Nevada Dawg

I pretty much concur with every line of this post, especially with Penix and the Heisman. And Penix does have that full stable of quality wide receivers. As a group they are better, in my humble opinion, than the bunch in Columbus, OH and certainly better than any of the other playoff entrants.

Michigan's senior experience and leadership is the one factor that keeps me from placing a meaningful bet on the fuskies this week. Yet I still expect them to win. My comment about the South rising again was a bit tongue in cheek. But I will caution that simply adding more teams to a conference doesn't necessarily make that conference better, and that goes for all conferences in my opinion.

Yeah I mentioned the same points in the thread about the game. And I didn't even know about the RB injury then which, of course, makes the clock mismanagement issue even worse for its consequences.

Interestingly, tonight's discussion of the Natty on the main Dawg site with all the coaches on it comes down fairly clear on the side of the Seattle Dawgs hoisting the trophy next Monday night. Michigan's defense is good, but the argument was that Alabama was by far the most offensively challenged team in the playoffs,. Michigan has not faced an offense, they say, even close to that of Washington, and that Penix and company are going to expose the Michigan secondary big time. They also have noted that the Washington offensive line is badly underrated (this coming from multiple sources who regularly break down film on trench monsters) and that Michigan will not be able to stunt and blitz like thy did against Alabama because Penix and the receivers will make them pay dearly if they do. Posters favoring Washington in this one also suspect that Deboer's defensive strategy will likely be to stack the box against the run and force J.J. McCarthy to beat them with his arm, which they don't believe McCarthy can do--at least not to the extent that Penix can put up points against the Wolverines. Having said this, I have to add that one of the posters whose comments I respect most also did say that he had expected Michigan to come up short a few times this year, either outright or against the spread, and been burned by a team that still has a zero in the loss column. So who knows. The bettors think they do, and so far the bigger bettors are going Huskies.

I fully understand SEC fatigue in other fan bases. Enjoy the down year but...the South will rise again...and often

The best player and the best WR. If I am a pro team drafting a WR, I take Odunze over Marvin Harrison Jr. Odunze has the better contested catch ratio (in the 60s somewhat compared to Harrison's figure in the 40s, and the latter quit on his team for the bowl game. Jusr my opinion perhaps,mbut quitting on the team does not sit right for me. Penix truly is a dart thrower who can drop perfectly thrown dimes fifty yards down field. Making player comparisons is always a bit risky, but he gives me Kenny Stabler vibes every time I watch him. I fully expect my Dawgs and Ducks to be entertaining us all in next year's playoffs. And yes, this was the most entertaining SET of semis in playoff history.

Well, decided to root for the Fuskies over Texas and about had a heart attack at the end of this one. SIAP but the Washington brain trust ought to be given the Mario Cristobal award for clock mismanagement at the end of the game. Had the Fuskies simply went into victory formation on that first and 10 in Texas territory, they could have nearly totally exhausted the clock and the game is over, But for some unknown reason, they kept snapping the ball and handing it off thereby risking a bad snap, a fumble, and posssibly leaving Texas ample time to come down the field. They managed to do so exactly that and are darn lucky they didn't lose the game. I thought DeBoar was smarter than that. As the /Fuskies hung on, it is cool that the Natty will be between the B1G and the Pac-12 in the last season of the Pac-12's existence. Next year the Fuskies will be in the B1G, but this year, they are the Pac12 Champions dammit!! And I need to eat some crow as promised. For the first year in BCS playoff history, I whiffed on my predictions for the semis.

At this point we are to the games that matter (except for the fan bases on the non playoff teams yet to play). So my plan is to watch the Duck game with interest as I am a Duck fan and to say nothing more about the semis, simply consuming them as an interested fan. I guess I have become a bit spoiled as it has been three years since the Dawgs were not in a semi. But hey, ya can't be there every year. At least my gut will not be churning this year wondering if my team wins it all--but to be honest, I miss the anticipation. And Go Ducks!!

Great take. Thanks. I have one slight disagreement. Georgia deserved to be in a playoff. Georgia did not deserve to be in a 4-team Invitational. With Bama, a team I assume would have be in as the SEC champ along with UGA, what team do you leave out? Jon the disagreement is not really a disagreement. While discussing the issue with my Duck buddy, he asked me who I would leave out in favor of the Dawgs. I told him nobody because I couldn't make a rational case against any of the four entrants, largely for the reasons you have mentioned. This was a rare year where there were more than four qualified entrants, and as I said above, I have no quarrel with any of the selected participants. Kirby Smart knows this as do his players. It is unfortunate that the Dawgs ended up not being able to defend their national titles for a third year--but hardly an injustice. And as Kirby always says, "Hey, we aren't going anywhere." The Dawgs may not earn a bye next year given the brutal road schedule they will play in the SEC and a neutral site game against Clemson, whom I expect to be improved a lot over the 2023 edition, But I'm pretty sure they will make the 12-team playoff and have the big trophy in their sights. And I still believe that the 2023 edition is one of the best four teams in the land.

I am not saying this to gloat in any way but.... The Orange Bowl today reminded me of the Georgia-Oregon game and the TCU Natty beatdown last year. My great Duck buddy drove down from Lake Tahoe to cheer on the Dawgs with me, and like the two aforementioned games, we left the game on but talked and speculated about other things from before halftime. I hate blowouts and would rather see a white knuckler any day (though my heart might disagree).. Georgia was trying to send the playoff committee a message, but on their own behalf, not FSU's. I, of course, know why Georgia was not selected and am good with that, as are the Georgia players based on post game interviews today. But you are never going to convince me that this Dawgs team is not one of the four best in the country. I have absolutely no quarrels with the four teams in the field and wish them well. I could even root for the Seattle Dawgs in the playoffs, much as that might offend Duck partisans. But my prediction is that the two B1G teams as they have been called here lose to the two so-called SEC teams in the semis. I welcome the opportunity to eat the ceremonial crow if I am wrong on both counts.

TXDuck, "watching paint dry" was exactly the descriptor I used while texting back and forth with my great Duck buddy. He said to me on Missouri's first drive in the 4th Q that he thought that the paint was drying. Missouri's offense is normally far from inept, and what passed in the first three quarters was a testament to the quality of the OSU defense. But, I was not surprised to see Missouri break through late in the game and win this one--in fact I made a small wager that they would win. Things could have gone the other way had the QB not been hurt, but OSU wasn't moving the ball much when he was in there. Missouri has been underestimated on this board and elsewhere all year long. They really are legit. qa is a testiment to the quality of the OSU defense.

My opinion, if anyone cares, is that non playoff games in our new era are almost meaningless for calculating the relative strength of conferences. So many teams field squads that bear faint resemblances to the regular season rosters that I am not surprised by anything I see these days (except Northwestern upsetting anyone) . Plus, aggregating teams in their respective leagues the year before they get there (e.g., Washington in the B1G, Cal in the ACC, Texas in the SEC) seems a major stretch for me. Just my $.02. Still, comparisons will be made, meaningless as they may (or may not) be.

I just started watching this one in the second half. Looks to me that Arizona wants to be there more than the Sooners, but I could be wrong from the limited amount of play I have witnessed in this one.

If the Ducks aspire to be elite, they sure as he-- better beat Liberty, a team with a SOS ranked 133 of 133 FBS teams. As I have heard it said in Athens, "You are either elite or you are not. Trite perhaps but true.

I don't know the Ducks roster well I admit, but I can see how a talent with multiple years of eligibility would be very attractive if the team has no absolute stud QB already there to be developed. This comment has nothing to say on the subject of immediate portal rankings, but not all guys taken are necessarily valued for their immediate contributions. I suspect Lanning is savvy enough to see such future value in Dante Moore, I applaud the pickup.

If I remember correctly, Bama and Georgia played in the regular season in 2019 or 2020. The last time Bama played in Athens was 2008.

Ole Miss is killing it in the portal all right. Rebs probably have the most favorable schedule among the legit SEC contenders this next year and they are rolling the NIL dice to try to secure a decent seeding in a 12-team playoff. Nolen could help them achieve this objective, but they had better hope that an outsize NIL stipend doesn't mess with team chemistry which I have heard is pretty favorable at present, The main Georgia boards have a bunch of coaches and other talent evaluators on it--guys that break down film to back their opinions, good or bad. The buzz there about Nolen has been that he is uber talented but rarely plays to his potential. Lanning and, to a lesser extent Kirby Smart must think they can bring out that desire to excel or they wouldn't have offered. but the guys on the Georgia boards, at least, think this is a very risky recruitment.

Sorry. Just passing along some info that may or may not have legs. I';dactually be surprised if Nolan ends up in Athens, but it is not impossible.

Can';t say if anything will come of it, but smoke on the Georgia boards tonight that the Dawgs are going to make a pitch for Walter Nolen. I believe that he would be a "plug and play" in Athens, and Georgia has put five first-round defensive linemen in the NFL in the past three years.

My very good Duck buddy in Nevada told me about the game when the Ducks, ahead 31-0 at the half, lost in OT. I refused to believe him! When I asked who that comeback team was, he replied "I don't remember; I repressed it."

Why not believe in a football Natty? Even though they didn't win one in 40 years prior to 2021, most of the Dawg fanatics knew more were coming if they could just live that long. Now they expect to be in the mix EVERY YEAR and may well be as long as Kirby Smart is at the helm. I love CDL's bamboo watering metaphor by the way. He learned how to build rosters in Athens and is putting those lessons in play as we speak.

I have no idea where Troy will be drafted, but if he runs a 4.3 at the combine, his position will be high--well worth coming out for. If his "contested catch" ratio is 50% or higher, he could well be taken later in the first or early in the second round. Good luck young man!

Oh Dawg!! I hope that he is drafted in the first 40 picks, and for his own sake, not by the Atlanta Falcons!

I've said it before and will say again, if ever there was a year to commence the 12-team playoff, this was it. In the future, there will still be bitter arguments about committee decisions, most of which, I'd guess, will center on seedings rather than who the top 6 or 8 teams are. Can't wait.

I'm guessing that this is pure unadulterated clickbait.