Some Holiday Bowl thoughts, football season memories and hoops power pol

First up got to say that I am very happy with a 10-2 finish for Oregon and I give all the credit in the world to Oklahoma for playing a great game. Bellotti went with what had worked in the last 3 ½ games that is going with the rotation on series rather than the hot hand . . . I disagree and like the hot hand theory (Dixon was useless after getting pulled after taken Oregon down the field twice though only 7 points arose from it) . . . well had the Ducks managed anything offensively in the 3^rd quarter they wouldn’t have been in the position for a miracle to arise even to get back in to the game at the end. I would have liked to see some more screens done to mitigate the OU pass rush and I really disagreed with the toss sweep on 3^rd and 1 where the Ducks got stuffed. Hats off to Oklahoma and even more so hats off to the Ducks! Nice job by Bellotti by admitting changes needed to be made and hiring Crowton, hats off to the players for playing as a team and not as individuals, hats off to Senior leadership (Clemens, Trucks, Day, D Will, T-Dub, Devan Long etc). Next year presents a very challenging schedule but I think the Ducks will be highly competitive this year.

Power Poll for the Week of 1/2/06

Hmm some shakeups here I would say with the start of the Pac 10 Regular Season

1. Arizona (3) . . . the double OT thriller was a classic and it took some huge shots by Roy to keep UW from losing earlier . .. Lute has to consider this as one of his greatest Pac 10 games of his amazing career. RPI now loves the Cats and they have to be the new favorite to take the conference crown
2. UW (1) . . . Tough loss no reason to hang their heads . . . soft schedule may not have prepared them for the challenge UA brought
3. Cal (5) . . . They beat UCLA in Pauley so I have to consider them legit
4. UCLA (2) . . . Slipped up against Cal . . . still I see them as a very solid NCAA team in a conference that has moved from 11 to 6 in RPI over the last 3 weeks
5. USC (4) . . . Beating Stanford used to mean something
6. WSU (7) . . . Another team that the computers like . . . I think they will rally win 6-8 games in the Pac 10 and go to the NIT which in Pullman is quite an accomplishment
7. Stanford (6) . . . if they can’t sweep the Oregon schools at home they will drop to #10 in my book which is where RPI ranks them
8. Oregon (10) . . . they beat the Beavs at home in what might be the last time they are a favorite this year outside of ASU at home
9. Oregon State (8) . . . played Oregon tough but this team is pretty short on talent, I do think they will return the favor to the Ducks in Corvallis
10. ASU (9) . . . I haven’t seen this team play but they were not competitive in their trip to Washington