Jon Joseph

Thank you, David. Although it has not always resulted in fast starts, I think the pre-game lifting idea is a good one. Gets the players better ready to play ball and in the copycat world of CFB I expect many more teams will adopt this strategy. USC's new co-DCs will not fix the SC D in one week. SC has one chance, to win in a shootout. But unlike last week vs. UW in LA, SC will be playing a far better defense as well as playing at Autzen. I think the game plan at UW was the worst of the season. I was particularly miffed to see Ferguson wide open down the middle for a reception to set up the tying FG try. Far too many runs against 8 in the box and far too many short side-of-the-field rollouts. It will be fascinating to watch the Utah at UW game on Saturday. Will UW struggle in this game? Here is what I found to be an interesting tidbit from Saturday. With its 3rd win in a row as a not-ranked team vs. ranked opponents Arizona joined 2006 Georgia as the only two teams to accomplish this feat. Thanks again, David for another great take. GO DUCKS! BEAT SC!

Dillion Johnson on Saturday past put up 256 rush yards of the Trojans D. Before Saturday, in his playing time at Mississippi State and UW, Johnson had 1 100-yard-plus game. How could Riley, after watching the 2022 Pac-12 champ game loss to Utah and the Cotton Bowl loss to Tulane not have pulled the trigger earlier on Grinch? 1 week under new co-DCs will not fix this defense.

On BTN today, Nicole confirmed that Oregon is playing better than UW and is a playoff-worthy team.

The smartest people in the room are the folks who set the lines.

Wounded, I have DISH. I get Fox, FS1, and FS2. Is this an issue with your provider?

Like Grinch, the AD is history.

The line today is OREGON -14.5. Over/Under 74.5. Saturday's weather report is for Overcast conditions with a high of 55 degrees and a low of 37 degrees. ATS in 2023 - OREGON 8-1 - USC 2-8 ATS in the last 5 games vs USC - OREGON is 4-1 and has won 4 of the last 5 games. These 2 teams have not met since the conference champ game in 2020 when OREGON replaced UW because of COVID on the UW team. Under Mari(o), the woefully prepared Ducks went on to get blown out by Iowa State in the Fiesta Bowl 17 - 34. In fairness, Iowa State was 8-3 and the Ducks were 4-2. The game was played in front of family members only. OREGON won the 2020 conference champ game 31 - 24. It's hard to believe that these two have not played since 2020. This is due to Divisions and the California Scheduling Agreement that USC pushed through. Fortunately, the days of Traveler being the lead horse in the conference are coming to a close. GO DUCKS! BEAT SC! I loved this take from Jon Wilner regarding Dillion Johnson rushing for 256 yards in LA on Saturday. "USC's defense is like a clump of interstellar dust and gas: It gives birth to stars." Missississippi State transfer Johnson had never rushed for 150 yards let alone 256 yards. And 199 yards before first contact? I probably could have rushed for 50 yards. Upon further review, probably not. No wonder that The Grinch Who Stole Defense is gone.

Thanks, Fox. Sandwiched in between the UW/Utah game and the OR/SC game is the Fox broadcast of the Oklahoma/W VA game. This makes zero sense to me. Oklahoma is out of the playoff hunt and W VA was never in the hunt. Bump the Heisman Trophy 2022 winner QB, Williams, and Heisman Trophy 2023 contender Bo Nix to a 10:30 Eastern kickoff. More folks are going to watch a B12 game than SC at OREGON, right?

I do not see UT losing to TCU, Iowa State, or Texas Tech. And a 12-1 UT has after Saturday last with Bama defeating LSU, an impactful win against Bama in Tuscaloosa.

And Smitty in 2022 eschewed 2 easy FGs at UW last season and lost by 3. Ooops! But last night vs. Deion? Why didn't Deion try the onside kick? Neon Deion is showing big-time ball warts. I do not want JS and his Beavers to rise up and beat UW. I want UW to take down Utah this Saturday, win at OR ST, and win the Apple Cup. Then, an 11-1 OREGON will not only have a chance at redemption in LV but a chance to defeat what then could be after the Michigan/Ohio State game, a top 4 team. The more I watch UW play the more ticked off I am that Puddles lost in Seattle. OSU and WSU's fate is up to Fox and ESPN, unfortunately, and not the B12. But there is still a lot of football to be played before the champ game weekend.

Hubris: excessive pride or self-confidence. Riley, Caleb, et al, come into Autzen without anything to lose. Caleb will not play in SC's lesser bowl game. So, other than the game versus UCLA, Saturday is Caleb's Super Bowl and Riley's last hope for 2023 redemption. Oregon is in the playoff mix and USC is not. This is still a Blue Chip roster coming into Eugene. Badly coached on D? You know it. But lots of weapons on O and at this point in the season why not let it all hang out? I'll Shout at the game's end. I still recall Justin Herbert at ASU. No Easy Day.

And here I thought the new DC would have come out of the same arena that taught Grinch the OLE' D?

"All is well! Nothing to see here, move right along." Kevin Bacon - Animal House. Hard to fix stupid in one week. But, beware of Hubris. SC can score points in bunches. Cam Ward put up a lot of points against Oregon and put up 7 versus Stanford. And Caleb Williams is far, far better than Cam Ward. And ditto for the guys catching his passes. I hope Oregon will not come into this game thinking that it will be a layup. This is now more of a trap game than versus Cal. Riley, SC, and Caleb have nothing to lose. It's the Holiday Bowl or LV Bowl for SC so Troy will be going a

Good call. But the contacts are made by 3rd parties, often agents these days which is OK and not by coaches. There is a big NIL grapevine out there.

Not sure that I would worry about Moore's stats as a true frosh for a UCLA team without good to great receivers and terrific DL but not so on the OL. At Oregon, Moore would be surrounded by better coaches and with guys who can get downfield.

The best conference? Week 11 AP, Pac-12 5 ranked. SEC 6 ranked. You can beef about 3L LSU but we also have 3L Arizona picking up the pieces from an LA lost weekend. But the deepest QB conference? Heck yes. Do not sell SC and an outstanding competitor and QB, Caleb Williams, short. This young man is doing all he can to overcome a dumpster fire defense. 256 yards rushing by UW RB Dillion Johnson last week, 199 yards before contact. Have Mercy! Bucky, James, and the OL have to be salivating.

And saved a brand that took close to a decade to build. Kudos to Charles for calling Mari(o) early on and taking grief for doing so.

If you want to go with a Pac-12 QB, I'd rather go with true frosh Aiden Chiles. And with the B1G in Oregon's sights, RS sophomore Fafita, who beat Oregon State and UCLA would be high on my list.

Ewers is off to the NFL. Van Dyke is an injury waiting to happen. I like the idea of Vandergriff but I also like Novosad taking his lumps in 4 OOC hames before tripping to UCLA after a bye week in 2024. Dante Moore? The once Oregon lean could be there to explore. And how about redshirt frosh Tafita at Arizona? This young man reminds me of Drew Brees. Cam Ward? Kind of a TO machine. Aiden Chiles from Oregon State. This would be dammed by a lot of angry Beavers.

199 yards before contact for Johnson when he put up 256 rush yards vs. USC. The Grinch Who Stole D had to go. He should have been gone after Tulane came back to win the Cotton Bowl. Jen Cohen is a new AD but she is not completely lost in space and had to be hearing from SC boosters. On the sidelines last Saturday vs. the Dawgs, Grinch looked like a lost puppy. No one can fix this in one week. Still, with Caleb Williams, Troy has a shot at winning every game. SC has a bunch of good athletes on D playing like they are on their own. And a guy I like, Jon Wilner, had Bear Alexander as the best transfer coming into the Pac-12. Right?

Rationale. Dillon Johnson. 256 yards with 199 yards coming before contact! There is bad, and then there is the USC so-called D. But, I do think that Troy behind Caleb has a puncher's chance in every game. Including the Sun Bowl game.

Texas at TCU? I see no challenge for UT in its next 3 games unless the relief pitcher doesn't come through. After TCU, Texas is at Iowa State and finishes vs. Texas Tech. Bama at Kentucky? The Bear and Babe Parelli long ago left Lexington. Miami. Was not shut out at NC State. The Canes put up 6 points! I see Ole Miss at UGA as Mizzou at Kentucky without the grit. I hate to say this but OREGON with Texas and Bama winning on Saturday, needs UW to be 12-0 headed into the game in Las Vegas.

Desert Duck. Kind of like a perhaps not bowl-eligible team winning the 2023 B1G West? The B1G did a Larry-like muff not losing divisions in 2023. But keeping divisions could playoff help UGA and Bama.

Jared Goff salutes you!

AP Poll and the Pac-12 on the Rodney Dangerfield scale. Washington is the lowest-ranked undefeated team with better wins than Michigan for certain. UW is behind Michigan, 111 SOS, before Michigan trips to Penn State on Saturday. The power of a Power 2 conference. No Respect! But respect, rightly or wrongly, is on the way. Top 1-loss, Oregon, and 2-loss Oregon State are the top-ranked teams in the poll. Respect. 2-loss Utah moves up to #13 which helps Oregon's SOS. Respect. LSU is the top-ranked 3-loss team but 3-loss Arizona (glad OREGON is playing at ASU and not AZ) shows a lot of Respect. Bad weekend for LA. 5 Pac-12 teams ranked and 6 SEC teams ranked, have me concerned if Bama defeats UGA in the SEC champ game and both finish 12-1, Ohio State/Michigan go 13-0. FSU in a bad conference goes 13-0, and Texas with the win over Bama in Tuscaloosa goes 12-1. If the above happens with the Ducks winning the Pac-12 and finishing 12-1 we'll see how much Respect is given to a conference that is going away. 'I looked up my family tree and saw three dogs using it.' Rodney.