30Duck

You know, if it was 4 this season, it could have been All B1G. 1. Oregon 2. Ohio State 3. Penn State 4. Indiana. 6 would need some discussion. Georgia, Notre Dame, Texas, Boise State, ASU?

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Let's see, osu2 is good, 11-2 is a darn good record. they lost to Oregon, the No.1 team in the country, in that insanely loud torture chamber known as Autzen. Michigan beat them, but they'd beaten them 3 times in a row before that, so nothing new there, Osu2 trampled over Tennessee, with their freshman quarterback, and without their star running back. Ryan Day is the coach, and you know he's going to come up with some great in-game adjustments, and is at his absolute best when the games matter the most, right? So, that's why osu2 is favored. The A-Bomb: Aww, Nuts WWW.ADDICTEDTOQUACK.COM The idea seems to be that The Buckeyes are somehow too tough to crack.

I mean really unbeatable, like there'd be no need for the "anxiety article. If the QB from Hawaii that wore No.8 and won the Heisman was the QB of this team, would it be better? I'm not sure if Marcus would have completed the 4th & 9 to Ferg. But he definitely would have got the 9 yards against osu2, and a lot more runs, for a lot more yards during the season. Speaking of a lot more yards. Jordan James has been great, couldn't ask more from him. But what if it was Bucky Irving instead, or please, LaMichael James? When a hole opens this season, JJ finds it and it's 7 or 8 yards, keep the chain moving. For Bucky, or LMJ, "it's touchdown!" So, would those changes make this undefeated Oregon team better? Are there any switches you can think of?

That, and the redundancy Oregon has had to deal with. They went through the B1G undefeated, beating osu2, but they had to win the B1G CCG, over Penn State to claim the championship. Now they have to beat osu2 again! I came upon an article a while ago titled "Why each team can't win the championship" Most of the "why's" for the other teams were, lack of depth, lack of running game, porous secondary, etc., etc. For Oregon: The Ducks have all the ingredients to run the table and go 16-0. But it’s just so hard to go undefeated in this era of college football, particularly with having to win 3 Playoff games like Oregon does instead of 2 as it was in the 4-team Playoff era. Throw in a nasty draw for a No. 1 seed, where the Ducks would potentially have to beat Ohio State, Texas and Georgia, and it just might be a little too tall an order for a team that’s way overdue to lose a game.

Oregon is 12-0 when they've been favored, 1-0 when they've been the underdog. Osu2 has lost twice when they've been favored.

Not a counter argument to any of those. And, Oregon's best defensive player, Jordan Burch didn't play, who knows the difference he'll make against the injury riddled OL of osu2, pass rush and against the run, that's on defense. On offense Sadiq wasn't part of the plan. He might not jump over a Buckeye, but he's going to do something that osu2 doesn't have an answer for.

No argument that it would have been nice if Oregon had kept that lead over Penn State and won a laugher. Would osu2 still be favored in the Rose Bowl? But I'm not going to see a downside to Oregon finding ways to win. sometimes the special teams made the plays, or the defense, but in none of the close games, did Oregon cede control of the game.

I hope osu2 is thinking they were 'darn impressive' too pasting Tennessee and that now Oregon shouldn't be any problem. That and their belief that the OPI cost them the game is just where I want osu2's mindset to be.

The Best 12 teams were there. The problem with the seeding was the overvaluing of the Conference Champions. Boise State wasn't better than Ohio State or Penn State because they won the Mountain West. In basketball it works, with 68 teams, to give Conference Champs AQ's. But with 12, winning your conference might be part of your resume', but shouldn't be automatic.

Yes, and now they're planning to expand it even more? The idea of 'less is more" doesn't re$onate with the Powers That Be when it comes to crowning the FBS Champion. 4 wasn't enough. 8 would have worked this year. 14 would have quieted Herbie and Finebaum because Alabama would have made it in.

Two things have come out in the fallout of the 1st round, 1, it was the format's fault, not the Committee's and 2, ESPN has no shame. Herbie, come on. You say, "No offense to Indiana, but they shouldn't be in the Playoff" but completely ignore Tennessee's performance, and join the chorus spouting that 3 loss Alabama deserved to be in the Playoff of the 12 best teams? If the opening round had given us the games that would have been without the automatic byes for the conference champs it almost assuredly would have delivered a better product, then, and moving forward. Penn State's No.6 stroll to the championship game compared to No.1 Oregon's gauntlet, is the most egregious result of the faulty format.

Watch out, this game is going to be decided by video review.

Exactly the way I see it. It's been a backhanded compliment all season to the Ducks when they've just kept on winning. Now everybody is excited about osu2 beating Tennessee. That is EXTRAPOLATION to the extreme to say that has any bearing on beating Oregon this time. But let them be excited. Oregon has been chillin' since winning the B1G. They'll have some new stuff, but mainly, osu2 is just in their way.

This is how I'll deal with it too. I know the first thing Lanning will say should the Ducks lose will be. "I need to coach better." There won't be any excuses, he'll give credit to osu2, congratulate the team, and get back to work.

Exactly. I think they really hate that Brutus is some silly, strange looking thing, while The Duck is Brand all over! "Get down and give me 20, Brutus" Like that could happen.

The author makes a good case. It definitely means a LOT to Oregon; the team and fans will be devastated if the Ducks' season ends on the first day of 2025. But if osu2 loses? Pull out the crash carts! Ohio State Buckeyes' Future is at Stake Against Oregon WWW.SI.COM The Ohio State Buckeyes will be facing the Oregon Ducks in the Rose Bowl next Wednesday, which is enough of a doozy in and...

Not really, but if No.6 Penn State wins the championship, after their CFP stroll, it's going to be hard to take. Not only did Oregon already beat Penn State, and Boise State and osu2, Penn State only lost to the other CFP teams they played. Oregon and osu2. Osu2 lost to No. Oregon 1, and beat Indiana, eliminating them. Georgia beat Clemson, they're eliminated, and Texas, twice. Texas? Their only games against CFP teams were losing twice to Georgia. ASU and Notre Dame didn't play any CFP teams. Oregon won't be the first team to beat a team earlier in the season and have that team later win the championship. But this time it could be 3 of them. No other team will see even two teams they beat end up as Champion. Georgia could see Texas win it. What an "opportunity" for OBD.

Merry Christmas!!

Osu2 has made a point to let the whole world know they've changed things since losing to the Ducks, with more subtlety I'm confident that Lanning, Stein and Lupoi have some new stuff. One big change. that can be huge for OBD doesn't involve any new exotic packages; it's just 285 lbs of Jordan Burch that osu2 didn't have to deal with last time. It worked last time. The Ducks definitely need to go to Stewart deep, early and often, as Charles noted, not only is that good in and of itself, it opens up Tez even more, not to mention, Ferg and Sadiq. If osu2 wants to blitz? Please do, DG has a insanely quick release. 1st downs & 3rd downs are going to ultimately decide the game. Getting to the "line to gain" is imperative, what knocked PSU out of the CCG the most were its penalties early in the game. Explosive plays will happen, but more important will be just keeping possession.

That would be great. I'd like ASU and Dilly to win every game, but not that one. Oregon knows all too well how hard it is to win a Natty.

Completely agree. It was OPI, and just too late on Howard's slide. What about the INT that wasn't? There hasn't been an INT call that bad since Harris against Auburn.

The one good thing about the post 1st round bloviating is that it has exposed the SEC and ESPN for the entitled entities they are. They're fine when 2 SEC teams are battling it out for the championship in the 4 team invitational. But only 2 in the 12 team format? That's not fair. Most people realized 2 weeks into it that the ranking wasn't the problem. It was the seeding. You can quibble about Indiana and its weak SOS. But not if you're Alabama, with their L's to Vandy, Tennessee, the Tennessee that got blown out by osu2 and 24-3 to 6-6 Alabama? How can even the biggest Roll Tide fan say that Alabama team deserved to be in the Playoff?

From Saturday Tradition No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 1 Oregon — Quarterfinal, Jan. 1 (Rose Bowl) Ohio State -2.5 | Total: 54.5 | Moneyline: Ohio State -135, Oregon +114 To be completely honest, I didn’t expect Ohio State to be here. I discounted 2 things I probably shouldn’t have in the Buckeyes’ game against the Vols. The first was that Ohio State couldn’t do what it did coming off the Michigan loss in 2022 because Will Howard is not CJ Stroud. That didn’t matter at all. Howard played the game of his life and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly completely opened things up for him to take downfield shots. The Buckeyes just breezed through the Tennessee secondary in the first half, en route to a 21-0 lead in what felt like the blink of an eye. The second was that Tennessee could actually hurt the Buckeyes with its pass game. Dylan Sampson was never really available and the ground game suffered. Then Tennessee’s first- and third-leading receivers left the lineup and the Vols just fizzled out. The first quarter was a comprehensive beatdown because of Howard but also because of the Buckeye defense. They mauled Tennessee at the line of scrimmage. Nico Iamaleava didn’t complete a first-quarter pass and the Vols ended the opening 15 minutes with 16 yards of offense. Ohio State emphatically answered the “how would it respond” question that had been beating down the walls of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center for weeks. Now it gets a rematch with Oregon, the clear-cut best team from the regular season and a team Ohio State lost to by 1 point on the road. Howard was great that day too, completing 28 of his 35 passes for 326 yards, scoring 3 touchdowns while not turning the ball over, and posting a 95.1 QBR. The difference that day was a pass interference call and a second lost because Howard didn’t slide in time to set up a potential game-winning field goal. But Oregon was also without its best pass-rusher in the game. The Ducks gained almost 500 yards of offense and Ohio State rarely sniffed quarterback Dillon Gabriel. As a result, Gabriel picked apart the Buckeye secondary. It would seem the gap between Iamaleava and Gabriel is quite large. Oregon’s receivers are also better than Tennessee’s to an almost absurd degree. Assuming the Ducks don’t lose their best tailback after 2 carries, Ohio State isn’t likely to shut this offense down the way it did Tennessee’s. The Buckeyes also fed off the energy in Ohio Stadium and now they have to go cross-country to play in a much less friendly environment. I do wonder how much energy it took to do what Ohio State did in the first round, and if this game highlights the advantage of grabbing 1 of those first-round byes. Bet Oregon +2.5 (-108 via DraftKings)