Sandy Rocks

I really don't like to see Oregon State put down. It's not their fault that the PAC split. I put most of that towards poor management by the conference, USC and some to Oregon and Wash. It's definitely not their fault that Smith left. On to basketball, I am excited to see Cook play. I think the team is doing great and hopefully will win tonight.

That is really exciting. Can't wait to watch him play.

It wouldn't be the first time Arizona and/or UCLA were highly ranked and fell off. I think this team is a lot better than others think they are although who would have thought two freshman would have played so well.

That's a really great comment about how Shelstad is looking to his coach for the play. So unusual for a freshman to be so mature and unselfish. I hope that Altman can keep the three freshman together. There is already good chemistry between Evans and Shelstad, hopefully that will also be true with Cook. I am excited to see how Cook plays, he definitely is supposed to be very talented.

I am really excited to have Bittle come back. I have always liked how he plays and he was playing really well before he got hurt. Wonderful to hear that he is healing well and can return this season. I think this team could be really good if they can get all three players (Dante, Cook and Bittle) back in the next month. It sounds like they are healed but need to get up to speed with their conditioning and play. They could really challenge Arizona if the three can come back and not have any more injuries. The team really deserves to not have any more injuries. Here's hoping.

It's a fun team to watch. They play so much harder than last year and yet are impacted as much if not more from injuries, I have to believe that Shelstad has an impact on that. He plays as well as Pritchard in his freshman year, maybe better since Pritchard had so many talented and experienced players around him. I am excited to see Cook and Dante come back. They could be quite the team.

I can't say how impressed I am with Shelstad. I don't know why you would think he wasn't on par with Peyton. Even last year they were saying how much like Peyton he is with his work ethics and skills. He is also not willing to lose with ice in his veins just like Peyton. Evans is also really emerging and played a tremendous game against USC. I am excited to see Mookie Cook start to play and Dante should be back soon. Has anyone heard about Biddle? I thought he was supposed to be out for the season but the announcers at the end of the game said that he may be back near the end of January. There is no comparison with the teams the last two years. They also had many injuries but they didn't have the attitude of this team. I really like how this team plays and if they can get Dante back, they could be a factor.

I haven't seen the ducks play like this all year. Nix never misses.

People who life long fans and born/raised in the NW. All sympathize regarding the demise of the PAC. It's been our history and traditions for more than a 100 years. The fans that seem OK with it are people who don't live in the NW or came to school here but left. I don't think that the BIG is going to be that great. Too much travel and lack of real competition except the top two teams, maybe three since Jonathan Smith is relocating. It will be exciting to watch the moaning and groaning when they have to come to Autzen, a place none of those teams want to see.

The way things are now with the football playoff, a team needs to either be in a weak conference or have an almost perfect season. Being perfect has truly been impossible in the PAC which is why they have rarely had teams in the playoffs. A wider field will truly expose the teams who have soft schedules. It give opportunities to the teams who come on strong at the end which I find very exciting. The way it is now, we just keep being served up the same tired, old teams who may or may not be the best teams. Now we will know who is the best. A real playoff will show that. The four team playoff is a joke. Changing the system will have many positive unforeseen consequences but I guess we will see.

The fall out from the break up of the PAC just keeps coming. I feel really bad for OSU. Imagine how it must be for them. I know some people on here think all these changes are great and OSU deserves what they are getting but it just makes me sick. I don't think there is anything to gain from being in the BIG. Like someone said, "'it's a conference with only two good teams." For sure they are going to regret letting the PAC schools in there especially Oregon.

According to some of those east coast pundits, that quarterback from LSU is going to win it even though his team has lost three games. One list had him way down the chart. If the award is about leadership, game management, maturity and consistency he should win it hands down.

It seems like Dillingham is one of the few heaping praise on the ducks from my look at the media this morning. East coast bias seems alive and well. The more successful Oregon gets the more they double down on their piss poor teams.

I am watching the game between OSU and UW. They seem evenly matched. The weather is obviously impacting the game and there are too many penalties. Maybe the same officials as last week. I see different ways that this game can impact UO and have heard commentary both ways. The one thing I do know is next week is going to be tough. Both are really good teams. Regardless I will always root for the beavers.

I agree with Hayward, changing to the BIG is going to be tough on all the sports, although less so on football. It's going to be a killer for basketball in particular. So much travel in the winter months. All the travel will impact how competitive the teams can be. I know football seems to be the only thing that matters, but I feel all the sports will lose. Hopefully, something can come along the future that will be better because I don't think this was the answer.

Thanks for attaching the article

USC was really good from the 1950's through the early 1970's because they were able to snag all the scholarships and stock pile recruits. Then the NCAA changed the rules and they didn't do so well. Later, they did well with Pete Carroll. Since then nothing has happened. The next great coach or player is just around the bend but always falls through. The fans are there when they do well and disappear when they the don't. Every year they are highly ranked and every year they fall off and are no longer relevant. I was happy when they left the PAC but now they destroyed it and we have to put up with them again. It's no wonder fans from other programs hate them.

Bill Oram wrote an excellent article in today's Oregonian about USC and their efforts to destroy the PAC-12. You'll have to check it out for yourself, I am not good at attaching files. Sorry. He is savoring yesterday's defeat of USC by Oregon as well as the other teams that beat them this year. I have loved the PAC-12 with all it's flaws. I loved its traditions and rivalries. I mourn it's demise. I feel for the position of OSU and WSU. All of this happened because USC thought they were better than the rest of the PAC. They have always thought they were better. Their leadership torpedoed every effort to improve the PAC and then stabbed it in the heart when they decided to leave taking a reluctant UCLA along with them. They savored their desertion and how it would effect the other teams but reality has a way of catching up with people who do such things. They may lose even more games this year. They now have to continue to deal with Oregon and Washington, who will continue to steal their recruits. Who knows what will happen in the next few years but I also am savoring their defeat much as I have done for many years.

I think that the Ducks did take USC for granted and it did lead to a lack of focus. They started out strong with two big plays, I think that also lead to a lack of focus. I have never played football but I can imagine that it's not easy to turn things around once something starts. I also think they will play much better next week, that has always been their pattern. I am most concerned about OSU, they are really good and if they lose to Wash., watch out. I am more worried about them than Wash.

USC has always been full of themselves, but what have they really produced in recent years except a great quarterback. They have always thought they were better than then the PAC. There were many errors made on the way but the deciding play was USC leaving, all other things could have been fixed. They didn't even let the new commissioner fix the problems in their eagerness to leave bolting within a month of his starting. I also feel that the BIG is going to be disappointed in USC but not in Oregon or Wash. who they took reluctantly. I hate that the PAC died. Maybe in the future it can come back in some form but it will never be the same.

I guess one thing that might come from this BIG merge will be bringing some real offense to this conference. The PAC does have exciting football but the parity between the teams has also hurt them. I will miss the PAC a lot even with all it's faults.

You mean Colin Cowherd who NEVER has anything good to say about the Ducks actually gave them a compliment. The one who couldn't get out of the Northwest fast enough and was from Aberdeen, Wa. That Colin Cowherd? Hard to believe.

These people are pathetic. Life is too short for all this hate. I really didn't mind that USC was going to leave except what it would do to the Pac, they always have been unbelievably arrogant and superior. Over the last twenty years, they haven't even been successful and you hardly heard a word but they have one good season and here they are again with all their nonsense.

Excellent article. You are right, they didn't want the Pac to survive. A conference that has withstood over a hundred years meant nothing. It makes me sick and the NCAA as usual did nothing. I get tired of being manipulated by large corporations that do not care about anything but their bottom line. I feel for the fans and the athletes, the next few years are going to be tough. It's sad to see all the traditions and rivalries just fly out the window like they mean nothing.

Why would someone spew that kind of hate, they obviously have serious emotional difficulties and nothing else to do. It's really sad that they are so bothered by Oregon they respond in such a way. Life is too short to possess such anger, hope he doesn't have a heart attack.