David Marsh

But if Oregon's d can get one or two more stops than USC'S then that's how the game breaks for the Ducks. No one is going to stop them from scoring... But that defense doesn't look like it's going to stop a top 10 offense which is hopefully around where the Ducks will be. Oregon doesn't need to shut them out... Just get a couple more stops. And I think that's likely to happen.

I'm good with being the underDUCK. Let everyone underestimate us and write us off. The narrative we get to build about ourselves going through the season is amazing. The motivation is creates is fantastic. I think USC right now is drinking too much of their hype koolaid. They didn't look all that focused last weekend. Let's see our Ducks walk out onto the field and destroy opponents and show them what Oregon is all about.

Looks like many in the media are still high on USC. 2023 College Football: Winners and Losers from Week 0 BLEACHERREPORT.COM Led by star transfer Sam Hartman and his four touchdown passes, Notre Dame kicked off Week 0 of the 2023... they are considered to be a "winner" this week by dominating their opponent. USC winning was never really in question nor was Williams' ability. The offense did exactly what it was expected to do against a lesser opponent. It's the defense that looks highly suspect. It's fine though.. let themboush USX up the rankings so that when they get stomped by the Ducks we take our rightful place.

Maybe no intention of adding the last four for full payouts. I could see Fox and ESPN not wanting to pay 30 mill for these four.. because they weren't willing to do so the PAC would still be alive.

Great point... Notre Dame took on a G5 school and just took care of business. I didn't watch the game but the score shows they were focused and did what needed to be done. USC knew they were going to win in the end and played with their opponent. And San Jose gave them a scare at the end of the first half ... But probably no where near enough of one for them to truly be scared. USC is flying high on their own hype right now. And I can't wait for them to come to reality.

Do they? I don't think the good teams really do to be honest. Teams undergoing coaching changes I would say benefit greatly from these games a lot more than the true playoff contenders. Does College Football Need Its Cupcakes? FISHDUCK.COM In any normal year, College Football is filled with early games against FCS schools that typically culminate with... The best teams don't need them. FCS teams and G5 teams do need them but that's for the finances.

We learned that Lincoln Riley is still playing Big 12 football. Outscore the opponent and play just enough defense. I watched part of the game... It really looked like superior athletes won them the game. They could win one on one match ups often because they just had better players. There was a little showboating after some plays too I saw where USC players seemed far too excited. I don't think Lanning would tolerate some of what I saw on the field, especially with the score as close as it was. USC is in trouble when they have conference play and have to deal with better athletes who are also working together. Obviously USC gets to practice between games and often the most improvement comes between games 1 and 2. But if game one is an indication of how their team operates... This is a three loss team. Because they'll lose to Oregon, Washington and Utah at this point. Who will all have better athletes than San Jose. USC was in a dog fight for two and a half quarters and pulled away with better athletes... What happens when Oregon with a better roster than USC comes knocking? It'll be fun to watch that's for sure.

WOW!!!! If they actually join the Big 12 that will be huge sign of the times because that will mean they will take an academic step down. The Big 12 is a second rate conference in terms of prestige and academics these days. The Big 12 is Fox and ESPN's tier 2 conference, teams absolutely worth keeping but certainly not worth the full payout. I could see both Fox and ESPN being ok with shoving Cal and Stanford into the Big 12. The brands are good enough to keep around but not B1G good. But the desperation for Cal and Stanford are certainly showing now if they are looking at the Big 12 which is pretty much void of any AAU members.

The other side of things.... This is Flowe's fourth fall camp and he has had three spring camps. He completed all those camps and though they'll not make up for game exoirence he has had coaches work with him and he still hasn't settled down into his assignments? He has also had three years of team meetings. Mentally he should be a lot further along than he his from the sound of it. Sure he hasn't had the execution and physical reps as much as a health player his age ... But he should have had plenty of mental reps to not be making the same level of freshman mistakes. Freshman mistakes are usually all mental. With wrong assignments and a lack of the grasp of the playboon being the prime culprits. All things Flowe has struggled with but usually as freshman learn the mental game those mistakes go away. That doesn't seem to be the case.

It's amazing how such a promising athlete can't get it together on the field. At this point I'd venture to guess he might not get drafted at all. He needs to be an all star on Arizona's defense... But if he can't play within his duties that won't happen. The play right after that picture was taken that Charles posted... Flowe was completely out of alignment and he did show off his athleticism and chased the quarterback downs dn out of bounds but not before de Laura picked up the needed yards.

This is probably good fodder for an article except I don't want to write it as an article... I want to just rant. But it's week 0 and we have seven games with Notre Dame v Navy is the highlight of this week. Other games include... USC v San Jose State, Hawaii v Vanderbilt, Florida International v Louisiana Tech, UMass v New Mexico, UTEP v Jacksonville State, and San Diego State v Ohio. I know I personally don't want to watch any of these games. Nothing is that interesting. Notre Dame should destroy Navy and USC should take care of San Jose state while sleep walking. Hawaii v Vanderbilt might be interesting... For a quarter... A half at most. But this slate of games is so bad that it makes me angry. College football is here except it isn't. Week 0 shouldn't be a thing... Or it should actually feature something worth watching. Now I know many will say that that week one doesn't have that many good games either... Which is true. I know that Oregon v PSU is going to be a big pass to anyone who isn't a Ducks fan... Like how all these week 0 games are. Unless you're a USC fan are you going to watch USC v San Jose State? Only if you're desperate enough to watch a boring game that doesn't include your own team. One of the things from the 2020 season that actually showed us was that college football didn't need these cupcake games to help determine he best teams. The best teams could play a a full schedule and we'd know who they were. Does College Football Need Its Cupcakes? FISHDUCK.COM In any normal year, College Football is filled with early games against FCS schools that typically culminate with... Now there are other considerations for playing cupcake games... The most important one being that these are the life blood of many FCS and even some G5 programs. And these types of games will become even more important in a world that more stratified between the haves and have nots. But week 0 is awful... And it annoys me to no end.

Cal and Stanford would never be in the same conference as Boise State and Fresno State. I think you're right that what they will and won't accept as conference partners is a driving force in all of the pac-12 woes, among other things. They'd rather be in the B1G, not just for the money but because the academic fit being that all but Nebraska are AAU members. Well... In truth their first choice of conference is probably the Ivy League. And they may get their wish there... But they won't have much of a sports program.

This line stood out to me... "The reason conferences are grasping at every dollar right now is the understanding that, moving forward, there will be fewer dollars available. " Then the article goes on to say that the media companies are losing revenue so they can't payout as much. Which has some truth in it... BUT the bigger culprit here is that those media companies are intentionally paying the B1G and SEC way more than other conferences to speed the collapse. The ACC is left chasing B1G and SEC money and they'll never be paid that much. The pac chased it and died because of it. Those media companies absolutely have the money to pay every conference and every power school a reasonable payout that would keep the sport around. I've mentioned it in several articles recently and I'll do so again ... Out of the pac-12, there are 4 teams that will receive B1G dollars (60-70 mil) and there are 4 teams that will receive Big 12 dollars (30 mil). Cal and Stanford may be getting ACC dollars... Which all means that these schools are getting the money but there was no desire to keep the pac-12 alive. ESPN gave one bid and walked away without even trying to make a deal. Fox never wanted to make a deal. These media companies have set up college sports to fit their model and not the model for the fans or for the schools. The end of the era is coming... But it coming because two media companies want it and no one else. How Fox and ESPN Dismantled the Pac-12 FISHDUCK.COM FOX and Disney/ESPN control virtually all of college sports. The Pac-12 has failed to make a deal with either of... 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...

I don't think the other power conferences will allow a conference composed of two lower tier power conference teams and a slew of G5 teams to exist as a power conference. We also saw that media companies didn't want to pay the pac-10 a competitive price, the PAC 2 certainly won't get anything more than the mountain west. I could see Fox and ESPN ready up a decent deal with the mountain west and withhold anything decent from whatever the PAC is to force Oregon state and Washington State into the mountain west. Fox and ESPN don't want to negotiate with another conference on the west coast anymore, that was their statement loud and clear during this last year. They won't give a new rebranded PAC a cent.... They'll most likely force them to join the mountain west and pay slightly more than they currently pay the mountain west but still much much cheaper than what a power conference demands.

Because the money wasn't the issue. Controlling and consolidating college football was the oy thong at play. Even if Stanford and Cal go to the ACC there will only be a few years before that conference probably falls apart because their biggest teams want B1G and SEC money that they can never get outside of those conferences. I think at this point Stanford and Cal may be discarded again I'd they join the ACC.

Well... If Bo wins it... His trophy will be sitting next to Marcus's at Oregon. So Auburn can claim it if they want but if people ask to see it they'll have to come to Eugene. Where the trophy resides is where it belongs.

I'm still not a fan of an empty set. But if this play keeps the QB clean and healthy I'm for it. I just like having a runningback back there to be a threat to run the ball. The biggest difference between the Ducks and the Roadrunners for this play in particular is that Oregon's offensive line is just going to be bigger and more pysical. I could see Nix running safely for 10 yards against most teams with this play because the offensive line is going to get to the second level and overwhelm the linebackers.

Mostly because the bay area is not a college market. They have pro sports that draw all the attention. You would think that Cal and Stanford would have larger stadiums and be able to fill them over Oregon but they don't get anywhere near it. Does that tendency devalue the bay area market? It could be a factor in it all. I mean Oregon State and Washington State seem to have larger and more die hard fan bases than either of the bay area schools.

Especially when there is talk about having an oline that is 8 deep! Oregon feels it can go eight deep on the offensive line in 2023 SATURDAYOUTWEST.COM Oregon coaches like the depth they have on the offensive line as the season approaches. We have at least 4-5 really good options at running back. We have a boatload of receivers... Quarterback is suspect after Bo... But that's true of most teams.

And all of this pressure may cause a breaking point for most schools. Which could bring on a change in the structure of college sports all over again. A change that reverts to the model of student athletes. The Eventual College Football Renaissance FISHDUCK.COM The Great College Football Schism is Coming, and it will leave College Football divided between the... But to reach this point we need to go through a great divide in college football. The Great College Football Schism is Coming FISHDUCK.COM The great college football schism is coming, and it will fracture college football in a way that will shake the... Where the haves play in one league and everyone else in another. The thing is ... It might be a whole lot more fun to watch those have nots play because it will look more like how college sports has always looked like.

Side note ... I picked some of the best photos from the FishDuck photo library of ACC players made to look silly by Oregon players. One of the things I didn't mention that could be a real wild card in all of this is Notre Dame. They are only a partial member of the ACC for football but have their own media deal. If Notre Dame were to become a full member that could change the media payout equation... But that basically requires Notre Dame to be willing to share the wealth which feels incredibly unlikely. Both from a financial perspective but also from pride perspective.

In short... Fox got their way and landed the death blow on the Pac-12. They took the two biggest remaining brands for their own conference, the B1G. And then followed up by taking the remaining good but not major brands and stuffing them into their tier two conference than they share with ESPN. Utah, ASU, Arizona and Colorado. Colorado has potential but they were also by far the weakest link in all of this to get the dominos to fall. Then Fox and ESPN discarded the properties not worth as much to them by leaving them behind, Cal, Oregon State, Washington State and Stanford. If they actually wanted any of those programs the Big 12 would have had room. It's not up the commissioners, but the media executives.

Quarterback aside... Every team will be breaking in new starters at some position. Oregon has been stacking some good recruiting classes and will continue to stack them. That's what matters. Need to have high quality players at every position. I feel the Ducks will be in a good place in that regard.

The reality is that modern football rosters can only support about 3 quarterbacks on scholarship. Beyond that it is difficult to relegate scholarship quarterbacks to scout team (which is really important) but it's a recipe for them to bolt to the portal. How Many Quarterbacks Can One Team Sustain? FISHDUCK.COM Just how many scholarship quarterbacks can a college football roster sustain? This is the big... So walk ons have a pretty important role to play. Which also means a team needs lots of them.

I completely forgot about Benson. He probably would have been unimpressive with the Cristobal scheme in truth.