Persistence

Persistence
Originally uploaded by pete4ducks.

Pac 10 Hoops Power Poll

As college football is on its final day I now turn my attention to hoops. The Pac 10 has just completed its first week of regular season play which saw road teams play fairly successfully and was highlighted by Oregon beating Arizona in Tucson for the second consecutive year, a first in school history. The Cats were hurt by the absence of Jarred Bayless and really struggled on the defensive end. Kudos to Ernie Kent for shuffling the lineup a bit. It is clear to me that Tajuan Porter isn’t a viable point guard in the traditional sense of the word and the Ducks will be successful when other players are able to attack the rim and dish it out to Porter where he can be set for his shots and display the success he had as a freshman when Aaron Brooks who penetrate and dish out to Porter beyond the arc. In other games the Cougars fought out a W in a very physical game in Seattle against the Huskies. The Cougars were aided by a dreadful performance from the line by the Huskies in a game that was dominated by both defenses in the first half especially. I give credit to the Huskies for displaying toughness, they have been accused of lacking it in the past but in the end a win is a win and a loss is a loss. UCLA swept Cal and Stanford in what is likely going to be its hardest road weekend of the season while USC went 0-2 in the Bay Area. Finally ASU went to 2-0 for the first time the 1987/88 season. This week sees a matchup of the Arizona schools in Tempe on Wednesday while the Cats end their week with a non-conference game versus an 11-2 Houston team looking for a quality road win to augment their bubble possibilities. The Bay Area schools invade Oregon while the Washington schools match up versus the LA schools. For my NCAA Status feature I would like to comment that I am basing it off of whether they would be in if the NCAA tournament started the day I post each week so these will change a great deal from week to week. Oregon is now a lock in my book with the Arizona win but if they were to get swept at home this week they’d go off that line and down to bubble status.

Power Poll
1. UCLA – Went 2-0 on what could be their hardest road swing of the season. Now they will get the Washington schools at home. The battle versus WSU should be a candidate for Pac 10 game of the year but in the end I see the Bruins winning both games. NCAA status = Lock likely #1 seed (RPI 15 SOS 46).
2. WSU – Won a tough road game to a rival in typical WSU fashion but outside of playing in-state rival Gonzaga and Washington the only reasonable RPI team the Cougs have played this year has been Baylor. Oregon got bagged on by the national media for their OOC schedule but the Cougars was considerably worse and I think the Cougars are a bit overrated early ala Clemson last year. NCAA Status = Lock (RPI 30 SOS 251)
3. Stanford – Couldn’t beat UCLA but not many teams are going to this year. I am expecting they sweep the Oregon schools on the road as long as the Ducks don’t go crazy from 3 point land. NCAA Status = Lock (RPI 35 SOS 124)
4. Oregon – The Ducks went .500 in the desert which is what they were looking to accomplish but they also have to be disappointed in losing a late lead and falling to ASU. The Arizona win is a great resume builder but they need to keep the momentum up and hold serve at home. NCAA Status = Lock (RPI 39 SOS 62)
5. Arizona – Definitely missing Bayless the Cats are also displaying their lack of effort on defense and with the improvement of ASU they can’t expect a cake walk on Wednesday. The Cats have superb computer numbers so as long as they win 10 Pac 10 games they are a lock. 9 wins is dicey buy they would probably still get the benefit of the doubt. NCAA Status = Lock (RPI 12 SOS 1)
6. ASU – The Devils played a pathetic OOC schedule outside of Xavier (who had played an in-city battle versus Cinci two days prior and was unprepared and tired when ASU swamped them) so the game versus Oregon was their first real test of the year. James Harden is a fun player to watch. The Devils in all reality are a NIT team until they can prove they can win a home game. The stakes are high this week with UA in town but I think the Cats will have just enough to win. NCAA Status – Bubble (RPI 84 SOS 255)
7. Cal – The Bears beat USC which is what they were looking to do with the LA schools in town. The Bears are in the same boat as Oregon and ASU. Teams that played easy OOC schedules and need some resume building wins if they are going to go to the big dance. NCAA Status = Bubble (RPI 69 SOS 82)
8. USC – I think by season’s end USC will be a Top 20 team but now they are raw and undisciplined. They can’t afford any more road sweeps if they want to go the NCAA’s. NCAA Status = Bubble (RPI 72 SOS 58)
9. Washington – Played tough versus the Cougs but poor free throw shooting was their undoing. NCAA Status = NIT (RPI 105 SOS 66)
10. OSU – Quite possibly the worst high-major team coming in with a pathetic OOC SOS number of 334 and a RPI of 259. 0-18 is a possibility, reminds me of an early Paul Graham/late Kevin Eastman WSU team. The positive for the Beavers was that they played a great first half in Tucson. NCAA Status = When hell freezes over (RPI 259 SOS 300)

You've come along way baby!

Beautiful Girl
Originally uploaded by pete4ducks.

This picture was taken about 15 minutes after Evie was born, she is now 3 days short of her first birthday and her parents couldn't be more proud of her. The changes that you see occuring in your child in the first year of their life is truly amazing. I look forward to watching her grow over the next year!

Pac 10 Season Review

Due to some life issues I haven’t been able to update my blog for some weeks, and those weeks turned out to be some of the most shocking, and as an Oregon fan depressing, in my time of viewing college football which dates back to the early 1980's. When I last posted the Oregon Ducks were riding high as #2 in the country and Dennis Dixon was the clear front runner for the Heisman. Now Oregon has lost 3 in a row, were knocked out of the top 25, shut out for the first time since 1985 and became the first home team to lose the Civil War since 1993! To think that I was actually worried about finding a flight and hotel to New Orleans seems almost comical now. When I look back on 2007 and all that happened I will always remember how close that Oregon came. For the first time in their history I think they can argue that had Dennis Dixon not been hurt (and the injuries to Brian Paysinger, Cameron Colvin, Jeremiah Johnson and Brady Leaf were all very painful to the Oregon cause as well) Oregon had the best team in the country. Everything changed on that dropped touchdown by Derrick Jones for Oregon. I believe the players, especially Dennis Dixon have shown an immense amount of heart, this coming from a program that has been criticized for lacking heart since the departure of Jeff Tedford and Joey Harrington. In other news the Rose Bowl, by choosing Illinois over say a Georgia team, caused the ASU Sun Devils to not be invited to a BCS game. The Pac 10 had looked like a lock for 2 BCS bids and then ended up finding themselves with only one. The Trojans should eviscerate Illinois while ASU faces a fairly subpar Texas game in the Holiday Bowl in a game I would not be surprised to see ASU come out quite flat in. The last three weeks has seen the announcement that two of the Pac 10 coaches will not be returning next season in Bill Doba and Karl Dorrell. Neither of these are shocks while in news that may have seemed surprising 6 weeks ago Ty Willingham and Mike Stoops will be back with Washington and Arizona next season. All that awaits this year is bowl season and you could make the argument that every school that qualified for a bowl has to be a bit disappointed at where they ended up.

Awards:
Offensive POY: Dennis Dixon ,Oregon
Defensive POY: Sedrick Ellis, USC
Coach of the Year: Dennis Erickson, ASU
Freshman of the Year: Jahvid Best, Cal
Coaching hot seat rakings
1. Bill Doba – already fired
2. Karl Dorrell – already fired
3. Ty Willingham – Needs to go to a bowl in 2008
4. Mike Stoops – Ditto, with a senior QB no excuse not to
5. Mike Bellotti – Will not leave unless it is on his terms or if he did something to anger Knight, has lost a lot of the fan base over poor clock management, the Dixon injury and stupid comments in the press
6. Mike Riley – Back to back great years but the fans will always prefer Erickson
7. Jeff Tedford – I could only see him leaving on his own terms but losing 6 of 7 to end the year and losing to Stanford is just plain bad
8. Jim Harbaugh – He did something that no other team has accomplished since the 02 WSU Cougars, beat Cal and USC in the same season
9. Dennis Erickson – Riding high in Tempe we shall see how long he lasts there
10. Pete Carroll – The only thing that will make him leave is an amazing NFL offer or the Reggie Bush scandal blowing up big time

Bowl predictions

USC over Illinois
Texas over ASU
South Florida over Oregon
BYU over UCLA
Oregon State over Maryland
Air Force over Cal
LSU over Ohio State

I will get my first chance to see Oregon play live in basketball in 2 years tomorrow as I will be at the Pape Jam at the Rose Garden tomorrow.

Week 11 Review and Pac 10 Power Poll

Note: I wrote this on Monday before the events of Thursday's Oregon/Arizona game. My work internet now blocks Blogspot and my time at home during the week is pretty limited so I was late in posting this.

Oregon was the big winner this week and they didn’t even play. Thanks to Illinois knocking off an untested Ohio State squad Oregon slid in to the #2 spot in the BCS. However even if they win out they are not assured a spot in the Big Game in New Orleans as the winner of the Big 12 Championship game may jump Oregon. In other news the winner of the ASU/USC game on Thanksgiving has put themselves in great position to get to a BCS game likely either the Rose or Fiesta Bowl depending on where Oregon ends up. I want to make the point to say that I was very happy to see Jake Locker come back form that scary situation with a clean bill of health. The kid is a hero who will lead Washington back to respectability of he gets a surrounding cast. Not sure if Ty Willingham will be the guy who gets to lead him to that point however. As much criticism as Gordon Reice received last year for the Oklahoma/Oregon call I have to say that the botched call in the OSU/UW was even worse though it didn’t effect the outcome of the game. At worst case the ball should have been called dead at the 6 inch line, my opinion was that Bernard scored, not sure how they called it a fumble and how the play wasn’t reviewed. USC and ASU won hard fought games and WSU maintained a glimmer of hope for a bowl with a win over Stanford.

1. UO (1) – The Ducks can see the light at the end of the tunnel but need to keep their eye on the prize. Simply winning out may not be enough for the Ducks if Kansas wins out, if Oklahoma wins out the Ducks need to show some serious style points. Oregon faces Zona at the worst possible time in that they face a team on a hot streak who can throw the ball down the field, play a night game in the desert which is always a gamble and face the whole #2 and Thursday night curse. All in all I think the Ducks still win by 10 but this was should be a memorable game.
2. USC (2) – USC seems to have its power running game back, where was it against Oregon however? The play at ASU on Thanksgiving in what amounts to a BCS playoff game.
3. ASU (3) – Did enough to beat UCLA but I would have expected a larger win all things considered. Depending on how the year ends ASU could find itself as low as the Sun Bowl or as high as the Fiesta or Rose Bowl.
4. OSU (4) – Weird game that OSU frankly should have won by 20 but was much closer due to some bad calls by the refs, an emotional effort by UW after Jake Locker and a breakdown in the Beaver pass defense mainly caused by 3 key secondary members being kicked out of the game. I think the Pac 10 gave the Beavs some justice by not suspending the players for the first half of the WSU game.
5. Cal (6) – Played USC tough but just didn’t have enough. This team has dropped quicker than almost any team in memory from a high national ranking. At this point probably can’t hope for anything better than the Sun Bowl.
6. UA (5) – Still Bowl eligible for one more night. Stoops is safe from what reports are saying but I am not so sure.
7. UCLA (7) – Stung by injuries more than any team in the country I thought they played pretty tough against ASU. I think this is Karl Dorrell’s swan song, probably a great time for a bye week to give them time to prepare for Oregon.
8. WSU (9) – Once giving up for dead WSU is now a home win against OSU and a road win in Seattle from getting 6 wins, which this year, unlike last will get the Cougars in to a bowl game. The Beavs likely not having Yvensen Bernard and what should be dicey weather should help out the Cougars.
9. UW (8) – Good to see Jake Locker okay, Carl Bonnell actually played pretty well in relief but until this team gets a solid running back they are going to have problems.
10. Stanford (10) – Decimated by injuries they get a needed bye week before playing Notre Dame and Cal to end the year. Stanford could be a bowl team next year

Week Ten Review and Pac 10 Power Poll

The second week in a row of Oregon hosting a Top 10 opponent ended with the same result for the Oregon faithful, a Duck win with the eyes of the nation upon them. Oregon now is in the position of being the sole school to control their own Rose Bowl destiny. At this point if Oregon wins out against Arizona, UCLA and Oregon State the worst the worst case scenario is the Ducks spending New Years in Pasadena. Oregon, led by Dennis Dixon, has handled all the attention in a very business-like manner and I think this will aide the team in avoiding any issues of over-confidence. The Ducks are pretty dinged up so the 10 days off they get before the big game versus the now hot Wildcats is important. USC returned to form in dominating Oregon State at the line of scrimmage. The Trojan offense is clearly not at the same level that we have come to expect under Pete Carroll but the defense is top notch. USC is still in play for a BCS bid, the Fiesta Bowl versus the Big 12 winner would be a nice destination as would the Rose Bowl if Oregon gets to play in New Orleans. In other games Cal slipped by a Washington State team that lacked James Tardy at running back. Cal it appears is just playing the year out ala the 2006 Ducks. Washington went out and won a game for the first time since early September. Who knows what the make out of Stanford but the Dawgs could conceivably rally to 6-6 with the schedule they have remaining though getting past Oregon State in Corvallis would be pretty daunting. Finally Arizona beat UCLA in the battle of which coach will survive November. Karl Dorrell is clearly done at UCLA no matter what happens the rest of the year. Mike Stoops is likely gone as well but if he were to knock off Oregon and ASU to end the season at 6-6 you never know. For some reason Arizona just seems to play a whole lot better in November than any other month of the year. The Ducks and Devils need to be on upset watch. Kudos to the Midshipmen of Navy for beating Notre Dame.

1. UO (1) – With ESPN Gameday in town and a national audience watching the Ducks delivered. The Heisman is Dennis Dixon’s to lose. The Ducks get 10 day to prepare for the surging offense of the Wildcats in what you know will be a hard hitting game.
2. USC (3) – Nice rebound win versus the Beavers. USC still can play for a BCS bid but the Pac 10 championship is all but out of the question.
3. ASU (2) – The Sun Devils were perhaps just not tested enough to play the caliber of team as Oregon at this point in the year. ASU needs to rebound against UCLA this week if they hope to have a hot at a BCS at-large bid
4. OSU (4) – Got completely shut down in LA but they should get back on track against UW in a game that gets them the needed 6 wins for bowl eligibility.
5. UA (7) – Back to back wins after the disaster of losing to Stanford at home. Surviving this year will be tough for Stoops but the cupboard won’t be bare for whoever is coach next year. I expect they will give Oregon quite the battle.
6. Cal (6) At this point this team will only win games against teams they have way more talent then, they gave up a lot of yards in the air to Brink and the Cougs and had a sub-par offensive performance, still Cal should be considered up with ASU and USC the team to beat in 2008 with a senior QB in Longshore.
7. UCLA (5) – Though they have been injury depleted this year UCLA is among the biggest disappointments nationally (Notre Dame, Louisville and Nebraska are up there as well).
8. UW (10) – Got off the snide with it’s first win off the year down on the Farm. Will it be enough to save Willingham?
9. WSU (9) – Played tough in a loss in Berkeley. Doba and company could conceivably rally to get to 6 wins, that would be a great accomplishment.
10. Stanford (8) For some reason Stanford is much better on the road than at home.