David Marsh

I think in terms of an entertaining product there was nothing wrong with Pac-12 football. It was darn entertaining and had some of the most competitive games in the country. However... Was it competitive outside of the conference? Not so much outside of the top teams and even then not regularly competitive.

A more interesting break down of the first 32 games.

Only because they went to Nick Saban's Head Coaching Rehabilitation Center for a few years.

Oof.... Clay Helton was better through 32 games? Helton did get a conference championship. And Lincoln Riley isn't happy with reporter's questions.. Trojans aren't happy... And this is the conference they choose to join and put everything in motion to kill the Pac-12.

I don't think Miami would beat Boise State... I don't think they'd lose badly either but I don't think that's a guaranteed win. I think if Miami played Oregon's schedule they'd beat Idaho, Oregon State, UCLa, and Michigan State... But I'm not sure on Boise. That one would be close. Miami also doesn't have any ranked opponents currently on their schedule. Louisville lost and fell out of the rankings. Louisville is probably the hardest opponent left on their schedule as well.

That's kinda 80% of this offense. Get the ball out fast to playmakers and let the playmakers do the work. Whether that's a handoff to a runningback or a quick pass to a receiver. The other 20% is everything else... The deeper passes, the power runs, any weird formations. I would like to see Stewart as a larger part of the game plan and have some more medium range throws. I'm glad Stewart got a touchdown on Friday... He should have more.

Miami is NOT a top 10 team. Their two wins against Virginia Tech and Cal, the only two P4 teams they've ayed that don't have losing records but barely so, brought them down to the wire and put over 30 points on them. Miami's stats are padded by cupcakes right now.

Miami bailed out by officials and replay again.

Cal's defense is exhausted... The offense needs to put up at least 3.

35-10 Cal and Justin Wilcox is outright out coaching Cristobal. We've seen that happen before.

Conferences really don't get to choose what time games start....it's the tv networks that do that. So ESPN wanted this game to start that late.

Some quick context on Miami's "explosive" offense. Miami has not played a team with a winning record. The best teams they have played have a .500 record... The rest are underwater. Cal is the first team that will have a winning record to fight whether they win or lose.

Feeling real good about Oregon's offensive line right now... Seeing all these other teams offensive lines that were better than ours earlier in the year being torn to shreds.

An invite sure... But Utah State isn't exactly top tier competition.

Gabriel has at times become too focused on Tez. Gabriel threw some incompletes at Tez that were contested when he had another receiver open elsewhere. Stewart is often open but isn't being thrown to make a play. Tez is amazing but teams are starting to key in on him and we need to start using our other weapons. Thankfully Holden is getting some passes his way and so is T. Ferg.

That Cal defensive line is playing brilliantly. Not too surprising because Wilcox has but together some solid defenses. Getting an offense that works for him has been the struggle.

21-10 Bears! Let's gooooo! Also... That Cal crowd is rocking. Not something anyone can usually say about a Cal game. Certainly one of the better crowds ive seen from any of the California schools.

Go Golden Bears! One more top 10 upset!

Bama goes down to Vanderbilt! 40-35 Vandy. I'll be honest I've never watched SEC network until now. But watching Bama lose was delightful.

Defense has come together. The backend feels like it has the most growth still as there were a couple longer throws that set up a score and a scoring attempt from MSU. The offense left 6-14 points on the field with Gabriel's two interceptions. It also felt like the rushing offense got a lot less creative in the second half. The first half saw linemen pulling and smashing MSU defenders. The 3rd and 4th quarters less so.... I haven't reviewed the film but just my observations at the time.

And.... We got out of this game without any injuries!!!

Foot came off the gas at the end to give backups some time. Didn't play 4 quarters of football because there were 3 really good ones... Or mostly good ones.

Going to be honest.... I wanted the shutout. Getting the backups reps is important and I get that... But I wanted the shutout.

Attack the edges with the run game... That's where we've made a ton of our yardage. The middle is pretty stout but the edges are vulnerable.