Nevada Dawg

Well I'm probably forgetting someone here but there hasn't been anyone coming to my addled mind that have made a strong case as a four quarter team this year. Somebody will gel and do it and I hope that the Dawgs and OBD are two of them.! With the advent of sizable NIL stipends and the inevitable spreading of talent across more schools, the days of the all-powerful bully boys like Saban's pre 2020 Bama and more recently the 21 and 22 Georgia Bulldawgs may largely be over. That is good for college football and some of you may remember that I predicted this might happen about a year ago. It seems like it might be happening even sooner than I had anticipated.

Can't say that I disagree with your analysis and will probably watch if the Dawgs and Ducks are doing well doing well, but some of the excitement and enjoyment would be missing I fear. I'm a bit...but only a bit... sorry for posting an epic rant that kind of slowed the thread here. I just get so frustrated with projected entitlements, legalities, possible threatened litigations, and so on and too little analysis of football per se. I want all who posted here that I meant no personal criticism of anyone...I really enjoy he folks on his blog. It was simply that I had just had it with the subject of the thread and probably would have been better off just signing out off for the night. I hope that I offended no one.

I had a post here and guess I forgot to post it. I had said this is indeed interesting but I don't believe CU has the offensive line to sore big on the Utes and qill question how well they hold up against BYU and/ or OK State .Remember how great some thought they were last year until they actually played somebody, namely OBD? I know Saban loves him but, for me, the jury is still out on Prime as a viable coach of a winning program.

This is indeed an interesting development.. Color me a skeptic at this point as we will see what happens when they play the likes of BYU, Utah, OK state and so on. I don't think that the Buffs have the offensive line to score at will against the Utah defense for example. I've been wrong many times before so I guess we'll see what happens.

All this emphasis on collusion, exclusion and the damn all-mighty dollar is frankly making me sick to my stomach and ruing the death of the college game. We all want to see our teams excel but let them earn it on their own merits. Call me old fashioned but I like tradition and am reluctant to throw it out the damn window for the selfish motives I see expressed in threads such as this one. I've had my rant and will now STFU. But i am increasingly becoming one of those past superfans who will care less and less about college football if the events described in this thread come to pass. It might actually be relaxing to leave the TV dark on Saturdays and get back to enjoyable pursuits in the beautiful Sierras like hiking and trout fishing.

For those who think the Ducks are winning ugly, I have a truism that I have seen play out many times. Winning ugly can be beautiful if you can just find the way to keep doing it. It may drive the fan base crazy, but in the words of the shallow philosopher Al Davis, the important thing is JUST WIN BABY!!

Actually, I like where the Ducks are at this moment. Four games is sufficient for the brain trust to have a better idea what they have on a squad with many newcomers and to more clearly identify with whom they want to go into battle for the tests that lie ahead. Keep improving a little each week and I can't really see the Ducks missing the playoffs, even if, heaven forbid, they drop their game in Autzen to the Bucks. I am surprised hat I am not down more on my Dawgs after they stunk it up in the first half against Alabama. It was so bad that I thought the break between 1st and 2nd Qs was for the half so stunned was I. Despite the far to daunting road schedule the Dawgs still face, I remain confident they will make the playoffs. At this point, I'd be happy if they could maintain their #5 ranking and get to host a playoff game against the group of 5 representative. Short of a bye, playing at this seeding is the best of the rest seeding slot. Bottom line: good luck to both my teams. I am really confident the postseason is in the cards for both squads.

Crowed a bit about he convenience of cable he other evening and the retribution goblins got me back today. My provider Spectrum failed big-time this evening--for 7 hours, no TV, voice or internet. Had it come 24 hours later, I'd have missed the Georgia-Alabama game. I actually wouldn't have as the sports betting lounge of the nearest casino is a mere 7 miles away. I had lots to watch on DVR and am a bit ashamed of my attitude about the outage. My good Crimson Tide friends just weathered a hurricane north of Atlanta where they live (but they didn't lose power or internet like I did on a perfect cloudless day). Bottom line: this is an irrelevant post and I am a crotchety ole spoiled brat. And, unfortunately, cable is still sometimes.....cable. .

I'd be willing to bet that Lanning has already talked with Kirby Smart, probably when Bear was in the portal Georgia, and has already heard an ear full on Bear. Bear's problem in Athens was that he already considered himself a consensus All American as a rising sophomore and was quite chippy in practices with Georgia's grown-men offensive linemen during practices, regularly getting his backside kicked for his efforts. He was convinced, I have heard, that the offensive side of the ball pretty much hated him. I don't want to speak for those on the offensive side of the ball, but I suspect that they considered him a punk and were glad to see him depart. The tragedy here is that Bear has some real talent and may have achieved that All-American DT status if he had just accepted the challenge and let coach Tray Scott develop him the way Scott has done with so many other Georgia defensive linemen. Bear may turn it around but I fear his upper level now may be the CFL.

Ah streaming! The great leap backward in television technology. I know cable is expensive, but I can afford it and it sure as hell is convenient!

Indeed, Who cares at this point. Bear has real "head" problems and may never develop into anything meaningful (hope I am wrong though).

Forgot about Indiana his year. And I did say that the addition of the four West Coast schools will make the B1G stronger and more interestingly competitive in the years ahead. I think the future looks a heck of a lot more intriguing football- wise than the conference's rather staid past.

Whoops, sorry about the spacing glitch above.

Well living in the Pacific time zone, at least I'll e able to watch most of the game before I tire. Imagine the plight of superfans like Jon Joseph in the east who may end up horizontal and snoring before the 2nd half kickoff.

I think that Charles's premise for this article is spot on. If you have followed my posts on OBD, you know that I think that the B1G is the most overrated conference in the country. And the discussion we are having here kinda bears this out. Having said that, the addition of the four west coast schools will improve the conference. Rather than there being maybe three relevant schools in the football mix, I think there will be four or five, with OBD firmly in that mix for the foreseeable future. I expect Whisky to improve under their new coach Fickell and for Nebraska to show a true resurgence under Rhule. Even Michigan State could become relevant again under J. Smith. The B1G actually needed the infusion of new blood as much as the new blood needed a good conference tie up.IMHO.

I don't really have a good feel for how this one will go. If the majority of Georgia's beat-up defensive linemen can play and contribute, even at 80%, then I think that the Dawgs stifle the Alabama offense and win the game. I'll be watching the "availability" reports closely this week. On the other hand, Georgia's offensive line has yet to gel as we had hoped it would and the loss of All-American guard Tate Ratledge certainly hasn't helped matters any. I could cite some other data, including some from a good friend Tide fan who is self-handicapping his guys' chances. So there are some reasons this game should be considered essentially a toss-up at this point. That 1-5 record sticks in my craw a bit because it does not reflect how close those games have actually been. But the losses did happen. It sure will be nice to finally get Bama into Sanford Stadium where they haven't appeared since 2008. Next year that happens.

Damn I have one of these around here somewhere (unless I have given it to my 2-year-old great grandniece who loves the darned thing and almost giggled herself to death playing with it).

Maybe a simple-minded outlook at this point, but as a Ducks fan, I'm glad that things are hunky dory in Eugene and care little about all the mental masturbation surrounding the less fortunate schools struggling to survive in the new football landscape. Don't misunderstand, I do care about these schools and hope that they can work out something to their satisfaction. Whether All Y'all are satisfied with what they come up means little to me and, I suspect, to the participants in the new PAC-12, 10, or whatever. It is late, I don't mean to come across as overly preachy, but that's my say and I'll now clam up.

Harbaugh has always liked to ground and pound when he had the troops to be successful at it. Let's hope, for Chargers fans' sakes that these troopers remain healthy because I read somewhere that the Chargers lost all of Herbert's top receivers to free agency and Coach JH had to scramble to get decent ones for Herbert to throw to. One of those receivers is Georgia's Ladd McConkey, an early 2nd round draft pick (#34) that Harbaugh knew from being torched by him in the College Football Semis. He liked him so much that CH talked the organization into bonuses that essentially made McConkey's contract a first-round deal to make sure Ladd would be happy in Chargerland. Word is that Ladd and Justin hit it off right away and that Ladd is already becoming a favorite of Justin and Charger fans. So both Dawgs and Ducks can be happy with this match and Go Bolts!!

I did notice and this was arguably he most exciting SEC game of he day. I say arguably because given their recent success, there were viewers all over the country who were watching, and in many cases hoping, that Kentucky would upset the Dawgs in Lexington.

Yep the Dawgs looked absolutely flat until the 4th Q in the win over Kentucky. Don't mean this as an excuse because there is no excuse, but rumor around Dawgland is that the Dawg players were largely focused on the following game against Alabama and took Kentucky for granted--something you can't do for road games in the SEC. Actually, the defensive performance was OK. The Dawgs still have given up no touchdowns, only field goals this season. But tonight's offensive performance was lackluster to say the best. But give Kentucky credit for they played well and always do when we play them at their place. I expect the Dawgs to drop 3-4 polling spots in the rankings this coming week. Strange as this may sound, I suspect Kirby will actually enjoy becoming an underdog to Bama and Texas and will use it to his advantage with a team that may have been becoming a little too full of themselves. While the Dawgs do have a couple of notable weaknesses IMHO, I expect them to play far better at their next game in Tuscaloosa.

To reinforce your point, Nevada blew that game against SMU (but give the ponies some credit) and should well have won that game. As for BSU, I am pretty darned confident the Ducks get this one done but have to say that it could well worth taking the points and laying a bet on the Broncos If... If this game were to take on the Blue field rather than at Autzen. I think that BSU could keep this one interesting for a while if their offense, which I know nothing about, is any good at all.

It is certainly nice that the Ducks are very clearly on the national radar now--I love it to a point. This is no time for rejoicing. I went through high expectations for the Dawgs as early as Kirby's second season, but was advised by sage voices to be cautious about what I said and very, very uneasy until the Dawgs actually won something. I watched the Dawgs get their hearts ripped out, both times by Bama, in OT in the 2017 Natty and the 2018 SEC Championship game--two games that a more experienced coach and squad should have won. In 2021, I was overly cautious even with an 8-point lead in the Natty with two minutes to go and didn't allow myself to feel confident until CB Kelee Ringo intercepted Bryce Young and returned the ball 70 some yards for the clinching score. My first reaction was unbelievable exuberance followed immediately by relief, fatigue, and a healthy pour of bourbon. It was FINALLY over. Never take for granted that something is likely to come to pass because others think it might. If my Dawgs can't get it done this year then I'll be hoping it is my Ducks. But no matter how good the team, it is always a struggle to make it to the end, especially if you have never been there before.

I was 9 and probably off fishing at the Seacliff wharf in Santa Cruz county. The only college football I watched in those days were the four big New Years Day Bowl Games--Orange, Sugar, Cotton and Rose Bowls. The old man was always perturbed because the Sugar and Cotton Bowls were on at the same time. As there were no remotes in those days, He'd drive us crazy sitting on the floor spinning the channel selector back and forth to monitor both games. Sometimes, we'd miss half the Orange Bowl because the Rose Bowl parade was running at the same time and Mom simply had to watch that one! But she did enjoy football and would root like a trooper for whatever Pacific Coast team was facing off against the Evil Empire in the Rose Bowl. She had grown up in the Midwest but absolutely hated the Ohio State Buckeyes. So I was indoctrinated early against the Big-10.

This game will be hyped beyond belief by NBC. It should attract a massive audience I'd expect. Are there any other big games being broadcast at the same time?