David Marsh

This offensive line is BETTER than the Cristobal line... the scheme is putting these linemen in the best position to make big plays.

Last time we wore a pink uniform we went to the Rose Bowl and playoff that season... Granted... we also lost that game... so let's ignore that part.

This week's snap shot into how I view the Pac-12. Do you agree or disagree? 12. Colorado (0-5) - Colorado is bad and that isn't going to change this year. They had a bye week so they didn't lose, good for them. 11. Stanford (1-4) - They lost to Oregon State in the final minute at home. Stanford players really seem to have an attitude problem and watching parts of the Oregon State-Stanford game it became even more clear that refs really don't throw many flags at Stanford and the players know it. They seemed to rough up Oregon State players, and get away with it with far more regularity than the other way around. As far as I'm concerned Stanford can rot at the bottom of this list. They don't play Colorado this year so we won't see the battle of the worst teams in the Pac-12 this year. 10. Arizona (3-3) - I will be honest, I love where this team is going and I think Jed Fisch is going to be a brilliant head coach. They, however, are not there yet. This team is playing spirited football and are not giving up and they have a dangerous offense. Their defense is what is letting them down right now, especially their rush defense. They will realistically have the opportunity for two more wins this season at Washington and against Arizona State, otherwise their schedule does not line up well for them. 9. Oregon State (4-2) - It feels difficult to put Oregon State higher even though I moved them down from last week and they won. If they figure out quarterback they are going to rocket up this list. They have a solid defense, a strong run game, and their receivers aren't too bad, but they do drop more passes than they should. They get the quarterback thing figured out, and this is a team that belongs at the top half of the PAC but quarterback is too important of a position to be uncertain about. 8. Washington (4-2) - Washington has a good offense but their defense has a lot of holes. They are also still a bad road team. We will see what happens this week when they get Arizona at home. It will probably be a win as Arizona's defense is pretty bad but if it's a shootout--it's anyone's game. 7. Arizona State (2-4) - ASU feels too high on this list I'll be honest but they are playing with a fire about them right now. They have an offense that can score some points and a defense that can get a few stops. Are they good? Not really, but I think they are dangerous and coming off a win against Washington they are going to continue to be dangerous. Or they fall flat on their faces, and flame out... haha more fire jokes about the Sun Devils! I don't expect them to stay this high but at this moment in time I feel they are probably here as I feel they can beat anyone below them after last Saturday's showing. 6. Cal (3-2) - Cal had a bye so not much to say about them right now. They are below Washington State (spoilers!) because they lost to Washington State the previous week. Cal is better than they have been in a while but they still have a lot to prove. 5. Washington State (4-2) - I was disappointed in Washington State against USC. They felt like the team that could take down the Trojans, and if they were home then maybe they would have done so but they didn't. This is still a good team and a team that can probably beat everyone below them in the conference rankings. 4. Utah (4-2) - I thought Utah was going to beat UCLA, but they couldn't hang in LA. Utah is not the team they were last year. They are a good team but they have holes. They get USC at home this week so this is an opportunity to prove themselves. However, as it stands right now--Utah is not in control of their own destiny when it comes to the Pac-12 Championship game. 3. USC (6-0) - I suppose I need to give USC some respect here because they keep managing to win. They have athletes and those athletes have allowed them to defeat teams with inferior athletes, but it hasn't been pretty. USC has been good enough to win so far, but can they keep doing it? This reminds me of USC's 2020 team that went undefeated until the Pac-12 Championship game when they had to play a team with comparable athletes and they fell apart, this would be when they played Oregon and lost. It feels like USC is one misstep away from losing. 2. UCLA (6-0) - Well UCLA looked suspect early in the year but they have pulled it together so far. The biggest reason they are number two on this list is because they haven't had a real road game yet with a hostile crowd. They have an offense that can score points, but can they run the ball against Oregon that has the best run defense in the Pac-12? Oregon's secondary is starting to put it together as well. Then on the other side of the ball--do they have the athletes needed to break through Oregon's Great Green Wall of Offensive linemen? No one has gotten pressure on Bo Nix yet this year, including Georgia even though the score for that game isn't pretty. 1. Oregon (5-1) - Am I an Oregon homer here? Probably... but Oregon is a different team than the one that got clobbered by Georgia. Oregon has also been tested on the road and are the better team for it. Oregon gets a chance to truly earn this top spot next week when they square off against UCLA.

As we saw with Washington... some teams just don't travel well. UCLA traveled to Colorado which is rather tame as they are having a bad season. Autzen will be a hostile game environment and Oregon is a far better team than Colorado and Washington... and I suspect Utah.

This I think nails it ... I feel that is exactly what TT is either wanting to do or trying to do. He often seems to want to throw to his first read and doesn't have the patience to go through his read and he ends up forcing the throw.

I think his expiration date was reached... I don't think as fans we would have been happy with the extension deal Uncle Phil had proposed. It hurt losing our recruiting class or most of it... But I think we saved a massive chunk of our roster at the same time. You are right ... His time had come and I'm glad he left.

I was talking with the offensive line and run game coordinator coach at the high school I work a d he was saying that the Dillingham offense is a very complex offense and tough to learn. As a spectator I am still learning tons about this offense every week but I don't have to try and run the offense. It's a very dynamic offense but it has a lot of details to it that I would imagine can be difficult to pick up.

The Fox sports commentary crew, the crew that talks berween games or half time, is often made up of two USC guys.

I think that's Irving's first rushing TD in the year.

The refs really do seem to like to put their thumb on the scale for California teams.

This year's USC team feels a lot like the 2020 team. They have survived a lot of games with a mixture of better athletes and luck. Washington State is going to make it difficult on them but I can see USC escaping with a win still.

Yes... But in our defense it took us Arroyo and then one year of Moorhead to fully catch on. Miami has willfully.ignored us saying this. So we at least get the excuse of being the first one duped. Also... Arroyo wasn't a big name OC and a hold over from the Taggart year so I our defense we felt he was tainted by the Taggart expirence and he didn't have much of a name for himself. Moorhead was an established name and we all had hope... And we knew it didn't matter who the OC through 2020. Granted the offense under Moorhead was better and more dynamic in 2022. But it was still handcuffed by Cristobal.

The Taggart offense had some good stuff in it... the problem is/was that the playbook wasn't that deep. "Lethal Simplicity" can be effective but the problem was that his offense was far too simple and easy to figure out. Each play doesn't inherently have a lot of depth to it. On the flip side Mike Leach's air raid offense is actually shockingly simple in terms of number of plays but it is executed at such a high level and has so many threats and different focuses in each play that it can be killer. Though... again the problem with Leach's offense is that if teams have longer than a week to prepare for it they can do a lot better job figuring it out and can counter it pretty reliably.

I'm not crazy about the egg shell uniforms. I think they cool fine up close and clean. But once on the field and if you add a grass stain to them they just look dirty. The speckles then look like mud. Not my favorite but way better than other uniforms we have worn in the past.

This can work in the short term anyways. It worked for a few years at Oregon.... Until it didn't last year.

Two SEC teams can make it through but not three... if there are three SEC teams those will be some awful viewership numbers. They have managed to let two SEC teams in because of their records and having only one loss even while playing in the Championship game. Three SEC teams should not happen because in this case Tennessee or Georgia would have already played each other and eliminated one from the playoff race to face Alabama in the championship game. However.... I am sure they could find a way to justify three SEC teams if they really wanted to. So... never-mind.. expect three SEC teams at this point.

Not all the Pac-12's officials are bad... I would say the majority are actually pretty decent. I feel games against Eastern Washington and BYU were both well officiated. I feel the WSU game was pretty good, minus of course the big mistake of the loss of down, they did at least let the players play out the game without too many ridiculous flags. The biggest problem for the Pac-12 refs right now is holding onto the good ones. We need new refs and to weed out the bad ones but it all starts with keeping the good ones.

From the sound of what I have heard is that Lanning realized that they tried to teach too much of the defense. And players weren't comfortable with the scheme for Georgia. So they have had to scale back and reteach a lot of it. It isn't too surprising that it may take a couple years for the defense to fully grasp the defense.

And I think Bassa is a much better coverage back than Flowe and that is where we are really hurting right now. The secondary is improving but out soft underbelly is the coverage by our linebackers.

Oregon plays both in the regular season this year... that alone is a boon to USC who dodges us. I don't care who wins to be honest but I think it is important that it is a close game so that the loser stays ranked. Wins over ranked opponents is key for Oregon and having teams ranked is also key for the Pac-12. As UCLA is leaving the Pac in a few years I feel their being ranked is less important than Utah in the long run for the conference. But the loser of Utah-UCLA could very well be the knock out blow for them for the Conference Championship game. Of course assuming Oregon will beat them both.

He has been dinged up the past couple of weeks and has been working on recovering. I feel Flowe is a bit of a glass cannon as an athlete. For those who don't know the gaming reference a glass cannon is high damage but also fragile. Flowe is an absolute wrecking ball but he seems to get himself injured to varying degrees all the time. He also isn't the most controlled when on the field which is part of him getting injured I suspect. He can find himself out of his assignment rather easily... but he usually makes up for it by flying to the ball and demolishing the ball carrier.

If the USC offensive line wasn't so porus I would agree... it will give Williams the chance to take some shots and score some points. USC has watched Oregon pick apart Washington State in the open field and watched Oregon take some successful shots down field. So USC will score some points. However, if you watch Nix take his shots down field, watch the offensive line. Nix was clean and had loads of time to set his feet and make his throw. Washington State will be aggressive and bust through that USC offensive line that is a far cry from Oregon's line. Williams will not consistently have the time he needs to make those passes. He is going to take some hits and he may even throw a pick or two because he forces a throw when his feet aren't set or he is rushed into a throw. If USC's offensive line can give Williams' time then it does bend towards USC winning... but I'm not convinced they will give him the time he needs.

I'm in agreement here. USC survived Oregon State because the Beavers threw 4 picks. Washington State has a better quarterback and just as disruptive of a defense. ASU even posed USC some problems last week and USC didn't pull away until the 4th quarter really. Washington State is well coached and hungry for a big win over a ranked opponent. Oregon was able to claw back into the game because Oregon has probably the most talented and complete roster in the Pac-12, Utah might have just as a complete roster but is not as talented on paper. USC has vulnerable offensive and defensive lines and Washington State will gleefully exploit. Expect to see Caleb Williams with grass stains on his jersey with this game.

Its a crazy metrics game. Some of the top six would be five-stars but there is not a set number. Height, weight, performance and any other measurement you can think of goes into creating these rankings. Even then all these rankings vary from recruiting service. In any given year there is usually a coupe five stars at any position but that isn't guaranteed by any stretch. Some years can have more five-stars than others... same goes for four-stars. Three-stars are more nebulous as there are usually a ton of three-star recruits so I assume there is a minimum for being ranked. There are two-star recruits but usually when you start to get into two-star recruit status it is by chance a player is even ranked as a two-star at all and not just considered unranked. This year is also pretty thin in terms of quality offensive line talent so there are a few five-stars but no where near as many as there are in a "normal" year. This year there are fewer ready-made linemen and a lot more lower ranked linemen who would be considered projects for coaches.

It's all down to that Beaver quarterback. If they had a high quality quarterback they would probably be in my top 4, if not top 3. They are a solid team otherwise, but a quarterback is too important. The crazy thing is that of all the teams that rank above the Beavers only UCLA has a non-transfer quarterback. Utah's quarterback is not a transfer this year but he was last year so he did not start his career at Utah. It feels telling how the quarterback position is so important that outsourcing the development to other schools and bringing in quarterbacks as transfers has become super effective. It makes you think what if Oregon State went quarterback shopping like the majority of the conference....