Holiday Bowl

Royal Kahana Sunset
Originally uploaded by pete4ducks.

Well definitely was a game of two halves - the Ducks played pretty horribly in the first quarter but the defense was able to keep them in by holding OSU to zero points in the second quarter. There were some very pivotal points in this game that had they gone the other way could have led to a Cowboy win. Obviously the Bryant injury was huge, that kid is a monster and has the look to be a Pro-Bowl caliber player at the NFL level. Another key turning point was the incomplete call on the what I thought was a touchdown catch by OSU that would have made the score 24-7, instead it didn't count and OSU missed the field goal keeping Oregon within 2 scores. Oregon deserves major credit for excellent kickoff return yardage, keeping OSU in front of them to not get beat by the long ball and by hitting incredibly hard on defense. Zac Robinson is probably in a world of hurt today, the kid showed a lot of mettle getting up from the Nick Reed (very borderline late hit) and TJ Ward hits. Give major kudos to the Ducks for coming together as a team and getting to 10 wins, this may have been Bellotti's best coaching job ever all things considered with the QB injury issues, the Doxey death and job status issues all hanging over him. The Ducks can hopefully use this game to springboard in to a 2009 BCS title run year.

Back at Work

Sunset Sail
Originally uploaded by pete4ducks.

The weather had kept me working at home for the last week and a half or so, now I am back in the office which is a change but nice in a way to get back in to a routine. This photo was taken on Valentine's Day 2008 in Maui. Ah to see a little sun and be in warm water again would be lovely . . .

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas
Originally uploaded by pete4ducks.

Just wishing everyone the best of holiday seasons. As you can see we are living in a winter wonderland here in the Portland area.

2008 Pac 10 Football Year in Review

Little Sunflower
Originally uploaded by pete4ducks.

Well 2008 was in many ways like most of this decade in that USC was the champion of the league, Cal, OSU and Oregon all finished in the top half of the conference while Stanford, WSU and UW failed to make it to bowl eligibility. Arizona is headed to their first bowl in quite some time while ASU is out of the bowl season for the first time since 2003. UCLA, though they’ve been a fairly disappointing team this decade actually had not missed a bowl since 2001 and even that year they went 7-4. Karl Dorrell obviously left the cupboard bare and UCLA was hamstrung by the injuries to Olson and Cowan before the season started. Tis the season for awards and recognition.

Pac 10 Offensive Player of the Year: Jaquizz Rodgers, the tiny freshman running back carried the Beavers on his back to 7 wins before being hurt early against Arizona. Honorable mention Jahvid Best, Mark Sanchez, Willie Tuitama.
Pac 10 Defensive Player of the Year: The entire USC defense, I can't signal out just one guy on what was perhaps the best defense we've seen in the modern college game. Honorable mention to Nick Reed of Oregon and Zack Follet of Cal.
Pac 10 Freshman of the Year: Jaquizz Rodgers. Not even close on this one.
Pac 10 Coach of the Year: Mike Bellotti, in 2008 he got 9 wins out of a team that started his 5th string QB most of the season and was a few plays from being 11-1. Honorable mention to Mike Riley who managed to take a team that many thought would not be bowl eligible and come within one game of the Rose Bowl and 7 straight conference wins and Pete Carroll who guided the nation’s best scoring defense since Auburn in 1988.
Surprise Team of the Year: Oregon State looked to be in a rebuilding mode knocked off the #1 team in the country and won 7 in a row in league play.
Disappointment of the Year: ASU’s season was KO’ed by the UNLV loss. Though they did face about the hardest six game run I’ve seen in Pac 10 history ASU had the talent to be a bowl team. Dishonorable mention to Washington, who was sunk before the year started due to schedule difficulty but still had no excuse finishing 0-12.
Trend of 2008 that I hope doesn’t occur in 2009: A 1-6 regular season record against Mountain West teams and having the two worst teams perhaps in the history of the BCS era in UW and WSU.
Trend of 2008 that I hope occurs in 2009: New blood in bowl games. Arizona finally returned to bowl competition after a long drought, Stanford should be able to repeat the feat in 2009.
Coach with the hottest seat in 2009: Again it is likely Mike Stoops who will lose Senior QB Willie Tuitama though did get Arizona to the Vegas Bowl. Dennis Erickson needs a comeback year or people will start to wonder if he still has it in him anymore after so many years and stops.

Week 15 Power Poll

Evie collage
Originally uploaded by pete4ducks.

I did predict Oregon to win the Civil War but certainly not in the manner that it occurred in. Looking back you have to marvel at the coaching job that Mike Bellotti and Chip Kelly (coach in waiting!) did this year considering all the injury issues and lack of experience at QB. The Beavs should hang their heads high even after the crushing home loss, other than folks on the team and the most myopic of Beaver fans who could have imagined that they would break off 7 consecutive Pac 10 victories in 2008? With the Beaver loss all USC now has to do is defeat UCLA to go back to the Rose Bowl yet again. If that game doesn't go as planned then all the bowl pairings are going to change big time across the Pac 10 and even the country.

1. USC (1) - Best defense of the Carroll era but will go down as having the worst offense except for his initial team in 2001. I see no possibility for USC to get to the BCS championship game nor to get a share of the title with the writers vote. The Trojans picked the wrong year to have a hiccup.
2. UO (2) - Can't say enough about the offense and Masoli's amazing progression in to a competent aerial threat. Not sure I could have imagine this result after the Cal and UCLA games.
3. OSU (3) - Big UCLA fans this week. If that upset happened though you'd have to say that OSU would be among the worst teams ever to make a BCS bowl game.
4. Cal (4) - Players want to go to Vegas but Emerald Bowl wants the Bears big time. Look for the Bears to go off and try to pump up Best's running stats.
5. UA (5) - Yes Stoops has finally assured them of a bowl game but a loss to Arizona State would mean 4 straight L's to ASU and a 6-6 record. That might finally be the end for Ariozna who losses Willie T to graduation.
6. ASU (7) - Hell of a defensive performance versus UCLA that is all I can say positive about this team but a win in the Territorial Cup would make them bowl eligible which is fairly remarkable considering they had a 6 game losing streak.
7. LSJU (6) - Season is over not much to say other than they need to lock up Harbaugh and pay his assistants more if they want to compete in the Pac 10 going forward. There is no lack of money in The Farms endowment even with the economy.
8. UCLA (8) - If they let the ASU defense score 28 points imagine what the USC defense can do.
9. WSU (9) - At least they got to end their season a week earlier than Washington and in Hawaii to boot.
10. UW (10) - The big question is do they get Mike Leach and if not who will they turn to next?