OhioDuck

This confirms what I felt intuitively about Coach Lanning from day one. He at least partly came to Oregon because he thought Eugene would be a great place to raise his family. Who can blame him!

I appreciate the Georgia fans who have been on here. You have all shown nothing but respect. Living on the east coast and now in Ohio, I understand the perception problem of the PAC. Some is just timing, who stays up to all hours of the night and morning to watch west coast football (which is way too often played at night on the west coast, hint, hint), but some is a lack of performance in recent years in big games a bowl games. I have had a little problem with some general SEC fans. I think the conference is often over rated as from top to bottom. Yes, Georgia is always good, Alabama is always good. Sometimes the two best teams in the country. Then there are three or four teams (which ones rotate from year to year) that can give GA and Bama a decent game. Then there is the rest of the conference that both GA and Bama can regularly beat by 30+ points. I expect this game to be really tough for Oregon to win, but I think some of the betting spreads I've seen are way off. Oregon is better than those SEC teams GA and Bama usually beat by 30+. If Chemistry comes together, coaching staff proves to be as good as I think they are, Oregon may be a lot better than those teams.

No Alabama? or anyone else in the SEC?

Most Georgia fans I've heard use words like serviceable for Bennett's physical talents and elite for his leadership. I've also heard some about their running game being necessary for him to be a successful passer. He lives off of play action.

I was describing this to my wife and couldn't do it without tears.

I think QB needs to work a bit like every other position on the field. We want depth everywhere and we play multiple players at each position when we have the depth to do it. We have three very talented players at QB. Play all three! Yes, Nix gets the most snaps, maybe all the snaps the first game, but the others need to play too. What happens if once again we have two very talented QB's getting no snaps and Nix is injured in practice the Friday before the BYU game? Either Ty or Butters comes in to a huge game with little or no experience in real game situations. But what if each of them gets a quarter vs. Eastern W.? They at least have their feet wet a little before diving in head first. Later that same scenario could play out before any big game (or a not so big game could turn into a big game, because suddenly we are starting a QB with no experience). These guys need game experience or we really don't know just what they can do. Who knows, with a chance to prove it, both may be better than Nix.

I think the potential is there for everything you say, I would even think that if this offense really gets clicking top 10 isn't out of the question. Things have to come together though, chemistry needs to develop with a QB that most of the guys haven't played with before (if Nix indeed is the day one starter). If one of the young guys over takes Nix then you have a very inexperienced, though very talented one. I am expecting what you are, but it may take some time. In any case, Georgia is also replacing a lot of players, so they may take some time to gel too. We may do better there than a lot of people are expecting. We don't want to over look anyone, but we should easily beat Eastern Washington. Then BYU will be tough but at home, we should have some kinks worked out by then.

Well this person seemed to be able to mention in a short article everything that could possibly go wrong and didn't seem as interested in looking for what could go right. I expect more things will go right with this staff than wrong. Will coach make a few rookie mistakes. Sure. Will they be worse than the glaring game mismanagement of no O Mari...? I double it. And I expect there will be a bit more passion for the whole season than last year too.

Thanks this analysis is very helpful and not as gloomy as the original post here. It is easy to concentrate on the negatives of a player, especially someone like Bo. Playing at Auburn is not easy, the expectations are way high compared to the strength of the program. Especially considering they are always playing in the shadow of their next door neighbor in Tuscaloosa. Bo's numbers are no spectacular, but they are solid. When you consider that his offensive line was often outplayed by the other teams defensive line his number aren't bad at all. Also, he was actually having his best year before injury last year. As for comparisons to AB. I will look to the eye test. I've seen Bo play several times for Auburn often against very good competition (Alabama 3 times). I've never seen Bo look as bad as AB did against Stanford or both games vs. Utah. Never.

He makes some good points. In the end geography will matter. I think he is also thinking more long term, which almost no one else is doing now. There are other issues with the Cali. schools, going east will eventually mean travel issues, no matter what the money involved is. There are more than just football teams involved. All the non-revenue sport will have to travel too. That will mean big money for travel, fatigue for the athletes, time issues, academic issues... Will this be enough to overcome the billionaire media moguls determined to get their way no matter what? Who knows at this point, but it will be interesting to watch. I am suspecting that conferences will differ according to which sport it is. Non-revenue sports my need to be more geographically based. While football and basketball can spread out more.

Well, practice is just about to start and a starter has not been named yet. We are not even sure Nix will walk out and take the first snap. My best hope for this season has always been that the coaching staff will not be hesitant to pull a guy who is not having a good game. If Nix starts, we have two guys who can come in and maybe they are hot that day when Nix isn't. My biggest problem with last year was that sometimes AB was playing just awful and the Ty and Butters didn't get a chance to come in and see what they could have done. If Nix has those days, I hope they will let the other guys come in. There is no way they could have player worse than some of the games Brown had last year.

Not sure what the problem would be. Just adding Houston and TCU/Baylor/TT and San Diego St. for S. Cal. would put the PAC in 8 of the top 20 markets in the country. With Portland at #21 that's 9 or the top 21. An expansion into Texas makes a lot of sense from a marketing point of view, if they can make it happen.

Guy has great tools, he will be very good or great! Let Josh be Josh, he'll be just fine.

Yeah, call me a skeptic. I need to know a few things about this. One, how was the data gathered? Is this good science, an educated guess or just a guess. Two, what exactly is a fan? Are we talking, "Yeah, I kinda like the Ducks, those uniforms are cool." or are we talking, "I give half of my income to Ducks athletics, I bleed Green and Yellow!" The article Fish Duck posted seems more likely to me.

Look forward to some good reading! Great news!

Welcome, thanks for your own great comments. I admit, I would love nothing more than to see a conference formed from the PAC, Big 12 and ACC that would not only compete with the arrogant B1G (I know that, living in Ohio) and SEC, but beat them. But you're right, Oregon just might be in a position where they have to take and invite to the B1G. Now remember the Oregon record against B1G teams is all against top half teams, maybe top 1/4 teams and when top PAC teams have played top B1G teams in the Rose and other bowls the PAC has more than held it's own. Now one thing I don't think the PAC can change. That is how we are perceived back east. Except for the too short time I lived in Oregon, I've lived east of the Mississippi my whole life. I'm 65 and my whole life the PAC has never been respected. Even when the evidence is against the insistence that the PAC is an inferior conference, like bowl records (declining recently but still 500 since 2000) NCAA tourney wins in B-ball... it doesn't matter to folks back east. There is s very big bias against west coast athletics. Even in the pros the west coast is not respected. When west coast teams join east coast conferences because they think they "have to" to compete, it only feeds that perception. For now, I'm still hoping for a merger of conferences not named B1G or SEC that will put a better product on the fields and courts and end up beating them. There is still time for that. But the thinking has to be long term.

Any sense of entitlement by any of our current QBs should be gone now. One they both sat behind a mediocre QB transfer last year. Two they are likely to sit behind a better transfer this year. Three they have, maybe the top QB in the class coming in next year, who just might compete to start as a true freshman. I think Ty and Butters know by now they have to earn everything they get. I'm hoping the competition between Bo, Ty and Butters this year makes all three better.

I know what the numbers say, but my gut is telling me that the two "super conference" smucks need competition. Somehow I'd like to see those not included in the B1G Ugly and SEC now find a way to create something that not only competes with them but eventually beats them. I'm thinking long term, not just this year or next. Whether that's a three way with PAC, Big 12 and ACC as I've said I would like to see, or PAC/Big 12 deal. It seems that the "left outs" need to band together or the cream gets pick off one by one and there will be two conferences in college football where any of the teams have a realistic chance at a NC. I for one don't want to see that come to pass.

SDSU is already performing at or near PAC 12 level in many sports without the advantage of actually being part of the conference. Becoming part of the PAC could give them the push to become more than just competitive in the PAC, but a year in, year out contender for championships. I like the move. Fresno is also interesting. Pretty competitive, and good market. They should get a good look also.

SC has made some splashy moves with skilled players on offense for sure. They have solidified their defense, but I don't see spectacular improvement yet. So, they will almost certainly be better. We'll see how the move to the B1Ugly plays out with recruiting. Are Southern California guys going to cherish playing November and December games in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan? Even State College PA can be frigged. Yeah, it rains in Oregon, but you don't get frostbite. There is also a style of play issue. You think MC (no O) was boring. Wait until you get a load of Wisconsin and Iowa groveling in the dirt on Saturday afternoons. I'm still not sold on Riley. Yes, he's a good coach, but he has only proved so far that he can keep an already speeding train (Oklahoma) on the tracks. He took over a derailed USC program. He may very well prove himself at USC, but I want to see game day results before judging.

I'm not sure the Big 12 is that much better an option than the PAC. I still think some sort of merger of the two conferences is the best option for both. If not the B1G Ugly conference and SEuglyC will keep poaching members from each at will. To stop that there has to be a viable option that is competitive with the two Big Uglies. Neither the PAC or Big 12 has much of a chance of doing that alone at this point.

I think OSU may get some credit for being as close to Portland as it is. Programs like Vanderbilt and Rutgers are interesting. They are in major metro areas, but they are hardly relevant in those metro areas. They will still have to be relevant enough in those areas to make a difference to the conferences. In football Rutgers is the best college team in the NYC area, but they are still competing for attention with two NFL franchises. In B-ball NYC has lots of options, Seton Hall, St. Johns, U Conn, even as far as Syracuse. In Nashville you have an NFL franchise, plus Tennessee is probably more popular there than Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt lifts the whole SEC academic profile, if that is relevant at all in the discussion it may help them.

Okay answering myself here. Just a few thoughts on why I think this third way can work. One, if the PAC stays solid against any further defections to the B1G or SEC (seems they are done for the moment anyway). What will the B1G look like geographically? To me it looks like 18 dots in the north east and midwest bunched together and 2 dots in the south west corner. With no more West coast teams USC and USLA are isolated in their won conference. So, except for the two LA schools the B1G is still geographically bound. The SEC really did not go much outside their already established footprint to add TX and OK. If a conference were to be created from the PAC, Big 12 and ACC, it would truly be a coast to coast conference with teams from the the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, Rocky Mountains and West Coast. This would outflank what the B1G and SEC are attempting to do, capture significant TV markets and enable the conference to have a true east division and west division (maybe 4 divisions, imagine a 4 team conference play off). And every few years, Oregon can go to Miami or host them and kick Mario's butt! Just a few thought.

It's about money of course, college sports has been about the money for a long time. The difference now is the amount of money has increased and those involved with making the decisions have no long term vision for where this is leading and little or no sense of the traditions cherished by many fans. The writer talks about wanting to have something where the 20 or 40 maybe best programs are competing against each other. In what universe would Oregon not be near the top of the list there. Yet at the moment the Ducks are in limbo, hoping for the best. I will watch and wait. My hope is somehow the the PAC, Big 12 and ACC manage to create a third way, one where a few little guys can be included too. I'm still thinking the best way is if you don't like what they are doing, you can give up and join them, or beat them against all odds. Seems to me the second option is more in keeping with Oregon tradition. Go Ducks!

Future Rocket, wonder if he will try out for punter, bet he would be pretty good at it. I imagine his body will change a bit with a major college training table and conditioning, but this guy could quietly turn out to be a great pick up.