Nevada Dawg

I thoroughly enjoyed the target article and agreed with virtually every premise presented. At Georgia, Kirby always used the portal to address glaring needs and he had that luxury because of his success at layering several consecutive top 4 recruiting classes out of the high school ranks. Hence, he could reload each year and not risk messing with team culture by bringing in outsiders whom I think he saw as potential risks to team chemistry. Kirby has said several times that vetting a portal addition for "fit" is every bit as importing as matching the kid's football skills against team needs. So far, so good as well with Lanning and the Ducks. Will a portal heavy team ever win the Natty. Maybe, but careful inspection of such teams will indicate, I believe, that the winning coach will also have had some luck with his portal takes meaning that most of the portal additions have "bought in" to their prescribed roles and have been accepted by teammates built from the (high school) ground up.

Well they didn't call them he Running Rebels for nothing.

The Spring game is such an ingrained tradition at Georgia that the fans will demand it and, unless the powers that be forbid it, will likely be held by Kirby Smart. Former Georgia players have said that after how many practices of mostly drill work, they always looked forward to concluding the Spring with a game-like atmosphere at the stadium before the fans. Fans like the games to check out the new recruits with their kids and to stir the juices for the upcoming season. Show me a coach who doesn't want to practice and/or evaluate the progress of his team in competitive conditions, and I'll suspect that I am looking at a likely loser.

I will say though that Jared's mom seems to love UGA and has made no secret of he fact that she wants him there. But this is shaping up to be an NIL recruitment and I'd bet he'll end up with the highest bidder.

In no way did I mean to imply that Jared was unskilled. I just pointed out that he played low-level competition and that there were others, equally or better skilled, who have proved themselves against good competition and are available it seems for a heck of a lot less money. I stand on this assessment.

For what it is worth, a lot ok knowledgeable guys from the Talkin' Dawgs blog don't want to take Jared either, although he seems to be Kirby's favorite. They have pointed to 2-3 other guys who have everything Curtis seems to have, are more mobile, play in big boy rather than Private School leagues. and will command NIL but at no where near what Curtis will command. After looking at film they post on these alternatives, they are winning me over to their points of view. So I won't cry crocodile tears if the Dawgs miss on Curtis.

Yes it kinda did resemble the Rose Bowl and the final sore was even similar to the contest in Pasadena.

The thing I dislike about the 4-4- is that it won't be long before we see three-loss and, heaven forbid, a four-loss team occasionally in the playoffs. IMHO a 4-loss team never belongs in the playoffs no matter where they play, and most 3-loss teams out there don't belong as well. And imagine the outrage of really solid 1- or 2-loss G5 teams who are omitted in favor of multiple 3- or 4-loss G4 teams. Also, the argument that it is all about the money leaves me cold. The best teams should be the ones playing with little or no concern about the devil's cabbage. And this last season notwithstanding, why in the world should we have a slot that so favors Notre Dame. The Irish, thanks to NIL, may be on the road to restoring their former glory, but, we've seen years and years of, quite frankly, a mediocre product in South Bend over the past two decades.

This thread made me sit down and watch the Ducks game today against MSU. First half--quite OK. But I have to admit that the second half was hard to watch. Don't know enough about the Ducks BB team to know what exactly is wrong, but after MSU's 8-0 run to start the second half, the Ducks started playing scared and began to look like a beaten team even while still having a 6-8 point lead. To be honest, I don't really follow Ducks basketball,and maybe I should just butt out now. But for the sake of all y'all who do, I hope that they find a way to turn it around in a big hurry.

I think Freeman at 5, Franklin at 7 and Kelly at 8 are too high. I am no fan and this statement may not be popular in Eugene but Cristobal is too low at 22 IMHO.. I, too, am a fan of Whittingham but think that he belongs around # 9 or 10. Deion hasn't won a darn thing yet although the improvement in his Colorado teams during his tenure is obvious. His ranking at this point is tough to estimate from two data points--let's see what happens next year.

Sounds a lot like the Ga Dawgs season this year. After a deep run in the NIT last year and infusion of some great new talent, the Dawgs entered the SEC gauntlet with but one loss, to #6 Marquette. They then proceeded to beat two ranked teams and themselves become ranked, and then had a week where they lost to the previous week's number 1 team Tennessee and a 2-point lo to that current week's #1 Auburn. That dropped them out of the top 25. They then suffered a terrible loss on the road at Arkansas and went 1-2 against the next three teams, two of whom were nationally ranked. Coach Mike White is still optimistic and the SEC is so stacked this year that an 8-10 team in the league will probably get into the dance. Yet it is becoming increasingly hard for me to be optimistic in my young Dawgs' chances in that I believe that 7 of the Dawgs' 9,remaining SEC games are against ranked opponents. I feel like 30 Duck in that watching the team make the same mistakes over and over and expecting different results indeed does feel insane. Selah.

Chip's a great offensive mind and the Raiders always overpay for everything.

I've liked Purdy since I first saw him playing at Iowa State years ago and have admired the success he has achieved in SF after being Mr. Irrelevant in his draft class. But $50 Mil a year? That is flippin ridiculous and is one of the reasons that I no longer buy NFL tickets these days.

I am certain that OSU will be tough in 25 just because of he talent on that roster. BUT...even with the hire of talented new coaches, there is no guarantee that their efforts will mesh with that many new moving parts. Bucks good enough to make he playoff? Probably. Good enough to win it all...I doubt it. Go Ducks!

As a follower of the Raiders (because of Brock Bowers), I applaud this hire. Pete Carroll is an upgrade as well. Now that Tom Brady is more heavily involved with the team, it could start to make a move back toward respectability. But the most consequential change would come if someone could pry the franchise away from the Davis family and place it into the hands of a group that actually understands modern football. Yet I sometimes feel like crying for the team. They know that they need a QB but are leaning toward drafting Shedeur Sanders. Please know. If you have to draft a QB in a bad draft for QBs, at least have the sense to take Dillon Gabriel. Brock Bowers managed to break the 1-year old NFL rookie receiving record this year. Imagine how much better he might have done if he had a competent QB, under the tutelage of a competent OC, throwing the ball to him.

Polls like this one that is the subject of this thread represent little more than off-season mental jerking IMHO. Guys, Oregon had a wonderful season and had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. But let's not be a second coming of UCF and proclaim ourselves as national champions when we didn't win the damn thing. Some Georgia fans did this very thing in 2017 when they lost to Alabama in OT on a blown coverage in the Natty. Alabama did not even win their division or play in the SEC championship game, but they won the big one, so the Dawgs had to be content as SEC champs that year. Some of the examples above of polls declaring iffy national championships are just ridiculous. Those here who know my inclinations know that I have long argued that what happens between the lines is the only thing that matters. Want a Natty? Then go out and win the damn thing! I suspect very strongly that CDL agrees with this sentiment and preaches this continually to his players, as he should IMHO. Go Ducks!

Some interesting points raised by the above posters but,...Boy you can sure tell its the off-season.

I think my Dawgs would have beaten Michigan as well. Last year's Dawgs were a lot like this year's Ducks--one stinking loss, in their case a 3-point loss to Bama in the SEC championship game which they played with their two best receivers, Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey, gamely giving it a try out there but very ineffective. You might realize what a loss this was from what those two accomplished in the NFL this year, each of them having historic seasons for rookies in their position groups. But as they say, Them's the breaks. At least this year, that single fluky loss would have not kept them out of the playoffs.

I assume you mean he only site announced going forward that is outside Dixie. Need I remind you that both of Georgia's recent Nattys were played outside Dixie, in Indy and Los Angeles. I like the Vegas site for a very selfish reason: It is relatively convenient to my home in Nevada should I choose to see the Dawgs or the Ducks play there, a prospect that is well within the realm of possibility in the next couple of years.

I listened to the Dawgnation Daily podcast yesterday and the podcaster drew a parallel between the expansion of races NASCAR ran to get to its championship race starting in 2005 and the expansion of the college football playoffs. NASCAR was becoming more popular all over the country then and races were run all around the country rather than predominately in the South. The effect on viewership was unexpected and disappointing, kinda like what we just witnessed with the CFP this past year. Follow up research suggested that the "playoff" type races run around the country were confusing to spectators who couldn't keep straight which races were being broadcast when. Plus people tended to tune out once local favorite drivers were eliminated. So rather than expanding the appeal of the sport, the changes tended to weaken it. There are obviously lots of differences between NASCAR and the CFP, but the structural changes instituted back then for the former and in CFP this past year are similar in some ways. I was a strong proponent of expansion of the CFP, but the NASCAR experience may provide some food for thought before we expand the present CFP further by adding even more games for people who are not fanatics like most of us to keep straight.

Yeah my enthusiasm waned big time when, over a 7-hour period, both Oregon and Georgia lost in the quarterfinals. And just consider how little enthusiasm would have ensued had both Georgia and Texas kept winning and played (for a third time this season) in the Natty. Much as I'd have liked to see one of my teams play in that game, that matchup would have been a nightmare for the first 12-team playoff.

Colorado did indeed improve under Sanders, My question is this: Will he ever stay anywhere long enough to finish the job and/or allow one to really get a good feel for how good a coach he is (or isn't)? That's a question I really can't answer but I have my doubts on both counts. One thing I can be relatively sure of is that if he goes to Vegas, he will end up with a better QB than the drones the Raiders have at present. But somehow his game (as a coach) seems far better adapted to the college ranks than to the pros where the grown men on those teams' rosters are unlikely to be wowed in the slightest by Dion's past accomplishments.

Both Bucky and Bo are worthy candidates to be sure. But I have to go with my man Brock Bowers who led all NFL receivers in receptions and broke a couple of all-time TE records not to mention being voted by fellow players as first-team NFL all-pro at his position. During the season, no less a TE than Gronk claimed that Bowers could end up barring serious injuries, as being the greatest TE of all time when he hangs em up. He claimed that Brock was as good or better than he himself was at all phases of the game except in-line blocking and that Brock had plenty of time to perfect that aspect of his game as well. Being a half-hearted Raider follower, I think Brock's impact is all the more remarkable in that it was accomplished with three sub-standard QBs throwing the ball his way. Imagine what he might have done if he had either ex-Duck Bo or Herbert flinging the ball to him.

Unfortunately, I think all those 4th and 5th year seniors will shut down the ND offense and this may prove to be a very boring game. I really don't like either team much but will be rooting for he Irish because my best friend is a ND alumnus and I will support him on this one. I have only rooted for OSU once in my life, in the 2002 Natty against the self-described "thugs" of South Beach. I'd have rooted for anyone against them and my one evening pulling for the Bucks is proof positive of that. Interestingly, the most talented defensive player on the OSU defense is, in my opinion, an underclassman, Caleb Downs, who played his high school ball about 35-40 miles from the Georgia campus. He was steered away from Georgia (go Bama) by his dad who had a grudge against the team in Athens when the Dawgs didn't recruit Caleb's older brother who became a top wide receiver in the ACC. When Saban left and Caleb went into the portal last year, Caleb looked like he was transferring to Georgia. With the promise of a great NIL package, he was reported to have bought a house in Athens. But at the last moment, Ohio State dropped a monster bag and he took it.

I got some information tonight that the separation from Georgia was a little salty and may well have been NIL related after all. It is also unclear where he might end up as Damon wants guarantees about usage and playing time that some schools are not willing to sign off on. I have to admit that I don't know how reliable his information is, but it is surprising to me at least that he hasn't found a new home yet given his upside as a player.