Nevada Dawg

I'm back after a major computer SNAFU yesterday. Great recruiters always recruit for their system. Georgia often passes on highly rated recruits for those rated lower that better fit that system. One recent example was a 4*, Quay Walker, who became a 1st round draft pick over one of your recent 5-star linebackers not named Noah Sewell. I knew Lanning would recruit well coming out of that Georgia recruiting machine. My guess is (and I've said this before here) that he will continue to favor the high schoolers and use the portal to plug gaps and weaknesses in the roster. As he puts three or four recruiting classes together, he will use the portal less and less. I hope that Lanning doesn't get caught up, however, in ridiculous NIL bidding wars for unproven high school talent, no matter how many stars the highly imperfect recruiting industry gives them. This often creates the resentment of older players but can lead to a class more concerned about $ than with playing the game (see T$M last year). As long as Lanning and his staff follow this recruiting model, I predict that the Ducks will eventually put together teams that can realistically compete for Nattys and give the Georgias and Alabamas a run for their money. Making the playoffs may not be so much of a hurdle after next year, but having the roster of studs who can actually win the trophy should be Lanning's and Duck fans' major aspiration.

David, I absolutely loved your post and hope that you are right about this. But I fear that younger fans will never come to realize what has been lost. Surely new rivalries will arise for all of us to become excited about, at least we can hope. Maybe something like Oregon vs. Wisconsin could become an item for example--but these could, as you suggest, take a good while to emerge. One thing that was discussed during the decision to admit Texas and OU to the SEC was that the move would NOT undercut any traditional SEC rivalries while also retaining the entering schools important ones, such as the Red River Rivalry and reinstating other important rivarlries of yesteryear, e.g., Texas-Arkansas, Texas-Texas A&M. If I sound like an SEC homer here I am sorry, but I think that the SEC expansion will be smoother and far less disruptive than that of the B1G.

I have said this many times, but the pageantry, rivalries, and traditions of college football are major endearments for many of us that serve to differentiate the college game from the soulless NFL. No wonder so many of us are p-ssed of at Fox and ESPN for ripping so much that away from us. I personally know of at least three old duffers like me who say that they are done with the college game now that it has become "semi-pro football" full of kids who care more about $$$ than the spirit of the game that they (the fans) loved. I would not be at all surprised if significant numbers of former college fans find other opportunities to occupy their leisure time on Fall Saturdays. Thanks Fox and ESPN!

This will be my only post on the subject. Truly there is no going back and I will be rooting for the Ducks to kick a-- in the Big whatever. But as one who was watching and rooting for PAC teams against everyone else since the late 50s, I see the implosion of thePAC-12 and the loss of many, many traditional rivalries rivalries as a net negative for college football. I also believe that it will be harder, not easier, for the Ducks to consistently make the playoffs as compared to what would have happened had the Pac-12 survived. I hope that I am wrong about this .Much depends on Lanning's development of a winning culture and my long- time assessment that B1G football is generally overrated, so I could well be wrong. But I am concerned nonetheless. At any rate, Go Ducks!

For me, it will be very interesting to see how the B1G's scheduling model will play out. Without divisions and a 9-game conference schedule, It will be interesting who, if anybody, will be permanent opponents. If there are three permanent opponents, it makes sense, both travel-wise and for some semblance of tradition, that they be Huskies, Bruins, and Trojans. But, that presents problems I'd guess for playing home and homes with each of the other league's teams during a player's 4-year career--Jon you may wish to check my reasoning on this. It does take two to tango, but 9 games leaves three opportunities to schedule traditional rivals like the Beaves and still have two baby seal clubbings should Oregon choose to do so. And who in the h--l is responsible for scheduling a 2 for 1 (did Boise really get 2 home games!) with the blue fielders?

Ii seems to me that should both schools wish to keep playing, it will happen. The only comparison I have is Georgia-Georgia Tech, a rivalry that survived through Georgia Tech's withdrawal from the SEC without missing a beat. Georgia Tech might even have been an independent for a while but joined the ACC, I am told, only after being assured that they continue their rivalry with the Dawgs. Some of the younger Dawgs fans would just as soon drop Tech for football, citing a noncompetitive matchup here. But most fans want to keep the tradition going, stating that rivalries are the essence of college football. I hope that there are similar passions for retaining Oregon-OSU.

Just my $.02 worth, but I agree with Jon. Ratings are really bogus and I am much more interested with on-the-field results. I think that it will be a while, if ever, before the B1G dominates the SEC in winning NCAA titles in men's football. I could be wrong, but it is really an empirical question.

Yesterday, the host of the Dawgnation Daily podcast raised the specter of continuing an automatic playoff spot for PAC with but 9 teams, arguing against it. Now Dawgnation doesn't have the strict rules of civility that FishDuck Forum does, so I challenged him calling him everything but a Dolt. Then I asked him if a (9-2 or 10-1) Independent like Notre Dame deserves a bid. Now this is a podcast, but he will think about it, and knowing his chain of logic, will conclude "hell yes" and justify it because it is Notre Dame. So that makes more sense than including a 10-1 or 9-2 PAC champion? I'm basically siding with Mr.Fishduck here but a little more broadly. A very good 9-2 or 10-1 Pac champion still deserves an automatic berth at the 12 team playoff table IMHO, whether it is Oregon, Stanford, Arizona or whomever!

Texas's arrogance is the major reason that the SEC has A&M, Missouri and (earlier) Arkansas. In this sense, you CAN blame Texas for early conference instabilities. This is why I never wanted them in the SEC, and if Oklahoma was coming over, I'd have rather taken Oklahoma State than Texas.

Well, I'd rather see the coast-to-coast option than the total disintegration of the remaining PAC-9. Except for the loss of league integrity, saying goodbye to Colorado is no big whoop in my opinion. Jon, I didn't see one of the biggest ACC prizes, Clemson, in your proposed C-to-C league. Was that an oversight or did I misread your post?

Yeah I guess we do see things differently OregonDucks.. My understanding was that Texas and Oklahoma approached and then petitioned the SEC for admittance after stating that they wanted out of the Big-12 and would be going somewhere. A friend at OU has told me (i know heresay) that had the SEC's response been negative, their back up option was likely to be the PAC-12. If....if there is a kernel of truth to this account, then it is probably inappropriate to say the SEC "stole" the two schools. True, the SEC didn't have to take them in (and I was against this expansion, by the way). It was an advantageous adoption however; that I can't deny.

Well as I mentioned above I believe, the Dawgs lost a 5-star LB commit today after earning the Williams commitment. But this has been expected and have already lined up a couple stud ILB prospects, one of whom will replace the departed. The point: This article on Georgia recruiting for 2024 is right on point.

If the headline to this story is true, it seems clear to me that the B1G is now the malignant melanoma of college football. Yeah, I know that the SEC expanded with the inclusion of Texas and Oklahoma, but at least those schools were in the geographical footprint (sort of) of the SEC, which I hope will not expand further. I'm already sick of the chaos.

It is a bit early in my opinion, but I should note that first year coaches typically have a brain fricken--t or two that cost them games. Kirby Smart had 2-3 his first year that were very costly. But he has managed pretty well since then and so will Lanning. Sometimes early extensions also have the effect of convincing recruits who like the Head Coach that he is likely to be around throughout their tenure should the commit to the program. In this sense, the extension is a strategic move that can later be undone should disaster strike for some reason which I don't foresee with a salt-of-the-earth guy like Lanning.

5-star recruits usually pan out although their likelihood of becoming a first-round NFL recruit for a composite 5-star (as is the prediction for a composite 5-star) is not very good. 4-stars are a wide class of young men. The people who follow recruiting extensively tell me that all are very good high school players but maybe one-third to one-half of them achieve that same level of "stardom" in college, and many never play much. Noah was a 5-star recruit (don't remember if he was a composite but I think he was).. The recruiting freaks on the Georgia boards said that he was by far the best ILB in the country that year. Kirby and ILB coach Glenn Schuman wanted him bad, but playing with his brother won out. Yet, I often wonder what Noah would have become had he came to Georgia and had been developed by Coach Schumann. As for portal additions at ILB, I know that the very strong Georgia preference is to get great guys out of high school and coach them up. One potential problem with portal additions is they may not fit the emerging/existing team culture, and I'm guessing that team culture is very important to Dan Lanning. Georgia took three portal additions this year, all from the SEC and one of those guys is already gone for not fitting in. Georgia has had some great portal additions, but they are extensively vetted and are more likely to be taken if they are a plug and play option.

Georgia is hard to go against in the ILB sweepstakes because of the almost ridiculous success Glenn Schuman has had developing his charges and getting them drafted highly in the NFL. He has two preseason All-SEC backers this year (three if you count Jalon Walker on the 3rd team, a guy who will play a lot but maybe never start a game this year). They also have three incoming (now on campus) ILBs all of whom were in the top 6 ILB recruits in the 2023 class. And they have another 5-star ILB recruit in this class, although speculation has it that he will decommit now that JW has committed to the Dawgs. However, there is absolutely no reason for fellow Duck fans to be down in the dumps about Duck recruiting. Consider that this is only Lanning's second year upcoming. Also, I have been impressed with the number of absolute stud recruits that Georgia has gone hard after this year that have the Ducks in their top four or five when they drop their top schools. That is a very good sign for the future, particularly after the Ducks make the playoffs a couple of times in the next 3-4 years. Both me and SoGaDawg think OT Baker is very likely a Duck. If so, rejoice, for championships are won up front and the Ducks badly need more trench monsters.

SoGaDawg is quite correct IMO that big games among elite teams are usually won in the trenches. These guys largely go unnoticed by the average fan unless they are racking up sacks or throwing devastating blocks, but Georgia's domination of both LOS the last couple of years is a major reason they have gone back to back. Hopefully the Ducks have several of these trench monsters ready to emerge. If so, winning this conference is hardly out of the question. Yet, Wrathis's analyses of the Trojans and the Huskies aptly illustrates just how tough a slough this is likely to be for anyone to win the PAC this year. I just hope that the winner is able to take home the trophy without having suffered two losses.

Welcome back SoGaDawg. I am also a Dawg partisan who has the Ducks as my #2. My history with the Ducks goes way back as I grew up on the West Coast and rooted passionately for PAC teams against anyone else. I became a Dawg fan as a young adult and 42 years living in the Athens area will almost ensure that you remain one. This is a great site. I contribute whenever I have something I think will interest Duck fans and have been very warmly received here. t here are a number of very knowledgeable contributors on this site whom I learn a great deal from. It is a fun place to hang out. So stick around. The Ducks fans appreciate good football, seem to want to know how Kirby and the Dawgs operate, and would probably appreciate a wider variety of opinions from that fan base other than my own.

This is a really thoughtful post Jon and I could really see these events coming to pass.

Interesting analysis ChicoDuck 1. I haven't seen Frazier's film and might not properly interpret it had I seen it. My enthusiasm for the kid comes from the Georgia recruitniks who swear by the kid and think he fits the Dawgs system just fine. I am not trying to be argumentative, but those guys rarely miss on the merits of running backs. And Frazier was recently elevated to the number 1 RB recruit for the 2024 class. On the other hand, I can think of several instances in recent memory where #1 recruits at RB ended up having rather unremarkable college success. Maybe Frazier is one of those.

The most interesting thing about Steph's ace was his run down the fairway to the green, bouncing all the way. He looked more excited about it than if he had sunk a buzzer-beater 3 in an NBA playoff game.

I just saw this evening that Georgia was now the heavy favorite to land Frazier with the Ducks a distant second. The biggest fear in Dawg land is that Frazier will get an enormous NIL offer from aTm that might be hard to turn down. The information as to who leads comes from the national recruiting analysts "crystal ball" projections. The fear of an enormous NIL offer comes from past ATM recruiting behavior and Dawg paranoia about it. I am just passing along what I have run across this evening and have no direct insider information.

Not certain this will be of interest, but the Georgia crowd generally has very little respect for PFF, often claiming that their assessments of many issues are off the wall. Personally, I was shocked to see Oregon on the easiest schedule list. Even if one had the thought that the PAC-12 is "soft" which I don't, Oregon is going against the best of the conference, and I'll add that road games in Lubbock are a struggle, even for Big-12 powers. Texas has had their hearts broken in the Panhandle more often than they care to remember. If the Ducks get er done there, that is a quality win in my book.

Thank you Charles for the invite. That is meaningful to me. And thank you NJ Duck for the information. I will be visiting with my Duck buddy on Wednesday and will see if he wants to drive up for the game (provided we get tickets of course).

That was indeed a fun game to watch and I practically yelled myself hoarse pullling for the Ducks to hold on. Annie, now don't dwell too long on the past. Look to the future with a fair degree of optimism as I feel that the Ducks are on the verge of playing big games again and will see the playoffs, if not this year, in the near future. In fact, I am counting on it. Go Ducks!