David Marsh

I'm not sure that is going to happen though. As it is not north v South this year I can see Utah getting boxed out of the championship game. Utah holds the tie breaker on USC but UCLA holds the tie breaker on them. So as it stands right now for it to be Oregon v Utah, Oregon needs to go undefeated in conference play so they hold all the tie breakers. So for Utah to get to the championship game... Utah has to win out, but Oregon needs to beat them too. USC needs to beat UCLA but lose another game along the way, which is possible but not feeling likely. The chaotic mess is difficult to figure out here. Right now I feel the likely scinario will be Oregon v UCLA as a rematch for the conference championship... But there is still a lot a LOT of football to play until then.

Just makes you appreciate Lanning even more... The guy is just having an incredible first season as a head coach. The Irish will be good again at some point. But a bad first season under a new head coach, especially a brand new HC, is always the risk.

Gotta love how the refs missed that wide receiver hold on that touchdown play. He was just dragging the Utah DB backwards.

I believe he transfered because it is closer to home for him and to be honest he was looking at a new coaching staff anyways. Also we all suspect there is a decent financial package for him as well. That was never confirmed but we all feel that is probably the case. I don't have any I'll will towards Travis but I just want to see the Trojans lose every chance they get.

Utah is getting behind the line of scrimmage and getting pressure on Williams. Let's see how that continues to be a factor. Early game USC's online has lots of energy and that can be a reason why as the game goes on more penetration happens.

I think Oregon has their match. Oregon has one of the best offensive lines in the country and I honestly believe that. They held their own against Georgia... And Nix probably would have done better if he didn't roll out of the pocket so much that game in truth. I watched a bunch of other teams have their lines get gashed by opponents defensive lines and these teams were higher ranked than Oregon. Penn State was destroyed by Michigan. Tenn and Bama both look mortal on the offensive line side of things and we will get a better comparison when Tennessee plays Georgia. USC's line is just good enough to give Williams time to find some incredible recievers. But I don't think USC's defense can touch Nix. Keep in mind Oregon's line has given up one sack this year and it was for -1 yard. If it comes down to Oregon v USC in the championship game, it is going to be exciting. Keep in mind too that Oregon's defense is improving at a spectacular pace as well.

Ughh... I really hate seeing USC winning.

I doesnt change the equation for the Ducks playoff hopes at the moment. They only have control over one thing and that is winning. Bama still plays ole miss and Georgia still plays Tennessee. Need those games to shake out too. But could this be the beginning of the end of the reign of Saban. Not just this loss but last year Saban did lose to former coordinators for the first time in his career. First to Jimbo then to Smart. Saban is still a very good coach but he isn't invincible anymore it feels.

The knights already have a plan in place to keep supporting Oregon financially for some time after Phil's eventually passing. A lot of money is tied up in investments to continue paying out to Oregon for years to come. It may be less or certainly less over time but it won't just dry up overnight.

Oh yeah the SEC definitely is happy to not call anything. They let targeting slide half the time aswell. The refs also do protect their top teams and will often let things slide against Bama in particular.

I think we are heading that way. Oregon should already be the undisputed top Duck in the conference. Cristobal and his pathetic scheming on both sides of the ball handicapped Oregon. Oregon has had the best recruiting class for at least the last 4 years. Oregon has the talent and has been one of the best two teams for the past three years at least... But has failed to be dominant. Lanning can make Oregon truly dominant.

Umm... Ouch for Cal here. They lose to Colorado? Now I do think they should have called that pass that was knocked out if the receiver's hands in the end zone a touchdown. He made the catch and had possession of the ball. It was then knocked away after he had clear control of the ball... Thus touchdown. Colorado has apparently changed up a bunch of schemes with the new head coach. They might even have thejr future coach. Going young might be the key for them. But this is a super embarrassing loss for Wilcox. I think in a way Oregon fans are feeling even better about the Lanning hire. Wilcox still doesn't have an offense.

From the look and sound of it he has some development to do but the one thing you can't teach is that size. Get him to coach Love and build him up and Klemm will have him ready to go in a year or two. He might not be an instant impract player but can definitely be a big piece to Oregon's future offensive line.

Let's see what their defense can do against Oregon's Great Green Wall of offensive linemen. This game will all come down to which defense gets more stops. And I think our defensive front seven who have been pretty solid in stopping the run make a dent and slow the Bruin offense just enough.

NIL directly? No. NIL being used the way it is, paying for play instead of as a reward for hard work, is a symptom of a greater problem in college football.

You don't have to. The CFP poll will be dropping in the next few weeks. That poll is what matters. USC has the hype train of the AP behind them right now and when you read the vast majority of articles about USC right now you wonder what games they have been watching. USC has been good but far from dominant. Caleb Williams has been good but he hasn't been Heisman finalist good. That's where the hype is right now.

I feel it is not where they are right now that matters but where they finish the season. Under Cristobal and Taggart Oregon had seasons where they were ranked mid season but by season's end we were unranked. That was not a truly successful season. If you want to say a team had a successful season that team needs to finish the year RANKED. So let's see how these LA teams finish the year. They'll probably be ranked but something could happen that dismantles their seasons. And I would love to see Oregon be the reason their seasons come crashing down.

This year the Pac-12 does not have many road warrior teams... I think Oregon and USC are the exceptions at the moment. Though USC had Oregon State and ASU and didn't look too impressive in either game. Where Oregon struggled against a solid WSU team and escaped with a win and left no doubt who the better team was against Arizona.

Nix feels like an easy choice but I don't think it's wrong. I don't feel like Irving has gotten enough carries to really lay claim to offensive MVP but if he had the carries he could certainly in the conversation for it. Whittington for best offensive backup... sure. He feel he has been ok. Some frustrating runs where he gets nothing when he should have gotten something but some nice runs where he picks up chunk yardage. He doesn't have the physicality of Iriving and he doesn't bounce off tacklers to keep going. If he is hit, he goes down.

Utah... I want to be right and finally see USC exposed. USC has managed to skate by so far but in truth they have been lucky. They escaped the Beavers because the Beavers threw 4 interceptions. They struggled against an ASU team but pulled away in the end. They got WSU at HOME and were able to use the home field advantage and their superior player talent to push them over the Cougs. But this is going to be a real test for them. They are away and against a team that is more well rounded than any team they have played so far. This isn't last year's Utah team but they are better than all the others USC has faced and I want USC to be exposed for the team they are... a good team but not a CFP lock or even a Pac-12 Championship lock.

The way this is set up is that it is possible to stop but in reality you can't stop them all at once. The offense is only going to pick one of the plays to run but the defense has to account for all do them. if they pick the wrong one Oregon scores.

I think there is merit to moving Oregon State up. Right now I don't feel they have fixed their QB problem. I think they are still trying to fix it and it is an ongoing process. Oregon State gets Washington State this next week and or will be another opportunity to prove themselves. I need to see they have the quarterback figured out better. Their recievers stepped up in a big way against Stanford that's for sure and that can help the quarterback problem.

And then you pair all that with a scheme that is complex enough to make defenders hesitate and guess and you have a recipe for some big time explosion plays! Kelly and Helfrich made teams hesitate and they got points for it regularly. Make them work their minds as much as their bodies.

I'm sure they are similar. Stanford did a lot of very predictable stuff where they would line up and you could know with a 90% certainly as to what they were going to do. Stopping it was another matter. I feel Oregon has a bit more flare to what they are trying to do right now, a few more variations but I know Stanford back a decade ago was doing some similar things.

They didn't lose anything new... lets go with that... they lost their coach in a previous week.