Mike West

I don't. I just think Mario's stamp is so dominant that this team just chokes. This is like the Stanford games, and the Auburn game. It's like watching boxing versus MMA. Boxers go to their corner when their opponents go down. MMA fighters just pound their opponents when they fall down. Mario is a boxer that recruited boxers. Lanning needs time to rid this mentality completely. He is a killer. He just has regular soldiers instead of special forces. He brought some with him. I think the transfer portal really helped this team because I don't think the team Mario left behind has the mental makeup to win the games this team has won this year.

This is what I mean by lack of killer instinct. A twenty one point lead leads to penalties and bobbled punt snaps that lead to 14 quick points. Mario hexed his players so bad, they still make mistakes well after he is gone. I think if DL was their coach four year ago, the upset in Columbus would have been a rout (like Michigan has done twice). You can't make up stuff like this. It's purely mental. This game was over ten minutes ago. Now we'll see what OBD are made of.

I think execution of the play was the issue. In my eyes, Nix didn't sell the pass to make it a QB Draw instead of a run up the middle. The formation was familiar for a run on that play, but the safety stayed in the extended box, anticipating the run. A simple delay, look to his right at the three receivers on that side would have frozen the safety enough to maybe get the first down. We don't know when players will get injured. That was as much a fluke as Justin Herbert's against Cal( it didn't even look all ike Herbert got hurt on the play). The call was the flip side of success. If Nix converts or scores a TD, we wouldn't be having this conversation. All plays are fifty- fifty chances of success ( a tribute to that is when the defense KNOWS the play,but can't stop it).

It's the pattern I'm talking about. Utah should be done. But plays like that show up out of the blue, andow and behold, the team OBD should kill, gets back in the game. That kind of play changes momentum far too much. And it was constant in the Cristobal era.

I really don't think that fumble touchdown was on the coaches. There just seems to be a too many players from the Cristobal era that are mental mush when it comes to killer instinct. I have never seen so many unforced errors as I've seen since Cristobal came to Eugene. How many changes in momentum will we see with his players?

I'm not really concerned about the offense. How many points does Utah want to score? Frankly, without Bo, it's a matter of how much they want to humiliate OBD. Usually I am verbose beyond patience. But OBD haven't been good in pass coverage since 2019. And it's not the coaches. These players are simply horrible. If I were a WR, I'd be mad at my QB/DC if I didn't get career stats against OBD.

Well, it's really hard to win 24 in a row. Didn't think about that until the game started. But to lose to the FUSKIES really sucks. And after all this drama, it comes down to a PAC12 ref( you know, the conference of champions kind of ref). Oh I really want this conference to die. Too many times refs have cost us titles, and playoff appearances.

Too many DCs are struggling with coverage rules according to the type of formation they face. LB coverage as a support to the secondary is not values enough. That's one thing Kirby Smart has been excellent at. He does have the players, but he isn't afraid to be aggressive against aggressive offenses. His safeties close natural windows pre snap. His LBs almost always close gaps because they are in position according to guess ehat- coverage rules and responsibilities. Safeties and LBs are pivotal is forcing QBs to hold the ball. A QB should not have quick options. LBs and Safeties make that happen. If I had time, I'd go through a plethora of examples. In fact, I'd send them to coaches. Too many coaches misuse their LBs and Safeties in pass coverage . Boy if I got paid for showing how to do it (I obviously have thought a lot about this).

One thing I Like about Dilly is he takes his time uncovering weaknesses in defenses. He felt out how UW's DL pressured Nix, and has adjusted accordingly. We've always known we can run in teams (Georgia didn't stop us), but it's the adjustment against Hurries that I'm impressed with. Passes are quicker, deep routes are timed better (something Nix and Dilly CLEARLY have worked on-and to Nix's strength -inside the hashes). On defense, I still think Dorlus is more of a force inside. Especially at pash rush. And if course, Hill just covered the wrong WR when he's supposed to force the underneath pass (the route he covered instead of bracketing the post route). Who teaches these guys cover responsibility? Safeties always focus on deep routes first. ANOTHER example of looking at the QB instead of the guy you should find and cover. The focus is taking away options, not guessing where the QB will throw the ball. Man, I should have studied football in college. There should be a degree for this since coaches are making millions.

So, I've said time and again linebackers need to cover the man, not the QB. #2 Johnson just demonstrated my point. He goes to the flat to take away an out route. The TE slides inside and Penix hits him for a 1D. If Johnson finds the TE instead, he takes away that option. I am not pleased with DCs that don't emphasize taking away options by getting their LBs to cover receivers. Nobody can watch the QB and find the guy they are supposed to cover.

I just don't get it. Sans the LA schools, their well know brands, UW and Oregon are going to pull national interest to the degree Ohio State, Michigan AND USC does? And thus Garner media contracts worth nearly 1Billion dollars a year? Or let's say, 750 million dollars a year. This, after ESPN offered far less? Where is the additional 35 MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR going to come from? Now if we were talking about the turn of the century, when the conference still prioritized football as part of it's academic reputation (and the conference routinely had five schools hovering near the top ten in rankings and ability), this conundrum would be a no brainer. But alas, the conference of champions in sports that cannot finance athletic budgets (nor the Academic prowess the conference presidents fancy themselves as), figures they are viable and worthy sports icons. Sounds like those participation trophies academia has been passing out the past two decades. In the real world, you EARN your worth. We will certainly see what the conference has earned in value soon enough.

If LSU could beat Bama...then it's Oklahoma State and Clemson to worry about. We have to blow teams out the rest of the year, and tOSU or Michigan has to blow out the other (those two are probably going undefeated till they meet). Tennessee is lurking as a possibility as well. Those with the best shots to me as follows: Georgia Tennessee Clemson Michigan tOSU Bama Outside looking in: Oklahoma State TCU USC UCLA OBD An expanded playoffs would look good with just these ten. I'm not a fan of two or three loss teams. But expansion is going to make teams relax during the season. I hope teams like that get blown to Pluto when expansion happens. Hopefully it forces teams to value winning every game. I'd even consider forgiving the elitist PAC12 Presidents if they start to respect and prioritize football like they should (CEOs never ignore ten percent of their revenue stream- they'd get fired. They aren't held to account, and that ticks me off). Win out. That's the focus I hope OBD are looking towards. One blowout at a time.

I'm really hoping OBD run the table and face/ defeat tOSU again, but in the Rose Bowl. It would take Michigan blowing out the Buckeyes again, and an undefeated Clemson to make that happen. If it does, that would be an awesome outcome after being exposed as a "pretender" early in the season. Not to mention, back to back victories over the most marquee team available would be a statement the college football nation would not ignore. 13-1... redemption...giving tOSU a second loss, but this time on the grandest stage we could acquire after that horrible loss: priceless One can only dream.

Is it just me, or does anyone else think Brandon Dorlus is an interior line specialist instead of a defensive end? I have seen a serious drop in production from him. He s looks out of position often, and hasn't really been an impact to me this season. In years past, he was a beast inside. I'm just not impressed with Dorlus this year. Am I want off base here? I'm seeing a "Fat Mac" kind of mistake moving him to DE so he could raise his NFL stock. He definitely has not created many havoc plays like he used to. I'm curious to hear your opinions about Brandon Dorlus.

UCLA 35-31 1 TO 0 Sacks 230 Pass Yards

I don't want to sound too sarcastic here. But I sure don't know many one hundred employee companies where the employees make 59 k a year, their direct bosses make 159k to 300k, the next level management makes at least a mil, and the big boss makes 5-10 million. I don't see millions of people cheer regular front line employees either. For their forty hour a week plus efforts to generate a world class product. It just doesn't happen often. Some sixty institutions are doing exactly that. I'm not socialist, but in the entertainment industry, the front line players get paid handsomely because they generate Billions in revenue. Sound familiar? The players create memories we hold dear the rest of our lives. They generate value few people could even dream of creating. Do I want a bunch of prima Donna boys hoisting their lifestyles? No. But those boys do things we couldn't do in if we tried a million times. We cherish the moments. We spend hours a week talking about it. How many of the other 15,000 regular students in Eugene do that? So why are we complaining about the recruitment of some of the finest moments a human being will experience? Those kids wouldn't create such memories if they practiced five hours a week, watching no film, and spending no time getting bigger stronger and faster. I haven't seen one intramural stud make plays on Sports Center. I never will. He doesn't work as hard as these student athletes do. He doesn't sacrifice the college experience the regular students relish in. That has value we want to out a ceiling on. Yet expect world class performances. I didn't use to feel this way about it. But we didn't see NFL type money being thrown around at the college level till recently either. Is it proper that colleges try to breach contracts signed? No. But are these contracts a reflection of the value these kids bring to life these days? Nope. There is a balance between what we want, and what reality is these days. The industry is a multi Billion Dollar Enterprise. It isn't Kansas with Toto.

Road warriors focus on the task at hand. Cried noise probably ticks them off. Makes them want to silence the crowd even more. And when they are the type of team that can, they will. Hostile crowds are road kill as far as road warriors are concerned. Killer instinct teams drop nuclear bombs on crowds. Silence them forever. Pete Carroll and his USC henchman are a great example. They sent many home crowds home early. Lanning understand this. A determined team wants to punish home crowds. I want OBD to play like that. Play like an assassin. Even if it's on Mars.

I disagree with this notion. I'm thinking the money movers on Vegas are all over this six points. UCLA has a real shot at winning this game. Even though this is only their second road game. OBD are Mulligan men. They will need to play flawlessly to win this one. We are about to see a much better test than WSU. As we now see, WSU looks like they based their entire season on OBD. They have thuded back to reality. Can't wait to see what our Oregon men do this week.

The arrogance the Presidents displayed warrants relegating then to the academic prowess they believe they are.. I want my pound of flesh. They ignored the one sport that covers the entire athletic department's finances. Conference wide. USC is an Academic Power. They prioritize both their athletic and academic reputation, as they should. The conference should suffer the consequences accordingly. Let them draw their Rhoades Scholars. They deserve Academic Trophies. That's exactly where they belong.

Well Utah dropped 42 on little brother. I'm not sold the damn builders are all that. They yielded 27 to Stanford as well. And suffice it to say, USC, you know the defense we expected WSU to shred, held the "powerful" Cougars to 14. Thus, I am not convinced Oregon State is anything but Ordinary on Defense. I'm not saying OBD can stop anybody lethal. Heck I'm worried about UCLA right now. I do "know" this: I expect OBD to shred little brother. I'd be offended if they didn't. Kool Aide Mike has spoken.

We had that. The coach was Willie Taggert. The offense was the Gulf Coast Offense. And it was unstoppable. In fact Justin Herbert (on bad days) was the only the person that did stop that offense ( injury and a very bad day of throwing to defenders he was looking directly at). And if you doubt that, look at the highlights from 2017. It was the only time Herbert played at Oregon like he does today.

I liken this team to Luke Skywalker at the beginning of The Empire Strikes back. They are learning the ways of the force, but are still impetuous enough to leave before they finish their training. It takes major focus to reach the level of "Yoda,Obi Wan, Qui Gon and Mace Windu". Those were Jedi a nation would fear. Like Georgia, and the Alabama teams of years past... The 2001 Miami Hurricanes. I'm greedy. But patient. This team is possible top ten material. But they are not Jedi yet. It's more fun now. But it's obvious this team is going through growing pains.

The very best move Mario made was going back to Miami. He got exposed a season earlier than I expected, but we all know we dodged a massive bullet when he refused our contract offer. It is ironic when you think about it. Both Mario and the Snake had the talent to land OBD in the title game again. Both walked right in to own demise instead. It won't happen this year. Probably not next. But if Dan Lanning is as good as he seems to be, OBD may end up right back to 2007. With enough talent to actually win the Natty. Thank you Mario Cristobal. For being who you are as a coach. And relinquishing control of OBD to someone who might actually have the ability to finish what Brooks, Bellotti, and PK started.

Right now I'm not sure this team can overcome the mulligans they're giving ordinary teams. Michigan ( and just about every other tier two Big Ten team like Penn State) would gladly take those gifts and rout us like Oklahoma did last year. I too would rather get smoked in the playoffs than in the Rose Bowl. The optics of a beatdown in Pasadena wouldn't look good to highly talented sophomores in high school (they're far too shallow to have the kind of vision to recognize an emerging Oregon as a potential powerhouse with DL in 3-4 years). Potential gets people fired. Performance gets people driving bonuses. Let's see OBD perform instead of hope they'll reach their potential.

We should feel lucky. I can think of several teams behind them that might embarrass them. OBD are good, but not top 15 good. Clemson will have to lose twice now to get eliminated. They are living on last decade's accomplishments right now ( a complete shadow of those awesome teams). Utah would give Clemson a run for the money had they finished off Florida. USC can lose one, and the media would hype them. Man I hope we face them undefeated and just obliterate them. But, I fear another loss or two is coming. And to think, I just bragged OBD would decide the fate of the conference. Talk about embarrassing myself!!! Sometimes Green and Yellow Kool Aide is simply irresistible.