Granted his release . . .the affect on who it is we might take is?

Watching him in the Semoer Fi game. So far in the first two series the kid can play. Throws a good deep ball too. Has solid wheels as well.

Three Sunday Questions:

1. Do you think Chip Kelly returns to college football or does he like what the NFL offers too much?

2. Who are the two strongest coaches on staff today and the two that could be upgraded the easiest?

3. Over the next 4 years if Helfrich continues to recruit well and keeps this staff, how many times do you think will Oregon make the playoffs? Keep in mind Stanford will drop, USC is a mess, and UW will never get it together. The Beavs are rebuilding, The Zona schools can't get the job done, and UCLA is cursed with health issues... Utah doesn't have the depth, and Cal is always overrated.

It is very interesting the dilemma Oregon football has put itself in. The defense this year was very unreliable. A few good games and a number of good halves but overall one of the worst defenses in the country. The talent seems to be there with some decent depth.

So that of course leaves us with coaching.

When Helfrich was asked in the presser last week if DP would be the DC next year he answered "we all have to improve". Hardly a ringing endorsement.

But on the other hand, Helfrich is a very nice guy and I wonder if he would ever fire anybody that didn't do something criminal. And then there is the fact that the donor base has to be kept happy and right now, I doubt they are.

Then of course there is what I see as fact that Pellum has spent most of his life loyal to Oregon football. His playing career and his coaching career has been as a Duck. In that light is firing him and cutting him loose fair?

How about a demotion back to LB coach? That too presents problems because then you would need somebody else on the staff to be the DC because the Ducks are fully staffed to the NCAA limit of number of coaches.

I realize there are many, many people who simply want to see Pellum fired. I don't know if it's as simple and straightforward as that.

The next few months will be interesting indeed.

The facts are the facts. Our defense was terrible this year. We were at the bottom of basically every category in college Football. I am a big believer that Helfrich will learn from his mistakes this year. You watch, we will have more Quarterbacks in the stable than any other Pac 12 team moving forward. Mark needs to step to the plate and hire the best Defensive Coordinator available. Pellum had the talent to work with, but Mark just got caught with to backup quarterback problem. That can be fixed, but not our defense and the way its coached. If Helfrich does not replace Pellum he moves to the top of the chopping block and another season like this will not be tolerated, but I think he is smarter than that. I believe he makes the defensive coordinator move and we see overall improvement next year, both defensively and on the offense. He has the talent and smarts to learn from his mistakes, and I believe giving him the chance to improve is the best call.

So the National News was just running a story on the "The Greatest Comeback in College Football Bowl History". It was the lead story on several national web pages last night like Yahoo.

Apparently the TCU QB had never started a game. They did not discuss the historically bad Oregon defense, the late game collapses, and the complete breakdown of the Oregon QB which clearly made the comeback possible.

But how does Helfrich live this down? Some of the most embarrassing defeats in a decade have come with him at the helm. The Ducks haven't been slapped like this since some of the Civil War beatdowns of the Bellotti era or the WSU debacle from around 2003. The disasters are happening a little too frequently.

So now this is being replayed over and over again on a National Stage. Wow. Salt in the wound.

Next year will be fascinating, but the next few months will be pivotal in determining what happens next season. The decisions he makes in the next few weeks will define his time at Oregon. Choose wisely Mark.

I remember a Ken Woody column in the fall where he closed with the question: "Watch the sideline and see if it looks like they know what they are doing". We will see in the coming weeks.

So what do you guys expect to see regarding scheme, style, and coaches? Does Mark have the huevos to make changes? Will we see some evolution?

Here is what DP had to say after the game.

Pellum talks after Alamo Bowl

How about now????? Lubes is great? Best coach is already on staff? Really? We have JV coaches and we want to win at the highest level???

Don Pellum is retained as DC for the foreseeable future?

What a hoot that would be

I love the kid. I think he just needs a few more starts, and he will be a star.

Not counting O.T., we had a total of ~43 yards in the 2nd half....43 yards!!!!!!

The defense was bad X 100 but 43 yards in a whole half????? IMO Lubick didn't help much either (although he gets a pass due to new job)....there had to be some safe passes we could have completed to help out. Our receivers were open all 1st half, suddenly they couldn't get open?

This headache may take a few days to go away.....

By no means am I an SEC advocator, but...

Between Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Ole Miss, MSU, and LSU there opponents averaged 9 ppg in bowls and gave up 39.7 ppg in bowls, and still have Arkansas and UGA(they will get throttled). Of course they also had their embarrassments too, but this was a pretty dominant bowl season for the conference, and will likely win the national title by a substantial margin too.

and I don't think Robert is going to accept the head football coaching job!

actually that isn't very nice., but i'm just kidding. I like Mark. He's a good football coach.

per MH at the presser

I caught up with Coach Lubick after the game to talk about his first game as OC

Lubick post-game

My best friend is a Husky fan (don't admit that often!). He now lives on the east coast, but back in the 90's, we would take turns taking each other to the Duck - Husky games. He always made the case that the Huskies reloaded each year, while the Ducks had to rebuild. Pissed me off a little...but he was right. (Obviously times have changed for UW)

My question for y'all is this: next year...are we going to reload or rebuild? Are there different answers by position or unit? QB? O- line? DB's? LB's? Etc.

I have my opinions, of course, but would love to have a positive and thoughtful discussion.

I might have seen a different game than some of you...

I thought that the defense played very well in the first half.

The TCU QB was pressured a lot, we blitzed a lot (even the TV commentator stated that all of the pressure was not Oregon's "MO".)

I loved it.

Pretty darned good performance by the D.

Then, at half time, TCU makes some adjustments and we do not......

Then, through out the whole second half we do not seem to make adjustments .

I say we do not "seem" to make adjustments because I am not a coach and I don't know what DP does or does not do.

I do know this however: we had almost no edge control the whole second half. We would pressure the QB and he would go right or left, but he would get around the edge pretty easily.

We had no containment and it made it very easy for their QB to escape, time and time again.

Our rush would pinch down to the interior and leave him escape routes to the outside...no gap control.

Where where the DEs or the LBs?

That's the thing....they make adjustments and it works for them...we have to make a counter adjustment...in-game adjustments. We cannot just keep playing the same scheme if the offense has changed.

Corey

I know this is always a questions, but is it a concern that we have ZERO DL commits? Are there some still possible? Any insight here would be appreciated!!!

.....Would seem like the most obvious choice for them, no? I mean they have given so much and next year doesn't look so bright with brenner and lockie possibly leading them onto the field.

Only hope now is for Hanson to take the snaps and Prukop be the real deal.

this is not about Vernon Adams injury.

After the storm of outrage and self pity that followed our implausible defeat I was wondering if the event could be part of future Oregon resurgence, inspired by the phrase, "Remember the Alamo"...and decided that amnesia was the better option.

But after five Advils and watching the Sunday Morning segment on transcendental meditation, a few moments of introspection brought a the surprising calm that follows resignation. It's sort of like what happens when a hunger for bananas gives rise to binge eating so many that a glimpse of Chiquita Banana brings immediate nausea. You resolve to move on.

Looking back on the past year of DSA debates over coaching and recruitment, the serial truth is that I've, we've,... seemed to have lost a semblance of pleasure in our commentaries. While this may be my own observation, re reading the threads inspired by a historical loss, especially my own, indulgent posts... has brought the realization that no athletic event is worth the angst that is normally reserved for death in the family.

Obsession is not exactly a healthy quality to bring to a public forum because it frequently brings out the worst in us...in sometimes angry challenges to the opinions of others and in repetitious scolding of coaches that reduces my, our, posts to boring and obvious whines.

I resolve to correct this over the coming year, by being a lot less obsessive and to begin to treat football as it should be treated....as a game and not a life struggle...and to put it in it's place. Just like the unhappiness of last night should disappear in our rear view mirror as we look forward to the New Year with more optimism.

Happy New Year, all.

Ok...I have been wondering about this all season and now that the season is over, maybe its time to ask about it.

As we all know, we had a very young and inexperienced secondary this year, yet most of the kids were highly rated coming in.

Why is it then that from almost the first of the season I have heard the coaches talking about simplifying the defensive schemes for these kids.

In fact I have heard through out most of the season that the coaches kept "dumbing down" the schemes.

I get the inexperience part but......

Am I to believe that these kids are stupid? Can't buy that.

Am I to believe that the coaches are not very good teachers? Neal seems pretty good.

Am I to believe that the scheme is just way to complicated?

And if the scheme has to be dumbed down for our players, doesn't that give an advantage to our opponents? (yes).

I truly do not know the answer.

Any thoughts?

Corey

am I crazy or is this the biggest choke in college football history?

The incredible part is that it is 70% about one guy. Doug Brenner is not a Division 1 center. He is not a high school center. There are 115 or so g football players on one of the supposed top programs in the country. Are you telling me that there is not one of those 115 players that can snap the ball 5 feet back to the QB?

Yes, the defense played horrible in the 2nd half. Yes, Charles Nelson had the worst game of his career. Yes, Chris Seisay was beyond bad. Yes, Lockie was Lockie, but really it all comes down to the Oregon coaches not being able to recruit a Division 1 center who can simply snap the ball back to the QB

That very simply is why the Ducks will go down in bowl game history as the biggest choke of all time. I don't really even blame Brenner. He is put in a position to do something he has no ability to do. It would be like putting me at QB. who is the 3rd string QB? He can't snap the ball better than that?

Fire him. Outcoached and out adjusted at half. So pathetic its obvious. I don't care if we have a few down years. He isn't up to the job. Rant over......