🤔 Between BIG scheduling and Referee issues of one sidedness calls, you start believing it!

After a gritty win against Iowa the Ducks have to play 6-3 Minnesota on Friday night with the Gophers coming off a bye.

Oregon beat Iowa 18-16, marching 54 yards in the last two minutes, Atticus Sappington drilling a 36-yard field goal in swirling winds and driving rain with :07 to play.

They beat the No. 20 Hawkeyes in Kinnick Stadium but the Big Ten schedulers don't seem to think that's enough. Now 8-1, the Ducks play in six days. Minnesota enjoys a full 14 days to prepare, having last played at home November 1st against Michigan State, a game they won 23-20 in overtime.

That's absurd scheduling that handicaps the defending conference champions. You couldn't hand P.J. Fleck's team a bigger scheduling advantage, unless the game was moved to Bloomington.

Autzen Zoo

Big Ten schedulers don't seem to want Oregon to repeat, o...

After a gritty win against Iowa the Ducks have to play 6-3 Minnesota on Friday night with the Gophers coming off a bye.

Completely believe this. At some level a newb coming in from the PAC and winning at everything is somewhat embarrassing.

It also feels like the refs are a bit in on it too. I said feels like ... I'm not promoting a conspiracy.

Bear Alexander was held for so much of the game without a flag. There were some non flag PIs Iowa got away with.

Meanwhile... Oregon got dinged on a PI call that was a non call. We did probably get away with a PI in there too but still.

Did Iowa really play zero penalty football? Yes, they had one with kicking the ball out the end zone for the safety but the safety would have potentially happened anyways... So I'm not counting that one. But Iowa didn't play a zero penalty yards game.

Make no mistake we are not welcome in the B1G still.

We were warned of this by longtime B1G fans when we joined the conference, that traditional B1G powers would be protected. This is a rough November stretch to be sure as Indiana and tOSU cruise while we play three ranked teams, two on the road (caveat the fuskies might not be ranked on Tuesday).

That said, we're getting more respect nationally than when we were in the P-12 and we still control our own playoff destiny, so I'd call that a net gain.

2 minutes ago, noDucknewby said:

That said, we're getting more respect nationally than when we were in the P-12 and we still control our own playoff destiny, so I'd call that a net gain.

By a mile...

A country mile, to be exact.

A Texas, country mile! 😉

I'll take the Big 10 hazing over fighting for respect in the old Pac 12...

One other thing I don't understand....USC played 3 road games in Central and Eastern time zones in 2024, and are also playing 3 in 2025. That total of 6 is less CT/ET road games than the other 3 West Coast teams must play.

Their last CT/ET zone road trip was Oct. 19 in 2024, and Nov. 1 in 2025. Ducks was Nov. 16 and Nov. 8. UCLA is Nov. 2 and Nov. 15 in those two seasons. UW is Nov. 9 and Nov. 8. So, why is USC "special" in scheduling?

9 hours ago, David Marsh said:

It also feels like the refs are a bit in on it too. I said feels like ... I'm not promoting a conspiracy.

Bear Alexander was held for so much of the game without a flag. There were some non flag PIs Iowa got away with.

Meanwhile... Oregon got dinged on a PI call that was a non call. We did probably get away with a PI in there too but still.

Did Iowa really play zero penalty football? Yes, they had one with kicking the ball out the end zone for the safety but the safety would have potentially happened anyways... So I'm not counting that one. But Iowa didn't play a zero penalty yards game.

Make no mistake we are not welcome in the B1G still.

Having re-watched the game, there is no way Iowa had zero penalties outside of the punt snap safety. Bear was held early and often. Their DBs were occasionally clingier than a needy GF/BF.

The push off OPI and hands to the face by the D-line were no such thing. Gronowski threw away two 'Mr Wizard' passes that didn't have a receiver in the same area code, should have been called intentional grounding and would have stalled both of their touchdown drives. They ignored the fumble that the back judge should have easily seen if he had been where he was supposed to be.

I won't go so far as to claim a level of bias, but maybe Iowa benefited from a dark uniform 'ninja' effect on a crappy conditions day where OBD white stood out like a beacon. Or maybe somebody had Iowa and the points.

The play before the Iowa FG, I thought it was intentional grounding. The QB was outside the pocket, but the ball did not clear the line of scrimmage and the ball was at least 5 yards short of a WR/TE.