David Marsh

I've been saying it for years... but the Pac-12 is the most COMPETITIVE conference... not the best just the most competitive where anything can happen in any week. Well almost anything... I don't think Cal or Colorado are any good and I think the next two weeks Oregon should just roll over them and give some back-ups some reps.

I think they are asked to do more than they did under Cristobal... also lets get real here they didn't do a terribly good job covering under Cristobal either. We have had a soft underbelly for years now and this is what Lanning inherited from both Avalos and DeRuyter and most importantly Cristobal. Flowe is a wrecking ball but in truth he just sort of runs wild and can make plays but doesn't seem to understand what he is doing just yet. The Lanning defense uses linebackers differently than these linebackers were originally recruited for and they are still learning. They need to learn faster than they are right now because this is probably the weakest unit on defense. I say this because the secondary started as the weakest but the secondary has really grown and is doing a much better job now. DTR threw the ball away multiple times last Saturday because everyone was covered and he couldn't get away from the pass rush anymore. This defense is close to putting it all together... and once it does it is going to be terrifying. But until that point there are too many weaknesses and gaps between the pieces.

Also... the argument of punishing just USC and Texas doesn't make too much sense. UCLA and Oklahoma are also leaving and are they not being punished by refs? Oregon v UCLA actually had one of the best reffed Pac-12 games this season. The refs made good calls for the most part and didn't throw really any flags that made me yell at the TV because they were obnoxious or questionable. They let the players play for the most part. I feel they may have missed a few calls but nothing too egregious.

I'm not buying the USC side of the argument... USC has gotten away with a ton of penalties in other games. They get away with their linemen holding all the time. Now... USC is definitely getting punish next year in terms of scheduling. USC is supposed to travel to Autzen in 2023. Now there is an argument that could go either way... one argument is that they didn't travel to Autzen in 2020 like they were scheduled to so it is their turn to travel in this match-up. However, the 2020 scheduling was supposed to just keep the home-away games as scheduled to the best of their ability and scheduling would continue "like normal" the following year. Basically, Oregon played at Washington in 2019, in 2020 Washington was supposed to come to Oregon but couldn't because they couldn't field a team, then in 2021 we traveled to Washington like we were originally planned to anyways. What happened in 2020 is that UCLA traveled to Autzen in USC's place due to scheduling complications. In short... under "normal" circumstances we should be traveling to USC in 2023 but I have heard USC gets to come to Autzen to get yelled at and beaten up by our Ducks in their last season in the Pac-12. That seems like punishment to me.

The Runningback rotation has really settled down to three at this point. Bucky Irving, Noah Wittington and Jordan James .... Dollars gets a few snaps a game but really not much.

So this week there were a lot of teams out for a bye week and really we can confirm things we have been seeing on the field. This conference feels really split this year between a strong top and a really bad bottom. 12. Colorado (1-6) - Colorado may have their next head coach in Mike Sanford as they are playing with a lot of heart right now. But they are still bad and are going to need a good recruiting class and a solid off-season to rebuild. Are they they worst team in the Conference? Well we get to find out that question this week when they play Arizona State. 11. Arizona State (2-5) - Arizona State lost to a Stanford team that didn't score a touchdown. Let that set in for a moment, Stanford beat them by kicking five field goals. They came within inches of winning that game but couldn't do it. This team is like Colorado, they are a fighter but they will need an off-season to rebuild. 10. Cal (3-4) - Cal is bad... real bad. Cal lost to Washington in their own house and Washington is a team that doesn't travel well. It was an awful game to watch, as Washington doesn't have a defense and Cal doesn't have an offense. Also Cal's stadium was so quiet that you could easily sit and read a book without being distracted. The most problematic problem about Cal right now is that they are not improving from week to week. 9. Stanford (3-4) - Stanford just got their first conference win in the last ten games and they didn't score a touchdown. This team is still not good and in truth the bottom four of this conference are all looking awful right now. Stanford gets the top spot in this bottom four only because they are actually improving. 8. Arizona (3-4) - Arizona was on a bye week so not much to say about them. They have been improving and it will be interesting to see how they do coming out of their bye week. They do get USC next week so it will be interesting to see how well they do, I do expect USC to put quite a few points on them. 7. Washington (6-2) - Now we reach the solid middle of the conference. Washington is an ok team. They are all offense and little defense and as they beat Arizona they should be ranked higher. But isn't if funny that Washington went from a team with all defense and no offense under Jimmy Lake and now they are just the opposite. 6. Washington State (4-3) - Washington State has lost three games so it feels a little weird that they are ranked above Washington. They are ranked higher simply because they have a solid offense, like Washington, but they have a more aggressive defense that may be the difference maker when those two teams play against each other. 5. Oregon State (6-2) - Oregon State is going bowling for the second year in a row as they dismantled and embarrassed Colorado at home. The Beavers probably have the best defense in the conference at this point and they have a solid rushing attack. But their quarterback play is still problematic even though they seem to have that position settled for the time being. It would be great to see the Beavers get themselves ranked by the time they play Oregon but that feels unlikely. 4. USC (6-1) - USC was on a bye week so I'm not moving them. They have incredible skill positions and a very good quarterback but they are still weak on the lines and that will probably be their downfall against UCLA. Does this USC team deserve to be moved up? Probably, but that is more dependent on Utah right now than anything else. 3. Utah (5-2) - Utah beat USC and was on a bye week this last week so I'm not moving them from their previous spot. This is not the same Utah team that owned the conference last year but this is still a good football team. 2. UCLA (6-1) - UCLA is still a very good team and right now I feel they will probably grab the second spot for the Pac-12 Championship game. They have a far better defense than USC which will be key in their shootout with USC. 1. Oregon (6-1) - Oregon is the most dominant team in the conference. This offense cannot be stopped or even slowed as they have scored more than 40 points in the past six games and that won't be slowing down this week when they head to Cal. Beating UCLA was a big big win and a much needed win for Oregon's reputation and even the Pac-12's reputation. Oregon will probably be the first team to lock in a spot to the Pac-12 Championship game.

I heard that Iowa basically dumped their entire NIL budget on him. Granted, it's not Iowa per se but rather their boosters. If Oregon can offer something reasonable or reasonably close I could see a flip happening.

If they played this Saturday I would say Georgia has the edge, our defense still has a long way to come but I do think it would become a shootout type of game. Oregon did move the ball rather well against Georgia but we couldn't finish drives. Georgia would probably win because they'd get one or two more stops on our offense and our defense, but it wouldn't look anywhere near as lopsided as it was to start the year.

I know I don't personally watch on a regular basis because I am a Pac-12 person and I have more of a west coast bias and interest. I get tired of hearing about the SEC and B1G.

Josh Pate and Late Kick is pretty good though I would say that he is very knowledgeable when it comes to anywhere other than the west coast. He traveled to Eugene for game day and has some very good observations about the game and experience. It is worth a watch if you have 10 minutes.

More likely he decommits from Miami and looks elsewhere rather than transferring back to Central Catholic. The school year is already underway and the football season almost over.

Dinosaurs were highly dynamic creatures that occupied this planet for millions of years and still do today in the form of birds... including DUCKS! So why wouldn't you want to be a dinosaur? Didn't you see what some dinosaurs just did to those mangy Bruins?

This thought just came to me... because of UCLA running to the B1G this may be Chip Kelly's LAST time in Autzen as a coach. I am sure at some point when he retires he will get honored by Oregon for his time with us but that won't be as a coach. Who knows when UCLA will make a return trip to Autzen, we are scheduled to host USC next year. We may play UCLA in the Championship game this year or next year but that won't be in Autzen. Chip Kelly help create a monster that not even he could defeat.

If you recall Lanning did call a timeout right before the final play. I don't think Bo knew what to do for that last play, or at least didn't remember or wasn't sure. I think that final timeout and huddle was to deploy that game ending play.

Autzen is the loudest stadium per capita in the country last I checked. And it is darn close to the same noise level as some of those 100k stadiums... If not louder than several of them. And the other thing is that Oregon brings the eyeballs to the TV so that doesn't hurt either. Come to Oregon.. you'll get plenty of exposure.

When they choose to... The tempo can be ramped up and down successfully. The problem during the Kelly-Helfrich eras was that Oregon couldn't slow the tempo down to burn clock effectively. I think a big component of that is that we now have some big time linemen who can use their size and power to dominate a downhill running game. I'm not saying Tempo is gimmicky at all... It is a strategy and when used effectively it is difficult to combat but for it to work it needs to be used a lot of the time. Kelly's UCLA guys just didn't have the size to stop Oregon's run game when confronted with that much power. So going slow or fast didnt matter as much.

I'm thinking it is probably going to the Tennessee quarterback. I don't remember his name but there is nothing but hype around him. I read a headline that he "can't be stopped" by the FCS program they destroyed yesterday. Also a win over Bama fast tracks a Heisman.

I think we have Dilly for another year right now at least. His offense is incredible so far this year but he is young and this is his first time running his offense. I get the feeling he has a ton of eyes on him right now that are eager to wait and see for another year. I'm sure he'll be snatched up for a promotion some where but I don't know if anyone is quite ready to take that big of a risk on a one year OC who is running the show completely for the first time. It took Lanning a few years as DC before he could make the leap. Potential programs looking to hire Dillingham away from us will want to see him grow and be consistent. Also they may want to see him develop a QB from scratch as well ... Nix is great this year because of Dilly's coaching. Dilly is putting Nix in position to make plays while not asking too much of him. But Nix is also a pretty good quarterback who understands the college game at this point at a high level. Dilly is just adding some polish and cleaning him up. That's different than taking a raw recruit and making them into a star.

Neither will win coach of the year ... We all know that Lincoln Riley has already won that award and we are just waiting to hear the announcement at the end of the year.

Is Bucky more fun to watch or is it just this amazing offense? I don't really know ... But I do know this offense is super fun to watch and I love how Bucky runs!

The culture is taking hold in a lasting and meaningful way. Also... Holy crap, Franklin just blew up last game with some big time numbers. It was also really good to see Nix with that deep pass connect with a reciever and it go for a touchdown rather than the reciever sprawl out to make the catch at the 2 yard line. Extra fun against UCLA whose defense is set up to not allow plays like that at all.

I think there will be more Oregon fans at Cal next week than Cal fans. Certainly lounder. There is zero crowd noise at Cal tonight against Washington. Also most of the stands are empty. Cal, Stanford and UCLA don't put fans in stadiums. They are super quiet.

Bo needs some Heisman hype. He is playing good enough for it. Meanwhile... The media still loves Caleb Williams who is good but I'd say Nix is better. Oregon has the most offense in the conference and that is because of Nix.

And Washington is wearing their new "royal" uniforms!

Lanning is keeping this team engaged. If it was MC Oregon would have beaten zona on the road by maybe 10 points ... Oregon put them away with no issue and closed that door on zona. I'd be nervous if we still have MC... But not with Lanning.