Jon Joseph

The Fansville curse. Ironic that Williams appears in a Fansville advertisement in which a fan worries about Caleb being cursed. Fansville jinxed DJU and now Williams. But Williams is getting a lot more jinx help from his head coach than from The Boz. Sit out? This would doom any shot at being the 1st round pick.

Great take. Yet Pete Carroll embraced the Hollywood culture and built one heck of a program. Riley, whatever he does in regard to the glitterati or not, inherited a program from Bob Stoops and has never built his own program. Keeping Grinch? At Wazzu in a bad conference, Grinch did well. He was suspect, along with co-DC Schiano, at Ohio State. Did fine in the B12 at OK with a huge roster advantage. Stepped up into the PO, and Grinch was lost. Any HC with a bit of objectivity would have let Grinch go after last season. I think, DUH, Riley is one heck of an OC but is not going to make it with his philosophy and, he isn't lighting it up when it comes to recruiting. His portal pickings will not make up for mediocre recruiting and a culture that does not teach toughness. OREGON, OR ST, UW, AZ, WSU, and Utah of course, all have better HCs. None of whom are making $10M a year. One disappointment I have with future B1G schedules is that OREGON does not play SC every season.

Yet, roster strength in the NFL, even for the worst teams, is all Blue Chip after sorting out players after playing at least 3 seasons of college ball. In the penultimate regular season game 16, no NFL team plays a Canadian League or an Arena League team. At the very least, all conferences should play the same number of conference games. Like the NFL, this will not assure equal schedules but will assure that lightweights are not being body bag sacrificed late in the season. Alabama vs. Vandy is tougher than Bama vs. UL-Monroe late in the season. Just like Oregon tripping to ASU instead of playing San Jose State at home.

A bit of a repeat post but what a difference a year (decade?) makes when it comes to the conference with the toughest scheduling gauntlet. Playing 9 conference games matters. No Playoff champ to date, played 9 conference games. (In year 1 of the Playoff, Ohio State played 8.) This is a fair fight, right? With 8 conference games, note some of the [dreck] FSU, Bama, and Ole Miss have coming up. 2, Two, Dos, SEC teams in 2023 play 10 games vs. the P5. The rest, 9. Shameful. PAC-12 - 5. Washington - At 24. USC/ 13. Utah/ At 11. Oregon Stae 8. OREGON - At 13. Utah/ 24. USC/ 11. Oregon State 11. Oregon State - 5. Washington/ At 8. Oregon 13. Utah - 8. OREGON/ At 5. Washington 24. USC - 5. Washington/ At 8. OREGON/ 23. UCLA ACC - 4. Florida State - None. [North Alabama] B 12 - 6. Oklahoma and 7. Texas - None. B1G - 2. Michigan - At 10. Penn State/ 3. Ohio State 3. Ohio State - At 2. Michigan 10. Penn State - 2. Michigan SEC - 1. Georgia - 20. Mizzou/ 12. Ole Miss/ At 21. Tennessee 9. Alabama - 15. LSU/ [Chattanoga] 12. Ole Miss - At 1. Georgia/ 21. Tennessee/ [LA Monroe] Is there another sport anywhere with more disparate schedules? Schedules, unlike the CBB Committee, are ignored by the CFB Committee.

Kirkland, What was the 2nd thing? You say 'Rashada.' I say, 'I can't remember Momma.'

Happy Halloween! Almost. The 1st Playoff Committee (CT) rankings will be released on All Hollows Eve. It would be scary based on precedent but it sure would be a treat and not a trick to see the CT pay attention to the quality of teams that have been played and not simply wins and losses. OREGON is currently ranked 8. in the AP but 16. based on Strength of Record (SOR.) SOR is a measure of how teams have performed against their opponents, and opponent quality, to date. I have added Strength of Schedule (SOS) to date/ future SOS, and the AP Week 9 Top-25 teams, if any, defeated by the top-ranked SOR teams. Utah makes the Top 10 SOR ranking. Other future OREGON opponent SOR to date are also shown below. 1. Ohio State - 20/10 - 10. Penn State - 14. Notre Dame. Will a D and not an O-oriented tOSU carry on? 2. FSU - 29/54 - 15. LSU - 20. Duke - Watch out for Miami. Great OT win over Clemson behind 2nd string QB. 3. Oklahoma - 47/38 - 7. Texas - Tested at home by UCF. Kansas on-the-road Saturday could be interesting. 4. Washington - 72/17 - 8. Oregon - 3rd most difficult remaining SOS. A nap (after close to an ASU nightmare) on The Farm and then ...? 5. Alabama - 7/32 - 12. Ole Miss - 21. Tennessee. Like tOSU, Saint Nick is doing it with D. 6. Texas - 6/28 - 9. Alabama. The best win to date for any 1L team. But the QB is dinged up. 7. Ole Miss - 9/31 - 15. LSU - 22. Tulane - Tied for the lead in the SEC W. Have the tie-breaker vs. LSU but not Bama. 8. Georgia - 109/7 - None - The toughest remaining schedule on this list was not expected preseason. 9. Michigan - 110/2 - None - Michigan finally will play a few opponents with a heartbeat. 10. Utah - 41/21 - 24. USC - I agree with Charles. In SLC, the toughest Ducks game left on the schedule. But OREGON also has to play AP 11 and 24! WOW! .................................................................................................................................................................... 16. OREGON - 74/39 - None - A Win in SLC will help come Halloween. (DUH! Pass me the Reese's Pieces.) Future Opponent SOR. In order of appearance on the schedule. 10. Utah - See above. 67. Cal - 31/26 - None 28. USC - 58/13 - None 118. ASU - 53/33 - None 19. Oregon State - 93/15 - 13. Utah - 23. UCLA. Beavers are hurt by a bad out-of-conference schedule. Based on Top-25 wins, IL Oregon State should be ahead of Penn State and arguably, ahead of OREGON (Gulp.) In a season of parity, it should be a great finish; especially, in a brutal Pac-12. GO DUCKS!

College Gameday in town (I'll have to watch even with McAfee jumping around like a hormonally goosed teenager. McAfee, due to 49% of folks watching his antics and not being happy with the same, 20% neutral, may not be back on CGD next season. Make it so!) Oregon is 0-1 in front of CGD this season. Will Mel Brooks (disguised as Lee Corso) once again diss Puddles? Bryson Barnes is now 5-0 when he starts at QB. 235 pass yards in LA. 57 rush yards with a late 26-yard gain on the ground setting up the winning FG. And he exemplified what the Utah program is about, overcoming a late-in-the-game pick-6 to lead Utah to victory. Safety Sione Vaki, played both ways, starting also at RB, due to several injuries, the week before the SC game. Against SC, Vaki put up 217 total yards. 58 rushing and 149 yards receiving, catching all 5 passes thrown to him. Hopefully, the two injured Ducks CBs will return for this game and the Ducks pass D will improve after giving up 438 yards to Cam Ward. (But hats off to Williams - 14 tackles.) Credit where it is due, the Ducks D only gave up 57 rush yards to WSU and limited Ward's ability to run the ball. FPI gives the Ducks an over 60% chance to win the game. Oregon opened at -3.5 and has been bet up to -5.5. A very generous spread IMO. Since 1933, Oregon is 9-7 in SLC with the last win coming in 2018, 30-28 with Justin Herbert throwing 4 2nd-half TD passes. [How about this stat. Bo Nix set the all-time CFB record last Saturday with his 54th CFB start at QB. Bo's first start came against OREGON (sigh), quarterbacked by Justin Herbert. On Sunday last, Justin Herbert made his 55th NFL start.] OREGON's run game last Saturday was outstanding. I have no idea why Stein opened the 3rd Q with pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, punt. Utah will not be out finessed. The Utes D gave up 401 yards to SC in LA which is not bad at all. Smash mouth these guys and keep on smash-mouthing mixed in with a few (thank you, Charles) Bird Bombs. The OREGON OL has exceeded expectations this season. Take advantage. And it is now the season stretch run. If it's there, do not hesitate to run Bo. GO DUCKS!

A bit more on ASU. In its last 3 games, ASU has held opponents to 4.5 yards per play (YPP) and overachieved SP+ D projections by 13.2 points a game. UW averaged 5.2 YPP after giving up 6.8 YPP to OREGON, which was its lowest total of the season before the ASU game. Against WSU, the OREGON D surrendered 7 YPP. At Stanford should not be a problem for UW. But then it's at USC, Utah, at Oregon State, and the Apple Cup vs. a fired-up WSU. As many of us noted in the preseason, running any schedule with 1 L with 9 conference games this season will be one heck of a feat.

OregonDucks - Great point in Dilly having perhaps, no confidence in his kicker, who did have an FG blocked earlier in the game. But from the 12-yard line, you have to think that the kicker had a better shot of kicking the ball than going for it on 4th and 3. And your D has been playing tremendous football it's late in the game. Worst case, you turn the ball over to UW on its own 12. In my old-school opinion, kick the darn FG!

Bryson Barnes is 5-0 in games he has started at QB for the Utes. Utah Football: 3 Takeaways from Thrilling Victory over USC SATURDAYBLITZ.COM The Utah Utes emerge victorious after a walk-off field goal at the Colosseum. A look at how this result affects the Pac-12 standings and CFP Outlook. The m...

J Duck, did you watch the Penn State/Ohio State game yesterday? Woefully inconsistent on calls and non-calls. The B1G refs in Iowa stole the Hawkeyes game-winning punt return. The only ones confused by whether or not the player signaled for a fair catch were the refs. None of the Minnesota players thought that a fair catch was called or held up on the play because of a fair catch signal. And I still haven't forgiven B1G refs for not calling Dyer down. I think there is equal opportunity for bad refereeing across the CFB landscape. But Pac-12 refs are always in contention to be the most rotten apples in the barrel. Dilly's 4th down attempt in the 4th quarter last night was another case of not taking the points. But how the refs could have waived off PI the play before is beyond me.

Doctor, the beavers may be too busy paying lawyers to make the smart decision. But why go earn playoff money when you can rip off playoff money earned by other teams?

W - Wishing for a B12 invite?

This week's pretend 2024 Playoff field - Week 9 AP rankings, accounting for conference realignment, and a 5 conference champ 7 at large format. Playoff seeding due to 4 highest ranked champs being seeded 1 - 4 does not necessarily match AP rankings. 1. Georgia - SEC vs. 9 OREGON at 8. Texas 2. Michigan - B1G vs. 10. Alabama at 7. Oklahoma 3. FSU - ACC vs. 11. Penn State at 6. Washington 4. Oregon State - MW vs. 12. Utah - B12 at 5. Ohio State. 5 B1G/ 4 SEC /1 ACC, B12, MW. Yes, Virginia, there is a Power 2. And no, Virginia, you are not a member. (But one heck of a win at UNC!)

Whoops! That's 8 Oregon.

Puddles best be wide awake flying into SLC to take on The Wizard of Wasatch (thanks, Jon Wilner) and his gritty group. This Saturday's game is the CFB Game of the Day, #9 at #13, on a day that features but 2 top 25 vs. top 25 matchups. (The other game is 20.Duke at 18. Louisville.) Utah will be fired up after its great win and LA.

Week 9. Only 2 Top 25 vs. Top 25 games. 20. Duke at 18. Louisville and the weekend headliner, 9. OREGON at 13. Utah. On Big Fox at 3:30. Meanwhile, 5 (?) UW is shuffled off to FS1 for the second week in a row. Probably a good thing for Harry the Husky that no one was up late enough to watch UW stumble and bumble its way to a win. 6. Pac-12 teams ranked with UCLA moving up to 23. and USC hanging in at 24. Someone, please explain to me why 11. Oregon State with 2 top-25 wins is behind 10. Penn State? Penn State has zero top-25 wins and was found floating face down on the 50-yard line in Columbus.

What a great gritty win by the Utes. 4 in a row for a team with character galore against a bunch of posers. (And hosers.) As David noted, SC players show up to be interviewed after Ws but not Ls. Great way to install character in your players, right Riley? And hats off to the Heisman winner who did not stick around to congratulate the other team including a 2-star QB who engineered the win. BTW - It's official. Rising and all-conference TE Kuithe, are both out for the season. Many believe that Rising will use this as a red shirt year and be back in 2024. If so, he will probably lead Utah to a B12 title.

There are hangovers, and then there are massive, migraine hangovers. ASU is UW's nemesis. UW is now 5-19 all-time vs. ASU. Last year's loss at ASU denied UW a trip to the 2022 champ game. UW's 1st win in 22 years without scoring a TD on O. 13 rush yards by UW is the lowest total in a win in 25 years. Another 4th down folly, this time by Dilly. ASU was up 7-6 late in the 4th quarter and had the ball 4th and 3 on the UW 12-yard line. ASU's D had dominated the Huskies. Instead of kicking a FG to push the lead to 4, Dilly goes for it and it's a Pick 6 and the winning points for UW. SIGH. As Charles so noted, bad referring (what's new out West) but kick the darn FG. In the last 2 seasons J. Smith, Dan Lanning, and Dilly, have left points on the board in one score defeats in Seattle. Fortunately for UW, the game was played late at night on FS1. AP voters must have been asleep and not watching because UW remains ranked at #5. I think this game was more of a case of what UW did not do instead of what ASU did. Next up for UW, at Stanford at 7 PM Saturday again on FS1. Meanwhile, 9. Oregon trips to 13. Utah to play The Wizard of the Wasatch in the game of the day. (Thank you, Jon Wilner, for the Wizard reference.) Oregon opened at -3.5. This is only 1 of 2 top 25 vs. top 25 games being played on 11/28. (The other is 18. Louisville vs. 20. Duke.) If GameDay is not in SLC, where else is it going to go? Kyle Whittingham had a terrific comment after the great and gutty win by Utah against now 24. ranked USC - (paraphrase) 'Our pig farmer QB (UTES walk-on QB Bryson Barnes grew up on a pig farm) beat the Heisman-winning QB.' This was Utah's 4th straight W over USC. One program has guts and is greater than the sum of its parts, and then there is USC. Oregon best show up in SLC with a bad attitude and ready to play ball from the jump.

UW has the choke out and they are pulling on it. Does anyone want to win the Heisman? How about BO!

Rock, paper, scissors? Or, the team with the best uniform combinations?

Based on this evening in the Coli, you may need to cheer against B12 teams.

WOW! On a Saturday that only featured 4 top 25 vs. top 25 games, could you ask for anything more? Bama was getting punched in the mouth but as has often been the case this season The Tide owned the 2nd half vs. the Vols. UNC loses to UVA! UVA? Mario wins his first ACC home game and the Dabo's now have 3 Ls. FSU looked good late vs. a tough Duke. Duke? The 2 B12 teams ticketed to the B12 champ game, TX and OK, barely survived. Oregon wins but Cam Ward goes 34 of 48 for 438 yards! More than 100 yards the presumptive Heisman winner put up last Saturday. Thank goodness for a great run game but the Ducks best be ready for a 15-rounder in SLC. Utah behind its 2nd, 3rd, whatever string QB, wins in LA. Next week in SLC will not be an easy out. Whit is a heck of a coach, and this could be his best season ever coaching the Runnin' Utes. Rising will red shirt. Oregon State shutting down Utah in Corvallis is looking even better. But look out Beavers for AZ in Tucson. I watched the Ohio State vs. Penn State heavyweight fight and could not help but think that OREGON and UW would beat both of these teams. Michigan plastered Michigan State. B1G deal. Michigan has played and plays no one until it trips to Penn State. The all-time Under was on the line for Minnesota at Iowa and the Gophers 12-10 win went under the under. Man. this season is so much fun. Be it the portal, NIL, or whatever, parity abounds. GO DUCKS!

Hats off to the Ducks for not letting the last game get you down and not looking ahead to SLC. That's good play and good coaching.

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