HDuck

In the final softball rankings before the tournament the Ducks were No. 22. They were assigned to play at No. 2 Oklahoma. In a normal 64-team field, 16 x 4, the No. 2 seed would have No. 31 as their top opponent, i.e. 16 hosts 17, 15 hosts 18, 1 hosts 32, etc. Not sure how Oregon got sent to Norman? Perhaps there is a strength of schedule component used by the Committee rather than rankings? Or, maybe the Committee just wanted to see coach Lombardi in Norman, Oklahoma again?

Last August….Sources told ESPN that both schools will receive approximately $30 million annually when they join the league, a share that will increase by $1 million during the current media contract with Fox, NBC and CBS, which runs through the 2029-30 athletic season. They then would be able to receive full shares. The other Big Ten members are expected to receive more than $60 million annually from the new agreement this year. Previous Big Ten expansion additions Nebraska, Rutgers and Maryland also did not receive full revenue shares immediately. My add…what gets little ink are the other revenue sources which are 100 percent shares: CFP payouts, NCAA Tournament payouts (expect women’s Tournament to go up too), bowl payouts, TV revenue from other non-3 networks airings. There will be more B1G teams in the CFP and NCAA Tourneys than there would have been Pac10, Pac9, PacWhatever which adds to that revenue. When detractors spout “half-shares” that really only applies to part of the total revenue pool. Add…does anyone really believe that Oregon would have the level of season ticket sales in football for 2024 that it now has if it was a Pac10/9 schedule? Could Oregon have raised ticket prices? Would as many hotdogs and sodas be sold? That, and more, are additional revenue streams that are not part of “half-shares.” Travel? Oregon has 3 football games in the Midwest. How much more will that cost than the 3 or 4 (not counting UCLA trip) in the Pac10 that would have been incurred anyway? The number of trips for some sports have been way overestimated based on inaccurate assumptions as well. There are still 3 West Coast opponents, and some sports do not do weekly home-and-home schedules that require travel.

Oregonian columnist Bill Oram brings the whole thing into the world of reality here: "It’s the 99.9% of viewers who won’t be watching that worry me." Column worth a read. Bill Oram: Oregon State’s deal with The CW sounds good, but might hurt the Beavers more than help ARCHIVE.PH archived 14 May 2024 20:41:25 UTC

After the bag they got from the Whitman County judge the Beavers should pay back the $10 million allocated by the Legislature.

Big12 in 1996 included Big8 and 4 teams from SWC. Have left: Nebraska, Colorado, A&M, Missouri. Added: TCU, W. Virginia to get back to 10 teams by 2012. Then added: BYU, Houston, UCF, Cincinnati in 2023 In 2024 lose: Texas, Oklahoma In 2024 add: Colorado, Utah, Arizona, ASU will be 16 teams Going back to the 1996 season the all-games win percentage comparison of bottom 5 of 16: .494 – Oregon St .476 – WSU .472 – Arizona .429 – Colorado .441 – Baylor .421 – Iowa St .343 - Kansas Since 1996 to SEC: A&M, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma Since 1996 to B1G: Nebraska 1996 remaining: Kansas, KSU, Iowa St, Baylor, Tex Tech, Okie State, Colorado

Joel Klatt’s “top 25” 1-Ohio St 2-Georgia 3-Texas 4-Oregon 5-Ole Miss 6-Utah 7-Alabama 8-Michigan 9-Penn St 10-Mizzou 11-Notre Dame 12-Florida St Xx – no Group of 5 Champ in his Top 25 If that pre-season prediction was duplicated in the Final Playoff Ranking: 1-Ohio St – Big Ten Champ with first round bye 2-Georgia – SEC Champ with bye 6-Utah – Big12 Champ with bye 12-Florida St – ACC Champ with bye 11-Notre Dame – out, replaced by Group of 5 Champ 3-Texas in Austin vs 11-Group of 5, game winner vs 12-Florida St in Sugar 4-Oregon in Eugene vs 10-Mizzou, winner vs 6-Utah in Fiesta 5-Ole Miss in Oxford vs 9-Penn St, winner vs 2-Georgia in Peach 7-Alabama in Tuscaloosa vs 8-Michigan, winner vs 1-Ohio St in Rose

The B1G has cold, sleet, and wind in November. The wind in some of these B1G stadiums cannot be over rated. It is why B1G teams game statistics are often dominated by running rather than passing. For most of its venues regardless of month it has vociferous crowds. This will not be like road games at Palo Alto or Tucson, will be more like Utah at multiple road sites. I was surprised Gabriel doesn't show more interceptions the last two seasons given his height.

It will be interesting to see how each of the four former Pac schools adjust to playing at Big Ten venues on a week-after-week basis. It is much different than being tasked with winning games at half-filled Tucson or Palo Alto stadiums. Lincoln Riley is left scrambling after Derrick Harmon loss to Oregon TROJANSWIRE.USATODAY.COM USC’s margin for error is much smaller without Derrick Harmon on board.

15 Ohio zip codes for Ducks tickets? 30 zip codes in Columbus Metro. 1,400 plus zip codes in Ohio which has a population of 11.8 million. The more revealing answer would be how many total season tickets ordered from those 15 zip codes. Does it tie to a ticket broker?

Hopefully some were....so there will be single game tickets available for other games.

I doubt most West Coast fans know that 8 of the 14 current BigTen schools are in the Eastern Time Zone, not Central. Thus, a 9:00 am kickoff is 12 Noon for the home team at those 8 schools. It is 11:00 am for the other 6. I do worry about how well visitors from the West can adjust to 9:00 am PT kickoffs. Arrival on Friday does little to help adjust.

OR-eh-gun How to pronounce Oregon in English DICTIONARY.CAMBRIDGE.ORG How to pronounce Oregon. How to say Oregon. Listen to the audio pronunciation in the Cambridge English Dictionary. Learn more.

And, I found this interesting...

If the Playoff Committee looks at a Mt. West Champion which was 7-1 in conference in regular season vs a WSU that was 6-0 vs some of those same teams in a truncated schedule the committee might be more inclined to pick the 7-1?

Why August 2? Because that is the day following the departure of the ten programs that are escaping to the Big12, BigTen and ACC. Which obviously means the last day those ten are conference members is August 1. When they announced their future departure date, they indicated they would become members of new conferences on August 2. It is not an earlier date as determined in Whitman County Judge Libey's decision. I still do not understand how Libey could reach his opinion, or why the ten didn't appeal.

I'm surprised there aren't more rules about courts markings. Especially the out-of-bounds lines. If you are a new official in the league, seems like it might take some time to get used to variations? Look at Maryland, for example. The out of bounds line is white and in some places it borders a white perimeter. Maryland unveils new court design WWW.NCAA.COM In anticipation of the 2015-16 basketball season, the Maryland introduced its latest design for Gary Williams Court at XFINITY Center.

I believe all the Big Ten basketball courts have the B1G logo at each free-throw line, facing the shooter. I believe it is a conference identity/publicity type thing. That being said, from an aesthetic standpoint I prefer simple design and personally prefer contrasting wood color inside the 3-pt line area. Oregon may have been a good "idea" but it was compromised by the colors used. It is painful to look at on TV in particular. Prefer the more subtle colors. For example the one at Washington State. There are many similarly subtle designs. WSU unveils new basketball court design in Beasley Coliseum WWW.COUGCENTER.COM Redesigned court will feature landmarks from across the state of Washington.

John Ruiz's wife's family is related to Cristobal. Ruiz and his wife separated before Cristobal was hired though. Jessica Cristobal? Don't know how she felt about Eugene, but obviously sometimes hard for a big city girl or boy to adapt.

If ticket prices continue to rise, and 2024's greater football season ticket sales can be sustained, will it be enough to offset a good chunk of the "Pac-12 liabilities" until Oregon can reach higher Big Ten shares?

Jon Wilner, San Jose Mercury Only a handful of athletic departments across the country generate an operating surplus without relying on any support from central campus. In the Pac-12, there is just one: Oregon, which produced a $3.8 million profit in 2023. But coming, the 10 outbound schools in the Pac-12 agreed to have $6.5 million per campus withheld from their conference distributions in order to support Washington State and Oregon State. What’s more, Comcast is withholding $72 million in payments ($6 million per school) as a result of the Pac-12 Networks overpayment scandal discovered in the fall of 2022. Also, every major college athletic department from Berkeley to Boston will experience additional financial pressures in coming years if, as many expect, college athletes are deemed employees by the court system and entitled to direct compensation. Wilner's column https://archive.ph/CO13v

Playing Ole Miss at Ole Miss is a much different fan experience than in a bowl game, or potentially hosting in an expanded Playoff. Perhaps there is a different list for places you would like to visit? For a lot of people, Wisconsin was on that list until the home-and-home with the Badgers was accomplished. Visiting Tuscaloosa is not real high for me.

My view of this topic is less about opponent and more about venue, history, neighborhood and whether the Ducks have visited in the last 30 years or so. Ole Miss Clemson Florida State Navy As a result, Alabama is not real high on my list. Here is an article that is more in line with my criteria. UPDATED Ranking College Football Stadiums: 108 Down | Road to CFB ROADTOCFB.COM Ranking college football stadiums isn't easy. I've been to 108 of the 131 stadiums (133 in 2023 with the addition of Sam Houston State and Jacksonville State) thus far and this list took me a ton of time...

The whole pre-draft weeks and weeks is a chess match among teams. They rumor monger, and feed TV pundits false info to try to disguise their intent and buffalo the other NFL teams. Some teams don't show up for college pro-days on certain athletes so they don't "appear" interested to other NFL scouts. If they have an early second round pick, then get pundits to talk down the assessment of a guy they hope will still be available to them. The teams try to analyze what other teams will do with picks in a risk maneuver to hope a guy slides. "If I talk down Penix, I can take a DL early and hope Penix is still available." Pundits are up/down on their assessments of Penix and Nix. Largely because their "sources" are feeding them a line of b.s. trying to position themselves to get their best 1st and 2nd picks. The teams are really only interested in the best outcomes for themselves based on their own needs. If player A goes No. 10 and player B goes No. 20 it doesn't mean A is 10 picks better. It means those two teams had different needs based upon their current rosters and trades they expect to make. The pundits have to fill airtime. So, they regurgitate the lines they are being fed by teams, and don't want to appear out of sync with counterparts. Thus, Penix is injury prone and Nix can't throw long. The WNBA has it right. Keep the "analysis period" short between the season and the draft. These days every freakin football play is on tape. They all have contact with college coaching staffs for a player's team, and with the opponent staffs the player has faced. If you are an NFL team, would you rather watch those tapes, or whether a guy can run a cone drill?

Followup to Charles - when Beavis goes on a rant trying to equate the Pac-12 Apple offer possibility to what Oregon will receive as an initial reduced Big Ten media share, minus higher travel expenses, they not only overlook the higher CFP and basketball tournament Big Ten shares, but also the financials that come from higher home ticket sales, concessions, etc. And, that doesn't touch the greater publicity from several linear network appearances vs streaming. Note yesterday's news release on football ticket sales... SIDEARM Integrations GODUCKS.COM Excitement for the upcoming Oregon football season is at an all-time high, as reflected by renewal rates and requests for season tickets.

Good luck to the kid. Given the overall circumstances, it is understandable. Would likely be more palatable for Beavis fans if he ends up near home in Texas rather than some place like Miami. It was tough seeing Travis Dye leave for a final year at USC. But, it was near his family.