David Marsh

Ole Miss going down is the best thing to happen to Indiana today. They have a bit more wiggle room to make the playoffs now.

Rven though OHio State has momentum they still look vulnerable. They just have an athlete advantage and it's starting to show.

Ohio State's defensive line is getting no pressure on the QB. And where were the flags and the refs paying attention to stuff when we played Ohio State???? Also. No clue who I'm rotting for in this game. If I don't have a direct Oregon stake in the game I go for the underdog but I do have a stake here and I'm not sure which team I want to playing the CCG.

As it concerns to Moore. I think there is a good reason why a lot of high school quarterbacks need to sit a season. The other problem was that last year UCLA took a bit of a nose dive in terms of talent and ability. Needing a freshman to play hero ball is a bad recipe for their long term career. Just ask Bo Nix, who thankfully escaped a burning Auburn. I'm not in the Moore or bust camp as it concerns next year. I am more than happy to let it all play out and see who comes out the other side.

I have a coworker who lives in solid B1G country most of his life. He says we don't get winter in Portland except a couple times of year. I'm fine with that..I like that horrible snowy weather a couple times a year. Especially if I can sit at home and watch it. Not too keen about being out in it.

I actually think that we may have next year's quarterback in house. Unless Moore is a complete dud, I think he'll probably get the job. Novosad won't go down without a fight and if he wins so be it. The transfer was have been essential to getting the program up and running at full speed. Ty Thompson was the backup for two years but was obviously not the heir to the program. Novosad sat and learned for a year under Nix which probably helped him. Now Moore gets a year under Gabriel for development and to learn the system. What is apparent is that the Lanning-Stein offense is deep. Year two of Nix in the system, albeit with changes from the Dillingham offense, to the Stein offense was far more intricate than a lot of what we've seen this year. We're starting to see more depth of the offense as the weeks go on. Now think about what Moore or Novosad might be able to do out the gate as a starter with a solid year in the system and learning. If they have the physical talent they'd probably surpass the experience of a transfer because they'll know the system. However, Lanning won't turn down a player he believes will make the team better. So we'll have to wait and see.

No one talks like that to B1G royalty! Those teams don't ever lose. Oh wait... Didn't they BOTH lose to some new comer this year? I don't remember who...

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.