The Dramatic Finish

One of the things I love about sports is when they take on the form of artful drama. A plotline develops to create suspense.

Ready for the Ducks to meet Alabama, I was so prepared to draw out the plot on top of subplot built around character development. Nick Saban, on record for not being a fan of the hurry up offense, would meet the fastest offense he had ever played against (Everyone can stop saying that Auburn is faster because they're not.) Saban and Alabama represented the SEC. The antichrist of college football, placed on their perch of power by the false prophet, the BCS.

We know today it was false because on December 7th when the four playoff teams were set, they ran the pseudo BCS matrix alongside the present program. The BCS had Florida State and Alabama ranked as the respective 1st and 2nd highest teams in the nation.

Those two teams are gone now. And it makes us wonder about every previous season dominated by the SEC. What if they were asked to play just one additional game before the championship?

Anyway, I digress. Where was I? Oh ya. Alabama. Saban. Antichrist.

I was more than ready to make a prediction of an Alabama/Oregon contest based on a highly technical X and O analysis.

GONNA RIP OFF THE TIDE'S ARMS AND LEGS
AND THEN BEAT THEM OVER THEIR HEADS WITH
THEIR ARMS AND LEGS!!!
(I like Hulk Duck. Think he might stay around awhile.)

But alas, Saban didn't have to face the Ducks speed. Ohio State's offense was plenty fast enough.

Now we have Oregon and the Buckeyes -- two teams that get each other, even appreciate each other. Urban Meyer liked and bought in to Chip Kelly's "Win the Day" mantra. He has his team training fast and hard. Unlike Saban, Meyer embraces the changes in college football. Where's the drama in that? 

The Bucks are good. Cardale Jones, their THIRD STRING quarterback, is scary good. This is only his third start. Yet, up to now he seems unflappable. His passes are deadeye perfect.

Ohio State has its routine roster of top level players. And these guys are all buying in to Meyer's version of Win The Day.

To pick apart this contest, I've arrived at the following:

WHEN THE BUCKEYES HAVE THE BALL
They're going to score. (As the brilliant and wise Jameis Winston would say, "We all just need to sit down and be real with ourself about that right now.") They have the players. They can move the ball. Oregon's job will just be to make them score fewer points than their own offense.

One thing the Ducks definitely have in their favor is turnovers. D-coordinator Don Pellum's thing has been to up the number of take-aways. His team was doing well enough through the season, but they really came on in the post season.

Ohio State is down three in give-aways to take-aways. Oregon is plus 11, making them the best in the country.

WHEN OREGON HAS THE BALL
Below is a highlight video of the Sugar Bowl. I invite you to see it and see if you see what I'm seeing.  In this and other Buckeye videos I have seen, I've noticed that when the opposing quarterback goes back, Ohio State's defensive ends seem to get real eager for a sack.

They will press inward and collapse hard on the pocket. And what you'll see is a lot of green pasture on the outside. I look at that and I say, "Hmmmmm. . . . . I wonder if Mariota is noticing that same thing when he's studying film?"


Ohio State can watch all the film they want of Mariota. But until it happens, they have no idea of the third degree scorching MM will give them on second and five or fourth and one when he pulls the ball out of the RB's hands and swings outside.

Be watching for that.

Getting back to my enjoyment of a dramatic plot. I was having trouble finding one . . .

AND THEN SOMETHING STUPID HAPPENED
Oregon WR Carrington fails drug test, ineligible for title game vs. OSU

Say it with me. STU-PID...STU-PID...STU-PID...STU-PID
STU-PID...STU-PID...STU-PID...STU-PID...STU-PID...STU-PID.....

These are teenagers, mind you. And teenagers are often stupid -- not that adults are much smarter. It's just a shame that it ended up being the most successful receiver in the Rose Bowl.

Combine the loss of Carrington with the loss of Devon Allen in the Rose Bowl, TE Pharoah Brown, Heisman winner Marcus Mariota suddenly has fewer targets to throw to. His brilliant throwing ability is only as good as his capable corps on the receiving end.

But if you were to ask the Ducks about the loss of Carrington, like so many reporters did at the latest press conference, you'd find that they don't even blink.

A couple of excerpts from this Oregonian article. . . .
"Nothing in our preparation has really changed because of the tempo of our practices, we probably rep eight guys each practice,"[Receivers Coach Matt] Lubick said. "A lot of guys who are redshirting even take reps with the ones and twos just because the tempo and the number of plays we get."

In some ways, the limited depth at receiver has helped Oregon because it's developed a need for versatility. Every receiver knows how to play each position, freshman Charles Nelson said, enabling a seamless season of plug-and-play.

"There are parts and pieces that everyone can put together to do what (Carrington) does and has done," Nelson said. "With him out we're just going to throw somebody else in there and make plays as always."

Oregon has Keanon Lowe and Dwayne Stanford back from injuries, add Nelson, BJ Kelly, Chance Allen, Jonathan Loyd and Bryon Marshall -- all of these guys are playmakers. Nelson isn't kidding when he says they can just throw somebody else in there.

Meanwhile, back in the land of nuts, this headline appeared from USA Today BEFORE news of Carrington was learned. . . .   
Ohio State secondary believes it's the first key to success vs. Oregon
In that story . . . .
Mariota also will be the third consecutive Heisman Trophy finalist that the Buckeyes have faced. They've shut down the other two (Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon in the Big Ten title game and Alabama's Amari Cooper in last week's Sugar Bowl) and now face the Heisman winner himself.
"Marcus Mariota, the man is smart," says Ohio State safety Tyvis Powell, who grabbed the interception against Alabama in the game's final seconds. "He makes the right throws. … I feel like the game will be won or lost in the secondary."

They were already planning to battle against Mariota's arm. But what of this glorious news of the moral weakness and failure of the will of one of Mariota's finest receivers?

OHIO STATES REACTION ON HEARING CARRINGTON WAS INELIGIBLE


To the Buckeyes credit, I believe they are entering this game eyes wide open. They respect Oregon, unlike Florida State ("We can handle Oregon. We played Georgia Tech.").

Even though they train in a similar style, they still know that Oregon's speed and pace is legendary. I laughed at this quote from Buckeye linebacker Raekwon McMillan about the irrelevancy of exactly which players are playing at Oregon's relentless pace.

"They like to run around you and make you tired and hit you when you're least thinking about it," McMillan said. "When your mind is going and you're thinking about your fatigue they'll hit you on deep balls and stuff like that. "We have to keep our composure and just not think about fatigue."

Hey McMillan, when you say "not think about fatigue", you're thinking about fatigue. The game hasn't even started yet and you're already thinking about fatigue. So don't think about fatigue. I said don't think about fatigue. You know fatgue? Ya, don't think about it . . . . . fatigue, I mean.

FIRST WE SING. THEN WE BATTLE.
Over the years, I have often found and posted a motivating video with images of hard hitting, charging Ducks to the tune of some pulse pounding music.

Now the Ducks have arrived at this first true and legitimate National Championship. And this time, they're not just happy-go-lucky and glad to be here. This time, Oregon is the team of destiny. We can see how every victory and defeat of the past has led to this moment. Dan Fouts, Chris Miller, Bill Musgrave, Danny O'neal, Joey Harrington, Kellen Clemens, Dennis Dixon, Darrin Thomas . . . . They all gave their lives for this moment. . . . . . .

What? . . . . Oh sorry. I was watching a movie about medieval knights attacking a castle while writing this.* Too much drama perhaps.

Where was I? Oh ya, the perfect song. I found this.


NCAA National Football Championship. Oregon vs. Ohio State
Monday, January 12, 2015. 5:30 Pacific. ESPN

Go Ducks. Let's do this. Get the championship.
We'll talk on the other side.

--KB

*I know what you're thinking, and you're wrong. The movie was NOT Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Think you wanna play Oregon?

UCLA was up 7-0, they had just stopped Oregon on their second consecutive drive. The Bruins owned the momentum. Facing 4th and 14 on their own 25, the Ducks were forced into only one choice:

Proof that if you bring the Ducks to their knees, they'll punch you in the gonads.

While this brilliant special teams play sparked the offense to their first score, the talk of the game was the defense.

Nick Aliotti, after cussing out Washington State for continuing to pass with their first string in the closing minutes of that game, took a different approach in this game. Yes, UCLA's QB Brett Hundley was still slinging away in the fourth quarter, but in the end he only netted 64 yards passing for the game.

Oregon's coaches noted that their players were even more eager to get back out on the field in the second half than at the start. In this story by goducks.com Rob Moseley, the players talked about shutting out UCLA for the second half.

Ducks couldn't wait to get their hands
on Bruins in the second half.

Oregon got matched in the first half. They were squarely faced by the Bruins. But they came out in the second half eager to pretend the first half never happened. If the first half was a nightmare, the second half was tying Freddie Kruger to a cactus and beating him with rubber hoses.

Stripped.

Oregon's incredible taking of a punch and delivering back a wallop was an impressive show of resilience and dominance. So it surprises me when I read misinformed ignorance like this:

BAMA BRAINIACK
AL.com (All Alabama!) writer Kevin Scarbinsky (That's a stupid name. How can you take any writer seriously with a name like Kevin?) wrote the following about which team Alabama might prefer to play in the Natty.

Live at 9 with Kevin Scarbinsky: Alabama wants Oregon, too, not FSU

Oregon wants Alabama. We get it. When the Duck fans aren't chanting it at their games, they're printing T-shirts with that slogan.
But what about Alabama?
What, or more precisely, whom does the Crimson Tide want if they run the table to earn one of the two spots in the BCS Championship Game?
Alabama has to want Oregon, too.

If the choices are Oregon or Florida State, the two teams who've swapped the No. 2 BCS ranking behind Alabama the last two weeks, it's no choice. Give the Tide the Ducks.

Why? Florida State has a much better chance to man up to Alabama.

FSU has SEC-style talent on both sides of the ball, including up front. FSU has a special quarterback in Jameis Winston who doesn't get rattled in big moments.

FSU has a head coach in Jimbo Fisher who's worked for Nick Saban and modeled his program after Alabama's. FSU has a defensive coordinator in Jeremy Pruitt who worked for Saban until last year and knows the Alabama program inside and out, from schemes to personnel.
Pruitt, by the way, has done an excellent job in his first year as a college coordinator.

Of the remaining unbeaten teams, Florida State has the best chance to compete with Alabama for 60 minutes, which no team has done in any of Alabama's three BCS Championship Games.

Of course, it's likely that if Alabama, Florida State and Oregon run the table, Oregon will finish second behind Alabama, and FSU will be unbeaten but unrewarded like the 2004 Auburn team.
That's my story, and I'll stick with it all the way to Pasadena. What's your take? Bring it on Live at 9.

OK first let's sort through the things we can agree with.

Student entrepreneurs at Oregon.
Pssssst..."Hey guys, you're not helping."

"We want BAMA" shirts sold at Oregon?  Bad. Dumb. Embarrassing. It completely violates Oregon's "Win the Day" mantra. It becomes a joke and a dust rag should either team fall between now and then. 

What's more, if these two honor students took any combination of advertising and political science classes, they would learn that calling out your perceived chief competition like that only legitimizes them. You set your own self up as the underdog. You give them the power and position to smack you down in a war of words.

The other thing we can agree on? This all screams for a real playoff system. Florida State, Bama, Oregon, Baylor, Clemson, Ohio State. . . . . . only head-to-head games can truly decide who deserves to play whom through to the championship.

Having said all that, this fool just proves that slashed state education budgets and malnutrition have truly robbed Alabamans' brains of any useful means of common sense, let alone critical analysis. He probably brushes his teeth with his finger. I'll bet he'd pee on an electric fence if you told him Nick Saban said it was safe.  His whole kingdom is bordered by the Rocky Mountains, the Gulf, and the Mason-Dixon line.

 "Hey Scarbinsky, when you tithe at your church, do you write 'to SEC' on your check"?

He said that FSU coaches Jimbo and Jeremy are Nick Saban students. Therefore only they can pull Saban's sword out of the rock. He, of course, is assuming that Nick Saban is The Lady of the Lake, and thusly Coach Jimbo is King Arthur and Jeremy is  . . . . I don't know. . . . Brave Sir Robin I guess.

What he doesn't realize about his beloved Bamalot is that the white rabbit with big  pointy teeth is coming. But he's too dim to realize it, because he said his favorite color was red when it was actually blue, and the duck weighs more than a witch. . . . .

OK sorry, I'll drop the Monty Python metaphors.  But clearly, this guy hasn't even watched -- I mean REALLY watched -- the Ducks play.

Tennessee played both Bama and Oregon. Ask those like ESPN's Alex Scarborough who paid attention to BOTH games. He'll tell you that Oregon compared, at the very least, equally to Alabama.

I loved this line supporting his logic that FSU is better than Oregon: 
 FSU has a special quarterback in Jameis Winston who doesn't get rattled in big moments.
Oh, a SPECIAL quarterback. And he doesn't get rattled, you say? Even after he threw four interceptions? So has Scarbonesky seen any other QBs who don't seem to get rattled?

Why doesn't he ask UCLA coach Jim Mora if he's come across a QB who doesn't get rattled. Ask the entire Washington defense.

Why doesn't he ask FOX Sport's Coy Wire, who wrote the following in this good story complete with videos (Thanks RW for sending it to me.) :
So despite Jameis Winston’s burgeoning star and Johnny Manziel’s weekly brilliance, among many others, if we’re discussing the “best quarterback in college football,” it’s Oregon’s Marcus Mariota against the field.

Finally, I'm calling out other sports writers like Goe or Canzano at the Oregonian, Ray Ratto at the SF Chronicle, Bud Withers in Seattle, or Mitch Albom in Detroit. Why don't you end your stories with such bravado and pizzazz like Scardunceski when he says,  "That's my story, and I'll stick with it . . ."?

OR ASK STANFORD WHO THEY'D RATHER PLAY
From the SF Chronical

Stanford-Oregon should be worth wait

Jake Curtis

For the next 10 days, the question will be: Can Stanford's defense stop Oregon's explosive offense again?
Neither team plays until they meet at Stanford on Thursday, Nov. 7, with the winner improving its chances for a berth in the national-championship game.
Here are the numbers worth discussing as the game approaches:
34: Consecutive games in which Oregon has scored at least 34 points - with one conspicuous exception: The Ducks scored just 14 points in four quarters plus overtime in Stanford's 17-14 victory in Eugene last year.
0: Points the Ducks scored in the final 21:35 of regulation plus the untimed overtime in last year's game against Stanford.
1887: The last time a team had started a season by scoring at least 45 points in each of its first seven games before Oregon achieved it this season. The Oregon streak ended when the Ducks were "held" to 42 points in their 42-14 victory over UCLA on Saturday in Game 8. Oregon fell one game short of the 1887 streak achieved by Harvard, which extended its run to eight games of 45 points or more when it edged Wesleyan 110-0.
12: Points Stanford yielded Saturday to Oregon State, which came into the game averaging 44.1 points and had scored at least 33 points in each of its first seven games.
8: Sacks by Stanford against Oregon State.
9: Sacks allowed by Oregon State in its first seven games.
2: Stanford starting defensive ends whose status is in question for the Oregon game. Henry Anderson, who had 2.5 tackles for loss against the Ducks last year, might be ready to return after missing the past six games with a leg injury. Ben Gardner sat out the fourth quarter of Saturday's game against Oregon State with a recurring arm problem that leaves his status in question. Both Anderson and Gardner were second-team All-Pac-12 selections last season, when they combined for 27.5 tackles for loss.
88: Yards passing against Oregon State's mediocre defense by Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan, who passed for 211 yards against Oregon last year.
123: Receiving yards by Stanford tight ends against Oregon last year.
30: Receiving yards by Stanford tight ends this season.
4.41: Yards per play allowed by Oregon's defense this season, which is seventh best in the country and better than either Stanford or Alabama.

Makes your mouth water, don't it?
That's my story and I'm stickin' with it. More later.

Well, OK. That's just funny right there.
At least it's Miley amusing.

--KB

Send The Message

OK Ducks, now you're just showing off.

Just like in the old western movies, Oregon put Tennessee's dead body up over it's horse, pinned a note on it, and slapped the horse's butt to send it running back to the SEC ranch.

What did the note say? If you listened, you heard the Autzen crowd chanting it.

"WE WANT 'BAMA!  WE WANT 'BAMA! ...."

Or LSU, or Georgia, South Carolina, A & M . . . . We don't care. Send out your best. Send out someone who can play against us. Let's finish this.

59-14? Are you kidding? The Ducks coaching staff were left scratching their heads asking, "How did Tennessee ever score 14?".

The point spread was 28. Tennessee was hoping to keep it closer, maybe make it a game, a little bit of a struggle. Instead they got their worst defeat since 1910 -- back when people who were living are now all dead.
Pics from Oregonian and Daily Emerald

Say what?!?
Does somebody need to explain the definition of 'homecoming' to them?

I was really hoping the Vols would have given Oregon a better game. Indeed they came out hot to start, stopped Oregon's first drive, scored first, held Oregon to a rare field goal on their next drive. . . .

Then Oregon fired off eight touchdowns, including one on a 4th and 6 in the middle of the field.

Gotta be the shoes!
The Vols' Adidas failed against Nike U.

The Duck calls it as Huff cruises to the endzone.

 

March of the yellow hi-liters.



Gotta be the shoes 2.
Still not getting to Mariota.



Who will end up with the ball, DAT or Mariota?
Your guess is as good (or bad) as Tennessee's.

Taylor Hart: Yellow People Eater

DAT's fast. But good blocking makes him faster.

OK now that's just pretty.
Like a yellow daisy with an orange center.

Nope. Still not gettin' him.

DID THE DUCKS FIND THEIR GEHRIG?


Freshman Jon Mundt, #83. "The Mundster"

Oregon has a man-child for a third string tight end. True freshman John Mundt,  blasted his 6'4", 232 pound frame over poor defenseless defensive backs with just five catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns. He played in the absence of Colt Lyerla, who was out for unclear reasons (He's ill.  No, he's being punished.  He's
being punished for being ill . . . ???)
 
But as Columnist John Canzano tweeted: Colt Lyerla… meet Wally Pipp.
(For you young kids out there, Wally Pipp was a Yankee first baseman back in 1925 who sat out a game and. . . . Oh just google it, dumbasses.  I ain't your history teacher!)

OREGON HAS A DIFFERENT AND INNOVATIVE . . . DEFENSE?!?!?
Another surprise may have been brought to our attention by a Vol player. Just how especially good is Oregon's defense? Read this quote from the Oregonian:
Added Antonio “Tiny” Richardson, the Vols’ 6-foot-6, 327-pound left tackle, who is a preseason All-SEC lineman: “You know what, I don’t want to get too technical, but the defense they ran, it was tough on us. It was hard for us to get any angles, double teams. It was different.’’

What does he mean "different"?  What makes a guy who supposedly has seen the toughest defenses in the SEC and perhaps the nation get taken aback by Oregon's.

At around the 9 minute mark of the third quarter, the commentator begins to explain Oregon's defense. Oregon only has three or four linemen up front playing what he calls "2-gap" assignments, meaning that they are responsible for the gaps on either side of the O-linemen in front of them.

Their primary job is to find and plug the running gaps, then the rest of the defense finds the ball carrier who may be searching for an unplugged gap.

He goes on to note the Duck D-linemens' set stance. "They squat down like frogs," he says, "and they're actually reading the helmets of the offensive line and just trying to build a wall. It's an incredibly difficult technique to learn. It's very hard for a team to get ready to play . . .You don't have anyone on the team of Tennessee that knows how to play this technique." 

And as I look, I see that he's right. They Ducks are in a four-point set with their butts squatted as low as they can. When they come forward, they shift to one side of the offensive linemen or the other, and then the rest of the D fills the other holes.

It's interesting to watch, I just still don't understand WHY it works. Do me a favor. Watch it for yourself, then explain it to me. Click on the video below and if it's not already there, slide the play bar about two-thirds of the way down to the 11-minute mark of the third quarter (1:33:36 on the video time counter). That's when they start talking about Oregon's D and how it is manhandling Tennessee's all star offensive line.



OTHER GAMES:
Hey 'Bama, 49-42 winners over Manziel's Aggies, congratulations on squeaking past the quarterback who decided not to come to Oregon when he heard Mariota was going there. (True story.)  At Oregon, Johnny "Football" would've earned his nickname for holding the football perfectly for point-after-kicks after every touchdown scored by Mariota. And then he would've been kicked off the team for being a pin headed idiot.


Oregon State went to Utah and defeated the Utes in a hard fought back-and-forth overtime battle. This win helps to make their fans forget they started the season with an embarrassing loss to Eastern Washington.
  So I'll remind them: HEY BEAVS. YOU LOST TO EASTERN WASHINGTION! 
HA HA HA HA HA HA . . . .


NEVER ASK A BADGER TO MANAGE YOUR TIME
Wisconsin was down by two to ASU. They drove down the field and got to the 17 yard line with 18 seconds left and no timeouts.

Stop the clock. Kick the field goal. Badgers win, right?

Watch this video.



Flash back to the Rose Bowl in 2012. Oregon and those same Badgers. Oregon is up by seven. Wisconsin is driving hard. Two seconds left, out of timeouts, they've given themselves one shot at the endzone, right?  Do you remember? Watch this:


Clock management in the final two minutes of a ball game is a game in itself. It requires a cool head, good instincts, belief in your team, knowledge of the rules, and most importantly, an awareness of the time.

Russell Wilson (a great QB for the Seahawks today) learned the hard way that you cannot spike the ball to down it with two seconds left. In fact these days it's an official rule in college football. Three seconds must show on the clock in order to spike the ball. If he had it to do over, he would've just run the play.

BREAKING NEWS: It has just been reported during the writing of this dribble that the refs of the ASU game have been reprimanded for their part in letting the clock run down. Fair enough.

But still, QB Joel Stive, WHAT WAS THAT? Don't make it hard for the refs. You've seen it a thousand times. Your coach says you practiced it. Drop FULLY to one knee, then give the ref the ball.

The truth is he panicked. He lost his cool. He lost.


Next week, BYE week. No game.
Oregon fans, surprise your sweetie next Saturday and tell him or her you want to skip your dumb ol' Duck game that day and do something special, just the two of you!

--kb

Vols: "Don't be Cruel Ducks!"

Iconic stamps of Tennessee's favorite son.

Remember these stamps some 15 cents ago? Two iconic Elvis images were released for the enjoyment of stamp collectors and fans of The King.

One was young, slender, jacket-and-tie Elvis. The other? Fat, old, make-up and sequined white jumpsuit Elvis.

The first was him at his best. Beautiful, fresh, healthy. The second was still enjoyable, but very different.  Watching him as a dated Vegas act might give you the opportunity to remember the early years when he was at his prime. But when you weren't thinking of the good times, you were watching him in the present. And that was kind of sad.

The Tennessee Volunteers of today are like fat old Elvis. Oh sure, they got a great new coach in Butch Jones, formerly from the Cincinnati Bearcats; and he's the man to raise them back to a great level again. But for now, he's little more than a brand new rayon-silk blend sequined suit. This season's fat and sad Tennessee Volunteer team looks better than last season. But it's nothing like the kings of college football back in the 90's and particularly '98 when they won the National Championship.

The Vols are off to a great start having thoroughly dispatched of Western Kentucky and Austin Peay. (It's too bad the BCS computers don't score you very high for defeating a team with a word like "pee" in it's name.) But they and everybody else all know the same thing. They're going to lose at Autzen.



Coach Butch Jones:
"I'm eager to see how my boys
react to this loss .... uh, I mean
trip to Oregon."

Yes, they're all talking the brave talk. They believe in themselves and are looking forward to the trip. But Coach Butch is realistically looking at this as more of a learning experience. He's already wondering about his team's resiliency.
This article from The Chattanooga Times Free Press pokes the usual fun at Oregon and it's uniforms and Nike connection. Then it faces facts, then Coach Butch throws in some tough talk and strategy (They're going to work the clock.)

And then comes this final paragraph.
Whether it begins Saturday or somewhere down the road, you get the feeling that Oregon’s shiny helmets aside, when it comes to coaching, Tennessee could well have the brighter future of the two schools.
I'm going to give the writer the benefit of the doubt that what he meant was that Tennessee's future will appear brighter because they have so much farther to go. With the exception of winning the National Championship -- Oregon's primary goal -- the Ducks have nowhere to go but down. Tennessee, on the other hand, has hundreds of goals ahead of them. So he meant the Vols have more opportunities for bright spots . . . . either that or he's just an idiot.

YA, ABOUT THAT BRIGHT FUTURE . . . . .
This just in: Tennessee Defensive End Maurice Couch is one of five current and former SEC football players who were identified as taking cash payments while in college. Coach Butch Jones has ruled him ineligible for the Oregon game pending further investigation.
 
The story here from Fox Sports says that along with Couch was a former Tennessee QB, two players from Mississippi State, and D.J. Fluker -- a former Alabama offensive tackle who started in both National Championship games. Furthermore, former Bama defensive end Luther Davis was the key link between NFL agents, players and their "financial advisers".

Alabama . . . . Alabama? . . . . .That rings a bell.  I seem to remember Alabama coming into the conversation the last time there was a "huge" scandal.

Back in the summer of 2011 a writer for the blog "Roll Bama Roll" characterized Oregon as a school "in trouble" when they overpaid back alley scout Willie Lyles for connecting them to hot recruit Lache Seastrunk. Here's a paragraph.
For Oregon, though, this is just plain damn ugly, and it's easy to see why they recently secured the services of a high-end boutique law firm that specializes in NCAA enforcement issues. It's almost impossible to read any of this and legitimately believe Oregon AD Rob Mullen's contentions that they are doing everything the right way. If it looks like thinly-veiled pay-for-play and smells like thinly-veiled pay-for-play, well... you know how this ends. How can you legitimately defend handwritten letters and e-mails from key institutional figures? It's possible, to be sure, but exceedingly difficult.

Pay-for-play? He was in error. Oregon didn't pay anyone to play. But it remains that if you want to see "pay-to-play" defined and explained, you'll apparently still want to ask someone from Bama.

Bama coach Nick Saban, the greatest football coach he's ever known, said yesterday that he was confident the university will "handle the situation appropriately". He went on to offer this vote of full confidence of his players.
''For as many high-profile players as we've had around here, I'm fairly pleased with the way most of them, for the most part, have managed their circumstances and their situation and focused on what they need to do for the University of Alabama,'' he said

"Fairly pleased ... with most of them, for the most part".

With that fairly mostly assured statement for the most part, you can understand how shocked and disappointed Coach Saban was when reporters only wanted to talk about Alabama's paid players and not about the Tide's upcoming game against Texas A & M and their star paid player. See the short video of his interview in that same "story here" link from Fox Sports above.

All eyes are now on the NCAA to see how they kid glove these latest violations in the SEC (Stash Extra Cash?).

Tennessee at Oregon game time: 12:30 Pacific on ABC or ESPN2

Cal Throws Caution to the Wind, Gets Blown Away.

Photos from Oregonian, San Jose Mercury News, and Getty.

A busy night for Marcus Mariota.

Cal holds Kenjon Barner to only 65 yards rushing? Fine . . .

Oregon rushed for 426 yards two weeks ago against USC. Last Saturday, Cal worked to shut that down.

They successfully stopped Oregon's powerful running game, limiting the Ducks to 180 yards -- barely half their average.  No one loaded up the box and shut down Barner this year better than the Bears. But they only dulled one edge of Oregon's sword. And suddenly, the downfield was Marcus Mariota's paradise.

. . . So Oregon will Huff . . .

. . . and Huff . . .

. . . and Huff.

Mariota threw, completing 27 of 34 for 377 yards, six TD's and no interceptions. Nine receivers caught at least one pass. DeAnthony Thomas and Josh Huff both received for over 100 yards. Seven of Oregon's eight TD's were pass receptions. Huff had three.

"Cal just filled the box and gave us an opportunity to throw," Mariota said. "I had a lot of fun throwing it around."

One announcer noted that any Stanford players watching the game must have felt pretty giddy about their chances when they saw Cal's early success against the run. But then no future opponent of Oregon's must have felt too good when they saw Mariota light it up like a southpaw brawler suddenly landing right-handed haymakers.

"After what they did last week to USC, I thought we did a good job (defensively) in the running game," [Cal Coach Jeff ]Tedford said. "But you've got to pick your poison against these guys."

The real drama was with Oregon's defensive line -- not a starter among them. Injuries and perhaps other things kept them all either on the sideline or back home in Eugene.

Cal frightened the beegeesus out of Duck fans as they looked like they were going to have as much success moving the football as USC did last week.

From the Oregonian article: Freshmen Arik Armstead, DeForest Buckner and Alex Balducci shore up Oregon's D-line . . .

Oregon's D-line has been hit hard by injuries recently. Dion Jordan (shoulder), Isaac Remington (ankle), Ricky Heimuli (knee) all suited up, but did not play. Wade Keliikipi (injury unknown) was not in uniform, leaving the Ducks without four regulars on the D-line. Taylor Hart left Saturday's game with an unspecified leg injury, though Oregon coach Chip Kelly said after the game that he was doing fine.

Alex Balducci had to shed his red shirt. Buckner and Armstead looked a little lost out there at first but started putting more pressure on Cal's QB in the second half.

And then manchild Arik Armstead will blow your house down.

So how good are these Ducks when Cal shuts down their bread and butter, so they simply switch to cake and cream cheese? And to add insult, the Bears could only ring up 17 points at home against a defense half patched together with second and third stringers. Don't forget, Oregon lost another safety too. Avery Patterson will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL.

WELL I'LL BE DAMNED, ALABAM!!!
Look what happened to you! With your stunning loss to Johnny Football and the A&M Inbreds, things just got much more difficult for Nick Saban.

You may recall that Saban was on a mission to protect America's children from the harm that might befall them should this wicked and ungodly no-huddle/spread-option movement catch on and spread from Oregon -- the most unchurched state in the Union!

"People might get hurt," he said. Now who is going to stop them if not you, Saint Nick?


HELLO KANSAS STATE, YOU NEVER RETURNED OUR CALLS, BUT THAT'S OK. WE'LL JUST FIND YOU . . .
KSU's longtime coach Bill Snyder, who nixed the contract to play a home-and-home against Oregon this year and last, is now facing the real possibility of facing those same Ducks on the biggest stage . . . . just like he planned it, I'm sure.

In the BCS, KSU is first, Oregon second, and undefeated Notre Dame is third. The next two weeks buzzes with a thick plot line.

Notre Dame's coach, Brian Kelly (or as Oregon fans refer to him: Imitation Coach Kelly) made his case at a news conference that the Irish deserve to be in the Natty because his team has the lowest scoring defense in the country.

Doesn't he know that when you pitch your case for a particular bowl game in front of a microphone, it looks pathetic and merely demonstrates that you definitely do not belong in that bowl? Aside from that, he makes a compelling case.

Not since 1987 do I recall the #1 offense meeting the #1 defense for the championship when Penn State played Miami in what was billed as the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object.

Oregon and Notre Dame? I'd love to see it, never mind that Penn State's immovable defense won that day, 14-10.  

BY THE NUMBERS
The AP and Coaches polls love the Ducks, #1 in both, with the majority of first place votes. Sentient beings with anatomical eyes attached to organic intuitive intelligence centers clearly see the Ducks are the best team in the nation.

It's the silicon based entities that still have trouble recognizing Oregon. The stingy BCS computers just want to know two things. Who have you played? Who have you beaten?

Simply put, despite skipping Oregon this season, Kansas State has played more ranked teams. So has Notre Dame. But that is about to change.

With two weeks of the regular season left, the schedules of these three teams go like this:

Kansas State plays unranked Baylor, then finishes against 15th ranked Texas.

Notre Dame plays unranked Wake Forest, then travels to L.A. to play 18th ranked USC. By the way, that means N.D. and Oregon will have both played Stanford and USC this year. Everyone will be eager to see how both teams fared against these common opponents.

After these two weeks, both K. State and N.D. are done, having just played one ranked team each.

Oregon, meanwhile, starts off against the highest of all the ranked opponents in #13 Stanford. Then they play the Civil War against #16 Oregon State. OSU may be ranked even higher by then assuming they get past Cal this Saturday -- which brings up a little message I have for them.

Hey Beavs, is it too much to ask that you try not to suck so much this Saturday?  I mean, what do I have to say?  You know how you usually are? Try not to be that way against Cal. OK? Have your QB's tape up their ankles, rub some dirt on it and get back out there. Take a PRIDE pill, Beavs. Take two. They're small.

But here comes the kicker. After those two games, the Ducks will have the Pac-12 Championship against one more likely ranked team. Right now it's looking like UCLA or USC, currently ranked 17th and 18th respectively.

Even #4 Alabama's remaining schedule is weak. Next week they host the Western Carolina Catamounts. Regardless of the score, they should drop in rank just on the general principle of scheduling such a patsy so late in the season. The following week they play the surprisingly very very unranked Auburn Tigers. The SEC Championship follows; but will it be too late by then?

The bottom line is this. Oregon will play three likely ranked teams while the other Natty hopefuls will face one at best. So the question I have should Oregon win out: What would keep them from not only playing in the Natty, but also passing Kansas State to #1 by December 1st?

IS THE TRUTH LEACHING OUT IN PULLMAN?
What is going on at WSU? From the Oregonian story:
Marquess Wilson, Washington State's career-leading receiver suspended by the football program last week, issued a letter Saturday afternoon saying he's done at the school and alleging "physical, emotional and verbal abuse" by Mike Leach's first-year coaching staff.


WSU hired Mike Leach about two years after he was fired from Texas Tech. A Huffington Post article explains the back story . . .
Leach was fired from Texas Tech after the 2009 season for an incident in which he was alleged to have ordered a player with a concussion to sit in a storage shed during practice. Leach disputed the allegation and it was not proven. Leach has sued Texas Tech, contending he was fired so the school could avoid a large payment due him at the end of the year.

Washington State hired Leach late last year to revive a moribund program, paying him more than $2 million a year. The hire energized the fan base, but it has been a tough initial season, as the Cougars are 2-8 with two games left.

Leach has raised eyebrows with his comments lambasting his team after some games. He has said some of the seniors display an "empty corpse quality," said the team's performance in a loss at Utah resembled a zombie convention, and said the play of his offensive and defensive lines in that game "bordered on cowardice."

Leach appears to be the kind of person who runs on the theory that sometimes a coach has to be a prick to be effective. But what if your team is 2-8, sliding on a six-game losing streak? Apparently he's not being effective. So what does that leave? He's just a prick.

More about next foe Stanford later.

--KB