EastBayDuckDad

Could also be related to a desire to not showcase the availability of Tez and JBurch along with some new twists on offense and defense.

Off topic, but funny. Like the Kiwi band, Flight of the Conchords tune "Business Time" "Making love for.... Making love for two.... Making love for two....minutes"

Just for the sake of argument, let's go back a year and look at the teams that made the final four team CFP along with their records and conferences: 1. Michigan (B1G) 13-0 2. Washington (Pac-12) 13-0 3. Texas (Big-12) 12-1 4. Alabama (SEC) 12-1 An undefeated FSU got jilted, as did UGA with it's one loss to Alabama by 3 points in the SEC CG. Behind them, tOSU at 12-1 and OBD at 11-2 were omitted by virtue of losing their respective CGs by less than a touchdown in each. All four would have been included in this year's 12 team CFP, with UGA, tOSU and OBD capable of, if not winning out, playing exciting and competitive PO games in the old format. The narrative for not expanding the CFP was always based on the belief that the eventual NC would likely never drop below the four playoff teams, and that the regular season had to mean something by not rewarding multiple loss teams (unless you are in the SEC) with a PO berth. That narrative has now been turned on it's ear If you froze the rankings on Tuesday, what four teams would be in if it was 2023? Oregon, tOSU and Texas? Yes Miami, Penn St, ND, Tenn and UGA all vying for the last spot? Yeah, but Georgia beat Texas at home, PSU lost close at home to tOSU, Tennessee has two losses, Miami lost to an unranked GTech and the egg ND laid in it's first game can't be unseen. IMHO, Georgia wins by default, even with 2 losses and SEC bias. It's not 2023, and CGs are still to be played, so this will likely all change. My point is that a three loss SEC team not in it's CG should be left out. That's you, Alabama, Ole Miss and probably TA&M. If TA&M loses to Texas they are out. Texas will be in either way as will Georgia regardless who wins the SEC CG. Tennessee will probably squeak in, though it shouldn't. Like it and fair or not, four SEC teams will probably get in regardless of W-L record, thus rewarding teams with multiple regular season Ls. The winner of the SEC CG 'deserves' it because that's the way it's set up (heaven help me, even if they have 3 losses). The loser, whether it be UGA or Texas, yes. A two loss, non-CG Texas and Tennessee....maybe, if only to keep Finebaum out of an ICU stroke protocol. The rest....Nah.

I'll go first and foremost with beat the Fuskies definitively. Provide enough highlights to make Ducks vs Them a meal of revenge best served cold. if Tez, Burch and Harper are good to go, limit their snap counts to keep recoveries on track for the B1G CG and beyond. Have a big enough 4th qtr lead to get the 2s on the O-line, D-line and in the WR room significant reps. While love the sentiment that "There’s nothing Oregon fans want more than for the Ducks to pummel the Dawgs and hand the program a loss so devastating and decisive that it consumes Huskies fans in an atmospheric river of anguish." I'd rather have Oregon leave Autzen Saturday with the understanding that UW is simply irrelevant and merely the cherry on top of OBDs undefeated regular season sundae.

So in the discussion of whether a three loss SEC team should get in to the playoffs ahead of a one loss B1G team, what loss looks worse: Alabama to Oklahoma 24-3 or Indiana to Ohio State 38-15? Fatal blow to DeBoer and Alabama for the playoffs

Oh my. Another Milroe interception, this time a pick-6. Bama down three scores to Oklahoma. This team beat Georgia?

Hoosiers getting zero pressure on Howard and the Bucknut WRs are too much for the IU DBs when he has that much time. Announcers are yapping about how much better the tOSU secondary is since the Oregon loss, but the real difference is QB pressure on blitzes that they didn't run against the Ducks. DL and WS will need to adapt to this but there's plenty of film now.

Oof, two special teams screw-ups by IU gives tOSU two touchdowns. And blitzing has put IU's qb on his butt three times and hurried several throws. Barring a heckuva comeback by Indiana, OBD gets a Bucknut rematch in Indy.

Inadvertently posted this on the wrong thread earlier today. "Watching the GameDay preview of the tOSU v IU match-up leaning pretty heavy Bucknut advantage. Nice profile of Caleb Downs with loads of big play tape. Lots of TFLs, PBUs and a pick or two on every opponent except..... Oregon. The one clip shows him making a downfield tackle on James after what must've been a big gain. Downs will end up a 1st round pick and is immensely talented but it's gratifying to see that the Ducks more or less kept him from having a big day at Autzen. The GameDay crew had to reach to find a standout play from that October meeting."

GameDay’s crew went 6-0 for ASU against BYU. Great job by Dilly turning that program around in one year.

GameDay’s crew went 3-3 tie tOSU/IU. Herbstreet and Fields are Bucknut homers. Not surprisingly Howard went for IU, but so did McAfee and Corso!

Gotta love Cignetti's attitude. Sticks that narrative right up the old Buckeye. I'm looking forward to watching this game. I may have predicted a Bucknut win in our contest, but I'm rooting for the Hoisiers to channel OBDs September 2021 performance in the 'Shoe'.

Did you mean Popo, who graduated last year, or were you perhaps thinking of A'Muri Washington?

Watching the GameDay preview of the tOSU v IU match-up leaning pretty heavy Bucknut advantage. Nice profile of Caleb Downs with loads of big play tape. Lots of TFLs, PBUs and a pick or two on every opponent except..... Oregon. The one clip shows him making a downfield tackle on James after what must've been a big gain. Downs will end up a 1st round pick and is immensely talented but it's gratifying to see that the Ducks more or less kept him from having a big day at Autzen. The GameDay crew had to reach to find a standout play from that October meeting.

This became a tougher call with the loss of the tOSU center. That injury might sink a lesser team against a top notch D-line (like OBD, I hope), but Bucknut will compensate just enough to prevail and face Oregon in Indy on Dec 7. Ohio State to win 28-16 2 TO 2 Sacks 245 passing yds RBs Henderson and Judkins will tilt this game in Bucknut's favor. I hope I'm wrong, though.

One elite edge player a year, that's all we ask. As Charles astutely identified in the lead and many have repeated in this thread, this priority in recruiting and development is the driving force for a championship level defense. . Road block DTs, solid ILBs and lock down DBs are crucial in the 4-2-5, but they allow the star of the show to be the havoc creating Edge, keeping the QB in the pocket and disrupting any throw that takes longer than one-one thousand, two-one thousand. It's why Garrett, Clowney, Watt, Bosa, Hutchinson, Hendrickson and Crosby (and KT) are all household names and 1st round picks. And why OTs like Sewell and Alt are drafted right next to them to prevent those household names from knocking the QB into an MRI scanner. If Burch can stay healthy down the stretch, the 1-2 punch with MatayoU (and Tuioti as more of an OLB) on the edge is championship level stuff. And there is great talent waiting in the depth chart with Purchase, Winston and Rushing. I have no doubt that they would be starting for nearly any BIG team not named Oregon, tOSU and maybe Michigan. To add Elee and maybe another 4-5☆ to that list for 2025 will potentially push OBD into that elite Georgia category. Yep, you can see it from here and it appears that DL and TL can too.

Graves said it, "Tough, gritty wins are hard to come by". Last year's team lacked tough and gritty character and had no chance to pull out a victory like this. The combination of good floor leadership from Peyton Scott, Deja Kelly and Sofia Bell, dominant post play from a healthy Philly Kyei and a deep bench makes these Ducks a potential tournament team. Now if the injury bug stays away...

Losing your O-line anchor and "qb" is a tough turn, particularly when that center is All-American caliber. Even if tOSU has a capable backup, there is no way that their offense doesn't suffer. Witness Oregon's early season woes with Pickard when Pancho was shifted to OG. And from a historical perspective, need I even say it? ...Alamo Bowl. We saw what happened when Bucknuts lost a starting tackle against OBD. More false starts and problems in the run game. Just enough to make a difference. What happens against Indiana this weekend will be telling and the Ducks will be the beneficiary regardless of who they face in the B1G CG. I still see tOSU winning and facing OBD in the title game. With Harmon or Caldwell breathing down his neck, their center will have his work cut out for him.

Boise St's one loss was to the #1 team, in their (our) house, by a FG. They've earned that #12 spot and maybe the first round bye. At the very least they deserve to be in the playoff.

4 of 5 top spots to B1G. #1 Oregon #2 tOSU #3 Texas #4 Penn St #5 Indiana It won't stay that way but sometimes you gotta live in the moment.

And now a TD pass to TFrank to put the Broncos up 28-6. Yep, big mistake to take Nix in the 1st round. But I may be a little biased.

Bo has Denver up on Atlanta 21-6 at the half. 2 TD tosses. 17/19 for 192 yds with an RTG of 144. Spreading the ball around to six receivers including TFrank. The Bronco D is doing a great job. Looking forward to Bolts v Bengals tonight with JH.

There was something clenched during the majority of that game until the final two minutes alright.

All except that last fake FG. DL should have taken the three to force Whisky to drive the field and score a TD.

Time to take the win and limp into the bye week. Get some juice back and heal up. Beat the purple poodles!