It was great to read that article. I'm surprised Plaschke didn't mention one of the greatest recruiting flips out of Southern California in his column, DAT.

Thanks for the link to Plaschke's article.  Great title and an interesting read.  It proves the shifting tides are not in our imagination.

I believe potential recruits are looking for teams they believe they will succeed at, will perform well, and play in bowl high-profile bowl games, like the Rose Bowl.  the facilities at Oregon are pretty good too . .. at least for football.  Oregon is well-positioned to leverage this season and Rose Bowl win.  They need an OC, but that Arroyo stayed on to coach through the Rose Bowl says something about the program. 

There are a number of challenges Oregon faces next year, such as replacing Herbert and much of the offensive line.  I'm confident Cristobal will make a good choice for an OC.  

USC is going to continue to struggle.  The program has been a series of dramas since Carroll left and they're now committed to Helton for at least one more year.  However, Helton's been on the chopping block from the moment he accepted the HC position and every game comes with a will-they-or-won't-they question about Helton's future.  Things like that don't bode well for recruiting.

UCLA is not performing well and Chip Kelly's magic hasn't found its way there.  And, it doesn't look promising . . . at least for now.

I can imagine the forest fires in Southern California are becoming more and more of a deterrent to living there.  Nothing against Southern California, but I'm Portland-born and love the Pacific Northwest.  

Pete wrote:

Thanks for the link to Plaschke's article.  Great title and an interesting read.  It proves the shifting tides are not in our imagination.

I believe potential recruits are looking for teams they believe they will succeed at, will perform well, and play in bowl high-profile bowl games, like the Rose Bowl.  the facilities at Oregon are pretty good too . .. at least for football.  Oregon is well-positioned to leverage this season and Rose Bowl win.  They need an OC, but that Arroyo stayed on to coach through the Rose Bowl says something about the program. 

There are a number of challenges Oregon faces next year, such as replacing Herbert and much of the offensive line.  I'm confident Cristobal will make a good choice for an OC.  

USC is going to continue to struggle.  The program has been a series of dramas since Carroll left and they're now committed to Helton for at least one more year.  However, Helton's been on the chopping block from the moment he accepted the HC position and every game comes with a will-they-or-won't-they question about Helton's future.  Things like that don't bode well for recruiting.

UCLA is not performing well and Chip Kelly's magic hasn't found its way there.  And, it doesn't look promising . . . at least for now.

I can imagine the forest fires in Southern California are becoming more and more of a deterrent to living there.  Nothing against Southern California, but I'm Portland-born and love the Pacific Northwest.  

As a California resident, I am constantly amazed at how many Duck fans live here. Oregon is a known quantity, and a respected brand here. Honestly there are more Duck fans here in my town than we had in Eugene-Springfield when I was growing up. 😂

I’m sure this was meant to stir the fan bases in SoCal, but I’m not sure there’s enough left to pressure those administrations.

As for Chip, don’t be surprised if UCLA isn’t markedly better this year. With the losses to graduation at Utah, and the overall pallor over USC, it could be ASU and UCLA vying for the south title next year.

North will again be stacked. Oregon Washington, Stanford will be improved, Cal looks formidable, WSU is never an easy out, and Oregon State will be improved as well.

Luckily UW, USC, Stanford, and ASU are at home. Cal is scarier at Autzen then in Berkeley, Pullman is a hard trip, we’re at Tucson (always a crapshoot how we play there) Boulder can be a hard trip, but should be winnable,  Civil War at Parker stadium? Never easy.

Is it time for the spring game yet?