30Duck

Hearing the Huskies whimpering over the Ducks getting their back-back championships has been sweet, hopefully the team, and Mario remember how they played, and repeat that. Winning back to back NY6 games is fun too. Mario has described the Cyclones as the most physical team the Ducks have seen since he's been here. With that in mind, he has to be getting the Ducks ready to ball out like they never have since he's been here, doesn't it? The defense showed up against USC, harassing Klovis, picking him off, stopping the running game. But, it's the offense we have questions about, starting with the quarterback. Lately, Tyler Shough hasn't played with the confidence necessary to make the offense dynamic. The Cyclone's defense's biggest vulnerability is downfield passing. Is Shough going to get the ball out to JJ and Redd? Pittman is a big play waiting to happen. There are definitely a lot of questions going in to this one.

37-31 Oregon. It's great to be able to figure field goals into the Ducks score.

I have no illusion about how much better the top 5 or 6 teams are. It's the matter in which ESPN presents the farce that is the Playoffs, that is the most irritating. The Committee doesn't do anything. They aren't watching all the games. Their Top 25 exists only to fill time. Everybody knows who Is IN. I detest everything about, the Eye Test. Would this team beat that team? Play the game.

Exactly. Clemson is the main reason I can't stand The Invitational. Before the season starts, They Know, "They Are In". This season they lost, not a problem. Even idf ND had beaten them again, they would have been in. Boise State didn't even get a chance when they were dominating from the Mountain West. But Clemson from the ACC, that's totally different. Why? ESPN.

That's impressive, Jon. I can't believe I'm happy that Ohio State is beating Clemson, there is no way I can actually go in to a game wanting them to win. So, it'll be. "Roll, Tide"! from me.

This is why I have a new appreciation for Nick Saban. It is not enough to have the great talent that Alabama has. In fact, it actually makes what he has done at Alabama even more impressive. If any team might not get up for a game, especially against an unranked team, it would be Alabama. But they don't. Alabama has the culture I believe Mario is trying to create at Oregon. WIN. That's it, nothing else is acceptable.

I sure didn't see this coming! I can't believe I'm actually glad that Ohio State is winning, Leading up to the game, Dabo wasn't mincing words, he seriously questioned if Ohio State should be in the Playoffs.

THIS is what's so awful about the "Invitational". It's bad enough that it has created a post season where only fans of the teams playing in the NY6 Bowls care about them. They can't see that having Alabama- Clemson, year after year is a problem!

Alabama has been more than kind to the Domers in this one. They haven't broken a sweat. I can't stand either Clemson or thee Ohio State. Simply to keep Alabama- Clemson from having as many sequels as, "Rocky". it would be nice if the Buckeyes won. But I think more likely Clemson treats the Buckeyes the same way Alabama treated ND, and wins by however much they want to.

Yes, he is.

Precisely. Shough's problems can be addressed in the offseason. The immediate answer at QB for the team is to start Brown.

Absolutely. Whoever emerges from this bunch of QB's is going to be good, no doubt about it, and will be surrounded by playmakers, Cristobal hasn't had. They have to get this right.

The fact that we can have a topic about Oregon's uniform combo illustrates what we've been saying. Oregon is literally spinning its wheels in the Pac-12; the uniforms, the coaches, the dominance overall. The rest of the Pac just can't keep up.

He hit his first shot, but went 4-14 for the game, so his shooting woes continue. The important thing in that he looks much better in 12, and 30 is being accorded the respect it deserves.

This is the problem. ,as Joshua noted, this is a pivotal game for Shough. However, it's a HUGE game for the Ducks, and it can't be used for Shough to find himself. He's gotten worse as the season has gone on, mechanically and mentally. It doesn't track that he will reverse course and play like he did to start the season.

This very unfortunate, both her and Nyara have been plagued with leg injuries. Thankfully, Nyara has been able to play this season and has shown what a tremendous player she is, a shame that he couldn't have played with Satou. In the brief time Sedona was able to play this season, she showed us a lot of game. I hope she is able to get some PT this season, and be a major part of next season, along with 6'8 Phillipina Kyei.

I believe that Gruden will have him on the field Sunday, and I think he'll play well and some other teams will be interested. The Rams, with Goff injured, are going this weekend with an undrafted quarterback, Washington is in dire need of one. FWIW, Marcus is the highest paid back up, and I believe a lot of teams will be interested this offseason.

As the saying goes, "If you have two QB's, you don't have 1 QB". It's great if you have two great quarterbacks, like the 49ers had in Montana and Young. But Montana had to leave before Young got his chance. I don't see how it really works, using them interchangeably in a game.

The two best coaches Oregon sports has ever had, with all due respect to, Bill Bowerman, Bill Dellinger and Robert Johnson. are Kelly Graves and Dana Altman. Both will end up in the Coaches Hall Of Fame. Altman came to Oregon when the big names weren't interested, and has turned the Ducks in to a perennial contender. When Graves took over the Women's team, it was in terrible shape. It's now elite.

Being a GOM myself, I join you. I love the recruiting success Mario has achieved here. But it gives us a front row seat to the show that college football has become. All these recruits use the recruiting process to build their brand, and as the Texas player showed, they continue to do that through out their time in school. It's all about I now. The team's success is fine, it makes their showcase bigger, but they really couldn't care less how the team does overall. Back in 2006, Florida won the basketball championship. Their 3 big stars all stayed for their senior seasons, and they won it again, though if Tujuan Porter hadn't chosen that game to not be able to make a shot, the Ducks would have beaten them, in 2007. It meant something to those players, for the team to win it again. Basketball is fundamentally different, for the better, than is football. But the loyalty for the team is what is important here. I've always discounted what Royce Freeman accomplished here, when I'm going through the great RB's, he's far down the list. And I'm certain it's because the lasting image I have of him is the one of him standing on the sidelines after opting out . I didn't like it then, and I don't like it now, when Breeze and Holland and Graham left, and I hate it most of all when they end their announcement with, "Once a Duck, always a Duck". That is as disingenuous as it gets.

Thanks for creating a place for this to be discussed, BDF. Ironically, the best way to save college football is to make it more like the NFL. Not in the sense of paying the players, which is going to happen in some manner , sometime. But rather in just making each game matter for more teams and the players. The NFL is going in to its final week, and 7 teams still have a chance at making the playoffs. The Kansas City Chiefs are still the betting favorite, but there are plenty of teams with a legitimate shot at winning the Super Bowl. The NFL is all about parity, every team goes in to every season with a chance. The only way a team won't make the playoffs is because it didn't win enough games. Even the winner of the woeful NFC East, will have a better record than the other teams in the division. Even when a team reaches a point when it can't make the playoffs, it can still be a spoiler, take another team down with them. The players and fans stay motivated, and have every reason to believe that next season, they'll be playing for the championship. The 49ers played in the Super Bowl last season, they won't even be in the playoffs this time.

Clearly, John has been lurking here and at FishDuck, and reading our posts! What he calls for is what we have been saying for months now. Oregon is carrying the conference. A win in the Fiesta Bowl would obviously be better than would be a loss. But, either would have no real impact on the national perspective of the conference. Getting rid of Scott is mandatory. Not only would his absence be a plus in itself, it would show that the Presidents are aware of the horrific mess he created and acted to correct it. The conference needs a hajor overhaul and it has to start at the top.

If Oregon wins, more about how, "they backed into the whole conference championship thing", and who is Iowa State anyway? If they lose, it will discussed for about :30 of precious ESPN time. It would barely get that if it was a Pac-12 team not Oregon.

Today it's Duck vs Duck as the Memphis Grizzlies & Dillon Brooks invade the Garden to take on the Celtics and Payton Pritchard. With Ja Morant out with an ankle sprain, Brooks is getting more time and carrying more of the load for Memphis, and Payton is definitely earning his time for the Celtics.

One of the consequences of the messed up season that was 2020. Credit to Colorado for winning its games, and they probably are the 3rd best team in the conference. But, unfortunately, that game revealed what we've been saying for a while. In Pac-12 football, it's Oregon, then USC, then all the rest. Georgia, and Florida & Texas A & M, don't really have a chance of getting invited to the Invitational. LSU can drop by, with Ohio State and Clemson, and because of that, the SEC & B1G get talked about, and on TV. Clemson & Notre Dame have their own Networks. The Pac-12 is Oregon & USC, most of the country can name the other 10.