Mike West

Oh the mighty Ivy League West!!!!!

Quick question Darren: was it too unrealistic to expect an undefeated season after the victory in Columbus? The talent was there. We saw what happened in the Alamo Bowl. The was some extremely bad decision-making this year in my opinion. Moving forward, is there any shot at another September surprise in your opinion? Do we have enough defense to keep the game close? I see SO Much talent in that side of the ball. Can't wait till the Spring Game!

I believe we have that already... The PAC12. And the conference promotes its prowess on Olympic Sports to boot. I don't think that's working out to well. In fact, I believe the Olympic Sports are in jeopardy from that very strategy. Should we jump into the fray? Depends on if we really believe the Ivy League model will pan out and produce enough revenue to support all the sports the conference values. I believe we discussed the impact NIL is having yesterday, from none other than Saint Nick himself. Now I happen to believe Nick Saban will thrive no matter what. It seems Saban is far more concerned about recent trends because it definitely will leave dozens of schools behind ( and their Athletic Departments as well). Now it makes sense to me to expand the playoffs. I'm not sure that will stem the tide because I personally believe there are only twenty to thirty schools capable of producing quality football at this point in time. It was clear to most NIL was going to ruin the college game. But I believe astronomic coaching salaries was the beginning of the end. Programs looking at this like academics is going to save the game ( more like the status quo )aren't realistic in my opinion. Look at Stanford, Cal and UCLA for instance. The more academic they go, the less competitive they've been. Combine that with this new arms race. I doubt Harvard will even compete with Army anytime soon. That's about what UCLA v. Oregon looks like present day. I dread the thought the Conference of Champions doubling down on their current path. Forget about G5 status. I'm thinking practically high school versus P5. Cal is practically dead on arrival as we speak already. Who knows, maybe it's best to let the schools that want NFL "light" go their own way. The question then becomes whether FOX, CBS and ESPN will sponsor the remnants of this fiasco. One last thought: If we balk at this emerging scene, will Television executives leave the present system behind ( if we don't go to games, why would they televise them)? Talk about being stuck in a present scenario we don't want... Answers are going to be hard to come by going forward.

Did anyone REALLY think Nick Saban isn't going to adjust, then out that dagger in again to ask these guys? A&M hasn't come close to a division title, despite their HC also winning a national title. I do like the idea of the player staying with the team he signed with. But it sure exposes just how much student athlete has disappeared from the game. I love what Kansas did with their walk on hero... They gave him an NIL deal the week after his famous TD. I also like what AB did for his teammates. That does true leadership in my opinion. Teams and ADs that come up with ideas like that are going to keep their players happy.

Overall, yes it's a huge risk. But if you can't beat these teams then you don't deserve to be in the playoffs. OBD have been insane schedulers. High risk, high reward. And as Herm Edwards famously stated " you play to win the game". Who honestly thought we'd even hold a lead on Auburn, beat Utah for MC's first conference title, or.... wait.... Beat the Buckeyes in the Horseshoe? That was with a coach packing a scud missile for an offense. Can you see the possibilities now? Fear not!

Exactly. And they still couldn't get open. Why would you throw to a covered WR?

My thoughts exactly

The PAC12 will get better when the conference Presidents make revenue sports the focal point. We already know money is driving the sport. College Football is basically minor league football. The players finally get a shot at decent paydays, which is only fair given the greed in the sport. We can go Ivy League West if we want. That is an automatic trend towards G5 status as far as I'm concerned. Let's just call a spade a spade and be done with it. We will be left behind if we continue to promote Olympics Sports as our claim to Fame (and we may end up driving them out of business as a result). Just saying.

Balance? Do you really think recruiting powers will lose their grip? It will be same as it ever was. The powerful will stay powerful, and the pretenders will get exposed. Utah is the first former G5 team to win a conference title. Took ten years. And that was because a lousy coach was on the fence about staying with an up and coming power. We will see more playoff blowout's among an occasional upset. That will get boring really fast in my opinion.

Good arguments here. My concern is how teams schedule from the time the playoffs expand. This year we saw Cinci at " No Dame "( who hasn't won a bowl game in years); MSU at Miami; Oregon at tOSU: Oklahoma State at Boise State; LSU at UCLA. Sure, players will stay if the playoffs expand. But won't we just see the G5 get annihilated time and again now that P5 teams will have something at stake ( especially if they don't get vetted by having to play two legit P5 teams)? What about a three loss conference champs? Teams won't concentrate on winning in the regular season, and will avoid challenging matchups OOC ( see the SEC already, and G5 teams will definitely avoid tough games) to pad their record. I already know Cincinnati is unqualified. The only benefit to me is my bank account expands. But we'll see garbage playoff games because a diluted playoff pool with expose an already unbalanced talent pool ( do you really think the recruiting powers are going to lose out- especially the well coached teams? I don't). Scheduling hides the pretenders till November. And November already acts like the playoffs. You have to win to qualify. So do we want to expand to see some ( fewer than twenty actually) stay another game? We already see blowouts at the semi final level. That will only look worse if some Cinderella advances. The regular season will be dead, and it will only look like a money grab since we won't see the likes of Oklahoma State vs Boise State anymore. Not to mention, three to four years of boring and predictable playoffs. Just my take.

Why do so many people say this? JH didn't have NFL caliber WRs at Oregon to display his true prowess. I'm just going to have to write an analysis article to settle this for good. And the evidence is there. There wasn't a single year JH had the kind of talent at Oregon that he has in LA. Point blank. And I'm going to prove it. I'm tired of this argument because MC has his flaws. To much bias is going on. And the biggest evidence is all over Charger highlights. There isn't a single Oregon WR in 2019 that caught up to JH's passes the way LA WRs do. I dare anyone to prove it otherwise.

Oh it was apparent this year. The problem is most coaches run their offense to suit their egos. The one flaw I saw was their secondary. A lifelong friend of mine from Ohio discussed the game this week. We BOTH thought the Buckeyes would torch that secondary. We just wondered if the Utes had enough of a run game to win the game, because we also think Ohio State can't stop the run. Utah is a hard nosed football team just outside the talent level to be lethal. They don't beat themselves, you have to outplay them. But it was clear early this year you could beat their secondary (BYU exposed them).

He's smart. My Dad loves him. I'm not convinced. And I believe Oklahoma exposed his lack of speed. He'll do fine, but his AA status truly put him in a position to exploit the Draft I wish him luck, because the NFL is ruthless. All his flaws will get exposed. And though I believe Oregon's coaches put him in bad position often ( in pre snap formations), he has shown he lacks the closing speed he needs to make enough plays in the NFL. He's a Duck. I'll always support him. He had a great year ( especially for him). I know how I'd attack him, and I believe NFL coaches are going to exploit some of his weaknesses. Let's hope he gets better coaching than he did these past four years ( same for Mykael Wright).

I believe Funa is another who k is better than he had performed so far. That guy used to seal the edge and make plays. Dinner of that is scheme in my opinion, some of it technique. I expect him to truly devour this year.

The only problem I have with that is the SEC IS GEORGIA AND BAMA. The rest of the conference isn't really that much better than the rest of the nation. They hide this by ducking strong teams in the regular season. Does anyone think A&M can handle Ohio State in September? Oklahoma? Clemson? I certainly don't. Every year two or three SEC teams are a cut above, and they use the rankings of the rest to bolster their conference. I've been complaining about this since USC trashed Auburn in 2002 and 2003. For the most part, only five or six teams have what it takes each year to win the title. We don't figure that out to mid November. But I know this, the SEC is fraudulent. Just a mirage. The SEC isn't a standalone product. ESecPN knows this. Perhaps the Alliance will destroy the narrative the SEC is the premiere conference. Perhaps not.

Can you imagine if they actually had a running game? Alabama is 84th in the nation this year running the ball. They doubled their average per game yesterday. They wouldn't have needed to pass the ball if they had their usual prolific running game in other words. I seethe like a pressure cooker at any discussion the G5 is qualified to play for a national title.

Six points. Says everything one can say about the prospects of G5 teams having a shot at competing with the real boys. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. They had absolutely no business in the playoff. None. I've said this consistently for years. Football doesn't reward Cinderellas. They lack depth, they lack ability. It angers me there is even discussion about it being fair to include them. Frankly Scarlett, it is an insult. They're extremely lucky Bama is stunningly horrific at running the ball. I seriously don't want to hear another word about the qualifications of G5 teams. They are beyond unqualified. It was predictable, and everybody knows it. All one had to do was watch this year's Cinci v. Indiana game to realize Cinci was going to get throttled by ANY true playoff candidate ( not simply the entrants, but the authentic top ten teams in college football). The only thing more upsetting is the PAC12 is heading towards G5 status. Rapidly. We better beat down BYU next year, or I'm going to start acting like Marvin the Martian. That's how little respect I have for the G5.

Canzano didn't say anything that wasn't already obvious. If you don't have a QB that can win games for you, and if your defense isn't good enough to stop a good QB enough times to do some damage yourself, you won't win championships. It does take an identity, but if you can't do those two things, you'll just have an identity. No titles. I believe it's more important to get the most out of your players. To motivate them to give their all. The rest will take care of itself if they're good enough. When we see a team that doesn't hurt itself, plays the best they can giving all they have, we'll be happy with the results. Players and coaches. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be their best. Sounds cliche. It's pretty simple, and it is the most difficult thing any organization can achieve.

Nope

Not only that, lots of experts that follow Oregon saw the WR room in the spring Game and elevated the Ducks' status. It really points out just how MC handcuffed this offense. And yes, Brown's arm strength was never a flaw. What a waste of talent. If MC wants to keep his job more than two years he better use that very good QB of his immediately. Doubt he will, butt he's be really stupid not to after seeing what happened last night.

Demonstrating they had no business in the playoff in the first place. We all knew this. Football is not basketball. There are no Cinderellas in football. You are elite, or you are ordinary. We're about to witness not only how ordinary the G5 is, but how ordinary the majority of the SEC is.

Integrity matters. Usually I blather on about subjects. This time I just want to say I don't want my University tarnished going after that elusive title.

Hard to argue your premise Jon. That first effort to add A&M, Oklahoma, Texas and Oklahoma State was the best effort to preserve the solid reputation the conference had. Since then, the "Conference of Champions" look to sports that clearly don't fund the Athletic Departments of our "prestigious" set of universities. Meanwhile, the BCS successfully reduced USC to ashes. Nobody was in the Trojans' realm for seven full years. I do argue it was necessary to keep the SEC in it's place, which USC did at the beginning of the century. Those ole boys learned quickly to avoid Southern Cal and build their narrative in the meantime ( nobody dared face USC after they annihilated Auburn in prime time). Unfortunately, s few bad ref calls thwarted OBD when we took the mantle with Chip, and that was all she wrote for the PAC12 ( as the Fuskies didn't have a complete enough QB to finish off Bama when they clearly were good enough to). Now the mighty Presidents of our academically elite conference are slowly collapsing it into dust as West Coast Recruits obviously recognize Olympic Sports matter more than revenue generating sports. Tisk tisk.

Maybe a strategy to use to leverage ESecPN? I doubt they truly believe the SEC is a standalone product. They're too boring. ESPN would certainly block any move to their Monopoly coverage of the bowl games. I actually believe you're more correct about the Super League. I'll tell you this: the PAC12 is moving closer to the talent level of the MWC every day. I'm beginning to think the conference Presidents are too arrogant to recognize the peril they are in. USC better have a banner 2022, and I sure hope the others (including OBD) start winning their OOC games (including the bowls). There is no justification for Oregon State losing to Utah State Street beating Utah. That is more telling than USC falling from grace in my opinion.

Are you sure our brand came from airing it out? I seen to recall tOSU shutting down The Helfrich passing game, and Chip refused to pass it when required in Tucson. I believe our brand originated from explosive plays. Saban recognized it, and now used it as his weapon of mass destruction. Lanning called it out as a requirement. As far as UGA's defense. Neither UGA nor Bama can stop explosive offenses. Or anybody for that matter. Even LSU didn't completely shut down Clemson, they just took away their explosive nature. You need all three units to win. Definitely a defense that averages less than 17 ppg all year( can't stop everybody every time), backed by an offense that explodes enough to win a battle of attrition when teams they play are equally lethal. We're in uncharted territory. And unless the coaches you're concerned about have current allegations, do you believe they deserve scrutiny based on their merit overall? Especially the past two to three years? Well see soon enough what Lanning produces. I base my evaluations on the present. Hence, I'm waiting to see what MC does in Miami (I believe he will ultimately fail, but the ACC surly isn't the SEC, so he isn't in immediate danger). I also am curious about Lanning's ultimate strategy. We won't get any ideas until at least the Spring. Though I understand the dread ( so many unknown factors), I'm curious why most of us seem to drift negative at any sign of trouble. Hopium springs eternal...until further notice.