Nevada Dawg

Actually, I was surprisingly calm as the game unfolded, even when the Dawgs were down big time early. I was faltering a bit late in the 4th when down by 8 and facing a 4th and 7 with little time left. That's when Gunner Stockton uncorked the biggest of his many clutch plays by throwing a perfectly thrown back shoulder fade caught in the end zone and then threw a pass again in the end zone to convert and tie the game. Maybe it was irrational but I just felt at that point that we would win this sucker. After the game remained tied when UTs young kicker missed a game winning field goal and then made one in OT, I knew we would somehow pull out the win with a touchdown in OT. I was relieved of course and really did enjoy my post-game glass of celebratory bourbon. Let me add that I was really impressed by the Ducks' two D. Moores--what a great battery!

Man this is a poor slate of BIG games! By contrast, the SEC has several games against opponents, some in conference some OOC, where both teams actually have a pulse. I am tuning in to the Ducks game until it becomes out of hand and then flipping to see if Georgia's next opponent, Bama, can begin to resurrect its season against Wisky--one if the Best BIG games this week. My Dawgs have a tough road game against Tennessee that I am not at all confident about. Plus Game Day is there and I may have an audiogenic seizure having to listen 50 times to Rocky Top should the Vowels play well.

Ducks looked sharp executing today, BUT...they were playing one of the very worst teams among the P4 conferences, one that did not execute and looked, quite frankly, pitiful. Gundy is gone I fear, possibly before the end of the season. It is time. Meanwhile, the competition ramps up soon with PSU looming. Go Ducks!

Ya never know if the money is good enough, but there are several reasons Schumann is an unlikely candidate IMHO. First, he is very well compensated in Athens. Second and possibly more important: His wife and all his kids are reported to absolutely LOVE Athens, GA, and there is a lot there to love. Glen is pretty fond of the place as well I am told. Bama is going to face great difficulty finding what boosters consider a suitable replacement for St. Nick and they'd better hope that DeBoer grows into the job.

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.