Jon Joseph

If Oregon, or any other Pac-12 team, goes 13-0 this season, it will be a magnificent accomplishment. The back end of the schedule is brutal for OREGON, UW, USC, Washington State, and Utah. Oregon State and UCLA play one another, but compared to other Pac-12 teams both teams have an easier remaining schedule.

Sorry, Miami plays at UNC. Here's some love from College Football News. Oregon at UW is ranked as the #1 football game in October. Take that SEC! https://collegefootballnews.com/news/20-biggest-october-college-football-games

ESPN+ (paywall) Bill Connolly is not disregarding or disrespecting the Ducks or the Pac-12 in his current ranking of undefeated P5 teams through Week 5. 3 Pac-12 teams are in Bill's Top 10 with 4 overall in the rankings of 17 unbeatens to date. (Note - Air Force Academy is Bill's top-ranked undefeated G5 team.) S = SP+ Ranking. FPI = FPI ranking. SOS = Strength of Schedule to date. Each ranked team's next big test, according to Connelly, is listed below each team. Note, that this early in the season, SOS is all over the map. Bill is using the eye test in addition to S, FPI, and SOS. All of the game times below are Eastern Time. 1. Michigan - S - 1 FPI - 8 SOS - 112 Week 11 at Penn State (Like most of us, Bill sees the B1G in 2023 as a 3-team conference.) 2. Ohio State - S - 2 FPI - 1 SOS - 42. Week 8 vs. Penn State. (But do not sleep on Saturday's game vs. undefeated #17 Maryland - Noon Fox. Tua's kid brother is likely the better QB in this game.) 3. OREGON - S - 6 FPI - 6 SOS -109 Week 7 at #4 Washington - 3:30 ABC 4. Washington - S - 7 FPI - 9 SOS - 90 Week 7 vs. #3 OREGON 5. Georgia - S - 4 FPI - 7 SOS - 104 Week 6 vs. #12 Kentucky - 7 ESPN 6. Texas - S - 3 FPI - 4 SOS - 32 (With these numbers shouldn't Texas be #1?) Week 6 #7 Oklahoma - Noon ABC Note - In an In Your Face to B12 Commissioner Brett Yormark, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey will be attending the Red River Shootout. Delicious. 7. Oklahoma - S - 9 FPI - 2 SOS - 96 Week 6 vs. #6 Texas 8. Penn State - S - 13 FPI - 5 SOS 79 Week 8 at Ohio State (Regarding the 2023 B1G, see above.) 9. FSU - S - 18 FPI - 10 SOS - 18 (Also seems low with these numbers. But lucky, lucky, lucky at Clemson.) Week 7 vs. Syracuse 10. USC - S - 10 FPI - 12 SOS 124 (!) Week 7 at Notre Dame Note - 6 2024 B1G teams in the Top 10 - 3 coming in from the Pac-12. 3 2024 SEC teams in the Top 10 - 2 coming in from the B12. 11. Miami - S - 12 FPI - 15 SOS 67 Week 7 vs. UNC - (Miami plays Clemson, UNC, (both at home,) and FSU in 2023. FSU misses UNC and plays Miami in Tallahassee.) 12. Kentucky - S - 21 FPI - 31 SOS - 110 Week 6 at Georgia. The Dawgs could not stop the Auburn run game. On paper, Kentucky has a better run game. 13. UNC - S - 23 FPI - 21 SOS - 72 Week 6 vs. Syracuse - 3:30 ABC or ESPN 14. Washington State - S - 20 FPI - 38 SOS 40 (Based simply on SOS, WSU has the best record to date in the Pac-12.) Week 6 at UCLA - 3 Pac-12 Network. (If a tree falls in the forest ... Cannot wait to say so long to Larry's Loser Network.)) 15. Louisville - S - 29 FPI - 27 SOS 117 Week 6 vs. Notre Dame - 7:30 ABC 16. Missouri - S - 27 FPI - 35 SOS - 76 Week 6 vs. LSU - Noon ESPN (Why is 3-2 LSU ranked #23 in this week's AP Poll? Brand name and SEC.) 17. Maryland - S S - 31 FPI - 25 SOS 125 Week 6 at Ohio State. Ohio State is -18,5. I expect Maryland to cover the spread.) While Oregon has a Work Week and UW has a bye week, at least 2 of undefeated Georgia/ Kentucky and Texas/Oklahoma will have a loss after Saturday's action. Washington State, Louisville, Missouri, and Maryland could also be going down in Week 6. Enjoy and prepare for Hate Week. Puddles is not flying under the nation's and ESPN's radar. Win in Seattle and the Ducks will be front and center. Especially with games vs. currently ranked Utah, Washington State, USC, and Oregon State coming up. GO DUCKS!

WOW! The line that had dropped down to -11.5 Ducks is now Oregon +3.5! That is an incredible flip. Almost like 'someone' woke up and said, 'What are we doing!' I'm more inclined to believe that the number up on the net was simply wrong. UW's O has been lights out. Oregon on both sides of the ball is playing great. But neither team has played a difficult schedule which makes this a tough game to handicap. In terms of motivation, I like the Ducks as the dog and the way to play the mangy dogs.

This sucks. Russ was one of my all-time favorite Pats players. Rest In Peace.

1. UGA - yes the schedule is easy but UGA will suffer a loss if it doesn't pick up its game on both sides of the ball. Auburn could not pass and still gained close to 200 yards on the ground. 2. Michigan and Ohio State will, of course, play one another in the last game of the regular season. And Penn State will test Ohio State in Columbus and be a very tough win for Michigan in front of a White Out crowd. And, I don't think Ohio State's game vs. Maryland and Tua's kid brother this Saturday will be a cakewalk. It would not shock me if PSU won the B1G E. If Notre Dame doesn't tank, a 1-loss Ohio State has a very good OOC win on the road. A 12-1 Michigan will not, if the Committee is at all objective, have a SOS close to that of a 12-1 Pac-12 champ. Michigan's OOC slate was embarrassing. 3. Texas could have its hands full on Saturday in the Red River Rivalry. Will Texas not suffer a single letdown against B12 teams during the regular season? And Texas will likely have to face Oklahoma again in the B12 champ game. 12-1 conference champ Texas with a win at Bama is a playoff lock. Not so much a 12-1 Oklahoma that played thin air OOC. 5. Florida State will be favored in every game before the ACC title game and probably in the champ game, but FSU was fortunate to escape with a W vs. BC and if Clemson had a FG kicker FSU would have lost at Clemson. That win over LSU is not holding up. However, FSU misses UNC and gets Syracuse, Duke, and Miami at home. Like the AP Poll, I believe the Committee today would have 6 Pac-12 teams ranked. 7. SEC teams are ranked. 3-2 LSU being ranked 23 is a joke but one of LSU or 21 Mizzou, will lose when LSU plays at Mizzou on Saturday. I do not think that Tennessee will finish with only 1 loss. 11 Bama (-3) has a tough game at A+M and 20 Kentucky ran roughshod over Florida. Will UGA be able to stop the Kentucky run game? Note to Kentucky DC - Triple team Brock Bowers. I firmly believe that a 12-1 Pac-12 champ will be a playoff lock.

The Athletic's Scott Dochterman who covers the B1G recently confirmed his 8/6/23 take on what Oregon, UCLA, USC, and UW's, (Pac-4) schedules will look like in 2024. I have added in the 2024 non-conference (OOC) games for the Pac-4. Opponents are listed alphabetically and not by scheduled play dates. Not confirmed yet but in 2024 the B1G is expected to drop Divisions in favor of a Permanent Opponent(s) Flex schedule. I agree with Scott that the Pac-4 will be permanent opponents of one another. This makes geographic sense for the Pac-4 and by playing one another an additional B1G team will not have to trip to the West Coast. OREGON - Because of the trip to Hawaii, the Ducks will play 4 OOC games in 2024. And the Ducks get the 5 B1G home game draw in the initial season in the B1G. OOC - At Hawaii, Idaho (having a very good 2023 season in the FCS,) Texas Tech, Boise State 3 OOC home games plus Ohio State (YES!,) Maryland, Minnesota, UCLA, and UW. An SEC-like 8 home games. Away - At Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, USC UCLA - OOC - At Hawaii (but not adding an additional game,) Fresno State, at LSU. Interesting that both LA schools play LSU in 2024. And both LA schools play Michigan. Home - Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, USC, UW Away - Iowa, OREGON, Michigan, Rutgers USC - OOC - LSU (Las Vegas,) Utah State, Notre Dame Home - Illinois, OREGON, Michigan, Wisconsin Away - Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue, UCLA, UW A lot of meat on this bone. The game is a tradition but will USC want to continue playing Notre Dame every year? Washington - OOC - Weber State, Eastern Michigan, (Replacement game for Ohio State) Home - Iowa, Penn State, Purdue, USC Away - Maryland, Michigan State, OREGON, UCLA, Wisconsin I think that the Oregon/Washington game will be the concluding game every season. This IMO, would be a terrific slate of B1G games for Oregon with the biggie of course being Ohio State in Autzen. And I think it is favorable with Oregon breaking in a new QB to have 4 OOC games before the start of the conference schedule and having 8 games in Autzen would be fantastic.

Is there a store in LA that sells buttons?

Give the guy his props. The Row the Boat guys did defeat Louisiana State (er, Monroe) on Saturday. Minny has a shot to win a bad B1G West Division. But drawing both Michigan, at Minn this Saturday and Ohio State in Columbus from the B1G E is tough.

GameDay has been to UNC. The game on Disney affiliate ABC at 3:30 Eastern should be an incentive for Rece et al to be in Seattle.

The schedule is back-loaded. Win and the accolades will come. Playing Stanford on the Pac-12 network is not going to receive a lot of national attention. Winning at UW on ABC at 3:30 Eastern will get a whole lot of attention. The only way the Stanford game would have drawn attention is if Stanford played 4 Qs as it did in the 1st Q. UW is getting the long ball love. Oregon has improved significantly in both ESPN's FPI and SP+ rankings. Oregon is now FPI favored to win the Pac-12 conference and with #4 best odds of making the final Final 4. And Vegas with Oregon at -12.5 for the UW is buying in. The oddsmakers pay attention. And Vegas is not ignoring the significant improvement on D. What counts is, kind of, the interim PO Committee rankings (1st 1 revealed on Halloween) and of course, the ultimate Committee ranking. And never forget that far more B1G and SEC fans are tuning into ESPN than are Pac-12 fans.

Does USC crack the top 100 on D? The Grinch Matador School fights on in LA. It takes a lot of practice to so efficiently whiff.

College GameDay. If Rece and friends are not in Seattle where will they be? South Bend for a 3rd Notre Dame game of the year? This would mean beatification for Lee Corso. But, Mickey is pinching pennies and South Bend is a whole lot closer to Bristol, CT than Seattle.

One old man on the right coast says Thank You, ABC! I should at least be able to make it through the 1st half.

I don't understand this line. But, UW fans can point out that Oregon in their opinion has played no one but what about UW? Boise, Tulsa, Michigan State, Cal, and Arizona. The Ducks OOC win at TX Tech that ended TT's 26-game home opener win streak was a far better win than UW mauling a dysfunctional Michigan State team. 2 teams in the nation are in the top 10 in scoring and scoring defense. Oklahoma and OREGON. The improvement on D in DL's 2nd season has been terrific. And D travels as does an O that is not turning the ball over. Still, I think the line should be more like OREGON -5.5. What's the line on GameDay being in Seattle? If GameDay is anywhere else it will be further proof that Mickey Mouse is pinching pennies. In South Bend for ND vs. OH ST. At Duke for ND at Duke. If the Gameday crew returns to South Bend for the USC game and does not trip to Seattle, Lee Corso will be given a vote in the next Papal election.

You need dough to make biscuits and UF boosters failed to come up with the dough for Rashada and brought in a guy who was mediocre at best at Wisconsin. Ditto an Auburn team that is feeling the Payne. Hunt or be hunted in the SEC? In 2023 I think this applies more to the ACC and the Pac-12 than the SEC. I do not see this year's SEC as, especially with 8 conference games. any more of a gauntlet than the Pac-12. UCLA could be a 20-something AP Poll filler as well as the SEC teams that are ranked there. But, come April 2024, the SEC will once again dominate the draft.

2 penalties (and missing caffeine in the 1st Q) in Palo Alto. Can't get much better than this especially when playing aggressively on D. Meanwhile, UW had 125 penalty yards against AZ in Tucson.

UF's run D was missing in action. Outside of The Swamp, this is not a good football team. And Mertz, like another B1G refugee, Auburn's Payne, has not made a Bo-like move to Oregon.

Great thoughts. Bye week for both before the game. Oregon's SOS is better by one in the current rankings than UW's. I think the game at TT in front of that crowd, coming back, and overcoming myriad penalties in the process of ending TT's 26-in-a-row opening game-at-home win streak is more impressive than UW struggling to defeat a backup QB in Tucson. The crowd in Lubbock was, not surprisingly, more rowdy than the Bear Down crowd. And TT was and is a better team than a dysfunctional Michigan State. Give 3 points to the home team. OK. But I see this game as more than a points push for Oregon going into Seattle. I also see the Oregon D improving more over the course of the season than the UW D. UW has yet to see a pass rush like Oregon will bring to Seattle and Penix, while a great QB on his spot is not Caleb Williams or Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward when scrambling. And the UW D has not faced a run game like Oregon, even without Whit, has. I expect DL and staff to have a game plan on D that will be somewhat risky, 1 on 1 vs. an excellent group of WRs, and going all out vs. Penix who does not have a great safety valve TE or a great WR coming out of the backfield. Oregon is currently -13.5. I see this as a balance-the-book spread but Oregon is tripping to Seattle as the favorite for reasons known to the desert sages. I think the Ducks, especially with the penalties down to only 2 at Stanford, win this game by 10+ points. And if needed, Cam unlike at Stanford where he was flat as was the team early on, will be back on his game if and when it counts. UW and Penix have captured the nation with the deep ball game but Oregon is better where football games are won, at the LOS.

Just Do It! The world does not like NIKE 'upstarts.' (Except for Michael Jordan - See 'Air.') Even though they have been upstarting since BCS days. Flash and Dash need the ultimate Natty splash. As Charles pointed out in preseason, this could be the team to Just Do It!

Exactly, David Marsh, spot-on observation. (No surprise.) You play on Larry's Lost Network and you get lost from a national perspective. Fortunately, come 2024, Oregon will be covered by B1G Boy BTN. THIS is why Puddles had to find a way out of here. At UW #7, Wazzu #13, at Utah #18, [Cal,] USC #9 (come on Troy + win in South Bend,) + #15 Oregon State will have the Ducks front and center playing in the back end of a brutal schedule. Exactly what you want for national recognition and more importantly, for Playoff Committee recognition. SOS help is on the way. We've already seen SC at CU giving up 41 points and Oregon giving up 6 to the Prime Times, making a ranking difference with Oregon jumping SC in this week's AP Poll. Meanwhile, UGA does have a game vs. ranked Kentucky at home this Saturday but other than that UGA's next ranked opponent comes 11/4 vs. a currently ranked Mizzou team that may not be ranked when it trips to Athens. Ohio State may have a test against Maryland this weekend but the B1G is a 3-some of the Buckeyes, Wolverines, and the Nittany Lions. These 3 could easily end up 11-1 at the end of the regular season. I LOVE the way the schedule is set up and I also love Texas Tech, without Tyler Shough (sigh) defeating Houston, helping the Ducks SOS, and with a real chance to disrupt things in a B12 that has only 2 teams that are both leaving in 2024, ranked. Yes, the Pac-12 will possibly go cannibal on one another but this is more likely to happen this season in the ACC. IMO, as of now, Oregon has the best-balanced team in a deep Pac-12. Just win Puddles (easy to say) and the Ducks will be front and center on the nation's CFB radar. BTW, Oregon at UW will be the first game ever with both ranked in the top 10.

The Grinch that stole Defense has to have photos.

In the most recent AP Poll, Georgia remains ranked #1. And the Dawgs could still easily win its 3rd title in a row in 2023. Especially, with All-World Brock Bowers playing TE. But based on SOS to date (as ranked by teamrankings.com) what would the rankings of the Top 25 P5 teams look like considering records and quality of opponents to date? The following would be the rankings using SOS to date with a team's SOS ranking followed by its AP ranking. Also shown is the ranked teams' next game. Undefeated P5 teams to date would be ranked as follows using SOS. 1. Florida State - 1/5 - vs. Va Tech 2. Texas - 5/3 - vs. Oklahoma 3. Ohio State - 7/4 - vs. Maryland 4. Oklahoma - 20/13 - vs. Texas 5. Penn State - 22/6 - BYE 6. Georgia - 24/1 - vs. Kentucky 7. Miami - 25/17 - vs. Georgia Tech 8. Washington State 26/13 - at UCLA 9. OREGON - 30/8 - BYE 10. Washington - 35/7 - BYE 11. Michigan - 46/2 - at Minnesota 12. Missouri - 53/21 - vs. LSU 13. USC - 66/9 - vs. Arizona 14. Louisville - 71/25 - vs. Notre Dame 15. Kentucky - 92/20 - at Georgia. 1 loss teams ranked by record and SOS 16. Alabama 17. Mississippi 18. Notre Dame 19. Texas A+M 20. Utah 21. West Virginia 22. Duke 23. Wisconsin 24. Kansas State 25. Oregon State And what based on the latest AP Poll and 2024 conference realignment and a 5/7 format would the 2024 Playoff field be? 1. Georgia - SEC vs. 9. OREGON at 8. UW 2. Michigan - B1G vs. 10. Notre Dame at 7. Penn State 3. FSU - ACC vs. 11. Alabama at 6. Ohio State 4. Washington State - MW vs. 12. Kansas State B12 at 5. Texas 5 B1G (Puddles has found an excellent new nesting spot.) 3 SEC 1 ACC, B12, Independent, Mountain West

Caleb Williams went off against CU with 6 TD throws. But Shedeur Sanders who was throttled in Eugene threw for more yards than Williams and accounted for 5 TDs. The CU run game that went nowhere vs. Oregon put up significant yardage against Troy. Oregon - CU 199 total yards on O. USC - CU 564 total yards on O. Last night, Arizona put up 24 points against an overhyped Huskies D. Comparing scores is dangerous, but today, the Oregon D is at or close to the best D in the conference. Thank you, Ryan, and welcome back!

It will be TOUGH sledding in Seattle with Oregon and UW looking like the most complete teams in a deep Pac-12. Arizona fought tooth and nail and pushed UW all the way to the wire in Tucson. No TD throws for Penix. But UW has a history of struggling in the desert and last night was no exception.