I tend to be overly critical at times when it comes to the Ducks. I sure was wrong about that game last night. I am so glad they got. Cristobal instead of Taggart though...
Taggart sold snake oil...because he's a snake. The way he left (
and the impact his departure had on recruiting) added to some of the failures he had as coach (
remember the off-season workouts by the poorly certified S&C coach that hospitalized 3 players? remember the OC Taggart hired that got a DUI and was fired after two weeks?)
he did bring in some great assistant coaches though, but still, him getting axed in less than 2 seasons at FSU seems like rough justice to Duck fans. And it's pretty certain Pat Kilkenny was laughing considering how Taggart misused Kilkenny's private jet (
took it for a recruiting trip to see more than a dozen recruits in the south, but flew to an interview with the FSU AD instead, then ordered the jet back to Eugene so he could quit...he only saw one Duck recruiting target and tried to recruit him to FSU....while on Oregon's payroll) yeah, fuck that guy
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That just about every player on the team was lobbying hard for MC to become head coach was quite a testament to the impact he was having with the players. The Ducks needed to hire a new coach ASAP, and having one head coach leaving a year after the earlier on was fired left Oregon in a really bad spot. A lot of Duck fans, and boosters, wanted PJ Fleck, and Fleck was lobbying for the job. But the AD went for the adult in the room in MC
I'll admit, when MC started to describe his vision for the identity he wanted Oregon to have I was skeptical. The Ducks had led the Pac-12 in rushing for about 12 straight years by recruiting rangy 6'5-6'8 offensive linemen with great mobility and building them into the type of OLine they wanted; guys who could get to the 2nd level and block LB's and DB's for runs around the edges as well as between the tackles. I questioned if MC's vision of a huge, physical OLine with downhill running, SEC style, would really work in the Pac-12
I'm still a bit skeptical, but wow, the way Oregon beat Utah really showed what MC's vision could be. That was a dominant Duck performance in the trenches, on both sides of the ball.
It's too bad they blew the ASU game; that was just a perfect storm of bad circumstance for the Ducks. At the same time, watching Ohio State and LSU...the Ducks just aren't at that level. Even winning the Rose Bowl will be a tall order
Oregon is losing a lot to graduation on offense. Herbert; the 4 senior starters on the OLine, and they lose Brady Aiello and George Moore from the line too. Juwan Johnson is gone. They lose their punter. On defense they lose Troy Dye, Drayton Carlberg, Gary Baker, La'mar Winston and Bryson Young. But they have quite a bit of established depth on defense so those losses seem a lot more replaceable than the OLine. Hopefully, none of Jordon Scott, Thomas Graham, or Deommodore Lenoir declare for the draft, but that might be a faint hope.
The Ducks need to continue to recruit, and they need to land some elite talent at RB, WR, and TE. They haven't done that at the level that Mike Bellotti, Chip Kelly, and Helfrich did. They have to do better. Next season, MC won't have the security blanket of that experienced QB and OLine. That's going to be a major test of his coaching. And you just about have to anticipate the Ducks will lose an assistant coach or two. Arroyo might be the next HC at Nevada