HDuck

The state of Montana is the 41st state. Montana State just won their first championship in 41 years.

Indiana's defense had line control, brought pressure, and then those short passes were also bottled up....especially the ones behind the line of scrimmage. I'm not sure Stein can scheme around that unless Dante shows some major improvement over what we saw in October. I still don't understand why Indiana's D-coordinator didn't get more mention to be a candidate for a head coach opening. Their O-coord also helped them put a lot of points on the board. He didn't get any mention either.

If you look up the box score, you'll see Illinois State dominated statistically....possession, yards, plays, first downs, third downs, penalties, etc. But, MSU got the scoreboard. Montana State ends the season 14-2. Lost the weekend after the Oregon game, then never lost again.

MSU wins 35-34 in overtime. Had a 28-21 lead late, and control of the game. Allowed Illinois State to score late fourth quarter to tie it, 28-28. MSU..more penalties...had to give up possession with a punt. Illinois State marched down the field, but a late FG attempt was blocked by MSU. Game goes to overtime, Illinois State scores in two plays for the lead. BUT, MSU blocks the extra point, score 28-34. Then, Montana State gets a TD on fourth and ten in OT to tie it, and then wins with the extra point kick. I forgot about the game which I intended to watch, but remembered in time to see most of a wild fourth quarter. As Pants said, it was hot potato in the fourth with neither team taking control when they could have.

The jerseys have several different details than that 2023 game. The shoes were green then, white for the Peach. The helmet "feathers" are also different.

I read somewhere that the semi-final officials crews will be: Peach: SEC Fiesta: Big10 The Big Ten could not work either of the semifinals last year (Penn St in one, Ohio St in the other), so I think it’s safe to say that they will get the Miami vs. Ole Miss game in the Fiesta Bowl. With two B1Gs in the Peach, they will not be assigned that game. The Big 12 has the second-longest NCG drought (last time was 2020-21) and will not have a team in the semifinals, so I’ll predict that they will get the championship game this year. It will be B1G vs ACC/SEC in the championship. Thus, the Big12 officiating crew will likely get the call for the championship game. The Big Ten has gone the longest without an officiating crew in the championship. With the Big Ten in the Fiesta, and Big 12 crew in the championship, that leaves either the SEC or ACC for the Peach semi-final. Since the ACC had the Oregon vs Tex Tech game, it is more likely the SEC will get the Peach Bowl assignment.

Orange Bowl refs: https://www.thetelegraph.com/sports/article/a-rarity-texas-tech-coach-joey-mcguire-praises-21271828.php

All members of the officiating crew, including alternates, have a part to play. As Indiana was driving for their last TD of the first half, they called timeout as the play was near the goal line. The alternate official on that sideline waved his hands toward the middle of the field to help signal that Indiana was calling timeout, even as the LOS official was signaling as well. Every second counts, and the alternate was helping the crew identify when the timeout was being called.

Officiating crew for Peach Bowl: These are the crews assigned so far. It is interesting to me, there doesn't appear to be crews that are assigned to more than one game. You would think a bit of experience in more than one bowl game would be helpful? Do you want an officiating crew on January 9 that hasn't been together since the end of the regular season? How sharp would they be? https://refereestats.proboards.com/thread/9080/2025-2026-college-football-officials There is also a crew and substitutes. That has to be a bit spendy for their travel, hotel, salary? Vs James Madison – it was SEC (8 plus 5 subs) Vs Texas Tech – it was ACC (8 plus 4 subs) It appears the subs are assigned by officiating specialty so it's not like if one regular gets injured the sub can fill in for any of the 8 jobs.

McDonough and McElroy will be the broadcast team for ESPN. McDonough: https://espnpressroom.com/us/bios/mcdonough_sean/ McElroy: https://espnpressroom.com/us/bios/greg-mcelroy/ This season, the pair handled the Miami at A&M first round game, then the Sugar Bowl matchup between Ole Miss and Georgia.

I read somewhere that the charter from Eugene to Miami was only about 25% of capacity. Whomever arranged that charter is unlikely to want to risk another pocketbook hit.

Lanning's comments today... https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/dan-lanning-opens-up-about-dante-moore-s-growth-since-first-indiana-matchup/ar-AA1TvShx

Hughes to the portal today. He had such great stats at Tulane, it would be interesting to know more about why Oregon did not turn out to be a good fit for him.

This is a chart of the Indiana two-deep. Note the number of redshirt Juniors and Seniors. They are playing with a LOT of guys who are in their fourth or fifth year. https://www.ourlads.com/ncaa-football-depth-charts/depth-chart/indiana/90728

When next Friday rolls around, the Ducks will join a short list of programs which have appeared in 5 or more of the Big 6 bowls: Rose, Fiesta, Cotton, Sugar, Peach, Orange. The Ducks will be at 5...with only the Sugar not on their list. Bowl participation has changed over the years. Some bowls were an exclusive opportunity for the SEC, Big8, Big Ten, or Pac12 for years. How many years was the Rose Bowl just Pac vs B1G? Those of us with more gray hair can remember when the Big10 only had the Rose Bowl as an option, and there was a consecutive year no-repeat rule. When Penn State was independent status, that benefited their bowl possibilities. And, so on. Now, with more bowls bowl participation is not as rare. That being said, even with conference tie-in's, what are we looking at? Participation in all 6 major bowls: Ohio State, Penn State, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Miami. Participation in 5 of the six: Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Nebraska, Oregon, Washington, Clemson, Florida St, Georgia Tech, Syracuse. Others? Don't know. USC? Never in the Peach or Sugar. I'm sure the Toejams would say, "all those Rose Bowls limited our availability." Haarumph. Appears Texas may be the only one with a W in all six.

First 4 seasons as a first-time head coach and doing it at a NW school 49-4 – Chris Petersen - BSU 48-7 – Dan Lanning - Oregon 46-7 – Chip Kelly - Oregon 47-10 - Brent Vigen - Montana State Didn't check small colleges like Linfield for a first-time head coach. No. 4 does make one wonder if Beavis made their hiring decision too quickly? On a separate note, Beavis now has 23 guys in the exit portal and counting. On the other hand, saw a report that next year opponent Oklahoma St has 45 and counting.

What do these 4 coaches have in common? 2007-11 – Cignetti - Indiana 2015 - Lanning - Oregon 2018-22 - Golding - Ole Miss 2013-16 – Cristobal - Miami Clue: 2007-23 - Saban - Alabama

Beating Indiana away from Autzen will be a higher degree of difficulty.

I know it's subjective, but I do think these CFP games have more "juice" than earlier bowl games. More, and more equally distributed talent, for the most part.

"With all due respect, that was last season. Texas Tech is the team that has had the long layoff this year, not Oregon." Perhaps TT gets a wakeup call by watching this tonight. That was the point. There was no similar experience for Ducks to witness during last season's first 12-Playoff.

Could see a bit of trickeration from Mario like there was at the game in Columbus?

The Buckeyes do look a bit lethargic like their opponent did last January 1st. Probably not a good thing for the Ducks, it will catch the attention of Texas Tech.

Sankey's insistence on getting so many SEC teams into the Playoff makes me think after today that he had his eyes on bowel games rather than bowl games? Iowa's four losses this season were all 5 pts or less. Are they the best 4-loss team this year? The top 7 SEC teams all had 3 losses or less...because they play 8 conference games and a softball, yet get the benefit of the doubt on SOS.

I don't know if there is any correlation for Chip (& "Spouse") but ever since he left Oregon the small-town boy from New Hampshire has always picked a large Metro for a job. Philadelphia San Francisco Los Angeles Columbus Las Vegas Chicago Columbus and Vegas are bigger than many people realize.