David Marsh

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.

He took a sack on the first drive of this game that was clearly his fault... He lingered in the pocket for WAY too long and got hit.

A bigger factor has been the end of Saban's career for increased parity. There was a time where Saban monopolized all the top talent and there were few teams that could contest Bama. Dabo did a good job of it for a while... but his refusal to interact with the portal has left Clemson playing from behind in terms of talent. Smart and Georgia has contested Bama for high school talent and done a good job grabbing a few pieces in the portal. Ohio State and Ryan Day haven't broken through even though they've been bringing in top recruits for years. Michigan and Washington reached the championship game last year because of their 5th and 6th year heavy rosters not because they've out recruited anyone on a year to year basis. There has been a lot more parity in the past few years because Saban was losing his iron grip over college football. NIL help loosen his grip as other teams were able to emerge as top talent contenders but more than that we've seen strong recruiters show up at Ole Miss (Kiffin) and Texas (Sark) and Oregon (Cristobal and then Lanning). Even without NIL they would start peeling talent away from Bama but NIL has certainly made it a lot easier.

Also... This video is a pretty good breakdown of what might be going on at Oregon.

I think this is really a case where teams can have so many transfers that they need more adjustment time. Ole Miss apparently isn't entirely put together. Oregon is putting it together but we aren't quite there yet. Colorado has played one game against a Power 2 team and got wrecked by Nebraska. And they are continuing to live of miracles as their team is really only a few players. Moving forward into year 4 and 5 of the Lanning era will be interesting to watch as I would assume (and hope) the transfers become a bit fewer and we see more of his recruits emerge as major contributors. Remember... Georgia and Alabama (at least under Saban) don't recruit 5 stars to start as Freshman. They recruit 5 stars to become the backbone of the team in year two or three.

Interesting line here... "Alexander is most-interested in: the Alabama Crimson Tide, Georgia Bulldogs, LSU Tigers, Michigan Wolverines, Oklahoma Sooners, Texas Longhorns and Oregon, according to a report from Blue Bloods Bias. " He was already with Georgia... I doubt Smart wants him back. It's unlikely Lanning wants him either.

In 2022 Lanning worked pretty hard to keep the roster intact. A lot of layers opted to quit on the team once the season got rolling though. Seven McGee comes to mind.

I forgot about Travis Dye for the article! I think that's telling in itself. His brother Troy Dye is a legend to us ... And Travis had some good overall rushing numbers for the Ducks as well. But we tend to forget him at times because he left.

I was here for four years as a HC... As long as Kelly and Helfrich. Kelly moved on to the NFL so we tend to think more kindly if that move than Cristobal moving to his alma mater. Helfrich was fired. Some fans still hate him but I have a soft spot for Helfrich. He was really the last of the old guard of Duck coaches. I count him as a forever Duck. In large part because he also hasn't had a HC job after Oregon, he could certainly have had one if he wanted it ... He had a solid winning record and one much better than say Clay Helton who got a new job right after being fired from USC.

I doubt we see game day all that often under the current set of contracts. ESPN is shut out of broadcasting B1G games. So if they do a game day at a B1G school they are promoting a game they can't carry and don't have any additional broadcasting rights to.

Apparently Sacramento State is interested... They have an FCS football team I believe. So there's the 8th potentially for football. Which would give them probably like a C- for football... But maybe a C+ for basketball.

If this alliance thing happens it will blow everything up and if any of the proposed super league stuff comes to fruition everything else will blow up as well. The truth is cancelling some of these scheduled games will require some payouts and I doubt Oregon, or any other p2 team, would be on the hook entirely on their own for these fees. The pace of change is accelerating and the money involved is going to be bonkers. Certainly more than enough to cover many of these canceled games.