David Marsh

And the refs sided with them... because that last call... Yes... that call is going to stick with me for a long while.

I can see Benson going to the portal for running backs. Ashford for the QB spot... Or do they look at changing his position to keep his athleticism around? Probably wouldn't happen. As for wide outs... Maybe Crocker ... He was getting close to seeing the field and was looking good in the spring game... But the youngsters have passed over him on the roster now. I doubt we lose any freshmen because so many have seen playtime and beyond that we will be losing some old vets especially at wr. JJ3 and Redd will both be gone after this year.

I have also heard a rumor that Cristobal may be moving his mom to Eugene. If that happens then we all know for sure he is here for the long haul.

I think Oregon players like an angry crowd too. I know what they don't like... No crowd at all. Some of their worst play has come in quiet stadiums either because fans weren't allowed or because those aren't energetic stadiums anyways.. looking at you cal and Stanford.

Cardwell has incredible vision and patience which is something that Verdell doesn't really have and has been missing for the past several years. Verdell runs hard and hits whatever hole he gets with a whole lot of speed and power. If he breaks through he can he gone... As we have seen with some of his long runs... Most notably against Ohio state this year. But if there isn't a play to be had, he just slams into defensive players and often falls forward for a couple yards and that's about it. Dye is like a knife where he can shoot through a small hole and power forward. He is a bit more like Verdell in that regard but dye does have better vision and will bounce if he sees it early enough. Cardwell is next level. He reminds me a lot of Freeman... A bigger back that can run physically but knows he doesn't have to and can explode with some surprising speed. Maybe even a Thomas tyner type back... For the short about of time tyner was healthy that is. I'm only making more recent comparison because it's what I know. I am sure there are better ones and I saw some better ones posted above.

Anyone else yelling at the tv with all the obvious holds WSU is getting away with?

That's the system I was I thinking of ... I think that's aweful in a game that is a shootout. If it is a defensive struggle then I guess that's fine but if the game is a no defense shootout then it really sucks.

Can you imagine the headache for the cfp if games ended in ties? Lol

What's the NFL format now? I haven't payed any attention to the NFL besides the occasional Herbert highlight.

I like it better than the NFL format... The NFL format punishes the team that loses the coin flip when it's a shootout. Granted my biggest complaint with college football overtime is that it eats into the next game big time. Which usually isn't a problem unless it's an Oregon game.

I'm fine with a 12 playoff with power 5 champions in ... It makes winning the championship matter even more. Right now it is just win and you're in but losing 2 is a season ending death sentence for cfp aspirations. But clawing back and winning a championship gives hope and opportunities. It gives a bid, it doesn't give anything else than that.

A second loss would be better ... But the other thing when it comes to losses is when you lose. A loss early in the season is more forgivable than a loss this late in the year.

Also... Arizona is coming alive against Utah. Need Utah to be ranked so we can beat them. But zona has a whole lot of life in them with their win last week.

Baylor is about to take out Oklahoma... This is huge for Oregon. It doesn't eliminate Oklahoma from the cfp running but it does secure Oregon's spot if they win out.

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.