1Funduck

I believe I sat in (section 39) right up towards the top by a bunch of Wisconsin fans for my first foray into College Football. I didn't care much for football, sans the Super Bowl commercials, let alone going to a sub professional game by the hometown team. But, my buddy was a life long fan from childhood and it sounded interesting. The hot dog was good, the crowd was electric, and I was stunned by the intricacy of 22 players trying to make sense of a purpose in moving an oblong ball up and down the field. Intrigued, fascinated, stunned. I was forever hooked. As my love for the game grew into season tickets, my education grew as well. I started picking up holding calls before the Ref threw the laundry. I could see lanes open up before they actually did just by the movement of about 8 men and their flow through the play. BAM!!! TD!! I called it as I was jumping out of my seat before the receiver actually caught it. Surely the QB saw that as well right? I became the 12th man on the field, at least thats the way it felt. I was developing into a student of the game while being a fan. Then came the madness that is uniquely College Football. I mentioned Wisconsin. The year is 2001 and my entry into CFB couldn't have been more perfect. Joey was putting his stamp on Oregon Athletics and I didn't even know what a holding penalty was. Captain Comeback had every fan who paid for their seat only using the edge. A slip from a trifecta of UCLA dedenders, a knock down drag out rain infused Civil War. Oregon loses one game by a TD. (sigh). Oh...that game.. Up 42-28 and then the tide changes with interceptions, blocked punts, and 1 play TD passes by Ferd. But, all is not lost. Oregon is ranked #2 to finish the season and play for the National Championship!! I was beyond hyped. In 3 short months, I went from clueless to all in fan of 'My Oregon Ducks'! Then....WHAT??!!??!! Nebraska!!?? Did they even win their conference? I was in disbelief. College Football is the only sport where you truly do NOT settle it on the field. Washington has a split NC under this exact metric. People who do NOT watch the game give their opinion on who is better. Are the teams great? I would like to think so. Are they better than the other ranked team? Says who? My love and my pain for College Football has a foundation in opinion. I dream of getting to the Natty. Are we ranked high enough this year preseason? Is our conference represented enough preseason? Is our non-con schedule perceived strong enough? If we were undefeated would opinions view the PAC-12 strong enough to send a representative to the playoffs. Opinion opinion opinion. I'm sick of opinion in sports. No...seriously. It's all biased, even mine. So, how do you fix that? Next step is a 12 team play-off. And yet, that is opinion oriented as well. It's marginally flawed. At least each Power 5(4) conference champion gets in, that's a start. But, my inner purity says that ALL Division 1 Conference Champions should get in. Oh, they would get crushed Fun, it wouldn't be fair Fun, nobody would want to watch it Fun. Oregon -vs- Liberty Bibberty? Hmm, Michigan vs Appalachian St. Upsets happen. But are you intrigued by the game or by the outcome? Would you turn the game on pre start? Nope. You are only thinking of that game as an afterthought and rubber necking the carnage of what is shocking. Its simply the carnage of it all and not the game that could have been that drew your attention. Why? Because deep down we all know that Appalachian St. will NEVER sniff a playoff win. Not that they couldn't win their Conference mind you, but simply don't have the squad to keep up for 20 let alone 60 minutes of playoff contention. They beat UM because UM was a dumpster fire and everything that could, did go wrong for UM to start the season. UM barely finished the season in the top 25 with a 9-4 record. Best CFB season by far in my opinion. But would A st. beat Georgia, Alabama, tOSU, Oregon, Notre Dame, Washington? Not even close. Opinion opinion opinion. OK... Then stop pretending and break the League up. The bottom 69 will never win a Championship. Tulane? Nevada? Marshall? Miami of Ohio? Liberty Bibberty? Not one of them will ever sniff the playoffs. That is just facts. So, why not break these schools into 2 parts, the 'Have's and the Have not's'? The Have Not's will still get their education paid for. School programs will have a budget that breaks even. If said school has some end of year profit then it gets distributed accordingly. However, the 'Have's' are on National TV. Million$ are paid for being on Prime Time. Everyone wants to see an Alabama -vs- Oregon or tOSU -vs- Georgia in the playoffs. Nobody wants to see Liberty Bibberty in the playoffs except Liberty. So let's make the move to what everyone is screaming for already. NFL lite. The Power League gets minimum salary contracts for all players. Revenue sharing as a bonus at end of year. Contract payouts linked to performance in post season, just like the coaches. The bottom 69 doesn't produce profit. But, if a kid excels in the 'minors' then he can be called up to the 'Bigs'. Then the kid gets paid accordingly. The inverse is the same as well. Since we aren't leaving the opinion polls anytime soon, take the 4 Power conference champions along with 8 at large and make your playoffs. My twisted scenario is as follows; The Conference Championship IS a playoff game. Move that game to 14 days after the regular season. 1 on Friday evening, 2 on Saturday and 1 on Monday evening. This leaves 4 teams. All champions play regions and inside stadiums. Winner takes all. Independent teams need to join a league or be relegated to the 'Grouo of 5'. Hear that Notre Dame? This scenario makes every single game enormously important. It also makes non con an absolute blissful event that won't crush you and your season. Play creme puffs of schedule a power game for serious cash. But, what do I know? It's just my (opinion).

All it would take is.......... a Players Union. Yep, thats coming and in a hurry.

In my limited view, it seems that OBD was missing a DT to get to the playoffs. They also found youth in the secondary by the end of the year. It seems to me that the real need is QB (got that covered) and defensive backfield. Safety is coming and the Corners will get even better. Now we need a DT in the middle. We need 4 deep. The DE's are set, no pun intended. Im just not seeing a screaming need other than DT.

5* Ty Thomoson didnt turn out. 5* Dante Moore is transferring and requesting more developmental time. 5* Malyk Murphy is transferring. 5* Malachi Nelson is transferring. 3* Johnny Manzel wins the Heisman. 3* Marcas Mariota wins the Heisman. Joe Burrow 4* wins Heisman. Dillon Gabriel 3*(Next Heisman winner?) Point is that you have it or you don't. Greatness in star rankings rarely translates from HS to College when it comes to QB's. Its in the Grey where they excel. Tom Brady is a pathetic athlete. His brain has won more SB's than I can count. Herbert is a stinking Scholar. It shows on the field in the NFL. By the way, he was a 3* and unranked nationally. Just sayin....

I think Arizona wins. Also, I believe UCLA wins. Oregon should decimate.

The 'Playoffs' have always been a joke. Teams don't get in by what they produce on the field. They get in by popularity contest. Best thing that happened was next years format. At least the 'Conference Champion' is selected with a handful of 'at-large'. Even then, ALL conference champions should be 'selected'. All of them. Doesn't matter if they get blown out. Just win your conference.

Jon, I respectfully disagree with your POV that AAU means anything anymore. Sure, it does have some relevance, but if you don't strike when you have the chance, then your conference could pay dearly. The B1G is about making the most prestigious conference in 'FootBall' and basketball as its sidekick. Hands Down. As for ND, they are an afterthought and fading. They have been resting on their laurels for decades now. The last 10 years, they made it to the playoffs only to get waxed. IMO, they are drifting into irrelevancy. They won't change if they don't have to. By the time they do, it may be too late. They may be a bottom feeder. Everybody has $10's of millions of dollars...... Everybody.

FSU would need a buddy to come along. No, it won't ever be ND. ND has 1/12 shot of making the playoffs every year, why would they ever join a conference now? FSU and Clemson. The iron is hot!!!

(sigh....) Liberty Bibberty

There is so much opinion on what should be done with NIL. The bottom line is that we live in a supply and demand society. No one here would like to be limited in salary and locked into a contract time line unless you are paid. Wouldn't you like to get paid and have the opportunity to move to a different job if another employer finds you more valuable than your current one? These kids get one shot to make as much as possible before they enter the working world. Most will never reach the NFL. They can leave college, limited to around 4 years, debt free and set for life. If you could go back in time, what advice would you tell your younger self? Play for a scholarship only, or get an additional $1 million per year by going to 2-3 schools? You would chose the latter. We all would. I believe we tend to associate our ideas based on our Fandom link to a specific school. It gets a bit self-righteous at times especially when we forget how we act along the way ourselves.

LSU has lost to all ranked teams sans one. Bo lost to a ranked team as well, by 3, to the soon to be #3 team. Bo has better completion rating and better record. LSU is not a bad team. Looks to be even better next year. Bonix is simply a better QB. He's a machine. All the drops that should have been caught brings Bonix to 85%. That's unheard of. Bo breaks the completion % record, with 3906 yards and counting, as well as a berth in the playoffs with the #1 offense in the land? Lets add 37 td's along with 6td's rushing, for a total of 43td's combined. Daniels 3577 yards with 36&10 for 46 total td's. Thats less yards and less completion percentage. Soon to be less td's. Way worse record. Please....... Bo'dacious for Heisman.

It has been a conundrum to say the least. If he plays like that against the Ducks, sub 60%??? It's over in a hurtful way.

Its real clear to me. If Oregon was playing a 1 loss #8 Washington team then I could see the danger. But, Oregon is playing the #3 Undefeated Washington Huskies. It's going to be a strangling. I called 38-17 against Beavus. Oregon's defense was much better than predicted. Oregon beats Washington 31-17. And its not going to be even that close of a game. Oregon ends being #3 in the playoffs. They beat Michigan and then play Georgia for it all. Oregon is 2024 Natty Champions!!!! Bo wins Heisman.

Oregon 38-17 0 turnovers 1 sack.... by Mateo.....hehehe 365 yards Bo gets 3-tds

I would leave Texas out as their resume has been dismal with the exception of Alabama. Texas remaining games pale in comparison to Oregons remainjng schedule. I don't see a way that Texas jumps Oregon. I could see Alabama jumping though. Beat Georgia and Alabama has a loss to a #7 ranked team but a win against the #1 team. Thats fair. We simply need FSU to lose and clear up the waters.

I can handle the talk of bubble teams getting left out when we are talking a 12 team playoff. If all conference champions play in the playoff then I'm OK with the rest of the 7 qualifiers. You have absolutely no gripe if you don't win your conference. Getting, or not getting, to the playoffs outside of a conference championship is on you, the team, for not winning. Just win and you are in. Thats the only fair path to a championship trophy.

The Beavs, when they lose to the Ducks, should hang on to a top 25 ranking. #25 to be exact. Also, do we see FSU beating Loiusville in 2 weeks? I don't. FSU lost their QB. FSU ends the season with a loss in their CC. The ACC is left out. This, potentially, leaves 3 one loss teams vying for 2 playoff spots. I love the Chaos!!!

First off, kudos for the rankings reflecting UW being inside the top 4. I don't care where it falls as long as the top 4 are accurate. Now to my gripe. The debate of the best 1 loss teams has been so biased that each time I hear it, I find myself arguing with the screen. Let's be honest and fair here shall we? Alabama has one loss to the #7 team currently. That's worthy of a high ranking. But, do we rank Alabama this high because of their standing inside their conference? Well, kind of. Each conference can't help who they play inside conference. Go through the motions and then win your conference championship. But... Conference perception is really about who you play outside of conference. 1) How does your respective conference handle their nonconference schedule? That's the real test to gauge conference strength. 2) Win loss ratio along with how each conference played each other if you have that data; crossover games to compare scores and the like. For example, Washington smoked MSU 41-7. tOSU did the same 38-3. All intents and purposes, I would rank them equal. However, Utah took Florida to the woodshed with a backup QB with a 24-11 sound thumping. #9Mizz held on for dear life with a last second field goal to squeak past Florida 33-31. Before we get all 'teams are different and grow as the year go's on' whiney, the pundits would have us believe that Alabama has more ranked wins than the other 1 loss teams. Ohhhh reeeeeeaaaally? Ranked? Why? Says who? Again, who did Mizz play noncon? K state was a solid win, I will give you that. But, MTSU? 23-19? If Oregon played down to that level we would be laughed at and proven evidence of having a contributor to a weak conference. Memphis win was 34-27. Another anemic showing for a ranked team in the supposed top conference. My point is supposedly clear. The SEC is weak this year. Georgia looks off and all the pundits have been uttering those words all year. Only the last couple of games have they been looking more crisp, but not like the last two years. Alabama has looked middling. They are clearly playing better as they are picking up steam. Texas keeps flirting with disaster. They have the pieces but just don't look in synq. Next year? Oregon keeps crushing opponents by 1/2 time. So, do you say a team deserves to be in because of past performance? Absolutely! Should they get in if they don't play in their conference championship? Well...depends. If you don't play in your conference championship, then you LOST to a conference opponent during the season. The conference schedule proves who deserves to be crowned conference champion. Its simple, don't lose in conference. But, if all other conferences produce champions with losses, then.... Which brings me to my bull horn mountain top rant. 1) Conference champions from the Power 5 means something. 2) How the conference plays all noncons means something, especially against other P5 schools. 3) closely linked with noncons is the rankings of teams inside your conference. This is reflective of W/L record outside of conference play as well as how you played in said games. And lastly, how do you play within your conference. Do you squeek by or do you dominate? All these metrics means something when we are ranking teams because of opinion and not solely on merit. The ranking of the 1 loss teams is right where they should be. Alabama lost to Texas. You get ranked below Texas, who has a loss. Texas has a loss against #12 OU by 4 points. Solid loss and not a blow out. Oregon has a loss against the #4 undefeated team UW by 3 points. Oregon should be ranked above Texas. It's real clear. Want to add some power to that ranking? Oregon has been getting stronger and strangling its opponents since that loss. Texas has not and Alabama has looked way too middling until these last couple of games. I might even say anemic. "we are who we thought they were...". Now, go play the game in front of you. If Oregon beats UW in the Championship game, against undefeated and #4 ranked UW, then its a beauty contest between Oregon and the loser of the UM tOSU game. If Texas wins their championship game against OSU, then its a win over a 4 loss team to get you into the playoffs? P-shah!!! If Oregon gets into the playoffs with a healthy team then I predict Oregon to win it all. They have the best O-line, fantastic receivers, and the best QB in all of college football with the best accuracy rating. Add to this a top 15 defense and I don't see another team that is its equal sans Georgia. But, even Georgia doesn't have a machine at QB. Duck On!!! Beat the Beavs!!

I love ya Fish.......but you need to step back from the computer screen and wash your hands from your frequent visits to the Cheetos Bowl. Lol Mari⁰ was too involved with that offense. ASU at least was a 'Team'. Now? ASU is hanging on by a thread but is not bare when it comes to heart. However, Oregon has never had a defense like this. Ever. And they are getting stronger. Oregons offense is 1st in the country, not NW, not Conference, but the entire country. Heisman worthy QB runs the ship and a nationally prominent offensive line guards the Cap'n. I rest reeeeeaaaaal easy with this game. Its the next 2 that have my attention. They are going to be a dog fight! Duck On!!!! Now, where's my Cheeto Bowl?

I've railed against Ty this past year. Rightfully so. But, his play this season has been stratospheric. It looks to me that he is starting to understand the offense and make the correct choices in his progressions. Dante has given Oregons coaching staff some reasonable material to work with in evaluating him. I'm totally shooting from the hip, but I wonder if its a good idea to bring in a newbie from the portal for the QB position? Bonix was effectively a senior when he showed up. I would feel more inclined to get an upper classman from a second tier school that has proven himself than a ? mark in Dante.

Where's my 40 year old jersey!!!!!!!

"The grass isn't always greener" I'm taking my Duck glasses off. 1) Where does my family want to be? Thats a huge draw. DL needs/already has answered that question 2) Get the respect deserved if my final destination is the NFL. Do I need to go to a top school to do that to Segway to the NFL? Is Oregon filling that need? 3) can I make more money moving to a different school? 4) do I have the support from the alumni as well as the school to make the decisions needed? Oregon has more than enough money, environment, alumni support, and prestige to check all these boxes. A(T)M is a dumpster fire. Top tier coach with top tier players. Just can't seem to win. Then the alumni get rid of you 2 years later. Oregon will give DL the time needed to put it all together. He's moving at warp speed. Nah, he isn't going anywhere else as it wont help anything that is important to him.

Apparently U$UC will need a 'Mental Health day' after tonight. At least they won't watch the film, that should help.

Thats true. But, you have to have self awareness knowing your actions reflect on to the team. Pain is real, but a Man doesn't crawl over to his mom because he lost a game. He definitely doesn't do it on National TV. It hurts the team. This is classic of people thinking of themselves first and the team*other people second. Losses can teach so much more than wins. Where were the poor decisions? Did I read the defense correctly? Am I weak under pressure? If he goes crying to his mom after a loss, whats his mental state in the thick of a game? Nerves of Steel. Next Play! Next Quarter! Next Game! Become a machine. Mental toughness can take an average QB and make him really good. The old adage, don't let last weeks game beat you this week. It's all about mental toughness. The world is digressing, we are seeing it on the Grid Iron. One other thing....'I didn't watch the film..I'm moving on'. Sounds selfish to me. Sounds mentally weak for a game that takes mental toughness. Ducks win 51-27 Caleb starts crying to start the 4th quarter.

I hate this debate with a passion. At its core, your record means little. I have zero (0) love for Michigan. They have played nobody. Yet they are undefeated. They should be in the top 5. Yet, by using the metrics of 'who have you played', and 'do you pass the eyeball test', you should have UM below UW at the very least. One could argue Oregon took an undefeated team to the last play with the game in Oregons hands. Shouldn't Oregon be ranked ahead of UM? By that questionable metric one could reasonably argue that. But, I hate opinions when it comes to rankings. Its skewed, its biased, it opens the door to conspiracy and tainted views. Simply play the stinking games and then.....scoreboard. But I'm a puritan for CFB. No trophy's for losers only winners. The playoffs start in the regular season. Round (1) win your conference. 5 players with (7), I prefer (3), at large. Then take the at large and apply your record accordingly. You don't get punished for the conference you are in. If you are 11-1 and another team is 10-2......well? You played your in season and you lost. Want to get in? Don't lose next time. I seriously hate that a bunch of guys can sit around a table and give their opinion to who plays in the playoffs. I also hate that they rank teams before anyone plays a game. Its all fixed. Why even play if you have to play by different rules if you are in a separate conference? Its disgusting. I love College Football.