Nevada Dawg

With a little help from Touchdown Gosh, ND just might take down the Bucs. That's one I'd love to see.

I expect Bama to improve as the season wears on but they have problems other than in the QB room. Former Tide QB Greg McElroy ( a stand up analyst IMHO) has said as much and is more than concerned about the Tide's season, possibly foreseeing multiple hiccups. Speculation is rampant to the effect that Saban will choose to hang it up after the season and that Alabama goes after "Pirme" as head coach. I am not buying either speculation Nick Saban has always been a uber-competitive guy, and I don't see him bowing out with his tail between his legs. I always had thought that he wanted one more natty and then he'd retire. That path will not be easy in the foreseeable future however. I also fail to see, in the event of a Saban retirement, that a proud program like Alabama would hire a second-year coach whose charges may get their butts kicked multiple times in the Pac-12 this year. Ain't gunna happen!

I can see why the decision might have been made to place on PAC-12. This is apt to be a very noncompetitive game. Stanford is dreadful. n fact, I heard they lost to Sacramento State over the weekend. Can that really be true (I haven't verified yet). I guess every conference has to have a doormat, but Stanford has really declined in recent years, or so it seems to me. Speaking of disrespect though, I saw an article, maybe it was the one on most overrated teams, that Colorado (the most overrated) was likely to get its comeuppance against USC on the 30th, with no mention of that likely happening against Oregon on the 23rd. Sometimes, I don't see how some of these ESPN guys continue to draw a paycheck and, in fact, even though they are worthy of attention, I'd almost place the Trojans among my most overrated teams for this year.

Fresno State is a sound football team, but damn ASU 29-0?

This memory goes way back and excuse me if I don't get this exactly correct. In the days of the Pacific Coast Conference, the Rose Bowl was a mismatch as I recall, largely because of the vast discrepancy in scholarships allowed in the Big-10 versus the PCC schools. The story I heard and logged away in my 10-11-year-old mind was that there were virtually no limits. other than financial ones, on the number of scholarships in the Big-10. Ohio State played a game against the Ducks in a Rose Bowl (maybe 1957) where they had twice the number of scholarship players he Ducks had. Much of the disparity between conferences was that the PCC member schools had agreed on a relatively small maximum number of scholarships allowed, at the insistence of academic administrations who weren't buying the educational value of money spent on college football. Hence the Rose Bowl became a yearly contest between the "football factories" vs. the "athletically disadvantaged". This is what I remember and I probably have some details wrong (hey, I was a kid who believed what I was told). But if there is any truth to the tale, Oregon did pretty well in the mismatch I mentioned, losing to the Ohio State bullies by a score of only 10-7, and I remember sitting there rooting for the Ducks to prevail until the final second. So Jon Joseph, how far off am I in my memories above?

This is not a defense of USC; i don't care for them either. But I think some of you may be a bit guilty of a recency bias. I go back to the era when USC pretty much ruled the PAC conference and it was a big deal when anyone else broke through. Back when the conference was the PAC-8 and snow-white Jon McKay coached the Trojans, the conference was derisively labeled by sports writers in other regions as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", and when I lived in Ohio in the early 70s the mantra was if "SC wasn't in the Rose Bowl, bet the farm on the Big-10 champ". And both coaches John Robinson and Pete Carroll had mini-dynasties as well. So the arrogance has a long and somewhat understandable history. Now a question for you guys. When OJ Simpson and the #1 rated Trojans came undefeated into Oregon and lost a night game in the mud 3-O, was that game in Corvallis or Eugene? I think the year was i967 or 8, and all I remember about it was reading the result in the latest Sunday edition of the San Jose Mercury and being shocked at the outcome. Glorious game for either the Beaves or Ducks whomever got it done. I do remember comments coming out of Southern California that the field was not fit for play and the match should have been postponed. Now that's some serious sour grapes that cheapens a glorious outcome for the victors, be they Beavers or Ducks.

Dawgs have lots of offensive skill players (e.g., McConkey, Bowers, Kendall Milton Dajon Edwards) seriously slowed for this one. Others are really going to step up for the Dawgs to cover on this one.

Hey Jon, did ya forget he Dawgs and Chickens in Sanford?

My information is old and this update is discouraging. I had been confident that Baker was coming to Eugene. Other recruiting tidbits. Breland is scheduled to be in Athens for the Georgia game. If he doesn't show, that will be great news for y'all I think. Somebody mentioned Seaton out of Florida, Don't know his status but that would be a great pickup.

I thought that the secondary did enough to keep from being embarrassed on Saturday, but TTU hardly the kind of offenses that they will be facing soon. My first date to circle is the 23rd when I believe Colorado comes a-calling. As I was blacked out on ESPN due to the big media pis-ing contest, I got to see two games in which an incredibly accurate QB, S. Sanders, was dropping dimes on at least three swift and talented WRs. Our CBs had better be able to run and safteys offer support or there's likely to be trouble. As I'm confident the Ducks will move the ball on the Colorado defense, I am hoping this one doesn't become a shootout. With Washington, WAZZU, USC, and the Beaves with DJU on the schedule, we'll have ample opportunities to hopefully watch the secondary grow up and become formidable. Final iconic point: I laughed at the desert lizard analogy as I pictured an ungainly waddling duck trying hard to catch a zippy little lizard.

Jon I am certainly not doubting you but it is really hard to believe that Finebaum would jump ship so quickly and anoint the coach of a team that could lose three games in the PAC-12 as king of one of the most exalted seats in all of college sports. Deion has coached two games, albeit impressively, at the Power-5 level for gosh sakes!

I think it almost incomprehensible That DL would want to move after two years. What do we know, if anything, about the family's adaptation and sentiments about Eugene and the Pacific northwest? The only thing that would give me pause is if there was information that the wife and/or kids were not crazy about the environment--rain really gets some people down, for example. When I left junior college in the Santa Cruz area (beach town and surf mecca), I transferred to a really rainy climate in Arcata, California enrolling at Humboldt State. Humboldt was grey, rainy much of the time, and my private theme song that first semester was the Animals hit "We gotta get outta this place." But I adapted and hopefully the Lannings have too.

Pac 12 way up this year IMHO because the top contenders all have experienced and talented QBs at the helm, and I amincluding the Beaves in this count. By contrast, the SEC is down this year IMHO because they lack this QB experience. Other conferences: This is the year to make hay in the playoffs .

Feel free to disagree but I had some impressions from the first Duck game I've watched very closely. I want to say that my criticisms are meant to be constructive and that I want to see the Ducks improve as much as you do. First, there were entirely too many stupid penalties At one point in the first half, a graphic showed the Ducks with 5 or 6 times the penalty yardage as TT, and at least a couple of those miscues prolonged drives. The Ducks' defense is very much still in the making and cannot afford to be prolonging possessions. Second, while Nix was money at the end of the game when it counted, he kept trying to force too many balls in the middle of the game to receivers who were having difficulties getting any separation. So unless the Texas Tech back end is exceptional, The OC is going to have to find ways of scheming receivers, who didn't look all that dynamic to me, to open creases in the field. That is one of the things that made OC Todd Monken at Georgia so valuable in the Dawgs run to successive Nattys. The route trees for receivers were complex by design to befuddle DBs and ensure that somebody was going to be uncovered. I thought Oregon's routes were rather predictable. One knock I have on Bo is that he often opts for the high risk throw when easier routes to yardage are available. My take on the major reason Oregon won this game came in the possession right after TT went ahead 30-28.I told my Duck buddy that Bo needs to take no big risks here, take whatever the Tech defense gives him, and put up some points, even a field goal' while taking at least 4 of the five minutes or so left in so doing. Points were absolutely essential here, and to his credit, Bo begin to throw to check down receivers, moving the ball in 4-6 yard advances, with a couple of calculated scrambles along the way, to get in easy field goal range--though I wish he'd have taken 30 seconds more to get it done. But that was a masterful drive at crunch time by a very experienced QB. Then we all had to sweat out that last minute when Tech started down the field aided immensely by an unnecessary roughness penalty that put tech in position to throw the ball into the end zone. Of course the pick 6 had made an 8-point rather than a 1-point lead, but even so, that is still tempting fate.in a road game. After the win had been sealed, I told my buddy that I was surprised that more Duck fans did not have ulcers--I had held his hand during the collapse in Corvallis last year as well. He told me "yeah, I've had nearly six decades to get used to games like this!".

Jon is right. It is a miserable commute from campus in Coral Gables to where the games are actually played. Plus, there are too many interesting diversions in Miami to divert student attention from football games. A now dearly departed friend from high school attended school at Miami for a couple years and said he usually got distracted by girls in skimpy outfits who definitely were not getting on rooters buses to go to the stadium. I think he told me he made one game in two seasons.

Prior to 2020, Clemson always seemed to have dynamic WRs and QBs (e.g. Watson and Lawrence) who made the best use of them. The pass game is a major reason why Clemson's run game worked. During DJU's tenure at Clemson, those dynamic WRs were not in evidence and the run game was not great either. So I thinks Clemson's offensive shortcomings in recent years were hardly all DJU's doings, I'll let you guys tell me how good the Beaves receivers are (they looked more than adequate to me on Saturday) and I am told that running the rock is an offensive specialty in Corvallis. I may be totally wrong in my assessment, but should DJU continue to develop and to show the poise he displayed in week 1, OSU may well give anyone in the conference a run for their money on any given Saturday. I'm just glad that the Ducks have them at home this year. Once again, I'll apologize for going a little off-topic for the thread.

Good point. I stand corrected. I still stand, however, on the premise that DJU will make the beaves' offense more fun to watch and harder to defend.

David, I share your sense of Meh-ness about B1G football, particularly on offense. My hope is that the West Coast schools spice up that league and help to overcome the yet lingering "3-yards and a cloud of dust" mentality that still lingers a bit over many B1G programs. As for OSU and DJU, the team and the QB looked pretty damn good this afternoon. DJU accounted, for five touchdowns, three by air and two by land. I know the opponent was SJSU, but he threw the ball very well and I fear he would be big trouble if he had better receivers than he does. My prediction is that OSU pulls at least one major upset in the PAC-12 this year. Take them lightly at your own peril. I love the first couple weeks of the season. Lots of interesting outcomes for fans to get excited about until the season gets going in earnest, .and we begin to separate the wheat from the chaff.

I missed this one. Was it in Laramie? Strange things happen there similar to the way that Duck fans describe games in Pullman. Colorado looked legit to me on offense, but this early impression may change before they meet the Ducks. Defense, who knows? If I am Nix, however, I'd know enough not to challenge Travis Hunter too often. Hunter is impressive on both sides of the ball, similar to Georgia's Champ Baily on the late 90s who was a first-team all SEC wideout and a first-team All American cornerback on everybody's team the year he declared for the draft. Had Champ in class during the off season after his first year in the NFL. He was very shy around me at first to the point of asking his young wife, who was also a student in that class, to ask if it would be possible to make up the scheduled exam upcoming. When I asked why, she told me that Roland (his given name) had been selected to play in the Pro Bowl in Hawaii and they wanted badly to go. I laughed and told her "Be ready to take the exam om Tuesday of the following week" and they were. As I got to know Champ better, little did I know that I was chatting up a future Hall of Fame pro CB. He was a very nice and surprisingly humble young man. Sorry to get so far off-script for this thread. Hunter for the Buffs really impressed me today thus eliciting memories and a story I felt was worth telling.

Here's a thought bubble. Imagine the reaction around the country if a PAC team not taken by another league (i.e., the Beaves) were break through and win the natty. Far-fetched, of course, but what a hell of a way for the PAC-12 to go out. The irony would be delicious.

I always loved it when my Dawgs were underdogs. Kirby apparently does as well, as anything in the media that can be construed as somehow disrespectful very quickly becomes bulletin board material. In the old days, Georgia was freqently tabbed as underdog. Not so much these days. As for the SC offense, yeah it looked sharp against SJS early and might well score 40 on UGA. However, I suspect that UGA might score 70 on the Trojan defense.

Yeah I had to look up the results of the USC-SJS game just to see how many points the Spartans put up. Before the game, I had guessed 21 and, of course they exceeded my projection, Lol!

Oh boy this article barely scratches the surface on elimination of rivalries and traditions. Most everyone I know from my cohort is pretty livid about what is happening after this year saying that they are not going to be all that invested any longer on a game that is losing its soul and becoming minor league pro football. I will certainly be sticking it out in the near future, but with a sour taste in my mouth' fully expecting to be disappointed with what transpires. But who knows. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. By the way, I fully agree with the author of the target article that the biggest single thing on the disappointment meter is the collapse of the PAC-12.....and all for the love of money!

If South Carolina beats North Carolina in week 1, they will almost certainly be rated in the top 25 when they play Georgia. Kentucky could well be as well. I know they will be physical (always are) and are supposed to have a very good defense (almost always do) I am not familiar at this moment with their schedule, but if not in the top 25 when the Dawgs play them, they'll be sniffing around the edges.

I absolutely loved the target article for this thread. and have many of the same points, here and elsewhere, over the past several months. What I loved most, traditions and rivalries, have become an afterthought to the almighty dollar, and a depressing number of fans seem just fine with this. i probably will not live long enough to see the grim forecasts of the target article play out in full, and like Annie, I hope that they do not. But neither am I as confident as Jon J. about the future and can even imagine the day when a bright Saturday might be better spent steelhead, salmon, or trout fishing that watching minor league NFL football. Sorry to be Gloomy Gus tonight, but dammit . I do kinda believe that this is the last year for the game that we've all known and loved.