While Ducks play Buffs, Seminoles play all of us.

Lunch at Autzen. Saturday at 1:30. Buffalo Burgers.
Colorado has lost 23 consecutive road games. But don't let that fool you. They've lost some very close games.
They've lost six games in a row. But two were in overtime.
Statistically they're average, but not terrible. Out of 105 teams, they rank about 120th in scoring defense. But they try hard.
They'll lose to the Ducks, but not without putting up some sort of a fight. You know, like a wiggling salmon in a grizzly bear's mouth.

It'll be a successful day if Oregon just gets the win and stays healthy. Center Hroniss Grasu is out for at least this game with a slight leg injury. Tight end Pharoah Brown is out for at least this season with a clean torn off leg.
Mariota should just unleash to track champion Devon Allen about five times in the endzone, then retire to the sidelines before he trips on a dent in the turf and thrashes his knee. Thank goodness SI so far hasn't decided to put him on their wicked cover for the fourth time.

Pleeeeeze just staaaay healthy stay healthy stay healthy
stayhealthy stayhealthy stayhealthy stayhealthy stayhealthy.

Oregon is currently #2. Alabama leaped over them. Florida State slipped to 3rd because in nearly every game, they've had to come from behind to beat the girl scouts they play.

There's another problem with Florida State . . . .
FLORIDA SHAME UNIVERSITY

DEAR FLORIDA STATE,
 WE REQUEST THAT YOU STOP USING OUR NAME FOR YOUR FOOTBALL TEAM. IT'S NOT ABOUT INDIAN DISCRIMINATION. WE'RE JUST EMBARRASSED TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH YOUR QUARTERBACK.
SINCERELY,
SEMINOLE INDIAN NATION

FSU QB Jameis Winston was accused of sexual assault nearly two years ago. Two of his friends who were at the scene of the alleged crime were given a hearing in May. Winston was not. One friend was cleared, while the other was given one year probation for filming the alleged assault without the alleged victim's permission.

So there's a film of Winston assaulting the victim? No. It was deleted before investigators could see it.

Winston's hearing had been scheduled for November 17th to discuss four charges against him. I'm getting my info from The Sporting News Story, "Shame of Jameis Winston and Florida State: Football above all else".
Here they say,
Winston is accused of four violations of the code of conduct; two considered "sexual misconduct" and two "endangerment." Punishment for any or a combination of the four ranges from probation to expulsion.
There's also the very real possibility that Winston could be charged with the lesser of the four violations — sexual misconduct defined as "conduct that creates an intimidating, hostile and offensive environment for another person" — and still play the remainder of this season

A letter of reprimand might be the hammer of justice in that case. The idea was he would have that hearing in front of a former Florida State Supreme Court judge (which wouldn't surprise me at all if that meant a Supreme Court judge who graduated from Florida State). The judge would then take up to 10 days to decide, or more if needed for "additional consideration of evidence and deliberation".

In any event, that would still leave time for a decision that allows suspending him from future games including their game against Florida on November 29th, the ACC Championship December 6th, the final College Football Playoff selection on December 7th, and of course the playoff and champion games to follow.

Guess what? His lawyer asked for an extension because he hadn't gone through all of the evidence yet. Here was Florida State's chance to say that two years was plenty enough time, and the matter at hand was more important than football.

Guess what? Free Shoes University granted the extension and set the new date for December 1st. That means that a decision doesn't have to be handed down until December 11th at the earliest, long after the regular season is over and the four playoff teams have been selected.

Life is good for the Winstonator.

But wait, there's more! Don't forget about the appellate process after the decision has been made which can be scheduled who-knows-how-long into the future. To sum it up, Jameis Winston is going to play every game whether he's a rapist or not. Florida State is seeing to that.

To make this a bigger pile of BS, this alleged crime -- although plenty bad enough -- isn't the only thing he's being investigated for. In his October 30th game against Louisville, Winston had a bad first half. A TERRIBLE first half. Two interceptions and less than 50% of passes completed -- one of his worst halves ever. Florida State trailed 21-0 going into the locker room.

One Winston fan was happy about it though. A high school classmate and family friend of Winston's bet a whopping $5500 that his buddy's Seminoles would trail in that first half. He won $5000. And magically, Winston improved tremendously in the second half and won the game.

The question to ask here isn't "Did Winston actually sexually assault that woman?" or "Did Winston shave points in a game?"  And the question isn't "What is Florida State's position in all of this?" We know that answer already. FSU has no shame.

The question I have is "Where is the NCAA?" Why aren't they outraged? The NCAA, who gave Joe Paterno the death penalty -- he literally died from their sanctions -- when they stripped Penn State of hundreds of wins. This same NCAA who stripped Ohio State of an entire season of wins including a Sugar Bowl victory when they determined the great QB Terrelle Pryor had sold football memorabilia and driven several nice cars that he didn't buy. Why aren't they raising any kind of concern over how these "investigations" are being conducted.

The part that leaves a bad taste is that those wins by Penn State and Ohio State, including bowl wins, were vacated. The trophy didn't go to the losing team. It was just taken away, forever to be a blank spot in the history books.

These investigations on Jameis Winston won't amount to anything until months or years after this season is over, long after he has bolted to the NFL. And yet why doesn't the NCAA see the hand writing on the wall that this could end badly? Why are they not upset that the first College Football Playoff -- their first attempt at making us forget all about the BCS -- could end with vacated wins? The chances are disturbingly high that a Winston-quarterbacked FSU team could make a mockery out of their inaugural new playoff system.

How does that affect the other three teams? What does that do for the #5 team sitting on the outside while Winston plays?

It seems to me that the NCAA president Mark Emmert would very much want to avoid "vacates" (Vacancies? Vacations?) of major bowl games including and especially THE Championship Game. It smashes the remainder of college football's already dented credibility.

[CLICK HERE FOR A TOUCHING LETTER ON SEXUAL VIOLENCE BY MARK EMMERT]

Why doesn't he see the train wreck coming and order FSU to hurry up instead of delaying these investigations? Or better yet, why doesn't he tell FSU and other teams that players cannot play while investigations are under way for certain heinous crimes? 

Which crimes? Off the top of my head, sexual assault and fixed gambling come to mind as two pretty good examples.

If December turns to January and Winston is still playing football, the shame belongs to the whole system.

Colorado at Oregon game time: Saturday, 1:30 pm on the Pac-12 Network.
If you still don't get the Pac-12 Network, drive to your nearby television channel provider. Ask to speak to the supervisor and KICK THE BASTARD IN THE NUTS!!!

--kb