Nevada Dawg

Man, I do like the idea of playing conference championships around the weekend of Thanksgiving. In the event of a 16-team field with no byes, would all first-round games be played on campus ya think? I think that this would amount to an additional home game for the Georgias, Alabamas, OSUs and the like--and a wildly popular option for their fan bases. It is a bit depressing, to me at least, to have to gum up what is a potentially exciting playoff expansion with discussions of the almighty dollar. I know what kind of world college sports is becoming and it turns my stomach to see so many decisions absolutely driven by money mania. Ok, that's my rant for the week.

This is an interesting year as many of the usual favorites (Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State ) are breaking in new QBs, and it is quite conceivable that two or more of these could have 2 loses after Championship week. So, yes, there may well be playoff slots up for grabs by others this year in my opinion.

While a college degree is no guarantee of life success and many, many people do terrific without one, career earnings, on average, are substantially higher for college grads than for those without college degrees. College isn't for everyone, but kids who truly want a higher education and pursue it seriously are typically quite successful in life. On the other hand, kids who don't want to attend college but do so to meet others' expectations are the ones who may be wasting their own or others' money in attending. I can't tell you how many of these "students" I encountered in my 34 years as a college professor.

I remember Dave Wilcox well and fondly. RIP: big guy!

A lot of Dawg fans are scoffing at the power index this year. I think that my Dawgs have a number of question marks as they essentially have to replace the outside linebacker corps on defense and a QB on offense. I don't know about how the OLBs will fare, but by November and the first real challenge against Tennessee, the young talent in that room should be humming. As for the QB, anyone who watched the Georgia Spring Game on Saturday almost had to come away impressed with Carson Beck. His throws were crisp, accurate, and he now has far more receivers to throw to than any QB at Georgia in recent memory. A lot can happen between now and championship week in December, but I'll not be shocked if the Dawgs have climbed to the top of the heap again. Oh, and I am on board with Jon in thinking that LSU wins the SEC West again.

Jon, I keep forgetting about UTSA being in a rapidly expanding media market--imagine that! With the inclusion of UTSA and SMU, the Pac would have fans in two of the three top metro areas of a football mad state. My academic colleagues would shame me for saying so, But I'm wondering how much "academic fit really means in college sports anymore. It may matter to college presidents, an ex-wife of mine being one. But to the average college sports fan, I suspect it means diddly squat.

Thinking about competition in the B1G, I think many overlook Wisconsin. I expect the Badgers to be a problem now that Luke Fickell is their coach .Also Matt Rhule (sp?) is a damn good football coach and may be able to get something going at Nebraska. If so, the pathway to the playoffs may be tougher in the B1G than many think. The more I think about SMU being a PAC conference target, the better I like it. Texas is a really fertile football ground for talented high school players who could fancy living on the West Coast for 3-4 years.

Thanks Jon. I didn't know about the extent of USC's tampering, but it has given me motivation for rooting against them in every game they play. I didn't like the negative recruiting Riley was doing as coach of Oklahoma, and his solicitations since his transfer to USC are even worse IMHO. I am already looking forward, should I live that long, to facing the Trojans in the playoffs. And I certainly hope that the Ducks have the privilege of ruining their last season in the PAC-12.

Yeah, it seems as if tampering is SOP in some quarters. The Dawgs lost a projected starter on the DL to the portal this morning, and two likely landing spots became known immediately (both presently outside the SEC and one in LA--guess who?). There is a lot of back channel communications going on, some of it involving NIL bags that exceed what players are making in their current locations. Pro football has strong rules against tampering and teams that ignore them are penalized. Why is it different for college ball? I don't know but suspect it stems from the lack of formal contracts for the pay that college players receive. I am certainly not against college players using the portal to extricate themselves from a situation they find intolerable. But at least let the kid make that decision for himself before the vultures swoop in to make their pitches--this is how the portal is supposed to work!

I knew Bo as an Auburn player who started three games against the Georgia Bulldawgs. I always liked his play, and when I heard he had transferred to Oregon, I found and forwarded a clip of his highlights to Mr. Fishduck along with my assessment that You guys are going to like this kid. I have no idea how much NIL played into Bo's decision to become a Duck. I suspect that he was scouting out quality programs, ideally far away from the dumpster fire Auburn was becoming under Coach Brian Harsin. Plus, I am sure that he had some familiarity with Dan Lanning whose defenses he had knocked heads with three times at Auburn. I am glad that he ended up with a team that I like so that I could finally root for his success before he became a professional.

Yeah, that is what worries me most as well--loss of a quality offensive line. On the bright side Bo moves well and OC might consider running more moving pocket plays to keep the defense off the QB a little better.

Yeah, I had taken Spartan's earlier comment as half joking around as I'll take yours Steven. You'd be hard pressed to find a Ferrari around the Athletic Dorms as the only Dawgs who have much more than they all make in NIL have been recruited for (or snagged their own) endorsement deals. For example, QB Stetson Bennett had the nickname of the "Mailman" and was recruited for a sizable contract with one of the mail companies in Georgia, I think it was UPS. With these Southern boys and duly socialized outsiders, you are far more likely to find pickups parked out front than sports cars. To return to recruiting monies, Georgia prefers their own evaluations to those of the star-granting recruiting services. They also prefer to scout in person and via workouts rather than depending on highlight films. The personally scout maybe 100 guys a year, all over the country, to make those evaluations. It is this staff travel that racks up a sizable portion of the recruiting bucks. Yeah, I know everybody scouts guys off campus, but Georgia is almost obsessive about it. Just today, the Dawgs received a commitment from a kid in Indiana whom the staff believes is badly underrated by the recruiting services. The staff must really like him if he received a committable offer this early as a WR ranked as only the 67th best WR in the class. I don't know but I suspect that the personal contact was the thing that sealed the deal for the staff.

Yes it is an exaggeration! Many years the majority of Georgia's signees come from out of state. And they target wisely. Three years ago. Georgia signed the top rated recruits from Rhode Island, Nevada, Arizona and would have top in four states if Sewell hadn't decided to be a Duck. It costs lots to show the kind of attention to lure guys from afar. California has been good to the Dawgs, recently giving them Kendell Milton (Fresno), Brock Bowers (Napa), Earnest Green (LA) and Rodrick Robinson (San Diego). Much of that recruiting money is spent on scouting, and it takes some dinero to scout all over the country. I can't tell you how many times that the staff has identified unappreciated 3-stars that they uncovered as future stars. Recruiting is the lifeblood of the Dawgs' success.

I honestly don't know why the GA-Oregon H$H was canceled but I doubt that it was because UGA "chickened out". And I will add that the Dawgs, as I think I mentioned above, does have a H&H with UCLA commencing next year I believe. We have another kickoff classic scheduled soon with Clemson, and both Smart and Dabo Swinney want to play every year as the dawgs and tigers did in the 70s and 80s. To date, only one such H&H has been scheduled. We had a H&H scheduled with Ohio State that OSU pulled out of. I don't know why but I'm also pretty certain it wasn't because the Buckeyes chickened out. I think Jon Joseph is right though in that many teams with multiple challenges within their own conference are reluctant to schedule quality OOC games and lessen their postseason prospects. I can't remember what year it was to happen but one upcoming schedule has Georgia playing three high-quality OOCs and no cupcakes, unless you consider Ga Tech a cupcake. I'm pretty sure that two of the teams were Clemson and rapidly improving Florida State but I can't remember the third matchup. Having now to play a 9-game SEC league schedule starting in 2024, something tells me that one of those three may be dropped..

I can virtually guarantee that Kirby Smart and the Bulldog roster haven't the slightest fear of coming to Autzen to play a football game. While there is always the possibility Georgia could lose, were the game scheduled for this year (or any year), Smart would undoubtedly use such statements as that above as bulletin board material and have his team totally dialed in for a game anywhere in the Northwest.

Sorry about the formatting issue and attributing something to Darren Perkins that I submitted. the Game with Oklahoma referenced above would have occurred in 2023. The H&H with UCLA will occur in 2024 and 2025 I believe. I have posted before that a Pac-12 Georgia fan favorite for a H & H is none other than the Ducks with USC a close second in that regard. The knowledgeable ones want to play in fabled stadiums like Autzen and the L A Coliseum.

Georgia does have a H&H scheduled with UCLA

Absolutely!!! Interestingly, a recent survey suggested that many Dawg fans would welcome an home and home with the Ducks. I think they want to see what Eugene and Autzen are all about.and Dawg fans travel very well.

As a former college professor, I highly value educational achievements. But...I've known many many college grads (and apparently there are many college Presidents out West) that have no where near the common sense you have displayed sir in your post. Great comment! And while on the subject of conference expansion, SMU has , periodically at least , been very competitive on the gridiron. Plus, they reside in that Texas Metroplex and could play to a huge audience in that market if they get their act together. Their addition to the Pac-14, assuming SDSU is also added, seems reasonable under the shaky circumstances the Pac-12 seems to be facing. Got to keep Oregon and Washington to stay reasonably strong however.

While the SDSU football team may not be close at this time to playing for the Natty in football, a case could certainly be made that their football program is also legit and worthy of inclusion in the PAC-12. And this inclusion keeps the SoCal market and probably many players in the PAC-12 network.

Today's semi was one of the best I have seen in several years. As a person who really appreciates good defense in college football, I appreciate the rugged defense that SDSU plays. My reaction to the buzzer beating shot was, "Like a true Aztec shaman, #5 just snatched the beating heart from the chest of the poor FAU Owls." This was a game that I truly hated to see either team lose.

Jon, you are making some very good points as usual. I was reacting more to the title of the thread than monetary issues. But...I don't care if Oregon would do as well or better as a reduced revenue second class citizen. Have some pride and advance the notion that the Duck brand adds meaningfully to the stature of the B1G as justification for a full share of the spoils. Oregon is not Rutgers, Maryland, or Nebraska!! Did the SoCal schools join as reduced revenue partners? You also have to consider what the best of the other three Power Five conferences would command in a Media deal, particularly if they were indeed competitive with the B1G and SEC in major sports. But even with such an arrangement, I would still be deeply saddened with the demise of the Pacific alliance. That was the group that I cut my college football teeth on way back when the Idaho Vandals were still in the league.

I don't want to see the Ducks in the B1G under any circumstances. And given their pedigree in the major men's sports, there is no way they should be like Nebraska and enter as second class citizens. Why suck hind t-t to the Northwesterns, Indianas, and Rutgers of that wretched conference? If the cost of entering is to accept less than other members, I hope the Pacific schools will seriously consider some alliance of the ACC, Big-12, and ACC powers. I'll say one thing: Recent history says such a conference would rule the roost in men's basketball over the SEC and B1G. I think that it would probably be competitive in football with the B1G, but it would probably take some time to break through to seriously challenge the SEC in football.

Very thoughtful and well-delivered article David. I heartily concur!

I trust you are talking about. Josiah Meigs, revolutionary war hero also credited as the founder of the University of Georgia. I am proud to say that I once held a professsorship named for Meigs. The first game ever played in Sanford Stadium was the Yale Bulldogs vs. Georgia, in 1929 if I remember correctly.