Mic

Common guys, FlaState has a real roadblock in front of them: Miami. We all know how fantastic Mario C is in big games, FlaSta hasn't a chance.... I almost feel sorry for them! Maybe Mario will go easy on them a bit? Just kidding.

This is semi-humorous journalism reporting on a series subject at its best. Make no mistake, this type of writing is an editors dream.

Big10 - A Division of scoundrels? And for this we killed the Pac-12? Here's the best line from the above story from the WSJ: "This isn’t le Carré, sorry. It’s a caper directed by the Coen Brothers."

Bo's a 5th year Senior. His class schedule might be pretty light. ??

I guess this puzzles me because Caleb is leading the nation is some offensive stats. And 7-3 (at this point) isn't bad, esp. in the Pac-12 this year. Also, one doesn't have to be on a Championship team to get the scouts interested (tho it certainly helps). Heck, he's already won one Heisman; he could still win another. (Hope not). Would he 'jump' to another team? That seems unlikely - unless he wants to win a Natty and figures USC isn't gonna be able to do that. About his draftability - this I can't say. He does have the size Manziel lacked and that's a big thing in the NFL.

Oregon's MO is scoring pretty quickly. Lanning's team has learned extremely well how to slow things down and use the play clock but that's to give Bo time to read & adjust. What Oregon doesn't seem to do much is take 7-8 minutes to drive and score. That's because they usually score in 7 or 8 plays or not at all. But I do think the run game will be very important because it seems to be the Trojan's Achilles heel. And I do emphatically agree with you - try to keep the ball out of Caleb's hands as much as possible, because I also believe if Oregon has an Achilles heel, it's maybe the deep ball. Both Williams & Penix excel at that. I guess we'll see in a few days.

A week or two back I posted about the three keys to beating UW: all revolving around the final score, period. It was meant to be both funny and serious. That game turned out to be just what I was referring to. One team can win on the stat sheet and still lose the game, hence the "key" to winning being score more points and give up less. Of course every team wants to win in all the important categories: total yards, fewest turnovers, time of possession, etc., etc. But the only stat, in the end, that matters is the final score. If Oregon is blessed with a rematch in Las Vegas, all the stats will be important because it's how to get to the final score. But one has to get there. I think Oregon will, if they get the chance. And I will say your analysis above is pretty spot on.

Lanning, always the optimist, when queried on the late start said, essentially, no problem. Then he mentioned how much he always liked those Friday night lights and HS football. Night games do have their charm. If it weren't for friends & family back east having to stay up well past midnight and the horrible logistics of fans leaving Autzen Stadium having to negotiate traffic late at night I wouldn't mind either - from the comfort of my own couch at home. It's also lousy for team exposure to fans in the Eastern half of the country. And that's important.

It'll be interesting to see where Grinch ends up and what kind of success he has at his new post. However, looking at the records, Riley is 18-6 at USC; Lanning is 18-4, both in their 2nd season.

Should Oregon get a second crack at UW I'm willing to bet they do certain things a lot different. Of course, so will UW. And then we'll get a serious look at which coaching staff & analysts are better because I think the two teams are fairly equal in talent level, maybe a slight edge for Oregon. Oh, that it could come to pass....

Same with Texas and Florida.

Exactly. While relieved it wasn't a broken neck, a 'knockout' like that will likely see his season end. At best, he probably loses the next two games. I'm also very relieved for (I believe) Keyon Ware-Hudson who hit him as he was trying to score from the 4 yard line. You know it had to impact Keyon seeing him lying there on the turf for 15 minutes.

There's two ways a team can respond to late-season coaching changes: demoralization & letdown, or renewed enthusiasm and determination to prove their own worth to the new or interim defensive coordinator. It remains to be seen how the Trojans respond. Can Riley and the new or interim D.C. inspire their team or do things go south in the locker room? Out of selfishness I'm hoping things go south for SC and Oregon continues to mine the state for its best talent. I think Oregon currently has 30 players on roster from California, the most of any state including Oregon (22).

Actually, I'd just as soon see Riley make another poor hire. The mean streak in me prefers to see USC struggle and lose because Oregon gets a lot of their best players from Southern California. I'd like to see that pipeline keep flowing.

Thanks for posting this here. For some reason when I watch these very same videos on YouTube I get no sound. It's not YouTube because other videos play normally. But these from the University will not come thru on my Mac. But on the FishDuck they do. Weird.

Frankly, I'm rather stunned that the USC-UW game started at 4:30 pm and now the USC-Oregon game is getting shunted to the 7:30 slot. WTH? This is college football media slotting at it's worst. Do they really think these two games are of little to no interest to fans in the East? My friends in Missouri and family in Minn. are wondering why this is happening. Oh, I know there will be perfectly plausible answers offered up by members of the press and/or football pundits but they're falling on a lot of deaf ears, I can tell you that. Maybe this will change next year, but frankly, I'm not holding my breath unless the Ducks are playing Michigan or Ohio State. Victims of Geography? No, victims of media bias, methinks.

Oh Annie, something tells me if the Ducks are having success against the Trojans you won't be able to pull your eyes away. And if (Heaven forbid) the game is close (which I fear it will be) you won't want to miss the outcome. Sleep-in Saturday morning and grind some good coffee. Every game Oregon plays from here on out is a big step on the road to a Championship.

Tez's performance makes the decision for Bo to transfer to Oregon an even better boon to the Ducks than before. With his transfer, we got another star because Oregon probably would have never taken a look at a player from Troy and we would have missed out on Tez as well. Troy, btw, is having another good year themselves. They must have a pretty good program down there in Alabama.

The East Bay News is reporting that Jayvian Thomas, the injured running back Saturday evening, is back up on his feet and walking. It's a pay-site but I was able to read enough to know he's going to be OK. That's got to make the Oregon D-linemen feel better too.

I'd sure like to have your confidence and yes, your rationale seems sound. But this is football and football is (when you come right down to the nitty-gritty) a game of matchups. This is why a team 'A' (blown out by team 'B' who loses badly to Team C) can still beat Team C. You see it most clearly in the NFL but it also happens in the CFB. Good coaches know this because they understand how matchups work and the problems they pose. Yeah, it looks like O should be able to handle USC - but I'll bet you a dollar to a donut it doesn't go down easy and I would hesitate to give Oregon much over a 55% chance of winning. Maybe 60%. Home field advantage here is a biggie. If the Trojans are as tired as they look, traveling to Eugene isn't going to easy for them. Advantage Oregon due to their depth, health at all positions and Autzen Stadium. And Dan Lanning.

I was pulling for the Beavers last night and typical of them they looked like they were going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They never do this against Oregon and the last (?) Civil War game will probably be a brutal one, tho Oregon should prevail. By continuing to win, I want the Beavers to come to Autzen with the best record they can amass. That will help Oregon should the game be close or a blowout win. They won't be able to beat UW so the best record OSU can hope for is probably 9-3. That would be good enuf.

Texas is the dark horse that could possibly unseat Oregon from being one of the "two 1st out". However, if Oregon wins out and defeats an unbeaten Washington in the Pac-12 Championship game, hard to see how the selection committee overlooks them in the Final 4. Keep in mind two things of concern: 1) the "loss" of the huge Los Angeles media share now that USC and UCLA are not going anywhere significant and 2) the huge media share a team from Texas brings back into the pot should they get selected. But there's just no way to think Texas could overtake Oregon if Oregon finishes the season 12-1, if getting there means they beat a 12-0 UW. This is why I was rooting for UW last night. Besides, who (besides Texans) want to see Texas in the Finals?

I won't fault Caleb for letting his emotions flow after that loss - the guy really is a warrior and he gave everything he had to try and win that game. I remember what one of the Greek writers once wrote about a Spartan general on his choice of a good warrior to face a dangerous enemy. "Give me men who can cry (for the loss of their comrades). Those men will fight!" I'm sure Caleb will recover himself enough to give Oregon a real run next Saturday night. I am not a Trojan fan but I can recognize a darn good QB when I see one and USC has more than a punchers choice. Oregon needs to put the pedal down hard and never let up on this team. I think Dan Lanning, Will Stein and Tosh Lupoi will have the Ducks ready to go.

I won't argue this. I don't understand how all this Transfer Portal stuff works but I was kinda under the impression the players had to initiate the interest to the particular team and the different teams were supposed to mind their own business unless they were contacted. It's enough for athletes to know three things about Oregon: 1) Great place for Offensive-minded players (esp. QB's) to choose to come and play for 2) Bo's leaving and there's likely to be a big pair of shoes to fill that TT may not be able to fill, and 3) O's coaching staff is quickly proving itself to be at or near the Elite level as measured against any meaningful standard All this is on top of the NIL, personal exposure and incredible facilities offered at U of O. Oregon's brand is out there for everyone to see now. Not like past decades where team scouts had to explain to these kids just where in the heck Oregon even was and why they might want to go there.

What impresses one about UW running back Dillion Johnson is his size. I'm willing to bet he'll prove to be a heck of a lot more durable than Bucky or Jordan James. We love our fast-as-he_l and tough-as-nails running backs, but it's a darn good thing we have two of them. (More actually cause Donte Dowdell's coming along nicely.)