David Marsh

In some ways the snow is probably easier to play in than the heavy rain. 2013 in Autzen Stadium against Cal was absolutely insane! The rain was just intense and the players sliding on the field created little waves of water. There was also something like 6 fumbles! Throwing the ball was extremely difficult and Cal benched their starting quarterback, Jared Goff.

So... Sticking with a program for multiple years actually pays off??? Who would have thought? I'm shocked!

He stepped up on critical situations when he needed to. But what allowed him to do so was because teams had to sell out to stop the run and which gave him opportunities in the passing game. He made the plays he needed to make. But it was all predicted on the run game being the first option. I mean they beat Penn State by only running the ball for the second half last year. Any quarterback in the world could do that and a big time 5 star would find that frustrating.

I'd say that would be the case except there would be a lot of anger if they did so because the 5 seed is significantly better than the 6 seed in both the first and second rounds.

Have you seen their QB play this year? I'd be feeling desperate too. However, the way that Michigan wants to play, based on the Harbaigh model, they don't need a 5 star QB they need a QB who can manage the game, make the right throws and not mess things up. They need a quarterback who is happy to play in a run first, second and third, offense but is completely capable of stepping up and making the needed plays when called upon. If I was Lincoln Riley at USC, he needs a 10mil dollar 5 star QB to make his whole team work. Michigan needs a solid 4 star.

The ACC will be broken to pieces and sold off to the P2 with a conference of leftovers left for the media scraps. The Big 12 is already the conference of leftovers. The best hope of any Big 12 team right now is to look pretty enough to get an invite in the next realignment. Probably won't happen. They'll be given enough money for the purpose of filler games.

Wisconsin was 1/12 on 3rd down for the entire game!

It also feels like Lanning takes the foot off the gas big time in the second half. If our offense was allowed to oporates or could operate like it does in the first half we would be much higher in offense. If we get into a situation where we need to score more than 40 to win a game I think the Ducks can do it... they just haven't been forced into that situation because of the defense and Lanning would rather shorten a game with a 21+ point lead rather than keep putting up points.

Personally... I love it. Be aggressive and take reasonable risks. This oddly enough reminds me of the article I wrote before Lanning's first game against Georgia. Now that one ended poorly but I believe he has the right philosophy. Dan Lanning Must Play to Win | FishDuck FISHDUCK.COM Playing to win requires some risk taking. It will require Dan Lanning to take some shots, some of which will...

He also ran two fake plays against Wisconsin... neither amounted to much. The direct snap to James at the end of the half to see if they could sneak out a massive run. It didn't work. Then a fake punt on fourth and four instead of a field goal that would increase the lead to 6... Going to be honest if it was a little shorter I think it would have been a better call but a special teams holder does not typically have the speed needed to get 4 yards before the opposing team realizes what's going on... he got a solid 3 yards but not 4. Still a freaking mad man. And yes, I absolutely love it too.

I think the game on Saturday just got a whole lot closer though the reality is I still think Ohio State can pull off the win because their defense is very good and we saw what happened when Indiana had to play against a physical defense in Michigan, they escaped at home with a win. I'd say Ohio State has just as good of a defense as Michigan, just with an eyeball test, if not slightly better. But even with a diminished offensive line I still anticipate Ohio State to have a significantly better offense than Michigan. Ohio State is going to need to rely on quick passes and getting the ball to those incredible wideouts fast. The run game is going to struggle to get going for sure. Though Ohio State does have an athlete advantage everywhere else which will probably be just enough to eek out a win. But... we'll see. That's why we gotta play the games. It does make you thankful that the Ducks made it through our 8 game stretch with no season ending injuries! That is incredible!

That would make for a strange CCG. Granted I also wouldn't entirely put it past Lanning to game the system that way. But winning the B1G on his first year in the conference would be too freaking epic to pass up.

Boise State is ranked higher than a Big 12 team. Soooo... As it stands right now they get the Bye. So the Big 12 is a G5 conference now? Only paid more. This will create an uproar for sure.

Fun fact I came across. If Oregon plays Ohio State in the conference championship game, which is likely, it would be Ohio State playing their 7th game in a row whereas the Ducks would be rather fresh playing on their second game coming off a bye.

Kinda... the reality is that there are a whole lot of teams that don't stand a chance at the National Championship. Would ensuring four or five Big 12 teams in the playoff increase their chance of winning the National Championship? Not really, they'd all probably lose to superior teams. The SEC probably only has two maybe three true contenders for the National Championship. But no one in the SEC looks especially dominant and adding more to the mix just seems like giving opporunties to teams that will be competitive to the other mediocre teams in the playoff but not be true contenders. I'd say the B1G has two in Oregon and Ohio State, outside of those two I don't see Penn State getting it done.

It certainly needs to be changed. I'm ok with automatic bids for conference champions, even though the reality of it is that a conference champion worthy of an invite should probably be default be in the top 12 teams. Though access is important for this format so auto bids are important to give the illusion that any team that makes the playoff could win it all. But lets just assume conference champs get auto bids. The real baffling thing with this format is why do conference champs get an automatic bye? They should get a bid and then with all bids they should be given a rank and those ranks should be slotted in. That's probably where the playoff is headed.

Seriously... They really should have bought their way into the Big 12 with their pillaged cash. Pay a good sized entry fee and as a part of that package don't take a media cut for x-years and ride their I'll gotten gains. Their scrap 12 rebuild is horrible and embarrassing and puts them behind in the long run.

If Ohio State loses to us again they may drop to number 3 overall. Sure, they say they won't punish a conference championship loser but they will... It just won't be an elimination game for the B1G or SEC loser. The Big 12 and ACC loser is highly unlikely to make the playoffs at all. But they might drop the B1G loser slightly more and put them at 4 or 5 overall which might sort out the problem. Highly unlikely though. Unless... We blow out Ohio State which might do it. But look at it this way... If Oregon beats Ohio State three times in one season that puts the history of the series at 4-8 Ohio State. In almost one year we'd cut their lead in the series in half and probably outright break their fanbase at the same time.

Well... Theoretically it is possible for an undefeated Army to get in over the Big 12 Champion. After all the guaranteed auto bids are for the 5 highest ranked conference champions. So if Army is a conference champion and higher ranked than the Big 12 Conference Champion then Army would get in and the Big 12 Champion may not. We've just assumed that only one G5 team would get in because historically speaking getting two G5 teams in the Top 25 is rather rare. So the top 5 conference champions getting an auto bid does not guarantee the P4 get in but it does assume they do get a bid. Is it likely that Army snubs the Big 12 Champ? No... is it possible? Yes. But using a very broad definition of possible.

Notre Dame doesn't get in if Army beats them. Period. Army is probably on the outside looking in and another SEC team gets an invite.

But they'll still have to play 2 games and that does expose them to more injuries and less rest time. I know many are thinking the 5 seed is easier and it might be on paper but exposing players to more hits and an extra game is also quite difficult. Also.... Boise State is slated to be the 12 spot but there is a chance they come in at number 11 or 10 and throw everything else off in current projections. Not saying it will happen, as I think it's unlikely but it is possible. Or... Complete chaos and Boise State gets the auto bye over Colorado!

It doesn't hurt that Herbert is genuinely a very nice guy.

He's a good coach. I think if you buy I to his culture you'll do well but if you don't then it'll go poorly. I think that restricts his recruiting pool because many don't want to deal with his ego. We'll see how he does when he loses some of his all star players around him.

I could be completely off base... But Harmon was called for a hold in Wisconsin's first series of the second half that extended the drive. And in the ready Harmon was getting double teamed and just didn't get pushed back but it didn't look like a hold.

The reality is that the 12 team playoff will include more teams but not more true contenders. Would Indiana win a game against Boise State, the Big 12 or an ACC champ? Probably... Would they beat one of the SEC mediocres? Good chance of it but maybe not. The format guarantees the Big 12, ACC, and G5 get one team in. That does mean that other teams that could just as deserving get left out. Should Indiana be punished for playing the schedule they're given? They might be if they get blown out by Ohio State.