JB89

Hopefully, OBD starts fast and finishes strong so we have very little to complain about.

It does not really matter if they are at their best because they are OBD's best chance at winning today. I'm glad they agreed to stay throughout the playoffs.

Ducks 13-10 1 4 212

Ducks 38-7 4 2 312

That is a good question and my answer is one that I had planned on stating in a previous topic "Semifinals or Bust for the Ducks". Since you have asked the direct question of "Define success for Oregon" I will state my opinion here. I will always feel Oregon had a successful season if OBD makes the playoffs. I never want to become a fan that thinks OBD had a bad season when they have an 11-1 regular season record with the only loss being to the #1 team in the country. I also feel OBD can have a successful season but end up with a disappointing playoff finish. If we lose to JMU, I will be disappointed but I will still consider it a successful season. In 2016, while watching the hated UW stomp OBD 70-21, I wondered if we would ever see the glory days of Chip Kelly again. Now that Dan Lanning has us consistently in playoff contention, I will consider a playoff appearance as a successful season and be thankful that OBD recovered from that horrible day.

I think this will speed up the process of having a 16 or 24 team playoff. Either the ACC, Notre Dame or Alabama gets left out of the playoffs this year. That will create the necessary storm to get a larger field. It should also help with the other conferences agreeing to the model of automatic qualifiers that the Big 10 would like.

This is also how I would rank the teams and Tulane would take Alabama's spot and James Madison will be the 12th seed playing OBD in Eugene. Alabama really isn't the second best SEC team. The playoff committee ranks them as the 5th best team in the SEC. Alabama had their chance and blew it when Georgia pummeled them.

I believe James Madison will take the 12th seeded team's spot and Tulane will take the 11th seeded team's spot. Miami, Notre Dame and Alabama are fighting for the 9th and 10th seeds. I vote for Miami and Notre Dame. According to the playoff committee's poll Alabama is the 5th best team in the SEC. They had their chance to get in the playoffs by beating Georgia and they failed. If this upsets the SEC then I suggest they put their two best teams in the championship game just like the Big Ten did tonight. Duke, the 6th best team in the ACC rose to the challenge and beat Virginia even though they have too many losses to make the playoff field.

I understand your point of view, if you think the current system is flawed. I am in the minority here and would like to see OBD get a bye. One less game to potentially have a season ending injury to a key player is one of the reasons. Needing to win 3 games for a title versus 4 games is also appealing to me. I also trust that Coach Lanning has learned how to better prepare to win playoff games even with a long layoff.

I think they already have a reason to win. Win and they can move up to #3 and out of the side of the bracket with the #1 ranked team. A loss could even drop them below #8 and force them play a road game in round #1.

If TT wins , I see them moving up to #3 and Indiana or OSU with a loss falling to #4. I can easily see the committee ranking the 3 conference championship game winners 1, 2 & 3 and the loser of the BIG10 game at #4.

If I was on the committee and TTU pulled their starters at halftime and lost. I would vote to have them eliminated from the playoffs. I would not reward such behavior and that would send a message to coaches in future years.

I trust coach Lanning but I will admit that I was hoping to get coordinators with current multi-year proven track records of play calling success for both of the new coordinator positions. It feels good to promote from within until you find out they were not ready for the new position. Oregon is a top 10 program with the goal of a national title. Our new coaches will be going up against more experienced play callers next year while attempting to win that elusive national championship. Hopefully, his coaching hires work out again for Coach Lanning and OBD.

Since it is Bama, I could see them jump to #4. It would not happen for any team not in the sec but it would not surprise me at all.

Here are my predicted winners from the above games. Kennesaw St. JMU BSU N. Texas St. BYU W. Michigan Georgia Duke Indiana