Washington Waddler

Does that mean a punter would end up in Canada?

Thanks 30 for the coverage!

Solid win against a team that prides itself on relentless defense. Loved what Bev had to say about Te-Hina’s game beginning to develop those crafty one-on-one touches.

On Mario’s reputation among coaches, the canary in the coal shaft for me was watching all his HC compulsory post-game meet-n-greets. The majority of them were one-way with Mario trying to appear coachly, and the other guy looking like somebody in a police line-up.

Trusting roster weight listings for OLs is a bit like trusting roster height listings for basketball.

Yes, greed left unattended will have its way. If by ‘usual’ you’re referring to the current hands-off policy gifted by the Supreme Court to the NCAA, and adopted by the universities, then that represents the absence of a business model rather than any reality-based give and take. That is why the NFL business model needs to replace the current absence of one at the collegiate level. The NFL understands excessive desire and wants. It’s ownership is the definition of greed, which is why it is forced to regulate and control those urges in order to guarantee its own survival.

How can the teams who produce the talent ensure that they keep it? Excellent question David. I’d hazard a guess and say that the current unrestricted, free-for-all conditions under which the portal operates, and NILS — to the extent that it’s value is manipulated by portal opportunities — is a temporary situation, morally grounded in the long term financial abuse of once powerless student athletes whose moral outrage will run its course, and eventually be reeled in by the need for financial balance between the athletes and those who have a stake in them. How long that will take, and who will assume responsibility to make it happen is anybody’s guess. Once this euphoric, student-athlete playground is no longer tolerated, my guess is the corollary would have to be the NFL, and modeled on the precedence of free agency: the athlete who wants money owes something to those who have invested money, time and energy in their development. Again, what they would owe, in terms of time, is anybody’s guess. Once this unsustainable and unrealistic approach to the portal and it’s abuse of NILS hits the wall, then we can hopefully see a balance return to the process, and a degree of power returned to the teams we love.

If LaMike can cut the mustard the way he did through opposing defenses, he’ll do just fine.

Prediction: Mario will make a bold move to unify the program’s strategic approach and save the boosters money by hiring himself as both OC and DC.

Earlier editions of DA’s transfer-loaded teams that lacked the star power of those transfers we are seeing now seemed to gel a bit quicker. Getting more guys who have been use to running the show to buy into Dana’s more selfless approach may just take more time. Hope what we saw against the rodents says we’re turning the corner, but I’m not sure I quite trust this team’s motor yet.

If you cling to nostalgic hindsight, the glow blinds you even more with each passing year. Sure, Mac was great - we all loved it. I especially miss watching Wooden trying to disappear into his chair, and yelling sit down to Lute. But, we’ve got Matt now, and it can be just as good - if we let it.

Know this is a bit late, but that just meant they needed to take the team outside to go piddle in the bushes.

Thought she changed our direction in the Arizona game, but she certainly has not come close to her potential.

Don’t think DA ever doubted Will’s ability or PG IQ — it was just the time it took to adjust and tweak his game in that direction in relation to the other moving parts, as others have suggested. What’s funny is we looked just like the leg humpers prior to the Beaver game — a one pass offense that turned the ball over on either a missed three or failed drive in the paint. Accepting your team role simplifies the game. It gets one to really look and to focus. It’s amazing what happens when a coach of Dana’s caliber gets his players to do that. IMO, I’m kinda excited to see the emergence of Quincy Guerrier. Think he’s had a tougher time finding his fit, but when he does find his rhythm, look out! Maybe that missing part that puts us up.

And lurking behind it all is this whisper of untold riches that envelopes these dreams like some sort of white noise elevator music just awaiting them now, even at the college level.

Well, this is why we play the game. For whatever reason, USC has tended to show more hype than heart ever since John Robinson’s first tenure. Thinking back on our opening possessions from those days at the Coliseum, if we took their first punch without flinching, that legendary, blue blood Trojan mask would melt away, leaving just a bunch of dazed and confused players who were counting on the image —instead of themselves — to play the game. How long it will take Riley to recreate the program is anybody’s guess. It may be more of an uphill chore than he anticipates. No tougher place on the planet to replace appearance with reality.

Love the comments, if for one reason only: the energy and excitement is coming back into interstate rivalries (well, except for the distempered puppies up north) and the league as a whole. Remember when those games got circled early on, and how incredible it was when we won? Love it that the Tinseltown Trojans are getting their swagger back! Bring it! This is what’s healthy for the PAC 12.

Trojan’s new defensive philosophy? — bend, but don’t breeeeaaa - oops!

Canzano seems interested in fostering the notion that the NCAA’s investigation of Division St might be based on a very narrow reading of a numbers disparity between Oregon and OSU football players who benefit from NILS $, while ignoring the bigger picture of gender and program balance that exists at both universities in distributing those same dollars. It’s a murky read at best, his attempt to discern the investigative intent of an organization that now appears so unsure of itself, and afraid of being further diminished and embarrassed by the courts. Canzano hints at the idea that the NCAA may see Oregon’s high-profile connection with Nike as the best and easiest target for it to regain some prestige and stature in the fight for moral authority over college athletics. Or does he? As he points out, such a leveraging would have to come at the expense of cash-cow football, or there’d be no point to it. But, Oregon’s NILS numbers don’t back that argument, so why even bother with pointing the finger? Perhaps Canzano is asking us to jump to where he has already gone, and wonder at who the NCAA’s next target might be? Assuming that they already knew Oregon’s NILS numbers (a matter of public record), the NCAA may be simply making a public show of how a program SHOULD operate in this new sphere of NILS distributions. Once the balance sheet is on the table for all to see, it may not be much of a leap to compare Oregon to say, Texas? Canzano’s quoting of OSU AD Scott Barnes’ remarks that NILS doesn’t invite less, but more cheating seems to mirror such a comparison. One can only hope! In the mean time, only time — and nerve — will tell. So, do something RIGHT for a change NCAA!

For any OC out there willing to put on Mario’s collar, it’s more like yew than U. Come to think of it, the flack this guy is going to take makes some ex-White House press agent the perfect candidate.

And going up against Nyara and Sedona in practice is just the experience she needs to help develop her into the dominant force she shows flashes of becoming.

I must be missing something, but when I look at the physical distance separating the two benches, and the fact that placed between them are two media tables with scoring and time keeping officials between the two tables, Barnes must have some ears to be hearing a constant cussing coming from Kelly amid all that fan noise! Also, if he was going off as she insists, don’t you think at least one of the officials (who are closer to him) would have heard, and reported the outbursts to the floor officials triggering a warning and possible TF? I must be missing something.

Our relay potential sure looks promising.

I’m still floating on air! What I like best though is both programs seem to get that because of their early season losses, they have very little wiggle room if they want to get to the place they want at the dance. It’s all about effort. Like Maddie Scherr said, “It’s so simple, we’re getting stops.”

I agree that one option is to simply turn the SEC into a AAA league run by the NFL. But Alston does not effect rearming the NCAA from the vantage point of a booster-focused point of view. Alston effects caps on student-athlete benefits only; ie, academic related expenses.