Jon Joseph

Could not have been any better for the Ducks. The Eye Test carries on. Now, the Ducks play the #3 team, UW, in Vegas on Friday night. OREGON 5 and Ohio State 6. Perfect for the Ducks, perfect. Hats off to the Committee for giving Puddles the eye test love. Defeat #3 UW Friday night and Oregon is in the final Final 4. With a good chance even should FSU win, of moving up to 3 for a playoff Rose Bowl 1st PO season Rose Bowl redux. UW at 3 and Oregon at 5 is love for the Pac-12 that we have rarely seen. I am now leaning toward Oregon even if Bama defeats UGA getting into the final Final Final 4. The only team to move up with a champ game win is Bama. OREGON defeats UW and it matters not what Texas does, Good for the Ducks but bad for the Horns that the B12 is ranked P5 number 5. I still believe that after these rankings and not to go all hubris, that we will see Oregon vs Michigan in a final traditional Rose Bowl game. Texas defeating OK St. is no big deal, ditto FSU beating 2-loss Louisville. I think that FSU will be cannon fodder for UGA in the Sugar Bowl. GO Puddles and Pound the Puppies.

Based on the resume, Ohio State should be ranked ahead of Oregon but then again based on the resume and all the metrics, Texas and Bama should have been ranked ahead of Oregon. Why would the Committee jump Texas or Bama above Oregon now? With the beatdown of Oregon State, this would be very hard to justify. Ohio State at 5 and Oregon at 6 is meaningless if Oregon defeats UW.

Good call, but I do not see the Committee moving Texas, a beat down of a team that Oregon beat on the road when the TT roster was at full strength, or Bama, a very fortunate winner at 6-6 Auburn, above Oregon. If Ohio State is 5 and Oregon 6 it really doesn't matter if Oregon defeats UW. Both Bama's SOS, SOR, and Game Control rankings are better than Oregon's and have been better than Oregon's but this has not mattered to the Committee. Yes, Texas has that win over Bama but the B12 is the lowest ranked P5 conference and fortunately, Texas is playing 3-loss OK St. and not 2-loss brand name Oklahoma in the B12 champ game. I see Oregon remaining as the highest-ranked 1-loss team with the opportunity to defeat likely #3 UW on Friday night. Defeat UW and win the Pac-12 and the only concern I will have is if Bama upsets Georgia on Saturday. It looks like TE Bowers, and WRs McConkey and Thomas will all play for UGA. UGA's run game has been very good and Bama's run defense has not been so good. Bama's big loss to Texas came at home as did its 3 best wins, Ole Miss, LSU, and Tennessee. I do not see Bama defeating UGA in Atlanta. It would also help if Louisville could defeat FSU. FSU's offense did not look good last Saturday behind its backup QB. GO DUCKS! Paste the puppies.

Cannibalism in the B1G. Maybe? You have the 2 B1G behemoths, Michigan and Ohio State, and a Penn State team that cannot except on rare occasions, defeat the 2 B1G boys. Then a whole lot of 7-5, 6-6 teams that cannot defeat Michigan, tOSU, and Penn State. Michigan is losing a ton of experienced talent off of the 2023 team and that's before UM guys with eligibility left possibly leave for the NFL. And will Harbaugh be back? Oregon has the track record and the coaching staff to contend for a B1G title every season. By no means will it be an easy path but the Ducks will not be facing a tougher gauntlet than this season's Pac-12. Find the right pitcher to replace Bo and there are not that many B1G teams that will be able to keep up with Oregon on offense or better on defense. BTW, are these obnoxious pop-up kitty chow ads payback for all of Charles's great cat gifs? If I had a cat I'd looking for a pond.

Every CFB board I have read has Smith's hire as an A or A+ and I agree. Perfect coach for a developmental program. I expect Smith will have MSU back to Dantonio's level of success in E. Lansing in a couple of seasons.

Let's call the whole thing off? Michigan is -23 vs. Iowa. I know they are money-makers but down the road will make any sense to play a conference champ game? Michigan defeated Ohio State. In 2024 Michigan would have to accomplish this on back-to-back Saturdays. In 2024, both teams as of today would be in the 12-team playoff. A second game would result in a possible change in seeding and a chance that a 2-loss Ohio State, although unlikely, would not qualify. But in 2023, I'm darn glad that Puddles has the opportunity to pay back UW with a punch to the puppy dog's jaw.

Thanks, David. This happens when a conference has parity and plays 9 conference games. In the penultimate week of the regular season, there was not a North Alabama, Chattanooga, or a New Mexico State (ooops!,) on a Pac-12 team's schedule. There is a reason why no school that played 9 conference games has won the playoff. One being, that the path to the playoff is much more difficult. USC is a good team? I demur. SC was an average team this season and its all-world QB could not win every game by himself. In 2022, SC missed both Oregon and UW. Not the case in 2023 and it showed. We've seen Bill Belichick without Tom Brady. Lincoln Riley without Caleb Williams? With LSU, Michigan, Penn State, Notre Dame, and UW, on the 2024 schedule, best of luck. Utah was decimated by injury and it finally caught up to the Utes. UCLA opened with 3 cupcakes at home, missed Oregon and UW, and Chip still could not get the job done. Chip is now .500 in 6 seasons in LA. Looks like he will stay on with UCLA. Too big of a buyout for a tapped-out athletic department that has to come up with a Calimony payment in addition to UCLA rolling over for Cal in the regular season final game. Oregon State will be in the Committee's top 25 tonight but also played a weak OOC slate and did not win one of the big games vs. Oregon and UW. WSU received early love for defeating what turned out to be a mediocre Wisconsin team, beating OSU, and then although WSU did not quit it flamed out. CU was smoke and mirrors and disappeared after being trashed in Autzen. Spot on in regard to Arizona. Fifita is the QB and not the de Laura turnover machine and I think AZ wins in Starkville and without Caleb Williams, defeats USC. Along with Northwestern, AZ is one of the best CFB stories of 2023. Project the 2024 playoff using the Week 14 AP Poll and B12 champ Arizona would be the 4th seed. Of the 8 teams still in play for the final Final 4, tonight's 5 or 6 Oregon finishes the regular season with a SOS of 62, SOR of 9, and a Game Control (GC) ranking of 9. UW, likely 3, finishes with an SOS of 46, SOR of 2, and GC of 6. Playing MW co-champion Boise State and not Portland State helped UW"s SOS. In regard to GC, no comprende. UW has wins over 5 or 6 Oregon and ranked Arizona and Oregon State so I am not surprised with UW's better SOS. Thank you, David, for this article. No doubt that many of the conference teams, including UW, were not the same after playing Oregon this season. But Oregon is receiving lots of Eye Test love from the Committee. Beat UW and I'm confident that Oregon is in the final Final 4 unless Bama upsets UGA. Then, things could get interesting.

From a mile away (actually, 3,274.2 miles from Eugene to Miami) you could see this coming. Mario took the ACC Frosh of the Year and turned him into a mediocre QB who lost his confidence. What has Mario accomplished to prove that he is a better HC than Manny Diaz? He's a better recruiter but he is not a better coach. The Sun Bowl should be an exciting matchup of 2 underachieving teams, USC vs. Miami, both playing without the starting QB. Mr. FishDuck made the call on Mario being bogus early on and he was spot on.

UW, you are a fraud! (We hope.) College Football Fraud Rankings (Which Overrated Teams Get Exposed in Championship?) FANSIDED.COM The fraud rankings have been a good indicator of when to sell teams, as its time to remove our No. 1 team Ohio State from the top after the team was defeated by

Nevada Dawg, your Dawgs take care of business and Puddles beat the Left Coast puppy dogs and Oregon is in like Flynn. UW will be the Committee's #3. A win over #3 and a Pac-12 title will eliminate Ohio State and also 1-loss Texas. FSU defeats Louisville and I see it 1. UA, 2. Michigan, 3. Oregon, and 4 FSU. Undefeated but I think the Committee will take the Seminoles QB situation into consideration as well as setting up a traditional Rose Bowl game. Louisville defeats FSU which could easily happen and the 4 spot goes to 1-loss B12 conference champion Texas. If Bama defeats UGA, then things could get dicey for Oregon with the Texas win looking even better. Will the Committee take a 1-loss Oregon or Texas over a 1-loss Georgia? I have my doubts. Bama as the SEC champ will be in for certain. TCB, defeat UW and be the Pac-12 champ and I do think that Oregon will be in the final 4. The Committee has shown a lot of respect to the Pac-12 and Oregon this season and I hope will take into consideration a 9-game conference schedule. GO DUCKS! GO (Athens specie) DAWGS!

GIGO?

In Pac-12 champ games, the team that won the 1st game has won 6 times. The team that lost, once. But the 1 team that lost before winning the rematch and the conference championship was Oregon. Lost to Rich Rod and AZ in the regular season and totally destroyed AZ in the champ game. I'm looking for the same result out of the Ducks in Friday's coming sequel.

When HC's are in play do not expect complete honesty, especially in the midst of negotiation. Saint Nick was never going to leave LSU for the Dolphins and was never going to leave the Dolphins for Alabama. And replying with 'no comment' will not work when you have a bowl game to play and perhaps, need to keep your players out of the portal. Along with assistant coaches, I expect a number of Beavers players will follow J. Smith to E. Lansing.

A win by 10 as of today would cover the spread. I think -8.5 now bet up to -9 in some places is a balance-the-book kind of line. Amateur gamblers focus on the now. Oregon dominated its rival on Friday and UW struggled to put away WSU. 4 of UW's last 6 wins have been 1-score wins. Penix has not been the same since the 3-point win over Oregon. I would have definitely had money down on Oregon at the -7.5 opening line. I expect this game will be a fist fight for a half with Oregon pulling away for a win by 7 at least. David Marsh's excellent article noted Oregon's troubles in the red zone. I expect Bo and Stein to have focused on this all week. I hope so because I do not want the game to come down to Cam the kicker.

Fergie was forked. Friday night it is all systems GO for RPO plays utilizing Bo's running ability if needed.

$ is driving the train. I see no way that a reconstructed Pac-12 could pull down the same money as the B1G and the SEC.

Is Iowa the worst 2-loss team of all time? And it only has 2-losses because of a terrible late-in-the-game call that took away a winning punt return. Iowa has the worst O in the P5/G5. IMO, the B1G should have cratered divisions this season. Michigan vs Ohio State in a rematch of the competitive game played on Saturday would be far more interesting. Iowa was beat down and shut out at Penn State. I expect we will see the same come Saturday. Ducks up to -8 vs. UW.

Et tu, J Smith? Smitty jumped on the B1G life raft. He did not believe the Pac-2 was ever going to piece together a conference to have P5 status and he opted for the P4. Smart man. Michigan State does not have a bad history, Sparty made the PO the season it defeated Oregon in E. Lansing. Smith knows how to develop lesser recruits. I think he is a perfect hire for MSU. And he comes on board when Michigan is losing its top RB, WR, 4 starting OL guys, and its 2 best players on D. And will Harbaugh be there? I'm a bit surprised that Smith didn't wait to see if the UCLA job would open up. In 6 seasons in Westwood, Kelly is .500, and in paying the first of the Calimony payments on Saturday, he opened the way for Cal to go bowling and in the process saved Justin Wilcox's job. Considering the OOC competition and with UCLA missing both Oregon and UW this was as bad as Kelly could have done. Future 'star QB' Moore threw 2 more INTs and finished with 8 for the season before the bowl game. The goodwill from the SC win was lost on Saturday. How can 2 teams in LA play this badly?

Based on the AP and as I expected, OSU will remain in the Committee's top 25. And with UW likely to climb to the Committee's number 3 ranked team, a win over UW and a conference title will go a long way. Yes, Texas blew up TX Tech and Bama pulled a victory out of a loss, 10 years after the Kick 6, but I see neither victory as a reason to rank these 2 above Oregon at this point. Oregon defeated the same TT team on the road with TT playing its starting QB. Bama lucked out by beating a team that was humbled the week prior by NM State. Oregon wins and UGA wins and Oregon is in. It will be dicey if Bama defeats UGA but I believe UGA is the superior team and was not focused in the game versus Georgia Tech. TE Bowers and WR McConkey did not play but both are expected to suit up against Bama. UGA is the -5.5 favorite. Bama's big wins have come against a 4-loss TN team. An Ole Miss team that is the Penn State of the SEC and an LSU team without a defense. All 3 wins coming in Tuscaloosa. Texas plays 3-loss OK ST and not 2-loss OK. And Louisville's loss to Kentucky does not help FSU. I see no way that Iowa, a team that is dead last in the G5/P5 on offense, pulling off a win against Michigan. If UT is not above Oregon on Tuesday, Texas will not jump a Ducks team that defeated number 3 in the country no matter how badly it defeats OK St. GO DUCKS!

That was touching. To think, a few years back the enterprise could have been sold to ESPN with ESPN attached to the conference at the hip and it's likely the conference stays together with the network available as part of the ESPN package. Did 'these folks' ever make the correct business decision? Rhetorical question.

Great take. Thank you. Of course, it's the Committee's top 25 only that matters. I do think UW will be 3. I'm hoping Oregon as I expect, will stay ahead of Texas and Bama. Ohio State at 11-1 and not a conference champ, is not likely to sneak into the top 4 unless there is complete champ game chaos. So 5 or 6, Oregon playing the number 3 team will, other than Bama, have the toughest champ game matchup. Ohio State only has a chance if something bizarre happens like Louisville defeating FSU, Iowa defeating Michigan, OK State defeating Texas, Oregon -7.5, and UGA -5.5 winning as the favored teams. With Bama playing the top-ranked team, chaos could abound should both Bama and UGA finish 12-1. But with a win over the 3rd ranked team, I think Oregon will be in regardless of what happens in the other champ games. It's nice for Oregon to have an extra day to prepare, especially this late in the season.

Ducks open -7.5 vs. UW in the Pac-12's last champ game. I think the line will be bet up in favor of Oregon during the week. Et tu J. Smith? Not only was Oregon State dominated by the Ducks, but its coach is joining the B1G party and will be on the sidelines in 2024 when Michigan State travels to Eugene. Oregon State fans are blaming Smith's departure on Phil Knight, Penny Knight, Rob Mullens, Puddles, NIKE, OREGON, UW, Cal, Stanford, UCLA, USC, CU, Utah, Arizona, and ASU, along with Robert Murdoch, Mickey Mouse, and Connor Stalions. GO DUCKS! Crap out UW's perfect season in Las Vegas.

How sweet would a PO return Rose Bowl game be vs. Michigan? FSU defeats Louisville, UGA, MI, UT, and OREGON all win and it will be a quandary for the Committee. Made even worse if Bama off its miracle win at Auburn beats UGA. 12 team playoff anyone?

Back from the Left Coast where kick-off times are far easier on old guys. TOTAL DOMINATION in the Civil War. Like Lee trying to take the fortified hill in Gettysburg. UW, thank goodness scrapped by today, I watched the game on the plane on the way home. Bama basically lucked out at Auburn. Louisville lost but unfortunately, FSU won. OK State, thank goodness, came back from a big deficit vs BYU so it's Texas, a beat-down win over unranked TX Tech and OK St in the B12 champ game and not Oklahoma. 13-0 Michigan will beat no O Iowa. Louisville could challenge FSU down its QB in the ACC champ game. 11-1 Ohio State looks to be out of the Final 4 running. UW should move up to 3. FSU likely moves to 4 and then will it be Oregon or Ohio State at 5? UW is primed for a Puddles plucking. With the glamour off of the B12 champ game, Oregon is in a great Final 4 position. I think UGA defeats Bama, Beat UW and do not see the Ducks being left out in favor of a 1-loss Texas assuming UGA, Michigan. and FSU finish 13-0. And again, I'm not sure FSU can defeat Louisville, and with the game control beat-down of Oregon State, I think OSU will be ranked, and a win over #3 UW should seal the deal. Should be UGA #1, Michigan #2, and a shot for Oregon to be #3 and play Michigan in the Rose Bowl. QUACK!

Use the 2024 most recent committee rankings and OR ST would be the 2024 4 seed as the MW champ with a 1st round bye. These folks are shooting themselves in the foot. No way the Pac-Whatever will be considered to be a power conference. Why not get it over with? Settle the idiotic litigation, obtain the Pac-12 trademark as part of the settlement, and do a reverse merger with the MW. Why Rob is going out of his way to try and schedule OSU is beyond me especially if a 2024 game is played at OSU instead of playing Boise in Autzen. Ohio State and UW, and at UCLA, Michigan, and Wisconsin is more than enough. Plus a P5 game with Texas Tech. Maybe Rob is trying to placate the state pols but I see no way the state is going to ding OR the way CA. is dinging UCLA.