David Marsh

I think his expiration date was reached... I don't think as fans we would have been happy with the extension deal Uncle Phil had proposed. It hurt losing our recruiting class or most of it... But I think we saved a massive chunk of our roster at the same time. You are right ... His time had come and I'm glad he left.

I was talking with the offensive line and run game coordinator coach at the high school I work a d he was saying that the Dillingham offense is a very complex offense and tough to learn. As a spectator I am still learning tons about this offense every week but I don't have to try and run the offense. It's a very dynamic offense but it has a lot of details to it that I would imagine can be difficult to pick up.

The Fox sports commentary crew, the crew that talks berween games or half time, is often made up of two USC guys.

I think that's Irving's first rushing TD in the year.

The refs really do seem to like to put their thumb on the scale for California teams.

This year's USC team feels a lot like the 2020 team. They have survived a lot of games with a mixture of better athletes and luck. Washington State is going to make it difficult on them but I can see USC escaping with a win still.

Yes... But in our defense it took us Arroyo and then one year of Moorhead to fully catch on. Miami has willfully.ignored us saying this. So we at least get the excuse of being the first one duped. Also... Arroyo wasn't a big name OC and a hold over from the Taggart year so I our defense we felt he was tainted by the Taggart expirence and he didn't have much of a name for himself. Moorhead was an established name and we all had hope... And we knew it didn't matter who the OC through 2020. Granted the offense under Moorhead was better and more dynamic in 2022. But it was still handcuffed by Cristobal.

The Taggart offense had some good stuff in it... the problem is/was that the playbook wasn't that deep. "Lethal Simplicity" can be effective but the problem was that his offense was far too simple and easy to figure out. Each play doesn't inherently have a lot of depth to it. On the flip side Mike Leach's air raid offense is actually shockingly simple in terms of number of plays but it is executed at such a high level and has so many threats and different focuses in each play that it can be killer. Though... again the problem with Leach's offense is that if teams have longer than a week to prepare for it they can do a lot better job figuring it out and can counter it pretty reliably.

I'm not crazy about the egg shell uniforms. I think they cool fine up close and clean. But once on the field and if you add a grass stain to them they just look dirty. The speckles then look like mud. Not my favorite but way better than other uniforms we have worn in the past.

This can work in the short term anyways. It worked for a few years at Oregon.... Until it didn't last year.

Two SEC teams can make it through but not three... if there are three SEC teams those will be some awful viewership numbers. They have managed to let two SEC teams in because of their records and having only one loss even while playing in the Championship game. Three SEC teams should not happen because in this case Tennessee or Georgia would have already played each other and eliminated one from the playoff race to face Alabama in the championship game. However.... I am sure they could find a way to justify three SEC teams if they really wanted to. So... never-mind.. expect three SEC teams at this point.

Not all the Pac-12's officials are bad... I would say the majority are actually pretty decent. I feel games against Eastern Washington and BYU were both well officiated. I feel the WSU game was pretty good, minus of course the big mistake of the loss of down, they did at least let the players play out the game without too many ridiculous flags. The biggest problem for the Pac-12 refs right now is holding onto the good ones. We need new refs and to weed out the bad ones but it all starts with keeping the good ones.

From the sound of what I have heard is that Lanning realized that they tried to teach too much of the defense. And players weren't comfortable with the scheme for Georgia. So they have had to scale back and reteach a lot of it. It isn't too surprising that it may take a couple years for the defense to fully grasp the defense.

And I think Bassa is a much better coverage back than Flowe and that is where we are really hurting right now. The secondary is improving but out soft underbelly is the coverage by our linebackers.

Oregon plays both in the regular season this year... that alone is a boon to USC who dodges us. I don't care who wins to be honest but I think it is important that it is a close game so that the loser stays ranked. Wins over ranked opponents is key for Oregon and having teams ranked is also key for the Pac-12. As UCLA is leaving the Pac in a few years I feel their being ranked is less important than Utah in the long run for the conference. But the loser of Utah-UCLA could very well be the knock out blow for them for the Conference Championship game. Of course assuming Oregon will beat them both.

He has been dinged up the past couple of weeks and has been working on recovering. I feel Flowe is a bit of a glass cannon as an athlete. For those who don't know the gaming reference a glass cannon is high damage but also fragile. Flowe is an absolute wrecking ball but he seems to get himself injured to varying degrees all the time. He also isn't the most controlled when on the field which is part of him getting injured I suspect. He can find himself out of his assignment rather easily... but he usually makes up for it by flying to the ball and demolishing the ball carrier.

If the USC offensive line wasn't so porus I would agree... it will give Williams the chance to take some shots and score some points. USC has watched Oregon pick apart Washington State in the open field and watched Oregon take some successful shots down field. So USC will score some points. However, if you watch Nix take his shots down field, watch the offensive line. Nix was clean and had loads of time to set his feet and make his throw. Washington State will be aggressive and bust through that USC offensive line that is a far cry from Oregon's line. Williams will not consistently have the time he needs to make those passes. He is going to take some hits and he may even throw a pick or two because he forces a throw when his feet aren't set or he is rushed into a throw. If USC's offensive line can give Williams' time then it does bend towards USC winning... but I'm not convinced they will give him the time he needs.

I'm in agreement here. USC survived Oregon State because the Beavers threw 4 picks. Washington State has a better quarterback and just as disruptive of a defense. ASU even posed USC some problems last week and USC didn't pull away until the 4th quarter really. Washington State is well coached and hungry for a big win over a ranked opponent. Oregon was able to claw back into the game because Oregon has probably the most talented and complete roster in the Pac-12, Utah might have just as a complete roster but is not as talented on paper. USC has vulnerable offensive and defensive lines and Washington State will gleefully exploit. Expect to see Caleb Williams with grass stains on his jersey with this game.

Its a crazy metrics game. Some of the top six would be five-stars but there is not a set number. Height, weight, performance and any other measurement you can think of goes into creating these rankings. Even then all these rankings vary from recruiting service. In any given year there is usually a coupe five stars at any position but that isn't guaranteed by any stretch. Some years can have more five-stars than others... same goes for four-stars. Three-stars are more nebulous as there are usually a ton of three-star recruits so I assume there is a minimum for being ranked. There are two-star recruits but usually when you start to get into two-star recruit status it is by chance a player is even ranked as a two-star at all and not just considered unranked. This year is also pretty thin in terms of quality offensive line talent so there are a few five-stars but no where near as many as there are in a "normal" year. This year there are fewer ready-made linemen and a lot more lower ranked linemen who would be considered projects for coaches.

It's all down to that Beaver quarterback. If they had a high quality quarterback they would probably be in my top 4, if not top 3. They are a solid team otherwise, but a quarterback is too important. The crazy thing is that of all the teams that rank above the Beavers only UCLA has a non-transfer quarterback. Utah's quarterback is not a transfer this year but he was last year so he did not start his career at Utah. It feels telling how the quarterback position is so important that outsourcing the development to other schools and bringing in quarterbacks as transfers has become super effective. It makes you think what if Oregon State went quarterback shopping like the majority of the conference....

It would take a rule change at the highest level but the ramification for sitting out with the intention of transferring should be able to result in a loss of scholarship immediately. Coaches can't make them play but it's not fair on the team if players want to sit out to transfer. The transfer port needs windows and can't just always be open. There are a lot of rule changes that need to take effect.

Or maybe a deeper hatred of USC because I really feel they are going to get exposed this weekend. I might be wrong.

These rankings are subjective and a team's record only plays part of what goes into where I place them in my ranking, some teams are just better or worse than what their record suggests. This is also a snapshot look at where I feel these teams are at this moment, as if these teams were to play tomorrow they should beat those below them and lose to those ahead of them but nothing is obviously set in stone, teams grow as the season goes on. See Week 4's rankings here. Please disagree or comment on these rankings because that is where so much of the fun is with these rankings. 12. Colorado (0-5) - Colorado is bad, so bad they have finally fired their head coach and this is now a bad team that is truly lacking leadership. It will be a shock if they win any games this year. So good news to teams playing Colorado, this is almost a bye week. 11. Arizona State (1-4) - Arizona State has more talent that Colorado but they are in a coaching search and have written off this season. Unlikely ASU will beat anyone outright but if a team sleeps on them they might make things scary as this team still has some play makers. 10. Stanford (1-4) - Stanford is bad, the transfer portal era will keep the Cardinal from being good, even if the refs seem to do everything they can to keep them in the game. It is possible this team steals a win or two in conference but they are not looking at a bowl game for the second consecutive year in a row. 9. Arizona (3-2) - Arizona has life and if they get hot they could make a bowl game, but the problem is that there aren't many teams ranked below them for "easy" wins, as they have already dismantled Colorado and they have ASU at the end of the year but they skip Stanford this year. So I see Arizona getting to 4 maybe 5 wins total. 8. Oregon State (3-2) - This is really the first change from last week's rankings. The Beavers are almost a complete team, except for quarterback where they are woefully lacking right now. They should have beaten USC but for their 4 interceptions and they weren't even supposed to beat Utah but they took far more of a beating than they should have because they couldn't take care of the ball. Their defense and run game both look solid, they just need to work out their quarterback problem. 7. Cal (3-2) - Cal has defense and their offense is better than last year with a new quarterback and runningback but they really do seem to lack some of the firepower needed to hold down some of the more prolific offenses in the Pac-12 this year. 6. USC (5-0) - USC has had an easy schedule so far but that is going to come to an end soon enough. USC gets Washington State this week, though at home. Washington State has an agressive defense and an offense that can score quickly. USC does have a good secondary but their offense has struggled with pressure. Both Oregon State and Arizona State have given USC a pretty good scare over the past couple of weeks. Washington State may be more than they can handle, but if they survive then it is worth bumping USC up at that point. Right now they feel overrated by the National media. 5. Washington (4-1) - Washington was finally challenged and they lost. They also lost on the road which will probably be a continuing trend this year. Washington has had to travel much the past two years and that will be something that will be a struggle. 4. UCLA (5-0) - UCLA beat Washington which was a meaningful win and got themselves a ranking in the top 25 of the AP poll. So UCLA moves up a spot though we will get a better sense of what UCLA is made of in the next month as they will have to play Oregon and Utah. 3. Washington State (4-1) - Washington State couged it against Oregon and survived Cal. This is an aggressive team that should stay in the top half of the Pac-12 this year, barring any critical injuries. They square off against USC this week and WSU is probably the more complete team, the only downside is that WSU has to go to USC but WSU has proved they can win in a hostile away environment this year. 2. Oregon (4-1) - Beating Stanford is a big deal for the Ducks. It has felt the past few years that Oregon plays Stanfod and the refs. Oregon was clearly the better team, even when shooting itself in the foot and getting some truly baffling calls from the refs. Oregon is still the most talented team in the Pac-12 and they are growing week to week but they still have yet to put together a solid four quarters of play. Oregon has Arizona this week which has its own risks, then a bye week, then they host UCLA. The good news for Oregon is that all their toughest games will be at home this year. 1. Utah (4-1) - Utah hasn't given much reason to doubt their top spot. However, Utah does hit one of the hardest sections of its schedule this year with UCLA, USC, and Washington State all on deck before they hit an easier part where they have Arizona and Stanford. Then they get Oregon. Utah will get truly tested starting this week and we will see where they end up. Do you agree or disagree with these rankings? Who is too high or too low?

It has become abundantly clear now to anyone that I think Helfrich gets a bad rap by a lot of Ducks fans. Was he perfect? Of course not. Was he given time to truly address some of the problems that emerged? Nope. Would he have worked out in the end... probably not to the goal of a National Championship in honest truth without some major changes along the way. But I also have no sympathies for anyone crying about Oregon needs coaches to be loyal to the program and are lifers when Helfrich was going to be a lifer in the mold of Bellotti and the fan base was calling for his head after one really really bad bowl game and a bad season. Fans want loyalty from their coaches but show their coaches no loyalty when things get tough, within reason.

In fairness that was what was said about Mariota ... And to a slightly lesser extent Herbert. But they also played at a much much higher level so they got away with it.