Nevada Dawg

Good Lord yes! I am 77 years old and probably had a 80% chance of making at least one of those two FGs at the end of the half (disclosure, I enjoy placekicking every now and then at a local venue when I can get someone to go with me).

I am firmly in the take the damn points camp. But the biggest brain fart in this game was the decision not to punt the damn ball with 2:16 left. It is bad enough to have to give Penix and those elite WRs the ball with that much time remaining, but I'd sure as hell rather have them possessing the ball down field deep in their own territory than around midfield!! I was pretty confident about winning this game until the "no punt" decision unfolded. Having said this, I also think points would have been nice inside the 10 at the end of the first half, even though it would not have immediately given us the lead. This decision on Lanning's part was even harder to justify than "no punt" in the 4th IMHO because at least he could argue that had the first down been made at the end of the game, it is almost certain that Washington, with either only 1 or no TOs, would never have possessed the ball again. Yes fellow Duck fans, this was a tough cross to bear. But I am already looking ahead to the next game and the need to keep chopping wood in pursuit of a berth in the Championship game in Vegas. Only now, there is no margin for error.

Haywardduck's quotations about UW's prowess vis a vis the Ducks is bulletin board material for sure. Hopefully Lanning put this on an audio loop in the workout room for the Duck players to hear over and over and get really motivated to tear the heads off the allegedly mighty Huskies. Kirby Smart used this approach after a disappointing loss at Auburn after the Tigers coach said in a post-game interview "We really kicked the dog crap out of them didn't we"?. That audio loop played in the workout room once it became clear the two teams would meet for the SEC championship . The result: Dawgs 28-7 in the rematch.

Hey Charles, I was planning to post this but you beat me to it. Although there is no question who I am pulling for on Saturday, I really see this game as a "pick em." I would guess the line slightly favors the fuskies because the game is in Seattle, but it is likely a big play in the 4th Q determines who wins. As for squabbles over who is the best coach, each has real strengths. I like Lanning though based on his apparent recruiting prowess. You work for two of the master recruiters in the game and it rubs off.

I and a couple of my Bama friends actually think the "culture" is not as strong as it used to be at Alabama and that part of the reason for that is that Kirby Smart is no longer there. I know that DL was aware of that vibe at Georgia because I heard him talk about it in interviews while he was DC in Athens. I figured that culture would be a big deal for Dan after he moved to Eugene. I am not as wired to what's going on in the Ducks program as I am with the Dawgs, but hearing you guys talking so much about the rapidly evolving culture there convinces me that my prediction is coming to fruition. Go Ducks!!!

Recruiting guru on talkin dawgs site also feels its Oregon because of a last minute NIL offer that his insiders say Georgia will not match. Georgia actually has a greater need on the DL that Breland would not be optimal for, so the NIL offer is likely to go to another prospective recruit to fill that need if they can pry him away from Florida (the kid is a Florida resident.) I want to stress that I have no inside information so this is heresay. But heresay from these sources is usually accurate. And were Breland to decide to commit to Georgia, the Dawgs would certainly take him. Otherwise he is going to a good home IMHO.

Oh what a HUGE game this is. GOOooooooo Ducks!!!!!

Saw a recruiting note tonight on the talking dawgs site from our leading recruiting source and an astute judge of talent. While talking about an uncommitted defensive line recruit he said that "..for a month or so this has been a battle between Georgia and Oregon (UGA West)." I bring this up for those who lament that Oregon is not getting noticed or recognized like they think they should be. For this guy to use that characterization of the Ducks is a supreme compliment as to what he has observed going on in Eugene this year.

Again I stress that the number of teams ranked is a beauty contest that means little in the games that really count. Rankings are no guarantee of success just like stars assigned of recruits are no guarantee of college stardom. Players on the field determine success (or failure) between the lines. Nothing else really matters.

When I claimed that the merger of the West Coast teams would strengthen the B1G, I was referring to intraconference competition not interconference strength. I kind of laugh at ratings as an indication of conference strength. In a general sense, there is a correlation. But the only polls that matter occur under the spotlight and between the lines. Given this metric, I knew that the SEC was down a bit this year and the PAC-12 way up from the past. The SEC will have been strengthened as well by the addition of Texas and Oklahoma who would be among the stronger of the two teams in the league this year. As for ratings and the pundits great wisdom, I think either of these teams beats either Ohio State or Michigan between the lines and we may have an opportunity this year to evaluate my prediction. After yesterday, Oklahoma is going to the playoffs if they win out which I think they will, although they could lose to Texas in the Big-12 Championship game. As for the B1G, adding teams does not necessarily make the conference any stronger OOC. Personally, I think that it will take a good while before they overcome the incredible dominance the SEC has displayed in the BCS era at hoisting Natty trophies. But it is an empirical question, no?

I think that the top tier of the disintegrating Big -12 is quite competitive with the existing top teams in the B1G right now. I have also said on this site that IMHO the existing B1G is badly overrated in both football and men's basketball. The expanded B1G will be strengthened rather than weakened. It may become far harder to have an undefeated regular season, and two loss teams could be numerous. However, such teams with good SOS will almost have to be included in a 12-team playoff. Three-loss teams in the playoffs will be very uncommon however. At least that's my viewpoint.

A couple of comments: First, for the first time this season Georgia looked like Georgia. They got off to a fast start offensively (about time) and they throughly outmuscled the second most physical team in the SEC. I had said that I thought Carson Beck grew up in the second half of the game at Auburn last week, and he was as poised and confident today as a three-year starter. And Kentucky is a good defensive team to boot. Second, a guy on the same "other games" thread on Talking Dawgs site this evening remarked Cristobal's decision not to take a knee, run the clock and win the game was the most incompetent decision I have witnessed in more than 30 years as a college fan". "Have you ever seen anything, anywhere, as bad as this by a coach"? I quickly posted "Yes, while watching Oregon Ducks football when he was coaching there." It was unbelievable--some guys never learn! And be so very thankful that you were able to upgrade.

Just saw a stat on the Talking Dawgs site that only two Power 5 teams have thrown for 300 yards a game and given up less than 300 yards per game on defense through week 5: Georgia and Oregon. Can I pick my teams or what!

As a fan who grew up on the West Coast and became a young fan of the old PCC in the late 50s, I am still p--sed off at the disintegration of the PAC-12. I can't remember a year when so many teams had the talent of the top five or six of this year's crop with the future looking bright due to the influx of very good coaches over the past 2-3 years. Maybe the best year ever. In a sane and just world, this shouldn't have happened!

This season has really been fun to watch thus far and cautious optimism is certainly warranted in my opinion. Remembering my very early posts on the Fishduck forum, I feel pretty good about my limited prognosis for the Duck team over the near future. My first posts came soon after Dan Lanning took the job in Eugene. I didn't know much about the Ducks roster but i supposed that Lanning had work to do and suggested that y'all be patient and that you would love the results. I'll call that one a hit. Then I jumped in with my $,02 when the Nix transfer was announced. I suggested that you were going to love this guy if you could protect him well enough for him to remain vertical. Some of you were wondering in the days following the Georgia game (doesn't that seem a lot longer ago than a year and half a season ago?). Whether Lanning was really any good or Nix hadn't been appropriately labeled as Bo Pix at Auburn. I remember jumping back on the forum to try to reassure all that this game may seem like a terrible blip in the future that was to come and to please be patient. My words probably had little to do with it, but I was happy to see patience on the part of posters here. I am just glad at this point that the large steps the Ducks have taken since that fateful night in Atlanta have not made my early words seem hollow. Quite frankly, what has happened in Eugene has actually exceeded what I thought see so soon in Lanning's second year. Enjoy the progression fellow Duck fans!

Hey everybody scores on USC. Great defenses like a coordinated organism out there. My admittedly unsystematic observations of USC is that different position groups (e.g., linebackers and DBs) are often out of sync with one another. Oregon plays a much better patterned defense. But I do believe that SC has a more explosive offense than Oregon, and maybe anyone else does this year. But Offense can only take you so far. Recall that Riley, who has coached for many years now has never won a playoff game. I may be wrong, but I can't remember his team ever being in the playoffs despite three Heisman winners at QB.

Surprise? Kentucky qualifies for many, although I am not very surprised, And these dudes almost always play Georgia close and make the Dawgs earn everything they get on offense. Georgia, as dominant as they were becoming last year, only beat the Wildcats in Lexington by 10. The one I didn't see coming in the SEC is Missouri, now 5-0 and ranked to boot. And suddenly, assuming teams can hold their ranking, the soft schedule that Georgia was supposed to have includes four ranked teams down the stretch (counting Kentucky this week). Are the Dawgs up to it? Sure, if they clear some of the major injuries they've had in a nightmare year for injuries. Right now, they will be favored in every regular season game. Yet I don't have the unflappable confidence that they will get through the regular season unscathed this year. I also don't see a truly dominant team this year. If the Dawgs get to the playoffs, I'd say there will be nobody there they cannot beat in a single game. The thing that is different this year is that all the other teams may be good enough to beat them on a given day as well. So it is an intriguing season to be sure. My head tells me it is probably better for someone other than Georgia to win it this year. If that comes to pass, I sure as hell hope it is Oregon.

Yeah things are shaping up a lot better than I would have expected so far. I am hoping dearly that the stars align in the PAC so that the Ducks can make the playoff this year. The present is the best shot as no Nix next year, and breaking in a new QB is almost always a challenge--look at what's happening in The SEC now where an abnormally high number of programs are doing precisely that Having said this, don't get too enamored by the ESPN Power Index which leaves a lot to be desired. A couple guys I know who bet a lot and know the line setters in the Nevada casinos have said that the ESPN index is one of the services that they trust least because the pros put little faith in it for line setting purposes. Plus, that index bounces, and sometimes wildly, over the course of short intervals. I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer here, as I am only sounding a word of caution.

Every criticism of the Dawgs' performance today that I read above has some legitimacy. Clearly the defense is no where near as dominant as in the past two years, especially as we lost five 1st round defensive linemen to the NFL over that period. I will also point out that we have a lot of front 7 people either out or slowed noticeably by injury and that things may improve with the return of full return of these players. There has never been a period in Kirby's now 7-season history where the injury bug has been so apparent. Georgia has only one scholarship running back at present that is fully healthy. As for today, Auburn is a notoriously hard place for road teams, and Georgia was affected by the crowd early. This was Carson Beck's first road start anywhere and I thought he kept his poise admirably, even after three turnovers. In fact, he was money down the stretch, extending drives and being smart enough to go to one of the very best players in all of college football, Brock Bowers, when all the marbles were on the table. I am hoping Beck grew up today. I was always of the opinion that Georgia was going have to claw like hell and continually improve throughout the season to put themselves in position to defend the titles that have come their way. I was actually encouraged by the struggle back from adversity and the grit that I saw in the 4th Quarter today. And the Dawgs face a giant test next week against an undefeated Kentucky that has flown under the radar and will surely be ranked after dismantling Florida today. This game will answer a lot of questions about Georgia's further prospects this year. So let's get it on for week 6 and see what happens!!!

I've enjoyed what I read in this thread and there is indeed reason to be optimistic. But OBD have not yet played a very good team and it is hard for me to be over the moon at this point. The "meat" of the schedule is ahead of us folks! I am almost certain what Lanning is telling his charges don't look beyond the next challenge, in this case Stanford. You have to keep chopping away every week and take nothing for granted. If he can keep hem focused week to week in this way, they have, in my opinion, a far better chance of being able to get to the point where the big goals actually become realistic. .

My take on the subject of this thread, if anybody cares, is that the Colorado game forced people to take a closer look at the Ducks. I am on the record, here and elsewhere, that Oregon is much improved over last year on both sides of the line of scrimmage. This kind of reminds me of the giant improvement Kirby's Dawgs made from an 8-5 year 1 to the natty game in year2, a game I believe they should have won IMHO. Yet, I do agree with Desert Duck that OBDs haven't faced a really good team yet. Want people to really notice and get excited about Oregon. Have them kick the snot out of USC in Autzen in November and waddle into Seattle to whip the Huskies, whom I believe are a really good team. Do that and not slip up elsewhere, and people will be forced to take ODD seriously!

Prior to the game, I had posted on the talkin Dawgs site that I expected Oregon to expose the deficiencies in Colorado's O-line and we know that this is exactly what happened. I didn't hear Friday's Dawgnation Daily podcast. The host there always previews big games for the weekend and makes predictions. This guy is known for a couple major misses every week and often picks against Pac-12 teams. But, much to my surprise, he said pretty much exactly what I had said about the game and I am reasonably certain he had not seen my post. Now the guy likes Lanning and his analysis was that coach DL was putting a pretty fair team on the field on both sides of the ball, whereas Colorado's team was suspect on both sides. He thus suspected that the game could be ugly. Of course, it was pretty ugly for Buffs fans. It is going to be interesting if the Buffs fare much better at home against USC, I am again predicting a loss, but given the way the Trojans struggled on the road against a mediocre Arizona State team, this game could turn out to be closer than most people expect. I can't really see this happening but my good Ducks buddy stopped by the house today and educated me about the Ducks' history of upsets at the hands of Stanford. OK, I get it, but lose to a team that was spanked at home recently by Sacramento State.

With a little help from Touchdown Gosh, ND just might take down the Bucs. That's one I'd love to see.

I expect Bama to improve as the season wears on but they have problems other than in the QB room. Former Tide QB Greg McElroy ( a stand up analyst IMHO) has said as much and is more than concerned about the Tide's season, possibly foreseeing multiple hiccups. Speculation is rampant to the effect that Saban will choose to hang it up after the season and that Alabama goes after "Pirme" as head coach. I am not buying either speculation Nick Saban has always been a uber-competitive guy, and I don't see him bowing out with his tail between his legs. I always had thought that he wanted one more natty and then he'd retire. That path will not be easy in the foreseeable future however. I also fail to see, in the event of a Saban retirement, that a proud program like Alabama would hire a second-year coach whose charges may get their butts kicked multiple times in the Pac-12 this year. Ain't gunna happen!

I can see why the decision might have been made to place on PAC-12. This is apt to be a very noncompetitive game. Stanford is dreadful. n fact, I heard they lost to Sacramento State over the weekend. Can that really be true (I haven't verified yet). I guess every conference has to have a doormat, but Stanford has really declined in recent years, or so it seems to me. Speaking of disrespect though, I saw an article, maybe it was the one on most overrated teams, that Colorado (the most overrated) was likely to get its comeuppance against USC on the 30th, with no mention of that likely happening against Oregon on the 23rd. Sometimes, I don't see how some of these ESPN guys continue to draw a paycheck and, in fact, even though they are worthy of attention, I'd almost place the Trojans among my most overrated teams for this year.