OhioDuck

Looks about right to me. I think Utah is on top, but not by much. If I put the team that lost to FL on the field with the Oregon team that beat BYU Oregon wins by three touch downs though. But that's a first week game vs. a third week game. I picked the Beavers to beat SC. I didn't see the game and when I looked at the box score I was wondering why they didn't until I saw the 4 ints. USC is much more hype than substance at this point. Dye is playing well for them, which I expected. Guy has a lot of heart no matter what color the uniform he's wearing. Haven't been able to watch much else, it's that trying to watch PAC games in Eastern time zone thing. Of course I've only seen Ohio St. play once and that was just one half. Just not a lot of free time on saturday lately.

And Miami fans didn't take long to jump off that band wagon. Oregon fans gave him a little benefit of the doubt. Maybe the Miami fans are looking into his track record at Oregon figuring things out pretty quickly. Don't expect Tom Brady to perform well under this coach. It's really hard for a QB to perform at 100% with their 200+ lb head coach sitting on them.

I was expecting a close game last week and OBD surprised me (very pleasantly). I'm expecting a fairly close game again and hoping I'm surprised again. If this team continues to improve from week to week as much as they have in these first three games, it may not be close. No let down!

Thanks for the article Dazed, here's to your full and speedy recovery. I also think the Ducks will win this one, but there are possible pitfalls I'm concerned about. One: Bo running under control is good. Bo running for his life, history says not so good. Hopefully the contest between the unstoppable force and unmovable object, the WSU pass rush vs Oregon pass protection will be won by Oregon. Two: Georgia's offense was largely based on getting to the edge, mostly in the short passing game. This is also a strength of WSU. We have tackled a million times better since that game. So, hopefully we can slow them down considerably. Three: Oregon has all those blue chippers, but WSU has a great big blue chip on their shoulders. An over confident Ducks team may get a big surprised. I think we will deal with all of these and end up with a solid victory. But take these Cougars lightly and it could be really tough.

I'm still hoping for something like this, maybe even with all three conferences. A coast to coast conference with 4 divisions and a 4 team play off (maybe not with the 12 team NCAA play off coming). First championship game Oregon vs. Miami, if Miami can get there.

Yeah, how many times do I remember Oregon losing a coach and Mario talking about how his replacement was an upgrade. I even believed it a few times. The season started again and it was just the same old stuff.

Same here, I think this coaching team can be special as they become cohesive learn how to fit together. I do not begrudge Dilly taking an opportunity to be a head coach if that's what he wants, but I think he will have better opportunities if he waits a few years and is successful at Oregon. He has the luxury of being patient right now.

Well I tried to help you out a few days ago. I read something where someone was suggesting the Dawgs are the best college football team ever. Well, I said they are really good, but GOAT is a pretty tall order. Let's wait until they've played a few more than three games. In any case, when a team is really hyped (maybe over hyped) in the media, the key is getting the players to not believe it. Bama may not be looking invincible these days, but they are Bama, Florida may have stumbled againt KY, but they looked pretty tough against Utah... there are really good teams out there with really good coaches working to get better every day. I have a feeling Coach Smart has the Dawgs convinced they have to do the same. They need to know they are not where they need to be to win in late November and December. Because everyone is going to be better then.

Yeah, I said in another thread the product on the field means as much or more than the size of the market. Oregon is an example. Eugene is a tiny TV market, but Oregon (at least until MC) put a great, exciting product on the field. I became a Duck fan, in spite of my geographic dislocation, because of loving how Oregon played. It was also cool seeing a team usually mostly made up of 3 star guys beating some of the big name schools (and watching their fans pull their hair out over that). Winning is part of it, but playing an exciting brand of football conference wide would also help the PAC.

BTW, great article. Charles sure knew what he was doing getting you to write.

Any offense that includes a read option, which is almost universal now including Dillingham's, has to have at least the threat of the QB running the ball at times. Bo definitely gives us that. Banging heads with a couple of defensive backs with bad intentions may be a little overboard, but it's what you get with an intense competitor sometimes. Here's hoping Bo stays healthy, even if it's in spite of himself at times. I think we may be selling Ty a little short. A bad play call (maybe the only one of the game for Dillingham) and a missed pass that should have been caught did him in. If Bo goes down at some point, we might be surprised how well Ty does with the opportunity to be THE guy, even if temporarily. He may just rise to the occasion.

SDSU is a no brainer to me. It should already be done. It would be great to pull in BYU, but that chance may have passed. I would also go along with UNLV, but more on potential. It's a national market and they can be competitive with P5/6 teams at times. I'm still hoping for some kind of conference merger. I think with the B1G and SEC obviously looking to create super conferences, a third super conference needs to emerge. PAC and Big 12 are probably the best fits for this. It would be good competitive football and tv markets. BTW, take a look at the TV markets and who really has them. I think the case can be made that product on the field is more important than market. SEC right now is in 4, yes 4 of the top 40 TV markets in the country. But they have one of the top TV ratings because they dominate the football crazy southest.

Understand your reasoning, but I'm not staying nervous. I expect a solid victory. I know WSU has something to prove and that motivates them. But I think Oregon is still a team with something to prove. I've hear national pundit saying, "Yeah, but BYU had some key injuries..." They still don't believe. We need to play hungry, we need to get better every day, and I think we will. I know Pullman is always a challenge, but I think these guys are ready for that challenge. Go Ducks!

Absolutely, this is the kind of football that made me a Duck's football fan. It was so much fun to watch. I was thinking after the first two drives, Oregon Football is back. Speed was everywhere, fast paced, chunk plays abounded, and the plan was aggressive on both sides of the ball!

Always a scary thing to predict what happens in Pullman, but I think you're right. If the Ducks continue to improve at the same pace as the last two weeks we should beat WSU. Would love to see the Sewell and Flowe combo start to destroy opposing offenses too. I like the staff's attitude of not risking further injury, though Flowe's injury is minor. Without looking a tape specifically looking at Sewell I can't tell what was happening with him. His name certainly wasn't called often and I think a lot of the time they were playing toward pass coverage and he wasn't even on the field. We'll see with WSU, they are likely to be pass first and coverage will be important.

It's really nice, since the pundits are often looking for everything they possibly can to doubt the Ducks. But there were also a lot of people here that were picking BYU. I picked the Ducks, but thought it would be close. Who really expected this? I think what we and the pundits learned today is that this can be a very good football team and shouldn't be judged by the Georgia game alone.

That drive sealed it with or without the field goal. Time eating drives seal games. Duck back in control.

Bo throwing some blocks.

Play calling has something to do with it too. Running only when they know you're going to run, playing the gaps, then have to pass with a long way to go.

That Int wasn't on Ty, hit him in the worse possible place, right in the hands. A couple of bad calls there. Knee down, interference. We took the foot off the gas too soon.

Holding call was questionable.

Unfortunately for BYU, they are not built to come from behind.

He had a good check down on the third down play, up 31 just check it down, don't force it.

First Oregon punt of the game 6 minutes left in the third, dominance!

2.6 yards per rush for BYU, 5.4 for Oregon. We win a lot of games like that.