David Marsh

They still want out! I saw a quote just a day or two ago that Oregon State's President is still trying to find a "Power Conference" to join and if that doesn't work they'll rebuild the Pac-12. Which also implies that even he doesn't consider the Pac-12 (2) to be a Power Conference any longer. I think they only way they get out of G5 hell is if they get themselves to the playoff in a legitimate fashion and not through farce that the Pac-12 should have an auto-bid. Reach the playoff enough times and a Power Conference will take notice and might be interested.

We've learned a lot about the current nature of the off season this year. Coaching changes need to happen early ... Which works fine for bad programs that can be proactive in their hiring process. Less good for programs that have coaches leave by choice. Alabama, Washington, Arizona, and now UCLA have all had to make hires when the coaching carousel has basically ended. They made their own mini carousel but the the ride was over when Chip opted to leave. No one was going to leave their established head coaching job for UCLA at this late in the process. UCLA was forced to hire a first time head coach... Or pull someone out of retirement but they're too big of a rebuild right now to be interesting to most, especially after the recruiting season for the 2024 class was over. Either this hire will work out well enough for them... Or he's a space filler for a year or two. But the funny thing is that UCLA is probably missing Jim Mora right now.

Not going to lie... I had high hopes he was going to save the conference. But that didn't come to pass and we are where we are now.

The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. However... today they can be my friend. For tomorrow they shall too be my enemy.

I'm sure he'll be recruiting still. No top team recruits itself and no top team can afford to have a member of staff not be an active recruiter. But I'm sure part of Chip's arrangement is that he'd be doing less recruiting. I'm also sure that he'll only be at OSU for a couple years regardless as he'll use it as a place to leverage his credentials for an NFL OC position.

As time goes by I don't think Tosh wants to be a HC. He would have had opportunities until now to dip his toe in.the HCing waters but he hasn't done so. Not saying he'll never go for it but there are a lot of people out there who don't want the big chair and that's completely fair. I mean Chip gave up being a HC to "downgrade" to OC on his own accord. I can't even think of the last time something like that happened.

Benefit Washington only because they aren't anywhere near scholarship cap and they need bodies. But that isn't exactly a lot of actually quality talent to pick from.

Probably not that big of a deal in truth. Every member of these committees have loyalties to come program out there and in those situations they recuse themselves. I know Mullens was the head of the CFP for a year or two in there and he would leave the room if/when Oregon was being talked about. If someone one these committees shows anti-insert team here bias they are not all powerful and can't block a school on their own. Remember that any undefeated or one loss team is basically guaranteed to get into the new playoff. It's the 2-loss teams that are difficult to judge. The recipe to get into the playoff is still straightforward... don't lose.

Doesn't change the need to recruit.... Though it does be one a talking point. Time to shut up the Huskies Lanning!

I think the NBA has always been more lax on defense than say college ball. However, right now when scores regularly soar above a hundred shows how little defense is even being attempted. In the early 2000's scoring a hundred points in a game wasn't uncommon but it was unusual. And maybe I just feel that the flow of basketball just isn't as entertaining as football, in particular college football. Basketball has a lot of back and forth but it doesn't feel like any particular possession matters too much until you're in a close game with under two minutes to play. In the end I don't really hate the NBA, I'm just disappointed with the product and find the product uninteresting these days.

Not Long that's for sure... they're the next to go under. The ACC Is Next on the Chopping Block for Conference Realignment |... FISHDUCK.COM Last year I wrote an article about the Coming College Football Schism where there will be two conferences that are composed... At that point there will be a Power 2 with a third conference of left overs. Then the G5... because lets get real either the defunct Pac-12 will absorb the MW or kill the MW.

I find it funny how casual talk about a player scoring 60+ points is today. And then you watch what a defense is doing... or more to the point not doing... and it is completely believable.

The decision to not play defense ruined basketball at the pro level. The three point line has been there for ages and it wasn't until offenses figured out that they could just win games by chucking up lots of threes did it become a viewer issue. Granted... I figured that out playing NBA Courtside on the Nintendo 64 when all I did was shoot threes and win every game. The NBA is due for a defensive revolution but I doubt that will happen. This current brand of basketball is flashy and is a constant highlight reel. I'd also say reduce the number of games in the season to make them matter more but the NBA won't do that because the money. And the playoff is pretty boring if you ask me. Best of 7s! That's a season in itself and usually the statistical winners from that really long regular season are in the final 2. It's rare to have a Cinderella contender. Wasn't it Miami last year that made a nice run as an 8 seed? Could be completely wrong... But any of the lower seeds making it out of the first round is rare because they have to win four games to do it. Anyways... There's my rant on why I am bored of NBA basketball. Though to answer the posters original question... I was a Blazers fan in middle school but not anymore. If they are having a good year I may keep an eye on some news stories about them but that's it.

Lupoi didn't do so great when he was the DC at Alabama, with a defensive minded coach. However, I wouldn't hold that against him because growth is part of any profession. I think Lanning has done a lot to build this defense and then this last season he brought in Chris Hampton as Co-DC which I think was a MASSIVE hire as it really did tie the whole defense together and I think it is allowing Lupoi to shine.

Probably after Leavitt was let go... And probably after Avalos left. Those would be the only two windows that would make sense for Cristobal. Taggart maybe? Feels unlikely though. Then Helfrich and 2016 doesn't match up with any reasonable timeline.

And to be blunt... being able to hit those check down passes is critical at every level of the game. Missing those throws kills drives more than missing the long bombs. I also love how being a "check down passer" is seen as bad. Nix has made plenty of great deeper throws and shown off his skills over the years. But sometimes you just need to hit the guy whose open and let him make a play.

I love and hate that that's the case for Oregon. On the one hand it is a wonderful showcase of our unparalleled fashion. On the other hand... readability is diminished in what is effectively an all star game that has a LOT of Ducks in it and you want the average viewer to see that.

Absolutely possible ... But I wouldn't take that bet because it is just as possible Boise drops one of the two.

I also found it funny that at least one person on that list had Boise State making the 12 team playoff. No way they are getting through Oregon , Oregon State and Washington State next year undefeated which is what it's going to take as a G5 school to make the playoffs.

I could see a couple more teams, well maybe just one, joining the B1G from the former Pac-12 if they prove they're serious about football. Let's get real here... Utah has the best shot. They have a strong fanbase and if they dominate the Big 12 they'll see a way into the power 2. Utah has to be on par with a few B1G schools in terms of value I'd imagine. Don't really see anyone else being able to make that leap. If Cal and Stanford were going to do so they probably would have already.

Most of the ESPN pundits put two pac-12 teams (well formally Pac-12) in the playoff. Oregon and Utah... I kinda feel that could have happened the conference stayed together anyways.

Nahhh.... Eugene is good but..... Southern California and Texas. and probably every city where there is a B1G school for good measure.

Why would the NFL need collectives? The best players come to them because the NFL is the end game for football players. The Canadian Football League is a cancellation prize for not making the NFL. Players have their own agents who work pretty hard to get their clients in front of prospective teams. In short all NFL teams have free agents come to them and then they get to sit back and hand pick who they want and then negotiate the contracts to see who they will end up taking. Collectives at the College level are there to be the source of payment for players' services. Even then they get some "non-coordinated" instruction from a schools coaches as they determine a deal. The whole process at the college level is horribly messy and not something the professionals have any interest in adopting, especially when they don't gain any advantage from doing so and is probably illegal for them to do so as it would circumvent the salary cap which is what creates some degree of fairness in the NFL.

But he is at Georgia which is at the heart some of the best recruiting in the country and he has two National Championships to his name. Right now Georgia is king in terms of recruiting with Alabama losing Saban. On that note I never found Saban that warm, or charismatic but I am sure he is a different person around his players than he is in front of a camera.

Punic.... my phone auto corrected. Sadly it thinks "public" is more applicable than "Punic" but I talk about the Punic wars all the time, it should know better! Meanwhile I never go in public.