The Michigan Wolverines fell to 5-4 on the season after losing 38-17 to the No. 1 Oregon Ducks on Saturday afternoon.
Here are takeaways from the game.
Kirk Campbell should not call plays moving forward
Offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell had mismanaged the game and got cute far too often. Campbell inserted Alex Orji repeatedly, even when Davis Warren did nice things throughout the game. Nothing was worse from Campbell than a sequence in the red zone with Michigan trailing 31-17 where Campbell dialed up a Kalel Mullings run on 3rd and 7 followed by a trick play with Orji at QB with the ball being handed to Semaj Morgan who went on to throw a horrendous pass out of bounce to Orji. Coaching can win and lose games, and Campbell failed mightily — he did not put his players in the best position to win. Head coach Sherrone Moore proved to be a solid offensive coordinator and play caller under Jim Harbaugh, and Moore should start calling the plays once more. Campbell did a lot of things that simply made no sense and were counterintuitive.
Campbell consistently took the ball out of Davis Warren’s hands against Oregon, opting to run into brick walls instead with the clock ticking down in the fourth quarter. Warren faced plenty of third and longs because of run plays that put Michigan behind the sticks, yet Warren was still a respectful 13-of-23 for 165 yards with two touchdowns. In crunch time Campbell didn’t trust his quarterback, he put the ball into the hands of Semaj Morgan on a pass, a play call that was inexcusable in retrospect and is just one of many poor decisions Campbell’s made this season.
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Wink Martindale is a step behind
Michigan’s defense was expected to be one of the best in college football this season, and they’ve been average at best. Yes, they were down two starting cornerbacks today in Will Johnson and Jyaire Hill, but every level of the defense struggled in the first half, leading to 28 Oregon points. Oregon had 304 yards on offense in the first half, quarterback Dillon Gabriel consistently found soft spots in Michigan’s zone coverage, and when Martindale dialed up blitzes Oregon exploited the aggressiveness via screens, even on 2nd and 15. Michigan’s defense lacks fundamentals and a cohesive scheme. Martindale does not come out of the gate with good game plans. Michigan gave up 24 first-half points to Texas before allowing just seven in the second half. Against Oregon, there were 28 first-half points compared to 10 in the second half. However, in both games, the damage was already done by the time the second half rolled around and the opposing offenses knew to just play turnover-free football with substantial leads.
Martdinale’s scheme looks a lot different than that of former Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, who has the No. 1 scoring defense with the Los Angeles Chargers. Martindale’s tenure with the Ravens ended poorly, his performance as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants was even worse, and now he’s the DC of Michigan and his performance has been just as uninspiring. Opposing offenses seem to have the data points on how to attack Martindale’s tendencies and the deficiencies within Michigan’s defense.
Outlook moving forward
Michigan’s now 5-4 on the year and the players and coaching staff haven’t collectively improved as the season has unfolded. Michigan’s remaining schedule included No. 13 Indiana (9-0), Northwestern (4-5), and No. 4 Ohio State (7-1). Michigan will be big underdogs against Indiana and Ohio State and there’s a strong chance that the tilt against Northwestern will decide if this team is even bowl-eligible.
Tough questions are going to need to be answered, starting right now. Big strides are being made via NIL (name, image, likeness) to land top-tier recruits and these recruits will want to be coached by the best staff possible. Sherrone Moore will have some tough decisions to make this offseason, including changes on the coaching staff. No coaching staff remains the same year-to-year whether a team has a successful season or not, but this is a point of emphasis all the more when a team like Michigan is hovering around .500. Turning this thing around in 2025 starts right now. Time to come up with a winning formula from top to bottom.
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Graham Ike matched his career high with 35 points and No. 6 Gonzaga rebounded from a midweek loss to Portland with an 81-61 victory over Oregon State on Saturday.
Tyon Grant-Foster added 15 points for Gonzaga (23-2, 11-1 WCC), which was coming off an 87-80 loss to unranked Portland on Wednesday night that snapped a 15-game winning streak for the Bulldogs. It also ended a 20-game winning streak over the Pilots.
Isaiah Sy had 13 points for Oregon State (13-13, 6-7), which came into the game riding a three-game winning streak.
The loss to Portland will no doubt drop the Bulldogs in the AP Top 25 rankings. Gonzaga and St. Mary’s sit atop the WCC standings with just one conference loss apiece.
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Ike, who played in his third game since returning from an ankle sprain, had seven rebounds. His 35 points matched his career high set against Denver in December 2021.
Oregon State held a narrow lead though the first 10 minutes, but Ike’s 3-pointer gave Gonzaga a 22-20 lead and the Bulldogs led until White’s 2-pointer pulled the Beavers even at 34.
Oregon State couldn’t pull ahead and Gonzaga led 38-34 at the break.
The Bulldogs pushed the lead to as many as nine points early in the second half but Oregon State center Yaak Yaak hit a 3-pointer that closed the gap to 48-53 with 12:24 left.
Davis Fogle’s dunk with 9:07 put Gonzaga up 61-51 as the Zags began to pull away, pushing their lead by 20 points down the stretch.
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The game was a look at the future of the Pac-12. Gonzaga joins the conference as a non-football member when it re-launches next season. The Pac-12 fell apart amid conference realignment in the summer of 2023, leaving Oregon State and Washington State as the lone remaining members.
Gonzaga: Hosts Washington State on Tuesday night.
Oregon State: At San Francisco on Thursday night.
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One of the potential statewide measures vying for the November ballot is calling it quits.
FILE – The rainbow flag, also known as the gay pride flag, is a symbol of LGBT and queer pride, left, along with the transgender flag, right, pictured in 2022.
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Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
A coalition led by the ACLU of Oregon, Basic Rights Oregon and Planned Parenthood has announced it is ending a campaign to amend the Oregon Constitution to guarantee the right to health care for transgender people, abortion and same-sex marriage.
Advocates for LGBTQ+ rights in Oregon had hoped to follow the lead of New York state, which passed a similar measure, Proposition 1, by a wide margin in 2024. They’ve been gathering signatures to qualify an initiative for the November ballot, promoting the measure at Pride events, and raising money.
But on Friday, the coalition announced via an Instagram post that the campaign is over. The coalition thanked community members for their support. It did not offer any explanation as to what led to the change of heart.
“This is a particularly difficult time, as the federal government continues attacking our rights, freedom, and basic humanity,” the post concludes. “We still firmly believe that together, we will build an Oregon where all of us can be who we are, and make our own decisions about our lives and bodies, and access the care that we need.”
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The initiative petition had been endorsed by dozens of left-leaning organizations, including heavyweight labor unions like the AFL-CIO and SEIU Local 503.
Campaign finance records show the coalition’s biggest cash expenditures this year — $177,750 — were for polling and surveys.
The measure, known as Equal Rights for All or Initiative 33, had already faced a rocky path to the ballot. Democratic lawmakers had planned to refer it to voters in 2024, but dropped that plan in a deal to end a six-week long walkout by Republicans.
The political action committee supporting the measure has about $130,000 in cash remaining in its accounts.
Oregon law is already protective of gender-affirming care, requiring insurers and the state’s Medicaid program to cover it when it is medically necessary. Abortion is also covered by public and private insurance and Oregon places no specific gestational limit on it.
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But those policies could change if the balance of power in Salem shifts.
As it is, the Oregon Constitution prohibits discrimination on account of sex. The proposed measure expanded on that, stating that discrimination is also prohibited based on pregnancy, gender identity and sexual orientation.
It would have also repealed language in the state constitution that bans same-sex marriage. Oregon voters approved that ban in 2004. The provision has been void since 2015, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional.
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The decision leaves in place a permanent injunction from November that blocked troops from deploying to Portland.
FILE – The James R. Browning United States Courthouse building, a courthouse for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is seen in San Francisco on Jan. 8, 2020.
Jeff Chiu / AP
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The Trump administration no longer wants to appeal the decision of a federal judge in Oregon that blocked the president from deploying National Guard troops to Portland.
Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice told a federal appeals court last week they’re no longer interested in challenging the permanent injunction issued by U.S. District Court Judge Karin J. Immergut, which found the president’s attempt to send troops to Portland violated the Constitution.
Late Thursday, attorneys for Oregon, California and the City of Portland, who had previously won the case, indicated they too were ready to let the case go without a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
A panel of 11 judges had been preparing to hear oral arguments on the case in June in Seattle. For Immergut’s ruling to officially stand, those appellate judges still need to sign off on the Justice Department’s decision to drop the case.
Attorneys for the Trump administration used little more than a single sentence in its filing expressing the federal government’s desire to halt its appeal.
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Colleagues say Oregon judge who blocked Trump troop deployment is ‘well-respected’ and ‘has no fear’
The government’s reversal marks the end of a chapter, one that began on Sept. 27 when President Donald Trump announced he was sending 200 National Guard troops to Oregon’s largest city. The idea was to help guard federal properties, particularly the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland that has been the site of ongoing protests.
Legal fights over the president’s domestic military deployment also played out in Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Chicago, as the president pushed the bounds of executive power in court.
Trump’s efforts ultimately withered in Portland after Immergut found the Trump administration not only violated federal law, but also the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, one that preserves the rights of the states to hold powers not explicitly given to the federal government.
This is the decision the Trump administration appealed to the 9th Circuit in November. Those judges said that before the appeal moved forward, they wanted to wait to see how a similar case from Illinois would play out at the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Several weeks later, they got their answer when the Supreme Court blocked Trump’s efforts to send troops into Chicago.
In the case over Portland, attorneys for Oregon, California and the city indicated they would be willing to sign off on a dismissal too, so long as the 9th Circuit tells Immergut to monitor and enforce the 106-page permanent injunction she issued in November.
“In light of the President’s continued threats to send troops to Portland, the courts must stay involved,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a statement. “If the Ninth Circuit chooses to dismiss the appeals, it should instruct the district court to keep monitoring and enforcing the permanent injunction in this case — to make sure that the President follows the law.”
Even after the Supreme Court ruling in Illinois, Trump has continued to express his willingness to use the military in American cities, and Portland in particular.
“We can go back,” Trump told reporters about Portland on Jan. 4, while aboard Air Force One. “We’re allowed to go back in.”
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