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In response to comments #14 and #16, Mendoza was good enough to beat OSU last night, with a lot of help from his defense. Mendoza made some beautiful throws, especially to Becker on fourth and short. Thomas's body of work is limited, so it is hard to reach any firm conclusions about his potential. I recall that he threw one "frozen rope" to the sideline of about twenty yards that led me to think that his arm strength is better than I thought. He also made an ill-advised throw on the run that nearly resulted in a costly interception. The problem there was judgment not physical talent. I admit that he is short, but he has excellent speed. I am not suggesting he is the permanent solution. I do not know.

I will say in looking at the bracket, Oregon's path seems easier than if they were the 6th seed. Not taking ANYTHING away from Indiana, they have already beaten us and are extremely formidable. That 6th seed though, you have to go through Georgia and probably Ohio State. I won't say what Danny Kanell said about the Ducks and their path because I might be a little superstitious, but it rhymes with Rational Mamps.

•Well, Oregon is hosting James Madison in a playoff game. Indiana is the one seed, after beating Ohio State for the first time in my lifetime, and Vanderbilt has a legitimate gripe about being left out of the CFP. All things we predicted eh? •Okay, we have two rematches in round one, and a potential rematch most of my OBD friends would relish. Ole Miss trounced Tulane in September, and is hosting them again. Oklahoma handled Alabama for the second straight year, and is now hosting them again. If Oregon and Indiana keep winning, we'll get a rematch that I know most Duck fans crave. • SEC fan bases, and coaches, most notably Kirby Smart last night, have criticized Greg Sankey for going to a nine game conference slate. Causing most to think a sixteen team format is going to be pressed this off-season. • Notre Dame got passed up by Miami for the last CFP at large slate. Most aren't mad about the Hurricanes passing them up, considering the week one game result, in which Miami beat Notre Dame. But there is confusion as to how the teams swapped positions without either playing. Some say the committee didn't want the ACC to have zero teams after five loss Duke beat Virginia in the ACC title game. But that shouldn't happen, if Miami was better than Notre Dame, they should've been ahead of them. Their ranking shouldn't be dependent on a game that their merit has no effect on. It's dumb. Notre Dame would've been better if Virginia won, but Miami is better because Duke won? After all, past the required five conference champions. The field should be filled with the best seven at large teams. • There is going to be an expansion imo. BYU, and Notre Dame are going to demand it. They both have a lot of money. We all know what matters to college football. Texas and Vanderbilt are going to cry to Sankey. Sankey is going to cry to the committee, and despite getting five teams in, the SEC is going to yell about James Madison getting in over Texas, and Vanderbilt. Especially with all the crying about a nine game conference slate. I think Greg should go with the Petiti play in model.

I love that OBD is the PO 5th seed and is -21.5 vs. JMU. What a reversal, thank goodness, from last season's PO opener. Defeat JMU on the 20th, and it's a terrific break to play Texas Tech in the Orange and not the Cotton Bowl. Notre Dame, hoist on its independent petard. Too bad, so sad. In the ACC as a football member or in the B1G, and ND is likely in the PO. Bama? No way was the committee going to penalize a Bama team with the nation's top SOS for losing a conference championship game, especially with so many starters not able to play yesterday. If Bama is healthy, I think the Tide has a chance to roll over an over-ranked OK team that it significantly outgained in the regular season loss. Keep Those Machines Turned Off! Beat the Dukes! 😁

Above, Mike West comments about quarterback capability to throw 45 yard laser shots down the sideline. OBD fans have seen Dante Moore execute those throws with precision frequently. If we set that as the standard for our starting QB, we’re going to be sadly disappointed. I watched Fernando Mendoza start for Cal at Cal four years ago. He was impressive. I expect him to win the Heisman. His arm is strong and accurate. He does not make the passes Dante makes. I have watched all the quarterbacks in playoffs. None throw like Dante. Justin Herbert does.

I believe I just saw that ISU and KSU both declined bowl invitations and that when dipping down to 5-7 teams for bowl selections, academic scores will be considered. Side note, bowls need to go.

I hope all the SEC qualifiers lose their first game over the next few weeks!

Brace yourself. With the SEC switching to 9 conference games next year there will be at least one 3 loss team making it every year moving forward, imo.

On the academic performance front there are SO many services around athletes these days that it's hard to fail. I was at UO when the academic support building was built and completed. Those players have a lot of help. They also have a full time job in their sport as well so I'm not entirely knocking it. I haven't seen anything about drug testing in a long time. I'm sure it happens from time to time. I'm sure they'll find a way to disqualify our best receivers of we make the title game.

Yup. I'd understand them getting in if they were 10-2 after an SEC championship game loss...but 3 losses? That's complete garbage.

I personally don’t think he is the answer for next year by any stretch, but I have no doubt and trust the coaches if they think he’s currently our second best guy. If Moore goes pro and Smith isn’t ready next year, we will need a portal guy imo. There are no mid-season trades, roll with what we got.

It has been ages since I saw anyone disqualified for drug tests or academic reasons. Are they still a factor?

Well, we are going to find out if Brock Thomas is really capable of starting if Moore goes pro. One thing is certain, Thomas executed what he was given. We saw a limited sample, so we have that to go on. I for one am not convinced Thomas is the guy. Has he been given a scholarship? If not, shouldn't he have one now? Personally, I would take Smith Jr. over Thomas. I just do not believe Brock Thomas can march OBD down the field six times a game and generate 30 plus points. I just do not see that. I recognize Moga and Novo have accuracy issues. And Thomas has proven he is mobile. None of the three can throw 45 yard laser shots down the sideline, which I feel is more important. You have to stretch the field, point blank. The QB that accurately does that is the QB that wins titles. Smith Jr. the only backup capable of making that happen. I will remain openminded however, because Thomas we have not seen in OT versus Penn State, or Thomas against Indiana. Perhaps he IS capable of winning those games. I'd like to see a poll on that: Is Thomas capable of defeating the Ohio States, Georgias, and Indianas of the world? Is Novo, Smith or Moga? Is DANTE MOORE?

Highly doubt the coaches would do anything aside from having the second best guy be QB2. Win now is college football in 2025.

Ducks definitely have an easier path at #5 they we would at #6.

Alabama in with three losses is a travesty. Then, to hear their former coach be given a platform to try to eliminate the smaller schools in future playoffs. The SEC already had a stacked presence.

They have all practiced, they have all suited up. They are all available so far. We need to have 3 or 4 QBs available in EVERY GAME because it only takes one play for someone to go down. BT is QB #2. We don't know who is #3 and #4.

I think a lot of folks agree. My belief is the committee was very reluctant to punish an SEC team for playing in the championship and losing. They had NO issues doing it with Virginia...but Bama, that's different. That's SEC. 🙄 Even if ND had a lesser strength of schedule, they also LOST fewer games.

Excited about this championship seeding run. Opponents and locations line up nicely. If OBD "wins it all" and brackets run pretty much chalk, not only would we avenge the IND loss (At Home, No Less!), but put Ohio St. as only the third best team in the B1G/College Football, behind only IND and OBD. B1G conference headquarters probably burning sacrifices to the Football Gods to make it so. LOL.😆

It seems to me that a two loss Notre Dame team should be in ahead of a three loss Alabama team.

Love it! As to weather, it’s true they have terrible weather in VA in December, but they have pretty good weather most of their season, I’d give us a slight weather edge.

re: Indiana if the Ducks beat JMU.."Hopefully the players will be motivated and the coaches learned something from the first game and will make adjustments for match #2." It didn't appear yesterday that Ohio State learned much from watching the tape. Indiana's defense was able to duplicate much of the strategy they used against Oregon. We read so much about Mendoza, but their D may be the bigger story. Coach Ryan Day post-game: “Very disappointed. Just overall with how we played. Didn’t play very well in the situations, third downs were not very good, not very good in the red zone at the end. I thought Indiana played really well, did a great job” On the team’s sacks it allowed: “They obviously brought different pressures and twists, but that was something they had done all season. We didn’t handle it well at all...This is a major lesson for this team, it can come down to one play or two plays or three plays that decide a game like this. This is a tough lesson to learn. We have to be more efficient across the board.”

If Novasad was not healthy during the Wisconsin game, that is the only valid argument for him actually being ahead of Thomas, and even that is iffy because Thomas came in first for mop up duty in other games too. Brock can play winning football for us as Lanning says. He can't make some of those game winning throws Moore can, but maybe he could make some better decisions at times too that makes the drop off not as significant. Thomas is a bit more of baller than Moore if we are being honest.

They'll probably be out on the West coast for several days before the game. School's out for everyone at that point. They'd pay for the use of a practice field somewhere, probably a high school, and get used to the weather and time zone a bit. Not saying it won't be a factor just less of one.

Don't forget the 3 hour time zone change for JMU. They won't be used to that.