David Marsh

The big thing we all need to remember here is that Leach is NOT the coach at WSU. They do actually run the ball. Does that make them an easy team? No... But it makes them a less weird team. Leach and the air raid offense is designed to be a bit gimmicky. If you have lots of time to prep for it, it has been shut down... See most of Leach's bowl game performances. However, on a short prep schedule it is very difficult to prep for a team that throws it 80 times a game. This WSU team isn't playing that way. Again... Won't be easy but their scheme is something a bit easier for Oregon to deal with. My fear level is a 7 or 10 right now ... It would be a 10 if this was a Mike Leach team.

I give Flowe 2 years... He needs to stay on the field for effectively a whole season and put up some good numbers. He won't have much draft stock otherwise and the evals will come in and he would be very disappointed where he ends up. Most players, especially non-qbs, need two years of stats and show growth.

The article is really working hard to polish the turd that is Washington. The only problem is no matter how much you polish that turd... It's still a turd. Any coach who signs up at Washington has all the pressure of the USC job but without the resources... Then to make matter worse the pressure will be on from day one to beat Oregon because of the rivalry. USC doesn't have that pressure attached to it ... Especially if divisions stick around for another year of two where USC has a better chance to miss Oregon all together. None of the big names outside the PAC are going to move to Washington. Especially if they aren't considering USC with the USC geography and resources.

I have updated the article to reflect that. That was a mistake in my personal editing of the article.

I'm not so sure about that just yet. Both left for programs that are College Football Playoff programs. Oregon hasn't returned to the playoff yet. Which makes this year so important. If Oregon gets into the playoff then that will be a huge recruiting boom. Looking competitive or winning a semi-final game would be even better... so Oregon MUST avoid Georgia at this time. Top recruits want to go to the playoff... and right now no one in the Pac-12 is offering that.. until Cristobal breaks through.

A reminder of who WSU has played. USC - L Utah - L Cal - W OSU - W Stanford - W ASU - W Oregon State has been good at home but dubious when away this season. ASU can be good but hasn't looked that good this year on the whole. They have beaten up a few decent teams but are far from being a good team. I'm not saying I am sleeping on WSU... but there is a lot of hype for this WSU team when they have really drawn one of the easier Pac-12 schedules in the conference. And... WSU still has Arizona on the schedule.

Freeman wore 21 as well... it is a good number. So no pressure on Cardwell.

You mean the purple one? Nawwww.. they're just bad. Stanford can safely say they do not recruit against Oregon on a regular basis. Washington cannot say the same thing. They often go head-to-head with Oregon and just lose. Oregon and Stanford RARELY show up recruiting the same players. Just think of how many times you have seen Oregon and Stanford logos on a recruits Top # list?

Stanford is in a tougher situation than Cal I'd say. The fans are meh but occasionally have expectations. Then Stanford has stricter enrollment requirements and to make matters more difficult they aren't allowing any athletes to enroll into grad programs unless they apply and earn that spot independently of the program. Now I'm not saying that is a good or bad thing for Stanford academics but that does mean that once players graduate with their undergrad there is nothing to keep them around and they enter the transfer portal of the NFL isn't their move. Also means grad transfers are out of the question. Stanford also can't make much use from the transfer portal due to the academic side of things. In the end Stanford is definitely one of the biggest losers from the transfer portal... Can't use it and only lose players to it. Shaw probably has till his contract runs out or he moves on. No one is going to want that job that is better than him at this point. If you fire a coach in this day and age you better know what you want in a replacement.

The Conference can't hold on to the 5-stars in our own footprint for starters. Oregon has managed to grab a few and USC has managed to hold onto a few... but otherwise all of them are leaving and going east. If we only held onto our own 5-stars it would be a huge improvement. Makings Oregon making the playoff this year even more important. At least at that point 5-stars may stay in the conference and just head to Eugene instead. Better for the Ducks and the conference at that point.

Neither team is playing for the conference championship. So they can use that weekend to play their game reasonably. It would be a different story if one team was on the verge of making the conference championship game but needed an extra win to get them across the threshold.

2 perminant opponents would still be reasonable. Oregon state and Washington for Oregon. Scramble the rest that is still 6 rotating games a year.

The defense is making some nice improvements and stopping some of the problems that have plagued us this year. I think making Jeffrey Bassa the starting linebacker was brilliant for a couple reasons... 1. He is smart and has taken to the position well and can attack down hill and take on runningbacks. 2. He is normally a safety which means he understands coverage better than some of the other linebackers. We need that coverage. The underneath coverage against Washington was pretty decent this last week. There were a couple drops due to the weather but those short passes would normally be the easy ones to catch and burn the Ducks with underneath the coverage. Maybe the Ducks are figuring out the defense? Also... just wait to see this Oregon offensive line and run game take on the Washington State defense. I have a feeling WSU's defensive front seven won't be as equal a match as they have been against the other teams they have played to date. Especially when his O-line is really starting to click. Am I being too confident? Probably... but I need to project it for myself or else I'll worry all week.

Sometimes... but we have quite a few freak injuries that have sidelined players this year too. Often the worst injuries are non-contact injuries that don't inherently have anything to do with technique. KT's injury this year could be considered a contact injury of sorts he was knocked down but it was more the way he fell than the fact that he fell. His ankle wasn't targeted or hit, he just was knocked down and he fell funny. In some regards that was just a non-contact falling funny ankle injury. Flowe hurt his foot in the start of the season. I don't know how he did it but I would guess it was another non-contact injury as he didn't seem to get knocked down in a way that hurt his foot. I would say this is all just incredible bad luck this year and it is a miracle we have survived as long as we have the way we have. In part it is why I can forgive some of the less-than-dominant wins because we still have wins with this many injuries.

In large part due to the stupid expansion rules that dictated that California schools have to play each other every single year. Idealy we wouldn't even play 9 conference games and that change is coming but for now we can't worry too much about that for this year. We were stuck playing Utah or Arizona State this year for that last game and we drew Utah. As California schools must play each other every year that limits the cross over games they play. Oregon got UCLA this year and then as we are in the North we got Cal and Stanford but we can't get USC because we can only draw one of the two LA schools from the south in any given year. Where we could draw both Arizona schools or the Utah-Colorado combo. The design was to "be nice" to the conference and ensure no one had to get beaten up by the LA schools twice in one year, unless you are Cal and Stanford. But the reality is that USC is an easy game that we never could have drawn this year with UCLA on the schedule. Looking forward to the year there are no divisions in the Pac-12 ... George K has said it is coming and I am looking forward to it.. along with 8 conference games. Stop this cannibalization please!

I do like how Brown is getting himself out there as a leading blocker for the runningback in plays like this. He isn't going full blocker that could put him in harms way of getting hurt but he is making things a bit more difficult on the defense by just being in the way. It could also set up for some fun trickery in future games.

Hayward probably... Aliotti ... No... he is very happy on Pac-12 Network right now and even after the networks gets an eventual rework he is a keeper. He is a great personality there and knows what he is talking about. For Aliotti I am sure he would love to come back and work on the scheming side of things and maybe even the position coaching side of things but the one thing I am sure he does NOT want to do anymore is recruit. Recruiting is a ton of work and exhausting but is also the lifeblood of a program.

Oregon should be undefeated right now if not for a series of bad calls the refs made in the Stanford game. Especially that LAST play in regulation.

I was sitting in my chair and chanting "pick-six, pick-six... scoop-n-score, scoop-n-score" ... it didn't happen but I was trying to will it into existence.

Pac-12 refs do Pac-12 ref things. Bound to get multiple calls wrong a game. I was telling at the tv when they were trying to review a play that was ineligible because another play had already happened. This crew was very very slow to make matters worse. I get wanting to get things right but just let the game play out a bit.

To the media he takes on the faceless opponent mantra... But he knows who Oregon's rivals are and embraces those games. In many ways he seems to get the PAC better than even Kelly did/does... Helfrich understood it but didn't really feel it. And Taggart is an east coast guy who didn't want to get to know the PAC. Love it or hate it... The pac-12 is a special conference and though we largely look bad nationally right now we do make games interesting.

That is not a surprise at all. Lake has made some bad hires going with what feels safe over anything else. Donovan was "safe" in that he had NFL experience. However, if Washington fans and Lake think this will magically fix things they are kidding themselves. They are losing ground in the recruiting war big time and if Lake is going to turn that around it will take more than just an OC hire. There seems to be some major culture problems at Washington as well right now. In short.. this is their first step but things can totally get worse, especially if Oregon brings in another top 10 recruiting class and they are outside the top 30.

Exactly.... This game would have been different if the ball could be thrown.

Well the Pac-12 is making this activity more difficult every week it seems. Again this isn't about pure record but about how good a team is doing and if they were to play anyone else in the Pac-12 how would they fair. Records do count and matter but a team like Utah started out pretty rocky this year but have since really turned it up and look a whole lot better than how they started. So keep that in mind and as always I love the debate and discussion so please make comments! 1. Oregon (8-1) (5-1) - The rain, wind, cold and Huskies couldn't stop Oregon so they remain at the top. A lot on this forum has been said about the Ducks so I will leave it at that. They have WSU next, followed by Utah and then Oregon State. No easy games left on the schedule. Also of note... every other Pac-12 team has at-least three losses. 2. Utah (6-3) (5-1) - The last best hope for Oregon to score a win over a ranked opponent this season. Utah has been surging for the past few weeks and their show down with Oregon in Salt Lake this year will definitely be a big one and probably the preview for the Pac-12 title game. The big problem for Oregon here is would a 5 loss Utah team be ranked? Yes, I am implying Oregon beats Utah twice this season. 3. Washington State (5-4) (4-2) - Washington State was the big winner of the Bye week. They moved up because everyone else moved down. They still have a lot to prove on the field and they will have the chance to do so against Oregon. Granted... we all hope Oregon crushes them as they should. 4. Arizona State (6-3) (4-2) - I guess Arizona State goes here... they haven't looked good for awhile but this is really the point in the list where everything is a bit of a crap shoot. The Pac-12 should really change their tag line "the Conference of Champions" to the "Conference of Cannibals" because that is about right. 5. UCLA (5-4) (3-3) - UCLA like WSU wins the Bye week. They are here because else who should be in the top half of the Pac-12 looked really bad this week. 6. Oregon State (5-4) (3-3) - Oregon State lost to a re-surging Colorado team. They shouldn't have lost but they did. They have Stanford up next week which will be their most important game of the season from the simple reason of it is their last easy game left on the schedule and a win will result in them going bowling for the first time since 2013. This is a must win game for the Beavers. They follow up Stanford with Arizona State (at home) and then Oregon. ASU in Corvallis gives the Beavers a nice advantage but Stanford is their last easy shot at going bowling. 7. Washington (4-5) (3-3) - Our first team with an outright losing record. Washington has a whole lot of problems but they are the best team in the bottom half of the Pac-12. They have a good defense though have a non-existent offense. This team will be lucky to go bowling this year but it is possible. Also Washington sits perfectly here with their record. Everyone above them have beaten them and everyone below them have lost to them. So Washington sits perfectly at No. 7. 8. USC (4-5) (3-4) - USC is a team with two quarterbacks which means they are a team without a quarterback. Whenever a team goes to rotating two quarterbacks into the game on a regular basis you know that team is lost. I have a morbid fascination with USC, they are quintessentially the fallen Empire, they were once great and the commentators often talk about how great they were but those days have long since passed. Though in sports those days can come again... however, against ASU USC's problems were on full display. They have no offensive line, they have no real run game, they have quarterbacks but neither is worthy of being the starter and their defense is at best ok. USC is a complete rebuild no matter what anyone says, there is a reason not many really want this job. 9. Colorado (3-6) (2-4) - This team has moved the most in one week. Colorado may have finally figured things out offensively and it was first on display against Oregon. They have scored more touch downs in the last two games then they have the entire season combined by a long shot. Colorado is a long shot for making a bowl game with UCLA, Washington and Utah left on their schedule and they would need to win out to make the post-season but I wouldn't be surprised if they win one or two of those games in all honesty but they'd probably be lucky to win just one more this year. 10. California (3-6) (2-4) - California had a great chance to finish strong and make a bowl game but they blew it against Arizona. They may still make a bowl game but after such a strong performance against Oregon State last week they really played an awful game against Arizona. They have the California gauntlet to finish the season with USC, Stanford, and UCLA up next. I see one maybe two wins for Cal on the remaining schedule but that's about it. However, this is the Pac-12 so surprises are completely possible. 11. Stanford (3-6) (2-5) - Stanford dropped because Colorado won, pretty simple there. The Pac-12 is very odd this year where every team above Stanford still has hope to go bowling this year but Stanford does not. With three games left on the schedule it is mathematically possible but with games against OSU, Cal, and Notre Dame that is unlikely. Notre Dame alone will probably crush any hope out of Stanford this year. Stanford will not go bowling this year and I can say that pretty safely. 12. Arizona (1-8) (1-5) - You read that right there is one win for Arizona. I was tempted to move them up past Stanford but those seven other losses killed any hope of that. Arizona has no path to make it to the post-season but this team is beaming with hope as odd as that sounds. Arizona was a bad team before Jedd Fisch took over, so it is no surprise they are still bad. However, this Arizona team won a game this season and came close to winning several others. This team is heading in the right direction and has a better coaching staff than many of the teams above them. Give this team a few years and they may be competing for the Pac-12 South. On the whole this week was just insane. The upsets in the top 10, the near upsets, and the Pac-12's cannibalization where Oregon State lost to Colorado and Cal lost to Arizona. The Pac-12 may be far from a good conference but it is also by far the most entertaining and the most competitive.

Let's also not discount the weather yesterday folks. When you can see rain on tv it is very heavy rain. There is a reason why tv shows and movies don't have light rain or a drizzle and only do HEAVY rain and that's because rain does not show up on camera unless there is a ton of it. Driving winds and a temperature just above 40 degrees made for a miserable game. The commentators were inside and wearing coats! It was on at primetime which meant everyone saw the conditions and.also saw that once Oregon took the lead they completely controlled the game. Washington has a pretty good defense but a terrible offense... And Oregon held that terrible offense to basically no yards. Neither team could effectively pass the ball yesterday in that weather. And Washington's back end of their defense is pretty good against the pass. Oregon did the only thing that was left to them to do... Run the ball and they did a admirable job of it at the end. It would have been nice to have that extra score for the style points which would have more accurately showed how much control Oregon actually had during the game... Oregon should have had 7 more points. But it is what it is.