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.

6 minutes ago, Jon Joseph said:

Practice? Practice!

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.

18 minutes ago, Duckman60 said:

It might cost more money to go to a bowl game then the $500,000. If that is the case, and we know its all about the money, its a wise decision.

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.

1 hour ago, GatOrlando said:

Is admission requirements still something? I've always heard that the head coach at Notre Dame has a tough job, because he needs to find five star players with five star study habits. A rule that some......um... Miami....umm... probably don't follow. That place is a private institution, one that has people named Reginald, Archibald, Thelonias, and last names that have words like the third, attached to them.

I imagine it's likely the same at USC. Also a private place of higher education, but I might be wrong. After all, I went to a public University with a terrible football team, and even worse academic admissions record for said football team.

( Said football team may have some history that I'm biased against. My comments may not be entirely true, as I grew up disliking said team. My comments are not to be taken too seriously, you can't sue me or anyone around me for my emotional takes. Plus your law program is second rate to the program I support. Remember I am an alumnus 🥸. That is all)

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.

3 hours ago, JabbaNoBargain said:

Side note, bowls need to go.

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.

Just now, Solar said:

Don't forget the 3 hour time zone change for JMU. They won't be used to that.

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.

39 minutes ago, DrJacksPlaidPants said:

Bama has 17 rushing yards. I know they have injuries, but their rushing offense has been dog balls all season (103rd).

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

1 hour ago, Grandpa Duck said:

Possibly the die was cast for them to have the inside track for their new jobs some time ago.

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!

13 minutes ago, WTD25 said:

What a line up of teams going after him.

Didn't know LSU was involved, but Kiffin still wants a say.

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.

4 minutes ago, OregonDucks said:

In Drew Mehringer’s lone season as OC, Rutgers ranked 127 of 128 in offensive points per game.

https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/years/2016-team-offense.html

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!

4 hours ago, OregonDucks said:

The OC position at Oregon is one of the most coveted in college football given our reputation, talent, resources and track record of prior OCs becoming HCs. We should be able to hire a top notch, experienced OC.

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.

14 hours ago, Jon Joseph said:

If the Commish Brett Yormark's 2 B12 PO teams fix is in, the Cougars defeat Texas Tech, and so long No. 10 Notre Dame. I do not see BYU winning the B12 champ game. Texas Tech has a significant Big 12 roster advantage.🤑

That No. 10 Notre Dame dropped below No. 9 Bama is telling. The Irish and not Bama, Bama is in the field unless the Tide is eviscerated by Georgia in the SEC champ game.

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.

7 minutes ago, Solar said:

It literally has not changed. Per Josh Pate, the BCS computer formulas are still being heavily relied on by the committee (who have much more important day jobs), with the main difference this year being that the committee is doing a bad job of justifying the results the computer is spitting out.

The committee with finally spend some time of their own these next two weeks, puting their heads together to make changes to what the computers tell them to do, so be prepared for real chaos with this week and the final rankings/seeding next Sunday.

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.

15 minutes ago, Eric Boles said:

Coach Lanning could also hire someone none of us are thinking about.

I bet this will happen!!!

1 hour ago, TheRunningDuck said:

Hope he doesn't steal recruits as the day approaches.

I kinda doubt it... That would burn a bridge with Lanning and I have a feeling he wouldn't want to do that. Coaches talk a lot behind the scenes and burning a bridge by stealing recruits out the door is something that would burn those bridges real fast.

Besides there might some transfers out of Oregon that he would be interested in landing and that would be mutually beneficial for all involved. Not to say that couldnt happen in addition to stealing recruits.

This defense has worked great before the red zone.

I think there are some schematic problems for our red zone defense. Letting a touchdown happen from 4th and 8 against Washington kinda highlights the problem. That shouldn't have happened. It looks like there was a bit of a rub on the play that got Boston open but still... shouldn't have happened.

However, this team holds teams to less than 15 points per game so I can't complain too much.

2 hours ago, kirklandduck said:

So many of these coach firings are hilarious. He's only been at MSU for 2 seasons, what kind of changes were they expecting in such a short timeline? It's freaking M...S...U... 🤦‍♂️

Contending for a playoff spot is what they expected.

It took Smith third year at OSU to get it in the right direction.

Every program expects instant turnaround or continuation.

They look at Lanning and Cignetti and say... "We want that" but they're the exception.

Lanning inherited a good roster but needed to completely overhaul it for his desired team. And Cignetti just transferred over a ton of guys from his previous team and did an instant rebuild which is incredible. Still want to see the Hoosiers lose... But I can respect what he's done.

Most coaches can't turn around and put together a winning team in year one.

First round game at Autzen. Get those injured guys back on the field and warmed up for a good run.

A month off with a bye is a LONG time and for someone like Dak who has missed all of November his last game would have been 2 months ago at that point and now it's against a team that had a warm up game.

Let's have the warm up. Especially if we are the no. 5 seed and will probably need to go throw Ohio State to reach the championship game.