Nevada Dawg

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.

Fresno State is a sound football team, but damn ASU 29-0?

This memory goes way back and excuse me if I don't get this exactly correct. In the days of the Pacific Coast Conference, the Rose Bowl was a mismatch as I recall, largely because of the vast discrepancy in scholarships allowed in the Big-10 versus the PCC schools. The story I heard and logged away in my 10-11-year-old mind was that there were virtually no limits. other than financial ones, on the number of scholarships in the Big-10. Ohio State played a game against the Ducks in a Rose Bowl (maybe 1957) where they had twice the number of scholarship players he Ducks had. Much of the disparity between conferences was that the PCC member schools had agreed on a relatively small maximum number of scholarships allowed, at the insistence of academic administrations who weren't buying the educational value of money spent on college football. Hence the Rose Bowl became a yearly contest between the "football factories" vs. the "athletically disadvantaged". This is what I remember and I probably have some details wrong (hey, I was a kid who believed what I was told). But if there is any truth to the tale, Oregon did pretty well in the mismatch I mentioned, losing to the Ohio State bullies by a score of only 10-7, and I remember sitting there rooting for the Ducks to prevail until the final second. So Jon Joseph, how far off am I in my memories above?

This is not a defense of USC; i don't care for them either. But I think some of you may be a bit guilty of a recency bias. I go back to the era when USC pretty much ruled the PAC conference and it was a big deal when anyone else broke through. Back when the conference was the PAC-8 and snow-white Jon McKay coached the Trojans, the conference was derisively labeled by sports writers in other regions as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", and when I lived in Ohio in the early 70s the mantra was if "SC wasn't in the Rose Bowl, bet the farm on the Big-10 champ". And both coaches John Robinson and Pete Carroll had mini-dynasties as well. So the arrogance has a long and somewhat understandable history. Now a question for you guys. When OJ Simpson and the #1 rated Trojans came undefeated into Oregon and lost a night game in the mud 3-O, was that game in Corvallis or Eugene? I think the year was i967 or 8, and all I remember about it was reading the result in the latest Sunday edition of the San Jose Mercury and being shocked at the outcome. Glorious game for either the Beaves or Ducks whomever got it done. I do remember comments coming out of Southern California that the field was not fit for play and the match should have been postponed. Now that's some serious sour grapes that cheapens a glorious outcome for the victors, be they Beavers or Ducks.

Dawgs have lots of offensive skill players (e.g., McConkey, Bowers, Kendall Milton Dajon Edwards) seriously slowed for this one. Others are really going to step up for the Dawgs to cover on this one.

Hey Jon, did ya forget he Dawgs and Chickens in Sanford?

My information is old and this update is discouraging. I had been confident that Baker was coming to Eugene. Other recruiting tidbits. Breland is scheduled to be in Athens for the Georgia game. If he doesn't show, that will be great news for y'all I think. Somebody mentioned Seaton out of Florida, Don't know his status but that would be a great pickup.

I thought that the secondary did enough to keep from being embarrassed on Saturday, but TTU hardly the kind of offenses that they will be facing soon. My first date to circle is the 23rd when I believe Colorado comes a-calling. As I was blacked out on ESPN due to the big media pis-ing contest, I got to see two games in which an incredibly accurate QB, S. Sanders, was dropping dimes on at least three swift and talented WRs. Our CBs had better be able to run and safteys offer support or there's likely to be trouble. As I'm confident the Ducks will move the ball on the Colorado defense, I am hoping this one doesn't become a shootout. With Washington, WAZZU, USC, and the Beaves with DJU on the schedule, we'll have ample opportunities to hopefully watch the secondary grow up and become formidable. Final iconic point: I laughed at the desert lizard analogy as I pictured an ungainly waddling duck trying hard to catch a zippy little lizard.