David Marsh

Alabama doesn't even have that level of entitlement. They know they have to win their conference to get there.... However, that is not always the case... But Bama does have to actually play teams that can occasionally out up a fight. Also Bama got burned last year against LSU so they have had a dose of humility recently. All Clemson has to do is win out in a conference that doesn't have much of a football pulse. It will be interesting to see what Notre Dame does going forward after their one year expiriment with a conference.

Right now I am just happy that ohio state is spanking Clemson. There is a certain smugness around the Clemson program and seeing them lose is wonderful. When it comes to the title game... I wish no one could win but if I have to pick then.... I don't care who wins. Oregon gets a shot at Ohio State at the start of next year so we will have to see how that goes.

Second half is turning into a shootout ... But if that's the case Clemson can't win it.

Ohio State is up in the second quarter... Pulling for ohio state here because it would really shut up Sweeney after he personally ranked Ohio State at 11 in the coaches poll. I'm not a big ohio state fan ny any stretch of the imagination but I like ohio state a lot more than Clemson at this point.

I saw the viewership ratings a year ago of the top playoff bowl games... The games Oregon was involved in, also the first playoff games as well, are still pretty high up on the list. Shocking I know that has interesting teams make for higher viewership. Last year's viewership was up I believe because LSU was not Bama so it was something different.

If there wasn't a pandemic going on right now I'd be doing other things today. As I'm home and not doing anything I'm paying more attention than normal. Though I completely agree I don't want to see more alabama v clemson... It's boring for anyone who isn't a bama and clemson fan.

Well... Looks pretty uninteresting so far. It turns out Alabama is better than Notre Dame. Clemson v Ohio State should be a bit more interesting but I do expect Clemson to win as they have played more games this year and have gained more experience for their players. I guess we get to wait and see.

Moorhead's job was not made easy this year with only a few spring practices while breaking in a new quarterback and offensive system. However, I'd argue he did a good job of it. It's difficult to pinpoint why the Shough has collapsed in the past two games. He did play pretty well against OSU ... Except for the two interceptions. However, it was really the Oregon defense that lost the game against OSU as they couldn't manage to stop anything.

They wore the same thing against usc last year. Also... Iowa State's normal home jerseys look very similar to USCs... Perhaps we will see similar results???? Personally... I would love to see some feathers on the shoulders again... But oh well.

I love the look on the kansas State fans after DAT did that to them in the opening seconds of the game.

Gruden is kidding only hurting himself if he stays loyal to Carr blindly. Mariota is healed and can change any offense that is ready to embrace his skill set. The Raiders should either use him and embrace his skills or trade him to free up space monitarily and let Mariota go free ... Probably to come back and haunt the raiders. Tenn wanted Mariota to be a prototypical prostyle quarterback and gave him a garbage offensive line to do it... And it didn't work. Though from all accounts Mariota was an incredible scout team quarterback.as he was able to replicate duel threat quarterbacks better than the actual quarterbacks Tenn actually played.

Yep... And I do think the State of California for the most part is the problem for the Pac-12 as strange as that sounds. California is a state of professional sports, not college sports. California is home to three NFL teams (4 if you want to count Raiders fans in the mix even though the team is formally in Vegas) and four NBA teams. California is a massive media center but outside of LA (which is still a big media market) college football isn't a primetime event. This does leave the Pac-12 in some strange geographic position. If california is supposed to be the media market that provides the foundation for the pac-12 financially with the other media markets as support. I am sure if you break it down the California market is still big. However, it isn't big enough to support the conference compared to the other power 5. Furthering, the hottest recruiting ground is southern california for the whole pac-12. Mostly due to culture and how football isn't the lifeblood of entertainment on the west coast.

Am I crazy that I want a couple of plays with BOTH quarterbacks on the field at the same time. It makes me think of one of Mariota's two receiving touchdowns as Bennett and Mariota were both on the field at the same time and Mariota caught a touchdown pass.

Thanks Jon. Outside of ASU how many other schools still support Larry? Last I heard is that Larry has lost a lot of support. Now getting rid of him is overly complicated and comes with expenses which I am sure are painful enough to make all institutions involved being cautious... But something needs to change quickly to get things going the other way. The way I see it these are the programs that are prioritizing football in the pac-12... Oregon, USC, Washington and Utah. Utah really doesn't have the same budget but they are throwing their program enough to keep that program rolling. Utah could certainly be placed in the next group as well. Now... The programs that have the fan base that want football as a priority but lack funding: Washington State, Arizona State, Colorado, and Oregon State... Oregon State fans want a relevant program more than anything... But they have really been suffering since 2014 when Riley left for Nebraska. They are on the way up but completely on a shoestring budget and on the cheap-cheap. then there are the programs that don't have any real interest in football... Cal, UCLA, Arizona, and Stanford. Oddly enough I think the problem is California... As a state. USC has a major fan base for football but the other three schools really only generate fair weather buzz from their fan bases. UCLA has been mediocre to bad and the fie hard fans demand better but there isn't much drive to do so... The Kelly hire seemed good enough for the management. Stanford is the worst of the lot... When Stanford is good they are good and can challenge conference championships but the fans dry up in on years. Playing on the Farm is can be like playing in a library... Not a whole lot of a fan base outside if the spectacular years. Shaw is a good coach and will keep Stanford as a good team but Stanford fans aren't a driving force in the conference. I could go on but I have already written a lot for the time being.

As time goes on things grow more dire requires more drastic measures. The bungling of the 2020 season has set the PAC back more than in a normal year. If this was a normal year with a full slate of games played and a full roster without opt outs... I do think Oregon could have been playoff material. Which would have stemmed the blessing. Though now we are looking at another lost season with more lost income and no progress made on the football front will mean the options for saving the conference have grown thin. I am far more optimistic on the possilities of saving the pac-12 than Jon Joseph is though time is running out.

Very few one and dones are successes at the next level, or at least it feels that way. I really hate the one and done rule for the nba. It really seems to spit on colleges and makes colleges feel like meat grinders. Which they basically are for sports... But at least with football the three years allows most athletes with a shot and incentive to get a degree.

No excuses for last year... The Pac-12.has had a lot of coaching turnover and programs influx... Oregon among them. So hopefully we see some significant turnout next year and some non-confrence wins both early season and bowl season. Not holdingy breath on that front though.

A few other things to think about this year.... The big-12 has played almost a full slate of games and the practice time that comes with it. The big-12 has in effect had double the season than the pac-12 and that is a lot of player development time that just can't be made up. Also Colorado is probably the no. 4 team in the pac-12 this year. With the top four being... Oregon, USC, Washington, and Colorado. I'm actually not even convinced washington is a top 4 team of the PAC this year and if be inclined to put Stanford in front of them... No matter. But Colorado was put into the Alamo Bowl because USC and Washington had both opted out of bowl games. Colorado has been a surprise this year but three head coaches across three years takes its toll on any program and Colorado has a nice base to grow on. Just a shame it reflects poorly on the conference. It is up to Oregon to carry the touch for the conference... Last time the conference was truly relevant was in 2014 and guess who was leading the conference then... Oregon. Out of the way Huskies, Trojans and Trees the conference needs the Ducks.

This helps build future classes as Oregon can prove they can get talent to the NBA. Granted sometimes that talent needs to play college for a few years before they make that jump and Pritchard is a great example of talent developing to the professional level of the course of a solid college career.

Lenoir may grow if he returns for another year.... But there is also the risk that with the amount of talent growing up behind him that he might have a diminished role. Manning has been sidelined this year but next year he won't be and can Lenoir keep him from taking his starting spot? Probably for the start of a season but for the entire season?

MC has learned the lesson from Saban that former head coaches can make good assistant coaches. MC was one of the beneficiaries of Saban's hiring of former headcoaches. The Moorhead hire was a good hire but MC needs to let Moorhead run his offense. We have seen what good things happen when MC let his coordinators work in that Avalos has good an over all good job with the defense. However, this is not always true, just look at the Helfrich Hoke hire. Now Hoke is a head coach at the group of five level and doing fairly well for himself but he was a terrible DC. The next evolution for Cristobal will come in taking his hands of the reigns of the offense and letting his coaches work on that side of the ball. We have already seen that start to happen this year... But keep in mind it is only a start.

From watching the Alamo Bowl... Or as much of it that was interesting... I don't think USC would have faired terribly well against Texas. USC would have kept the game closer but I don't think USC would have walked away with a win.

As I have read above... Yes the offense needs some significant improvements as defense alone cannot consistently win games... Though a good defense can save games. I would argue the Leavitt era was a stop gap. It took the overall decent to good talent on the Oregon roster and gave it a scheme that allowed that talent to succeed. Whether Oregon holds onto Avalos or not the defensive machine that has been built will continue to roll. I am confident in Cristobal's hires... Especially on the defensive side of the ball.

Nevermind... it has gotten quite ugly in the second half.

"...by the article standards many here fret about Oregon being a tier 2, or (gulp) even tier 1 program. That is simply over valuation on our part due to irrational rival stuff and the facts of our recent history which I stated above. In reality they are a tier 3 program with an asterisk. The asterisk is they lack the some of the advantages that keep them from dropping from national relevance." (From the comments of the linked article) This sums up a lot of Husky fears of Oregon. They have the better history and recruiting ground and yet Oregon is the program on the rise. They are also very bitter about not playing in the Pac-12 Championship game. I think if the Oregon-Washington game happened this year they would feel the same.. as Oregon would have beat them. Simply put, Oregon's defense bottomed out against OSU and was rebounding against Cal (the offense failed against Cal) and the defense met some of our base level expectations against USC. I think If Oregon played Washington this year Washington would have been on the receiving end of an angry Oregon defense out to prove something. Especially since Washington's offense looked bad. Thanks for the link 30... reading the comments has been entertaining and I have wanted to dump a bucket of cold water on their fan base as that Husky fan base really believe they are in the tier 1 or at least tier 2 camp... never mind the fact that Oregon has won more New Years Six games this past decade (4: 2012 Rose, 2012-12 Fiesta, 2015 Rose, 2020 Rose) than Washington has in the past two decades (1: 2000 Rose). Under the Peterson years Washington failed to win any major bowl games and now I think Washington fans are looking into the abyss as Oregon prepares for their second NY6 game in as many years and they know that Oregon is building a juggernaut and Husky fans are in denial.