Nevada Dawg

I told everybody who would listen that LSU would take down Clemson, the most overhyped team in America. Clemson was as badly overhyped as a team as Arch Manning was as a QB and presumed Heisman winner. I do think that Arch will become a pretty fair college QB, but he has neither the arm nor (this year) the receivers to be a superstar. At this point, I certainly wouldn't write Texas off as a serious Natty contender. They lost a close game to a pretty fair football team at that team's place but have one of the most talented rosters in the game. Bama is more of a puzzle to me, although my Georgia sources have been saying all Spring and Summer that their lauded offensive line is all recruiting stars and hasn't proven itself in the heat of battle. These guys seemed to have nailed that one based on Saturday's results in Tallahassee.

the Boise game is the surprise of the night for me. They no longer have the stud running back, but my sources tell me that they have a lot of talent and production on both sides of the ball returning this year. Suddenly their upcoming game at Notre Dame seems no where near as enticing. To me Nebraska was disappointing. We have a number of Corndawg Nebraska fans on the forum where I participate, and these guys assured us all Winter that Rhule and the Huskers were breaking out big time this year. It could still happen of course, but I saw nothing tonight that would fuel such deep optimism.

Potentially a most interesting opening week. I didn't realize there are so many watchable games on Thursday--thanks for pointing them out Jon.

Actually, the consensus of local and national analysts is that Georgia's wide receiver room is, hands down, the most improved position group on the team. I think this will be quite apparent from the jump this year. It is also expected that the running game will be greatly improved as well. People are optimistic about the 25 offense. One virtue of the 9-game SEC schedule is that Texas may finally have to play a worthy SEC slate of games. Last year's schedule was soft and they play the same teams this year, although they have finally drawn some challenging road games. I don't understand the Texas favoritism over Georgia and Alabama (not to mention TA&M,) teams than will be better than they were last year I think. A lot of that variance in favoritism revolves around hype about the virtues of QB Arch Manning. My guess is that Arch will be good, but he has proved nothing yet.

Don't know how they could ever do this in figuring strength of schedule, but shouldn't some tweak be made for scheduling shafts some teams must endure. One that is irking me at the moment as a Dawg fan is that our two highest regular season opponents, Alabama and Texas were awarded bye weeks before coming to Sanford Stadium to take on my puppies, whereas the Dawgs have league games those weeks. This may prove to be of little consequence in September when we play the Tide, but could prove to be a major advantage for Texas in November when more guys are nicked up and dragging. Sure wish the Dawgs had had a similar advantage last year when we played these teams at their places. Sorry for the whiny rant on such a glorious day--the return of college football. It was grand, no?

I am so tired of all the pre-season wrangling, Let's tee the ball up and get between the lines. There will still be lots to wrangle about guys. I am even planning to take in a couple Week 0 games which I almost never do. It is time for football!!!

Awesome. Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Knight

Bear always had the raw talent. And as noted, this is his last shot as a to be a premium NFL prospect.. The information that he is really grinding at practice bodes very well for Bear's future. His biggest problem at both Georgia and USC was his level of emotional maturity. From the early practice reports, it does sound like Bear is starting to grow up. And that is very good for the Ducks.

When I heard the Ducks were recruiting Bear, I had very muixed feelings. He thought he was the biggest star on the team at the beginning of year 2 (he contributed some as a freshman), was chippy with his OL teammates, got his b--t kicked several times in practice, and sulked because nobody saw his value. Portaled to USC and badmouthed Georgia for the next year. This Spring before signing with Oregon, he explored returning to Georgia, Kirby put the inquiry to a yes/no vote of the upperclassmen and they said that he needed a new start elsewhere. So now he's a Duck and I wish the best for him. But I have to admit that I am more than a little nervous about this one. Hopefully, he truly has grown up.

Despite a few early rules violations, Charles got me properly socialized and I have always felt welcome by the board members on his forum. I do enjoy exchanging views with y'all and rooting the Ducks on.

I agree with Mr. Fishduck that they won't be asleep at the wheel after Idaho last year. Hard to believe that they will lose this game at home. My only concern is whether our cast of newcomers will have jelled enough by game 1 to keep this one out of the white knuckle category.

And yet, there are few individual players any more important than kickers and punters. Those guys can be big weapons if they are good and can lose your games in a hurry if they are not.

Sorry about referring to Carroll as an ex-Fuskie, my bad. Is a Seahawk as loathed by Duck fans as Fuskie?

GO DUCK!! Maybe the ugliest mascot is ole pug-face UGA, but for some reason, many chicks absolutely swoon over him, lol.

I must admit (ancient history upcoming) that I always rooted for USC during the John McKay and John Robinson eras because those teams were generally formidable at going toe to toe with the best of the Big Ten and punching them in the mouth. I got over that by the time Pete Carroll was head coach. Feel as one might about Carroll as an ex-Fuskie, but I am optimistic about the changes he is making with the Las Vegas Raiders. It is about time that franchise got a guy how can generate a little excitement among the studs that are on that roster, and Carroll is truly stoked about ex-Boise running back Austin Jeanty. So as a Raider follower and giant fan of ex-Dawg Brock Bowers, I can wish him luck in his new coaching gig.

I am getting a kick out of reading all the verbal venom directed USC's way though I do agree with the general assessment of Riley's coaching acumen. It almost seems as if the Condoms have supplanted the Seattle Dawgs as the Ducks' most hated rival, lol.

I am really opposed to large numbers of AQs for the so-called Power 2. Weight schedules like Basketball does with RPI. Nobody bitches about that formula, and it actually rewards schools that schedule highly competitive OOC games like Georgia-Clemson last year and Ohio State-Texas this year. \ Wouldn't most Duck fans get jacked up to play games against such OOC opponents like Notre Dame or Miami rather than Portland State or Montana State? Oregon does play Oregon State this year and Georgia always plays Georgia Tech, but I, as a Dawg fan, would much rather substitute say Wisconsin or Michigan for one of our walkovers. I know most Dawg partisans feel precisely the same way. Play challenging schedules and kick down the barriers to the playoffs by winning big games in such schedules. And as a Duck fan, I would love to see Notre Dame and Miami for example.

So many of the top programs will be breaking in relatively inexperienced starting QBs that lists of who' the best in the B1G and SEC are more speculative than I can ever remember, and there are likely to be some real surprises this year that make pre-season predictions look ridiculous. Hopefully Dante will be one of them. At this point, I just hope that Dante is solid at running the plays that are called for him. If so, the Ducks should be just fine.

Look, Arch is talented but generational? I was a Tebow admirer, but far less for his QB skills as for his leadership and will to win. I always thought of him more as a helluva "football player" who knew how to inspire this teammates and will them to win than as a talented skill player. Hard for a Dawg to admit admiring a Gator but I did for his forementioned qualities.

Probably not a freshman starter, but I expect he will be in the two-man rotation at his position (tackle?) by mid-season. I have watched his film and he is legit.

That trio was my top 3 as well. One could quibble about the order but from an opponent's perspective, each of these three would make somebody's top 3. Incidentally, I once asked Champ Baily, who was drafted by the Washington Redskins, then coached by Spurrier who used to taunt the Dawgs relentlessly, what it was like to play for Spurrier. He just smiled broadly commenting that he was a great guy and all the taunting was just part of who he was. He seemed to genuinely like the guy.

I would guess Tebow is considered the GOAT by most of the jort crowd (as I sit here at my keyboard wearing a pair of jorts so loathed b Dawg fans). Actually, I kinda like jorts--they last forever it seems, probably longer than I will.

Well, like most of you I am sure not likely to lose any sleep over either of these games (or Montana State as well). I am interested in seeing how both lines of scrimmage gel however. This could be one early indicator of how far the 25 Ducks are likely to go.

And the Lady Dawgs win the outdoor Track and Field championship, Congrats girls!

Halves vs. Quarters? If anyone cares, I don't care one way or he other. It does seem though that the game flow would be really choppy introjecting another break for the Quarter at the 10 minute mark with breaks already coming at the 8:00 and 12:00 points in a half.