Solar

The close up of the Alabama bands's faces. Oh man, they are trying to smile, but they know their goose is cooked. The game is not over, but it's over, unless Mendoza gets knocked out of the game early in the second half. Is the SEC going to end up with one out of conference victory in this year's bowl games and playoffs? Alabama isn't even competitive. I thought Notre Dame should have gotten in above Alabama. We knew the fix was in when they swapped Bama and Notre Dame on a week where nothing happened.

It's good to not to be Texas Tech fans right now. What a miserable offensive performance from their perspective. They lived on offense by short fields, deep passes down the sidelines and runs to the edges all season. We didn't give them any of those, and the 25 day break put them to sleep. The game was pretty much over after the strip takeaway. We increased our lead to 13 while injuring Morton's bicep on his throwing arm on the strip. TECH GOT WRECKED!

Morton injured his arm on the strip sack. Couldn't throw well after that.

OMG, why run to the boundary on 3rd down when you know you are going to kick a field goal?

YES!!! 16-0 with 8 minutes.

Crashed the website?! Kick the field goal Dan! 16-0 with 8 minutes left is the call.

Don't forget they no longer have to recruit Oregon players, so some amount of work being done is just a swap. Still, mental focus requires mental rest. Tests show a really tired driver can drive as bad as a drunk driver, so it's a thing.

Stands are shockingly full although I think I seeing a lot of Miami colors mixed in the the greens and reds. Black vs. white jerseys. No mental confusion on who is who.

I'm so glad we aren't playing in the Rose Bowl. I'm in San Diego and getting flash flood warning on my TV..

It's hard to beat Mami when good Carson Beck shows up and bad Carson Beck stays home. Nearly impossible with the bye week putting you in a fog for the first 25 minutes of the game. Miami won the trenches on both sides. Mario didn't screw up clock management either and seems to be letting the OC do his thing calling a really good game. They are the most dangerous team in the playoffs when they play to their ceiling like this.

I'm glad to see our list of injuries didn't get any longer with game prep (other than Evan Stewart). We've had some bad luck with that in the past.

I read an in depth article that shows TT has made their yards by deep ball boundary passes all year. Here's hoping our DBs have been getting coached on how to prevent the push offs without getting flagged. There is no question we will benefit more from refs that don't throw flags than refs that do.

The rust factor is no secret even before this first half, and how much can you do about it now? It's mental and physical and affects some more than others. There is no guarantee Tech comes out off, but it is something that could be a factor, and certainly something they have to overcome moreso than us. And seeing yet another occurrence of it makes it all the more possible it does happen to TT.

If the bye teams get boat raced in the first half again this year, the pitchforks will be out for this schedule and we will moved to a 16 team schedule with no byes.

I've been surprised by the cold reception of Whit by many pundits. Are they ignorant or just plain stupid? In coaching circles Whit has been the most respected head coach in college football for the last decade. And as mentioned, his blue collar style is a perfect match for Michigan. He'll have the resources he needs to get great players who will want to play for him. Look how good DeBoer has recruited at Alabama, despite not being able to recruit his way out of a paper bag at UW. This is a home run hire for Michigan. They will be back to their perch by 2027 at the latest.

I've had way too much time thinking about this. With the spread so close our passing advantage and a healthy Morton, I'm betting on the over as a pun, this game is going into overtime running the score up. Oregon wins 39-32 2 T/O 3 sacks 280 yards passing.

I do agree with Mike's takeaways, but then again what would TTU be saying about us if the only games they watched were Indiana Penn State and Iowa? As said above, turnovers are what create the large score differentials for TTU. Our RBs don't fumble, so it's on Dante Moore to take care of the ball and limit that occurrence. TTU coaches have had a month game plan for us. They don't normally blitz, but maybe this time they do use a scheme more similar to Indiana, bringing and simulating pressures with the LBs. I am concerned we will get out coordinated again, especially with Tosh and Stein's limited bandwidth. Although it did just occur to me that the distractions of recruiting for Oregon don't fall on their plate anymore. And DL has learned from the Rose Bowl you simply have to game plan better, including hypothetical things the other team may try on you. Also with Morton finally being 100% mobile again we have to game plan for that probability of him using that mobility that hasn't shown up on film, both in escaping pressure and designed runs. I do have confidence we will be ready to play our hardest most confident effort, especially along the OL. One of the biggest things to suffer with long layoffs is tackling, so hopefully we do try to play some old Stein ball that tries to get players in a little bit of space that puts the onus on tackling for TTU.

Now USC needs to not pull a Tennessee against TCU. Their two star WRs opted out.

Illini Win! Down goes the SEC to the B1G! Honestly without the optouts Tennessee is the better team, but their coach was crap. ILLINI played 3DBs 15 yards or more back from scrimmage and Tennessee kept trying to pass until deep into the 3rd quarter. THEN they started running the ball and came back.

This is going to be like Oregon stealing recruits that used to pick USC. It will be interesting to see if there is a drop in talent at Texas over the next 2 years.

Illinois 17, Tennessee 14. This is a big game for bragging rights between the two conferences. They both have the same record of 8-4.

This is a good discussion. Delaying the season so long is just to keep the big bowls on New Year's, but what is the point if nobody shows up anymore because it's 3 away games for fans now not just one. This is just not working for anyone.

Maybe they are saving them for the Natty, but there is only a 25% chance of getting to wear them.

I'm most curious about Indiana, the team that barely practices to see how they start.

No Stewart. Interesting to go from questionable to out. He could have reaggravated his injury. I expect that with another 10 days that Kory Moore and Bryant will contribute significantly more, being much closer to full health