David Marsh

Just for funsies I have decided to do one last power ranking of the Pac-12, well the old Pac-12. Going forward I don't think I will do it again because we'll be moving further away from the Pac-12 era. And I don't care about the Scrap-12. So here we go... 1. Oregon (13-0) - Nothing to say here... Oregon is the clear cut favorite in ANY conference right now. 2. Arizona State (11-2) - Won the Big 12 but that in itself isn't massive as the Big 12 isn't that great of a conference. However, I do firmly believe that ASU would be everyone below them on this list. I think they would lose by a couple scores to Oregon though. 3. Colorado (9-3) - Colorado has some star power and some offensive firepower. Their defense had its moments but they were certainly beatable but they'd probably beat a majority of the teams below them because if the game gets into a shootout that plays into Colorado's hand. 4. Washington (6-6) - Washington above Washington State when they lost in week 3? Yes, because week 3 was a long time ago and if that game were to be replayed I think Washington wins. Washington is a 6-6 team and was awful playing away from home and was beaten up pretty bad by the B1G and that style of play. However, against former Pac-12 schools the Huskies were 2-1. That one being getting demolished by Oregon. 5. USC (6-6) - Better than their record but in truth finishing games matters. They probably would have faired better against Pac-12 competition but they aren't in the Pac-12 anymore, as they killed it. 6. UCLA (5-7) - Started out real bad but by the end of the season UCLA was looking pretty decent. They were running the ball well and their passing game wasn't great but was good enough to beat several B1G opponents. 7. Washington State (8-4) - Why is Washington State above Oregon State when they lost to them? Body of work, Washington State was the more consistent team throughout the year. They were even ranked for a few weeks before they fell apart. However, by the end of the year the Beavers were healthy enough to knock them off but it was that middle section of the year that gives WSU the edge over the Pac-2 Champs the Beavers. 8. Cal (6-6) - The biggest disappointment by far. This team should have been so much more than their record but they just fell flat of it all. 9. Oregon State (5-7) - OSU spent most of the year being horribly injured with a first year head coach. Their style of play was a grinding offense with a solid defense which resulted in low scoring games. But if they got boat raced they stood no chance. 10. Utah (5-7) - Cam Rising never returned to form and suffered an injury. Utah doesn't have a backup quarterback good enough to really pull them through the season and they fell woefully short of expectations. 11. Stanford (3-9) - Stanford is still bad. Cristobal should be thankful he didn't have to play Stanford this year or he'd have another loss. 12. Arizona (4-7) - A bad team at the bottom of the Big 12. Not much to say other than Stanford is in the same place in the ACC but Stanford still feels there is some fight in them and Arizona looked like they just gave up in their last game. This year outside of Oregon the Old Pac-12 would be a pretty sad and sorry conference. If this conference still existed Oregon would probably be the three seed in this year's playoff and would still be undefeated but not battle tested. The rest of the conference would be incredibly bad but probably chaotically fun to watch.

So... Oregon may have to beat Ohio State and Penn State to win the Natty. That's cool I guess... only... didn't we already DO THAT! I do think Penn State has a more than realistic shot to reach the National Title game and beat Georgia even if Beck were completely healthy. I don't see Georgia's offense as something better than Oregon's.

The sad thing is that that could be the case... Clemson is NOT in the top 12 but is seeded 12. This playoff format is the problem.

Gotta win those games. Not saying those were freebies, the SEC has enough of those on their schedule to begin with, but teams worthy of going to the playoff find ways to win games when they play badly. Oregon struggled against Wisconsin but still BEAT them!

This looks visually awful I know... but I wanted to make a bracket that would be a straight ranking of teams. In this bracket I threw out the auto bid for the top four conference champions getting a bye. I have however, included the top five conference champions as that is a core rule to the college football playoff. Therefore, the byes in this bracket go to the top four teams as ranked by the committee. 8. Indiana 9. Boise State 1. Oregon 5. Notre Dame 12. Clemson 4. Penn State 6. Ohio State 11. Arizona State 3. Texas 7. Tennessee 10. SMU 2. Georgia It is a drastically different set of match-ups. Oregon gets the winner of Indiana and Boise State! Now that feels like a far more favorable match up for the No.1 seed. The 5 and 6 seeds both have far more difficult roads to the semi-finals, which again feels right. I don't take issue with the committee's rankings as I do feel they really got them right. The problem is the format and the format treats conference champions as equals regardless of their roads. The B1G and SEC are far more difficult than that of the Big 12, ACC and Mountain West and yet two of the three's conference champions are given equal footing as the B1G and SEC champions. Thoughts?

Whoa whoa whoa Jon... 3-0 in the last 3. Wisconsin 2012, Florida State 2015, and Wisconsin 2020! Don't know which one you forgot but the last three times we've been out the Rose Bowl we've left with hardware!

Oregon fans could not have been more than 25%. It was a white out. Either that or the cameras never panned to the Oregon fans.

That fact of the matter is that ranking teams 1-12 and setting up the bracket the way it is with the byes is fine... But the problem is that because of the conference champs getting those byes it messes with the entire ranking the teams 1-12. Tenn and Ohio State aren't the 8th and 9th ranked teams, they're higher than that they were just jumped by lower teams. Easiest way to fix this is with a reranking after the first round. But that isn't going to happen. I think the assumption, and wrongly so, was that conference champions would at least be ranked in the top 5 for the byes.

And Dan stopped them from snapping the ball for a too many in the field penalty. Dan did a great job slowing the game down when he needed to there. Penn State was definitely playing with a lot of tempo at times.

Auburn and Mizzu should play in that bowl. Sure they're in the same conference but Colorado and BYU are in the Alamo Bowl and they're in the same conference.

But... All those PSU fans left sad. And loved that the most. When the trophy ceremony started it was clear how few Duck fans made it to the game. The stadium was almost empty. I suspect the Rose Bowl will have a whole lot more green than this game. Also... I believe there will be some B1G championship games in Vegas in the nearish future.

Hard to say... I read a few places that basically said that he takes a more anti Duck position on purpose to make more intrigue and conversation. If there is disagreement and multiple perspectives being discussed, even if not all are believed, it does make for better content.

Especially when the Ducks defenders obviously pulled up. The fact of the matter is that any arm movement should be considered a fair catch signal. Even if it's gesturing for players to get out of the way and let the ball bounce... Which is as good as a fair catch in reality. If he didn't gesture, fair catch or not, he would have been demolished by the coverage team. The penalty for tackling a fair catch signalling player is too high to not respect. Again... We talk about safety in the sport. This is 100% the right call. The coverage team did exactly what they should have done... Pulled up and not blasting him which is what they would have done without any arm movement. Knowing our luck everyone would have cried foul if the returner was destroyed because he "didn't signal his army above his shoulder".

And then they needed to take some more risks. Aller threw two picks that decided the game. The first one turned into a go ahead score from what the 2 yard line? The second sealed the game. The Ducks played bend but don't break defense. It worked. They gave Penn State field goals when they needed touchdowns. They took the ball away when Penn State needed to drive the field. Oregon going first was absolutely a Prnn State mistake. Nice catch!

I wrote this last year about Nix. Is Oregon Flashy Enough for Bo To Win a Heisman? | FishDuck FISHDUCK.COM Heisman Trophy voting changes from year to year. The trophy is supposed to go to the best player in college... Players are different but the fact remains that the Oregon ducks aren't too flashy this year. We are brutally efficient. Lanning this year was content to just win scoring around 35 points. Gabriel did everything and more that was asked of him and he has had plenty of Heisman moments. Real Heisman moments when the game is on the line and he makes the play. Think his run for a TD against Ohio State, his absolutely clutch pass on 4th down to TFerg against Wisconsin, and last night his short run to get a first down and seal the game. He absolutely deserves the trophy. But has he been flashy? Not really... He hasn't put up insane numbers, Cam Ward has put up insane numbers but he is also on a team that lost two games. Travis Hunter put up some insane numbers and has done some stuff on both sides of the ball that is very impressive but he is also on a team with two losses and no playoff. Jeanty has insane numbers but his level of competition is dubious. Not sure he has a true Heisman moment in in year to date. As in a moment that defines the game and the season. But Gabriel just picks apart defenses and takes what's given to him. Not usually flashy but certainly Heisman worthy.

And riding shotgun is Mad Man Dan!

Maybe... Georgia has played well against Texas but neither game was super decisive. They have some vulnerabilities this year. They could be in for some closer games than we all think. I'm not super sold on Texas. They are highly ranked but who have they beaten? TAMU is their big win. They're good but how good? We don't know.

I think I'd rather play Tenn as well. But I think we have a bit of communal fear of Ohio State because we only won by one point but it could have been more. The no. 6 seed is the easiest to get to the semis. But I'm just happy we don't have to play BOTH Ohio State and Penn State on our side of the bracket.

Great teams WIN! Against Boise State we had our special teams win us the game with 14 points, excluding the kicking game that won the game. Against Wisconsin it was the defense. Against PSU we won the shootout. We won! I'm not too worried about the defense. They'll watch the film and sort it out. PSU does have the best offensive line the Ducks have played all year and two bowling balls called running backs.

If Penn State played like that against Ohio State they would have won. Period. I think James Franklin might be turning a corner on his coaching career. Maybe some Mad Man Dan inspiration. Because they called and played a heck of a game and they came back and took momentum away from the Ducks right when the Ducks were going to run up the score and put the game out of reach. The Ducks defense bent but managed to break fewer times than PSU's so that's the game.

And time after time I saw Penn State's offensive line get away with holds. Aller's big run up the middle should have been called back because it was super obvious that the Penn State offensive line was dragging an Oregon lineman out of the play and from occupying the middle, where Aller ran. The fact of the matter is that this crew didn't call that many penalties. Penn State had obvious face masks early on in the game and then acted like a bunch of thugs pushing Duck players around after this whistle. Credit to the players for not reacting and drawing their own flags. Second half the ref crew called one hands to the face penalty on the Ducks which was pretty blatant. But otherwise took the second half off. I guess the refs were consistent if that was consistently absent.

Good for them. As we have seen the Big 12 is a great place for good, not great, but probably just decent teams. They are a half a step better than a G6 league. Frost might find his success there again. Recruiting is about finding diamonds in the rough and developing them.

Clemson and SMU played a close game. I want to say that SMU stays in the game and Bama gets the boot. But who knows.

ASU v BSU would be a great game but it is unlikely to happen. But based on the conference championship game performances I think ASU put on a clinic where BSU was dominant but didn't provide the eye candy.

On that last run an offensive lineman had one of ours by around the neck and dragging him away from the play.