HDuck

Fourth consecutive year the Ducks have been a semi-finalist. The only program with the last four consecutive. 10 semi-finalists for 2025. That number can vary, but has never been below 8 since the first award in 2015. Ducks have not been the recipient of the award...yet. Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Oregon are four of the ten semi-finalists.

"I don't get no respect." What? Rodney is the Beavers' mascot? LiveAboutRodney Dangerfield Was the King of One LinersRodney Dangerfield had captured the minds of his audience with his ribald, in-your-face humor. Read some of his best funny jokes.

Before last Saturday's game I suggested that one difference you would see would be the physical nature of Iowa DB's in covering receivers. They seem to body-up on receivers then dare the refs to call pass interference. Feeling, the refs won't call them all, so take the chance. Due to the weather, there were not a lot of passes thrown, especially into coverage, so that didn't really materialize. I do believe they missed holding calls. In both cases, I think there is a philosophy within conferences with an emphasis of what will be called, and what will be "let them play." I believe we also saw it with Pac12 basketball which was more attuned to calling fouls (except in McKale Arena) in comparison to other conferences. I believe it hurt Pac12 teams when they got to the tournament to try to adapt to rougher play.

It's an aspect of playing in the Big Ten, and preparing to play physical. 2025 season total plays/games – national rank 6-Rutgers 726 in 10 15-Indiana 694 in 10 41-Purdue 643 in 10 46-Nebraska 635 in 10 84-USC 595 in 9 98-Maryland 587 in 9 101-Oregon 583 in 9 (64.8/game) There are 11 B1G teams located between Oregon and No. 133

One other thing I don't understand....USC played 3 road games in Central and Eastern time zones in 2024, and are also playing 3 in 2025. That total of 6 is less CT/ET road games than the other 3 West Coast teams must play. Their last CT/ET zone road trip was Oct. 19 in 2024, and Nov. 1 in 2025. Ducks was Nov. 16 and Nov. 8. UCLA is Nov. 2 and Nov. 15 in those two seasons. UW is Nov. 9 and Nov. 8. So, why is USC "special" in scheduling?

That jump to add Texas State may have been a bit too premature? Since 2015, Texas State is: 3-9 - 2015 2-10 2-10 3-9 3-9 2-10 4-8 4-8 8-5 8-5 3-6 this season Should they have added North Texas? New Mexico? Wyoming?

Yep, as if the whole state is rainy. Annual rainfall: Eugene: 40-41 inches Medford: 20 inches Bend: 12 inches

For the third time this year, Iowa lost a close game to a really good opponent. First at Iowa State by three; then Indiana by five; then Oregon by two. In all three, the opponent took the lead in the final two minutes.

I would just add to Happy that Iowa in November is not exactly facing rice pudding. Iowa had its third close November loss in its last 24 November games today. 11-8-25: 16-18 vs Oregon 11-8-24: 17-20 at UCLA 11-25-22: 17-24 vs Nebraska the last loss earlier… 11-0-19: 22-24 at Wisconsin - that's 3 games on this list of 3-pt loss or less Whittingham’s 118 yds rushing was just the second 100-yd rusher allowed by the Iowa defense this season. The other was Kaytron Allen who had 145 for Penn State. Iowa beat Penn St. Iowa QB Mark Gronowski set a single season Big Ten quarterback record with his ninth straight game in which he has rushed for a TD. The 9 consecutive matched Indiana’s Antwan Randle El, but those 9 bridged two seasons, 1998-99.

"A TE who will be drafted in the 1st round, as well as OBD's best WR, who will also go early in the NFL draft, were not able to suit up. Another receiver who will be drafted in April left the game in the first series on offense." And, another WR who has missed most of the season, and one who did miss. Kenyon Sadiq, Dakorien Moore, Gary Bryant Jr., Evan Stewart, Kyler Kasper. Also out, freshman Jack Ressler. Harkey being out wasn't great for depth either. 3 guys who normally start missing. Ducks met the gut check scenario.

I believe these numbers are correct. W-L vs B1G teams on their home fields in the Central and Eastern time zones. 7-0 - Oregon (plus 1 more for last year's B1G Championship game) 3-3 - UCLA (plus will visit OSU this season) 2-4 - USC (why will they have 6 trips instead of 7 in two seasons?) 1-6 - Mighty Fisch Fighters Read the UW boards tonight and there are a bunch of ticked off Dawg fans based on that 1-6 number.

It's also a shame that WR Kyler Kasper is injured this season. His father Kevin is a storied Iowa receiver: 1st single season receptions, 1st single game receptions, 4th all-time career receptions (3 have more since Kevin graduated. I'm sure both his immediate family, and extended family in the Midwest, have had the game penciled in as must-attend for a couple years.

Aug. 24, 2023….Big Ten schools will be required to submit availability reports at least two hours before kickoff to the conference office. Each program's reports will be released on the conference's website and on X (formerly Twitter). If a school doesn't send in its injury report within two hours of the start of the game, it could be disciplined. "The well-being of our students, coaches, and staff, as well as the integrity of our competitions are of paramount importance," Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said in a statement. "Enhanced transparency through availability reporting and partnering with U.S. Integrity (USI) strengthens our efforts to protect those who participate in our games as well as the integrity of the games themselves. I'm grateful for the collaboration of our schools, coaches, and administrators." Today...just before 10:30 am

Ducks get 18 more points on free throws. Rice gets 14 more points on field goals. That's the 67-63 difference. That margin on free throws reminds of watching Lute Olson harass the refs at games in Tucson.

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.”