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Not that I like agreeing with USC but yeah, Notre Dame's absolute refusal to join a conference, even out their schedules home and away, take advantage of its notoriety and tradition to artificially place itself in an advantaged position for post season play, that no other teams get the same consideration for (well maybe a few SEC teams). It is a shame to see another college football tradition fall by the wayside because of the amounts of money involved in letting those traditions die. Notre Dame will continue to "position" itself until they finally agree to joining a conference to ensure they remain the highest earner in whatever conference they eventually, grace their presence with. Until that happens (2035?), ND will be the "thorn in the side" of NFL-lite and will remain so until ND can be assured of preferential treatment to artificially boost their image so as to stay relevant in this new age of NIL, transfer portal, and high stakes program positioning. I don't have to like it but it is what it is. Go Ducks.

Interesting read on the Saturday Down South article. TT QB has not played much in the 4th quarter all year, and has yet had to lead a comeback. "For what it’s worth, Morton has 211 career pass attempts in the 4th quarter, so it’s not as if a close game will be a completely foreign concept. But with this team, and specifically this play caller (Mack Leftwich), that would be a new situation if it presents itself. That’s not an ideal question mark in a Playoff quarterfinal against a Dan Lanning defense." Not sure how you prep your QB for the nerves of a 2 minute drill, knowing which plays you want for the 2 minute drill, without having to do it all year. Just thought it was an interesting stat. I know from reading some of the TT message boards, OBD shouldn't score more then 10 points and OBD Defense is trash so giving up 30 wouldn't be shocking. Guess thats why you play the game...

There's no place like home for the holidays!

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Every team is fighting for their survival at this point of the season. They have nothing to lose, so expect the unexpected. This is why we saw a fake punt and the Annexation of Puerto Rico play from JMU.

I know that the Sun Belt champion, 12-1 JMU, has better starters than OBD's backups, and is a well-coached team that never quit. I think UCLA may have found a heck of a coach. I think JMU was the best G6 team and should not have been ranked behind Tulane. I know football is a game of emotion, and it's hard to stay focused and fired up when you lead 34-6 after the second quarter. I know JMU never had a shot at winning the game, and this game has no bearing on how the team performs in the Orange Bowl on 1/1/26, and hopefully back in the same locale on Monday, 1/19/26. I know I'm happier than A&M and Sooners fans. And I know the Luckeyes lucked out again, playing Miami and not the Aggies in Dallas on New Year's Eve. I know that OBD is also fortunate to have played JMU and not BYU, and to play Texas Tech in Miami instead of in Dallas. I know this is a bowl extravaganza and not a playoff, and where you play is the luck of the draw, not decided on the field in the regular season. I know the PO field should expand to 16 teams, start and finish earlier, with no byes, 1st and 2nd round games, at least, played on the home fields of higher-ranked teams. Wreck Tech!

On a scale of 1 to 10, Zero on the panic meter for this old grey beard. TT has OBD's undivided attention. This game will be decided in the trenches. The Duck O line must protect Dante and give him time to throw. IMHO, all the Duck skill position players will play on Sundays. TT has not faced an offense this talented. Not to mention all 5 O line starters will cash NFL checks. Patience, balance, clean play and high level execution will keep the TT defense on their heels, not their toes. On defense TT and MU must hold the edges much better and contain. Force TT to be one dimensional. OBD's defense is stacked with future NFL talent. Play to their level, hold TT to 17 or under and let's get on the the semifinals. Go Ducks........

No worries about the 2nd half with 2’s and 3’s. That’s to be somewhat expected. And to be fair, it’s a reward for how hard those kids worked. There were 3 throws that stand out. 1 simply got away from Dante. The 2 others, a receiver fell down and another receiver bobbled it. Just sayin.

Are you not entertained? Our Oregon football program hung a healthy 51 points on JMU in their first College Football Playoff game of the postseason, advancing the Ducks to the Orange Bowl against Texas Tech on New Year’s Day (Jan 1st, 12:00 pm EST). This is Oregon’s first postseason win since beating Jameis Winston’s Florida State Seminoles in 2014, creating massive implications ... Oregon Football: Panic Meter After CFP Round One

The biggest issue and ridiculous problem is that ND automatically gets into the CFP if they only have 2 losses and are ranked in the top 12 starting next season. Seeing that they don't play anyone, they would be a bid stealer. For example, ND would not have been left out this year. The Committee ranked them 10th. Why on Earth would USC help ND by improving their strength of schedule- which might be crucial to being in the top 12 with 2 losses? What if ND already had two losses and played USC, who is trying to be ranked in the top 10, and ND takes away SC's spot at that 10th spot? No thanks. ND can play nobody and hopefully not get ranked highly, especially if they lose one or two games.

And a major reason the North was historically dominant in the 40s, 50s, 60s and until the mid-70s was segregated football in the South with the top Black athletes gravitating to the Big-10, the Big 8, Penn State, Notre Dame and other northern football powers. Th major rise of the SEC came as many more black athletes stayed home when member schools integrated.

I sure hope Whittington is good to go against TT, he’s been fantastic when healthy and yet strangely under appreciated by some fans.

I don’t care much about Notre Dame or USC, but I do hate to see traditional rivalry games come to an end.

SC wants to play the game in September, not middle/late in the Big Ten portion of the schedule. Notre Dame wants to play it late in the season because most years USC will be ranked, and Notre Dame wants a ranked game on the resume late in the season as the CFP seeds are being announced. This year, after Sep. 13, they had two ranked games: USC and Pitt. With a partial ACC schedule, they are nervous about not having a ranked opponent late. They saw what happened to Miami when the last half of the Hurricanes schedule became weak. They both simply have different scheduling needs. Neither wants to compromise.

Looks like the end for the intersectional matchup, and why not? ND makes money off the series. ND's recruiting benefits from the series. USC gets a jeweled stick if it wins. 🤪 A B1G SC does not need another trip east every other season. SC offered to compromise and continue the series if the game was played earlier in the year at a neutral site. Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas is what SC offered as a neutral venue. https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football/breaking-news/article/sources-notre-dame-usc-rivalry-series-ending-next-year-as-irish-finalize-2-year-deal-with-byu-165245493.html

Notre Dame vs. USC is on pause. Probably 'forever.' From a B1G perspective, and a USC travel perspective, I think Troy made the right call. USC asked for the game to be played earlier in the season at a neutral site. The Irish said 'No.' SINotre Dame Football Fills Future Schedule Signaling End t...The Fighting Irish will play BYU the next two seasons with other marquee opponents already on the books until 2030.

The offense has nothing to be disappointed about from Saturday, the defense should be ashamed about their performance, it was putrid in the second half, and the first half wasn't as good as the score would say. What this means for the Orange Bowl, probably not a whole lot. The defense has been good for most of the year, but it is concerning that they haven't shut down a good offense yet this season. It's a defense that has feasted on bad offenses, Indiana and USC were able to accomplish a lot, I don't think TT is as good as these offenses though. I still think we should win, but we have to be better on defense, we have to get more pressure, the run defense has to stiffen up, we have to better in every facet of the defense if we want to win the lot. I don't think we'll do it since we haven't been able to shut down a good offense yet, the offense is going to have to make up for it.

I just honestly don’t know exactly what to think of TT. I’ve seen highlights, but I didn’t watch them play very much. They lost to Arizona State, but it’s not like the Sun-Devils are a bad team, and it was a close game. Plus, any team is subject to have a bad game, no matter how good they are. They won every other game in convincing fashion, but it’s not like they played a real gauntlet of a schedule. I will say that convincingly beating Utah and then BYU twice is pretty impressive, but doesn’t convince me that they are the world beaters that some are saying. Obviously, I think the Ducks win, but I know how talented and how well the Ducks are capable of playing. With Texas Tech, I’m just not sure. I’m going to pull up and watch a few of their games before the Orange Bowl. Go Ducks!!!

The Joe Moore winners will play ball on Wednesday, 12/31/26 - No. 14 Vanderbilt - 10-2 vs. No. 23 Iowa - 8-4, 9 AM Pacific, ESPN. This should be one of the best non-PO bowl games. Two more Power 2 matchups see Illinois vs. Tennessee in Nashville, playing at 2:30 PM on Tuesday, the 30th, and No. 13 Texas vs. No. 18 Michigan, Noon ABC, on the 31st. Thursday, 1/1/26, 1 PM, ESPN, sees the fourth postseason matchup of B1G vs. SEC, when No.1 Indiana plays No. 9 Bama in the Rose Bowl, with Indiana -6.5, the favorite. Indiana, the favorite? DOCTOR!🤪 Three seasons back, everyone saw this Rose Bowl battle coming on, right? 🙃 Odds on that one of Georgia/Ole Miss will play Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl on Thursday, 1/8/26, with a chance that OBD plays Alabama in Atlanta on Friday, 1/9/26. Saturday Down SouthEarly thoughts on each quarterfinal matchup of the 2025 C...The quarterfinal matchups of the 2025 College Football Playoff are set. Here's what you should watch out for. WRECK TECH!

Fifty one points, (51!) and he still catches crap. Wowsa. For sure. Fact: We really have no idea what is going into the decisions of what we are going to do when. It is very possible that we did not abandon the run game because we thought it wasn't working. (Duh. Who would think that?) Maybe they wanted to get some practice in for the receivers and Dante in a real game situation. There really are not many targets to spread around. We don't know... but as long as we keep winning, who am I to complain???

Saturday Down South evaluates the PO quarterfinals - Saturday Down SouthEarly thoughts on each quarterfinal matchup of the 2025 C...The quarterfinal matchups of the 2025 College Football Playoff are set. Here's what you should watch out for.

This is great news!!! GO DUCKS!!!

This is great news. Not only for the run game but his pass blocking might make the difference against the TT pass rush.

I'm thinking the game will come down to defense and who puts the most pressure on the qb.

Yes, I commented on the game-day thread. I am hoping DL and WS are finally playing the best players. 🤞🏼 I’m not an expert, but DHJ and JD sure are the most fun to watch. I’ve never been that excited about Whittington.