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UW is being given too much credit for playing well at home and for "blowing out" UCLA. The UCLA message boards are pretty unanimous that UCLA played a really poor game regardless of opponent. If you can still get 6.5 it's the deal of the weekend if not the season. I've said before that we can easily play the style of the teams that gave UW the most trouble, and do it way better than those teams. And we have the longest road winning streak in the country by a mile, playing better on the road than we have at home this season. -6.5 is a gift.

Thanks, David, for another terrific Monday morning article. The only downside, I'm craving a kava! 🙃

Drake, I liked the comment. However, with all of the BS thrown OBD's way regarding the schedule, I like the finish. OBD was the 2025 Hive Mind scheduling whipping boy. I think the schedule worked out to OBD's advantage with a home win over an SC team that I believe will remain in the committee's top 25 on Tuesday and a finish at UW with the chance to put up more points than Ohio State in Seattle.

If Dante does skip to the NFL next year, it could put JKS in the driver's seat to start and might change that equation. Either way, my guess is he stays at Cal.

2026 - OBD is at USC and Ohio State. 2028 - USC in Autzen.

Jon, if all of your suggestions come about the committee members will resign "en mass".

Indiana has signed Cig to a very lucrative long-term contract. He isn't leaving Bloomington.

The Greek God Chaos was the first of the Greek gods to appear at the dawn of creation. Chaos is the primordial void out of which the Earth god, Geta, and the other elements arose. With a playoff where 'best' and 'most deserving' somehow do not correlate, may Chaos visit CFB in Week 14? At least, selective Chaos. Does Head-to-Head Matter? MIAMI - 6.5, wins at Pitt to finish 10-2. Notre Dame -32.5 (!) defeats Stanford to finish 10-2. I'm sorry, PO (or is it BO 😖) Committee, but when multi-millions of dollars are at stake, 'We haven't directly compared Miami and Notre Dame because they are not in the same group of three teams', is not going to bounce. I think if the game were played today, Notre Dame would win. But who in Hades, another Greek god, cares what I think? The two teams played one another this season; Miami won the game. Any other comparison between the two teams with the same records is subjective chicanery. And one of Notre Dame's two top 25 wins was Ducked in Eugene in Week 13. 😎 Pitt? If Miami -7.5 defeats the Panthers on Saturday, Notre Dame will finish with one top 25 win at best. Unlike OBD, the less-than-golden Notre Dame schedule? Nothing to see here, move right along. If 10-2 Notre Dame is ranked higher than 10-2 Miami, every ACC AD and coach should threaten to boycott Notre Dame and fill the opening with a conference game if the Domers do not join the conference as a full-time football member. And SC should say, 'So long, South Bend, and good riddance.' The SEC Seriously Tests the New Metrics - LSU -10.5 wins in Norman and hands Oklahoma its third loss. While Auburn -5.5 defeats Bama on The Plains, the Tide finishes 9-3. Vandy and Don Diego +2.5, knuckle under in Knoxville to finish 9-3. Texas +2.5 defeats A&M in Austin to finish 9-3. The Eyes of Texas, Longhorn eyes at least, will be at the PO committee meeting in Grapevine, Texas, on 12/6, with thousands of burnt orange-clad fans in the Gaylord hotel parking lot shouting: We could have played Ohio and not Ohio State! And if LSU comes through: 'How much longer will it take you morons to figure out that we beat the Sooners! And we also beat Vandy!' On Black Friday, behind Cow Bell Cacophony, Mississippi State +7.5, puts down the Ole Miss Rebellion. Post-game, Lane Kiffin is escorted from the scene by a platoon of former Green Berets, while Lane's agent, Jimmy Sexton, from off-site, announces that Lane has decided to take the Arkansas, or some other SEC job. A B1G Mess? Michigan defeats That Team Down South to finish 10-2 (I just can't pull the trigger on Purdue putting out the Cigs. 😁) 3-loss Oklahoma fans, led by uber fan Norman, and separated from Horns fans at the Gaylord Hotel parking lot's 50-car line, scream in unison: We beat Michigan! The B1G 12? The committee metrics minder sobers up long enough to inform the committee that Oregon has a Top 25 win, a solid win over That Other Team Up North, and that Penn State is bowl eligible. By the way, our metrics (like the Massey metrics 😍) have the Ducks with the 15th most difficult schedule and Texas Tech the 54th most difficult schedule. Ticked off Texas Tech fans join ... No, too far from Lubbock and ski season has started. Having received an extension from Disney/ESPN, on the evening of December 7th, a Day of Infamy for the PO committee, Greg Sankey and Tony Petitti collectively announce, on both the Big Ten and SEC Networks, that beginning next season, the playoff will expand to 16 teams with a 4-4-2-2-1-3 format. No objection from the ACC, B12 peanut gallery. And Texas and Oklahoma fans group hug. ❤️❤️❤️ Tony graciously allows Greg, SEC coaches, ADs, Paul Finebaum, and the Governor of Louisiana to take credit for coming up with the new PO format. 🤪 WAX, WASTE, and PASTE That Other School Up North!

I doubt it... He didn't like that idea after a couple of practices with Oregon. Now... he may change his mind but I think Dante Moore's decision to come to Oregon and sit a year is by far the outlier and not the rule. I would be shocked if Lanning pulls off that recruitment a second time this decade.

Frankly, those NFL analyst guys don't know much about QBs. Dante absolutely 100% needs one more season at Oregon, and then he will be 100% ready for the NFL. I'm just looking out for the kids best interest here 😉

Absolutely! Pac-12 football was a completely different beast than the B1G. You always knew the other team had the ability to put up points with fantastic quarterback play and skill positions. I was under no illusions that we were going to keep the Trojans under 20 points going into the game, I didn't make a formal prediction but I thought they would get 21 which is still less than what they actually scored. Oregon's defense is good but good offenses always find a way.

It's the injuries right now and an away game that have set that line. Unless / until we know who is out and who will play that line will stay lower. Even though our offensive line was mostly back-ups and we ran the ball well we still ran it less efficiently than if we had our starters in. It's little things like that which takes points off the betting line. If we get word that Poncho and World are back at full strength I would imagine that that line ticks up. If we get word that Dakorian Moore is going to play, I imagine that again the line goes up in our favor.

@David Marsh I liked your thought about how this was a classic P12 matchup with high powered offenses that the defenses won't be able to fully shut down. Had a similar thought during the game, that it felt like the Chip Kelly era matchups where I would root really hard for a 2 TD lead before relaxing a little bit. You knew the opponent would score some, but with a 2 TD lead, that put pressure on the other team to change their approach, and you knew the Ducks would keep scoring.

Oregon is favored by 6.5 against UW, while they were favored over USC by a range of 9.5 to 12.5. I'm kind of surprised by that. I would have pegged USC as better than UW. Perhaps the UW homefield is narrowing the gap between Oregon? I also don't like facing a very mobile QB. Hope the Ducks can finally get 90%+ healthy for this one.

I like that we are somewhat off the radar this season. However, schedulers did us no favors this year. Back to back rival type games to finish the season. SUC on an uptick with playoff hopes is a solid team that you have to outscore. Immediately followed by the pups, a decent team with nothing to lose. We are battling for the CFP, and a playoff game at Autzen. They want to poop on our plate. Oregon being nationally televised in both games shows that we are not completely under the radar. College football at it's finest.

Yeah, SC could easily lose 4 games in conference next year while still being a pretty good team. I don't think SC is going to tolerate pretty good for very long, although that's where they've been for a while now (at least ever since Oregon started recruiting many of the palyers that in the past were assumed to be going to SC) No, Franklin will not win a national championship at VaTech (or anywhere else for that matter). Tech needs innovation, Franklin is not that. I wonder how long Cignetti is going to stay at Indiana. Will Penn St go after him? Certainly some of the more traditional powers will try to poach him soon. I really hope he does stay, though that mean Indiana will always be a tough game. It's good to see a new team competing at such a high level.

Thanks David, it sure did feel like a rivalry game. I believe we meet again next year and that is probably at The Coliseum. I was at the 2012 game in Los Angeles and will make plans for next year as well. I do think Charley Pickard played way more than a serviceable game. Thanks for the write up.

Josh Pate On His Trip To Oregon vs USC, Lane Kiffin Drama & More!

Yeah, I remember Kelly's teams at Oregon fondly, but I think the young innovators of today are what Lanning is looking for and what fits the culture he has/is building. Though I wouldn't have minded seeing what the offense under Chip would have looked like with the Ducks current offensive line and the depth of playmakers we now have. I think that would have been fun, well it was fun, it would be even funner!🤣

Most of the young players to be recruited dont know much about Chip and his days at Oregon.

No grief here, that's the kind of stuff I've been wanting all season! It's the cutesy nickel and dime stuff that frustrates me! We have great players for power/slashing running and down field passing. Let's do that.

But I sure like having these feeder programs available for us. It reminds me a bit of having Minor Baseball League clubs, but being able to poach the talent at will.

Not to wish ill on Cal (my alma mater) but might JKS be willing to transfer and serve as Dante's backup for a year before taking the reins? His talent ceiling is higher than Novosad, Moga, Smith and incoming Beaver and he could follow as the next in line to the NFL. He would have a far superior O-line and skill players in Eugene and better coaching even if WS moves on by that time. Dante has risen back up draft boards after the last several good performances. The negatives from his Indiana game have dissipated some. No recent word on his supposed inclination to return to Oregon next year, but it would appear to be in his best interest to do so. JKS would be a good heir apparent. And if Dante leaves, he would likely be odds on favorite to win the starting job in 2026.

Oops.

Cold, my friend. Just ice cold. LOL