David Marsh

Verdell is out ... That means more Dye and Dollars.

The defense I think is hungry to prove themselves still. I feel far more confident in the defense right now than the offense.

Dorlus was lined up across KT a lot during the Pac-12 Championship Game and between Dorlus and KT they crunched the USC offensive line. Dorlus is a high rising defensive star in the making and if he is playing better right now all the better.

I think an expanded playoff could start to break up the status quo a little bit... Because it changes from... "If you want to win a national championship 5-star recruit you need to go to Bama or Clemson or Ohio State" .... To "5-star recruit if you want to compete for a national championship you need to be on a team that wins their conference." Once we get to auto bids for conference champions talent won't condense onto a couple of teams but spread out a bit. This is NOT a short term solution. Even if it were to happen next year (which it won't) it will take four or five years for things to break up. LSU winning last year I think gave the invitational a bit of a shock... Not too much of one they were still an SEC team... But it wasn't Bama or Clemson who won which sent the message of if IF you can get enough talent and the right scheme things can happen. A very very long ways off from seeing this status quo break up.

The majority of the ACC isn't any better than the Pac-12... they just get teams into the playoffs. And Clemson is pretty good still... not sure I would want Oregon to go up against them this year. Next year or the year after that I feel it will be a different story.

This is year no... Next year maybe... Defensive end and linebacker are the two places where I think Oregon will rival the teams we saw tonight the soonest. Perhaps the secondary as well if that continues to improve. Offensively... I think the offensive line will develop into something that will be playoff worthy but so much of the offensive line is building chemistry and they NEEEDED a full spring and fall camp to gel. Quarterback, Recievers and runningbacks will need some help. With this last recruiting class Oregon has brought in the raw star power talent... Now it needs to develop. 2021 will be the real test with a full off season. We will also get another taste of the offense tomorrow ... It has slowly opened up as the year has gone on... Need to see it take the next major step. Offensively Oregon is a long way from these teams... Defensively ... If we see them play to their potential (more akin to the usc game) they can give Oregon a fighting chance on a year or twos time. I'm very optimistic... And I have an article brewing for the early off season.

Alabama doesn't even have that level of entitlement. They know they have to win their conference to get there.... However, that is not always the case... But Bama does have to actually play teams that can occasionally out up a fight. Also Bama got burned last year against LSU so they have had a dose of humility recently. All Clemson has to do is win out in a conference that doesn't have much of a football pulse. It will be interesting to see what Notre Dame does going forward after their one year expiriment with a conference.

Right now I am just happy that ohio state is spanking Clemson. There is a certain smugness around the Clemson program and seeing them lose is wonderful. When it comes to the title game... I wish no one could win but if I have to pick then.... I don't care who wins. Oregon gets a shot at Ohio State at the start of next year so we will have to see how that goes.

Second half is turning into a shootout ... But if that's the case Clemson can't win it.

Ohio State is up in the second quarter... Pulling for ohio state here because it would really shut up Sweeney after he personally ranked Ohio State at 11 in the coaches poll. I'm not a big ohio state fan ny any stretch of the imagination but I like ohio state a lot more than Clemson at this point.

I saw the viewership ratings a year ago of the top playoff bowl games... The games Oregon was involved in, also the first playoff games as well, are still pretty high up on the list. Shocking I know that has interesting teams make for higher viewership. Last year's viewership was up I believe because LSU was not Bama so it was something different.

If there wasn't a pandemic going on right now I'd be doing other things today. As I'm home and not doing anything I'm paying more attention than normal. Though I completely agree I don't want to see more alabama v clemson... It's boring for anyone who isn't a bama and clemson fan.

Well... Looks pretty uninteresting so far. It turns out Alabama is better than Notre Dame. Clemson v Ohio State should be a bit more interesting but I do expect Clemson to win as they have played more games this year and have gained more experience for their players. I guess we get to wait and see.

Moorhead's job was not made easy this year with only a few spring practices while breaking in a new quarterback and offensive system. However, I'd argue he did a good job of it. It's difficult to pinpoint why the Shough has collapsed in the past two games. He did play pretty well against OSU ... Except for the two interceptions. However, it was really the Oregon defense that lost the game against OSU as they couldn't manage to stop anything.

They wore the same thing against usc last year. Also... Iowa State's normal home jerseys look very similar to USCs... Perhaps we will see similar results???? Personally... I would love to see some feathers on the shoulders again... But oh well.

I love the look on the kansas State fans after DAT did that to them in the opening seconds of the game.

Gruden is kidding only hurting himself if he stays loyal to Carr blindly. Mariota is healed and can change any offense that is ready to embrace his skill set. The Raiders should either use him and embrace his skills or trade him to free up space monitarily and let Mariota go free ... Probably to come back and haunt the raiders. Tenn wanted Mariota to be a prototypical prostyle quarterback and gave him a garbage offensive line to do it... And it didn't work. Though from all accounts Mariota was an incredible scout team quarterback.as he was able to replicate duel threat quarterbacks better than the actual quarterbacks Tenn actually played.

Yep... And I do think the State of California for the most part is the problem for the Pac-12 as strange as that sounds. California is a state of professional sports, not college sports. California is home to three NFL teams (4 if you want to count Raiders fans in the mix even though the team is formally in Vegas) and four NBA teams. California is a massive media center but outside of LA (which is still a big media market) college football isn't a primetime event. This does leave the Pac-12 in some strange geographic position. If california is supposed to be the media market that provides the foundation for the pac-12 financially with the other media markets as support. I am sure if you break it down the California market is still big. However, it isn't big enough to support the conference compared to the other power 5. Furthering, the hottest recruiting ground is southern california for the whole pac-12. Mostly due to culture and how football isn't the lifeblood of entertainment on the west coast.

Am I crazy that I want a couple of plays with BOTH quarterbacks on the field at the same time. It makes me think of one of Mariota's two receiving touchdowns as Bennett and Mariota were both on the field at the same time and Mariota caught a touchdown pass.

Thanks Jon. Outside of ASU how many other schools still support Larry? Last I heard is that Larry has lost a lot of support. Now getting rid of him is overly complicated and comes with expenses which I am sure are painful enough to make all institutions involved being cautious... But something needs to change quickly to get things going the other way. The way I see it these are the programs that are prioritizing football in the pac-12... Oregon, USC, Washington and Utah. Utah really doesn't have the same budget but they are throwing their program enough to keep that program rolling. Utah could certainly be placed in the next group as well. Now... The programs that have the fan base that want football as a priority but lack funding: Washington State, Arizona State, Colorado, and Oregon State... Oregon State fans want a relevant program more than anything... But they have really been suffering since 2014 when Riley left for Nebraska. They are on the way up but completely on a shoestring budget and on the cheap-cheap. then there are the programs that don't have any real interest in football... Cal, UCLA, Arizona, and Stanford. Oddly enough I think the problem is California... As a state. USC has a major fan base for football but the other three schools really only generate fair weather buzz from their fan bases. UCLA has been mediocre to bad and the fie hard fans demand better but there isn't much drive to do so... The Kelly hire seemed good enough for the management. Stanford is the worst of the lot... When Stanford is good they are good and can challenge conference championships but the fans dry up in on years. Playing on the Farm is can be like playing in a library... Not a whole lot of a fan base outside if the spectacular years. Shaw is a good coach and will keep Stanford as a good team but Stanford fans aren't a driving force in the conference. I could go on but I have already written a lot for the time being.

As time goes on things grow more dire requires more drastic measures. The bungling of the 2020 season has set the PAC back more than in a normal year. If this was a normal year with a full slate of games played and a full roster without opt outs... I do think Oregon could have been playoff material. Which would have stemmed the blessing. Though now we are looking at another lost season with more lost income and no progress made on the football front will mean the options for saving the conference have grown thin. I am far more optimistic on the possilities of saving the pac-12 than Jon Joseph is though time is running out.

Very few one and dones are successes at the next level, or at least it feels that way. I really hate the one and done rule for the nba. It really seems to spit on colleges and makes colleges feel like meat grinders. Which they basically are for sports... But at least with football the three years allows most athletes with a shot and incentive to get a degree.

No excuses for last year... The Pac-12.has had a lot of coaching turnover and programs influx... Oregon among them. So hopefully we see some significant turnout next year and some non-confrence wins both early season and bowl season. Not holdingy breath on that front though.

A few other things to think about this year.... The big-12 has played almost a full slate of games and the practice time that comes with it. The big-12 has in effect had double the season than the pac-12 and that is a lot of player development time that just can't be made up. Also Colorado is probably the no. 4 team in the pac-12 this year. With the top four being... Oregon, USC, Washington, and Colorado. I'm actually not even convinced washington is a top 4 team of the PAC this year and if be inclined to put Stanford in front of them... No matter. But Colorado was put into the Alamo Bowl because USC and Washington had both opted out of bowl games. Colorado has been a surprise this year but three head coaches across three years takes its toll on any program and Colorado has a nice base to grow on. Just a shame it reflects poorly on the conference. It is up to Oregon to carry the touch for the conference... Last time the conference was truly relevant was in 2014 and guess who was leading the conference then... Oregon. Out of the way Huskies, Trojans and Trees the conference needs the Ducks.

This helps build future classes as Oregon can prove they can get talent to the NBA. Granted sometimes that talent needs to play college for a few years before they make that jump and Pritchard is a great example of talent developing to the professional level of the course of a solid college career.