HDuck

Imagine for a moment, 16 teams, no byes, in 2023-24: Jan. 15 – National Championship in Pasadena Jan. 8 – Sugar, Fiesta Dec. 31/Jan. 1 – Rose, Cotton, Orange, Peach Dec. 22/23 – Holiday, Las Vegas, Alamo, Sun, Music City, TaxSlayer, Citrus, Reliaquest Others: Arizona Bowl, Liberty, Gator, Pop Tarts, Pinstripe, Fenway, Texas, Duke’sMayo, Military, Guaranteed Rate, First Responder, Quick Lane, Hawaii, Ventures, Idaho Potato, Camilia, Birmingham, Gasparilla, Independence, LA Bowl, more If, for example, Alamo and Sun don't want to be before Christmas, then "fine, we'll substitute Gator and Texas, but now you guys are out of consideration". Uh, Rose - "we always want to be Jan. 1st." Uh fine, "we'll substitute Las Vegas and you likely won't have top rated teams in the Rose every season." And so forth, thru various scenarios where bowls are told, "you can either continue as a bowl of consequence, or see yourself wither away." Bowls not part of "the 14 perpetually designated" can pick dates whenever they want. The Rose Bowl has had dual dates in the past, a classic Rose and a Championship a few days later, but in the scenario above they should be prepared to be Jan. 8 only every 3 years and not stage a game on Jan. 1. Holes in this? Probably. But, it is written to demonstrate what is feasible if cooperation exists. It would take away winter home games for Midwest programs that qualify for an opening round game at home instead of a bowl site.

Please coach: priorities, more beef on the O&D-lines, less in the skillet

It usually takes some very good fortune, or help of the football Gods, too. UW won 6 games this year by 7 points or less. 4 games by 3 pts or less. Obviously they manufactured some of that fortune for themselves, but without the "Gods" one or two of those games could have just as easily been a loser. It will be interesting to see if the Gods are on the UW or the Texas sideline.

Oops, typo. He is 73.

72 years old today. 116-55 record at Oregon is No. 5 all-time wins in the conference behind Donahue, James, McKay and Howard Jones. From 1995-2008, 14 seasons, despite winning/sharing conference titles he was never acknowledged as conference coach of the year. A petty result from his peers. Chip took over in 2009 and was CofY in 2009 and 2010 with the program Mike had built.

Conceptually, I have no problem with OS and WSU holding distributions until there is a full accounting of debt and other potential liabilities. That being said, that should also include OS/WSU taking no distributions.

There was an interesting piece in The Athletic in October about Gabriel after the win over Texas. Recommend it to you, if you have a subscription because a link here would not open otherwise. Writer shares about his youth in Hawaii, and his collegiate travels - UCF - almost UCLA - Oklahoma. Provides the reader a much better understanding than just "oh, that transfer from Oklahoma."

Winning the Campbell Trophy implies Bo's future career choices will not limited by 120 yds of grass/turf. The two guys who had more Heisman votes were not eligible finalists for that one.

Ty has had 3 O-coordinators: Moorhead, Dillingham and Stein. They had a couple pretty good starters ahead of Ty, but for some reason(s) didn't take much opportunity to get him playing time. Why? Performance in practice? Performance in the video analysis room? Recognition of defensive alignments at the college level? Someone elsewhere suggested the analysis of Ty as a recruit was limited by COVID restrictions in 2020 high school season. But, he was offered and accepted based on 2019 season and committed Spring of 2020 before his senior year. It is concerning his "growth curve" has been pretty flat. I remember a coach (Bellotti maybe?) who talked about "players who peak as freshmen and don't advance. A guy is all-world coming from high school, but college is a whole 'nother deal." Obviously three O-coords have been skeptical. That being said, he appears to have enough raw physical ability that he would be able to find a spot somewhere IF he is leaving.

I concur. I don't think Nix was REALLY in the lead, even with the Pac12 championship result there is simply too much spread between Daniels and Nix in the final vote. Maybe that was thrown into the rumor mill to try to draw money into the betting pool. I think it is always going to be difficult for a NW player to win. Daniels is within one time zone of 5 of the 6 voter regions. The way that is set up, it favors candidates east of the Mississippi River. Penix joins a list of some noteworthy second place results from the West: Second place from the West 1974 – Anthony Davis 1975 – Chuck Muncie 1976 – Ricky Bell 1982 – John Elway 1983 – Steve Young 1988 – Rodney Peete 1992 – Marshall Faulk 2009 – Toby Gerhart 2010 – Andrew Luck 2011 – Andrew Luck 2015 – Christian McCaffrey 2017 – Bryce Love 2023 – Michael Penix Jr The way this is set up now, I doubt winners like Ty Detmer or Terry Baker could win a vote today without "USC" next to their names. You can't say Nix took away votes from Penix because a lot of Nix votes would have gone to Daniels in a 2-man race.

Well, as an Oregon fan, I would rather be part of the rumor mill for transfers, or "6 teams I'm considering" for recruits, than the alternative. That being said, other programs are not just going to genuflect when Oregon, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, etc. are mentioned. They are going to keep recruiting right up to signing day with their own energy and showcasing their own staffs and assets. Aside, from perhaps Alabama, no program can tap a kid on the shoulder and be guaranteed getting him. Even Alabama has a kid flip from time to time. So, as fans, we need to recognize our favorite program is not going to get all the high profile guys mentioned. There IS competition out there. As a result, I try not to get either super high or low when results come in. Kids are kids. Different things motivate them in making final decisions from geography to coaches to uniforms to.... and even they follow the rumors of whom they might have to compete with for a starting role.

A one and done? Caleb Williams 2022: 333 of 500, 4,537 yds, 42 TDs (11-3 team) 2023: 266 of 388, 3,333 yds, 30 TDs (7-5 team) Would any USC fan be unhappy if Williams had been one and done?

LaMike, Barner and Dye were 3 great ones within a very short period of Duck history. Obviously J. Stew and Royce also, but those 3 based on size were fantastic RBs.

FSU rep says put away the tin foil hat theories....both Orange Bowl head coaches found the media availability meeting on Thursday inconvenient due to recruiting. Probably makes sense based on the numerous photos that have been posted in the last day or so of Lanning making home visits. All these coaches are on the road to lockdown verbal commits and try to sway others.

"Buy a package to go to the Fiesta Bowl or spring for football season tickets." Hmmm, the Gordian Knot. Something that a true Ducks fans should never be asked to encounter. Have you considered going to the Fiesta Bowl to meet a new spouse who would accompany you next Fall?

Colorado had announced they were leaving. The day prior to "the Pac12 meeting" Arizona had a deal with the Big12 that was on "secret-hold" until they saw the Pac12 deal. The Big Ten found out about Arizona and re-engaged with UW and Oregon the night before the meeting. (I think they called UW first). Arizona jumped into bed with the Big12 after they saw the Pac12 "skinny" offer - it was like a speed dial call after UW/UO said they were going. UA knew they were getting more with the Big12 and Yormark than the Pac9 and didn't hesitate. ASU and Utah followed quickly after seeing the Pac offer, as well. That left Cal, Stanford, OSU and WSU. Yormark said "uh, no thank you."

Oregon > Texas Tech > Louisville. Would love to see him get one injury free season to finish his career. Good kid.

This year’s average home attendance 38,684 – Cal - biggest crowd USC 36,969 - OSU - biggest crowd UW 33,219 – Stanford - biggest crowd UA (other than Cal) 28,023 – WSU - biggest crowd Wisconsin Ducks: 55,895 UW: 68,814 Fannies in seats, and TV ratings, create value for those who exercised a choice. The reason OS and WSU had no choice is self-evident. "Plenty of money" is like using the terminology "pay your fair share." Fair and plenty mean something much different to those without choices, and shouldn't be used to drag down others.

New Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby was his O-coordinator at UCF (2019-21), then at Oklahoma (2022-23). 2018 - Mililani High School, Hawaii 2019 - 13 games at UCF 2020 - 10 games at UCF - non-counting COVID season 2021 - 3 games at UCF - under 4 games season 2022 - 12 games at Oklahoma 2023 - 12 games at Oklahoma

CB Byan Addison CB Daymon David CB Twikweze Bridges - also a senior night particpant LS Keller Stafford WR Ashton Cozart WR Kris Hutson WR Josh Delgado Seniors QB Bon Nix OL Junior Angilau DL Brandon Dorius DL Popo Aumavae DL Taki Taimani DL Casey Rogers DB Steve Stephens IV DB Evan Williams DB Khyree Jackson DB Marko Vidackovic DB Devin Morrow LB Jamal Hill LB Mase Funa LB Elijah Williams K Camden Lewis

National ranking after Saturday's games: 526.6 yds/game – 2nd – Oregon 514.9 yds/game – 3rd – Liberty Rushing offense 302.9 yds/game – 1st – Liberty – 39 TDs 183.8 yds/game – 30th – Oregon – 32 TDs Passing offense 342.8 yds/game – 2nd – Oregon – 44 TDs 212.0 yds/game – 81st – Liberty – 31 TDs Scoring 44.2 – 2nd – Oregon 40.8 – 5th – Liberty I don't care who your opponents are, if you have put up those numbers consistently during the season, you deserve respect of the defense that will face you.

This was from last night before this morning's announcement, one of the betting sites regarding potential FSU matchups: Alabama -11 Texas -9 Michigan -11 Washington -7

I really do have sympathy for FSU's situation, but Vegas had them as an underdog to each of the four teams that were selected. Probably not if they still had their starting QB, but the Committee probably made the right decision. Playing Iowa's defense always seems like being pulled through a sloppy pig pen, but Michigan looked vulnerable to me. Washington has played a lot of close close games. Will karma catch up? Can Alabama just over power any opponent and win a close one? Maybe Texas is the best? And, true irony Sark will play his old team.

Tulane is/was about 500 miles from Dallas, playing USC Liberty is about 2100 miles from Glendale. Tulane lost their conference championship to SMU or would be in back-to-back instead of Liberty.