cartm25

Agreed, Indiana would make me very nervous; especially if they casually put up 40+ points like they have all year. BUT, my hatred for tosu is unending. I don't want them in the CFP at all; it would bring me pure joy for them to miss.

Totally agree! I find it strange that losing to the Ducks would require a complete breakdown and reconstruction of the defense, as opposed to some adjustments. At this point, I'm hoping Indiana can take down tosu; don't really want a rematch.

From what I understand, LR participated in some, or all, of the following for each QB: - Identify the talent in high school - Successfully recruit the talent - Coach the talent - Either tailor an offense to that QB's skills or identify the right QB to have success in his system Re: Miller Moss, sometimes a coach misses; it happens. Maybe a "QB Whisperer" comes in many forms: hands on coaching / offensive scheme / "get out of the way" and let the QB cook / all the above?

I like how everything Ryan Day says sounds like Defensive Basics 101 when describing the "re-engineering" process they went through, LOL. ". . . what are the base foundations of what we're trying to get done?" (Typically done in the offseason before the season starts; maybe fine tune in easy non-conference games) "Who are the best players?" (Typically done in the offseason before the season starts; maybe fine tune in easy non-conference games) "What are teams scheming us up, in terms of what are they looking at?" (Typically done weekly before games start)

I think this is a fair point; however, I'm not sure what he could do other than play and beat the teams in his conference. How should we define "big games"? Is that games against ranked teams? Top-25 or -10, or -5? Only Conference Championship games? Only playoff games? (counting only playoff games, nearly every coach would be labeled "can't win the big one" since so few actually made it to the 4-team playoff). LR's Oklahoma team consistently beat multiple ranked (some very highly) opponents every year, including #2 tosu (like Oregon did this year) to propel themselves to the CFP. In the CFP, LR is 0-3 . . . Against #3 GA, #1 Bama, and #1 LSU. I don't think a team in history could have beat that LSU team--Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson. Those are three of the best players in the NFL today. I can't fault LR for not beating those teams. Those teams are among the historically great.

A contrarian point of view. LR is one of the winningest (by win %) active FBS coaches; ranked #6 amongst names like Day, Smart, Cignetti, Lanning, DeBoer, Dabo, etc. I don't believe you make it on that list by sheer luck and happenstance. Re: LR as a QB whisperer . . . let me share a scripture from cartm25 3:16 - "Let he who has developed 3 (or more) Heisman QBs cast the first stone." No idea if he'll ultimately take USC to the level they want. Honestly, if he acts like Helton and gives enough hope each year for excellence while being mediocre, I kind of like that for Oregon's recruiting sake. Dabo took 7-8 years to develop a program that ultimately regularly challenged and beat the Bamas of the world. I'm only suggesting not acting too hastily due to his excellent track record of winning.

The quote of the decade: "Cristobal took a potential offensive juggernaut with a quarterback (Justin Herbert) who should have been a Heisman Trophy candidate and turned it into the most ordinary, coached down, ho-hum group of boring offensive underachievers ever seen in the Pac-12." Let's see if we can get @Charles Fischer to pin this on the Forum front page. Maybe not since it's in the past, but I'd still be happy to see it there. MC unleashed Justin Herbert in his last year against ASU when the Ducks were down. I forget the exact details, but JH led something like 3 TD drives in the last 7 minutes of the game to come up just short. I've never been so mad at MC than in that moment. MC's burial of JH's potential was criminal. Now he's finally letting loose with Cam Ward.

What a monumental conflict that would create for me. I don't particularly like/root for Prime or Mario Cristobal (I've put the "o" back in his name since his team is averaging 47 ppg; it's a shame he doesn't have "d" in is name, because I'd remove that this year). I'd probably root for a Prime-led FSU over MC's Miami . . . I've been missing "Angry Mario" in post game press conferences.

Thanks for the article. My takeaways of the game: Positives - Beating Michigan--a storied program--in front of ~110K fans at the stadium and millions all over the nation - Dillon Gabriel looks great back there against a tough Michigan D-line - Uniforms . . . beautiful Negatives - Injuries to key players - Lack of offense in the 2nd half - No sacks on the Michigan QB was a bit alarming

I will forever maintain that Deion Sanders would be terrifying at USC. His brand/culture would fit perfectly there, and I think he would restore USC to owning California in recruiting.

@Charles Fischer - Let's be careful with the Death Star comparisons, eh? We all know what it's fate was:

@David Marsh I still can't get over how good of an article this is. Well done!! What a great perspective/analysis/hidden gem. It might explain why tosu and Michigan (and to some extent Penn State hanging around) have dominated the top of this league for so long. When they all play a similar style of ball, it quite literally comes down to which team has the most talent . . . which is typically tosu and Michigan. The Old Pac-12 was a gauntlet of different styles. Wow, great article. Still has me thinking/pondering.

Only been to Autzen and LaVell Edwards (BYU) . . . both great places to experience football.

Thank goodness he survived that "hip-drop" tackle (now banned in the NFL) in the photo you posted. Keep him healthy and he's going to do great things.

Yep, what a sad story re: Lyerla . . . lot of potential.

I've thought this every single Duck game I've watched: "Who is that big dude running that fast? Oh! It's Sadiq again." Just wanted to give a shoutout to him. His athleticism reminds me of Colt Lyerla from back in the day. Hope he continues to blossom.

What a knuckle-dragging mouth-breather. Slamming his fist at the end was awkward and brutish. I think he caught lightning in a bottle (Cam Ward) like Orgeron and LSU with Joe Burrow, Justin Jefferson, and Jamar Chase. That said, I don’t remember Orgeron acting like a boorish oaf! It won’t be long before Mari Cristbal is back to scowling and snapping at reporters while throwing his players under the bus.

Trust me, I get it. I'm not saying it's rational, in fact, I'm saying it's pure emotion. Last thing I want to see is tosu again, but when I sit down to watch a game, I typically tune out all other factors and just focus on the teams, players, and the environment presented before me and I will naturally start to pull for one team or the other. And it rarely has to do with the downstream impacts. When a home underdog--especially one with a fanbase that creates a great environment--starts to flex and make it a game, and the crowd is going wild, I ride the wave. It's the best part about college football!! Happens with me and Pigskin Pick'em and Fantasy Football. I've made picks and set my lineup, but when it's gametime I often say, "To hell with my picks/team, go (fill in team name here)!!!" For me, college football is the ultimate "in the moment" game, and I can't help but watch it that way.

Good point here. Even when my mind knows it would be better for the Ducks, my heart tells me that I've been an underdog kinda guy my whole life.

Here we go . . . bold are my rooting interests: BSU vs. UNLV Rutgers vs. USC Nebraska vs. tosu Notre Dame vs. Navy Washington vs. Indiana BYU vs. UCF Missouri vs. Alabama Oregon State vs. Cal - Sorry, not sorry! Texas vs. Vanderbilt FSU vs. Miami Penn State vs. Wisconsin

Well, from this day forward, rest assured that I will not aggravate that pet peeve of yours. It's "The Duck", from here on out.

I thought this was a fun read. Never knew all this background about the mascot: It’s ‘The Duck,’ not ‘Puddles’: A definitive history of the Oregon mascot WWW.OREGONLIVE.COM They say it never rains in Autzen Stadium. Therefore, there is no Puddles.

Agreed, we have the thunder RB, but not the lightning.

DeBoer is excellent. Milroe is not a DeBoer QB. I watched the latter part of the Bama v Tenn. game and Bama receivers were open (sometimes wide open), but Milroe was throwing above, below, and behind them. Milroe throws a nice deep ball when not pressured, and he can flat out run . . . but he needs to be able to connect on the short and intermediate throws to thrive in DeBoer's offense. My guess is DeBoer was kind of forced to go with Milroe. Once Deboer gets his QB, look out!