Grandpa Duck

I suppose the seeding by the College Football Playoff Committee needs to be explained every month or so for those who post negative comments in a thread and never return to it. First, the committee did not seed teams. They seeded numbers, 1-12, before the season began. No one knew which teams would finish the season in what numbers. Second, the winners of the SEC and the B1G, plus winners of two of the other three conferences were given a bye into the second round as part of the negotiations between five conferences. That was the carrot for agreeing to the 12 team playoff. So ASU and Boise State end up seeded #3 and 4 even though they were ranked well below that. For the first round the, CFPC made a standard bracket with 5 Vs. 12, 6 vs. 11 and so forth. Again, they made that bracket before the season started. I think that Ohio State, ranked #10, beat Tennessee, ranked #7, and then, as the poorest ranked team without a bye to make it into round round two, became #8 of the eight teams in round two. So, they drew #1, OBD. Complain all you like, but the CFPC was given a sack of lemons by the conferences. They ranked ASU and Boise State low, but the agreement made before the season started said their conference winners would get a top four seed. The CFPC made the lemonade. The blame lies with the conferences, not the committee. And, to date I have seen nothing that will change next year. In the end, Ohio State had the best team and was going to beat OBD whether we played them in the quarterfinals, semifinals or finals. So, what difference does it make?

Thanks, Charles, for the thorough article!

Odds are that Duke will press on every possession. Graves should use every minute of tomorrow’s shoot-around on “How to break the press!”

Thank you for the detailed information, Charles.

I rather doubt this bill will be enacted. Oregon was a pioneer state in the open meetings law for governmental bodies. Federal public records act comes into play. The reality is that paid college athletes in a state owned school are public employees. In no sense are they independent contractors. Private schools like Stanford and USC have a right to secrecy. When the people own the school, the people have a right to know.

Basketball is best played by selfless teamwork. This group cannot even define those words.

The defense was very good. Graves uses his bench liberally, so that players can go hard, and then rest. During the second half there were several steals that led to layups. Definitely a year where the best offensive strategy is a good defense. probably the worst officiated game at college level I have seen.

David, when comparing year to year statistics there is an assumption that, in the case of the offense, the opponents’ defenses from one year to the next are a constant. Obviously they are not. They are not even the same opponents. And even where there are the same teams, their schedules, their players, and quality of play from game to game can change drastically. Thanks for a thought provoking article. Change is a big part of what makes sports fascinating.

I suspect that OBD and Washington have reduced income because they take a reduced TV revenue from the B1G.

I recognize that folks are unhappy about the settlement money going to WSU and OS, but when I see a B1G football championship and today’s men BB win vs. tOSU and women BB vs Penn State, the process of getting to where we are was worth whatever it cost. Oregon fans are so much better off enjoying where we are than we were two years ago in the PAC-12 it isn’t even close. Part of this great basketball day for the Ducks is the names of the teams we beat.

This year OBD beat Penn State in the B1G championship game in Indianapolis.

Obviously it was not a “path to the championship game.”

Penn State wins 24-17 2 turnovers 1sack 247 yards passing

Ohio State wins 45-13 3 turnovers 4 sacks 326 yards passing

I am inclined to say that there is no substitute for players who are bigger, stronger and faster. But OBD won several games this year, including one in October against tOSU, with players who were not! Obviously, today was not one of those days when the smaller, weaker and slower players prevailed. I too suspect that there may be a disease rampaging through our team. We did win the second half. But when you take the most productive receiver in the October game, Stewart, off the field at game time, the impact is more than physical.