David Marsh

And... Oregon is carrying the PAC on both of these fronts. Remember the last NCAA men's basketball tournament... The 2019 one... Lowly Oregon won the the Pac-12 tournament when they "had no right to" according to Husky fans. Then Oregon was placed as a 16 seed as they had an automatic bid and made it much much further in the tournament than any of the other pac-12 teams and only to lose to the eventual national champions. Yeah... Oregon is carrying this conference right now in the two money making sports. Women's basketball is pretty healthy in the pac-12 though... Granted it Oregon is dominating that as well.

I wouldn't say Oregon got in through the backdoor... They didn't get the chance to play for the rightful PAC-12 North. Though it is a major embarrassment for usc to lose to lowly two loss Oregon. That is a greater embarrassment to usc than Oregon. Is it a blemish on the pac-12... In any other year probably ... This year the Pac-12 is forgotten more than usual. Mostly due to the late starting season. Yes... The PAC will have to earn it's respect back and Oregon is going to be the team to do it. Oregon grabbed a micron of respectibilty back last year by winning the Rose Bowl last year and this year a Fiesta Bowl win would be just another brick in rebuilding the conference.

The defensive line did a great job by putting pressure all along the line and that gave KT more one-on-one matchups... Which is freqnelty won. It is a great representation of how a whole unit needs to function in tandum in order to spring a star player free... Who in turn redirects attention from the rest of the unit and everyone feasts. It also sounds like KT has really stepped up as a leader over the past month. Something that Scott wasn't providing it would seem.

Then let's hope Oregon can force some turnovers. Iowa State has been good but they haven't been dominant. Oregon needs KT to get lose and force some errant throws. It is what happened against USC where Slovis began chucking the ball downfield and the results were three interceptions. We saw what happens in the pac-12.championship game when the whole defense is working together. If that continues and the offense steps up... This is an Oregon win.

Oregon knows what it takes to rise to the challenge. Last year Oregon held Wisconsin's all world rusher to below 100 yards. Oregon has enough players who have now risen into leadership roles who know what it takes and if they lead the rest will follow.

That brief little video explains everything about MC. It is also exactly why he has brought the best recruiting classes in history to Oregon.

Beyond even just the west coast where we do have our own problems... But no B1G or Big-12 representation is the more concerning aspect. The PAC started so late we basically eliminated ourselves front the discussion. I suppose the argument could be made for the B1G as well... But what about the big-12? Or even just someone from a g5 school to be present. This isn't about winning the Heisman right now it's about who even gets invited.

Tractor Lawrence, Mac Jones, Kyle Trask, and DeVonta Smith. Two Alabama players, Clemson and Florida... This slate of players comes from two conferences and only three teams. The playoff has become a farce of an invitational and the Heisman is going the same way. For a while the Heisman has gone to only the best players on the best teams rather than the actual best player. Hopefully this is just a result of a chaotic season that has been dominated by media coverage of the SEC and ACC. Though I don't see that changing in future years.

1) Best Oregon duck memory is probably Oregon's win over florida state in the 2015 Rose Bowl. Mariota had just won the Heisman and it was against Jamis Winston who I really disliked. So when Oregon destroyed FSU it was very satisfying. 2) I will be honest... I struggle in large crowds of people so I have not attended a game in person. Maybe someday I'll get over my dislike of crowds and go to a game.

Against USC we did use a lot less of the pistol. Still more than I would like personally but we frequently saw the runningback line up in the shotgun and run out of the shotgun. So personally I would like to see more of that. What I did enjoy about the pre-snap movement was that it would cross the field but the player often stopped and switched directions. It felt like the stopped and ran back the way the came more than a full motion across the field. I would like to see it mixed up a bit more just to make the opposing defense uncomfortable.

Shough hasn't performed well down the stretch this year. The pressures are really getting to him and he is making poor decisions. Instead of extending plays he is ticking the ball and trying to run.... Usually for no where near enough yards. Anthony Brown will probably end up seeing some significant snaps in the Fiesta Bowl and there is the possibility that he returns next year. I recall reading somewhere that grad transfers will have an extra year of eligibility but they can't change schools... Not sure of that is still true. Then there are the youngins of Butterfield, Millen (though I wouldn't be surprised if he changes positions), Ashford and incoming freshman Thompson. The big question is... Does Shough hold onto his starting job or not?