Brian

Sure looked like Penix was banged up late in the game against Oregon. Here's my comments following the game back on October 14th..... "Second, I have to take exception to the fourth-down play with two minutes left. I was yelling at the TV for Oregon to punt the ball, and for many of the reasons noted above. Also, Penix was banged up at that point, and one more hit may have put him out of the game." Please let me by clear. I do not support injuring players, or playing outside of the rules. That said, Oregon's D-Line was playing great in the second half, and was getting to Penix. Most likey he would have taken another hit because he has a tendency to hold on the to the ball.

I thoroughly agree with you, and its well earned by Oregon and nice to hear it! However, make no mistake. This praise is largely because Oregon is joining the Big-10, and the networks like to promote their products. They no longer see Oregon as a threat to their brand. It's also no coincidence that most of Oregon's games have been scheduled in the early afternoon.

Thank you Charles, this might be your best article yet! And that's saying a lot, because you've had so many. I'm a history nerd, and I can't tell you how often I read and see articles from journalists that 'cherry-pick' history to defend their narrative while leaving out a myriad of facts. It's blatant, inaccurate, and flat-out misleading! In addition, if blame is placed, it must go to the squarely at the feet of the Pac-12 presidents. They hired the past two conference commissioners, allowed TV networks to provide leverage to pull the conference apart, and didn't put written agreements in place to keep the conference together without written approval from the commissioner or fellow presidents. Furthermore, USC and UCLA broke up the conference, not Oregon. Oregon and Washington waited until the last second before they made their decision.

I'm going to repost some comments that I had from another message, because I think this touches on a larger issue.... Fourth down calls: I encourage coach Lanning to be aggressive, and trust his players, and win first downs. That being said, the next step is to have a plan, a strategy. What typically happens on key fourth-down plays, is a coach calls time out, discusses the call with his assistant coaches, lines up, and runs a play that allows the D to catch their breath, rotate players, and stack the box. Unfortunately, I believe that scenario puts the odds back in the D's favor. What Oregon needs is a reliable system that puts the odds in their favor. Chip was the first Oregon coach to take on the philosophy of 'going for it on fourth down', and a master of in-game momentum. However, he had a system of playing fast and wearing out a defense. By the time the Ducks either went for it on fourth down, or got deep in the red zone, the defense was so gassed (and didn't have time to rotate players) that Oregon could just run through arm tackles. Coach Lanning doesn't understand this, Coach Cristobal didn't understand this, and neither did coach Helfrich. I really like coach Lanning and believe he's doing a tremendous job! Oregon went on the road to face a very good team, with a hostile crowd, and put themselves in position to win. Oregon was and is the better team. The stats are impressive!

Excellent assessment as usual Charles. Thanks! I have a couple of comments that I haven't heard expressed much yet: First, both teams had two weeks to prepare for this game. It had the feel of a bowl game. Oregon never got the Washington D off balance, and that's probably a result of an extra week of preparation. Washington often appeared that it knew what Oregon was going to do at the point of the snap. I think Oregon did a better job in the second half to disguise their plays. Second, I have to take exception to the fourth-down play with two minutes left. I was yelling at the TV for Oregon to punt the ball, and for many of the reasons noted above. Also, Penix was banged up at that point, and one more hit may have put him out of the game. Third, fourth down calls. I encourage coach Lanning to be aggressive, and trust his players, and win first downs. That being said, the next step is to have a plan, a strategy. What typically happens on key fourth-down plays, is a coach calls time out, discusses the call with his coaches, lines up, and runs a play that is usually designed to allow the D to catch their breath, rotate players, and stack the box. Unfortunately, I believe that scenario puts the odds back in the D's favor. What Oregon needs is a reliable system that puts the odds in their favor. Chip was the first Oregon coach to take on the philosophy of 'going for it on fourth down', and a master of in-game momentum. However, he had a system of playing fast and wearing out a defense. By the time the Ducks either went for it on fourth down, or got deep in the red zone, the defense was so gassed (and didn't have time to rotate players) that Oregon could just run through arm tackles. Coach Lanning doesn't understand this, and coach Helfrich didn't either. I really like coach Lanning and believe he's doing a tremendous job! Oregon went on the road to face a very good team, with a hostile crowd, and put themselves in position to win. Oregon was and is the better team. The stats are impressive!

Charles, this excellent, you nailed it!! The players want NIL money, and it doesn't come from TV, it comes from other sources. And that has nothing to do with which conference you play for. You also noted streaming, which is where this is headed. MLS (major league soccer) starts this season exclusively with Apple TV streaming. No regular TV or cable. $100/season for all games, all devices, any time. This is just the beginning.

Thanks Charles! I've been reading posts on your website for several years, and I've very impressed by your level of knowledge in all things football. Thanks for creating the site. It's a great way for Duck fans to connect and discuss!

Love the article, and the discussion! As you have noted, college football has not been an equal playing field. That said, my thoughts below echo much of what has been already stated, but I have a few areas that add to the discussion: The college conference alignment complicated. It includes all sports, and all the logistics that go with it: Facilities, scholarships, coaching, alumni, fans, live events, TV, team travel, Title 9, training, over-sight, and scheduling. Then there’s the imbalance of football revenue covering athletic department expenses. I’m still in the mindset that NIL football (let’s call it what it is), will form an alignment outside of the current conferences. It will include the top 40-50 teams, and probably be sorted into north/south/east/west conferences. The NIL will not participate in traditional recruiting, but will instead have a draft, and an agreed upon window at some point in the year to allow for transfers. The current conferences will stay in-tact for all other sports. Logistics is just too difficult, and they can avoid the Title 9 issue. The schools can pocket their NIL money to fund other sports. I think the Big10 power grab (LA market) has been implemented to counter the arguments coming from the SEC in order to get them to participate in a negotiation meeting. Otherwise, the SEC/ESPN thing won’t change. So what happens to the other schools not in the NIL? They may keep their current pre-season pay-day system. However, I think they would be better off creating a Premier League system of relegation and promotion. That way teams can earn their way into the NIL league, or work their way out. Just my thoughts. Let’s see if the TV masterminds figure it out.