberg

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College football transfer portal updates: Latest news on who's in and out

We're tracking college football players who intend to transfer to new schools for the 2024 season, including several starting quarterbacks.

www.espn.com

A couple more reasons to watch on 1/1. These two should be fun to watch. Pleasant will move right into track after this game.

Scott, will you be attending this year? Always look forward to your interviews and reports. Looks like a ton of Ducks will be there.
Fri. Jan 19th

Pretty bold, but then many were shocked UO lost to UW for a 3d straight time costing them what is likely to be the easiest path to a Championship we will ever see. That is, unless the CFBP goes back to 4-6 teams, as it should be.

I had heard there may be problems with UH hosting the Oregon game, and this story certainly points that out. It's unclear from the story how conference realignment might affect the UO-UH game, but notes that it is to be played in a 15,000-seat field that is temporarily being used while a new UH stadium is built. I bet there will be at least 15K Duck fans making that trip.

In case you missed it over the holidays:

Brandon Dorlus will cap his Oregon career with a 57th game, including his third New Year’s Six bowl.