Mic

Do you think JF has played to his expectations so far and do you think he's the feared LB'er we all heard he would be? Every time I watch him play I'm worried he's gonna get penalized for personal fouls at the exact wrong moment and hurt the defense. He's a bit of a loose canon in my mind.

A good indicator at how precarious these rankings really are. As long as teams play different schedules from each other (the only possible scenario) rankings are always a crap-shoot. 53% is basically 50-50. A monkey or coin toss could almost do as well. Let those who like to bet money take notice.

Exactly what I'm thinking except O might need more than one turnover in this one. As I mentioned to Charles earlier this could be the mother of all shootouts unless the defenses of both are better than they've looked so far.

Only a little. This is clearly the best team O's gonna face since Georgia with an offensive scheme designed to score a lot of points fast. People thought USC had that and in a way, they do, except the team UCLA beat by 10 just beat USC. Match-ups. And home field advantage. I'm only a gentleman's bet type of guy, well, maybe a fiver here and there amongst friends when we can shake hands. But I wouldn't care to bet on this one either because half of me says don't bet against Chip when he gets his engine up and running and my other half says don't bet against Oregon at home when they get their's up and running as well. The difference might be who has the best defense and/or who plays the cleaner game penalty and turnover wise.

First, Charles if you're right this game might become the Mother of all Shoot-outs. What's the O?U? Better bump that up to >100. And second, I agree about the blitzes. It's been puzzling to me why Lanning/Lupoi haven't been pressuring the QB's more and I've been waiting to see the # of sacks start to go up. I really think O needs to send DTR fleeing for his life and not be trusting our secondary to hold up if he passes the ball 40 times.

Well I don't know about UCLA's struggles with these this season. I haven't really watched them play. It's been an issue for Oregon, esp in the Stanford game.

Same with those tall WR's of Stanford's. They had a lot of us worried yet, Oregon held up well. One thing I think Oregon is really gonna need this game (more than any other since WSU) is a serious, consistent pass rush. It looks to me like Lanning & Lupoi either disagree or they're dropping back to shore up the backfield instead. I'm not smart enough to understand schemes in all their nuances but it doesn't look to me like either coach is committed to pressuring the QB consistently, only sporadically. This is based on # of sacks. It's been working so far. But I'd really like to see DTR picking himself up of the turf a lot!

Since outcomes of games are still decided by who has the most points, of course. Unless we either out-score them or we stop them from out-scoring us. It's the old chicken & egg thing (which came first, the chicken or the egg?). What wins games, offense or defense? Without both most teams lose.

I hope you're right. There is this: if their families want to attend games and see them play, better they stay in the Pac. How many families of these California kids can afford (or want) to get themselves out to the cold Midwest in October and November?

The biggest concern I have about USC & UCLA going out to the B1G (assuming Oregon doesn't) is in the field of recruiting. On this team now Oregon has more recruits from California (33) than anywhere else, including Oregon (24). That's a 1/3 of our team! Will Oregon be able to continue picking off top recruits from SC and UCLA if they see those two teams in the same league as Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State etc?

Good luck with that - in the B1G.

I wonder if Game Day brings Lee Corso out? As far as Herbstreit's pick, I don't think he has a winning percentage on those? I could be wrong but I really don't care as long as I see Corso don the Duck head.

U nailed it debbie! At least in the AP. The coaches have Oregon #9 and ucla at 10. IDK about you but I prefer the Ducks being ranked lower just before they play. In fact, I'd prefer the Ducks were the oddsmaker's dog instead of -5.5 favorites, for motivations sake.

Cowherd's kids? T'would that be Penn State or someone else? I'm curious about that one!

Flowe and Manning have both been a bit of a disappointment Ferguson has been as well, the past two games (opponents are on to him and scheming defenses around him). Watching Utah's monster TE (who almost single-handily undid the SC defense in the 2nd half last night) makes Fergie's contributions of late pale by comparison. Thompson's stock down - but then it hasn't really been high this season with so few meaningful snaps. Unless you consider where it was when he first showed up on campus. Offensive Line: It was already high before the season started, It took a bit of a dip after Atlanta but went right back up immediately and has stayed there since. Pretty hard to go up from where it was deservedly. And Bucky Irving? Way, way up, imo. I don't remember anyone talking about Bucky being such a bright spot with other backs like Cardwell and Dollars getting most of the pre-season hype after Dye fled for the "Transfer Portal All-stars" (credit to Canzano for that gem!).

2 losses, both to good teams on the road? That's pretty tough, esp. when considering what they did last night against USC.

Oregon: Uncertain. For me, the jury's still out. Wins over the Cardinal, the Cougars (both BYU & WSU) and the Wildcats are not big enough wins to warrant "Revitalized" unless describing what's transpired after the 1st game in Atlanta. After 6 games: still looking for that signature win that beating UCLA might provide.

With all due respect to you Mike, Oregon will survive whether or not they get pulled into the B1G vortex. What may not survive is the Pac. Oh, the various schools left behind will certainly survive, as will their programs. But it might be a much weakened and less respected conference until the other schools pull themselves up by the straps and the two leaving are replaced by two others good schools. Utah and WSU and OSU are holding their own in the conference this year. And besides, name us a conference which does not have at least a couple (or a few) 'weak perrenials'. The big schools in each conference all need some - to bolster their own records if for no other reason. I just think people are getting too alarmed by what I see as a huge mistake that USC and tag-along UCLA are about to make. I think Oregon will do just fine if they stay put, with or without Phil Knight. But I certainly respect your opinion and am willing to concede I could be totally wrong on this. GO OREGON!

I've never been a big fan of Canzano over the years but I'm starting to be - a little. I'll tip my hat to him for this funny quote: "Transfer Portal All-Star Team" in reference to the Trojans. That's a good one. I sure hope Oregon doesn't turn into one as well. The Utah win was one for the Pac.

If you figure most gaming houses give teams 3-pts. for home field, (maybe 6 for a stadium like Autzen) this is a pretty even game by even their standards.

The Ducks have been able to 'coast' a few times but that was against EWU, Arizona and Stanford, not USC and WSU. Also the Ducks were in 'coasting' mode because they scored so many points but again not against USC (who they won't play in the regular season). Offensively O looks superior - for sure. But we're talking about defense and here I think we have to concede the Beavs are giving up a lot fewer points against arguably better opponents. They rely on defense to win, the Ducks on offense.

Yeah, Stanford rose up and slew Mighty Notre Dame, that 'Greatest of All Teams' team. You know, that same GOAT that 'experts' had projected to vye for a Playoff seat this year. Yeah, that mighty team .... and on the road, no less. Who knew Stanford was so good, eh?

Better get those forest fires put out then or the blimp might not be able to see the field (do they still do the blimp-thing in Oregon?)

Thank you for correcting me, of course Mike Bellotti retired when Chip took the keys.

I'm gonna be a pretty unpopular guy for saying this right now (and really, it doesn't make much sense to do so) but IF the Ducks and Beans were playing their game today, in Corvallis. I'd pick the Beavers to either win that game or make it so close Oregon fans would be scared to death. If the Ducks can't at least slow down UCLA next Saturday I'll be even more inclined to think that way.