Jon Joseph

MUM? Moron refs. mean U should Move to the Midwest. MUMM's the word. I think I'll open a bottle of bubbly.

WOW! Saturday night - Volleyball - 1. Wisconsin at 2. Nebraska. Courtside seats are $1,000+. Seats are going for $300+ on the secondary market for top-row seats. To date in the 2024 B1G recruiting rankings, out of 18 teams, Oregon is #2 behind Ohio State. USC - 9, UW 13, UCLA 16. Puddles is flying to a B1G country.

The B1G has already announced that no B1G game in the Pacific time zone will kickoff at 9 AM. But the Ducks could be kicking off early in the Eastern time zone. I believe that when Oregon won its only game to date versus Ohio State, it was a noon Eastern kickoff. But that was over a couple of days ago so I could certainly be in error. As an old guy suffering late-game fatigue on the Right Coast, I prefer earlier kickoff times in the Eastern and Central time zones, and I love Oregon's 3:30 Eastern kickoffs. Kickoffs at Noon back East? Get the recorder working. Sleep in and enjoy the extra cups of coffee. Start the recorder rolling at Noon Pacific and you will never have to watch The Boz in Fansville. Great take, thanks.

Torres' Take: The Latest in Oregon Football Recruiting WWW.YARDBARKER.COM Oregon recruiting is at a crucial part of the year. They have one of the best classes in the country for the 2024 cycle, but they want to take it up a notch. There's a lot of guys they've recruited really...

Thank you, Charles, for this great update. What really impresses me prior to these young men deciding where to play their college ball is the number of highly rated recruits that DL has considering Oregon. You'll never catch all of the big fish but with that number of lines in the water, you will catch plenty of big ones. As Log Hauling notes, Oregon has a roster ready to do battle in the B1G from the very start. The only B1G program likely to consistently out-recruit Oregon is Ohio State. Based on on-field results, even this could change. The Ducks will not be receiving a gentle B1G baptism. Puddles will not be ducked in a font but instead, will be thrown into a B1G river. 2024 sees the current #3 Ohio State visiting Eugene. A visit to current #2 Michigan. A trip to Wisconsin's Camp Randall. And games vs. ranked UCLA and UW. Thanks again, Charles.

Candyduck, with the girlfriends, were you wide right?

I tried a few young ones back in the day. They also were not sold where I lived. Bummer!

Spot On! No more mulligans left. (Unless you are playing with my old man foursome and not the Gurus of Grapevine.)

Solar, substitutes are the best! If I could have done so back in the day, all of my subs would have been given the highest Uber ranking. The only better thing, was when profs didn't show up in the 1st 10 minutes, and the class was ipso facto adjourned. Knowledge is Good. I think.

Make that a Double NCAA Cheeseburger for Michigan and Jim Harbaugh? The NCAA has notified the B1G and Michigan that Michigan is under investigation for having 'scouts' at future opponent's games who were stealing offense and defense sign signals. There is no penalty for trying to steal sign signals during a game. However, the NCAA prohibits scouts from attending the games of future opponents. (This, among many other things, I did not know.) Looks like Michigan is now on double-secret probation. Will this, if he gets an offer, encourage Harbaugh to return to the NFL? He has already, this season, sat out a 3-game penalty imposed by Michigan. Looks like a double cheeseburger with a side order of deep kimchee.

According to CBS Sports, Puddles has the toughest path to the playoffs. 1. OREGON - WA St., at 14. Utah, Cal, 18. USC, at ASU, 12. Oregon State [OT - Who knew? Probably you but I did not know that Gonzaga CBB coach Mark Few, graduated from Oregon in 1987. UO is a cradle of coaches.] Utah has not lost a home game since 2020 during the no-attendance COVID season of the witch. Last Pac-12 team to win in SLC? OREGON - 2018 - 30-28 behind the play of Justin Herbert. Of course, one of Utah/USC will lose on Saturday night. CBS ranks but 11. contenders. However, at least in theory, SC is not out of it. The SC D gave up only 255 yards at Notre Dame and only 125 yards rushing. But the offense? 5 sacks, 11 tackles for loss, 3 picks, and a Special (?) Team breakdown that allowed a punt return for a TD. FWIW, not much based on this season's record, I think that SC will defeat the O-challenged Utes and cover the -7. 2. Washington - ASU, at Stanford, at 18. USC, 14. Utah, at 12 Oregon State, WA. St. I happen to be a Beavers Believer when UW trips to Corvallis. But Oregon State best be prepared for its game at Arizona with the Beavs coming off a bye week. 3. Penn State - tripping to Columbus with the nation's 2nd best D. 4. Ohio State - Penn State at Ohio State is the first of the B1G East Triumverate separation games. (Holy Ceasar's Ghost!) James Franklin is 1-8 vs. Ohio State and 0-10 vs. Top 10 teams on the road. 5. Michigan - Would every 1L P5 team be undefeated against Michigan's schedule to date? I think so. 2024 - Ohio State in Eugene. Michigan in the Big House. WOW! 6. Georgia - Bye and then 20. Mizzu, 13. Ole Miss, and at 17. Tennessee. All games are likely to be played without All-World TE Brock Bowers. This is not the preseason predicted cakewalk. 7. Alabama - But Saturday vs. Tennessee and down the road vs. Jason Daniels and LSU will not be easy outs for an O-challenged Bama team. 8. UNC - No FSU on the regular season schedule. Love the 8 game conference schedule, right? 9. FSU - 2 big wins are against 2 L teams. Does this warrant a No. 4 ranking? I think FSU would lose to undefeated UW, Oklahoma, and 1L OREGON, Texas, and Penn State. 10. Texas - Next tough game vs. Oklahoma in the B12 champ game? 11. Oklahoma - Next tough game vs. Texas in the B12 champ game? Also, where is Oregon State on the list? At Arizona, at CU, Stanford, 5. Washington, at 12. OREGON. Arizona will be tough. But getting Washington at home is nice and this will be a mega-fired-up team coming into Autzen. Especially if the Beavers upset UW in Corvallis. IMO, any Pac-12 team that finishes with 1L should be a playoff lock and no lower than a 2 seed. But I am not a Grapevine Guru.

I'll go with Charles' favorite IPA brand. Staker.com lists Notorious Triple IPA, Boneyard Brewing Company as being Oregon's best IPA. Brand name-wise, I like Hoppy New Year, Block 15 Brewery and Restaurant. But beware of tipping too many IPA's pregame and having the game Brew By You.

Coach, thank you once again. The Athletic's Ari Wasserman has a great article today on The Athletic defending DL's 4th down go-for-it decision-making. Ari notes that Oregon made the perfect hire bringing in DL. And that recruits like this kind of aggressive playcalling. Oregon is #9 in 247 2024 Composite Rankings. ESPN has Oregon ranked at #4 in the best 2024 recruiting classes to date. Bo? Should Know as the P5 QB with the most all-time college starts but it is easy to play Sunday Morning QB when you are not in the heat of battle.

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/oregon-ducks-throwback-jersey-college-football-world-going-crazy

I'm not certain about analytics but I do think that it is easier to make 1st downs on 4th downs when you are playing Portland State, Hawaii, and CU, instead of Oregon State and UW. Ducks were 8-10 on 4th down coming into Seattle but consider the opposition. As Hayward noted, you have to play an opponent and not just the percentages. And the percentages will change based on the quality of the opponent. If the opponent you are playing does not affect your decision, then something is wrong (youth, inexperience, arrogance?) and you may as well simply use a computer to dial up plays. One size does not fit all. I'm an old-school guy and IMO unless the score and game clock dictate otherwise, you best be certain of a better than a 70% chance of scoring the TD when you decide to eschew an almost certain 3 points within the opponent's 10-yard line. Especially, when you are an underdog on the road. And if you go for the TD, you best have the right play called. 4th down to ice the game? OK, but it's not like Penix was driving UW up and down the field the entire game.

I miss at least 80% of my 5-foot putts. And often, it takes 2 putts to get the darn ball 5 feet from the cup. But it pressure pressure-packed! We are playing for 50 cents a hole!

By the ultimate PO Ct ranking on December 3rd, OR's SOS will be better by quite a bit than Oregon State's schedule and the Beavers win against UCLA may not be a top-25 win. And head-to-head in the Civil War will trump any SOS issues.

And, disagreement in regard to seeding. I believe that come 2026 we will not see the 4 highest ranked conference champions seeded 1-4. Seeding will be as determined by the committee as is the case with CBB. I also will not be surprised in 2026 to see a 16-team field with an assured spot for the best G5 team but no 1st round byes. Start the season in Week 0 and this can work. Sprinkle a decent-sized amount of PO money on the players, this could be accomplished via a NIL Playoff incentive, to overcome the # of games played criticism. With the exclusive broadcast rights for ESPN ending in 2025 the money for playoff rights come 2026 will be off the charts, including streaming entities throwing their hat into the ring.

Thanks, Alex. #4? Draft a kicker from the soccer team? I would have liked to have seen an FG attempt right before the end of the 2nd Q so the currently shaky Lewis could have seen the ball go through the uprights. DL - 'Cam Lewis is a pro.' SMH but there is no sense in throwing the guy under the bus. Right, Deion?

Per Jon Wilner. Post Oregon vs. UW - Oregon - 15-4 SU/ 10-8-1 ATS Versus Wazzu in recent games after UW, 2 No Cover and 1 Push. This augers well for a WSU cover but I think the Ducks show up with something to prove and will not be looking ahead to the game in SLC. Washington - 4-15 SU/ 6-13 ATS ASU has won 13 of the last 15 games vs. UW (!) including last season's win in Tempe. But ASU will not win in Seattle on Saturday. I loved the lead-in from Stewart Mandel in today's Mailbag article - "But first: Don't blink or you'll miss another USC turnover."

Upon further review and FWIW, how I see it playing out. Oregon State is off in Week 8. A nice late week for a bye. (Not as nice as SC's bye before a potential champ game appearance but I see SC finishing with at least 2 and possibly 3 conference defeats.) The hinge game for Oregon State? On the road in Week 8 in Arizona. The Oregon State D is very good in Corvallis and not so much on the road. Jedd Fisch, an unheralded hire, has done a terrific job turning Arizona around as evidenced by the close home loss to UW and the road beatdown of the Cougars in Pullman. I think OSU at AZ will come down to the wire but I think that OSU will win this game. Oregon State's next big test post-Arizona will come the week before the Civil War when it plays UW in Corvallis. OSU lost by 3 in Seattle last season while eschewing 2-chip shot FGs in favor of going for the TD on 4th down. OSU will come into this game off a home game vs. Stanford. UW will visit Corvallis coming off games at USC and vs. Utah. I think Oregon State will win this game at home. Oregon's biggest test before the Civil War will come at Utah in Week 9. The last Pac-12 team to win in SLC was Oregon behind Justin Herbert in 2018, a 30-28 Ducks victory. I think Oregon will win a hard-fought game vs. the Utes. If I am correct (always questionable) the final week of the regular season will see UW vs. WSU at home in the Apple Cup and the Civil War. All three teams IMO will come into the final regular season game with 1 conference loss. UW will defeat WSU. So, the Civil War will be the game that determines which Pac-12 team from Oregon trips to Las Vegas. This will be a brutal game with OSU coming into Autzen as a 2024 member of the Pac-2. OSU will be ticked off and fired up to crush the Ducks conference champ and playoff hopes. ESPN's FPI gives Oregon a big Civil War win percentage. This game will be played on Friday the day after Thanksgiving. The game will kick off at 8:30 Eastern and is certain to be a game watched by at least 5M viewers. And on November 24th in Eugene, the weather (even though It Never Rains in Autzen Stadium) could be a problem. This is a rivalry game (DUH!) that Dan Lanning, now 3-0 in the last rivalry games and 0-For on 4th down attempts in these games, very much needs a win in what could be the final Civil War game. I think the Ducks win a game that will go into the 4th quarter and have a slight advantage with one more day of rest before the conference champ game on Friday, 12/1, likely to have an 8 PM Eastern kick-off on Fox. But, there is a lot of football left to play in a deep conference, with every team having a puncher's chance.

Apparently, Mario can stretch but he can't do knee bends.

Good thoughts regarding OSU and WSU and I concur. But I cannot write checks on behalf of ESPN and Fox.

He'll have to get by Utah to win the B12 and Arizona is on the rise. B12's 4 Newbies are 1-9 to date in conference play. No B12 teams other than the departees to the SEC are ranked. Power 2 and then the ACC and the B12. And how long the ACC will hold together. I think we'll see Notre Dame and UNC in the B1G in the next 5 years with 4 5 teams pods and Clemson, FSU, and 2 more teams, in the SEC. 20 teams each. Why dilute beyond this number?

Is Mario on the list?