David Marsh

I would love to do that.... Though as Charles said above Washington did beat cal in a head to head. However, that isn't my only factor. Cal just hasn't been able to finish many games. If they can get a few more wins then maybe.

I didn't do my Pac-12 power rankings last week, I was just too busy, but for those of you interested here they are for this week. Please feel free to disagree and argue with me because these are purely opinions based off how these teams look, rather than purely their records. I also haven't had a chance to watch every single game with a Pac-12 team this week so I am looking more on highlights and lowlights. 1. Oregon (6-1, 3-1) - Oregon is back on top. This Oregon team is far from perfect and far from dominant but they may still turn into something special. Also being a one-loss team at this point in the year has to count for something, even if the majority of the wins are only by one score. 2. Oregon State (5-2, 3-1) - Oregon State is going to make a bowl game this year for the first time since 2013 and it will probably be a decent bowl game too. This Beaver team is looking scary at the moment and they play hard. The game formally known as the Civil War is going to be special this year that's for sure, it may even determine who wins the Pac-12, and not just the North but the whole conference. 3. Utah (4-3, 3-1) - Utah went down in a fairly close game against Oregon State. However, they are a team on the rise and putting together all the pieces. Right now this is the team I'd put money on to win the Pac-12 South, but the South is so crazy that in reality I probably would regret that bet this weekend because Utah plays UCLA, and that game may determine who wins the Pac-12 South. 4. Arizona State (5-2, 3-1) - Well this team feels about right between Utah and UCLA right now. They beat UCLA but were beaten quite badly by Utah. Against opponents who are physically more dominant than them they have been beaten, or at least teams from the state of Utah. 5. UCLA (5-3, 3-2) - Beaten a couple times in conference play but not out yet. UCLA can still win the Pac-12 South and it all starts this weekend against Utah. If UCLA beats Utah then they just need ASU to lose another conference game and they are in. Though it might just come down to Oregon State beating Arizona State as the big determining factor as to UCLA's divisional fate. All UCLA can do right now is win and hope. 6. Stanford (3-4, 2-3) - Stanford isn't a good team which makes the fact that Oregon lost to Stanford hurt all the more. However, Stanford can probably beat out Washington this weekend, especially since Washington is going to have to travel and that continues to be a major problem for this Washington team. Stanford's coaching stability also has them placed ahead of WSU for at least this week. 7. Washington State (4-4, 3-2) - Washington State was actually putting together quite a run this season. They looked awful early on but after getting hammered by USC and Utah they have really turned their season around. They lost to BYU by only three points this last weekend, which is better than what ASU, Arizona and Utah can say about their match-ups. However, why they are in the bottom half of the PAC right now is purely because they have lost five coaches, including their head coach, due to not being compliant with Washington State Vaccination requirements (this is NOT a political statement it is simply a fact). The real test for WSU comes this week when they play Arizona State and get the opportunity to prove whether or not this team can continue on without so many of their coaches. If they can prove they are still the team with the rising stars then I will happily bump them up a couple spots. 8. USC (3-4, 2-3) - USC will not make a bowl game this year. At best I see them finishing the year with five wins at the moment and those two wins coming from Arizona and Cal. However, I can absolutely see Arizona or Cal picking off USC, both of those teams have coaches they can play for and certainty in their future, neither Cal or Arizona will be firing their head coaches after this year. USC could surprise the entire conference and go on a winning streak but that isn't who this team is right now so that is unlikely to change. 9. Washington (3-4, 2-2) - Well it turns out Jimmy Lake can coach as well as he can recruit. This Washington team isn't all that good but that doesn't mean they should be discounted for a second. This team plays better at home than away for the most part. They are 1-2 for away games on the year, and yes that one win came against Arizona where they almost lost. Washington has a very favorable schedule for a third year in a row where they don't have to leave the comfort of their home stadium too often and they get Oregon at home for the second time in a row, Washington couldn't field a team last year because they all caught Covid which gave Oregon the de facto win as Oregon got to play in the Championship game by default because Washington effectively forfeited. However, Oregon will have to enter Husky Stadium and show out, which I think they will. 10. California (2-5, 1-3) - What to make of Cal. First off their record sucks. However, this Cal team hasn't lost by much when they have lost. Their worst loss of the year came against Washington State, otherwise all their losses have come at one score. This Cal team can certainly win a game or two left on their schedule. Cal's remaining schedule is Oregon State, Arizona, Stanford, and UCLA. On that entire list I see Cal being able to get wins against Arizona and Stanford. However, I don't think it is unthinkable that if given some luck Cal could run the table, though highly unlikely. 11. Colorado (2-5, 1-3) - Colorado was steam rolled by Cal and really doesn't have any sense of offense this year. They are better than Arizona but that doesn't say much. 12. Arizona (0-7, 0-4) - Arizona plays hard but they just simply aren't that good. The big question this year is can they steal a win this year? They almost beat Washington but almost doesn't count. However, the Pac-12 is nothing if not chaotic and there are three games I see a realistic chance they could steal a victory against USC, Cal or WSU are really the three best chances left for Arizona. I find myself with a bit of a soft spot for this Arizona team just because of how bad they are right now. Again this is just my take... please disagree with me all you like. I do enjoy the conversation.

He is having great give and take from the rest of the defensive front seven. Early in games teams are focusing on trying to contain him... which is basically only done through double teams with holding (whether or not is called is a different story)... then other Oregon players exploit this focus and in the end they have to decide to they get wrecked by KT or the rest of the line? Then... KT just starts punching through the holdings and double teams anyways and everything is bad for them.

We have more of the problem where our offense might get off the field because they are stone cold and can't move the ball. No time on the field and no points... worst of both worlds. Oregon's offense is in a weird place right now in terms of tempo. The offense can be very efficient when its hot and move the ball pretty quick and score pretty quick. However, even at their quickest they are no where near the same pace as the blur. The offense is much slower between snaps and this isn't entirely a bad thing because with a relatively inexperienced team the worst thing you can do is have people lined up wrong and not on the same page as to what play is being run.... But... we are also not running a true ball control and grind down the clock kind of offense. MC would like the ability to ball control the game away that much is certain. However, more often just continuing to score more points would get the job done just as well and more effectively. Our pseudo ball control offense tends to either leave too much time left for the opposing offense to score AND not leave enough time for us to make another drive if they score. Case and point... Cal, UCLA and Stanford. This leads to the defense needing to end the game which is tough.

I'm in agreement with what has been said... I'm not sure "entertaining" is the right word. All I know is that I need a solid win this weekend. I don't think my heart can take more of these close games right now. I know, I'm one of the younger ones here and I'm complaining about my heart. I do think this team may finally be turning the corner though.

Who are you and what did you do with Jon? That seems overly optimistic for the Jon Joseph I'm used to. The UCLA game didn't end with a final score I wanted to see but it is the most optimistic I have felt about this team since Ohio State. So I think they will grow and I am expecting a multi-touchdown victory over Colorado this Saturday... I just hope they prove me right.

Relying on the defense isn't so much the problem.. but relying on an up-and-down defense to make a stand on the FINAL drive of the game which is a bit much.

Credit to the defense... That's a lot of plays they needed to defend. Again the 2 turnovers in the fourth made it super tough on the defense. However, the offense was pretty efficient at times which also led to more time for the defense to be on the field. We got a nice glimpse of what this team really can be... Just need it to all come together.

The defense looks good and is really coming together. I have said it multiple places at this point but in the fourth quarter it was the offense that let the defense down and put the defense in the position where they had to win the game which isn't fair. The offense needed to take care of the ball better. However, on a positive note ... I think this is the offense coaches see in practice and the Brown they see in practice. Which is pretty good when they are all clicking.

For the majority of big games this team comes to play. The downside is they need to show up out the gate against lesser teams. I really loved the fire and passion from Cristobal and Mirabal today. Really made Feld work to keep them on the sidelines and not scratching out the refs' eyes with their duck fury. That energy is what is needed from MC to get this team going. Let the coordinators run the offense and defense ... But he needs to fire his team up.

By the end of the game they just looked dirty. Like they were covered in mud all over. Not a great look. An interesting expirement but not one I'd like to see again.

This team finally looks like they are coming together. Defensively they were on the field for too long... Offense needed to end the game much much better. Don't put your defense in the position where they need to win the game.. period! Dye has been stellar and impressive. I was actually pretty impressed with the offensive line today... Considering the injuries they look like they are really working well together. No massive holding calls today... A few false starts but no where near as bad as it has been. Brown showed off what he can do today... Also continued to show off what he is very bad at ... His decision making is still suspect and he can't throw a deep ball. He had some very nice runs but that was because of Dye and how Dye managed to draw the attention of the defense every play. Browns best blocker today was Dye hands down. Maybe the coaches and Brown have learned they need a quarterback who can sit in the pocket and pass rather than constantly try to run it.

The 2nd and 3rd quarters looked good... The fourth didn't look so bad until the two interceptions. The defense did a great job but yet again they were put in the situation where they needed to get a stop. That is on the offense to make sure the defense gets to stay off the field. Instead the defense spent most of the fourth quarter on the field. We saw the Brown the coaches see in practice and for half the game he looked pretty good. But when he was cold... He was aweful.

I would have liked them more if we won by at least 10 points instead of the defense needing a stop on the last drive of the game.

Jus think of this as well... Oregon is basically the ONLY non-blue blood team to even reach the national championship in the last decade. The trajectory of Oregon i such that we are competing against some of the best teams out there but don't have the pedigree they do and we still don't. That is very unique in college football but the fan base on the whole feels entitled to being in the national championship conversation even if we haven't won it yet. Which is again.... Very odd.

And 2015! With so much power in the north the divisions only punish the no. 2 team which has been in the north a surprising amount of times... They are usually eliminated from championship race because they lost to the north champ... Often the south champ has dodged the north champ only to get beaten by them in the champy game.

Some great comments... I do think that fans have very high expectations. I even addressed some of these in an open letter at the end of last season. We really want to see an offensive juggernaut. Instead we have something pretty anemic and it is difficult to watch. Though so much of my emphasis is how well Cristobal navigates the off-season. He is an incredible off season head coach. He brings in great hires (at least on paper) and has brought in some of the most star power we have ever seen. On other forum boards I have also read how they want certain coaches gone so they can be replaced with better recruiters. There is certainly a portion of the fan base that is more interested and obsessed with recruiting than the product on the field. We do live in the off season far more than we live in the season. We just want to see more production on the field. We will just have to keep waiting at this point.

Cristobal does such a great job in the off-season that fans do get super hyped for the season and really do expect a dominant team. I think MC has at least two more years with the program before Mullen's even considers a change at the head coaching position. The bulk of this team needs some time to mature... I'm looking at the quarterbacks in particular here.

Building continuity is incredibly difficult and for the vast majority of programs critical. The one program and the one man that are the exception is Nick Saban and Alabama but he is the exception to basically everything in terms of college football. There is a foundation that is being built... I'll leave it to others to determine whether or not that is a solid foundation but Big Joe and Mirabal both received contract extensions last year and would appear to be two of the pillars that Cristobal is wanting to build the program around. I think DeRuyter will become a stable long-term guy in the program as well.

They are interesting. I don't hate them but not sure how much I love them. The nightmare green helmet being back is cool. The numbers also being that dark green are cool. Overall... I think I'll go with a B But they will grow on me real fast if we win on Saturday.

I'm going to say yes... But the biggest problem is that there isn't a QB on the field that can get the ball to them over the top of the defense. Dye has some nice speed but really lacks that extra gear that DAT had that would get him into the end zone on a big run. Dye gets a nice burst and gets down the field but had been caught from behind a few times instead of making it all the way. Seven will be one to watch.

The fans need to see a solid win by Oregon here... I'm really getting tired of having to sit on the edge of my seat until the final whistle blows... And even then last week I was scouring the field to make sure no ref threw a flag just because...

He didn't want to move his family to Eugene ... I doubt they will want to move to Pullman. Now it isn't a requirement to move the entire family to the team's location but it is just weird and screams short term.

Yeah that argument doesn't work.... By this point in 2019 Herbert had at least 2 games where he threw for 5 touchdowns and was definitely averging more than 200 yards per game.

Herbert willed the 2019 team forward because he was that talented. He made the players around him better and got everything he could out of them... Which at times wasn't much. Also 2019 had probably the best defense in Oregon history. It was loaded with juniors and seniors with some incredible freshman talent sprinkled in... Note... Sprinkled in... KT was a freshman and he did have a good season but he wasn't the leader and he could grow and make mistakes. Our defense is still growing up. Sewell has only now played a full seasons worth of games! However, offensively this year Oregon has the athletes to kick this offense up a notch but lacks a quarterback who can run it in top gear. We are basically stuck in second right now and occasionally make it to third gear. (I may be young but I do actually drive a manual... So I'll stick with this analogy... Haha! Stick.. it's a pun!) The Moorhead system is slowly....SLOWLY emerging... Again the pistol is basically gone at this point. The hardest thing for college athletes isn't always the physical... They have that... But the mental aspect of the game. This could be the thing that is holding Thompson back... Not an excuse but maybe an explanation.