Nevada Dawg

Wow a bombshell here. I was just wondering while watching the Natty tonight how much longer Cal would last at UK when his "high school superstar one and done" model was no longer the key to success in the NCAAs. Moving to Arky is not being banished to the netherworld. Nolan Richardson proved that big time winning is not impossible there, that's for sure. But the model has to change. For one thing, I doubt Coach Cal can have the success recruiting the elite of high school basketball to Fayetteville. And even if he could, his model is stale. I used to think that UK could be a consistently dominating program if Cal could get the guys he recruited to stick around three years, mature, and experience the value of teamwork. I remember thinking that NIL may be the key to bringing this about. Yet I have heard through the grapevine that many of the UK players did not ever go to class, had no interest in so doing, and probably wouldn't have remained eligible for much longer than a semester or two. It will be interesting, if this move comes to pass, to watch Coach Cal try to adapt to the changing landscape of college hoops.

Today was the first time I( have seen Paopao play. She hit a couple or three clutch treys to blunt the valiant Iowa attempts to come back in the second half. Otherwise, a relatively quiet but effective player who played good defense.

This was one of the least analytical, poorly reasoned football articles I have read in some time. Somebody (maybe as many as two people given the methodology) actually rated Deion Sanders as one to the top 10 college coaches today. I listened to the podcast of a Georgia fan, Uncle Lou. while walking today and thought he might have a stroke. Given his success year after year in the B1G, Ryan Day at 10. Given his long record of success at the top of college football, Brian Kelly left out of the top 10? I could go on and on. Ole Uncle Lou, who, like me, loves Dan Lanning was critical of DL's #6 ranking because he hasn't won anything meaningful yet. He thinks highly rated Deboer is crusin for a brusin at Bama. Several other well respected and very successful coaches get no respect in this trashy piece IMHO.

To those who responded to my post above, you make some valid points to be sure. The people I called out in that post are obviously not college football fanatics and (thankfully) have nothing to do with rankings, seedings, etc. The point I was making, tongue in cheek I might add, is that our Ducks' web print is not as wide as many on the forum believe it is. Sorry if I bruised some egos, but I'll stick with my wider characterization.

I think y'all might be surprised by how many people know absolutely nothing about Oregon and Oregon football. Prior to the 21 season opener against Georgia in the Benz. a Midwesterner I know asked me who Georgia had as an opponent in the opener. When I replied Oregon, he remarked "I didn't know they played football." Another women from Illinois who followed the B1G but nobody else, when told about Georgia's opener (she went to grad school in Athens) said "The Oregon Ducks! I never heard of the Oregon Ducks. You made that up!" C'est la vie.

I am not much of a golfer but I do enjoy the weekend rounds of he Masters. I heard an interesting story about the seeming miracle shot Bubba hit out of the right rough after he had apparently blowing the lead (and seemingly the tournament) late on Sunday. The commentators were absolutely amazed by that shot which damn near reached the green if memory serves me. Yet the tale was that the Georgia coaches and players were saying something like "Now Bubba's got them where he wants him", having seen him hit that same shot multiple times in his career. Another lesser known story was that Bubba marched to his own drummer and played far less than he probably should have in Athens over clashes with the coaching staff. Don't quote this information as it is heresay, but the source was in a position to have known if this was true.

Given where you live Jon, I can't imagine even thinking of any other golf contests now with Masters week on the near horizon. Were I in your neck of the woods, I'd almost certainly be trying (almost certainly unsuccessfully) to wrangle a pass to at least one round of the tournament in Augusta. The one round I did see a few years back was awesome and a former student and Dawg won the Green Jacket (Bubba Watson).

Agree that no conference should ever have 8 bids. A couple of years back I believe it was, the B1G had nine bids and I seem to remember that none of them or only one survived the third round. The SEC was down this year and may come close to matching the historically bad B1G performance above. I was unaware of them, but after reading a little about Indiana State, it is a absolute travesty that they were snubbed in the NCAA selection over teams 7&8 in the Big-12 and SEC, a couple of dud B1G teams and such ACC powers as Virginia who were eliminated on the court in the play-in round. Good mid-majors have proved for many years that they can often make real noise in this tournament. One even played for the title last year for gosh sake.

In all fairness, I thought that this was a major down year for SEC basketball. They (and the selection committee) have reached the point, (long enjoyed by the B1G) where they receive far more selections to the dance than they probably deserve. And too many of this year's selections were overseeded. Have your chuckles now:They are well deserved this year. But I guarantee that it won't take long for the SEC to rebound from the dismal showing of 2024.

I noted in the second half that the Ducks were working their as--s off shutting off the 3-point shot and told by good Duck buddy that if they can continue this effort they'd win the game. This is one factor I think, I think that contributed to their running out of gas in OT. This is hardly a criticism on my part for the Ducks had little choice; otherwise Creighton may well have shot them out of the arena. This Duck team was a pleasant surprise.; It was hard NOT to get caught up in the late season momentum, particularly the thrilling run to the PAC-12 championship This was hardly the most talented team around but certainly a damn gritty one. My hat is off to them.

I get the point about the built-in advantage of playing an 8-game conference schedule in the SEC. But Georgia's OOC games in 2025 include ,besides Furman or whomever, UCLA in the Rose Bowl and a rapidly improving Georgia Tech squad for 10 power-4 opponents.

As an SEC partisan, I absolutely hate the 1-7 8-game slate made even worse by repeating the same opponents in consecutive years. There is no guarantee that this will extend beyond the 2025 year, but why repeat the same opponents anyhow. Were it to persist with eventual rotating of yearly opponents, two traditional rivalries per team will not occur every year. I am forced to conclude that Jon J. may be right about this being a ploy to extract more $$$ from ESPN to schedule a 9th conference game. I suspect that a fair number of SEC partisans are going to have sour feelings about the SEC scheduling model. This complete recycling of opponents really stinks in my humble opinion!

As opportunistic as the Ducks were coming down the stretch, I'd pick them to win this one as well. South Carolina is talented but has been wildly inconsistent at times this season. For example, they let down their guard and lost at home to a mediocre Georgia team earlier in the season. You never know which version of the Gamecocks is likely to show up.

I should have noted that I like the Ducks QB room a lot.

Few people other than close rivals know anyone in he Georgia QB room other than Carson Beck. But early reports out of Athens contend that both #2 Gunnar Stockton and highly rated freshman Ryan Puglisi have both been running the team exceptionally well against a pretty damn good Georgia defense. I know I sound like super fanboy in saying this, but I honestly don't believe I would trade the 2024 QB room in Athens for #s 3,4,and 5 on this list (and maybe not even for #s 1 and 2). We shall see what we shall see. I know the ratings are predicated on depth, but If Carson stays healthy, that won't matter.

I still remember the 58 Rose Bowl close loss to Ohio State if I remember correctly. That was the day I became an Oregon Ducks fan. I have a story about the K. Carter 83 yarder in the 95 Rose Bowl game. While touring the back garage man cave of the house I bought in Nevada, the former owner (a PSU grad) and my realtor, a Duck through and through, got into a conversation On the wall was a mounted photo of Carter at the beginning of his run. My realtor buddy said, "On oh...I remember this play and it still gives me heartburn 20 years later." I remembered the play as well but with less gastric consequence.

The VA Tech pick for the ACC was a stunner to me. I do admit, however, that I spend almost no time analyzing the ACC and its fortunes.

I was glad to see James get this kind of positive ink here. He was an early Georgia commit who rethought that commitment after taking a look at a very deep Dawg running back corps. Good move on his part although I was confident he'd have become very productive in time had he stayed in Athens. As for breakouts in Athens, I'm pretty certain that Raylen Wilson, talented as he is, is even the most viable candidate in the ILB room. My candidate is C. J. Allen. He'll be in the center calling defenses, or so I'm told. And watch out for true freshman Ellis Robinson, said to be the best cornerback Georgia has signed since the all-Worldly Champ Bailey in the 90s.

I have watched McElroy talk up the Ducks for some time now. I sure hope he is right about his assessment of the 24 Ducks. I have some reservations about the quality depth of the current roster in Eugene to feel confident in that assessment, but hey, Greg does this for a living and I don't.

Good luck to Bo. He is far from he most physically gifted QB in this deep QB draft but has a QB mind as good as anyone else's. The latter attribute is more important in the NFL than in college (see Tom Brady, not that I am predicting that level of success for Bo). Hopefully he will be drafted by a reasonably good team that doesn't need to throw him to the wolves too early.

I agree that the 25 schedule is more playoff friendly. Also, a year further down the road makes it more likely that the Ducks have the depth to weather a 3-4 game playoff grind more successfully than in 24.

As I have said on this forum many times, I am all in favor of this prescription. I believe most of the high power contenders are as well. It is typically the mid-level SEC teams that favor eight conference games to increase the likelihood of bowl eligibility. When will they learn that in our brave new world, the mid-level bowls will no longer matter and that many may disappear.

I think that the whole idea of guaranteeing certain numbers of playoff slots and byes to favored conferences stinks to high heaven. If the teams from the favored leagues are good enough to earn byes and the majority of playoff slots/payouts, so be it. But pre-ordained guarantees are going to turn many of us, who love the pageantry of college football and its traditions, off so bad that we choose to walk the hell away and not care any more. I already know three former college football fanatics who have done exactly that and will not even watch their own alma maters play any longer. The powers that be had better be damn careful that they don't kill the golden goose. If fewer eyes are watching what they serve up, things will not look so golden any more.

Interesting information to know I guess but pretty meaningless vis a vis eventual class recruiting outcomes (though I do believe that the Ducks will end up with a fairly highly rated class).

Interesting difference between the fan base here and in Athens. Threads on Winter Workouts at Georgia draw dozens of comments from fans asking which players are distinguishing themselves looking good for more playing time. Comparisons are made among players in various position groups, and most commenters have definite opinions on how things are likely to progress in Spring practice. Much of this may stem from information provided by insiders that stimulates lots and lots of commentary. It is often said in Athens that the ground work for championships starts in earnest in January and February. Thus far, I have not seen those kinds of threads here. That may be because Lanning is new, tries to keep a tight lid on goings on in winter, and hasn't yet attracted the team followers who have the access so as to provide information about the team like that which comes out of Athens. But I will say that this kind of thread is highly informative and super interesting and hopefully, we will see more of that in the future.