David Marsh

I have for years! They have been just like the B1G. A very strong top but a significant drop off afterwards. But this year is debate how strong the top is.

Keep in mind lines are established to separate fans from their money and take a bet. Ohio State is favored in part because their fanbase is bigger and this is anyway to hedge their bets to get buckeyes to put money down while also ensuring Vegas can still win. In a way I'm reading this line as an Oregon line because the bets will come in for Ohio State but if you're the house trying to make money on this one who do you actually want to cover? Oregon. Which means there is some faith Oregon creates problems for Ohio State and can cover the spread and potentially win outright. Betting lines aren't always predictions but are always about separating people from their money.

If they want to keep the farse of making the playoffs means a shot at the NC. Most aren't that level of quality. Including conference champions is fine with this format to me. It did create a level of excitement down the stretch. But getting an automatic bid doesn't not mean they should get an automatic bye. The rankings are the rankings and they determine the seeding. So ASU would have gotten the 11 seed, as that is where No. 12 but jumped Bama because of the CC. Then Clemson is No. 12 because they get in because of the CC, just like it happened. But Boise would be no. 9 they earned their way in without the CC but they don't get to jump up to no. 3 and get an auto bye. Personally... If like to see de-facto conference champions not have to play a CCG. And there being a play in game or two in its place. But that would mean less money potentially... But maybe not. There was no background drama in Oregon v Penn State as they were both locks for the playoff.

We have Mad Man Dan! What Is Mad Man Dan Cooking Up Next? | FishDuck FISHDUCK.COM Dan Lanning has put together an undefeated season so far at 11-0 and the Ducks are effectively a lock for... I can guarantee he's cooking up something to frustrate Ryan Day. We'll have Jordan Burch this time. We'll have better offensive execution. Our offensive line is gelling and has more depth than it has all season with Harper ans Iuli both healthy. So what's cookin' Dan?

They can fix the format but the blowouts will continue... Just later. I made a post about what the.playoff would look like if the teams were the same but the seeding was just 1-12 based on ranking. In that scenario Oregon would play the winner of Boise State and Indiana. That game would probably be exciting and fun to watch. The other first round games would be interesting as well. But the second round would have become the meat grinder for most teams outside of maybe Ohio State and Notre Dame. The second round would be a slaughter instead of the first round. There just aren't many teams of the caliber to belong in the playoff and NC hunt.

Which is why this year we really only need Oregon v Georgia.

Semi-Final would be as good as it gets. They're on the same side of the bracket. Would be fun to see Dilly beat Sark and Texas though.

Oddly enough the closest game in the first round was between Clemson and Texas and that was probably a coaching factor. But at the end of the day Texas did just have the better players.

Asking for a friend, that friend is me. Is Duck gear appropriate festive wear? It's green after all.

I like Dillingham but I'm not sure he's the 8th best coach. He's done an incredible job and I hate to say but he's in the Big 12 which means his competition this year was actually easier than last year in the Pac-12. The turnaround is still fantastic and a credit to him. I think we get a better sense of his coaching ability and where his program is when they play Texas and I don't think that game looks pretty. As for the Boise State head coach... Same sort of thing. He's in the Mountain West. As for Day... He's good but has some major flaws. We'll see Day v Lanning part 2 soon enough.... We all know Mad Man Dan will have something cooked up for the Buckeyes. Probably a deeper dive into the playbook but also probably a strange play or two just to make things spicy. I don't see Day having much like that in store. He's a pretty straightforward coach who will rely on his players to just be better than his opponent's. It works 90% of the time..

Getting the tight ends involved in the touchdown scoring has been relatively late this season on the whole. I think the first TE touchdown was against Maryland. Not sure why that was to be honest. I've liked the way they are getting Sadiq the ball over the last few games. A bit more conventional than some of the weirder stuff they tried earlier in the season and it's been working. Like you, Charles, I'm curious to see how this offense evolved in the playoff. At times it has really felt like Lanning has held a lot back and sprinkled in some Mad Man Dan crazy stuff but just the good solid deep end of the playbook has remained a bit of a mystery.

Though the Buckeyes have managed to reshuffle their offensive line they didn't have to deal with Jordan Burch. We'll see how that works out for them.

Remember these odds are to attract people to separate them from their money. Vegas made a killing in the last Oregon v OSU game as 80% of the bets were on Ohio State.

What is evident this year is that we don't need a playoff... Or at least not this big a field. Oregon v Georgia for the National Championship go! Oregon beat Ohio State and Penn State and won the B1G. Georgia beat Texas (twice) and Tennessee. I guess ND would be left out and we'll see if they belong. But right now it feels like we know who should play in the championship based off the season. The playoff gives a shot to the season's losers which I supposed is fine. As long as the Ducks win it all.

Because they can't afford to fire him. And that's the best part.

Clemson has a chance but they'll have to make it a shootout.

Boise State also caught us at the right/wrong time. Our offensive line came together in the second half and our defense needed to do a lot of heavy lifting for the offense. Remember those two bad fumbles and how the offense couldn't move the ball to save their lives? It was bad... The defense was on the field for way too long because the offense wasn't on the field at all.

Umm yeah.. if they had DAT they would have been a completely different team and would have been undefeated. Right????

Penn State was playing lights out against Oregon. When you have the No. 1 next to your name you get everyone's best shot. Penn State has settled back into playing more mediocre because they are heavily favored. Not saying we shouldn't be worried about the Oregon defense but Penn State isn't playing the same way they did against us. Also... They are playing in the cold and not a warm indoor stadium. It's a different environment.

Cignetti has a new problem in front of him. His schedule next year is probably tougher than this year's. He has Oregon and Penn State on the schedule. Beyond that he can't get 13 players from his former school who came in and were vets in his system. And even if he could that wouldn't help him. He was exposed in two big games this season. He didn't have the players to go toe to toe with thr schools that recruit in the top 10 in the country. He is going to have to recruit big time to get competitive. He proved he can do a lot with a little. But at the end of the day he needs the big uglies. As Duck fans we know this all too well.

The B1G has always had 1-3 teams that were top tier in college football and a whole lot of nothing else. The Pac-12 was competitive from top to bottom, the bottom team usually found a way to upset someone they shouldn't, but the top end was not as good as the B1G top end usually. This year in the B1G isn't much different. The top three teams are all pretty strong in Oregon, Penn State and Ohio State. Indiana got the invite and I think they deserved it because they played their schedule and their only loss was to Ohio State. Their schedule wasn't a strong schedule and they did precisely what they were supposed to do ... Win. I'm going to throw shade at Bama because they had 3 pretty weak OCC games and Wisconsin, who weren't very good but it was a decent team from a scheduling standpoint. But Bama didn't lose 2/3 of their games to ranked teams. They loss them to 6-6 Vanderbilt and Oklahoma. And I'll be honest... I don't think Indiana would have lost those games. Bama has a higher ceiling certainly... But they also proved this year they had a lower floor. I do believe Indiana needs to up their OCC schedule. However, they went from winning 9 games in three seasons to 11 games this year. They made a massive hire in Cignetti and Indiana has an OCC designed to get them some wins in a season... They weren't expecting to win this much in year one of Cignetti. Indiana deserved to be in this playoff. But what we'll soon find is that at least a third of the teams don't belong in the playoff as competitive teams.

Hmmm... Turns out playing a bunch of nobodies doesn't prepare a team too well for the big games. Notre Dame will be exposed before the playoff ends as well.

The culture around Oregon and Lanning is super strong. I'm sure if Lanning thinks he can be a strong edition to the team he'll shape up to play. If he doesn't he'll be gone before the spring portal window closes.

My bet... Tennessee fans. Ohio State fans bought up a TON of the tickets for the B1G championship game and then the Buckeyes didn't make it. Apparently the resale market had decent tickets going for very low prices. And Lucas Oil Stadium is much much closer to Ohio than the Rose Bowl is. So my bet is Tenn fans.

Good for Herbert. Nix had a pretty good game as well. A great display of what the Ducks can do for their stars.