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I've been around long enough to have seen Apocalypse Now on the big screen. Pretty messed up movie as I recall, but my most memorable scene is Duvall, riding the chopper in toward the beach. Somewhere in there is my favorite line from the movie, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning, it's the smell of victory". I've used that line many times at work, substituting any number of things: "I love the smell of XXXX in the morning, it's the smell of victory!". RIP Robert Duvall!

The women's game was great. The Men's final has the potential to be better. Thr US vs Canada has been much watch hockey for several years.

I couldn't have said it better Drake.

Well said DanLduck. We do have the ingredients. It is a matter of having some luck. The great thing about Indiana winning it all is every coach is under the microscope. Is it a one off? Most likely. Is Cignetti a great coach? Anybody that turns a perineal loser into a national champion is a great coach. Cignetti did better than Kirby Smart and Ryan Day when both had much more talent. And sooner. I hope more fans simply trust Lanning, let him do it his way, and enjoy the ride. We are an elite program no matter what anyone else thinks. That isn't drinking the Kool-Aide. Lanning is going to win a title. Its a matter of when.

Jon, I started with two threads from a couple of weeks ago where posters were complaining about unfairness of next year's BiG schedule. That's all I am addressing. I have no purpose whatsoever to make college football teams equal, or even equitable. I know the playoff format is all screwed up and there is nothing we fans can do about that. I'm not even going to try. All I want to do is have the football teams in the B1G all begin the season from the same starting line. I have made a list of B1G teams as they finished, first through eighteenth, over the last two seasons. That whole list will be in the next article I write on this topic. Here are the top eight from the list and the teams from that top eight they are scheduled to play this year: 1. Indiana Ohio State, Michigan and USC 2. Oregon USC, Illinois, Ohio State, Michigan, 3. Ohio State Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, USC, Oregon, Michigan 4. Iowa Michigan, Ohio State, Illinois 5. Michigan Iowa, Penn State, Indiana, Oregon, Ohio State 6. Illinois Ohio State, Oregon, Iowa 7. USC Oregon, Penn State, Ohio State, Indiana 8. Penn State USC, Michigan (Note: in making the above list I'm working with a difficult block schedule that has only the team logos, and I'm very human.) I doubt that any serious fan of the B1G would argue that those eight are, at least, among the top ten teams going into the 2026 season. You tell me, Jon, would two Divisions playing round-robin be more fair than Ohio State playing six of the top eight teams in the conference? As things are in College football, I would not change a thing about recruiting, the portal, or NIL. With Dan Lanning as our coach, the Duck facilities and Division Street providing the money, OBD are near the top in opportunity to make the playoffs. But if I were a coach in the B1G, I would much rather be Penn State playing two teams from the top eight than the schedule of Ohio State playing six teams from the top eight. Or do you want to be Michigan playing teams 1-4 plus Penn State? All I want is scheduling fairness, and next year's B1G schedule doesn't make the cut.

Hats off to a judge with gumption. When 'Anything Goes in CFB' morphs into Peyton Manning possibly returning to play QB for Tennessee ... On3Judge denies Joey Aguilar preliminary injunction against...A judge has denied Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar a preliminary injunction in his lawsuit against the NCAA.

You mean besides the "bad" we've had in these instances. I don't think the expanded playoffs hurts us. It gives us, and other teams, more bites at the apple. Someday the ball will bounce the right way. Until then we will just have to enjoy the tribulations of ewe dub and $c.

Is smoking cigs still against the rules in Bloomington? If so, are you allowed to put them out? You could be spot on, my friend. I relied (lied?) on On3. But I'll still wager that next to Julius Caesar, and we know how that ended, Cig placed the all-time bet on himself. And even at the Quacking losing end, it was great to witness.

Ducks win 3-0, but it got dicey at the end. Tanner Bradley had such incredible pitches and control for two innings just melted down under the pressure, and lost control. He got an out, but walked THREE batters to load the bases! Oregon brought in big 6'4" transfer from Western Oregon, Devin Bell to rescue Our Beloved Ducks. Geez, he has hardly pitched here and thrown in to save the game? He created a strikeout with a 95 mph fastball, and created a fly-out to end the game. Whew! Guess we found our closer?

3-0 Ducks after eight innings. Tanner Bradley put them down 1-2-3 again and shows us a nasty changeup. Owen Morgan came in the pitch-hit and the freshman got his first hit in Eugene in shallow RF. He steals second, but the throw by the catcher is wild and he scoots over to third. Jack Brooks moves slightly inside as a batter to avoid an inside pitch, and the catcher missed the throw and the ball went to the backstop to score Morgan from third! Brooks walks, steals second, and another passed ball puts him on third. Jax Gimenez bunts and scores Brooks!

When Cig walked on campus in November 2023 they signed for a little over $4M per year with a list of incentives you thought were impossible. He checked them off like my home to do list. I think his a few hundred thousand behind Kirby Smart for the highest paid head coach though.

Grandpa, I enjoyed this and your other articles, and I admire your quest for 'Fairness in Scheduling.' The NFL does everything it can to ensure that one team does not have more Jimmy's and Joe's than another NFL team. But there is no accounting for Joe Montana and Tom Brady. If CFB were a collective of 138 teams, or, more likely, 68 Power 4 teams, would conference schedules be 'in synch' if there was a high school draft with draft choices based on the reverse order of the prior season's results, restrictions on transfers, a salary cap on direct payment, but not on a player's unrestricted NIL deals, penalties for improper contact with players and coaches, and a conference schedule that gave the prior season successful teams the most difficult schedules and the worst teams the easiest schedules? Doing all it can, the NFL cannot come up with 'equitable scheduling?' Oregon State's rules of the CFB road are no different than Oregon's rules of the road. The rules were the same for Bear Bryant's and Nick Saban's Alabama teams as for the other members of the SEC. Oregon men John McKay and John Robinson had success at USC. Clay Helton had the same resources and ... Perhaps, in a perfectly balanced CFB world, 34 of 68 teams could finish 6-6. But you and I know that this isn't happening on this plane of existence. When the Big Ten had 14 teams with two divisions, the East Division dominated. Regardless of travel and traditional issues, swap Ohio State and Penn State with Minnesota and Iowa, and there would have been a material difference? Most likely, Ohio State and, on occasion, Penn State, would have played East champ Michigan for the conference title season after season. Again, I very much enjoyed the article and the discussion it engendered, but at least from my experience, you can legislate, in part, moves toward societal equality, but equality in sports? The wheel turns. Not so long ago, Drew Brees and Bob Griese led Purdue to B1G titles. We just witnessed Purdue's rival, Indiana, make the greatest Phoenix-like flight in the history of the sport. IMO, there is no way you can make any conference in football or any sport at whatever level, grade school through the NFL, equal. Because humans in every respect are not equal. And this is why Indiana's champ game meant, sorry SEC, so much more. Add ASU and Arizona, CU and Utah, or Notre Dame and ? to the B1G, and have 10 teams in a West and East conference? Such a great article and fun to discuss. However, the cream, or more in synch with today's game, the dough, will rise.

Cignetti has a point in his contract that if he makes the Semi-Finals in the CFP, his contract is rewritten at the end of the year to keep him in the top 3 salaries of college coaches. Not only that, today it was announced the IU President also got a substantial raise. As you know success in football makes a lot of money for the academic side of the house.

If 1 plays 1 than you have a conference champion. If you are more focused on seeding for the CFB playoff, then go with what Duckman60 wrote. I think either way would work, but I think I prefer Duckman20's approach.

Who are the Ducks? They are one good seasons campaign away from a title with the talent we have now. To win you need to have a little luck avoiding injuries, and a schedule that minimizes long stretches of slugfests against other conference contenders. I am not a fan that believes that a title defines the Ducks. It would be more of a FINALLY moment for me. Hope we get it done, but winning 12 to 13 games a year is accomplished in the BIG by elite level teams. We simply are consistently one of the “Best Teams” who hasn’t won a title, for at least the last 20 years. I will not include the 80 years, or so, before that.

1-0 Ducks after seven innings. I sure hope we've seen the last of Penguin pitcher Braden Gebhardt, as he has been terrific and at 96 pitches..he's gotta be done? He has not given up a single run in two games... Meanwhile Will Sanford's day is done, and was relieved by Tanner Bradley who put them down 1-2-3 with these side-whipping, wobbling curves and sinkers. I see why he is the No. 1 reliever, as he is hard to hit!

I think the Oregon Ducks are for real. Someone already said it, who ever wins the Natty has to go through Oregon. With the playoffs expansion, I expect Oregon to make the field virtually every year. Once there, anyone can win. But only if you get in. It's hard to win it all. So much has to go your way. But Oregon has the ingredients. Some day soon we will get the right bounces. IU's win last year has us doubting. But that was an outlier. A one off. Can they reload and repeat? I won't believe it till I see it. Sure, NIL and the portal make it possible, but still improbable. In Dan I trust. This year should be fun to watch. New coordinator's, an experienced talented QB, great RB's, a WR room to salivate over, a returning talented experienced front 4, tall, rangey, db's, and talented youth. We will be favored in most games. I hope we make it to Vegas. I can drive to that game.

1-0 Ducks after six innings. Boy that YSU pitcher is good; we had a base runner but just couldn't string hits together on him. Meanwhile the coaches let Will Sanford pitch the sixth, and he was brilliant again. He plinked a batter, but then forced a hit into a double play. At the end of the sixth inning, he threw a 98 mph heater...whew!

I'm not wild about Conference Championships either, now that OBD have one. But my actual purpose here is to appeal to the powers of the conference to schedule fairly, and those powers are accustomed to having a Conference Champion. It may be that giving them an easy route to retain that historic honor will make it simpler to schedule fairly.

1-0 Ducks after five innings. It is certainly a pitcher's duel as the Penguin hurler is good. But Will Sanford has been superb as well as he put them down 1-2-3 with a 96 mph fastball. I would love to see him pitch longer, but he is up to 75 pitches after five innings, and I know they build the pitchers up gradually over the season. It is just that he is hot today, and 90% of him is better than most relievers...

1-0 Ducks after four innings. Will Sanford has given up a hit in each of the last two innings, but comes right back and shuts them down. We are seeing more of his drop/curve for strikes, and his mental strength is much higher than last year in his freshman campaign. Jax Gimenez walked, and then Dominic Hellman nails a pitch and hits the wall about halfway up for a double and moves Gimenez to third. Drew Smith was at bat and moved to bunt...and like a good Oregon baseball player...knew when to DUCK. That brought the ball high and quick to the catcher who had it bounce off his mitt, and to the backstop. That scores Gimenez, and that is the total scoring for both teams after four innings!

College Football Offseason Buzz: Indiana Gives Curt Cignetti Another RaiseIt's got to be cool to get two raises in four months! The Indiana Hoosiers have raised their head coach's salary to $13.2 million through the 2033 season, per ESPN. This deal comes in the wake of Indiana winning its first National Championship in program history in January and already raising Cignetti's salary to $11.6 million in October. Moreover, this raise makes Cignetti the second-highest paid coach in college football. Since Cignetti took over in Bloomington for the 2024 season, the Hoosiers are a combined 27-2, highlighted by going 16-0 en route to winning the National Championship last season. https://www.foxsports.com/stories/college-football/college-football-offseason-buzz

0-0 after two innings. Sure enough...the Penguin pitcher is great and held the Ducks down...so far. Will Sanford has done equally as well, with three strikeouts and some heat at 95 mph. This game is a dilly!

Five storylines worth tracking during Oregon spring practicesSpring football is set to begin in several weeks. Here are five things worth tracking when practices get started in March. https://247sports.com/college/oregon/longformarticle/oregon-football-ducks-spring-dan-lanning-275007931/

Oregon Battling Former Assistant Coach for Four-Star Quarterback RecruitThe Oregon Ducks are among the finalists for a four-star quarterback in the 2027 recruiting class, who recently revealed his group of finalists. Oregon Ducks On SIOregon Battling Former Assistant Coach for Four-Star Quar...The Oregon Ducks are steadily approaching the spring practice calendar, a notable point in the offseason for many programs around the country. But in the proces