Nevada Dawg

I think I saw that Murray State eliminated Duke to reach the World Series, thus giving me another underdog to root for. Plus as I am fond of nothing about Duke (except their academic standards) that outcome was doubly satisfying. So go Racers!

A cautionary note here: Great portal additions at QB are NOT always readily available. The Ducks were extremely fortunate IMHO to have guys of he caliber of Nix and Dillon G. available when they were needed, and kudos for CDL for scooping them up. But such availability is probably the exception rather than the rule and it is unclear how revenue sharing will impact recruiting of portal options. I do agree that nothing beats experience at the QB position. But a program needs to work hard at developing the youngsters and have some success in so doing to sustain offensive strength over the long run.

I can pretty much assure you that Georgia's receiver room will look nothing like 2024. The addition of two highly touted portal receivers and the return of an X receiver who was suspended for off-field reasons and exonerated, plus the recruitment of a 5-star Z receiver and another very-high 4-star X receiver promise to spice things up. I might add that there are also three highly touted TEs in addition to the two very capable ones from last year. All these guys can't play at the same time but there are plenty of options.

I watched more college baseball this year than I have in years and have had a hard time predicting who would beat whom. So I have pretty much decided to root for the underdogs. As a former pitcher, I have been surprised how nondominant college pitchers are--even when it seems they are throwing serious gas or otherwise have electric "stuff". I've decided it is the aluminum bats that give hitters a real sizable advantage. It is certainly not that way in the pros. When I watch the Giants, I am almost embarrassed for the number of starting position players hanging somewhere around or just north of the Mendoza line. Having said this, I guess I am too much of a traditionalist to advocate livening up the game by legalizing metal bats. Somehow hearing a hitter say, after hitting a 650 foot HR, "I really got good metal on that one" would grate on me. Plus, we would probably have to build much bigger ballparks, I fear, to prevent lazy 420 foot fly ball home runs.

Well he is built a bit like Carson Beck, so maybe,

Georgia's TE room is so stacked that I doubt this is even in the cards. Plus, Georgia has another 5-Star TE that could commit relatively soon. One thing I do know is that were Bowman to flip to the Dawgs, Kirby Smart is not going to toy with team culture by paying Bowman 2 million a year. I'd far prefer to get a top RB and another DL for the money that would otherwise go Bowman's way.

How much do we really know about Moore's backup? I can't ever remember seeing the kid play.

To look on the bright side, here's hoping more reps for the youngsters in Fall camp turns up a star (or two) in the making early on. How soon is that Penn State game again? Game 4?

Why not just play 7 on 7 football and keep score for the Olympics? The action is likely to be more wide open and exciting than flag football and no one ever seems to get hurt if you've ever watched those "games".

Well there was nothing said in the article that was controversial and fellow coaches obviously respect what CDL has accomplished during his time in Eugene and the B1G I am certainly cautiously optimistic about Dante Moore and the coming season and will probably tell you what I see before the trip to Happy Valley.

Were I sitting to write a post about Kirby Smart's recruiting philosophy, I could do no better than this. Nailed it on every point Smith72!, particularly on the philosophy of not setting the market for unproven talent. Georgia missed on two of the highest rated recruits in the country recently, i.e., OT Cantwell who went to Miami and TE Bowmen aka Baby Brock who went to USC, and I merely shrugged Why? Because I knew the coaching staff had other option recruits who were likely to perform as well at Georgia whom they'd gladly take. Kirby has said he has a hard time giving an untested recruit a salary that far exceeds the average of what his juniors and seniors will make based on their "potential". Start messing with culture and you can get in trouble in a big hurry. Georgia reportedly did not waver even with stud QB recruit Jared Curtis. Curtis has been on the same wavelength as Georgia OC Mike Bobo for several years now and, consistent with Kirby Smart's and apparently Dan Lanning's philosophy, was willing to take less to be developed in a way that made sense to him. In other words, Georgia's 4-year offer to Curtis was in the ballpark with other offers but backloaded heavily in year one and contingent upon satisfactory development and performance. Both Jared and the Curtis family were on-board with this approach.

Best to the ladies tomorrow (I am guessing hey are called the Lady Ducks but don't know). Either Oklahoma or Texas will be a daunting challenge I was sorry to see the Ducks eliminated in the men's CWS. The National seed Georgia Bulldawgs may not be far behind. Georgia is an enigma--left-handed pitching is their kryptonite and Duke threw nothing but lefties at them today. And they will be facing one of the best lefties in the country in the losers bracket tomorrow. Their problem is plate discipline, specifically swinging at far too many balls out of the strike zone.

Penn State is my sleeper this year in the B1G.

Oh boy do I love this posting of expected contributors, depth charts, etc. I feel I can get a much better picture of what to expect than just hearing people talk about how many stars the expected players may have earned earlier. Dedication and the practice grind makes contributors. This is why coaches comments are so telling, especially if they detail what particular players need to work on to get better. I sure hope that Bear Alexander has matured and become a grinder because he was anything but that at Georgia. He thought he was great and often got chippy with grown men offensive linemen who regularly took him down a peg or three. So he pouted, felt underappreciated, and decided to transfer to USC. Hopefully he has grown up and is ready to grind for the Ducks.

I think 2025 could be a very interesting year with a heck of a lot of surprises. So many of the traditional powerhouses are breaking in new QBs--Texas Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, and Oregon to name a few. While there is talent in the QB rooms at all these institutions, we can probably anticipate some problems for some of the teams. Florida has some real talent in their first units on both sides of the ball. Their Achilles heel will be depth and I have a hard time believing that they will be traveling to Autzen or any playoff destination. These projections are fun but are really silly season. Can't wait until Fall camp begins when we can have something substantive to mull over and feel great or fret about.

Moving to the B1G was a big boost for Ducks football but did the Diamond Ducks no favors. So many losses to B1G baseball teams probably qualify as bad losses which is one reason the RPI wasn't higher. I also heartily agree with Charles and others that a strong attempt needs to be made to schedule more quality teams in the OOC portion of the schedule. This may require some real expenditure of resources however. While a series with Portland State or other nearby schools cost little, a trip to Texas LSU, or aTm requires many Benjamins. I know nothing about college baseball scheduling, but perhaps some of the expense could be mitigated by home and homes over successive seasons. Of course, one potential problem with my idea is that baseball is a small revenue generator compared to football and basketball. But I am sure that there are many quality out of conference teams available in Socal, Arizona, Utah, and perhaps Washington to improve the OOC schedule.

If memory serves me well, the DAWGs have the longest home win streak. It could be in jeopardy playing Bama, Ole Miss, and Texas at home, but since Eric Ainge of Tennessee described the Sanford Stadium as a primarily country club set who were not at all intimidating, the Dawg fans have dialed it up and made the place a house of horrors for virtually all the SEC heavyweights. So it has gone form a staid fan environment to Autzen East. People are licking their chops to get Bama in there in this year as Bama hasn't played there in the Kirby Smart era. I am not terribly worried about Ole Miss this year, and we were able to beat Texas TWICE LAST YEAR WITH NEITHER GAME BEING PLAYED IN SANFORD. So it is quite possible that the home win streak survives for another season.

So when the arrogance of the so-called power-2 reaches this level, it is hard for this observer not to root for anyone else who has a chance to make a deep run in the playoffs to beat the anointed ones. I'd still pull for the Dawgs and the Ducks but would react with glee to losses by any of the other 32 teams in question against the "outsiders". I simply like college football to much to stomach the "like it or lump it" attitude of the so-called Power-2. Disgusting IMHO.

I think I remember posting last year or so that i fully expected the four West Coast schools to be quite competitive in the B1G. Yet i admit that, even with the travel hassles involved, they have more than exceeded my expectations. Thanks for the updates Charles.

Yeah isn't that a he-- of a name for a QB? Allegedly he was named for his grandfather or great-grandfather who was a tail gunner on a WW2 bomber.

I didn't mean to imply that Franklin was a bad coach, he isn't. He is the kind of coach who can take an experienced roster and give anyone trouble, especially at home. The Ducks are going to be on their webbed toes and maybe catch a break of two to prevail in Happy Valley.

I highlight this because Penn State has the kind of experienced roster that Michigan and Ohio State had in 23 and 24; maybe not quite as talented but very experienced. So I think that the Lions will be a tough out for everybody in the B1G. But...Franklin is no where near the coach as Harbaugh was and Cryin Day is. So who knows? Oregon is very talented guys but not experienced at the offensive skill positions--they are a big question mark for me this year. Honesty compels me to feel somewhat the same queasiness when assessing the Dawgs fortunes this year in the SEC. I guess we'll just have to wait to see what unfolds.

I read this morning that the Dawgs are unlikely to use their top arms at the SEC tournament any more that they need to in order to keep them limber. Moreover, they are unlikely to play their starters for any more than a few innings a game to keep them fresh. In other words, they are treating the SEC tournament as somewhat of an inconvenience that matters little in the grand scheme of things. I'd rather that they be fighting hard for a top 8 national seeding and maintain the momentum for a push to the World Series. Once that momentum slackens, for any reason, it is not always easy to regain it with a snap of the fingers.

As I stated yesterday, I was poised to watch the Ducks win and clinch the B1G title today and discovered that the rubber game of the Georgia-aTm series was ON AT THE SAME TIME! This happened all too often during last football season as well. So I was surfing back and forth, spending more time with Georgia as that game was much tighter that Oregon-Iowa. Oregon looked like a quality team today to be sure and is a most deserving B1G champ. The Dawgs, with the #1 RPI, exploded late in their game likely nailed down a top 8 national seed and home-field advantage all the way to Omaha if they can get that far. This is a big deal for the Dawgs as they did not lose a series at home where they were 29-4 this year. Hopefully the Ducks are similarly fixed to host a regional and super regional as well. So a great day on the diamond for both my teams whom we could well see play one another in the days ahead.

Dawgs lost their middle game of the series with aTm and are now in the same position (roughly) as the Ducks tomorrow. I'll be tuned in at 10 and am hoping both teams can take care of business. Go guys!