David Marsh

And the winner this year will probably be Indiana. It's their year for a lot of things but I firmly believe it's our year for a national championship right now.

Interesting stat I saw that before the injuries to Moore and Bryant his snap count per game was going down. Basically he was losing his hold on his position in the lineup. With the injuries he stepped up in a big way. He absolutely needs the ball thrown his way more. One of my observations from game one was that he was sneaky in that he ran a good route and was a reliable receiver. More recently his speed is flashing and he is getting even more dangerous. Get him some touches and force the defense to guard everyone. I bet they can't.

Mendoza probably wins the Heisman... I'm fine with that. As long as we block them from a national championship I am even more fine with it.

I mean the SEC probably got one more team into the playoff because they only play 8 conference games. Just think... if USC did NOT play Oregon they would be right in the thick of the discussion whether they are in or out but that loss to Oregon was the kiss of death to them. You could say the same thing about Michigan if they didn't play USC this year. They lost an OOC game to Oklahoma and then they will play Ohio State every year no matter what... but what if USC wasn't on their schedule? That's two losses and right in the thick of the discussion. The B1G having 9 conference games this year has eliminated one of our teams from the playoff potentially... well probably not because Michigan and USC haven't looked THAT good.

There is a portion of their fanbase who firmly believe they will hold Oregon to under 100 yards rushing, Texas Tech only gives up around 65 yards rushing per game. But TTU hasn't played an offensive line anything like what Oregon has and the old narrative that Oregon has small linemen is not true anymore. For Washington to slow our run game down they had to stack the box and challenge Dante Moore to beat them with his arm... and he did that without Dakorian Moore and Gary Bryant... what happens when they come back?

The reality is that championship games need to go away and that weekend should just be play in games... put some of those teams against each other and see who is actually worthy of those final spots.

I mean that was one of the biggest reasons to take on a bowl game was the added practice time. But now with the transfer portal I don't know if programs see that as worth while. You're not prepping next year's team because you might lose your best players to the portal and not have them on the team at all and some of the pieces on next year's team won't be added until the portal opens.

The payout generally goes to the conference for bowl game participation. I don't know how much each team gets for conference participation. I'm pretty sure a team showing up and playing costs less than $500,000. This is meant to hurt because participating in bowl games is for the good of the conference. It does highlight the end of season December chaos has never been greater and the emphasis on playoff or bust has never been higher.

Ooof... Chip it's a sign that you should just retire when you're looking at WSU. Or go do TV for a few years.

I know a Stanford had it rough. They need to find players who could theoretically get into Stanford on their own outside of football and recruit those kids. Then to make matters worse if a player graduates early and wants to get a master's degree they have to apply and be accept r to the master's program without football in consideration. In short... If a Stanford football grad wants to use some of their eligibility to get a master's degree degree they are going else where. It also means their portal use is highly restricted to those who meet their academics. Granted... I am just all around jealous of those who automatically, or effectively automatically, get auto enrolled in grad programs. I applied for four schools to get into a grad program... And then I had to pay for that degree out of pocket. But i will say this about Stanford... They do seem to walk thr walk when it comes to heir academics in their programs. Now Washington should take note.. because that's academic prowess.

They need to be revamped. By themselves they are unexciting but they could be incentivized. NIL is a thing so pay the players and give the winning team more. This can be done lots of ways but still. There should also just be a second tournament like in mens basketball and that should be the bowl game system. Schools are going to be able to pay players directly soon and bowl game payouts could absolutely be part of the equation.

The G6 conference champs are fine for inclusion the way I see it. They played their schedules and came out the other side conference champs and based on the system they get in. The ACC champs failed to take care of business along the way and should be grateful they have Miami representing them at all. Bama probably shouldn't be in but the committee positioned them as such that they were going to be in no matter what. Notre Dame probably deserves to be in but not over Miami. If they were in the ACC they probably would have won the conference and we wouldn't have this conversation. Notre Dame just needs to join a conference already. But the 16 team playoff probably will enable them to stay independent. The B1G should probably have another team in the field too much cannibalism for that to happen. Truly competitive conferences are not rewarded for being competitive as we all know from the Pac-12.

On the academic performance front there are SO many services around athletes these days that it's hard to fail. I was at UO when the academic support building was built and completed. Those players have a lot of help. They also have a full time job in their sport as well so I'm not entirely knocking it. I haven't seen anything about drug testing in a long time. I'm sure it happens from time to time. I'm sure they'll find a way to disqualify our best receivers of we make the title game.

They'll probably be out on the West coast for several days before the game. School's out for everyone at that point. They'd pay for the use of a practice field somewhere, probably a high school, and get used to the weather and time zone a bit. Not saying it won't be a factor just less of one.

And maybe Kirby has smartened up against DeBoer's offense which has always been pass heavy.

I am 90% positive that was the case for Hampton. Come to Oregon as the co-DC to become THE DC when Lupoi leaves. For Mehringer I am sure that was potentially part of the deal with bringing in Stein. He wasn't ready when Dilly left but he is probably ready now. I'll trust Lanning... Because what else am I going to do? Sit here and be mad about it? I'll probably just be proven wrong. I would also like to point out that a lot of people weren't too keen on Stein, a young up and comer from a G6 team... But he turned out pretty good.

Does it kinda suck to lose out on Henry... yeah.. But... BUT! We have as many 5 Star recruits as 3 stars according to Rivals! That is just INSANE!

Or at least LSU's NIL boosters want a say!

He's a good coach who has gone under the radar for a while now because he didn't jump ship from Iowa State the first chance he got. He'd be a good get for Penn State if it happens. I also wouldn't be surprised if he stays put.

People grow and people change. I'm not saying he's my first choice but I'm also sure that Lanning see way more than we ever will. And as I have zero input into who the OC will be... I'm cool with whoever Lanning picks. At least for now... But I am sure I'll be yelling at them via an article next year to run the ball more. I've done it for Lanning's first four years and I will plan on doing so in year five as well!

Whose to say he isn't a top notch candidate? If Dan trusts him then I am absolutely fine with it.

Makes sense... I mean its kinda surprising they came out to Eugene twice considering they don't get to broadcast any B1G games. They do get to broadcast the SEC championship game so they might as well hype it up.

They are definitely protecting the SEC and Alabama here by moving them up one place. Notre Dame will get cut if it comes down to it and Bama probably protected. But Miami is probably out no matter what at this point... so that is kinda delightful in itself.

A few things have me feeling pretty good. In the post I saw about Stein taking the Kentucky job it also said he would continue his duties with the team until the season ends. He probably has an arrangement similar to what Lanning had with Smart at Georgia, where he wasn't allowed to recruit for the team anymore but could begin to recruit for his new team. What makes things more difficult for Stein is that I don't think he is officially hired at Kentucky yet and TODAY is National Signing Day so who knows the recruiting class he even has to work with at the moment... well I guess I can look it up.... ranked 58th with 15 recruits basically all three stars on Rivals and I can't tell who has actually signed at this point anyways. The reality is that Stein is going to have to recruit who he can before the second signing period and dive into the transfer portal. The portal doesn't open until January and I wouldn't be surprised if he takes the lion's share of Ducks who transfer. His first season is going to be a bit rough but the reality is that with the NSD being so early now that new coaches are barely hired before they have to sign a recruiting class so they'll be portal heavy. The same goes for Lupoi and Cal. Though in the case of Lupoi I haven't seen anything saying that he intends on finishing the year at Oregon or not. However, Hampton has called plays on defense before and Lanning is the HC so I am a little less concerned on that front.

I mean the biggest problem with a committee is how do you build a body of people who can be objective AND make it their only job for about four months to watch every single FBS football game? It's possible and I am sure there are people out there who could do it but is there the will or the desire to do it? No really. A whole new system needs to be created because with super conference playing your schedule is the only thing you can do and sometimes your schedule is weak. I do not fault the Aggies for winning 11 games but I do fault them for losing to 3-loss Texas in their very last game. A top three team shouldn't have dropped that game.