4 hours ago, Charles Fischer said:

Oh, my orange-and-blue friend...this is one time that I politely disagree. We had physical football in the old Pac-12, but nobody watched us to see it, as the time-zone thing is real. (I think also Utah fans would take umbrage to being implied as soft, as an example)

We did not toughen up; we were already physical, and simply blended in easily to win the conference. I see the scoring in the Big-10 is up already this year, and I would posit that the conference is adjusting to OREGON, and not the other way around.

Fair enough sir. Very good points. The way Oregon held down that 2010 Auburn offense speaks to your point.

I stand by my week in and week out wear and tear opinion though. Oregon and Utah both have an old school physicality to them. USC, Washington, and UCLA have had to make some adjustments. Lincoln Riley in particular went to USC thinking he was escaping the SEC gauntlet , only to find he was going to the B1G.

Oregon is fifth in blue chip ratio at 78%. Michigan is currently the record holder for the lowest blue chip ratio to win a title at 54%.

More importantly I think Oregon is tougher after spending a year in the B1G. Some may scoff at that, but there is a gap between the big two and the other two or formerly three. Even high performing members of the PAC like Washington and USC struggled with the week in and week out physicality. Oregon won the darn thing, but you could see the defense starting to wilt at the end vs Penn State and Ohio State at the lines.

I think moving to the B1G is going to be the thing that finally gets Oregon over the hump. You can't simulate weekly physical football.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/blue-chip-ratio-2025-these-18-college-football-teams-can-actually-win-the-national-championship/

16 minutes ago, Tandaian said:

Statistical anomaly. Pick and choose what you think is important and make up an equation. FPI and SP+ I think of tendencies. They are paint by number pictures. They aren't going to produce a Monet, Picasso or Van Gogh.

I'm not into abstract art. I see a mess of colors and no discernable outlines and I just see a mess. Alabama got pushed around and humiliated by a two win team that had to integrate 20 new starters. I don't care if they scored a hundred vs ULM, IBM, or IBS. They looked DOA on both sides in a game they had all off-season to prepare for. Texas lost to a team and didn't look all that impressive in comparison to the team that beat them the prior week.

SECPN is a joke. Their polls are a joke, and their analysts are a joke. The only problem is the joke isn't funny. I'm embarrassed as a fan of an SEC program, but as a college football fan that used to love watching ESPN I'm even more disappointed that the largest network is so bias. They don't have the same credibility or viewing enjoyment. I miss Stuart Scott, Rich Risen, Dan Patrick and all those old Sportscenters that gave me the memorable highlights with that music and funny lines.

6 hours ago, Charles Fischer said:

Texas number two and Alabama number four? Is this Finebaum again? Notre Dame lost to Miami and they are nine spots higher. Texas is ahead of the team that beat them last week and Alabama got blown out vs a team not even in the top twenty yet they are fourth. Auburn and Missouri are ahead of Utah and LSU.

Florida doesn't deserve to be in the top 25 after that crap show Saturday. I can't take this nonsense seriously. It's ESPN SEC propaganda, I'm only shocked that they actually have a non SEC team number one.

22 hours ago, David Marsh said:

For football Boise State is intriguing but there are two problems that has kept them out of a power conference all these years.

1. Market share - we have all learned too much about media markets with realignment that's for sure. And Boise State is just a really small market. Probably OSU and WSU have better market shares than BSU but BSU is a much better football school.

2. Academics - this one seems silly but some of the Power conferences do still care about the academic side of things. The academics are BSU is what really kept them out of the Pac-12.

Boise State will be putting a whole lot of these new pac-12 trophies in their cabinet which will probably anger the only two real pac-12 members..

Academics is also what nixed the Oklahoma entry in 2012 to the PAC as well. Imagine a world where Texas and Oklahoma join the league. My only question is if Texas would try their power move with that terrible Longhorn network on the Pacific Coast with the likes of USC. We know that nobody in the Big 12 was going to stand up to them, not even Oklahoma. Which to me makes Oklahoma look weak.

Imagine Michigan or Ohio State letting the other have their own network and forcing it on the entire B1G.

It's like a very poor Elvis or Michael Jackson impersonater. Just let the PAC name go off into the sunset. It's just dragging the once "Conference of champions" through the mud. It's like they think keeping the name will elevate programs, but it's the programs that elevate the conference. It would be like if the ACC loses Clemson, North Carolina, FSU, Virginia and Miami and replace them with Memphis, Coastal Carolina, USF, Tulane and UCONN but keeps the name ACC. Even that would be better because they would at least keep some recognizable names like Duke, Virginia Tech, and Georgia Tech, Louisville, Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Boston College.

Who thought of Washington State and Oregon State when you spoke of the PAC Twelve? Who thinks anybody in that new iteration of the PAC outside of Boise State would be coveted by the P4?

Holy Smokes Batman!!! Gundy hasn't looked that bad since he decided to sport a mullet in the 2010's. That's a P4 program and you made them look like they were on restriction. I know LSU has a better win right now with a road win over Clemson, but I'd seriously consider moving Oregon ahead of them. At the very least I'd move them ahead of Penn State.

Congrats on the win. Unfortunately not every ranked team could take care of business this week. Oregon is crushing a P4 team while Florida can't even beat a G5 school.

5 minutes ago, DrJacksPlaidPants said:

I consider Mike Belotti a Hall of Fame coach even though he only won two Pac 12 championships (one outright) and a Fiesta Bowl. However, he was only here for 13 years and only had one losing season. Ohio State would be the third conference rival because they’ve beaten us so many times and their fans have a superiority complex.

We have a Rose Bowl history with Wisconsin. I personally consider the Badgers a rival because they think they have better college football, beer and cheese. Everybody knows that Oregon is the leader in all three categories.

Belotti kind of took Oregon from the quirky program with the bright unis to a program that could threaten programs like Michigan or USC. My first memory of Oregon was Akili Smith showing out in that bowl game in El Paso. After that I remember the Joey Harrington Heisman run and ad in Times Square. You guys got robbed in that 2001-02 season. You should've been playing Miami, you only lost one very close game and you destroyed Colorado in your bowl.

7 minutes ago, kirklandduck said:

Iowa State denied Ferentz outright!

Imagine if Iowa ever found an offense.

Illinois is now up 31-19.

Penn State is up 27-0

SMU is up 38-24 over Baylor

Ohio State is about to kickoff vs Grambling.

Michigan is four hours away from kicking off in Norman.

Iowa and Iowa State are deep into the fourth tied at 13.

I guess the question is what do you expect from yourself and is that enough? Iowa fans are loyal to the program, they pack that stadium every year. Occasionally they'll rise up and beat Michigan, Ohio State, or Penn State. They consider Wisconsin and Minnesota to be their biggest rivals. They have a P4 in State little brother that suctions off some the support they get in a low population State.

I have been told that a great way to measure yourself is by the quality of who you think of as your contemporaries. Iowa and Nebraska are forced into an end of season rivalry that the B1G has tried to push upon both fanbases, neither really but into it. But it's getting more heated, and Iowa has kind of dominated the last ten years. Bo Pelini even famously got fired for saying something like Nebraska would never judge itself off the result of the Iowa game. More or less saying Nebraska celebrates wins over Michigan or Ohio State.

My point is Nebraska fans have continuously said Oklahoma is their true rival. Iowa fans claim Wisconsin and Minnesota. To me that kind of says where each program sees itself. Oklahoma is/was a playoff or bust program. Minnesota and Wisconsin are happy to compete for conference titles, they celebrate conference title relevancy. Iowa fans think Kirk Ferentz is a Hall of Fame despite the fact he has never won a solo conference title and has one NY6 bowl win in 26 years.

Would anybody here consider Dan Lanning a Hall of Famer with that resume? Who do you view as the programs you want to be considered a rival to? I know you guys don't like Washington and USC. But in your new conference who is that third team? In the SEC we have a list of 3. For Florida it's Georgia, Tennessee and LSU. In the 90's Tennessee was number one, but that order can fluctuate.

With a win today Kirk Ferentz is set to win his 206th career game. That would break the B1G record set by Woody Hayes. Is it impressive? He has zero solo B1G Titles and one BCS Bowl win, that of course being in the 2009 Orange Bowl vs Georgia Tech. Iowa has shared two titles with Ohio State in 2002 and 2009. They feasted off being in the B1G West ,winning it three times. They lost a heartbreaker in 2015 to Michigan State, and got blown out by Michigan in 2021 and 2023.

Ferentz is in his 26th season coaching. Quantity over quality?

Ducks win it 38-17

Force 2 turnovers

Get 3 sacks

Pass for 306 yards

The post game handshake lasts 1.8 seconds.

Lanning has 1 good thing to say about the opponent.

Gundy probably has 3 good things to say about Oregon.

What 15, 16, or 17 year old dreams of going to Alabama for any other reason than getting to the NFL? There is absolutely nothing else in that state. No big cities, no tourist attractions, and no commerce beyond your local Piggly Wiggly.

I can tell you that no kid would leave the state of Florida or Texas to move to Alabama for any reason unless it's military or college football oriented.

It's not like Alabama, Arkansas, Ole Miss, or Mississippi State have great learning institutions either. They all rate in the 100's of public universities, nowhere close to those of any B1G program outside of Nebraska.

Nick Saban is still towing the company line, I mean he works at ESPN. He doesn't honestly believe Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Michigan haven't been recruiting and performing better than most SEC programs before NIL was even a thing. Stop sniffing the rat poison Nick.

Alabama is in for a rude awakening once a few years pass and the high school kids that know only of the Saban era all age out. Alabama doesn't have the NIL, they don't have the backyard of in state kids, and they don't have anything to draw kids out of Florida or Texas once Alabama isn't a championship contender every year. AJ McCarron pointed all these things out in a recent interview. It's why they can't just fire a guy and eat the 70 million and hire another top guy with another guaranteed 100 million.

Alabama has a blue chip ratio of like 85 or 90 percent. That's unheard of, but they've been in the top 3 recruiting classes for fifteen plus years now. That number was going to drop regardless due to NIL, Nick knew it and left before even he couldn't maintain the crazy expectations at Bama.

To me it sounds like he is a little bitter, which shocks me. The guy is the greatest of all time. He dominated the game like nobody else, but I guess that ego might have been a key to his success. Just like Belichick, a man with 6 Super Bowls but also a man desperate to prove he can win something without Tom Brady.

Oklahoma State is the bitter little brother that Oregon State could only dream to be. The Cowboys refused under any circumstance to play Oklahoma after the Sooners didn't force the SEC to take them as a pair. Think of all the players they could get with the revenue of continuing to get a home game against their biggest foe every other year.

I've debated the importance of polls in my head. If the polls were eliminated I wonder how we would get a top 25 or more importantly top 12 when it comes time to seed the playoffs. For example how would we pick the number three or four teams from the multi bid leagues?

5 hours ago, Jon Joseph said:

Rece Davis is a Bama alum. Rece Davis is an AP voter. Helping to prove Gat's point, Davis has The Crimson (Bleeding?) Tide Not Ranked in this week's AP Poll.

Bama Hammer

Rece Davis reveals how damaging Alabama's loss to Florida...

279. That's how many consecutive weeks Alabama has been included in the AP Poll. The last time the Crimson Tide was unranked as the final AP Poll of the 2007 s

Alabama fans don't know how to cope with this Jon. They want DeBoer gone yesterday, he's turned the program into "Jello" apparently. They think he is gone if they don't make the playoffs and the replacement is going to be one of three guys.

1.) Kirby Smart

2.) Ryan Day

3.) Dan Lanning

That's the list, DeBoer and his 60 million buyout means nothing to them. Not to mention the buyouts in those three guys own contracts.

5 hours ago, The Kamikaze Kid said:

If it makes you feel better Gat, 2008 was also when your Gators beat out Ducks in the elite eight on the way to their basketball championship.

That was our best run since winning it all in 1939 until our final four in 2017. Yes we’re thirsty for another one of those trophies as well!

That was a very good Ducks team..I remember you guys and Butler giving us the hardest times during that two year run. Many forget that Donovan had a long stretch 2001-2005 where he couldn't get out of the first weekend.

9 hours ago, Desert Duck said:

I think Oregon has a great chance to not win one title, but multiple titles.

For more than five decades, I've been hoping for our Ducks to just win one title in Football or Basketball (heck, even baseball would kinda work for me).

Just one title before I die (and multiple would work too). Frankly, I just don't think that's too much to ask. 😂🤔😉

I would like to live in an alternate timeline where Auburn missed that kick in the 2010 Title game and Oregon wins it. That's 15 years ago!! Auburn fans are crying about their long long stretch, heck Alabama is complaining about five years. I think that once you get that first taste you will desire a second and a third.

But I do hope you guys win one why Phil is still around. I hope you and all my Duck friends here live to see a few ( as long as it isn't at the Gators expense).

To me 2008 feels like two lifetimes ago. I've been lucky enough to see Florida win titles in 3 of the biggest college sports in my lifetime.

19 hours ago, kirklandduck said:

Well they finally pulled away in the last quarter (not as impressive as it sounds). Reading through the game thread on a certain Fuskies fan site it grew to over 300 comments with the vast majority gnashing their teeth and freaking out. The most recent ones were doing mental gymnastics about how the Puppies actually "dominated" the game...riiiiiiiiiight.

They dominated if you want to say outscoring a Mountain West team 14-0 in the fourth quarter is dominant. They certainly looked better than their little brothers in Pullman who barely hung on to beat the Idaho Vandals 13-10.

*I realize Oregon struggled with that same team last year, but to me there's some weird magic regarding Oregon and teams from Idaho. Washington State isn't going undefeated and head into the playffs as the number one seed. They could win the PAC Who this year though. Oregon State looks terrible.

With Alabama losing it's fourth game vs an unranked opponent under DeBoer in the first game of his second season, he has already matched the amount of times Saban lost to an unranked opponent during 17 years. It got me thinking about dynasties and how eventually they all end. The Patriots and Crimson Tide both won 6 championships in eras that weren't meant to allow it. Salary cap, walk on and scholarship reductions plus draft slots were meant to keep programs from dominating like Bear Bryant, Chuck Knoll, or Tom Landry did.

But during our lifetime we have seen two dynasties under two men that shouldn't have happened. In baseball you don't even have runs anymore like the Yankees in the 90's or in the NBA with Michael and the Bulls. We've seen the Dodgers win a couple, the Warriors won four and in the NHL we've had the Kings, Blackhawks, Lightning and Panthers win multiple times or back to backs. But nothing like the 80's Islanders or 90's Red Wings.

But in football we had the Crimson Tide and Patriots run dynasties concurrently. Will we see another team take that title in college football? Can the Chiefs continue on their trek to get Patrick to match Tom? I think the Chiefs dynasty is over, but I could be wrong. I don't think I'm wrong with the Crimson Tide being done though. The majestic whale has finally been caught by Ahab. There is no bigfoot or dragon out there.

In the NFL you have the Chiefs, Eagles, Bills, Ravens, Commanders, Bengals and Rams as potential multi championship winners imo. Mostly because of young QBs or great young coaches that can win another Super Bowl.

In college it's obvious to put Ohio State up there as they just won a title, they have a young coach that now has a title and recruits very well. But who else? Texas? Notre Dame? Georgia would be the other obvious choice as Kirby has two titles and runs his program like Saban. But I'm looking for new blood. I'm looking at a program led by a guy in his late thirties that learned under Kirby. I'm looking at Moby Dick to become Moby Duck. I think Oregon has a great chance to not win one title, but multiple titles. Perhaps we won't have another six title dynasty, but Oregon can have a Clemson type run.

Washington was a trendy pick to beat Ohio State. Who's betting that line now?

Oregon should never schedule a team from Idaho ever again. Night and day difference from last year vs the Vandals.

38 minutes ago, Jon Joseph said:

Maybe he meant 'Rolled?' I think both Ds are that good.

They use that word a'lot in Bama land. I don't think they even know what their name means. In what world is an Elephant called Crimson Tide? "Roll Tide!!!"

Texas out gained Ohio State by a hundred yards. The difference in the game was Texas failed to score on two RedZone trips. I would've liked to see how Sayin would've fared if he needed to throw more down field. Ryan Day used the same playbook that cost him the game vs Michigan last year, except this time Ohio State didn't turn the ball over.

On 8/29/2025 at 8:29 AM, Charles Fischer said:

I was surprised when he decided to take that job, because he does have a tougher job in Lincoln, than a ton of other places. To answer your question...no, I do not think Nebraska will come back, as there are too many more attractive options for a college player, IMHO.

BTW GatOrlando....you have been a fantastic poster here. Somebody suggested that you have been the OBD member of the month, and I say, "naw."

Best of the Summer!

Visiting this board during the Summer made the off-season football withdrawal hurt less Charles. Interacting with with great fans that don't speak silly things is refreshing. Good luck to your Ducks today.

Oh boy.... Pawlll is going to be upset on Monday. He said Texas was going to roll.

Is Arch overrated or is the Ohio State defense that good?