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OSU and M had great defenses, yet I think they would have given up an average of 3,-5 points per game more if they played in the PAC12. Iowa's incredible defense made a living off picking off the ball from mediocre QBs that can't read a zone, which applies to basically all of the QBs you mention above. Given the improved talent, our secondary is going to see a significant improvement in statistical performance this year.

Of course we'll improve on that. Our team is better and B1Gs offenses suck. I get sick of seeing that every B1G defenses is like top 20. Maybe they are just slightly above average, and their offenses suck on average. I mean look at what numbers the only two offenses that were actually good M and OSU put up against all of those "really good" defenses. We aren't going to face a single QB in the B1G that would even have been in the top half of the PAC12 last year. Think about that.

Yeah, but as I keep saying, it's irrelevant, because the probability of accidentally leaving out the team that would have won it all drops by roughly 2/3rds, which is what really matters. I mean Georgia, Oregon and OSU could have won it all last year in a 12 team playoff right? But we'll never know. That alone is reason enough to ignore the whiners next year, which is what I think will happen. It's media fodder but in general people won't be paying nearly as much attention to the outrage next year when the relevance towards outcomes is diminished substantially.

But that's the thing OSU and WSU were the lowest rung of the PAC12, so they would have had the most late games on the Pac12 network status quo. So I would argue they have benefitted as much if not more than any other former Pac12 team from the pack demise in terms of access to awake eyeballs. It's a win for the fans that don't care about ultimate success as much as just being able to watch their team play. A narrow victory, but given their position any victories should rightly be celebrated.

This is a win for OSU. Every beaver fan in the country CAN watch them play finally. And channel flippers sick of watching some blowouts could find OSU gritting their teeth against the G5, because CW is typically a channel not too far away from Fox and abc. Sure they won't have "this changes everything" viewership, but it beats the pants off limited access PAC12 after bedtime every week of the season like last year.

This list isn't that great. Too focused on blue bloods although somehow we snuck in there. I think Utah with the elevation and the fans is a crazy tough road environment and what about Texas Tech, and UF swamp? The interesting thing is it wouldn't be too hard to do a statistical analysis of how a teams fared at each venue relative to their point totals. I'm sure the Vegas professionals have that. It would be interesting to see. I'd be willing to guess our home field advantage is more like 4-5 points instead of the typical 3.

I don't know why I didn't think Flowers was a very big deal when he signed. He's a full step above any Safety we've ever recruited. And so far he's been playing above that ranking. Arik Armstead was an "Athlete"? What was his other position, TE? Who knew.

Hear me out here. They don't have to be accretive if they accept a reduced distribution in the short term. Oregon and Washington still joined on half a share of distributions, because it is worth it in the long run. Who's to say OSU and WSU won't join for nearly zero distributions and live off the several hundred million they got from the PAC12, in exchange for a big revenue share down the road?

Josh Pate keeps driving me nuts with his talk about the playoffs devaluing the regular season as such a massive negative. Maybe the proper rebuttal is it re-values it appropriately. It's stupid to require such perfection out of 20 year olds over the course of a season to even be eligible to compete for a national championship. I don't want every game all season to be a playoff game. I want to feel happy when the Ducks win, not relieved they didn't lose. Sports are about improving yourself and your team over the course of a season, and peaking at the end to be at your best to win it all.

The reason OSU really wanted him was because of Locklyn and Oregon's evaluation. Locklyn was recruiting him hard before and after leaving, yet Samples was able to close the deal on him for Oregon. A pretty impressive win for the Ducks.

From what I've heard, Ohio State didn't just offer him, they really wanted him.

Ok, playing football in the rain when it is 36 degrees is about the most uncomfortable thing I've ever experienced, perhaps only beaten by some 10 degrees and blowing trips from my car to the office in work clothes. You still have a point. I continue to think that the diversity of environments in the PAC 12 made road games harder than other conferences. Altitude and humidity are underrated factors. It isn't just the temp. I think playing in November in AZ or Wisconsin is s probably a home field advantage wash for PNW schools. That dry AZ air in November just puts the players to sleep.

I don't know about DL being the best recruiter in the nation, but I think it is pretty definitive that U of O as an organization and alumni is the best recruiter in the country. Recruiting at such a high level with such a dearth of local talent is extraordinary. A tip of the cap all the way around and especially for Marshall Malchow who is continuing to do what he did at TAMU.

JD only succeeded at LSU by getting away from the tough PAC12 defenses to go up against the pansie SEC defenses. That's the counter argument for those that say Nix thrived at Oregon because PAC12 defenses suck. The real question for us is the B1G defenses. Are they really that superior or are their offenses inferior, or is the weather just too crappy in the back half of the season for offenses to produce? The truth is probably in the middle of all 3.

USC's own reporters say their DL is G5 level right now with little depth. They need to send out the APB to current students to find potential walk ons that could be pushed above 300 lbs with a summer of gluttony. USC should be really good this year, but they face planted on the most critical position outside of QB going into the B1G.

And remember they only count Gabriel for pennies on the dollar because he only has one year left. He was the biggest contributor available in the portal, period.

More difficult, but less risk of missing who could have won it all. So not as critical. The bye is the only thing keeping the conference championships relevant, and I think that is the only reason the byes exist. If it wasn't worth a bye you'd see starters benching themselves if coaches didn't do it first. So if they dump the bye and go to 16 teams then they should do away with the conference championships

Alright, now it's starting to feel more even with OSU. We are going to arguably have the best DL in the B1G (almost wrote PAC12 there!). Both OSU and Michigan's offensive strengths will be their running game. If we can get any kind of head start on them, they'll feel pressured to abandon the run if they only get 0-5 yards per carry. And the won't have hope of significantly wearing us down over the course of the game due to our depth. Game on.

My wish would be conference championships being eliminated, no byes, seeding would be by lottery, and every game would be a neutral site bowl game. How is that for a level playing field! Just shows how far reality is away from a fair randomized opportunity.

I am baffled by USC not being in any top 25 lists at the moment. Everyone is overreacting to the loss of Williams, and extreme skepticism of a defense turn around. The only thing that should be keeping them out of the top 10 is the OL. They should be in the top 15-20 range, but clearly they've been written off. I've seen us consistently in that 3rd-5th ranked range. Maybe a little high, but then I look at the others and I'm okay with it. Really there is a top tier of Georgia and Ohio State, then below that nobody really stands out for the next 7-10 spots.

That picture is freaking awesome.

Can leopard change it's spots? FSU doesn't count. The straw that broke the camels back was the QB injury not the poor SoS.

Interesting that they are all freshmen or RS freshmen.

I haven't seen a single mention of ducks getting signed as UDFA. Every year we have about five. We're there really none this year?

We may want cannon fodder, but with this level of upheaval coming who's in and who's out won't be dictated based on "because they were there first." Not to say that some of the valuable markets don't have cannon fodder teams. Once the have a target conference size then everything gets re-evaluated. One time relegation exercise based on historical prestige, market size and a dash of "what have you done lately." Lastly to all. I don't think fans in the stands will be a big deal going forward in determining market size. With a 40ish team league it begins to be about national viewership/brand cache as pretty much any game will be viewed coast to coast.