The Kamikaze Kid

After spewing that bad on their home field against Michigan, osu2 should feel grateful to even be in the playoffs. And absolutely no one should wish to play Boise St.

The biggest problem the committee had was taking the seedings as literal rankings and not as preferable matchups. They really should have consulted with the March Madness committee that has been doing this much longer. The top four were baked in so there wasn't much that could be done there but after that they really screwed up. First putting Texas at five was fine as that keeps an UGA Horns threepeat from happening until the championship if they both earn their way there. Penn ST and osu2 both should have been placed in an opposite bracket of OBD and given the six and seven seeds. That puts Notre Dame at eight. 9-12 can get placed they same as they won't really matter in the grand scheme of things. This bracket would have looked as follows. 9 Tennessee vs 8 ND/ 1 OBD 12 Clemson vs 5 Texas/ 4 ASU 10 Indiana vs 7 osu2/ 2 UGA 11 SMU vs 6 Penn St/ 3 Boise St The only real difference would have been osu2 and ND swapping places. The committee could have had a reasonable bracket like this while stating that the matchups were more important than literal rankings and few would have had a problem with it.

I think the fourth key will be whatever ridiculous game prep motivation Lanning comes up with this week that we'll find out in the latest Ducks vs Them. What theme does he come up with next? Does he go with Brave Heart for the dangerous underdog angle? How about Empire Strikes Back for the merciless top dog acting like it? Personally I hope it's Predator. Ripping out spines and collecting skulls seems more Lanning's speed.

This may be the truest statement I've seen in sports. The way the game ended doesn't sit right with the guy actually sitting on his a$$ with the ball when the game ended.

Of the seven other remaining playoff teams, OBD has played three of them going 3-0 in the process while averaging around 38 points a game. Lanning absolutely lives for these moments, Day fears them. If this game is close in the fourth quarter, the teams will reflect the leadership of the coach. Lanning will be leading them in to battle like Braveheart. Day will be hoping he doesn't screw it up again.

Chip Kelly will be going back to the home field of the team he just left to coach against the team he coached in the Rose Bowl against the team he coaches for now.

The B Ball team demanding attention before Valentine’s Day. I like it.

I think the biggest loser this weekend is playoff expansion. Maybe eight is enough.

osu2 34-17

I think Indiana is making Notre Dame look good like how Purdue made Indiana look good.

Dang. I get home , turn on the tube and they’re replaying a goal line interception. Then before I even sit down the Dames go 98 yards. Whoever’s rooting for Indy, sorry. My bad.

Welcome aboard or hard pass, I’m fine with whatever Danimal decides.

Hoosers 37-31 1 Turn over 2 Sacks 315 Passing

I was going to say that the Ducks are the elephant in the room that everybody is trying to ignore. After thinking about it a bit, I think they're more like the werewolf in the room that everyone's just closing their eyes to and hoping that it just goes away.

I think this topic scratches the surface of an over arching topic. Is recruiting itself about to change? The college football landscape is in a state of complete overhaul but an obvious change in direction seems to be emerging. It seems like high level recruits would be best served by going to low level teams straight from high school, get early playing time, build a portfolio then shop themselves to playoff caliber teams. I think the days of five star guys waiting for their turn are over. Especially with the real threat of being passed by an incoming portal guy. I can see rolling the dice on some three star diamonds in the rough and portaling in plug and play four and five stars as the blue print for the future. This could also help lower level teams like Boise State stay relevant by playing a bunch of high level one and done freshman. This direction seems inevitable to me but what do I know?

On the other hand, Moore to Moore might be a little more than they can deal with.

Ducks over Horns 27-24 Dawgs over Lions 17-13 Ducks over Dawgs 18-17 Book it!

The new playoff formatting is like the seven stages of death for bowl games. Lanning wants us to just skip ahead to acceptance but reality is still at the denial phase.

Potential. Where reality and fantasy pretend to be the same thing.

The two and three deep is littered with four and five star dudes at most positions. We're going to have to trust them to be able to step up into starting spots sometime. Hopefully the coaches got a good feel for who's ready and who's not.

Too bad portal guys that come to the Ducks fade into obscurity and regret their decisions. Oh wait, that's what happens at SUC my bad! Actually, portalling over to the Ducks usually pays off with increased exposer on the national stage and moving them up the draft rankings.

Personally, I'm taking Lanning's approach of bring it on whoever we play. That being said the committee really blew it. With the automatic bids placing lower ranked teams into higher ranked seedings they should have acted like the humans in the room instead trying to be reality detached robots. Since three teams bumped up to much higher seeds in the automatic bid slots the number two team was simply dropped down three spots to No. 5. This is where the humans needed to show some situational awareness and not try to mimic AI. Four vs five would normally be four vs five with the lowest possible seed advancing to play No. 1 but this is not a normal format. Since No.5 is actually No. 2, it practically guarantees a 1 vs 2 match up in the quarter finals. To make matters worse, that game is scheduled to basically be a home game for the No 2. team putting the No. 1 team at a huge disadvantage. The humans really failed here. Also with the tree slot drop down, the 8 vs 9 game that determines No. 1's opponent actually features No. 5 vs No. 6. This means the No. 1 team will probably face the N0. 5 and No. 2 teams before even getting to the Championship game. The humans really dropped the ball here. It should have been their job to compensate for the fatal flaws in the system not just cement them into reality. With that said, this is OBD's opportunity to go on the most impressive championship run in history and achieve a legendary championship status unrivaled before and after for all time. In the end, I think that's exactly where Lanning prefers his team to be.

In hindsight, I think they should have backed off the top four conference champs to the top eight.. Things would look way different if ASU and BSU were seeded seven and eight.

Auburn and Oregon would have also been a split poll that year with both going undefeated and playing in two different bowl games. I have never ever once wished for that pathetic alternate scenario.

For a thirty year old football fan it would be for a few years in grade school......