CalBear95

I predicted this would be his decision based on his willingness to sit for a year and learn. And really this was the only decision he could make. He doesn’t have the chops to play in the NFL and Dante would have to be deluding himself to think that he does. Dante didn’t strike me as delusional. The truth is, Dante needs probably two more seasons at the college level. Look what it’s done for Mendoza. And look at the mistakes Dante made this year. The delta between the two is enormous. The NFL is not a development league and I’ve read the floor for collegiate starts for an incoming QB teams would ideally like to see is 34. Obviously Dante has raw talent so a team was going to take risk and draft him with a high pick after only 20 starts (we’ve all seen the crazy stretches teams are willing to make for a QB) but I think he would have been a bust. If you want a future in the league, you want to get as many starts as possible at the collegiate level. The game only gets faster at the next level and your weaknesses get exposed. Yes, you learn in the NFL as a QB but you need to already be operating from a solid fundamentals platform. Work on improving and excelling in a more forgiving environment. I don’t think Dante can iron out and master all of his issues in one season. Dante will leave after next year, yes, but I would argue two more years at Oregon will buy him a healthy second contract in the NFL which should be the overriding objective. I say that as someone who wants to see Dante succeed, not as a Ducks fan.

While of course I’d like to see the Ducks win, I don’t see anyone beating IU this year. They’re excellent in all three legs of the stool. Every other CFP team has flaws. IU has none. Consider that every first round bye team had rust that took them a bit to shake off. Not IU. They were nails from the jump. I think for the Ducks to win, IU has to have an off game, something akin to how they played at PSU. Not impossible but probably unlikely as they’re peaking at the right time. The IU/Ducks game is the true final because neither Ole Miss or Miami is beating either of them.

Not only was the guy a ridiculous homer, he was talking out both sides of his mouth. Yes, the layoff hurt but not for the entire game. If you grant them one half to get up and running then they came out of the locker room down only 6. And in his first video he’s talking about how TT is going to hang some number greater than 30 on the Ducks (well if the long layoff hurts the offense why are you making that prediction?). The Ducks’ D was elite today. Show some class and recognize that fact.

The way this is all run is pure insanity. I’d like to see two things happen. The first is pushing the transfer window’s start to after the CFP is over. The second is to take control of how players are paid by moving the mechanism out of the hands of NIL and giving it to the schools. From there you would create a salary cap and contracts that could span multiple years (reducing the insanity of the portal). If I had to choose one it would be the second as it would calm down the churn and you’d create some interesting roster decisions as well as create a lot of parity (making a 16 team player playoff a lot more competitive).

It would be a good first step to get rid of the league championship games. For one, a team takes another loss possibly pushing them out of the playoff. And of course that weekend could be used as a bye week for the start of a 16 team format (or be used for first round games). The long layoff is ridiculous and isn’t fair to the higher seeded teams. I’d like to see games where each team is at their best.

As to the 4th down decisions, I’d want to see the analytics, but each one felt like the right call to me. They just didn’t convert which isn’t necessarily an indication of whether the call was “correct”

I think the Ducks lose because they have a massive disadvantage which is having to shake off the rust after 4 weeks off. OSU has played once and won’t suffer from that need. In a game where possessions will be at a premium it could take 2-3 for the Ducks to find their season form. This is what I hate about the current structure of the playoffs. Not only is the seeding structure massively unfair, it punishes the higher seeds by making them have to wait 4 weeks. It might have been better for the Ducks to lose to PSU. They would have played a game with effectively two byes. You still rest without losing your rhythm. Hope I’m wrong but the Ducks have been handed every possible anchor the playoffs could toss them.

The reason the flaw exists is that they wanted first round byes for the top four conference champs and once you operate from that framework, the only thing that works is 12 teams. And once you settle on a framework of seeding the next 8 by ranking (and an auto bid for champ #5) you inevitably land on some really bad outcomes. It's a perfect example of letting a focus on a particular structure destroy the objective/goal of the endeavor: determine the best team in CFP. I'm sure the top 4 bye structure was devised because it was the only way to get broad sign-off from the then P5 (and maybe silence legal action from the G5). The mindless seeding? On that they have zero excuse for not anticipating what has come to pass. Seriously, these guys were really lazy or really didn't care. All you had to do was to imagine a scenario where the top 4 seeds weren't the top 4 ranked teams (a highly probable outcome given historical final rankings). You then use your system of mindlessly seeding teams. It would become very clear very quickly that method is utterly broken. How these people make as much money as they do is a total mystery to me.

It’s amazing people building this system couldn’t see this train wreck coming down the tracks. It’s not like this was some non-obvious result. It’s not like they didn’t have access to a system that already works. It’s unfortunate that the Ducks will suffer the consequences of being the top seed in a year where all of these flaws are exposed but not yet fixed. Win your conference and you’re in nothing else is guaranteed. Reseeding is a great idea. If they can’t fix the conf champs getting a bye at least reseed to help mitigate the damage from that system

ESPN interviewing Michigan AD about seeding and that Oregon has a much harder path than the team they just beat. Says they rank and then seed and don’t think about how it might disadvantage the teams that are judged to be the best. Well, maybe you should. It’s ridiculous that PSU who hasn’t beaten a top 15 team has an easier path than the two teams they lost to. It’s a total joke.

Notre Dame once again fails upward. They have a pretty easy road. Georgia is the only tough game but they’re so inconsistent

Apparently you don’t want to be the No. 1 seed.

OK…double post because I feel like ranting at the moment ND should be forced to join a conference. They skate by on a ridiculous schedule most years and are given far too much influence on how the playoff system works. If it isn’t clear, I absolutely loathe ND.

ND is the golden child. They always get the best possible treatment even if they don’t deserve it. Losing at NIU at home should be an anchor on their resume and preclude them getting a first round bye or jumping any other 1 loss team especially considering the team they would be jumping will have played an extra game against a top 5 opponent before these leagues haven’t yet clued into the fact that the championship game hurts their teams more than it helps them. If the Ducks lose they should fall no further than the 4 seed unless the playoff rules say on conf champs are eligible for first round byes in which case they should do worse than the 5 seed even if that requires making ND the ) seed.

I’m a Bear so The Play will always live in high profile lore and should never be put in the past. And not because the Bears are no better now than they were then but because Joe Starkey makes what it probably the single best call in television history. Flat out loses his mind. That never gets old. I think of The Pick the same way. Amazing call. But I understand there has been an evolution in the program and that moment probably doesn’t feel as seminal these days. I can understand wanting to retire it.