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Thanks, Darren. With so few P4 games out of conference, it's difficult to get a top-to-bottom read of any conference. The SEC's mid to lower-level teams will be ranked notwithstanding losses to SEC opponents. Two-loss Texas, LSU, and Tennessee are ranked. Two-loss Minnesota, Iowa, Washington, Northwestern, Nebraska, and USC are not ranked. SEC folks will defend the rankings, and not without justification, all day long. However, AP voters will give the nod to brand names, like the ranked two-loss SEC teams. FWIW - Minnesota has a W over ranked Nebraska, Nebraska has a W over 21 Cincinnati, two weeks ago, SC blew out No. 25 Michigan. UW's two losses came against No. 1 Ohio State and a ranked Michigan team on the road. 2-loss Iowa suffered a 3-point loss on the road at Iowa State, and shut down the Indiana offense. Northwestern? With the first game loss at Tulane, I got nothin'. 😁 Man versus Machine - After Week 8, Massey Rankings include No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Indiana, No. 5 OBD, No. 14 Michigan, No. 17 USC, No. 20 Iowa, No. 22 Washington, No. 26 Illinois, and No. 30 Nebraska. Half of the conference is ranked in the top 30. The B1G is behind only the other Power 2 conference, the SEC. In 2025, the SEC went 2-1 versus the B1G. Ohio State defeated Texas in Columbus, Oklahoma defeated Michigan in Norman, and Wisconsin no-showed against Bama in Tuscaloosa, as is the case versus every Baggers' B1G opponent in 2025. In 2024-25, Tennessee and Texas lost to Ohio State. No.1 Michigan defeated No. 4 Alabama in the Rose Bowl on 1/1/2024. In the 2024 postseason, 5-loss Michigan defeated Alabama, and 3-loss Illinois defeated South Carolina. The B1G was 11-6 in the postseason. The SEC went 6-10. In today's CFB, a program's past does not define its current ability. Ohio State is the favorite to win the Natty, no surprise. But Indiana also has favorable odds. I very much enjoyed the read, but I don't believe the B1G is any lower than the 2nd-best conference in CFB. With 18 teams in the conference, a few are going to stink. PS - I believe Purdue has its guy in Barry Odom. Wisconsin is a Jeff Bromh or equivalent hire, away from success. Paul Chyrst should not have been fired.

Jon! I was humming it!

If Ryan Day lost a second time to Oregon, would he have been fired last year? If you were Clemson, what would it take to put Dabo on the hot seat? Jim Harbaugh was forced to take a pay cut after the 2020 season. Three years later Michigan was prepared to make him the highest paid coach in history. I don't think coaches get considerably better five years on the job. Jim Harbaugh, Ryan Day, and Dabo Sweeney were all in their 6 plus years when they won their first title. Sometimes it's having the right alignment, roster experience, and coaching assistants. The greats like Saban could win with freshman QBs, different assistant coaches, and a changing play style. It looks like Ryan Day might be trending in that direction, they lost 18 guys to the NFL. They lost their DC and OC, they have a freshman QB. But they have that dude wearing the whistle. Kirby Smart and Dabo Sweeney have two titles, but there was continuity on their staffs and they had either a multiple year starter, or they had a phenom behind center. I've seen Georgia, I don't think they are going to make it with that defense. I think Cignetti will out scheme them with three stars. If you put it to me, I would say my favorites are Ohio State and Alabama. Oregon and Indiana are right below them with Ole Miss, Georgia, Texas A&M and Miami. These teams have been dominant,or have the components to be dominant. My sleepers would be Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, BYU, Texas Tech and Oklahoma. These are the teams that are in the chase and have had some real good outings. My over the moon shots would be Virginia, Cincy, USF, Iowa, and Texas. These are the teams that could shock the world if they win out. Virginia is undefeated so maybe they should be a sleeper. Iowa and Texas would have to beat some favorites like Georgia, Texas A&M and Oregon to do so, but those are not out of the realm imo. Cincy is a real dark horse that has put up over 450 yards a game thus far. They took a relatively healthy and undefeated Iowa State to the woodshed before the Cyclones got some desperation points. The Bearcats run the ball well and pass it equally as well with an Indiana QB and Ohio State RB transfer at both positions. Nobody watches the Big 12 outside of ASU, Texas Tech, Utah, and BYU. But Cincy is dangerous. We all know about what USF did earlier this year. I'll only thank them for helping get us a new coach. They score a lot of points and have a coach that will probably be at Arkansas, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State, or maybe Washington, Ole Miss, or Missouri depending on the coaching carousel. I don't think he'd take a step down and go to FSU or Oregon State😂 Sorry to any John Canzano readers.

Stein and Louisville? I believe Louisville's QB this season is a senior. His backup, a junior, has appeared in 3 games and attempted 9 passes total. I imagine if Stein went to Louisville at least one guy on the Oregon roster would follow him. Brohm has also been an assistant and a head coach in the Big Ten. Penn State likely also has him on their possibilities list.

It is not surprising to me that AD’s are forced to make changes when top boosters are in upheaval. Welcome to the age of NIL. Losing the support from top boosters jeopardizes a University’s ability to field teams in all sports. It is common that athletic departments outspend their athletic revenues. Things are going well for Oregon at the moment, but what if we desperately needed to update Autzen to stay competitive, and we were not competitive? Inflation has sent construction costs through the roof, and obtaining financing is questionable without alumni support. Many of us are one or two bad years of productivity from losing our businesses, or jobs. Coaches are no different.

It's difficult to compare OBD in the PAC to OBD in the B1G because the team of today is very different from the team Mario coached. We have substantially bigger, faster and better players than Mario had. The coaching staff is the best ever at Oregon, by far. We have never had the depth at skill player positions and defensive backs that we have today. And, we are a real player in NIL, which means Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel, and current players like Kenyon Sadiq, Dakorian Moore and many in the trenches on both sides of the ball. The thread about the QB room on this site tells us we have six QB's who would be starting at other PAC of old schools plus there is farmed out Saopolotele who was a Duck only long enough to realize he was not going to play much for a while. If we want him back, he'll be here, in my opinion. We are not the only program that has improved in the B1G, obviously, but the PAC companions that made the move with us have not improved. Regardless of what conference your team lands in, the message in college football today is get better or fail.

the most recent AP No. 1 at end of season: 2024: Ohio St 2023: Michigan 2022: Georgia 2020: Alabama 2019: LSU 2018: Clemson 2013: Florida St 2010: Auburn 2008: Florida 2005: Texas 2004: USC 2001: Miami 2000: Oklahoma 1998: Tennessee 1995: Nebraska 1990: Colorado 1988: Notre Dame 1986: Penn St 1984: BYU 1976: Pitt For list below, the final AP poll was before bowl games; 1960: Minnesota - then, lost the Rose Bowl, for example 1959: Syracuse 1953: Maryland 1952: Michigan St 1945: Army 1939: Tex A&M Ole Miss was a "power" in 1959 and 1960, and No. 1 in some non-AP rankings. For example, 1960 would have been No. 1 if ranking after bowl game. Would Nebraska and Notre Dame fans have believed back then, they would enter No-Title Land? Texas? USC? Oregon at No. 2 final AP poll: 2014 2012 2001 Oregon at No. 3 2024 2010

Great post and ponder point. The first Playoff Committee Poll will be released on November 4th. Last night on ESPN's Playoff Committee Championship Poll preview program, the participants agreed that we can all blame Curt Cignetti, with a helping of Clark Lea on the side. This, and while there is still uncertainty and more change to come to CFB, after the House settlement, people are more assured of what the near-term structure will be. It was one thing for Ole Miss to pay big bucks for a coach and assemble a quality roster out of the portal; the Rebels have won six SEC titles. It was understandable that Oregon, with Uncle Phil's money, would come 'this close' a couple of times. But Indiana back-to-back in the College Football Playoff, joined by a Vanderbilt team with zero SEC titles this season? As Nick Saban noted on GameDay last Saturday when he picked LSU to defeat the Dores, 'I can't wrap my mind around Vandy not being an easy out.' With the money we're paying Coach X and the cash us boosters have thrown at Good Old State, and with Indiana and Vandy in the top 10, what is wrong with our program? The coach, and maybe the AD also. Clean House! CFB also has a playoff where you can lose two games, including one as late as possible in the regular season, and win a championship. This raises expectations for programs that had no shot at a BCS or a 4-team title. It's hard for everyone, even the so-called 'Experts', to 'make sense' of today's CFB. See Clemson, Penn State, and Texas. Indiana couldn't be good back-to-back because the schedule is more difficult, and after all, it's Indiana. Coaches used to have at least three recruiting cycles to get their kind of players on board. Today? No way. 'Buy me to the Moon and let my team play among the Stars. Let me know what life is like with a Natty and Cigars.' If you have BILLIONS of dollars, why not go back to school? Buy your school out of being a long-time joke? The only difference between Men and Boys? The price of their toys. In addition to the money, you do have to make smart decisions. Especially in the midst of egregious expectations. Fire Dan Mullen and hire Billy Napier, a guy with no experience coaching at CFB's top level? Hmmm. Hire a 62-year-old with no experience coaching at football's upper level. $$$$$. If Indiana and Vandy can do it, why not us at Texas Tech? Dan gets it. It's all about using the portal wisely to build a championship-quality roster year after year. Oregon has 14 new starters this season and one loss, to the No. 2 team in the nation in a winnable game. The Champ game? How about Alabama vs. Ohio State? But Vandy vs. Indiana would be delicious. Waste Wisconsin!

The Gophers!? The only game in town?! My left foot!!!

Ah yes, Uncle Phil, the great equalizer!

Fire the coach? Some of it is circumstantial. Getting 10 wins, but two losses were to teams in games where your program was favored. Or, where your team lost because it played with little inspiration rather than an ill-timed referee's call. A losing streak to your rival. DeBoer would feel the heat with 3 straight losses to Auburn, regardless of W-L. Controversy over players who transfer out rather than retained. And, so on. I think the fan expectations are more circumstantial than just W-L.

Yeah, Wisconsin is interesting, we'll see if they can play the new NIL game of college football.

Sure looks like it. The Ducks brought some weight to the conference.

Yes, before expansion two years ago, if it wasn't for the recent elite consistency of Ohio State (one year of Michigan), the B1G would be the current Big 12. But, it's all about the tv eyeballs.

It make me nervous to think that the Ducks might have to face KD with AL's talent in the CFP. To lose to KD in the CFP would really hurt.

I wonder if Penn State’s numbers include all of the state’s campuses, not just the flagship in University Park. It didn’t feel like that much bigger of a campus to me compared to a UCLA or a Washington.

I've always been a bit surprised at the lack of investments from some schools in the B1G. I get that for some of these schools have other sports like basketball or hockey that are very important to their fanbases, but for instance a school like Minnesota, which is a massive institution just doesn't seem to have a lot of money in football. It took them forever to get their own stadium, and while Minnesota isn't exactly swarming with recruits, it is the only game in town. Wisconsin I wouldn't include in the disappointing programs since for much of this century they have been in and around a top 25 program, classic school that once ever 5 years had a really good team, you could probably include Iowa in this. Illinois is another one, massive school, only state school that has major college football, St. Louis, Chicagoland, you can't find the talent or the money to make that next jump? I know in this case Notre Dame is huge contributor to this, but I feel like if there was the commitment to football that is another program that could be much better. Maryland should be better as a program, you have D.C, Baltimore, Virginia, close to New Jersey as well for a recruiting bed, I'm sure there is some money in that alumni base (heck Scott Van Pelt should have tons from ESPN😂). You will always have basement dwellers, but a few of these programs have to be considered underachieving overall. Funnily enough the one program I would not expect to be better is Indiana. You have Notre Dame in the state, and your entire state is traditionally obsessed with basketball. I do think when you talk about Oregon, we are unique in college football, and while our athletic department should be praised for its ability to maximize our strengths, nobody else has the benefit of being Nike's testbed for innovations, nobody has our branding, and nobody has the single donor like Phil Knight. We are one single donor away from being right where OSU and WSU are now. Credit Oregon for making the hiring choices, the innovations, the marketing, all of that, but none of it happens without Uncle Phil. Anyone of the universities mentioned above could have been us if they had a figure and company behind them (Maryland has UnderArmor...but c'mon that's not the same as Nike)

Three signs the Ducks may be better than their No. 6 rankingAutzen ZooThree signs the Ducks may be better than their No. 6 rankingDante Moore has thrown the most touchdown passes of any quarterback in the West with 19, ahead of Noah Fifita of Arizona, 17.

Jordon Davison highlights a core strength of the Oregon programDan Lanning constantly preaches connection and one of the things that stands out in the "Ducks vs Them" series is how authentic it is within this team. They're pulling for each other. They draw strength from each other. On the sidelines after a big play it's visible. On Tuesday freshman running back Jordon Davison spoke to the media for the first time and he talked about his relationship with fellow freshman Dierre Hill. "It's kind of crazy because coming in they was like 'Who do I want to play with?' We was watching each other's film, and there were a couple of backs, and I actually chose Dierre," Davison said. "His film stuck out to me. We were connecting before we got here and then as soon as we got here, it just clicked. That's my right hand man. People probably think it's just on the field, but we're together every day off the field all the time." Autzen ZooJordon Davison highlights a core strength of the Oregon p...Dan Lanning constantly preaches connection and one of the things that stands out in the "Ducks vs Them" series is how authentic it is within this team.

Of course the Fighting Ducks. However I think Bama is going to be in the mix too.

Oregon Ducks Fans Color To Wear vs. Wisconsin Badgers In Autzen StadiumThe No. 6 Oregon Ducks return home to Autzen Stadium to host the Wisconsin Badgers. What color do Oregon fans wear? The Ducks color schedule encourages fans to wear tie-die to match the Oregon football uniforms in a celebration of the relationship between Eugene and the Grateful Dead. What color do Oregon fans wear? The Ducks color schedule encourages fans to wear tie-die to match the Oregon football uniforms in a celebration of the relationship between Eugene and the Grateful Dead. Dust off those old tie-die shirts, make a new one or buy some of the new Nike swag.Oregon fans look to make their presence felt as the Big Ten foe comes to town. Oregon Ducks On SIOregon Ducks Fans Color To Wear vs. Wisconsin Badgers In...The No. 6 Oregon Ducks return home to Autzen Stadium to host the Wisconsin Badgers on Oct. 25. What color do Oregon fans wear? The Ducks color schedule encoura

The Pate ranking is based on his computer model which still gives credit to the Penn St road victory.

That was basically life under Cristobal. We were howling that we were bringing in great recruiting classes but always lost one or two games we had no place in losing. When Cristobal announced he was leaving for Miami that was one of the strangest feelings we have ever had as a fanbase. On the one hand we were losing someone who had gotten us close to the playoff, had won a Rose Bowl and two conference championships. Cristobal was and remains a good coach but he wasn't going to be the coach to bring the Ducks a national title. We'll continue to see how he does at Miami. He has this strange way of winning enough, and often winning some of the big games to keep people happy but he always finds a way to lose the games he's not supposed to. Cristobal is kinda the opposite of James Franklin. Franklin wins the games he supposed to (until the collapse that is) but fails to win the big ones. Cristobal will win many of the big games but lose some head scratches.

Darren...thank you for the article reminding us of the puzzle that is the Big-10. You are quite right, in that it is top-heavy, and the depth is very pedestrian. So I wondered, "why" so many of these teams are in an exalted status of being in the Big-10, when their track record would not justify it? Answer: Because their alumni bases are HUGE. I had to check this and share... School: Enrollment--Alumni Base Oregon 24,000--250,000 Maryland 41,000--414,000 Big jump over Oregon and it gets worse Michigan 52,000--700,000 Over double the Ducks already Minnesota 56,000--641,000 The Gophers have more enrollment than Michigan? Illinois 59,000 Unknown Ohio State 67,000--600,000 Rutgers 70,000--600,000 What? Rutgers has the same alumni base, and more enrollment than Ohio State? Penn State 89,000--788,000 It is the primary school in a big state... Wisconsin 164,000--502,000 That enrollment number is spread over 13 universities in the UW system. These are staggering numbers to me...so why would they want little Oregon? Minnesota is bigger than Michigan? Rutgers is bigger than Ohio State? Penn State is crazy-big, and Wisconsin is a forehead slap. So Darren....you are right about the mediocre teams, but let's count our blessings, as those so-so teams (like that Rutgers team we just plastered) bring a ton of EYES to the TV ratings, and they have massive stadiums to serve their huge alumni base. This tells me two things: This is actually a perfect scenario, as we can beat a ton of teams that bring massive dollars to our games and telecasts. They have money and mediocrity--perfect cannon fodder! Second? Damn...is Oregon punching above their weight class or what?

IMO with all of the HC openings (and more to come) and the absolutely stupid $$ being tossed around, there’s almost zero chance we won’t need a new OC. I choose to embrace it…the days of a 5 year OC are pretty much gone for us.