Jon Joseph

4:30 PST - Tonight ESPN 2 former Pac-12 coaches meet up tonight in what, instead of the Egg Bowl, should be the , "One Team Can't Miss Bowl?" No. 9 Ole Miss wins this and the Rebels will play the ACC champ in the Peach Bowl. The Pirate wins? A big improvement on what Joe Moorhead did in Stark Vegas. Friday - No.4 Cincinnati at East Carolina - 3:30 ABC - Beware the trap game before playing No. 24 Houston in the AAC Champ Game? A/K/A - We off to the B12 game. NR Washington State at NR Washington - FS1- 8 PM. UW wins the Apple Cup and the Beavs will have even more to play for in the 'Civil War' game. CU at #19 Utah - 4 FOX - Could the Utes have a Ducks beat down hang over? It won't matter against a woeful Buffs herd. Saturday - No. 2 Ohio State at No. 5 Michigan - 9:00 AM PST FOX. I don't think Michigan can do No. 2? Oklahoma No. 10 at Oklahoma State No. 7 - 7::30 ABC I do think these defense oriented Cowboys can do? If so, with a win over No. 10 Oklahoma and a top 25 win versus No. 8.,Baylor,? 12-1 conference champ OK ST should be in the final 4? Alabama No. 3 at NR Auburn - 3:30 CBS - Bo is nixed for this game. But Bama is 1-3 in its last 4 trips to Auburn. Oregon State NR at No. 11 Oregon - 12:30 PST ESPN - WA ST takes the L in Seattle and the Beavs have a shot at the Pac-12 champ game. Oregon wins and it will head to Las Vegas for the conference champ game with both the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and good old revenge in the mix.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

You too Coach and all the best to Ducks fans everywhere.

Mullens has been a great OC where ever he has been. His problem at UF was not being able to recruit to the level of UGA and the team after a couple of close Ls, including a 2 point L to Bama, gave up on him and the season. Mullens just got a check for $6M and UF owes him another $6M. I don't see him being interested in an OC position when I think he will get another HC job in a couple of years; if he wants to work again? Frankly, I don't think he'd be interested in reporting to Mario?

Good take and of course your expectations are completely valid.. But the Pac-12 to put it bluntly, stinks. BYU is about to go 5-0 vs the Pac-12. BYU has a W vs the S division champ, Utah. As does San Diego State. Yes BYU is ranked 13 in the country but BYU also lost at home vs Boise. 2 big OOC wins by Oregon and UCLA were set off by bad Ls, including UCLA being defeated at home by Fresno. UW was missing in action in Ann Arbor. OR ST lost to Purdue. TCU beat CAL. ND thumped SC and will blow out Stanford on Saturday. With its roster superiority Oregon should win 9 games in its sleep. But if you are a happy fan, it's all good. What I think matters not a whit.

The reason Bama lost a game where it was a 2 TD favorite and struggled against other teams? Look at the guys from the 2020 team who went to the pros. The Bama OL is average at best. The Bama pass D is mediocre. This is not a vintage Bama team yet it has won the SEC W, is ranked #3 and could be the first 2L team in the PO?

Great take Mike + Happy Thanksgiving. I'm not sure that Pete has the recruiting chops? OKGs will only take you so far; you need 4* and 5* recruits.

LA-LA's Billy Napier appears to be UF's #1 candidate.

I think it is more of a question regarding your grand kids and great grand kids life styles?

I noticed 'loyalty' mentioned above and I am a big believer in loyalty. But Mario's first loyalty has to be to his family. Florida if it so desires can come with the buyout $ and with an annual salary the Ducks cannot match.

Good take Doc but Utah is not better at every position. Check out the draft boards. A Nick Saban coached team would not have lost the game by 31 points. Saban is 100-1 in his last 101 games vs unranked opponents and the team Bama lost to by a FG on the road, A+M, is now ranked No. 15. 9 wins is the floor for this team and not the ceiling. This team defeated the No. 2 ranked team in Columbus with 2 key guys injured and the same # of seniors who were on the roster vs Utah.

Thanks Alex. Sewell is a very good young player but it is up to the coaches and not Noah Sewell to have the team ready to play. The team was ready to play on the road at Ohio State and UCLA but not the least prepared to play on The Farm and in SLC. Go figure? I am geeked for a re-match against a Utah team that is NOT 31 points better than Oregon! Go Ducks and win on Saturday. The Beavs is a good team but not a good road team. 1 win on the road versus a bad USC team and a loss at Washington State in a game that wasn't that close.

Spoiled? Why shouldn't fans of a team that played for a BCS and a Playoff championship not be spoiled? Why shouldn't the fans based on the recruiting rankings be disappointed when the team struggles against inferior competition and no shows on the road in important games? Your record is what you are. Mario has a good but not what could have been a great, record. The Ducks should have been in the PO in 2019 and in 2021.

He will never know because the way he recruits and then coaches guys up the fans have no reason to turn on Saban. Alabama's enrollment has increased 50% since Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa. Most of the increase is made up of out-of-ste students who pay full tuition. Nick Saban at $9M is a bargain for Bama. Especially when considering that Mel Tucker and James Franklin will now be making close to what Saban makes.

The week 4 PO Committee rankings bring up a number of questions and issues; especially, for the Pac-12 conference. The Ducks took one of the deepest dives in the history of the rankings falling 8 spots from 3 to 11. But it's hard for an Oregon fan to be too angry about this when the team lost its lunch on The Farm versus a terrible Cardinal squad and played close games at home versus opponents the Ducks should blow out. Yet, the Ducks still have the best non-conference win of the season at 2 Ohio State but the loss and Stanford and the complete beat down at 19 Utah have reduced the Ducks post-season hopes to the Rose Bowl with an outside, long shot chance at the Fiesta Bowl. But it's not like the top rated teams have faced a huge gauntlet in 2021. 1. Georgia - 1-0 vs the top 25 with an opening game win versus 23 Clemson. The SEC E while looking strong in the first half of the season has face planted. The cross over win against Auburn is not that big of a deal. 2. Ohio State is 1-1 versus the top 25 with a home loss to 11 Oregon and a home beat down of 12 Michigan State. 3. Alabama - 2-1 vs the top 25 with a loss at 11 A+M and home wins over 9 Ole Miss and 25 Arkansas. Arkansas has 4Ls in 2021. I'm not saying The Hogs are unworthy of being ranked at 25 but there are a number of 4L teams the Committee could have put in this spot. Is Arkansas 25 to help justify ranking Bama at 2? 4. Cincinnati - 1-0 versus the top 25 with the win coming in South Bend against #6 Notre Dame. 5. Michigan - 1-1 versus the top 25 with a loss at 12 Michigan State and a win at 14 Wisconsin. 6. Notre Dame - 1-1 versus the top 25 with a home loss against 4 Cincinnati and a neutral site win against #14 Wisconsin. 7. Oklahoma State - 1-0 versus the top 25 with a win versus 8 Baylor and a loss at NR Iowa State. OK ST plays 10 Oklahoma at home Saturday and if it wins the Cowboys will play 10-2 Baylor in the B12 champ game. That would be 2 top 25 wins in its last 2 games for a B12 champ OK ST. Assuming Notre Dame finishes 11-1 with a win at Stanford, I see no reason why conference champion 11-1 OK ST would not finish higher than Notre Dame. The point of this review, the top teams rarely play one another in CFB. Georgia has looked awesome but Georgia's schedule has not been all that. Alabama? Won a close game at Florida and close games versus Tennessee, LSU and Arkansas. Should Bama be 2 spots higher than Michigan? Alabama was a 2 TD favorite at an A+M team playing its back up QB, and lost. 5 B1G schools and 5 SEC schools are in the top 25. Follow the money. Across the board the B1G and the SEC have the biggest football budgets. The B1G has a daily program on the B1G Network devoted to football. The SEC Network has Paul Finebaum covering SEC football 3 hours daily plus a daily 'SEC Now' program devoted to SEC football during the football season. Both the B1G Network and SEC Network have a huge number of subscribers. The Pac-Network has few subscribers and not even a weekly show devoted to football except for the 'Pac-12 After Dark' weekly wrap up show. The conference that has the next most teams in the top 25? The ACC with 4! 17 Pitt, 18 Wake Forest, 20 NC State and 23 Clemson. The Pac-12 that is just as good (or bad) as the ACC this season has 2 teams ranked with Oregon at 11 and Utah at 19. The same number of teams ranked as the AAC conference. Why 4 for the ACC and 2 for the Pac-12? because the ACC is savvy enough to schedule only 8 conference games. With 9 regularly scheduled conference games half of the Pac-12 will play 5 conference road games every season. New Mexico State played at Alabama two weeks ago and at another SEC team last Saturday. If Oregon had played New Mexico State in Autzen last Saturday where would the Ducks be ranked? No lower than 4. If the Pac-12 wants to be a serious PO contender it should drop divisions, drop the California scheduling agreement and play 8 not 9, regularly scheduled conference games. For some reason the Pac-12 powers-that-be cannot figure this out? No team that played 9 regularly scheduled games has won a Playoff title.

Good news indeed.

Oregon is committed. But the other Pac-12 program" Every administration in the SEC including Vandy, is committed to and spends $ on its football program.

Not Dye. Not any player who is coming back. But a difficult decision for KT. And maybe Forsyth if he decides to enter the draft?

Can they? UF's offer is likely to double Mario's existing salary. The $9M buy out is peanuts to Florida. Does it make sense in the Pac-12 to pay any coach $7M+ a year? And think what Mario could do recruiting in Florida. He will not lose many FL kids to Bama or UGA.

WSU wins and OR ST does not have the extra motivation of playing OR for the N division title. Go UW!

Mario is going to have a very difficult time turning down an offer from Florida? He has to be high on UF's list? Looks like Tucker and Franklin are off the table and I doubt that Fickell and family want to leave the Midwest? Lincoln Riley has said 'No' to LSU. With OK headed to the SEC I see no reason why Riley would want the UF job? Aranda, having successfully coached in SEC at LSU might move the UF needle? I don't see Iowa State's Matt Campbell in the mix. Mario is one of the last big names on the board and UF can easily double his salary.

Can the Ducks match a $7M to $9M+ per year salary? And there is no state income tax in Florida. COL and housing prices are lower than in Eugene. UF is a top rated university and Gainesville, unlike much of Florida, has good public schools. Close to his Mom and brother, a member of the Miami police force. Florida is a recruiting gold mine. Florida has recently improved its football facilities and renovated The Swamp. Close to 100,000 fans at every game. The chance to 'prove it' in the Big Boy Conference. And there 8 conference games and a game vs a struggling FSU and 3 OOC games vs cupcakes, if UF wants to schedule OOC in this manner. Interestingly, UF does have a 2nd P5 OOC game next season. In addition to FSU, the Gators play Utah in the Swamp. The first game of a H+H series.

Well, the Flaky Prediction Index did call the Utah win. If the Ducks are motivated they should defeat an Oregon State team that has 1 road win, at USC. Will Mario after the beat down in SLC have the team ready to play? How much does the Rose Bowl mean after being ranked in the PO CT top 4? Friday night's WSU at UW outcome could have a direct result on the game formerly known as The Civil War? If WSU wins the Apple Cup then Oregon State has no shot at the north division title. Still a big game for the Beavs but not as much to play for if WSU wins. A rematch vs Utah in Las Vegas could easily go the Ducks way. Everything that could go wrong including bad clock management at the end of the 2nd half, did go wrong. Brian Covey? This 'young' man has been with Utah since 2015.

Maybe Dye gets signed as a free agent? Looking at the draft boards, I don't think it would hurt Dye to play another season of college ball? OT - I wonder how many draft eligible players will be sitting out non-PO bowl games this season? I think the number of players sitting out will increase every year unless there is an NIL benefit for playing in a given bowl.

BINGO JON WILNER! The Pac-12 as currently constituted is being left in the financial dust. Me thinks Bob Bowlsby and the B12 would be happy to bring OR, UW, USC, AZ, ASU and CU on board? This would form a coast to coast conference. A conference with huge market size. Add OK ST, KS and K ST to the 'Pac-12 6' to form a W division?