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Ducks win 6-4. Blake Crawford was brought into the most intense situation...and this was his first college appearance? He walked a batter, as did Luke Morgan before him. Devin Bell, who had horrible control issues yesterday comes in, and I'm rummaging through drawers looking for stronger blood-pressure medication. He walked a batter to load the bases....three walks by three different pitchers, but Bell, this time, got the save with fly-balls generated. Wow!

6-4 Ducks after eight innings. I wrote too soon about relievers being OK, as Toby Twist gave up a HR, and then another that scored two runs. But wait! There's more as Luke Morgan comes in and gives up an HR before finishing the inning. Oregon strands two on base...

6-0 Ducks after seven innings. After the disaster with relievers yesterday...I was holding my breath when Oregon's reliever Toby Twist came in, but he did fine and kept them scoreless. Aaarg! Ducks had bases loaded and left them stranded.

6-0 Ducks after six innings. Cal Scolari returned and put them down! Dominic Hellman hammered a homer so hard that it hit the scoreboard, and then Gabe Miranda is getting his confidence back with a RF home run!

4-0 Ducks after five innings. Cal Scolari has 75 pitches, not what I reported before, and he may yield to a reliever.

4-0 Ducks after four innings. Cal Scolari has given up some hits, but kept them scoreless! (41 pitches after four innings) Burke-Lee Mabeus hit to the opposite side...for a homer!

3-0 Ducks after three innings. Cal Scolari discards the Vanderbilt batters 1-2-3 again! Angel Laya zings it to RF for a hit, and moved to second on a ground-out. Ryan Cooney hit deep into the RF corner to score Laya and got his double. Maddox Molony got a double, and Jax Gimenez gets a base hit up the middle to score Cooney!

1-0 Ducks after two innings. Cal Scolari has five KOs in just six outs? Whew! Maddox Molony got the scoring going with a homer over the LF fence!

CBS Sports' Brad Crawford has identified 26 of the college football (CFB) games in 2026 that will have the most impact on which teams are chosen for the 2026-27 CFB Playoff (PO). https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-2026-miami-notre-dame-ohio-state-indiana/ The folks at B1G HQ in Chicago should remind Brad that CBS is no longer an SEC broadcast partner. 13 games on his list are of the it Just Means More variety. Hmmm. Eight B1G games are on the list in the order of ranking below. The No. 1 game does offer Brad a measure of hope for absolution. No, 22 - 10/17 - Penn State at Michigan - A battle of experienced coaches new to the B1G. No. 13 - 9/12 - Oklahoma at Michigan - Payback for the Wolverines? No. 12 - 10/31 - Ohio State at USC - In year three of an 18-team Big Ten, these two teams that battled in eight Rose Bowl games, going 4-4, meet as conference opponents. No. 10 - 9/26 - Oregon at USC - Ranking this game above TOSU at USC gives Brad's list a modicum of credibility. No. 8 - 11/28 - Michigan at Ohio State - Will Ryan Day close his 2-4 gap versus the Wolverines? No. 5 - 9/12 - Ohio State at Texas - Unlike the 2025 opener between Texas and Ohio State in Columbus, the two QBs come into the game as experienced starters, with a Week 1 cupcake chomping: Ohio State vs. Ball State and Texas vs. New World 😁Texas State. This game will not kick off at Noon Eastern - Plan on watching the game on ABC at 7:30 PM Eastern, 4:30 PM Pacific, with Herbie and Chris on the call. No. 3 - 10/17 - Ohio State at Indiana - Both the Buckeyes and the Hoosiers brought in solid transfer portal hauls. 247 Sports ranks Ohio State as the 5th-best portal picker, with Indiana ranked 8th. Will transfer QB Josh Hoover approach the numbers Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza put up last season? Many of the players Curt Cignetti brought with him from JMU are out of eligibility. How will a younger Indiana team perform in 2026? Indiana is odds-on to be undefeated when this game is played. Ohio State is a +2.5 underbuck against Texas, but will be favored in the rest of its games. Unfortunately, this game will likely kick off at Noon Eastern, and draw millions fewer viewers who would watch the game in prime time. Number 1 - 10/17 - Oregon at Ohio State - Coming in at No. 1 makes 13 SEC games on Brad's list, a venial and not a mortal sin. Coming into this Week 10 game, even with Ohio State and Oregon having difficult schedules, there is an excellent chance for both the Ducks and the Bucks to be undefeated or to have only one loss. Ohio State will be coming off a Week 9 game against USC in Los Angeles. In Week 9, OBD hosts Northwestern. Both teams will be traveling from the Pacific to the Eastern time zone. Possibly a scheduling break for Oregon. But don't overlook a motivated Chipper and Northwestern. This game should have a significant influence on PO seeding, and will also most likely be a Noon kickoff on Fox. Nevertheless, an ESPN College GameDay Week 10 showing in Columbus is likely. Is it September 5th yet?

0-0 after one inning, as both pitchers look great. Cal Scolari threw a number of 98 mph pitches, and mixed them with a nasty drop-curve? Whew! The 'doors went down 1-2-3...

It's a looooong wait to 9/5/26, but spring ball has already sprung on some campuses, and on 3/12/26, Oregon begins Spring Practice. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/biggest-spring-practice-lane-kiffin-lsu-michigan-storylines/

Photo Caption: Why is B1G HQ bucking me like this! 🤬 YardbarkerDaunting Ohio State schedule could be toughest in Buckeye...After an undefeated regular season record in 2025, Ohio State will be going into 2026 with possibly one of its hardest schedules in the program’s history.

Thanks for the post. Kudos to Dan's portal picking. Get out of that helmet ASAP! The Gopher might be taken for a beaver.🤬 Oregon Ducks On SIDan Lanning Continues Key Transfer Portal TrendOregon Ducks coach Dan Lanning is continuing a trend of bringing in impact playmakers from the transfer portal. A season after inserting safety Dillon Thieneman

Thanks for the play by play, I was only able to listen to the game for the first few inning.

THE OREGON DUCKS REPEAT THEIR SWEEP as Big Ten Indoor Tra...THE OREGON DUCKS REPEAT THEIR SWEEP as Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Champions 🏆🏆 #B1GTF x Oregon Track and Field

For the second consecutive year, both the men and women have won the Big Ten Indoor T&F Championship at Indianapolis. Men (15 teams) - top 2 1-Oregon – 114 points 2-Penn St – 96 Women (18 teams) - top 2 1-Oregon – 101 2-Illinois – 93

Oregon loses 8-6. Owen Morgan got a double on a dropped fly, (the sun has been very difficult for both teams today) and Ryan Cooney put down a perfect bunt which generated an error throw to first in desperation which scored Morgan from second. Our relief pitchers have some growing up to do...and this is the time to do it and get seasoned for the next couple of months.

8-5 Irvine after eight innings. The Irvine reliever is not as good as that starter, as he gave up a four-pitch walk. The Dominic Hellman comes up and blasts a changeup off the foul pole and over the fence for a two-run homer! Waz may have a talk with him later as he SPIKED the bat in exultation after it bounced high off the pole.... Maddox Molony singles, and then get to second on a pick-off error. Drew Smith hits deep to LF to score Molony! Then...our relievers melted down. Miles Gosztola gave up hits, Devin Bell loads the bases and walks in a run...and then plinks a batter for another free run. Not to be outdone...Ryder Edwards comes in does the same thing. That isn't all the scoring against us, but I am trying to forget a bunch of it too. Gave up hits, walked in runs, plinked in runs! 🤮 We will get better!

3-2 Irvine after seven innings. Drew Smith hit a liner HR over the LF corner fence to pull us within one. Miles Gosztola has a wicked fastball with his left-handed whipping action to close them out.

3-1 Irvine after six innings. Miles Gosztola has come in to pitch, but Michael Meckna generated a great double-play.

As bad as the Ducks played in the Peach Bowl, Ohio State versus the No.10 seed played as badly, if not worse, in the Cotton Bowl. Ohio State has a more difficult schedule in 2026 than it did when it went 12-0 before losing back-to-back games against Indiana and Miami. The Buckeyes did not play Indiana and Oregon in the 2025 regular season. Both teams are on the Ohio State schedule this season. And with Arch Manning as the starter for the second season, a Week 2 game versus Texas in Austin will be more of a challenge than last season's Week 1 opener in Columbus. Ryan Day has many wins and a Natty. But if he had the talent Day had last season, I think Urban Meyer wins a B1G title, and TOSU repeats as the National Champion. Saturday BlitzThe NFL Combine is showing Ohio State wasted an All-Time...In any sport, it’s incredibly hard to win back-to-back Championships, but especially in a sport like college football where upsets happen every weekend. Through

3-1 Irvine after five innings. The Anteater pitcher is tough. (With a low pitch count) Clarke got a high pitch count and gave up some hits, so Michael Meckna finished off the inning in relief.

2-1 Irvine after four innings. The Ducks had bases loaded with one out...but blew it. Collin Clarke put three down, and has a low pitch count in the 50s after four innings.

2-1 Irvine after three innings. Collin Clarke got bases loaded, but only gave up one run.

As Forum Friend Mike Whitty noted in his excellent article on how to balance the Big Ten conference schedules, posted on February 19, 2026, in-conference schedules in today's college football mega-conferences vary significantly from season to season. With 18, 17, and 16-team Power 4 conferences playing nine-game conference schedules, a team's conference strength of schedule (SOS) from season to season is based on the luck of the draw. For example, in 2026, USC plays the three teams the B1G sent to last season's playoff: Indiana, Ohio State, and Oregon. Wisconsin misses all three playoff teams. With the year-to-year roster turnover in college football (CFB) that is exacerbated by today's transfer portal, I have no better idea how to balance CFB schedules beyond the ideas considered by Mike and those who commented on Mike's article. I am the first to acknowledge that evaluating SOS in the preseason is a complete crap shoot. You can load your prediction dice with all kinds of information from yesterday, but at the end of the season, you are as likely to roll snake eyes as you are a 7 or 11. With that said, my Big Ten 2026 SOS calculus breaks the conference into five tiers, five tiers based on The Sporting News preseason top 25 composite rankings. The preseason top 25 predictions used in the composite: The Sporting News (TSN), Athlon, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, and On3. Nine B1G teams are in TSN's top 25, including Others Receiving Votes, No. 30 Illinois. I used last season's results to rank the rest of the B1G teams. I only analyzed the schedules of the nine teams ranked by TSN, but you never know when an Indiana will arise or when a Penn State might crater. Tier 1 - 1. Ohio State - TSN No. 1 / 2. Indiana - TSN No. 4 / 3. Oregon - TSN No. 5 Tier 2 - 4. USC - TSN 13 / 5. Michigan - TSN 14 Tier 3 - 6. Penn State - TSN 20 / 7. Iowa - TSN 21 / 8. Washington - TSN 22 9. Illinois - TSN 30. Tier 4 - 10. Minnesota / 11. Northwestern / 12 Nebraska. Not ranked by TSN Finished 2025 with a winning record and qualified for bowl games. Tier 5 - 13. UCLA / 14. Wisconsin / 15. Rutgers / 16. Michigan State 17. Maryland / 18 Purdue Using these tiers, I ranked the top nine teams. I adjusted an opponent's ranking by minus .5 if the game was on the road. EXAMPLE using OBD's schedule - At USC 1.5, UCLA 5, Nebraska 4, at Illinois 2.5, Northwestern 4, at Ohio State 0.5, Michigan 2, at Michigan State 4.5, Washington 3. TOTAL - 27 The number of home games and whether a team plays five or 4 conference games at home or on the road (5/4 or 4/5) are not included in the SOS calculus. Neither are factors such as Oregon being the only Big Ten team playing eight conference games without a break, including playing two of the eight on the road in November. For conference championship purposes, whether a team plays five or four conference games at home matters and is factored in by giving more weight to conference away games. I have neither the brain nor the computer power to add nuance beyond home and away games to the below rankings. From a playoff overall record POV, with 8 home games and a 5/4 conference split, Michigan and Illinois have an advantage. With 8 home games, a 5/4 split, and no Power 4 opponent OOC, Indiana is looking good to repeat as the conference champion, making the playoff for the third season in a row, and earning back-to-back playoff 1st round byes. And Indiana is the only one of eight teams with a first-round playoff bye to win its second-round game, and did so while coming up Roses and turning the Crimson Tide into a leaky faucet. SOS Rankings - The lower the number, the more difficult the schedule. 1. Ohio State - 23.5 - Plus, at TSN No. 2 Texas - 7 Home Games - 5/4 2. Washington -25.5 - No OOC Power 4 opponent - 7 Home - 4/5 3. Michigan - 26 - Plus, No. 10 Oklahoma - 8 Home - 5/4 4. Oregon - 27 - Plus, Mountain West champion Boise State, and at Oklahoma State - 7 Home - 5/4 5. USC - 27.5 - With a game to be determined, no OOC Power 4 opponent TBD Home - 4/5 6. Indiana - 28 - No OOC Power 4 opponent - 8 Home - 5/4 7. Illinois - 30 - Plus, Not Ranked (NR) Duke - 8 Home - 5/4 8. Iowa - 33 - Plus, NR Iowa State - 7 Home - 4/5 9. Penn State - 34 - No OOC P4 opponent - 8 Home - 4/5 Ohio State is No. 1 in the TSN rankings, but the Buckeyes' schedule in and out of conference in 2026 is more demanding than when it finished 12-0 in the 2025 regular season. Indiana plays Ohio State in Bloomington. Oregon flies to Columbus to play Ohio State. I think No. 4-ranked Indiana has the best path to a repeat conference championship. If QB Hoover can play anywhere near the level of Heisman winner Mendoza, watch out for the Hoo, Hoo, Hoosiers. BEAT BOISE!