David Marsh

We've had four years of Cristobal unnecessary nail biters. Do those count towards our average and our due? I want to see a dominant performance and a kinda boring 4th quarter with a Ducks win.

If it is designed correctly there is no reason why there can't be a playoff within a super conference. Something like drop a non-conference game for all teams in the super conference (maintain whatever the agreed upon number of conference games or just drop a conference game for this special end of season game.) then at the end of the year make that semi-final conference championship game that originally dropped non-conference. Then the two winners of those two games will play in the Conference Championship game. As for the rest of the teams that have an extra game... that last week of games you have cross conference games between the Pac and Acc ... something like the No. 3 team from both conferences play each other along with the No. 4 team and so on. This would make for some interesting games across the board for these teams. This way there isn't any additional games to add stress to the schedule because part of that conference playoff takes place during the actual season.

But the Huskies haven't put the conference at risk like the LA schools. I wouldn't care as much if I knew the path forward for Oregon I might feel differently. I just want to see the LA schools lose as much as possible. If it is possible that both UCLA and Washington lose in the same game I would take that. But everyone losing doesn't seem to be an option.

The sad thing was that many of those replacements were upgrades! Moorhead is a better OC than Arroyo. But he was handcuffed and couldn't install his actual offense. DeRuyter has a fantastic track record as a DC but there was some problem in the development of players, especially in the secondary. Looking at Cristobal's Miami defense to date it seems to struggle with many of the same problems his defenses had the past few years at Oregon. So he is probably meddling on the defensive side of ball as well.

And I'm rooting for the Beavers to win... I want the LA schools to lose as much as possible this year more than ever. I may even root for the Huskies (vomits in mouth a little) when they play UCLA this year.

For another year with the fans because he can call it a rebuild and the fans can live with it... again we bought into the idea that Cristobal just needed his guys and that wasn't entirely true. He had plenty of talent from previous coaching staves and didn't use it to their full ability. Those paying Cristobal's paychecks might oddly enough be slightly more patient with his results because they can't afford to get rid of him. Also... Cristobal is a pro at winning the off season. Some coaches will leave and Cristobal will manage to hire new ones that get the fan base psyched. He will score recruiting wins and win the fan base over again because he is a very good recruiter. And then the season will come around again and fans will get frustrated ... that is until the off season when the whole cycle starts again.

Difficult to say because of how the COVID year messed with eligibility. Sewell is a sophomore because his real freshman season in 2020 didn't count. I think there are vets who know how to travel and youngsters who don't. I think the real challenge is to ensure everyone travels well and is focused. That is on the coaches who are all young and haven't done a lot of leading that focus. They have all been apart of teams who have traveled well and know how to do it in theory but can they do it in practice? We'll find out.

Not that I recall... I think Taggart is going to be at a G5 school for a very very long time. Also I think with his one year at Oregon it showed that he doesn't want to leave the state of Florida out of his 5 head coaching jobs 3 have been in Florida. He needs to rehab his reputation and that will take a long time with his lack of loyalty to Oregon and his failure at FSU.

I think it is because Harsin has more of a track record of finding diamond in the rough recruits and making them competitive. For that reason I felt he wasn't going to be good in the SEC because they must win at a high level both in recruiting and on the field. Harsin would be more suited towards ASU or even a G5 school where the fan base would tolerate lower recruiting rankings.

Growing pains for a first year head coach! I think the coaches all sat around and watched the film and agree with you and all of us that the end of the 3rd quarter is too early to put in the reserves. This coaching staff has already shown changes made from lessons learned.

The Pac-12's greatest problem. I do believe the Pac-12 is the most competitive conference in the country. Now that doesn't mean best... just that we haven't been able to establish a super power team or two that devour everyone else without a problem. We don't have an Alabama or Georgia or Clemson or Ohio State or even an Oklahoma that all have monopolized their conferences. Instead on any week anything can happen in the Pac-12. Pac-12 After Dark means something because it's wild and crazy and anything can happen. It makes us probably one of the most interesting conferences to watch, or it should, but it usually means we end up killing our own chances of making the playoff because we beat each other up too much.

It was painful to write in the article as well. Though we do need those purple puppies to not completely suck. On another side note... I think it will also help the conference's football profile is the LA teams are shutout of the conference championship game. It's the best two teams now and the north looks a bit stronger than the south. Keep those LA teams out and we have good footing in saying we aren't dependent on them from a on field product stand point. The money side of things would still hurt though.

Georgia had a mixture of a strong OL and getting passes out rather quick against a squishy secondary. Eastern Washington was all about quick passes and never gave our pash rush enough time to develop. BYU held the ball longer but there was some weakness in the secondary for some easier passes. Both BYU and Eastern Washington had some throws that were off because the pass rush was coming and they had to get the ball out quick. So those incompletes aren't sacks but they are a result of the pass rush. We need our secondary to hold up longer in coverage and we'll see more sacks. I'm not worried... Yet.

Yes and we know it... they just would like us to not pay attention to their meddling.

I'm not sure about that... If lets say Oregon and Washington were to join the B1G why wouldn't Fox consider putting Oregon v UCLA on a late night start time, especially if one team isn't ranked and not looking too competitive (that would be UCLA for those wondering). Oregon v Stanford starts at 8pm this year because Stanford doesn't look so good and we are on the west coast.

I'm pretty much an exclusive streamer and I would love to get rid of the cable I'm paying for as I only use it for football games more or less. There are a few other things but for the most part I don't use my cable for much else. After this season I will be trying out some of the other options out there for games. It all comes down to ease and options... and how many different networks/apps need to be paid for along the way.

As Oregon has a real chance of winning the Pac-12 Championship and all those players would have been buried on our depth chart... Oregon.

I don't mind a night game every now and then. Though in truth I am a at home watcher of games as I really really really hate crowds and loud noises... I don't even like assembly duty as a teacher. So I am happy to watch from home and sometimes a night game is a nice way to end the day. But I'm also not traveling and sitting in traffic. I go to bed when the game is over. But we do need east coast eyeballs on the Pac-12 and a game starting at 11 Eastern time is RIDICULOUS! Starting at 10 on the East Coast is doable because there will be some die hard football fans to watch it and it is something more for a west coast audience which is also fine to a degree. But starting at 8pm PST is too late.

In fairness Moorhead put an end to the constant runs right up the middle and attacked the edges more. 2018 and 2019 Oregon ran blindly into the A-gaps all the time. Last year they did attack the edges more frequently. Gattis and Moorhead's offenses under Cristobal look really similar in truth which is saying they don't have as much say in their creation.

I think Oregon will stay in Southern California regardless. We are recruiting well in states that aren't even in the Pac-12 footprint and that comes when we are relinquished to 7pm start time games. Southern California football fans will all be awake for Pac-12 after dark football and will watch some of it, even if USC and UCLA are in the B1G instead. The Pac-12's struggle these days is getting east coast eyeballs on the west coast product, but that isn't a new problem. I am sure the Pac-12 will manage to hold onto some of those late night eyeballs in southern California. Maybe not as many as we do now but they won't disappear entirely.

Only reason I have cable right now is FOR Oregon games. I am looking at finding alternatives after this season because I know I am generally wasting money. I would be fine if it was all streaming.

Kelly had a veteran staff that built this Oregon program and made us relevant. It was an incredible staff that did so much of the heavy lifting for Kelly and he never truly understood how important that staff was to his success until he left. He has now coaches more games at UCLA than Oregon as a head coach and his Oregon record is still better. Taggart had a good base of players. Helfrich did a better job at recruiting than anyone gives him credit for but the success of Taggart and Cristobal was built on the base of Helfrich and that incredible Oregon staff's recruiting and finding 3 star diamonds in the rough. However, you don't want national championships with 3 stars. Taggart had the audacity to declare Oregon was a broken program and needed a full rebuild, it needed a good defensive coordinator and some culture realignment and that turned the program around. Cristobal built his offensive line for the first two years, and a Rose Bowl win, on the Helfrich offensive line and he supplemented with a Sewell and some transfers. Not downplaying the impact of Sewell, he was a beast, but Cristobal inherited the base offensive line. Then there were some major recruiting achievements that helped propell Oregon into thr national recruiting rankings. But we all know how good Cristobal's coaching and talent development is/was. Right now it feels like Lanning gets the Oregon culture and history better than Taggart and Cristobal. He also has the recruiting chops to enable Oregon to acquire the talent needed to win a national championship. Time will tell but Lanning feels like he gets it.

EVERY OC is better under any coach than Cristobal. I could be the head coach and they would be better!

If by some crazy circumstances the Cal board can hold onto UCLA and we add SDSU I think the PAC is in solid shape. Adding SDSU is a solid choice regardless. They will have some growing pains for sure. Utah had some growing pains and they went like 5-7 for like 3 years after joining the PAC and now they are considered favorites to make it to the championship game. Early on SDSU will be fighting Colorado for who is the door mat program but they'll have the chance to rise above that. The other options are far more difficult to decide. I find myself leaning towards Nevada or UNLV for that second spot if we have to add two schools. Put the PAC actually in Nevada would be nice. I think a boost a resources could make one of those programs respectable. Then Fresno State would get the nod from me. They aren't in a great market but their football is decent. Boise State is at the bottom of my list for realistic options. They are good with football but not so much for other sports and they have a tiny market. Houston would be good but I highly doubt they want to buy the travel time when they are already planning on joining the big-12.

Defer ... Get the chance to get some major momentum with a score at the end of the first half and a chance to score at the start of the second. Also I feel offended can struggle to get settled out the gate with the game and defenses are pretty amped up. So get the defense out there early on to get a stop and allow the early game jitters to settle down before the offense takes the field.