SoutheastDuck

It's also hard to quantify the impact of his hand injury, he was nursing it after he hit it on the helmet with 5:01 left in the 1st Qtr and he's mentioned in interviews it's fine for Saturday and that he's been icing it this week. So it's not nothing, and you can't help but wonder how much it affected his confidence and hesitation with longer throws against Idaho. It obviously didn't help him, but how much did it actually affect his game. Hopefully this was a bigger factor that we aren't aware of, and thus shouldn't be an issue this Saturday. Regardless, we've seen what he can do at OK and he should be significantly better this week.

Meyer commended Lanning for assembling the "best pain-in-the-butt staff in the country." He said Lanning and Co.'s game plans on offense and defense remind him of the ones he deployed during his championship-winning stops at Florida and Ohio State. I love Urban's take on the coaching and play calling. "Their staff is the best pain-in-the-butt staff in the country," Meyer said. "We would always do whatever the defense didn't want to see. I'd sit in the defensive rooms, and I'd ask them, 'What drives you nuts?' Whatever did I put it in on offense. I did the same on the other side of the ball. When I watch Oregon play, that's them. They're a pain in the butt all over the field. I love watching them plan. I'm a big fan of Oregon. Every one of their plays has a purpose." Dan Lanning called Ohio State matchup 'biggest game in Oregon history,' per Urban Meyer 247SPORTS.COM Lanning emphasizes the regular season matchup over the program's two national championship appearances. Interesting take on Dillon as well. "The question is whether Dillon Gabriel is good enough to take them to the promised land," Meyer said. "I watched him closely. I love him as a player. I love him as a leader. He's not a first round draft pick. He's not. He's not very big. I stood right next to him. But he gets the ball where it needs to be. When he scrambles, he does a hell of a job. He's an incredible leader. To go from 10 wins to 13 is a big jump, man."

What's encouraging about that prediction though, is Ohio State is the only obstacle. It's stupid how much talent Ohio State has amassed, Will Howard as their QB is the biggest X factor, he's good, but most don't consider him an elite QB talent. Is the immense depth on the rest of the team enough to make this irrelevant? It will be fun to watch. Oct 12th collision date.

The article I read had Oregon at 10-2? I assume that's two losses to Ohio State. Stewart Mandel’s Big Ten predictions: Ohio State is the clear favorite WWW.NYTIMES.COM The Big Ten is bigger, but is it better? Oregon should be very good, but not much is expected from the other newcomers this fall.

I had coffee with a CEO friend in Scottsdale last week, he is an ASU grad and heavily involved from an alumni perspective. He informed me that key boosters told him Dillingham was essentially a lock as of the end of October. Already a buzz among the high school coaches the last month and driving more talent to stay in-state. Makes you wonder what level of distraction this was for Kenny, we all know Mario was checked out last year once the Miami gig was a done deal. I would put money on Duce Robinson going to ASU now as well. I do think the limp #$%@ NCAA should put some level of restriction on coach poaching mid-season.