Still don't think we need a playoff??????

Let's see how we are at seeing things.... Just in the last couple of nights....

Boston College was a 90% favorite over Vanderbilt on ESPN's "America's Vote". Sheesh, why'd they even play the game? Should have just called it and saved everyone the trouble. But......Vandy didn't get the memo. They played a hell of a game and brought home their 1st bowl victory since 1955. Way to go Commodores. I was a doubter, I admit it.

The Ducks, my Ducks, were an 80% underdog on the ESPN poll. That was a great game and Oregon DOMINATED the 1nd half when they decided they were going to run the ball. (was that really our 3rd string QB...YUP!) I can't wait for the highlights to get up on youtube, Masoli laid some hits on those OK ST safeties.

Pitt was favored.

Boise Stat was favored.

Not very many people gave Colorado State a chance.


My point all along has been that we don't know. If you've played the game you know that playoffs, big games, bowl games.....they are different. They just are. Again, as the saying goes.....That's why they play the game!"

Oregon State makes it 4-0 for the Pac - 10

The Pac-10 had a rough season, I've said it before. But now they are showing how good they can be. In an offensive struggle the Oregon State Beavers outscored Pitt 3 - 0. Yes.....yaaaawwwwwnnnn. 3-0. But the Beavs were underdogs, as were the Ducks and Arizon and they managed to get by.

USC is the last game for the Pac-10, they will fact Penn State tomorrow. I've maintained that I feel like this will be another Big 10 gets blown out type of game. I dont want to see that because I have always liked Penn State but I feel like USC is going to make a statement here.

Ducks over OK ST!!!!

Wahoo!

Oregon Ducks win the Holiday Bowl 42-31.

What a tough 1st half to watch for me. Oregon is a running team and at the end of the 1st half they had barely run the football. Blount didn't touch it once. Johnson had 1 big 76 yard TD and Masoli was non-existant. Luckily someone reminded Chip Kelly at half time that we are one of the top run teams in the country.

J Johnson - 12 carries 119 yards 1 TD
J Masoli - 16 carries 106 yards 3 TD
L Blount - 7 carries 74 yards 1 TD

Yes, we are a running team. Most of that came in the second half. Masoli had a decent night throwing the ball ending at 18-32 for 258 yards 1 TD and 1 INT. He had 4 balls clearly dropped and a couple others that really should have been caught.

We had a hell of a 2nd half scoring 5 touchdowns (and we got stopped on the 1 yard line on a possesion).

THE DEFENSE - Going into the game I thought the defense had to play good bend but don't break. They did that well. Started ou a little shakey but stopped OK ST on 8 of it's last 10 possesions. Ducks came up with 2 interceptions and in the 2nd half layed some big time hits on Robinson that seemed to get him a little rattled.

OK ST's top reciever, Bryant, looked extremely good and unfortunately went down at the end of the 1s with an injured knee. This really reminded me of Dennis Dixon's injury last year. I personally think the Ducks played much better in the 2nd half but losing Bryant definately made an impact on this game. He is a hell of a player and I hope he can come back strong from this injury, knees are tricky.

Oregon Ducks vs Oklahoma State Cowboys

This is an offense vs offense game if ever there was one. Both these teams put up big numbers on the scoreboard and in the run game. OK ST also has a big threat in the passing game as well.

Let's start with OK ST. While I HATE (yes HATE) the OK Sooners I really have no issue with the OK ST Cowboys. They have had a hell of a season and deserve all the credit in the world. I did think OK ST was a little overrated when they broke into the Top 10 just because they hadn't played thier big conference foes at that point. But the fact remains that the 3 losses they have came against the #1, #2 and #3 team (all rankings the week that they played them). I don't care how you slice it, that's great football. Their running game is terrific, both backs are averaging right at 7 yards a carry. They also have a more potent passing attack than the Ducks. Robinson threw for almost 3000 yards and 24 TD's this season and was vastly overshadowed by the QB's of TX,TX Tech and OK (who of course won the Heisman). They beat Missouri when they were ranked 3rd (I called that one). OK ST boasts the #7 ranked rushing offense in the country averaging 256 yards per game. The Ducks will need to slow that down a bit to compete.

Oregon will need to do what I've said all along this season. They need to be somewhat successful with the pass to keep the run game open. Johnson and Blount should have a HUGE day against the OK ST defense. Oregon comes in with the #4 rushing offense in the country.

SIDE NOTE - I you consider that Navy, Nevada, Air Force and LA Lafayette are all also in the top 10 rushing teams in the country I think you can easily slide OR and OK ST up the list to #2 and #3. Those teams I listed don't play in a competitive conference. GA Tech would stay ahead of both teams in this scenario. This game features 2 of the best rushing teams and there WILL be some fireworks.

Alright, back to Oregon. Masoli is the starter and has been for the better part of the season. This is his 1st year at Oregon and this is a complicated offense, he has matured as the season went on. If he's made some strides during the month of December we may see some great things. I'm looking forward to the future. He's a proven leader having won a JC National Championship last year.

The difference in this game will be the defenses. Both teams are going to rush and both teams will put points on the board. One of these teams needs to have thier defense step up and make some big plays. I think Oregon has proven that they can do that. Jairus Byrd, Spencer Paysinger and Patrick Chung need to have good solid games and they need to make a couple of turnovers, preferable like the ones they had against the Beavers where they turn them in to points on the board. I'd also like to continue seeing solid DE play from Nick Reed, he's a little guy for a lineman but you cannot measure heart and he's got plenty of it! I think OR's big play potential on defense is the key to this game!

GO DUCKS!!!!!

(who'd you expect me to pick)

UFC 92

What an event this was. In addition to being an Oregon Duck junkie I am a watcer and practitoner of MMA. This was a great event.

Rashad Evans proved to be too much for Forrest Griffin. I thought Rashad's speed was going to be enough to get him past Forrest but the 1st 2 rounds definately went to Forrest as he kept good distance and used his long leg kicks to keep Rashad at bay. In the 3rd round Evans was able to drop a bomb and take it down to the ground, once on the ground he used his wrestling to control and GnP him to a KO.

Frank Mir looked fantastic against Big Nog, ending the fight in the 2nd round. Finishing Big Nog is something that noone,including the great Fedor (in 2 tries) has been able to do.

Rampage had an extremely nice KO over Wanderlie Silva.


Great night of fights.

The California Golden Bears make it 2-0 for the Pac 10

California had as close as you can come to a home game tonight and they squeaked out a victory over the Miami Hurricanes. CAL scored late in the 4th after a forced fumble inside the 5 yard line to take and hold a 24-17 lead and win.

Miami is an extremely young team and showed a great dea of inexperience in the last 3 minutes with a horrific 2 minute drill. Wasting virtually 80% of the last 2 minutes. It was a shame to see a young team play so well for most of the game and then do that at the end.

Hey CAL, when your QB is playing like crap and your running back is averaging 10 yards a carry.....DON'T PASS, JUST RUN! CAL tried to give this game away by continually going to an ineffective pass game. Longshore was 10-21 while Best ran for 186 yards on 20 carries. Best did a great job in space, that guy is fast. All in all CAL represented the Pac-10 well, big explosive offense and a bend but don't break defense was a winning formula tonight.

PAC-10 2-0 in the 2008 BOWL GAMES.

Oregon Ducks over Oklahoma Sooners for the National Championship!!

So we're nearing the end of my mach 2008 football playoff. The #4 Oklahoma Sooners vs the #16 Oregon Ducks for all the playoff marbles. We saw a lot of great games in the playoffs but this was a great championship game. It was close the whole way through but the....well....I guess the video will say it all. That's right, actual video footage of my mach playoffs...



The Ducks take the lead 34-33 with :46 left on the clock for the victory!!!!!!


The Ducks are National Champs!!!! WAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOO!!!!

New Video for View

I've updated the video on the side, it's also available here. If you missed the Oregon Ducks dismantle the Oregon State Beavers you can relive the best moments and see a few Beaver fans hang their heads. In all fairness I must disclose that most weeks I route for the Beavers to do extremely well. Just not during the CIVIL WAR!!!!!!!



How do you make Beaver cookies?????

Beat them up for 4 quarters and then take them out of a bowl.


:)

Arizona gives the Pac 10 their 1st win of the bowl season

The Pac-10 has tken a beating this year from the media, what else is new. In addition to the no respect factor this year the Pac-10 is the underdog in 2 of the 5 bowl games.

USC is hgher in the rankings than Penn State.

While neither Cal or Miami is ranked Cal did get some votes.

Oregon is #15 while Oklahoma State is #13.

Oreon State at #24 plays Pitt at #18.

Arizona, unranked, faced #16 BYU yesterday and the Las Vegas bowl. Arizona really looked good and I just felt like the game was a lot closer on the scoreboard tha what was actually happening. Arizon hadsome miscues turning the ball over that helped keep BYU in the game. I say that even though BYU led in pretty much every statistical category, just felt lik Zona was controlling the game. BYU's top receiver Austin Collie had 11 catches for 119 yards and grabbed 1 hander that was probably the catch of the year in this game. If I'm not mistaken they showed a stat that he has had over 100 yards receiving in each of his last 11 games. WOW. Heck of a ball player.

I thought the officiating was terrible in this game, although nothing that relly effected the outcome it was just bad. They had to review a bunch of stuff that shouldn't have been reviewed, the crowd was booing them throughout. A little tip to the ref's......If it takes you 10 minutes to review the camera angles, it's probably not conclusive. But no, they overturned the play. At 1 point Arizona had 12 men on the field, no flag was thrown. Then the BYU coach came and yelled at the ref, never through his challenge flag and they stopped play to announce the penalty. At this time it was called an illegal substitution. Carry on with 4th down. The more complaining from the BYU coach revealed that they were not going to call illegal substitution but 12 men on the field from the previous play, they had to review to confirm. Now, 12 men on the field is reviewable. But a coach yelling that you blew a call shoudln't trigger the review. The coach has every right to throw the challenge flag. Ultimately the right call was made but it was gone about the wrong way and gave BYU a big chance.

Pac-10 1-0 so far in the 2008 bowl season. Good upset win for Arizona.

Track Town Pizza

Oh how I miss my home. Track Town Pizza is located across the street from my beloved UofO. It's delicious. They are known for their BBQ Chicken Pizza but I'll stick with the traditional type Pepperoni or Meat Lovers any day. Anddon't even get me started on the Hawaiian.



One of my fondst memories of returning to Oregon was back in the 90's. My High School, the Eagle Point Eagles was headed to the state championship game. A couple of my old buddies and I got together and made the trip to Autzen Stadium to watch the game. We went to Track Town Pizza before and after the game. We were about 1/2 way through our first pitcher of beer when we realized this was the 1st time we had drank together (legally). Since I moved away realitively close to my graduation I turned 21 away from home.

NCAA 2008 Playoffs Round 3

Yesterday could have been another great day in college football. IF, that is, we had a playoff.

#3 Texas Longhorns defeated the Boise State Broncos

#16 Oregon Ducks defeated the Florida Gators



#3 Texas Longhorns set to play the #16 Oregon Ducks next Saturday.


#4 Oklahoma Sooners defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes

#5 USC Trojans defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions


#4 Oklahoma Sooners will play the #5 USC Trojans next Saturday.



If you'd like to see how many different variations of these brackets can happen you can go to ESPN here. You can go through this bracket a few times and see different outcomes. The bottom line is no matter where the upsets are there are 5 GREAT weeks of college football.

And as I've stated before. We can still have the other 26 bowl games (currently there are 34, a 16 team tournament will lower that number by 8).

Support the Cause

My biggest problem with all these arguments about whose the best team is that it will ever solve anything.

I'm fairly certain I cannot convince any Texas fan that OU was better this year.

If TX had gone to the Big 12 Championship I'd say the same thing.

You can say this about AL fans and/or FL fans.

OU and FL, maybe next year this happens to you. Would you rather play this game or have a play off and shut those TX/AL fans up? (again, I'd say the same thing to OU and FL fans if things had gone the other way.)

And what about USC's defense? They are pretty damn good.

When I ask to support the cause it's to talk about playoff. Can't TX and AL fans agree with FL and OU fans here? Wouldn't a playoff been fantastic this year????

And to the 1 person who still lives in UT... Wouldn't your guys have liked a chance to play in a tournament that may result in a National Championship. I'll tell you what, I'm hoping Utah wins.


Email your friends, call in radio shows. I'm not looking to plug this dinky blog, just want some playoffs. WE NEEEEEED PLAYOFFS!

More $%&^# proof the BCS sucks?

Point #1 -

Even some of the most avid college football fans don't know about theother divisions football teams. Sure we know that Apalachian State pretty much rules and they did beat Michigan. But outside of that not so much. I'll admit I don't really follow it until the time of year that they reach the playoffs.

In Division 2 football Minnesota Duluth (#7 Rank) and Norhtern Missouri(#3 Rank) are playing. This division does their playoff a little funky but Neither of these 2 schools received any of the 4 (YES, 4) number 1 seed positions. If the BCS were in Division 2 the teams plaing for the title wouldn't be in there.

How does division 2 rank? It's a media poll. Same as the AP poll in the big league. So if the guys who pick the schools in Division 2 don't get it right,what makes anyone think they get it right in the big league?

They don't, that's why the system sucks!


Point #2 -

In Division 1 we are also watching a playoff. Not what we all think of as Division 1, the old Division 2 now that Division 1 is the BCS. Anywho.... We are watching Richmond vs Montana. These 2 schools received 1 of 8 'at large' bids because neither team won their conference.

ALABAMA and TEXAS fans should be paying attention here.

So in Division 1, they have a playoff? And, they send the top 16 schools? And, And, the two teams playing for a TRUE championship didn't win their division? So does this mean that the team playing best at the end of the year isn't always the best team out there? If a team looses 1 game they are not necessarily a bad team?

Good thing that only happens in those other divisions!

Point #3 - I've made this point before.

If the BCS was instituted in the NFL 6 of the last 8 Superbowl Champs would not have even been in the game. Eli and Peyton Manning would not have had an opportunity to win the MVP in their games. (although Peyton would have went in a different year, just not the year they actually went)

Here's where I posted more details about that. Click me


Point #5 - Another 1 I have brought up before.

Look at the NCAA BB Tournament. A little thing they call March Madness. In Basketball they pick 4 different #1 teams. How many times sinc ethe Tourney started have all 4 #1 teams made it to the final 4?????? Once, last year. So if the4 top teams in a sport don't ever (or 1 in about 30 years) make it, what makes us think we can just choose the top 2 football teams?

We Can't!!!

Did the BCS get it right?

NO. They did not.

Keanu Reeves will win an oscar for best actor before the BCS gets it right.

How can you have all these good teams, just pick 2 and get it right? Every week there is an upset. As the saying goes....THAT'S WHY THEY PLAY THE GAMES.

Did anyone think that Florida would lose to Ole Miss?
Did anyone think USC would lose to Oregon State?
Did anyone think Penn State would lose to Iowa?

There are upsets each and every year. Going undefeated is tough and everyone shoul understand that all these teams are beatable. To say that anyone or any computer can pick the clear top 2 teams in the country is ridiculous.

At one point this season everyone was raving about Mizzou, saying that they may not punt again all season they were so good. Now they have 4 losses.

The ACC has an automatic bid to the BCS, where they have systematically lost 8 straight games.

Does ANYONE outside of the state of Utah think they will beat Alabama? (maybe if they were playing Oklahoma they'd have a change.)

I hope Texas creamates Ohio State.

USC will beat Penn State bigger than anyone thinks. (That pains me to say, I love Joe Paterno and have always admired Penn State.)

Absolutely not, they did not 'get it right'. They won't next year or the year after that. On the BCS selection show on Fox Charles Davis said he loved playing in bowl games. He's full of crap. If you are a player and you compete, you want to compete against the best and play to win. Not some random bowl game. Not that you cannot enjoy yourself in the bowl game but if the players on TX,AL, USC, Penn State, Utah, Boise had a choice I'll bet 99% woud want to play in some playoffs and have a chance. The other 1% are kickers!

2008 NCAA Playoffs Round 2

Round 1 was a great week and round 2 is looking even better. There are a lot of tough match ups this week. Prepare to make a big plate of nachos and wings to invite your friends over. You'd better have more than 1 TV in your living room or man cave. (all rankings are based on the AP end of the season pre-conference championship games)

#2 Florida Gators VS #16 Oregon Ducks - on ABC at 7pm est

#3 Texas Longhorns VS #9 Boise State Broncos - on ESPN at 1pm est

#4 Oklahoma Sooners VS #10 Ohio State Buckeyes - on ESPN at 5pm est

#5 USC Trojans VS #6 Penn State Nittany Lions - On ABC at 1pm est


If you want to see how we got here you can check out the Round 1 Results or the Round 1 Match Ups at the links given.

Who wouldn't want to see all these games????

For those of you who absolutely love the bowl system and think that a playoff would ruin everything, not to worry. You can catch the St Petersburg Bowl featuring South Florida VS Memphis game on ESPN OCHO at 2:30pm or the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl featuring Hawaii (what, really, Hawaii in the Hawaii bowl) vs Western Michigan at 7pm est. I'm sure those will be riveting games! Me, I'll stick with the playoffs.

2008 NCAA Football Playoffs Round 1

Last week I posted what the tournament bracket would look like. This week we'll take a look at how those game would have gone (in my mind) and what's on tap for this coming week.

This is all, of course, IF we had a playoff. Now, you certainly can disagree with my picks, who I say wins the games andall of that. What I hope you agree with me on that all these would be great games and December would be a hell of a month of football if we had a 16 team playoff. If you think I'm crazy with some of my upsets, just plug your team back in there and look, no matter how you slice it there would be some great matchups for us to enjoy.

#1 Alabama VS #16 OREGON DUCKS - Ducks win 45-28

#2 Florida vs #15 Georgia Tech - Florida wins 35-21

#3 Texas vs #14 Oklahoma State - Texas wins 24-17

#4 Oklahoma vs #13 Cincinatti - Oklahoma wins 59-13

#5 USC vs #12 Ball State - USC wins 49-3

#6 Penn State vs #11 TCU - Penn State wins 28-17

#7 Utah vs #10 Ohio State - Ohio State wins 31-14

#8 Texas Tech vs #9 Boise State - Boise State wins 45-42

What a great week, couple of blowouts and a couple of upsets.

2 Contradicting Scenarios in the BCS

This my be a little early because it's not announced yet but it would appear as I type this Sunday monring that we will see a Florida vs Oklahoma National Championship game. This will be a great game and I think both of these teams are deserving. But let's look at the arguments that got them into this game. In both of these scenarios 1 truth that has been a constant always remains. IF you are going to lose a game, lose it early! Loosing games late in the season is the death touch.


Head to Head or Better Season?

Oklahoma was in the Big 12 Conference Championship based on thier BCS ranking which has factored in big wins, normal wins, losses, points scored and blah blah blah. Even though Oklahoma lost to Texas head to head the computers and the Sooner fans are quick to point out that thier big games, specifically Texas Tech, they looked better than Texas and had a better Season.
Season Notables -

• Head to head was won by Texas.
• Texas Tech - Oklahoma won big. Texas Lost.
• Oklahoma with a much bigger overall win but if you look at the halftime scores both schools were easily winning the game. OK was up 48-7 and TX was up 35-0 at the half.
• Kansas - Texas 35-7 or Oklahoma 45-31
• Texas A&M - Texas 49-9 or Oklahoma 66-28
• Baylor - Texas 45-21 or Oklahoma 49-17
• OK State - Oklahoma 61-41 or Texas 28-24
• Texas Tech, who lost to Oklahoma but beat Texas was never even involved in this discussion, like it never happened? Tech beat Kansas by 42. Tech beat OK State by 36. Beat Baylor by 7. Beat A&M by 18.

So.....You've got 3 'bigger' wins by Texas ad 3 'bigger' wins by Oklahoma. What's a conference to do. They turn to the wise and wonderful BCS who says that Oklahoma is the better team. Case closed, end of story, no further discussion needed. Hey, Texas Tech had a couple good quality wins in there as well? Why no respect for them?

In this conference the better season won out.

Florida beat Alabama last night in the SEC Championship game. More than likely it will be announced that they are selecting Florida to play for the title. In this conference the 2 best teams in the conference happened to play. Unlike the Big 12 where the #4 team (Mizzou) got in because all the power was in the South.

Notables -

• Florida beat Alabama head to head 31-20.
• Alabama's only loss was to the #4 school in the nation. Florida lost to an unranked team.
• Alabama beat the team that beat Florida.
• Tennessee - Alabama won 29-9, Florida won 30-6.
• Georgia - Florida 49-10, Alabama 41-30.
• Arkansas - Alabama 49-14, Florida 38-7.
• Kentucky - Florida 63-5, Alabama 17-14.

So again we have both with great seasons. One could make compelling arguements for each team. But, if Florida is announced to play for the title today the team with the best season (Alabama) will not win out like in the Big 12.

I say it all the time and I'll say it again. Don't each and every one of these teams deserve a shot at a title? Don't we as fans deserve to see all those various match ups?

OK Fans - Wouldn't you rather Texas get beat in a playoff so you don't have to hear "we beat you head to head and we should have been there" for the rest of you lives?

FL Fans - Same question. Alabama fans will say "we had a better season, you lost to an unranked team".

All valid questions. All with the same answer - PLAYOFFS!

So what do we do with the season if there is a playoff?

There would have to be a couple changes made in the season to accomodate a playoff.

#1 - I think the season should be reduced by 1 game. Get rid of one of the cupcake games EVERY team plays. Have a scrimmage, it's not too much different.

#2 - Conference Championships - Either everyone does one or no one does. I don't particularly care which. I'm more concerned with the National Championship, not the conference.

#3 - Preseason Rankings - Scrap em! There is absolutely no point in preseason rankings, they are ridiculous. Let's take a quick gander at the SEC this year.....Preseason had Auburn, LSU and Tennessee way up in the rankings and Alabama no where to be found. TN just had their worst season ever, Auburn lost to Vandy (I was at that game, it was the worst coaching job ever on Auburns part.) and LSU fell apart. Don't rank anyone until week 6 or more.

Arguments against a playoff?

#1 - The kids need to be in school. ANSWER - Yes, they do. But every other level of college has a playoff. Am I to understand that Div 2 and NIAI kids are so much smarter than DIV 1 kids that they can handle it? Also, Basketball has a schedule a lot longer, more games. Those kids manage.

#2- A playoff would mean too many games. ANSWER - If the season were cut to 11 games, 10 if every conference wanted a championship game, only 2 schools would play 15 games. 4 teams would play 14 and 8 would play 13. Schools that go to bowls currently play 13 games so really not a whole lot of difference.

#3 - The BCS Bowls rake in a ton of money. ANSWER - Are you F'ng kidding me, you don't think a playoff would rake in much more money for schools, ratings and sponserships. That's ridiculous. How many more people watch March Madness. December Chaos would be a cash cow.

#4 - 16 teams is too many, it should just be 4 or maybe at the most 8. ANSWER - 16 teams is the right answer for me. It allows for the teams like Ball State and Utah who go undefeated. It also allows room for the power conferences like the SEC, Big 12, Pac 10 to send 2 or maybe even 3 teams depending on the year.

#5 - If you do 16 shouldn't you include ALL the conference champs? ANSWER - NO. This year Ball State is undefeated and they've earned a shot in my mind. But if they had 2 losses and won the conference they more than likely wouldn't be ranked at all. So no.

#6 - A playoff wouldn't change anything, people would still bitch. ANSWER - People will always bitch about thier team being better and all that wasteful crap. But noone will be able to say 'we got screwed'. TX, AL, FL, OK, Texas Tech, USC, Penn State and yes even Utah, Boise State and Ball State- All the undefeateds and 1 loss teams, only 2 can play for the championship. No matter how much you slice it up and argue about it, SOMEBODY IS GETTING SCREWED! (it's us, missing all these awesome games)

#7 - What about the other 60 teams that play in bowl games. ANSWER - Let them play, I don't care. You can have another tournament or two like the NIT or still keep all the Emerald Nut Bowls you want.

2008 NCAA Football (NIT style tournament)

Edit - Just for the record. Outside of the 16 team tournament for the National Championship I don't care what happens. If there is another tournament or 40 bowl games it doesn't matter. I just want the AP Poll 1-16 Tourney.

So in the other post we have the top 16 ranked teams based on the AP poll. We cn also have an NIT that features teams 17-32. I'm sure you will have to twist an arm or two, but us boys will watch.

Since the AP only goes to 25 I used the next top vote getters to fill in my 16 team bracket.

#17 - Georgia vs #32 - Rice
#18 - Boston College vs #31 - West Virginia
#19 - Missouri vs #30 - California
#20 - Brigham Young vs #29 - Florida State
#21 - Michigan State vs #28 - Tulsa
#22 - Mississippi vs #27 - Virginia Tech
#23 - Pittsburgh vs #26 - Iowa
#24 - Northwestern vs #25 - Oregon State

Still a pretty solid tourney, I'd watch. There are some good football matchups in there, plus down the road a few weeks you would have some pretty good games.

NCAA 2008 Playoff, College Football Playoffs

This is what we college football fans should be enjoying during the month of December. We're not, of course, because the computer system run by the BCS is so wise it doesn't need to be bothered by 4 weeks of good football, it just picks the best 2 teams and they play. That is a National Championship.

My playoff bracket will be based on a few simple assumptions.

1 - It will not include any of the Conference Championship games.
2 - It will be based on the November 30th AP Poll top 16 teams.
3 - It's a 4 week tournament, reseed at the end of each round.
4 - Semi-Nuetral (Regional) fields. This way some of the smaller bowls could still get their revenue. Similar to NCAA Basketball. (Could even do some double headers, who wouldn't want that?)


Here's Week 1 Matchups - Saturday December 6th, 2008

#1 - Alabama Crimson Tide vs #16 - Oregon Ducks

#2 - Florida Gators vs #15 - Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

#3 - Texas Longhorns vs #14 - Oklahoma State Cowboys

#4 - Oklahoma Sooners vs #13 - Cincinatti Bearcats

#5 - USC Trojans vs #12 - Ball State Cardinals (poor Ball State!)

#6 - Penn State Nittany Lions vs #11 - TCU Horned Frogs

#7 - Utah Utes vs #10 - Ohio State Buckeyes

#8 - Texas Tech Red Raiders vs #9 - Boise State Broncos


How many of you guys would sit around all day and watch this thing unfold?
How much money would these schools, the sponsers and the stations make just in this round alone?

Don't forget we'd still have a #17 - #32 NIT style tournament, that would have some great games as well. I'll post that one later.



What if the NFL had a BCS? Here are the last 8 Super Bowl winners and whether they would have represented their conference in the Superbowl under the BCS.

2008 - New York Giants - BCS would have had the Cowboys.
2007 - Indianapolis Colts - BCS would have had the Chargers.
2006 - Pittsburgh Steelers - BCS would have had the Colts.
2005 - New England Patriots - BCS would have had the Steelers.
2004 - New England Patriots - Patriots would still be there.
2003 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers - BCS would have had the Packers.
2002 - New England Patriots - BCS would have had the Steelers.
2001 - Baltimore Ravens - BCS would have had the Titans.
2000 - St. Louis Rams - Rams would have still had it.

So only 2 of the last 8 years would the BCS computers have picked the correct Super Bowl winner. 25% of the time. That's terrible.

We need a playoff in College Football, period.

Rounding out the top 16.

In the previous post I discussed 10 teams that had a pretty legitimate argument to be able to play for a National Championship.

Please keep in mind when I mention teams like Ball State, Boise State, Utah and the 6 that I will bring into this hypothetical tournament are not in there because I feel like they have a chance. Some of these teams would more than likely get destroyed 80-3. My point and argument is that they deserve a chance.

Ask anyone on that Ball State team if they want to play a meaningless bowl game against some random 6-5 or 7-4 team or if they'd like a shot at AL or TX or OK or FL. I'll bet they's say 'bring it'. They had a great season. Sure they have a weak conference, but undefeated is still impressive. The BCS basically tells any school outside the Big 10, Big 12, Pac 10, ACC and SEC that the will NEVER play in a title game no matter how good they do.

So under my plan you take the top 16 teams in the AP Poll and let them duke it out in a 4 week tournament. You could still play all the meaningless bowl games, or you could have a #17 - #32 tournament and call it the NIT like they do in basketball.

So this year the last 6 teams in the tournament are......

#11 - 10th ranked Ohio State. At 10-2 they would pretty clearly be on the 'best of the rest' list. I think the Big 10 has been weak the past couple years (see the last couple National Title games) but Ohio State is a good team and they are better now than when USC trounced them early in the season. Watch out for Pryor, he's a good ball player.

#12 - 11th Ranked TCU. TCU will be another team that squeaks in there and it probably not as good as their ranking would indicate. If I ranked everyone I would probably give the nod to someone like GA, BC or MO. Overall better teams but we're playing within the rules here. Top 16 out of the AP poll. Besides, I don't think the argument for a GA, BC or MO would be so overwhelming that it would be a big deal.

#13 - 13th Ranked Cincinatti. Cincinatti will be going to a BCS Bowl game this year. It looks like they will get Boston College. A #13 vs a #18 for 1 of the top 5 bowls. THANKS BCS! That sounds like a terrific game. Again, heck of a season, put them in a playoff they will probaly loose in round 1. But don't play off the top ACC and top Big East teams as a top 5 bowl game.

#14 - 14th Ranked Oklahoma State. This is a pretty good ball team with early round upset potential. Take a look at their 3 losses. #1 ranked Texas, #2 ranked Texas Tech and #3 ranked Oklahoma last weekend. (all rankings durng the week they played them.) Too bad in this tounament they would be matched up with Texas.

#15 - 15th Ranked Georgia Tech. Another 'best of the rest' team. Had a good solid win over GA this past weekend. I like them in a tournament because I don't see them getting blown out, they may loose but I think they would put up a fight.

#16 - 16th Ranked OREGON!!!! Wahoo, my boys squeaked in and earned themselves a shot at Alabama in the 1st round. I think they will win. (something tells me that in my tournament Oregon wins the whole damn thing!!) With thier offense clicking they can and will put points on the board. I'm looking forward to a showdown in the holiday bowl with OK State.


I'm going to map out a playoff in the next couple days. I'm going to make it so that Oregon wins, (see the title of the blog!). While you may not agree with my outcomes, we can argue about those all day and night, wouldn't we all love to see all these match ups???


As Keyshawn would say. "Come on man."

Teams wth a clear gripe about a National Championship

In my opinion we have many teams who should be giving the CHANCE at a National Championship. A tournament of 16 teams would do just that. (not really in order of any kind of importance)

#1 - Alabama - Hey, they are undefeated at 12-0. They deserve a shot to play. I believe they will loose to Florida AND loose their shot to play for a title. If the SEC didn't have a Championship game Alabama would be in. The hypocracy of the BCS will shine through. If Florida (with 1 loss to Ole Miss who was unranked at the time) and Alabama (with 1 loss to #4 ranked Florida if that happens) both have 1 loss Florida will be a sure thing. Why? Because Florida lost early which is accpetable.

#2 - Utah - They are also undefeated. I personally don't believe they would beat anyone else in the top 10, including Boise State. But, they played the games and they won them all. They should have a CHANCE to play in a playoff.

#3 - Boise State - Same reason as Utah.

#4 - Ball State - Yes, even they should get a chance. A 16 team tourney would allow for that.

#5 - Texas - At 11-1 with 3 wins over top 15 teams they are pretty impressive. It looks like they will get passed by Oklahoma despite beating them earlier in the season. I personally think OK is better, but they did beat them on a semi nuetral site so what are you going to do? This argument can rage on for centuries, a playoff is the ONLY way for an OU and a TX fan to settle it. Let them both play.

#6 - Oklahoma - OU is also at 11-1 has plaed 5 Top 25 teams. (even though 1 of them was Kansas.) I think they will get the nod tomorrow in the BCS. Either way one of these great teams will not be playing for a national title. Although I cannot stand OK I think that they are 1 of the top 2-3 teams in the nation.

#7 - Texas Tech - Funny how no one is saying much about Texas Tech. Just like OU and TX they have 1 loss, they beat Texas. There is no 39-33 website to prove that Texas Tech should be the choosen team from the Big 12. Texas lost to a #7 school, Texas Tech only lost to a #5. Fantastic Offense with a lacking defense, but they are fun to watch.

#8 - USC - The team everyone loves to hate. 11-1 if they beat UCLA next weekend. You know that if there were a playoff environment USC would 'show up' to play. Great Defense, solid Offense.

#9 - Florida - I actually think Florida is playing better than anyone right now. AL is undefeated but FL, OK and USC are playing some GREAT football right now. If I had to pick a top 3 based on what I see that's the 3 I'd pick. Being a Pac-10 fan I try to watch as many Pac-10 games as possible. Living in TN pretty much forces me to watch every SEC game, they are always on.

#10 - Penn State - Coming from the Big 10 makes every skeptical over the past couple years. But my argument is that they deserve a CHANCE to play. Again, a 16 team playoff would do that. It looks like they are going to earn themselves a chance to be demolished by USC this year.

6 more spots open, tomorrow I will take a look at the AP poll and see who isranked 10-16. Ohio State, TCU, Cincy, Georgia Tech, Oregon and Boston College are likely. BYU and Michigan State could slide in there.

So who's getting screwed???? It's US!!

I actually heard on one channel tonight a commentator said he polled some people coming in and about 80% of people wanted a playoff. Well that tells me there are 20% of the people at that game with no brain in thier head. On another channel a commentator said the BCS was 'great' for college football and a playoff would ruin it. That man should be shot. No, a bullet is to much money to waste on that one!



If the BCS is so great, let's just have a computer program for all sports.

What if the NFL had the BCS???
The Giants would not have been in the Super Bowl last year. They were not on of the top 2 teams. It would have been the Cowboys or the Packers from the NFC. The same could be said for the Colts in 2007, the Steelers in 2006, the Patriots in 2005, the Buccaneers in 2003, the Patriots in 2002 or the Ravens in 2001.
That's right, in the 2000's only 1 team with the best record in the NFL has won the Super Bowl. Would college football be so different?

Trade March Madness for the BCS????
In NCAA Basketball the people who seed the tournament get 4 choices for a #1 team. Only 1 time, last year, have all of the #1 seeds made it to the final 4. If they can't pick 4 number 1 teams what makes us think they can pick the top 2 in football?

BCS in other divisions???
All other divisions of college football has a playoff. Arena football has a playoff.

Ducks have record breaking performance in Civil War

Tonight the Ducks whooped the Beavers 65-38. Everyone pitched in.

Quick stats -
Record - 65 pts against OSU, most they have ever given up.
Record - 693 total yards on offense.

Masoli - 11/17, 274 yards and 3 tds.
Johnson - 15 carries 216 yards and 1 td
Blount - 17 carries 112 yards and 1 td

Defense scored 14 points on 2 interception returns and held the Beavs to 84 yards rushing.

This may put the Ducks into the Holiday Bowl and a showdown with 11-1 Texas Tech. That game, if it happens, will have a whole lot of offense!

The not so Civil War

It all comes down to the Ducks vs the Beavers. As it always does in the Pac 10, rival week is the best. AZ vs AZ ST, USC vs UCLA, OR vs OR ST and this year CAL vs Stanford and WA vs WA ST came 1 week early. It doesn't get any better than this.

This year the Civil War has many implications. If the Beavers win they can go to the Rose Bowl for the 1st time in over 50 years. The Ducks would need to win and have USC loose, probably have to be a full moon and some kind of voodoo charm to make it to the Rose Bowl. But they can take 2nd and get a proably show dwn with Texas Tech. (I don't know if they want any of Texas Tech but if they win they will get some!) A Rose Bowl bid would give the Beavers a 2nd shot at Penn State who dominated them early in the year.

Overall The Ducks have a 55-46-10 lead over The Beavers. In the past 30 years the Ducks have been more imprssive with a 21-8-1. The Beavers have won the last 2.

The Beavs have home field advantage for this one and they have played well at home this year. Most notibly knocking off USC when noone expected them to. This will be a tough game all around.

The biggest question on my mind, as is every week this year, which Ducks team will show up? Will Masoli complete 30% o his passes or 70%? Will Jeremiah Johnson and Legarette Blount combine for 30 yards or 230 yards? The defense has big play ability, will they make a big play?

The Big 12 - Somebody's gonna get screwed this year!

Hard to deny that the Big 12 is having an outstanding year. Even SEC fans have to admit there is some big talent in the Big 12 right now.

As of today there are 3 Big 12 South teams in the Top 5. OK and TX both have 1 loss and Texas Tech remains undefeated. TT and OK will play in OK next week in a huge match up. I believe that OK will win that game, but obviously that remains to be seen. If OK does win the game and nobody looses anything else you will have a 3 way tie for 1st place.

So how does the Big 12 decide 3 way ties?

The 1st 4 Tiebreakers all have to deal with overall record (same), divisional record (same) and divisional record against the 4th, 5th and 6th place teams in that division (all three have beat everyone else). Since these will all be the same they will go to the 5th tiebreaker which is.......wait for it......The highest ranked team in the BCS poll. Fabulous! So if OK beats TT that will be a big quality win and throw them into a 3 way tie, my guess is that a win over TT will be enough to get the Sooners past the Longhorns in the BCS computer calculations.

Now, the Big 12 has a title game, OK (assuming my scenario above) will play Missouri for the title. What if MO wins? You will have the Big 12 champ, a #11 team in a better spot than OK, TX and TT. All who should have a better overall record. More than likely MO will not defeat any of the 3 teams from the South, they are not as good. But Chase McDaninel and company are good enough to win on any given day. So as they say, "That's why they play the games!"

Let's say OK, TX or TT go on to beat MO. That team will play for the National Championship more than likley. Let's assume OK. TX may then get a BCS bid but it's not garaunteed, and TT will be hung out to dry and not get any credit, they will be in a crap bowl for nothing.


PLAYOFF, PLAYOFF, PLAYOFF! We need it in college football.

Ducks over the Wildcats 55-45

The Ducks started out on a tear doing exactly what I asked of them, Masoli waswell over 50% completing 16 of 18 for 292 in the 1st half. Wait, who? Masoli? Uh hu. The defense also made a big play early when Patrick Chung returned an interception for a touchdown. The Ducks were up 14-0 in the 1st minute and 30 seconds. The Ducks dominated the 1st half and went into the locker room with a 45-17 lead. Now, apparently someone woke up Masoli, because the 2nd half belonged to the Wildcats. Storming back into the game the Wilcats made it close whe they had 45 to the Ducks 48. The Ducks did prevail and come a little bit closer to their season I'd hoped for.

If they can defeat The Beavers in 2 weeks they will take 2nd place in the Pac-10 and will have only lost to USC, CAL and Boise State. I'd love to have the CAL game back because we through it away, USC and Boise State are both in the Top 10 so those are definately losses I can live with. They have looked pretty ugly all year and if you watch the games it's pretty hard to imagine that the Ducks have the record they do, 8-3. They have a good chance to go in and beat the Beavers in 2 weeks, the Beavs are playing very well but the Ducks should be up for this game.

The Beavers loss to Stanford at the start of the season is turning out to be a big dissapointment for them, like the Ducks that seems to be their only bad blemish. OSU's other losses are to Top 10 teams, Utah and Penn State. If USC can squeak into a championship game or loose a game and the Beavers can get past the Ducks we could quite possible see a rematch with Penn State only this time it will be a more friendly environment. (While I am a die hard Ducks fan I really have never felt the hatred toward the Beavers, I often route for them outside of games with the Ducks!)

If, BIG IF, USC could manage to loose to UCLA or Notre Dame AND the Ducks beat the Beavers we could see a three way tie for 1st place. It's an outside chance but it is there.

Ducks VS Arizona

The Ducks will play their last home game this weekend as they host the Arizona Wildcats. Both teams have 2 conference losses and 3 losses overall. Oregon has played 1 more game so their overall record is currently a little better with the 1 extra win. Oregon still needs to find their offense, Masoli doesn't look comfortable and while I think Roper lead the team better Masoli brings the QB run threat and that's what the ducks are all about.

Last year the Wildcats handed the Ducks their first loss when SR QB Dennis Dixon went down with injury, with him the hopes of a run at the title went down. The Ducks will look to seek a little revenge for that loss. Brady Leaf had come off the bench last year but we never expected much out of him. Arizona lost to Stanford, who Oregon beat last week, but beat CAL, who Oregon lost to so this should be a close contest. Scoring offense for UA and UO are about the same so this shoudl come down to two things.

1 - Can Oregon find it's offense? the run game needs to be productive and Masoli has to complete more than 50% of his passes, I think he also needs to get a ball completed deep down the field early in this game to keep Arizona honest. He needs to start quick.

2 - The Ducks Defense needs to make a couple of big plays. They have a bend but don't break defense that is capable of creating a lot of turnovers, they will need to create these opportunities and help keep themselves off the field.

I'm still hoping for 1-1 out of these last to games and a solid bowl performance out of my boys. If they can win these last two games they will more than likely get 2nd place. Maybe 3rd depending on what CAL does. If they split they will end up 3rd or 4th and if they loose them both (which they are also capable of doing) they could be in for a 5th place finish.

Let's finish solid boys!

BCS

This is shaping up to be another BCS controversy, especially if Penn State goes undefeated and Boise State goes undefeated. PSU will definately get into the championship game if they are undefeated. If Texas Tech and/or Alabama manage to make it as well that will be huge.

Then you have the 1 loss teams. I beleive AL will lose at least 1 game so I think the bes 1 loss teams will be AL, FL, TX, TX Tech, OK and USC. Any of those teams are capable to beating another on any given day.

Penn State will take a top spot and Boise State will probably take another. Hell, Utah may creep in there.

It is going to be a big dissapointment for someone. I think USC, Texas Tech and Alabama are heading for a big let down by the BCS this year.

Barack Obama stated that he would like to see an 8 team tournament for the National Championship. I still think it should be 16, but an 8 would be nice.

Arguments right now for a 16 team VS an 8 team. (assuming you take teams 1-8 or 1-16)

16 would allow for those cinderella teams like Utah, Boise State and TCU a chance. I don't think they have much of a chance but it is a chance.

If you have 8 instead of 16 OK State, OH State and GA will be out. I think they are good enough to win given the right circumstances. LSU is 16th, I think they are good enough. I cannot make a logical argument for anyone outside of the #16 school. I feel I can make a good argument for a couple of the 9-16 schools.

16 Teams = 4 weeks. That is the difference between the last game of the season and the championship game. It just fits. It's like God made December for a college football playoff and we are denying him. (too much? Yeah you're probably right) :)

Who doesn't want a playoff? I hear people argue this point but no one ever says "hey I like the BCS and it's clearly the best system ever, I wish they had it in the pros!" Every year about this time I feel like a great college season gets highjacked by some computer nerds and we all get screwed.

Anyne who's ever played sports at a competative level will tell you....PLAYOFFS ARE DIFFERENT. They game gets a little faster, hits a little harder, passes a little crisper. Need proof? Watch the NCAA tournament, magic happens there every year. Football fans are missing out!

Ducks at 6-3

It's been a couple weeks. With the baby on the way and all the election stuf going on I've been out of circulation. In the past 2 weeks the Ducks are 1-1. With Stanford this week they wil then face Arizona and Oregon State. They are capable of going 3-0 in those games but with the way they have been playing I'm remaining conservative and hoping for a 2-1. This would be 8-4 overall on the season which is about where I thought they'd be. They have had quite a few ups and downs and the QB position is a rough spot. I guess the good news for me is that 2 of their losses are agains Top 10 teams. Boise State has been playing well and will more than likley end undefeated, good for them. They may end up with OK again in a bowl game. I don't think the out come will be the same as the last time they met. They lost to USC who is trying desperately to get back into BCS title contention, I don't know that thier schedule will support that. A Pac-10 team needs to go undefeated to get into the title game. Tough loss at Cal, the Ducks really should have won that game. Big oops plays in big situations and they shot themselves in the foot over and over. Play like that and you do not desreve to win.

I will be happy with an 8-4 season AND a good bowl performance. All the QB's are young and will get better. I'd rather have a 9-3 AND a good bowl performance for the seniors on defense who have played so well for us these past couple years. In particular Nick Reed and Patrick Chung.

Elsewhere in the league I was happy to see Mizzou lose 2 and get out of the top 10, they are a solid team but I think top 10 is stretching it. They will also lose the Big-12 Championship game to OK, TX or Texas Tech. OK State could get into that game but they still have 2 tough games ahead. Penn State looks like they will go undefeated. Althought I love Joe-Pa I think if this happens they will go the way of OH State and have a less than terrific game against FL, AL, TX, OK or on an outside chance USC. I think Texas Tech is a good team but they were lucky to beat Texas. They won't be so lucky next week when they travel to OK.

OR Defensive Lineman Nick Reed

Nick Reed, OR defensive lineman is an unasuming sight at 6ft 2in and 248lbs. But Reed has been a 3 year starter for the Ducks and now he's been named a Mid-Season all american. He's averaging 1.14 sacks per game and been on the watch list for the Walter Camp, Nagurski and the Lott this year.

Kudos to Nick Reed!


for more info go to Nick Reed

Ovverrated Teams

OK, this week 2 of my overrated teams lost. If you'll remember back on Septemer 14th I called both BYU and Mizzou overrated. Let's take a look at both these teams a little closer.

BYU - Bck on the 14th of September I said that BYU was about where I thought they should be, by mid October they had moved into the Top 10 which I think was ridiculous. This week, THANKFULLY, they lost to TCU. Last week I said that BYU would crush TCU, I really thought they would. Let's look at TCU's big wins; Southern Methodist 48-7), Stephen F Autsin (67-7) and San Diego State (41-7). I know your thinking "wow, that's a dam good list of college football powerhouses!" But I digress. BYU is a good team with a solid offense and I thought they would go undefeated this season, their only test was going to be against another overrated team, Utah. Now tey have lost and they wil not become a BCS buster unless there is turmoil in the Top 10. My only hope is that they still beat Utah and prevent them from being a BCS buster. That game takes place November 22nd. BYU lost to TCU 32-7. 32-7, that's not a joke. BYU lost to TCU 32-7. Is that the #9 team in the land? NO. Does anyone think that GA, Boise State, LSU, Ohio State or even MO (who I'm about to slam) would loose to TCU? NO!

Texas Tech, kudos to them for being 7-0 at this point in the season. They have 4 hard weeks ahead; KS, TX, OK and OK State. We'll find out about them soon enough. If they come out of the next 4 weeks 2-2 I'll be a believer. 3-1 and I'll be wrong about them. Again, a solid team but not #7, a Top 20? YES.

Mizzou - I think Mizzou is a GOOD team. Not a great one. It's not Mizzou's fault they were overrated, it's the damn sportscasters. A couple weeks ago Kirk Herbstreet said that Mizzou might not ever punt again this season. Unfortunately for the casual fan Kirk said this after Mizzou blew out the likes of SE Methodist, Nevada, Buffalo, Nebraska and Illinois. Now, Illinois was ranked 20th when the season began, but now they are 4 and 3. To me this is a prime example of the ranking system gone wrong. A team blows out their first 5 opponents but really who did they play? Is this their fault? NO! We should not rank teams untill a few games into the season. Mizzou's preseason rank, 6th. 6th? I think not. Mizzou will win their next 5 games and end up in the 10-20 range where they belong, a very strong 2nd tier team, not #6 as they started. As I stated last week, they should end up on top of the 2nd tier college football teams. Chase McDaniel is a good player, hopefully these back to back losses don't go to his head.

Boise State won again, I will point out that they 'should' go undefeated. Fresno State is the only team that should give them any trouble. But let's point out again that they played only 1 Top 25 team, and that was Oregon. Unfortunately,I have to admit, at this point, that Oregon without their number 2 QB was NOT a top 25 team. With Justin Roper the Ducks are a different team, luckily for the Broncos they didn't face the Ducks with Roper. (now you all should know by now I hate admitting any weakness for the Ducks!)

(a little piece of me died when I typed that!)

I thought CAL was going to be on the rise but a 28 point 3rd quarter against the Arizona Wildcats proved me absolutely wrong. They suck! (unfortunately if Roper doesn't come back they will probably beat OR!)

Top 25 2008 Week 7

My firm belief is that no polls should come out until 5+ weeks into any season. Often times teams are ranked based on their history. Notre Dame, for example, always seems to be looking like a powerhouse until the games are actually played. Since I love doing it I will also point out that the University of Tennessee was ranked in the teens this year before the season. They are just not that good.

I'm finally starting to feel like things are settling down. I'm pretty happy with the top 6 teams. TX, OK, FL, AL, Penn State and USC are all playing well and they are the elite of the country. They've all got some quality wins under their belt and they blow out who they should. Both USC and FL have a questionable loss to their name but I think in both cases it's not going to happen again.

When we get into that 2nd half of the Top 10 I'm still questioning BYU and Texas Tech. Take a look at BYU's schedule. There is no reason they wont go undefeated, their biggest challenge is against Utah the last game of the season. TCU only has 1 loss but BYU should crush them. BYU plays no ranked teams outside of Utah this season and they play no other ranked team but BYU. One of these two are going to squeeze thier way into the BCS match ups and get crushed. Texas Tech barely beat Nebraska this week and I think they are a little overrated right now. Unlike BYU we are going to find out about them soon enough. They have 4 straight games against ranked opponents when they face KS, TX, OK and OK State starting on the 25th. I can speculate all I want but we will find out about Texas Tech. I think Texas Tech comes out of those 4 gaems with 2 wins (KS and OK State) and 2 losses (OK and TX). OK State and GA I think are right where they should be. Maybe up a spot or 2 based on BYU and Texas Tech.

When we take a look at 10-25 I'm pretty happy. East Carolina and Auburn were on my overrated list last time back on September 14th and thank God they are now gone. Missouri is out of the top 10 where I thought they were ranked a little high. I think Mizzou is the best of the "2nd Tier" football teams. I think they get beat by most of the top 10 but no one else. I think we'll see Kansas slide down a little further, they have 4 ranked teams through the end of the season and I think they loose all those games and end with 5 losses. Utah and Boise State are a little overranked but I don't have a whole lot of heartburn over them just yet. Boise State should end undefeated, they play no one. Utah, I believe, will have a loss to BYU but that's it. In a few weeks when Boise is up in the top 10 I will rant about it, but for now they can enjoy themselves. As for the rest of them I think it looks pretty good. I think CAL's loss to MD early gave them a black eye, they will creep back up in the mix and if (big if) my Ducks can pull their heads out of their rears and beat them I will be very happy. CAL will more than likely lose to USC and maybe 1 more (come on Ducks!!!), they will work their way back up to near the top 10.

I have loved Vandy's run in the begining but I think they are going to start playing like Vandy again. Big win over Auburn and South Carolina but FL and GA will crush them. I'm hoping for a win over TN.

Oregon beats UCLA 31-24. (UT lost to UCLA)

For those playing the home game you may remember that UT was embarrassed on National TV 27-24. UT came in with homes of a run at the SEC and National title, UCLA quickly showed the country that it wasn't in the plans this year.

The Ducks made some changes this week. Coach Belloti has decided that highly sought after recruit Chris Harper would be better off as a wide receiver than a QB. Harper has seen a lot of action at QB but almost exclusively in the run game. Masoli (Soph) and Thomas (Frosh) have both been better through the air. I haven't heard yet if "permanant" means for the season or for his career. Everyone agrees that he is too good of an athlete to stay on the sideline so get him in while you can.

Roper will hopefully be practicing more and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a next week return. He was available this week but I'm glad they gave Masoli a chance. We may just need to do some rotating for a bit. This week off for Oregon should pay off in a big way.

We have got to find a passing game. As usual we were able to run the crap out of the ball, Masoli left a lot to be desired in the passing game. At the start of the 4th QTR Masoli had about 150 yards on right at 20 carries. This is a great job no doubt. But, what I saw in the 4th QTR made me sick. UCLA took a safety out of pass coverage and just had him basically sit and watch the QB, once Masoli ran there was Locket. On 1 occasion Masoli was able to absolutly level Lockett but I don't think it's going to take the rest of the Pac-10 long to figure out how to slow that run game down. If we can't manage some kind of a pass game we are through and my 9-3 hopes and dreams will be missed by a long shot! I haven't even started in on the receivers yet, the QB's have been so bad. My guys are still dropping balls and not making plays they should make. It's a wreck on offense right now. Since I live in TN I don't get to see many actual games, I was able to catch this game and I'm more worried than I was earlier in the week. If teams load up the box and put a spy on Masoli I think they will be able to slow the run game down enough to stop us from reaching the end zone. Over 300 rushing yards and under 50 passing yards is not what anyone would consider remotely balanced. 5 for 19 is not what you need out of your QB. I could keep going on here but I think you get the point.

The defense played well, not good or great. Good in the 1st half and not so good in the 2nd. We missed out on a ton of opportunities for big plays, I'm not exaggerating when I say we dropped at least 5 easy interceptions, maybe 2-3 others that would have been great plays. We have got to make the big plays. Our blitz packages were good and we were able to get to Craft over and over. We ended up with 6 sacks, Craft also rushed 15 times for 9 yards and many of those were forced scrambles that could have resulted in sacks but he was able to cross the line. Despite that Craft was able to light us up in the 2nd half and end with 288 passing yards. UCLA was only able to muster 62 rushing yards on 37 carries.

The 4th QTR hero was Legarette Blount with his awesome 69 yard run to pay dirt. This put the Ducks up 31-17 and sealed the deal. Although a nicely crafted UCLA drive late got them back to within a TD with 55 seconds left. The on-side kick came up short and Oregon won.


Overall I'm not happy with where the team is. We have to have a passing game, don't know if I mentioned that! ASU, AZ, CAL, Stanford and Oregon State are all better than UCLA in my opinion. If we play them like we played tonight we lose our last 6 games and go 5-7 overall (3-6 in the Pac-10). I'm serious about that, we need to play better!

Big day in the top 5

Oklahoma - Lost. I love it, I cannot in words describe how bad I hate Oklahoma, the team, the state and the musical!

Missouri - Lost. O-VER-RATED (clap, clap, clap clap clap) O-VER-RATED

LSU - smoked like a turkey. FLA killed them 51-21.

The top 10 will be shook up this week.



Oh yeah - Tennessee fans, your team is awful. 0-3 in the SEC and 2-4 overall. Everyone calling for Fulmer's head on a platter, what will happen next.

Ducks currently tied for 3rd in Pac-10

The Ducks are 6 games into their season and they are currently 3rd in the Pac-10.

The glass is 1/2 full- At 4-2 we are looking ok. I was hoping to get out of this season 8-4, maybe 9-3. The Ducks have a pretty ugly road schedule facing USC, Cal, ASU and our in state rival OSU all on the road. The defense looked solid early but has been giving up way to many big plays. Team leader Patrick Chung needs to make some kind of statement play or speech or something. They seem to lack intensity right now. I'd like to see some kind of gutsy performance out of him similar to last years big interception in Michigan. Chung didn't make the interception but he did motor down the field to pass the intercepter and make 2 huge blocks, both on MI offensive lineman. He knocked them both to the ground. The run game has been pretty outstanding but USC did expose the lack of throwing capabilities, with no respect given to the passing games teams can really tee off on our run game.

The glass is 1/2 empty - Jeremiah Johnson is not Jonathan Stewart and our QB's are not Dennis Dixon taking pressure off JJ. 3 of our wins, Utah State, Washington State and Washington come against schools that are widely considered in the Low 10. That would be the worst 10 teams in college football. So our win over Purdue, which we squeaked out in OT, is our big one. Since Purdue is only boasting a 2-3 record I'm not real proud that we had to squeak that one out. We are a wounded team. Rolling into games with your 3rd, 4th and 5th string rotating time is not a great formula for any team. This is the 2nd year in a row that we have played more htan 1 game with our 5th stringer. We gotta stay healthy!

The bottom line - We need to play a whole lot better. Our freshman and sophomore QB's are troopers getting in there and trying their hearts out, and I'm looking very forward to the future but they are not yet ready to be leading the ship. When the youngsters are in they have to make good decisions to run this sophisticated offense. They can all run, they need to focus on passing to open up that dangerous run game. Masoli has looked incredible at times, but has made some pretty scary decisions. He has a rocket arm and in another year I think he will prove to be a good one. Frosh Darron Thomas has been better than expected and Chris Harper can run the ball like no one. Both still need some work with the pass and with the system. I look for them to make strides in the future and be big leaders in 2-3 years. Those 2 may have some good competition in the years to come. Defensively we need to quit giving up those stupid big plays and get back to solid D.

This week we face UCLA, after their big home win over Tennessee (haha) they haven't done a whole lot. We should control this game and rack up some big yards in the run game. I look for coach Belotti to challenge the QB's and make them throw rather than take the easy road and just run all over the UCLA defense. That is not to say that I want him to do this at the expence of a win, but I'd like to see us sacrifice a big blow out to learn some lessons.

So at mid-season I still think the 9-3 is attainable, this will get us into a solid bowl game. Roper getting healthy would make that a lot easier. While I like the youngsters Roper has proven that he knows the offense and he is the guy to lead it this year. We have 3 tough road games left, the home games should be wins but teams like Stanford and Arizona do have upset potential, don't overlook anyone.

Ducks were Crushed!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Unfortunately for me the Ducks had to wander down to USC to play the Trojans the week after they were embarrassed by the Beavers on National television. The Ducks are also still in the QB blues with Roper out another week or 2. With no real pass threat the Trojans were able to key on the run and shut it down. Blount was held to 0 yards and Johnson had one of his worst showings yet. Oregon looked great in the 1st quarter as they tried to hand the Trojans it's 2nd loss in a row but USC woke up in the 2nd quarter and really dominated scoring 24 points in 15 minutes. The Ducks defense continues to give up to many big plays, they were supposed to be our strong point this year. I was hoping they could keep this one a lot closer than 44-10.

(at least the Ducks scored more points against USC than Ohio State did)

Oregon Ducks Tent outside Vandyville

Had a great time watching the Vanderbilt Commodores get it done against the Auburn Tigers yesterday. Vandy is now ranked #13 in the country.

On the way to the game I heard someone yell "Go Ducks." Not uncommon for my wife and I to hear that as I stroll through the crowd in my Ducks gear. That is typically followed by a couple of drunks yelling "F the Ducks" or the occasional "quack quack". So I did the typical wave and "Go Ducks" reply. Then I heard "Hey come have a drink at the Ducks tent." I turned around and sure enough, right before entering the Vandyville area there was an Orgeon Ducks tent put up. Duck chairs, Duck coolers, it was awesome. So the gentleman is a University of Oregon Alumn now living in TN. His wife just bought him the tent, cooler and chairs for his birthday and their anniversary. She's a UT alumn but we'll let it slide cuz she bought him some cool Ducks schwag. I'm terrible with names so I'm not 100% but I'm pretty sure his name was either Shane or Brian, but I could be wrong. We are going to have to form some kind of support club for the Ducks out here. Maybe we can order a delivery from Track Town Pizza. It's only 2372 miles away, we can make it work.

Everyone who sits in my section now refers to me as "the ducks guy", which is cool, I like it. Others ouitside our section still call me "a duck guy", we're going to have to work on this. I am and forever shall be THE Duck guy, not A Duck guy. I would like to point out that since receiving my 2007 Jonathan Stewart jersey for Christmas last year that the Vanderbilt Commodores are 5-0. I'm not going to sit here and take the credit but I do beleive some credit is due. I do know that the people in the upper level of section F will lynch me if I wear anything other than my Ducks jersey from here on out. I heard that no less than 7 times upon the end of the Auburn game.

WOW WOW WOW!

Vandy over Auburn - 14 to 13.

ESPN's college gameday came to Nashville for the 1st time to host the Vandy vs Auburn game. The place was alive today more than ever, Vandy is ranked and leading the SEC. Walking up to the stadium I ran into some tailgaters that are all from Oregon? Yes, it's true but more about that in another post.

I'll admit going into this game I was more than nervous about our chances, last year some friends and I went down to the Vandy VS Auburn game down there and watched Vandy get completely blown out. Vandy is undefeated this year but I really didn't think our O line or our D line could compete with Auburn's.

1st Quarter was pretty ugly, Auburn seemed to gain 12 yards on every single play that took place outside the 5 yardline. Vandy gave the text book definition of bend but don't break on Auburn's 1st drive by holding them on 4 straight plays from the 2 yard line. Ultimately Auburn would get into the end zone twice and completely dominate the 1st quarter. BUT. Big but, Auburn missed an extra point after their 2nd TD and that would prove to be the point that made the difference.

Vandy controlled the rest of the game, it wasn't a dominating performance but it was pretty clear from the start of the 2nd quarter through the end of the game that the momentum was turning and turning for the Dores. They were able to score 1 touchdown at the end of the 2nd Quarter and get 1 more to win the game.

Auburn - OK Auburn fans, you need to blame your coach. Let's walk through some football 101. 1st Quarter, 1st Drive Ben Tate carried the ball 8 times for 48 yards. Auburn drives right up the field using a bunch of power sweeps. Although Vandy scored to close the final 1st half score 13-7 Auburn's run game was still pretty dominant.
3rd quarter drive #1 - 2 incomplete passes and a 2 yard run. (not Tate)
3rd quarter drive #2 - 2 incomplete passes and a -1 yard run. (not Tate)
3rd quarter drive #3 - 3 incomplete passes.
Then, your coach pulled your QB in favor of Kodi Burns.
Now, it doesn't really matter who your QB was, the coach completely abandoned the run. Watching that 2nd half you would have thought Auburn was down by 21 points. It was absolutely ridiculous. Fast forward a bit to the 4th quarter.....
4th QTR drive #1 - Tate carries twice for 7 yards. Penalty and a sack = Punt
4th QTR drive #2 - Tate carries twice for 13 yards, 2 bad pass plays = Punt
Even on the 3rd drive of the 4th quarter Auburn could have stuck with the run, there was over 6 minutes left. Auburn was down by 1 point for most of the 2nd half and played like they were down by 3 touchdowns. For an Auburn fan that had to be tough to watch. As a Vandy fan, I loved it.

Now let's take a look at Vandy. Why are they starting Nixon? I like him as an athlete but when he drops back to pass he looks incredibly jittery to me, his mechanics are off because he's not setting his feet and not following his reads. He's jumpy and makes bad decisions. Adams looked more poised and I loved the teams emotion when he came into the game. Leaving Nixon on the bench would be a waste of a great athlete. I say put him in as the slot back, use him in motion a lot. You could run options from that, reverses, pitch pass, option pass and make a big impact in a not so great run game. The QB's did great running the ball but they use those QB keepers too much. I think Nixon in a slot role will open things up even more and allow Hawkins to gain some tough yards and chew up more of that clock.

Absolutely great football game. This could be Vandy's biggest win ever. They deserve to have their head held high. Enjoy that one fellas, you earned it!

Congrats to Oregon State and Ole Miss

To very big upsets in college football this week. Let's talk about the OSU boys 1st.

Oregon State over USC 27 - 21. That marks the 2nd trip to Oregon State in a row where they were way overmatched and managed to get a win over the mighty Trojans. Throw in the Ducks victory in Eugene over the Trojans last year and they have lost 3 years in a row in my home state. Since the begining of the 2006 season the Trojans are 2-3 against Oregon and Oregon State, they are 20-2 vs the rest of the county. I'll take that any day. Congrats to the Beavers and how can you not be impressed with 5ft 6in Freshman Jacquizz Rodgers rushing for 186 yards. Very impressive.

Ole Miss defeated Florida today 31-30. Big ups to Ole Miss. I went to Ole Miss last week with they boys to do a little gambling in Tunica and catch the Vanderbilt Comodores game with Ole Miss. Let me just say that the Ole Miss fans know how to party and they are great fans. Even wearing my green and yellow ducks gear I was welcomed in and given alcohol, something I never turn down. It was a great time. They had to make a lot of big plays including a blocked PAT late in the 4th quarter to knock off the 4th ranked team in the country.


Great job to both Ole Miss and Oregon State - Upsets of the week. (Michigan beating Wisconsin was a pretty good game also, overcoming a 19 point deficit in the 2nd half isn't easy.)

Oregon 63 Washington State 14

Oregon had a much better performance than they had in their last 2 outings, they also played 4 full quarters rather than spotting their opponent point in the 1st half.

Offense - While the offense did gain a total of 505 yards and score 63 points I'm still pretty worried about the passing game. Masoli, Harper and Thomas are all very young and mistake prone so even though the future looks bright right now is still scary. The run game was solid and has been a staple for us this year. 344 rush yards on 53 carries is a good day no matter how you slice it. Junior Legarrette Blount carried 15 times for 98 yards and 3 TD's while Senior Jeremiah Johnson carried 10 times for 88 yards and 3 TD's. We will need that next week going on the road to USC.

Defense - The run defense was outstanding again, giving up only 79 yards on 32 carries, most of that coming late in the 4th quarter. They did give up 191 yards in the passing game to a weak Washington State team. Overall we were able to create 4 turnovers during the game which will be key next week.

Almost at the 1/2 way point in the season and we are 4-1. I'd love to have that Boise State game back and be 5-0 right now but that's not the way we played. 3 of the next 4 games are going to be tough road games begining with USC next week. Home for UCLA (Don't overlook them, they beat TN early and seem to be playing a top 25 team every week this season.)and then on the road for CAL and Arizona State. I'm hoping like crazy that Roper is back for the USC game, we will need more of a passing game to stay with that team. Oregon and Oregon State have had a lot of success against powerhouse USC in the past couple years. Thursday nights upset marked the 3rd trip to the state of Oregon ending in a loss for the Trojans. Oregon will need to play a perfect game and match Oregon States high emotional performance to take that home USC crowd out of the game early and often. Our offense is capable of quick strikes and that is what we will need to do.

A big win today, but it was just Washington State so lets focus on the big game next week.

Ducks 1st loss of the season

Wow, 4 games into the season and we've lost 3 QB's. Not a great combination. The Ducks hosted unranked Boise State this weekend and lost their 3rd string QB to a concussion. The game looked pretty ugly for the most part. Our defense played a heck of a game but not enough to pull out a victory like we did last week over Purdue.

Defensive Team - The Ducks defense held the Broncos to 38 yards on 35 carries, pretty solid run D. Star running back Ian Johnson who averages over 5 yards a carry was held to 40 yards on 19 rushes. The pass defense was a little less stellar giving up the big play way to many times.

Offense - The offense spit and sputtered for most of the game, the running backs tried to hold the team together rushing for 227 yards on 52 carries but without a dangerous threat passing the ball the TD's were hard to come by. On the last play of the 4th QTR true freshman Darron Thomas replaced our other true freshman Chris Harper (0 for 3 with 2 interceptions) and tried to rally the troups. Thomas went 13 for 25 with 210 yards and 3 TD's in the 4th QTR alone. Giving us a glimpse of what our future may look like when these two guys get a little older and more comfortable. Roper will be out another week so it looks like we will be splitting time between a couple of people.

4 of our next 5 games are on the road and they include #1 ranked USC in 2 weeks, Arizona State in 4 weeks and CAL in 5 weeks. That is a tough road schedule and we'll have to keep it together and steal a win or two.

We need our QB's healthy!

Overrated Teams

It will be interesting to see the rankings this week, Ohio State will fall, but how far?

My top ranked overrated team is Missouri. Ranked #6 last week will at least move up 1 spot to take #5, I don't think they will break the top 4 just yet.

Let me first just state my problem is not with these teams or the kids that play for them. They have good records and are winning thier games, that is GREAT! The college football ranking system fails to take into consideration strength of schedule in many cases. They also use preseason rankings to determine the strength of schedule. While I give these kids all the credit in the world for what they are doing I don't want to see a horrible blow out in a bowl game like last year with GA and HI or USC and IL. Everyone wanted to se GA vs USC last year, that would have been a great game.

Why overrated?

They are 3-0 and the offense is clicking on all cylinders, I don't want to take that away from them. By the end of this season I believe we will see some record breaking numbers from this team. My problem is there schedule. They blew out South East Missouri State and Nevada. Big whoop. Like I stated with Oregons win over Utah State, good win, it needed to be big but lets not go making plans to a championship just yet.

Now, Mizzou did beat Illinois who is a ranked team. I don't think they will be ranked much longer, Illinois will get humiliated this week at Penn State. They will also loose to Ohio State and Wisconsin this year. They also need to watch out for Michigan, by the end of the year I think Illinios will not be making waves like they did last year.

Mizzou also doesn't really play anyone except Texas this year. Kansas is ranked but they are also overrated. The Texas game will show us a lot about Mizzou but I beleive we will see them lose that game and then lose in the Big 12 championship game, like they did last year losing to Oklahoma twice. If Mizzou ends up in a BCS game their fate will be like that of Illinois and Hawaii last year, a blow out. I think Mizzou is a solid 12-18 ranked team.

Kansas is my next overrated team currently at #13. They will drop into the high teens or 20's this week after their loss to South Florida. They also have losses coming up when they play Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Texas and Mizzou. They may pull out 1 of those games. Kansas had a cupcake schedule last year and made the most of it, thier road is a lot harder this year and we will see what kind of team they really are. They are a good solid team but not top 20 material.

#14 East Carolina will be dangerously close to the top 10 this week. They had solid back to back wins over ranked opponents but I think the #15-20 teams would all beat them. Their schedule is even worse that Mizzou's and if they win out they will probably end up right near the top 5 and get mopped up by someone in a bowl game. Unless they end up playing Mizzou, that may be a good game. I think East Carolina should barely be in the top 25.

Honorable mention. Auburn is a solid team but they are not playing like the #9 team in the country right now. If they continue to play the way they have the past 2 weeks they will get thumped by LSU, Tennessee and maybe even.....wait for it.....Vandy. (OK, Vandy certainly wont 'thump' them, but it could be a good game.) WAKE UP AUBURN! You are a good team, act like it.


So if those teams are overrated who should be in their place?

Penn State has been beating the crap out of people. I'm not completely sold on them because their strength of schedule is not great. In 2 weeks they face Illinois, I believe they will beat them and beat them good. Then you can see a team that faced both Mizzou (who won 52-42 in a shootout) and Penn State.

BYU looked bad against Washington and great against UCLA. They will more than likely go undefeated with their weak schedule so I think they are fight where they belong.

Oregon? I'm not going to say anything about Oregon they way they played this week!

I'll tell you what I'd like to see with rankings. I'd like to see everyone get 3-4 weeks into the season before determining the ranks.

Oregon squeaks one out

UGH! What a terrible game we played. Spotting a team 20 points in the 1st half on the road is never a good idea, neither is taking the 1st 1/2 off!

On the 2nd play of the game Purdue had a very nice 80 yard run to take the lead. The Ducks offense and special teams then decided to make it difficult on the offense by giving them the ball just outside the red-zone on 2 occasions. Oregon had to claw and fight their way back into the game.

The good news -

Defensively the game was not as bad as the stats would indicate. If you take away Sheets' 80 yard run he ran for 100 yards on 28 carries. Just over 3 yards per carry is a pretty solid day. The Ducks, along with some big wind, held Painter to 207 yards passing with a just over 50% completion percentage.

The Ducks were able to keep themselves composed and not let this game get away from them. I had a bad feeling going in to halftime that if the Ducks gave up 1 big play in the 2nd it woudl be over. They didn't give up a big play and created a couple of their own.

2nd stringer Legarrette Bount had another tremendous performance rushing for 132 yards on 12 carries and 2 touchdowns. Take away his big run of 72 yards and he still was 11 carries for 60 yards, just under 10 yards per carry. Jeremiah Johnson also pitched in rushing for 96 yards on 17 carries. Purdue's defense was obviously keying on Johnson the whole game so it was good to see Blount jump in there and help out.

The Bad News -

Justin Roper, the Ducks starting QB this season, was 2nd on the depth chart at the seasons begining. He was injured in OT and will be out 2-4 weeks. This means that 3rd string Masoli and 4th strip Harper (a true freshman) will take the snaps this upcoming week against Boise State.

Jeremiah Johnson also left the game in overtime, he seemed to be holding his hip. I don't ahve any word on what the injury is or if he'll miss any time but this is the 2nd week in a row Johnson has had to leave a game. We're already down to the #3 on our QB depth chart, we don't need to be down to #2 on the RB side.

Hopefully the Ducks have got there bad game out of the way and will go back to playing thier brand of football, if they don't they may have trouble with Boise State, let alone the trip to USC that is right around the corner.

It will not surprize me this week if they stay where they are or lose a spot in the polls, both Penn State and BYU dominated in their games and even those Arizona State lost I think those other 2 teams will slide past Oregon this week.

East Carolina Ranked 14 ?

The new rankings came out today and the East Carolina Pirates have moved all the way up to #14. They did have back to back wins over Va Tech (#17) and West Virginia (#8).

Here's my problem. East Carolina played 2 great games, now they are going to finish their schedule against Tulane, NC State, Houston, Virginia, Memphis, UCF, Marshall, S Miss, UAB and UTEP. If they can win all these games, which they should, they could go undefeated and end up in the top 5 -10. Are they really the #14 team in the country? Right behind them in the rankings are Arizona State, Oregon, Penn State and BYU. If East Carolina was hosting any of those teams would you bet on them? I wouldn't.

Some of these teams in the weaker conferences get past 1 or 2 decent games and play cupcakes the rest of the way. After Arizona State plays UNLV next week they will play #2 Georgia (home), # 23 Cal (away), #1 USC (away) and #16 Oregon (home). 4 Straight weeks, 4 ranked opponents. They also will play home against UCLA who just dropped out of the rankings for inactivity this weekend. Oregon has 3 ranked opponents coming up + UCLA. All ranked opponents will be road games. Penn State, 3 ranked opponents.

UCLA, who just dropped out of the rankings is scheduled to play 7 ranked opponents this season, they have a hell of a schedule. Their out of conference games are TN, BYU, Fresno State. After that they will deal with Oregon, Cal, USC and Arizona State.

I don't think I need to mention that pretty much any SEC team will be facing their fair share of top ranked opponents. Kudos to GA, AL and TN for going out of conference and facing some ranked competition. GA scheduled for 5 ranked opponents, TN has 4, AL has 4. Maybe TN would have been better suited to take a page out of LSU's book and play Troy, Tulane, North Texas and App State for thier out of conference games and they'd more than likely still be in the top 15. They took a risk and will pay the price. Last year they were able to crawl back in to the SEC championship. GA has taken a bigger risk in Arizona State, I think they will win but that is a big road game.

Last but not least the #1 team in the nation, USC. Out of conference they choose #5 Ohio State, Notre Dame and Virginia. Of course all these schedules are picked a few years in advance but no one on USC's out of conference schedule is a cupcake.

I aplaud East Carolina for thier great start, I just don't think they are the #14 team and I sure don't want to see them in a big bowl game if they win out.

Pac 10 Week 2

#1 ranked USC and #23 ranked UCLA - Idle

UCLA coming off a big win over the Tennessee Volunteers and USC is getting ready for their match up with #3 ranked Ohio State. I'll bet the USC coaching staff noticed that Ohio rushed for quite a bit on that highly recognized Buckeye defense. USC has 5 running backs better than Donte Harden who gained 63 yards on 11 carries. Oh yeah, USC's O line is just a tad bit better than Ohio's as well. If Ohio State plays the way they played last week this game will be extremely ugly. I'm confident that Wells will be back and that Ohio State will play their A game, I just don't think it will matter.


#15 Ranked Arizona State over Stanford 41-17.

This game went the way it should. ASU is a much better team and Rudy Carpentar looked good in it. He is a dangerous QB and people are going to have to find a way to get hm rattled early or he will find those WR's and put up some points. We will find out soon enough if Dennis Erickson has brought enough Swagger to the ASU Sun Devils, they have a match up with #2 ranked Georgia in 2 weeks.


#18 Ranked Oregon Ducks over Utah State 66-24

Again, this is what should have happened, Utah State more than likely wont win a game this year. The Ducks needed a blow out and they got one.


Unranked Washington losses to #15 Ranked BYU 27-28

Washington played their hearts out, came up a little short. BYU played a solid game but I do believe that Oregon and Penn State should and will pass them in the polls this week. Oregon whooped Washington and BYU could barely beat them.

The call - The unsportsman like conduct call was terrible. I'm not going to sit here and say UW got robbed or they would have won the game, it's just a shame that an official made that kind of an impact on this game. Yes, the rule says you can't throw the ball high in the air. But watch the replay, this is a 20 year old kid who just made the play of his career to put his team in a spot to win and he chuck the ball up in the air. This play is a fantastic example of what is good in college football, kids making plays and being happy about it. Let's say Locker (QB for UW) doesn't go pro, this game should be a great memory for him. Instead it's going to be the game he blew because he celebrated. HE WAS ROBBED!


Unranked Oregon State losses to Penn State 14-45

OSU wasn't in a position to win this game but I'd like to see this game be a little closer.


Unranked Cal blows out unranked Washington State 66-3

Ugly game for Wash State. Cal has 2 more blow outs coming up as they play Maryland and Colorado State before getting a challenge in Arizona State on October 4th.


Unranked Arizona over Toledo 41-16

A solid win for Arizona. The dominated the game and double Toledo in nearly every statistical catagory.


Overall I'd give the Pac-10 a 'B' rating for the weekend. Pretty much did what they were supposed to do. I would have loved to see UW pull it out and OSU at least put up a fight to the Nittany Lions.

Oregon Duck VS Utah State Aggies

Oregon defeats Utah State 66-24.

OK, 1st things 1st, Utah State could quite possibly be at the absolute bottom of division 1 football so that score looks exactly like it should. The Ducks needed a blowout and they got it. In years past the Ducks have slacked in games like this and played them a lot closer than they needed to. Last weeks 34 point victory over Washington and this week a 42 point victory is good to see.

The quick strike offense is back. In their 10 scoring drives 3 minutes 25 seconds was the longest. Here's a break down of the scoring drives.

Plays - Yards - Time
11 - 61 - 3 min 19 sec
10 - 83 - 3 min 11 sec
8 - 72 - 2 min 52 sec
5 - 73 - 1 min 19 sec
1 - 51 - 10 sec
7 - 39 - 1 min 45 sec (end of 1/2, this was their 1 field goal)
10 - 60 - 2 min 24 sec
3 - 46 - 47 sec
11 - 74 - 3 min 25 sec
7 - 80 - 2 min 25 sec

They scored fast and often racking up a total of 688 yards. The running backs teamed up on the Aggies for 408 yards on 53 carries, LeGarrette Blount had a breakout game with 18 carries for 132 yards while starter Jeremiah Johnson only carried the ball 1 time for 37 yards. Johnson suffered a shoulder injury on the 1st play of the game. Apparently his shoulder popped out, once they popped it back in he said he was fine but the trainers kept him out. Hopefully he is fine, when the tougher opponents come we will need him.

Justin Roper had a solid game completing 13 of 18 passes for 173 yards 1 TD and 1 INT. My focus is on the future and how Masoli and Harper performed. Chris Harper is a true freshman from Kansas City and was the 14th highest rated High School player last year. Most of the recruiting press this year has gone to stand out Terrell Pryor (Ohio State). Harper played the 4th quarter, completed 4 of 6 with 1 touchdown and ran 4 times for 25 yards and a touchdown. Masoli was 7 of 11 for 44 yards.

The defense was solid giving up 7 points in the 1st 3 quarters before surrendering 10 in the 4th. The Aggies also scored a touchdown on a Masoli fumble. In the 1st half the defense gave up 112 total yards, they would give up another 194 in the 2nd half. The Aggies were held to 88 rushing yards on 31 attempts, 2.8 avg per rush.

Overall it was a solid game, the Ducks were able to do a lot of work and get the ball into the hands of their key back up players to give them some real speed work. Next week we roll into Purdue who defeated Northern Colorado 42-10 last week.

Playoffs in College Football

This is an argument that has been discussed and discussed again. The bottom line to me is that NCAA Division 1 college football is the only major sport, men or women above a high school level that does NOT have a playoff. That is f'n ridiculous no matter how you slice it. The NCAA division 2 schools do a playoff. Are those student athletes just more capable? NO.

Here's my thought on how we should do playoffs. People say 4 team playoffs, 8 team playoffs.

I say 16 teams. Too much? No way.

Most teams take the month of December off anyway, fill those weekends! You could still have all of your meaningless bowl games. Take the top 16 teams by ranking and let them duke it out for 4 weeks. December Madness would be as great as March madness. Think of all the match ups.

Here's what last December would have looked like under my format. (based on week 14 BCS rankings)

1Ohio State Vs 16 Tennessee
2LSU Vs 15 Clemson
3 Virginia Tech Vs 14 Boston College
4 Oklahoma Vs 13 Illinios
5 Georgia Vs 12 Florida
6 Missouri Vs 11 Arizona State
7 USC Vs 10 Hawaii
8 Kansas Vs 9 West Virginia.


ROUND 2 (for this example we'll just assume all the higher ranked teams win)

1 Ohio State Vs 8 Kansas
2 LSU Vs 7 USC dream match up we missed thanks to the BCS
3 Virginia Tech Vs 6 Missouri
4 Oklahoma Vs 5 Georgia

Round 3

1 Ohio State Vs 5 Georgia (now way OK woudl beat GA last year.)
2 LSU VS 3 Va Tech

Championship -

LSU over Ohio State 35 to -7.

In my personal opinion Georgia would beat Ohio State and USC would have beat LSU. GA vs USC was the game I was drooling for last year. Instead I got to watch GA man handle HI and USC destroy IL. Way to go BCS, those were very interesting match ups.

So in this format who would be left out. Teams 17-20 were BYU, WI, TX, VA. Anyone think they'd have a right to complain?

Volunteers to the West Coast

2 years in a row the Tennessee Volunteers have gone out to the West Coast to pad their stats against a weak Pac 10 team. 2 years they've come home empty handed. Despite a frightening 4 interception 1st half the Bruins were able to pull it out.

Had UT won this game I would have had about 20 emails in my in box to tell me how awful the Pac-10 is, as it turns out I had none. I made 1 phone call to my good friend Matt to rub it in a little.

UCLA, UCLA, UCLA, UCLA

Vandy over South Carolina

Vandy's 1st home game was last night here in Nashville. I threw on my Oregon Ducks jersey, to the dismay of my fellow season ticket holder friends, and headed off to the game. We got out there early and did a little tailgating on Belmont, threw the pigskin around, played some cornhole. (Cornhole is the worst named game in the world)

On paper this looked to be an easy game for the #24 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks. Luckily for us the game is not played on paper. Vandy played with great heart, picked up some big plays when they needed to and took the game. The 1st half was tough to watch, the offense was terrible. If I hadn't been paying attention to the scoreboard I probably would have thought the game was 28-0 S.C. at the half. But Vandy made those big plays to stay within striking distance until the O found it's rythym. The 3rd quarter was great, Vandy went right up the field and looked unstoppable. After taking a 14 point lead the creative offense went right back in to 1st half mode and started being very predictable.

On a random note a guy 2 rows behind us went to Oregon State and his son was in a Beavers jersey. This could very well mark the 1st time that Pac-10 rival jerseys both ended up at an SEC game.