latracey

Frankly, I'd be happy with a 12 team playoff.

The word on the street is that USC paid 500,000 dollars over market value for each of Lincoln Riley's Norman, Oklahoma homes. That's one way to sweeten a deal. Forget what your thoughts are about money. It is no barrier to the people that happen to have most of it.

The reality is that there is a level of wealth that exists these days that is beyond the comprehension of most of us "normal" people. We all know about Phil Knight's generosity and how it is the foundation of Oregon's success in all of its sports programs. The fact is that there are many other more anonymous wealthy donors just waiting in the wings to help "make it happen" for the Ducks. I love you 30Duck, but I disagree that MSU's boosters have more money than Oregon's boosters. Phil Knight alone could easily easily easily fund a deal equal to, and even sweeter than, the deal MSU just handed to Tucker; and Phil isn't the only one-percenter who wears a Duck hat on Saturdays. Given MC's success at Oregon and the new standard of renumeration for successful coaches that has been recently set, it would be wise for Mullins to sweeten MC's contract (even though they just did that) and increase the buy out amount. The deal that Cristobal currently has IS NOT enough to stop Miami if Mario Cristobal is a man who can be bought. That said, as was proven with the leaked details of Lincoln Riley's USC deal, no amount of money will stop a top school that is motivated to get the coach of their dreams.

I'm with you David Marsh. Moorhead is the leading candidate, and reporting on it seems to indicate that he's interested in the job, but it hasn't been officially reported that Moorhead has accepted the Akron Zips HC position.

The thing that gets me about all of these new hires is the incredible amount of money being thrown at college coaches. Tucker at MSU gets a 95 million 10 year deal, which has become the new ball park figure. Kelly is reported to be getting a 100 million 10 year deal at LSU on top of the cost of buying out his ND contract. Riley is getting a 110 million 10 year deal from USC on top of buying out his Oklahoma contract, buying his two homes in Norman, Oklahoma, buying him a new 6 million dollar home in Los Angeles, and 24/7 personal use of a private jet. And that's only what is known of his deal. It had to be a sweet deal as Oklahoma was in the process of sweeting Riley's deal to something on the order of Tucker's deal at MSU. Anyone who thinks money is a barrier is not paying attention. If Miami really and truly wants Cristobal as their next head coach, I'm sure they will be prepared to pay something in the ball park of the new "standard" described above. If Oregon really wants to keep Cristobal, they should be thinking of renumeration along the same lines. The crazy part is, given who some of Oregon's donors are, don't think for a second that they couldn't do it.

I was there in 2015. I wasn't aware they renovated it. My bad.

Strangely enough, Mark Helfrich was fired exactly 5 years ago today.

The competition for the entertainment dollar in Los Angeles is fierce. The coliseum was rarely filled back in the Pete Carroll heydays. It will be interesting to see if Riley can achieve his dream of filling the coliseum. The current capacity is 77,500. It actually would be cool if he manages to do it, but I have my doubts. He's going to need to get it renovated if he wants a place suitable to be called "The Mecca" of college football. Right now it's kind of run down, and it's located in a rather scary neighborhood.

I read today that it is expected that as many as 500 football players will be entering the transfer by next Monday. WOW !! That is a lot of unhappy campers. It's a great opportunity for lesser programs who wouldn't get a look see from the top high school recruits to fill out their rosters with talent in the second go round. Given that it wasn't working out for him at Oregon, Pittman really was wise to hit the portal early and beat the crowd. Things will be a lot more difficult to sort out with 500 + players all vying for attention.

That's a good hire for Washington. DeBoer has done a great job with Fresno State and has the skill set needed, as well as the resources, to fix what needs fixing in Huskyville.

It's pretty clear that this guy along with a bunch of other Southern California highly rated Oklahoma commits are going to bail on Oklahoma and join Riley at USC. Recruiting in Southern California just got a lot harder. The thing about Riley is that he is like Cristobal in that he recruits and has connections nation wide. He will get the pick of the litter in the Los Angeles area, as well nabbing recruits from Texas, Florida, and everywhere else.

Actually, Moorhead has a history there. If he wants to be a head coach at a power 5 school again, it's probably an easier leap as a head coach as opposed to an OC.

Orgeron to UW??!! Now THAT is just crazy. I will need some verification before I believe that. I can't imagine Washington's AD hiring him given some of things that have come out about him.

It definitely did, but a strong, nationally respected Pac 12 is a good thing for all of its teams. A CFP for Oregon, even if they had managed to beat Utah, wasn't a shoe in because of the impression by national pundits that the Pac 12 is a weak conference.

It's gone from rumor to fact... just like that. And just yesterday at his post game interview, Riley made it clear that he was NOT going to be LSU's next coach. The implication was clearly that he was staying at Oklahoma. Not so fast... Lest we forget, college football is a business, and every coach has his price.

Dependable rumor has it that Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley is going to be the next coach at USC. Now THAT would be a hire that hits it out of the park. To all of those people who wanted USC to get back to being great, be careful what you wish for. If this is true, then the recruiting in LA just got A LOT tougher.

Cristobal won't get many votes for COY because the perception around the conference is that Oregon is blessed with the kind of resources that insure that our coaches will do well. There is a lot of jealousy and, let's face it, real hate directed at the Oregon program. Other teams have Oregon circled on their calendars, and Oregon has everyone's full attention and gets everyone's best game. That said, he has done a remarkable job throughout his career at Oregon, and most notably this season. Through player injuries that mounted through the season and a lot of second guessing from the fans, myself included, about his quarterback choice, he has guided Oregon to a 10 win season that included a victory over Ohio State in their home stadium which I still contend is the greatest victory in college football this year. Cristobal isn't perfect and he will be the first to admit that he is still learning and still striving to get better. He's hard nosed and stubborn at times, but he's the first one to work in the morning and the last one to leave every night. Oregon was fortunate that the players made a concerted effort to get MC hired after the Taggart debacle, and MC has turned out to be one of the most successful coaches in the history of Oregon football. In my book, Mario Cristobal is easily this year's Coach of the Year in the Pac 12, and I hope and pray that we are able to keep him here and watch him progress for many more seasons to come.

I was at the game and that 50 yard bomb catching Williams, who was in full stride and a step ahead of his defender, right in his hands was a thing of true beauty. No less beautiful was the touchdown pass that Kris Hutson somehow caught with a defender all over him. Hutson had himself quite a game today. Brown was on today like never before, but his receivers are adjusting better and catching passes that are a little low, or a little behind them. That's a pretty special receiving corps Oregon still has after losing some pretty special receivers to injury. Utah's defense will have more to consider on Friday.

The good news is that the 12/13 personnel offense that Utah runs is now an offense our defense has been preparing for for 3 weeks. Advantage Oregon!

I said it before and I will say it again. Great coaches find a way to pick a team up after a soul crushing loss and find ways to use the lessons learned to inspire wins. I put the challenge to Mario to show us what he had. What he had was a win that left no doubt about which team was superior over, when it comes right down to it for old timers like me, our One True Rival. I'm really impressed with what I've seen from Mario Cristobal this season. Who among us thought we would be enjoying a 10 win season back in August? Mark my words, Cristobal will have the Ducks ready to battle with Utah on Friday. Let's git 'er done Mario!

Have a WONDERFUL time at the game Coach Eric Boles! Las Vegas is a pretty sweet place to view a game. You can order cocktails at the concession stand there. It's pretty trippy. I see a game that is going to be much different than the one in Salt Lake City. Utah will come into the game over confident, and why wouldn't they be. They will be well coached and they will give the Ducks a good game, but, as I have said before, I like our chances in a rematch. If you don't let it crush you, a lot can be learned from a loss. A loss can sometimes galvanize a team. In spite of the fact that there are so many out there willing to point out that Oregon was overrated and that we should have expected them to stumble against Utah, I will contend that Oregon is a much better team than those people realize. I know we are riddled with injuries, and that we are young, but I think Oregon has found its heart and I think they are going to prove that in their next 2 games.

Come on Jon! Of course Miami has the 9 million to pay Mario's buy out, Diaz's buy out, and pay Mario at least twice what he's making at Oregon. This is 2021 my friend and billionaires aren't that rare anymore. Trust me when I tell you that there are some extremely wealthy Miami football donors who want to see their team back in the discussion. If Michigan State can figure out a way to come up with a 10 year 95 million dollar deal to keep their coach, then Miami, we are talking The U here, can easily find a way to come up with a deal for Mario that is as sweet or sweeter. If it just comes down to a matter of money, then that isn't going to be a problem for Miami.

And to add intrigue into the situation, Mario took off for Florida to visit his mother who is not feeling well immediately after his press conference tonight. Will Miami talk to him while he is there visiting his mother? Count on it.

It's about the coaches you play for. MM ran a system at Oregon that was well suited to his skill set. JH's time at Oregon was different almost almost every year and he was never able to settle into a single system. MM didn't fit the system at Tennessee and has been hurt most of his time as a Raider. JH has the perfect coaches, system, and team mates with the Chargers to fit his skill set. Drew Brees recently talked about his impressions going into the NFL and how those impressions changed over time. He said that as a person going in, he just wanted to be the highest draft pick possible so he could get the best contract. In retrospect, he realized, that in the long run, who you end up playing for is way more important in terms of career longevity and success.

Ducks 31 - Beavers 28 2 turnovers 3 sacks 220 passing yards Many have lost faith in this year's Ducks and their coaching staff. The team is riddled with injuries, and is forced to field one of the youngest teams in college football. I think WSU is going to take the Apple Cup today, which adds even more significance to The War. Last week's game in Utah was an example of how overwhelming it is to play a team surging with emotion who clearly wanted the game more. Tomorrow's game will be different and, while the Beavers will give the Ducks everything they have, Oregon will find a way to prevail. Ducks will be Pac 12 Northern Division Champs, and I like their chances to beat Utah in a rematch for the Pac 12 crown.