Desert Duck

I do want to emphasize that I certainly don't remotely blame GK for the condition Larry Scott and his braintrust team allowed the PAC12 to deteriorate into over the past decade. That was pure all Larry Scott & Co. I am, however, amazed that the gutting of the PAC12 was able to remain a secret, and apparently not get out all, prior to the earthquake announcement this week. Usually if you tell one or two people a secret that is not to he repeated, about 30 people are quickly going to hear about it --- or at least hear rumors about it. But apparently, those involved in the PAC12 USC/UCLA gutting somehow did find a way to keep it completely off the radar and out of the rumor-mill until the announcement. I admit that the following is rather small of me, but I do take some pleasure in knowing that UCLA football will be providing a lot of B1G schools with many easy victories for years to come.

Props to Lincoln Riley. The USC move certainly makes his decision to bolt from Oklahoma make much more sense. It seems clear that the USC/UCLA Pac12 Exodus (aka. "Pac12 Gutting") plan has been in the works since before Riley made the jump and had to be a huge drawing card. That Oregon was apparently not remotely considered as part of this Exodus, indeed, does not appear to bode well for the Ducks.

The responsibility for USC and UCLA bolting for the Big Ten resides heavily on the shoulders of the inept Larry Scott. But for Kliavkoff to have apparently been completely blindsided by the USC/UCLA disaster is beyond unacceptable. Keeping negotiations like this USC/UCLA move secret is virtually next to impossible. For something this huge not to have been leaked at all is next to unbelievable. People have been fired for much less.

Yes it has. But frankly, it left some time ago. But today, we are finally seeing the repercussions really start to take place.

“Money is the Root of All Evil” The Word actually says: "The love of money is the root of all evil..." I certainly appreciate what you are saying. However, the difference between appreciating and respecting money, is a world apart from loving and worshipping it -- and turning it into "My Precious". Loving money twists and distorts and has turned countless people and institutions into a Gollum. Perhaps not always apparent on the outside, but certainly in their hearts. College football is no different and neither is their love of money. But the difference I see today is that CFB has completely come out of the shadows and is no longer attempting to hide this fact. In fact, I would suggest that they have now overtly embraced this fact. While I don't like what I see, in some ways, I respect the fact that CFB is no longer attempting to couch or conceal it. Understanding this makes predicting CFB behavior almost easy. It makes the stealth decision by USC & UCLA to effectively destroy a 100+ year institution a lot less surprising – and in light of loving the Precious, even understandable. I would argue that CFB's love of the Precious is simply tracking right along with the twilight of our traditional societal values and mores. So, where does this all leave Oregon? Well, Oregon will probably end up in a decent-to-good position in the new world order of CFB. But for about half of our conference, including our relatives one hour to the north, at this point it looks rather bleak.

I'll never forget being at the Fiesta Bowl against KSU and DAT on that opening kickoff return when he took it to the house. That was a fun game.

The timing could not be better.

Great Duck news!

The fact that this guy has had five major back surgeries and can still walk is amazing. The fact that the guy then somehow came back after all of that and won another green jacket in 2019, kind of makes him Superman as far as I'm concerned. Anyone who has had a single back surgery knows what I'm talking about, let alone five. Oh yeah, not to mention the car accident that nearly killed him less than 14 months ago and potentially could have cost him his leg. The Masters story for me is that Woods is walking, let alone golfing and competing against the greatest players in the world.

This, in Columbia, SC, a city roughly the size of Eugene. In all fairness, the Eugene-Springfield metro area has a population of about 180,000. The Columbia SC metro area has a population of about 850,000.

For the great majority of these guys, the NFL is the equivalent of winning the ultimate lottery, and the lottery leads many to financial ruin within a few years. And like the lottery, the NFL checks all of their dream boxes: money, fame, etc, and obviously very few of them can handle it. And considering only about 0.005% of the US population is under contract on an NFL roster at any given time (about 1,700 NFL players on rosters under contract), the odds of playing NFL football are not much better than winning the lottery. However, in all fairness, the odds of a college football player making an NFL roster are a bit higher at 0.64% (there are about 80,000 US college football players x 0.64% = 512 new NFL players per year added to rosters). And let’s remember, the average NFL career lasts 2.75 years. When I look at the data, and when considering that 99.4+% of college football players will never see a single NFL dollar in their lives, the Wild-West-like NIL lottery-esque cash grab makes even more sense. But sadly, I’d comfortably wager that 80+% of these kids will see their NIL money disappear before their eyes within 2 to 3 very short years. By the time they finish playing college ball, they’ll be lucky to have a car left in their possession with their name on it. And sadly, the greatest asset they will need for the rest of their lives, a college degree, will way more than likely be lost as well.

Notre Dame #5. When will they ever learn.

Top-level coaching is always a huge part of a successful CFB program, but I’m afraid that in today’s world, that’s just barely the price of admission. Anyone who didn’t realize that the “Texas A&M NIL Recruiting System®” of buying recruits is the future of CFB, simply was not paying attention. Any CFB program without a serious and well-funded NIL Athlete Purchasing Program is quickly going to find that Level-1 CFB football has passed them by. And frankly, I’m not so sure that’s a bad thing. Given NIL, CFB free agency, and essentially no scholarship limitations, in my humble opinion, CFB is now effectively the NFL-L… aka. NFL-Lite.

I think Saban figured that if he didn't win it, at least they kept it in the SEC family, and among Alabama 'relatives.'

Isn't the limit ten on field assistants? I'm not certain there are any limits to anything in CFB anymore

Free agency for everyone in CFB.

In today's world of CFB with no such thing as a salary cap, we are living in the realm of no holds barred -- the sky is the limit, NIL, free agency, and effectively no scholarship limitations.

"I think the court ruling never imagined these kind of consequences to their decision." The job of the SCOTUS is to rule on the constitutionality of a case. The end.

I like it!

NIL has completely changed the landscape in regards to recruiting 5 & 4 star athletes.

They're also 0-10 in their last 10 major bowls. Ouch... that's gotta hurt. Every time I remotely think about getting a bit down on the Oregon program, all I have to do is remember where we came from when I first became a fan about a lifetime ago in the early 70s, and where we are today. Not to mention that we are 4-4 in BCS bowls, and 5-5 in our last 10 major bowls. I'm just exceptionally thankful to a Duck fan and to not be a Notre Dame fan -- or for that matter, a Husky fan. What a Groundhog Day-esque existence of drudgery that would be. It will be a lot of fun to see what Coach Lanning & Company bring to the table. I'm certainly very optimistic.

I welcome your article. Admittedly, I've even been wrong once... maybe twice, before. But let's keep that between us. I look truly forward to reading your well reasoned article.

When it comes to college football,, the SEC actually is that much better than every other conference out there. And especially our beloved PAC12.

"Only Dean Smith could hold down Michael Jordon and only Mario could hold down Justin" LOL. And isn't that the truth. It's quite special when the best lock-down defensive guy on your team is your coach.

Yeah... I'd have to say that Lanning had a decent weekend on the field. Holding a very good Michigan team to 11 points -- who up until yesterday had averaged nearly 40 points per game this season, kind of impresses the daylights out of me.