HDuck

Weather forecast: high 47 degrees, showers morning, rain in afternoon, wind from north end of stadium 10-20 mph In the 60's on Friday, in the 30's on Sunday, as cold front moves in Friday night. Ground and pound weather for the Hawkeyes.

To me, the nostalgia for the Old Pac is akin to Friday night football. Well, we're going to stay loyal and attend most of our Friday night high school games, before we spend Saturday watching the SEC, B1G and Big12. The viewership for Pac12 After Dark across the country reflected that. It was only going to become more of an afterthought in the public consciousness. And, Friday night high school games are showing dwindling interest too. Was UCLA in Pullman - 67-63 and 44-41 entertaining? How many people saw those as televised games? Did they get voluminous post-game coverage? Were they worthy of keeping a conference together because those games tickled our fickle bone? Perhaps it's akin to watching some entertaining 4A Oregon high school games, while the real powers are playing 6A? Listen, I'm a nostalgia guy and post here periodically about games and stats from across the history of college football. I'm sympathetic to nostalgia. But, I also like 60's and 70's popular music while understanding the world have moved on and commercialized a much different genre of music while my age group's interests are waning as we die off. USC recognizing the changing landscape was assisted suicide to a conference that was dying. The "doctors" at ESPN, Fox, etc. had told Kliavkoff in the waiting room, that even with USC/UCLA the chances for survival were slim. You can entertain removing life support, or "enjoy" a slow death. Joining the B1G was making oneself eligible for the Mayo Clinic.

I suspect the preference of which games to watch is largely based on where you spent your younger adult life. If you grew up in the Midwest, and moved to the West Coast, I imagine you would rather watch Minnesota vs Wisconsin than Cal vs UCLA. The unsolvable problem for the Pac: the national population east of the Rockies was more attuned to the former than the latter. The Pac, regardless of USC's periodic success, was always going to have short shrift of network and viewer interest. USC clearly saw that when evaluating their financial future. Fortunately both UW and UO did as well. I'm not sure which West games I might wish for? Cal? Utah? It's a very short list. And, because of that, it is still possible for non-conference. I would rather have some rotation schedule of a couple old Pac12 teams than play Oregon State very season. But, that is more about OSU than about nostalgia for the old Pac.

Cristobal may be the Robert De Niro of the coaching fraternity. Can attract the money for his role plays, but dumb as a rock when the chips are down.

Iowa's Kinnick Stadium has one of the closest sidelines in college football. There is very little sideline space between the first row of fans and the field. Visting teams need to ignore fans who want to engage with players. Iowa's secondary plays "hit hard and ask questions later" in an effort to intimidate receivers. The philosophy is that referees will not throw flags on every play. Iowa games are often low scoring. It is big britches football...3 yd run, 4 yd run, 3 yd run..first down...3 yd run, 4 yd run...and so on...as the clock runs to limit possessions by the opponent, and keep the D-line fresh for aggressive defensive play calling. They have undoubtedly studied Indiana film until the film wears out. The Iowa O-line will exert their will until an opponent proves otherwise. Oregon is favored by 6-1/2 initially. I suspect that will narrow as kickoff approaches. I wouldn't be surprised if a FG win it, one way or the other. Mendoza threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Sarratt with 1:28 to play in the game to give No. 11 Indiana a 20-15 win over Iowa on Saturday. The closest win of the season for the Hoosiers was one coach Curt Cignetti called a “gut check,” and his players agreed. Indiana was held to 337 yards and its lowest scoring output of the season. But the Hoosiers got two touchdown passes from Mendoza, who threw for 233 yards “It was the good, the bad, and the ugly, and there was a lot of the bad and the ugly,” Indiana's Cignetti said. And that, is the Iowa game plan. Drag your opponent into the mud, play ugly, then look up at the scoreboard at the end.

2:26 left, leading 20-17, ball on SMU 49 - pass play 2:22 left, ball on 50 - pass play IF Miami had run the ball, they would have taken time off the clock. Miami punts on fourth down. Following punt, SMU has 2:09 left, 90 yds from scoring. 0:28 left, SMU kicks FG to tie from Miami 21 yd line of scrimmage. IF Miami had run the ball, SMU would still have used a couple time outs, BUT more time would have elapsed before the SMU timeouts. Maybe SMU has a longer FG attempt after getting possession back?

I don't think there are many Oregonians who feel former State employees shouldn't have a pension, if they became eligible while private industry had pensions. But, when private industry dropped pensions and went solely to 401K's that should have ended it. Likewise, private industry pensions for employees are based on a much more modest calculation of average of final wages. At the point the person retires, it is frozen. No increases in benefits after retirement date. When a PERS eligible retiree can have a pension that is over 100% of his final pay, while a similar tenured private employee remains frozen at 30-35% of his/her final salary, there is seriously something wrong. Especially when cities, counties, school districts, and the State have to keep allocating money from their budgets to fund it instead of city services, county law enforcement, education of kids, and public health. Similarly, the increase of "potential sources of investment" do not rise fast enough to offset the exorbitant benefit growth. So, taxpayers have to make up the difference via reduced public budgets for services or increased taxes/fees, or both. SAIF premiums could be used for other purposes than exorbitant retirement benefits.

If the Congressman from Washington can demonstrate to me that he can get 70,000 people from around the state to pay $150 per seat on a Saturday to show up in Seattle and listen to him drone on for 3 hours, motivate 105 kids and a staff to do what he tells them to do, answer direct questions in a press conference afterwards with every word recorded for second guessing by 7 million who didn't show up, then maybe there's room to consider his proposal. Maybe.

The schedule has set up nicely for Indiana. I'm not sure that will happen again anytime soon to a similar degree for any team regardless of conference. Indiana's next four opponents to close the season have 1 conference win total. Four teams, one B1G win. Indiana had a bye before traveling to Oregon. They do not play Ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska. Washington, USC. None of them. None. Vanderbilt plays Alabama, LSU, Texas, Auburn, Tennessee. Which up from the basement team would you rather be in 2025? Indiana will play Ohio State in Indianapolis, and the crowd will be wild. As it turned out, OSU's schedule is not exactly a juggernaut either in 2025. But, I would trust OSU to matchup with potential CFP opponents than I would Indiana.

Ducks at Hawkeyes is one of four games that will not be announced until November 2. (Sometimes they happen late night Saturday) Of the four, 3 games are at East/Midwest locations: Indiana at Penn State, Other UW at Wisconsin, Oregon at Iowa. No Big Ten Fox Big Noon Game has yet been designated. Don't be surprised if there is an 11:00 am CT kickoff in Iowa City. 9:00 am PT.

Well, Kiffin's daughter currently is dating a junior linebacker at LSU. Kiffin's ex-wife is a graduate of Florida, and the two are reportedly back together but still divorced. As a 2028 QB prospect, Knox has already received several offers, including from SMU, Arkansas State, Western Kentucky, Sacramento State, Murray State, and FIU. Notably, top programs like Oregon, Florida, and LSU are on his radar. Knox recently visited LSU for a game. But with all these choices, where is Ole Miss? Knox didn’t really put Ole Miss in his top 3 schools list. The reason? “I’m definitely not going to play for my dad,” Knox told Adam Gorney from Rivals. “I want to do my own stuff.”

5 former Ducks QBs will have played this weekend for their NFL teams Thursday - Herbert for Chargers Sunday Gabriel for Browns Shough for Saints Nix for Broncos Monday - Mariota for Commanders

Speaking of cold water and miserable playing conditions...

Didn't realize it until I looked at the game log, but Dante went out VERY early in the third period. It was 7-0 when Moore went out. First mention of Thomas in the game log is a pass play at 12:45 left in third quarter. That means he was in for almost all the third quarter and all the fourth quarter opportunities. Apparently the coaches had a lot of faith in the guy. Both Moore and Thomas were in on the final play of 5 possessions each.

An interesting stat to ponder. Against Indiana....the Ducks allowed 8 tackles for loss (inclusive of 6 sacks) and Oregon scored 20 points. Against Wisconsin....the Ducks allowed 7 tackles for loss (inclusive of 4 sacks) and Oregon scored 21 points. No other game has Oregon allowed close to that many tackles for loss, and no other game has Oregon come close to being held to 20 pts. There is now a bye week before facing another opponent, Iowa, that had 9 tackles for loss with 4 sacks today vs Minnesota. Hope the O-line and staff use the bye wisely.

This was a typical Big Ten slog. It is not high flying offense which we often disparaged when we were members of the Pac12 looking at the B1G. These teams emphasize line play, move at a very measured pace on offense. Keep the game close. Hope their opponents make a mistake. Prepare for November weather. If you don't have the linemen...ie. Ohio State, Michigan, Iowa...you don't "succeed." Weather obviously impacted things. Not sure if weather impacted 29-22 Alabama vs S. Carolina, 17-10 Vandy vs Missouri, 34-26 Ole Miss vs OU, 28-21 Nebraska vs Northwestern, 27-24 Rutgers vs Purdue. As noted in a post I made under a different topic, the margin of victory between Power 4 opponents so far this year is closer than any year since 2009. Normally, the Ducks next opponent Iowa would have been in a slog game today, but they won comfortably today with a pick-six and punt return TD to add to their offense. That is the opponent making mistakes.

At 9:30 mark..... 13:00 - possession Wisconsin 7:30 - Oregon

1st quarter stat 46 yds - Wisconsin 21 yds - Oregon

TrueMedia There are other stats that back up this newfound parity, according to research from the data analytics platform TrueMedia. Entering this weekend, games between power league programs have been decided by an average of 14.2 points — on pace to be the lowest figure in any season since 2009. A whopping 43% of power conference football games have been decided by one score, which is on pace to be the highest percentage in any season in the last 20 years. “Our margins are smaller. Margins are tight everywhere,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said.

Iowa is up 31-0 with 2:00 left in half. They have scored with a FG, a pick-six, a rushing TD, a passing TD, and a punt return. What's left? Safety? Kickoff return?

A good game right now between two 6-1 teams: USF at Memphis. Likely neither coach will be with the same team when they play next year. Winner today will likely have the G6 slot in the CFP.

49-6 after 3 Q's. One of the interesting things is how many vacant seats there are in the stadium, capacity 52,600. Not just now, but earlier.

Indiana 35-3 at half-time. Indiana vs UCLA. The Bruins are attempting to contact John Wooden.

elsewhere yesterday North Carolina 76-78 at BYU Kansas 90-82 at Louisville Villanova 72-75 at Virginia DePaul 69-62 at Notre Dame Purdue 65-78 at Kentucky (Purdue is pre-season No. 1, Kentucky No. 9) Kansas State 91-100 at Missouri

Well, some say they came close to getting Saban from Alabama in 2012. The Longhorn boosters do not think small. The Crimson WhiteSaban to Texas? Why it never happenedWhen Alabama and Texas met at the Rose Bowl for the 2010 BCS National Championship game, it was a matchup of programs heading in different directions. Two historic programs, two historic coaches and