Kalen DeBoer – Page 15 – Syndication Server

Washington coach Kalen DeBoer breaks down top-10 matchup vs. Oregon

Washington coach, as well as Oregon’s own Dan Lanning, know how important this game and the rivalry is between the two teams. If they didn’t know it before last season’s game, they certainly know it now.

Both coaches are in their second years at their programs and for DeBoer, the rebuilding process was a little more daunting than in Eugene. But he says he’s happy with the giant progress the Huskies have made and they’ll ready to go on Saturday.

“The thing for us is that we wanted to make sure that this weekend was big,” DeBoer said in his weekly news conference. “I’m proud of the guys on how they’ve weekly taken care of business. Hopefully you saw this as inevitable that it came to this point. We have a lot of respect for Oregon and what they’ve done with their season.”

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The two programs are at a point in time where they mirror each other and for a long time, it hasn’t been that way. It seemed as if one program would have the upper hand on the other, but even down to having problems with too many penalties, the Ducks and Huskies could be considered twins in some respect.

On Saturday, however, the Dawgs will have a tremendous advantage with the game being at Husky Stadium and DeBoer hopes the atmosphere will be the difference.

“I think there is another level (of noise and craziness) and I’m excited to see it this weekend,” he said.

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Husky Stadium is certainly one of the loudest football stadiums in the country and rivals Autzen Stadium. But that doesn’t mean the road team doesn’t have a shot. Washington managed to win in Eugene just last year and DeBoer says that win created a belief within his program and is a large part of why they’re at where they’re at now.

“There was a good build-up to that game with a close win over Oregon State and as we’ve building up and winning close games and fighting through some adversity,” DeBoer said. “We were learning about ourselves and how we can get through it. That one (the win over the Ducks) certainly put us over the top in the belief and the trust in what we were doing at that point,”

Washington is 8-0 since that win in Eugene and the Huskies look for their 13th straight win overall, while the Ducks will be trying to halt all of that momentum.

Oregon vs. Washington: ‘Tale of the Tape’ for No. 8 Ducks vs. No. 7 Huskies

It’s not often that a matchup is so razor-thin that we need to call in the advanced statistics to see who has the slightest edge. However, in this week’s top-10 showdown between the No. 8 Oregon Ducks and No. 6 Washington Huskies, looking at the basic key statistics that we typically use wasn’t good enough.

It was still a dead-even split on paper.

So with Bo Nix and Michael Penix squaring off on Saturday, and Dan Lanning calling his second game against Kalen DeBoer, we had to dive a bit deeper into the numbers to try and determine which team had the upper hand. This game is up in Seattle, so the Huskies will undoubtedly have an advantage when it comes to the environment, playing in one of the most hostile venues on the West Coast.

ESPN’s College GameDay will be there, and the fanfare will be off the charts as both teams look to step into the role of Pac-12 darlings early in this season with a win.

Here’s a deep dive into the numbers to figure out which potential darling has the edge on paper.

20 potential candidates to replace Mel Tucker as Michigan State football’s coach

Who could potentially replace Mel Tucker? We came up with 20 coaches to consider.

Following an in-depth investigation by USA TODAY into the allegations made by Brenda Tracy against Mel Tucker, the university placed Mel Tucker on an unpaid suspension.

Operating under the assumption that Tucker has coached his last game as the head man of the Michigan State football program, as Lansing State Journal reporter Graham Couch speculated, the Spartans will be in the market for a new leader of their football program.

Check out some of the potential candidates Michigan State could look to bring in:

Pac-12 Preview: Washington out to prove it’s not a one-hit wonder

Washington is set up to have another really good season on the gridiron, but it would be hard-pressed to repeat last year’s success.

As June starts to roll into July, and July eventually leads us to the start of fall camps at the beginning of August, the 2023 college football season will be here before we know it. What a season it projects to be in the Pac-12 Conference, as well. With a handful of College Football Playoff contenders, and a group of Heisman Trophy candidates leading their prospective teams, we could be set up for one of the best football seasons out west that we’ve seen in decades. To help get us prepared, we at Ducks Wire wanted to go through each team in the conference and give a comprehensive breakdown of each school, breaking down their 2023 outlook. Welcome to our Pac-12 Previews. New editions will be published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday leading up to the start of fall camp.

Check out our previously published previews: Arizona Wildcats — Arizona State Sun Devils — California Golden Bears — Colorado Buffaloes — Oregon State Beavers — Stanford Cardinal — UCLA Bruins — USC Trojans — Utah Utes

The Washington Huskies surprised the college football world last season by going 11-2 and winning the Alamo Bowl over Texas, 27-20. Nearly everything went right for the Dawgs, which was a far cry from the two previous seasons with Jimmy Lake as coach.

But even then, no one could have expected for quarterback Michael Penix, an average and often injured signal caller from Indiana, to come to Seattle and tear it up. And then he surprised people by announcing he would return for one more season.

Washington also returns one of the best receiving corps in the country with Rome Odunze and Jalen McMillan leading the way. But the offensive line doesn’t have a lot of experience and the defense could be a weak point many Pac-12 teams will exploit.

They have a tougher schedule than one would expect, but the talent in Seattle should be enough for another successful season in 2023. They won’t go 11-2 again, but considering where the program was just two years ago, Huskies fans will be satisfied.

Where the top-rated players in the Northwest are committed to play in 2024 class

Is the top talent in the northwest staying in the northwest? Take a look at where Oregon and Washington’s best players have committed in 2024.

One of the most important keys to recruiting in the world of college football is being able to hold onto the talent that is close to home. While the Oregon Ducks have seen some massive success over the past decade recruiting on a national scale and bringing in top players from states like Texas, Florida, and California, what keeps a brand strong is the ability to hold onto the players who grow up in your backyard.

It’s that reason that the USC Trojans were so dominant in the recruiting game for much of this century; they were able to hold onto the elite players who grew up in California and get them to play in Los Angeles.

While the state of Oregon and Washington may not produce as much talent as places like California, Georgia, or Florida at the high school football level, it is still pivotal for success to make sure that the best players in your neck of the woods don’t take off to play elsewhere.

When Dan Lanning came to Oregon, he said that was among his top keys to success in the recruiting game.

So when we look at the Pacific Northwest — Oregon, Washington, and Idaho — who are the top-rated players in the 2024 class, and where are they currently committed or trending to sign? Let’s take a look:

Washington lands commitment from 4-star OL Paki Finau

Maintaining these good vibes will require some gains in the recruiting department.

Washington was one of the biggest surprises in college football last season. After going 4-8 under previous head coach Jimmy Lake, the Huskies went 11-2 in their first year under Kalen DeBoer. Their rise should continue into 2023, as most of Washington’s key players decided not to declare for the NFL draft, keeping together the core of the roster for another run.

No matter how they perform on the field this year, maintaining these good vibes and building a long-term Pac-12 contender will require some gains in the recruiting department. On that score, there’s good news for Washington fans: Yesterday, Oak Hills (Calif.) four-star offensive lineman Paki Finau announced his commitment to the Huskies.

Along with the graphic, Finau shared a statement on his Twitter account:

“I would like to thank all the schools and coaches for putting their time and effort into me during this recruiting process, I truly appreciate everything! With that being said, I have talked to my parents and close guardians, although it was a hard decision, I would like to announce my commitment to The University of Washington! #GoDAWGS”

Going by the 247Sports rankings, Finau (6-foot-4, 265 pounds) is No. 11 among interior offensive linemen in his class, No. 24 overall in California and No. 216 nationally. He had offers from 25 other programs, including Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Oregon and Washington State.

After adding Finau, Washington’s class of 2024 has three hard commits and ranks No. 57 in the country.

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LSU’s top 10 recruits of 2023

Which Pac-12 coaches made the most in contract bonuses for 2022 season?

Jonathan Smith made an extra $25,000 for OSU’s win over the Ducks in 2022. See what other contract incentives were paid out to Pac-12 coaches this season.

When football coaches get new jobs and change teams in the ever-churning coaching carousel at the college level, one of the most notable things that fans and media members often end up looking at after the hire is complete is the compensation that your school is giving up.

Sometimes it’s an astronomical amount, like Alabama’s Nick Saban, who reportedly made $10.95 million in 2022 alone. Other times it seems far more reasonable. Often, though, the base salary is just part of the overall contract, though. While many coaches work for an annual salary, there are almost always incentives and bonuses that come along if certain milestones are met. Those incentives can kick in if the team becomes bowl eligible, reaches a conference championship game, or sometimes even if they simply beat their biggest rival.

For coaches at public universities, this information is made known through records requests, but the same can’t be said for private universities. Now that the 2022 season is behind us, USA TODAY went through and tallied up the incentives and bonuses that were made over the last year, taking a look at which coaches made off the best when all was said and done.

Our eyes immediately went to the coaches in the Pac-12. Here are how the coaches out west fared when it came to contract bonuses.

2022 Pac-12 Coach of the Year: Down to two men, and Lincoln Riley is one of them

It can be only one of two men for #Pac12 Coach of the Year: Washington’s Kalen DeBoer or #USC’s Lincoln Riley. Let’s evaluate:

We are just a few days away from Thanksgiving. That means the college football regular season is almost over. That means it’s the time of year to discuss college football awards for the season.

USC quarterback Caleb Williams is centrally involved in the Heisman Trophy race. USC’s defensive line coach, Shaun Nua, is a Broyles Award semifinalist. USC defensive lineman Tuli Tuipulotu is a prime contender for Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. USC is well-represented in various awards races.

One other award in which the Trojans have a prime candidate: 2022 Pac-12 Coach of the Year. Let’s look at where Lincoln Riley stands in the larger race:

Cal offensive coordinator, who torched Alex Grinch’s USC defense, gets fired

Cal scored 35 vs USC and was then crushed by Oregon State. Justin Wilcox fired his OC. That and more in this #USC / #Pac12 notebook:

There is a lot to keep track of in the world of Pac-12 football after a crazy Week 11 and heading into a Week 12 which features two mammoth games.

“Showdown Saturday” gives the Pac-12 the two biggest games of the coming weekend in college football. USC-UCLA is the first game at 8 Eastern and Utah-Oregon is second at 10:30. We will preview those games as the week unfolds, but for now, let’s look back at Week 11 and offer some updates on Pac-12 teams plus sharing some rankings from analysts and commentators.

We start with the fact that California and head coach Justin Wilcox fired offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave just over a week after Cal scored 35 against USC. Cal was flattened by Oregon State this past Saturday.

Imagine what a team with USC’s offense and Oregon State’s defense would look like.

Let’s go into our Pac-12 and USC notebook:

Notable quotes from Dan Lanning as No. 6 Ducks put final touches on No. 25 Huskies prep

Only a few more sleeps before Oregon vs. Washington kicks off. Check out what Lanning had to say as the Ducks continue to prepare for the Huskies.

In just a few days, the newest chapter of the Oregon Ducks vs. Washington Huskies rivalry is going to be started. With Dan Lanning and Kalen DeBoer squaring off for the first time, we’re going to be in for a treat.

This feels like one of the more important matchups that we’ve seen in quite some time between these two teams. Not only are both schools represented by new coaching staffs and a fresh belief that their team is heading in the right direction, but it also comes on the heels of a highly-contentious matchup in 2021 that saw hate and vitriol lobbed across the field at one another like grenades on a battlefield.

This matchup means a lot to everyone involved, and both teams have been hard at work making sure they’re prepared.

After Wednesday’s practice, Lanning met with media members one last time before the big game on Saturday. Here are some of the most notable things that he had to say: