The Rose Bowl

The Rose Bowl . . . wow how about the 4 BCS games all were entertaining and we saw some amazing offensive performances but again just like everyone else on planet Earth I was floored by Mr. Young of Texas . . . here are some quick takes . . . Vince Young’s draft status will never be higher than it is now, he should leave for the NFL and it will cause quite a dilemma for the Houston Texans as they are from Vince’s hometown. If I were them I’d trade down to get some more picks ala the Chargers in the Vick deal and focus on improving their O-line. Who cares who the qb and running back are if the hogs up front can’t keep the defense out of the backfield . . . Matt Leinart came out looking like a huge jerk after the game I thought with his “We were the better team comment” . . . if the Texans take Bush and let’s say New Orleans goes with Young then how far does Leinart slip? The Jets could use a QB but with Pennington’s cap number how can they afford to take Leinart? Wonder if he ends up in a place like Arizona now, tough luck for a guy who would have been the #1 pick of last years draft . . . Carroll made a bunch of poor decisions that really aided Texas . . . one not calling the time out in the first half when Texas scored on the Young pitch where he knee was down, they had timeouts to burn and by calling one it could have given the replay guys more time to review the play . . ., Leinart’s dive on 4^th a field goal would have been warranted and would have put USC in OT at worst based on the final score. . . going for it on the much discussed 4^th and one run with White I respect the call but thought it was way wrong . . . first of all if you punt Texas will have to drive at least 80 yards in less that 45 seconds when Texas had only two plays in the arsenal short passes or Young runs, why give them a 25 yard head start? Second everyone in the world knew the play call, why not have Bush in the backfield as well to at least give the Texas defense something else to think about . . . not having a spy on Young on the TD score was unbelievably dumb, Carroll calls the defensive plays that goes on him . . . Finally the callingof the timeout on the 2 point conversion . . . you know you need a field goal regardless, the time out was more valuable than the points I thought . . . had USC had another timeout they could have gone over the middle on the last play and had they completed it may have had a chance for a long field goal . . . When it comes down to it though USC played the same type of ball they have all year, keeping opponents in the game because of their suspect defense and not killing enough clock and making first half mistakes and then hoping that the O could bail them out in the end. We saw this model work against Notre Dame, ASU and Fresno but it finally caught up to them against Texas.

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

Holiday Bowl

Hard game for Oregon, Oklahoma is a better team than their record implies and while young is loaded with athletes . . . as much as the Ducks have said all the right things about going to San Diego (it means whale's vagina in German by the way) rather than Tempe disappointment has to be in the back of their heads. However the same could be said for Oklahoma who believes that they should be playing in the Cotton Bowl over Texas Tech. Personally I'd take San Diego over Dallas any day of the week but Dallas for OU means driving distance for fans in a stadium they play yearly in. Well on to the game. I think that Allioti will sell out to the run and dare Bomar to beat the Ducks deep. If Petersen can be held to 150 or less on the ground I like the Duck's chances. Bomar has a very young line and receivers and has been shaky, a now healthy Petersen will be a beast to try and stop though, I hope Haloti can continue to dominate the line of scrimmage. Fnal prediction Oregon 27 Oklahoma 24

Well on to the disaster that is Oregon Men's Basketball . . . well yes Jordan Kent is in San Diego with the fooball team and Malik didn't play due to injury but Pac 10 programs filled with Top 100 recruits cannot lose on their home court to the likes of Portland State and "running" teams cannot score in the low 50's and hope to win many games. Kent has lost this team . . . I think this year is done and Oregon needs to cut its loses and make a change after the season . . . not really sure they can do anything right now as none of the assistants appear qualified to be a head coach either. Oregon is truly missing the presence of Fred Litzenburger on the bench.

Pac 10 Power Poll 12/27/05

Kind of a quiet basketball week as we are right in the middle of Bowl Week and ofcourse Christmas time. Congrats to the Cal Bears for beating BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl. Well on to basketball and the biggest story in my opinion is the implosion of the Oregon Ducks since the miracle shot loss to Vanderbilt. Since then the Ducks have managed to only beat Santa Clara and Howard. From the viewing of just about anyone who has seen this team play last year compared to this year outside of Brandon Lincoln and Adam Zahn this team has not improved and in many cases may have regressed. I point to this as a coaching issue, Kent has recruited well but he has been exposed with the losses of Greg Graham after the 2001/2002 season to Boise State and the loss of Fred Litzenberger as assistant coaches (defensive guru who ran practice for Jody Runge and Ernie Kent over the years and spent about 20 hours a day waching tape). The pressure on Kent is immense right now and I think as a game coach he is at the bottom of the Pac 10. With the talent of the recruits he has signed the Ducks should be at worst 4th or 5th in the Pac 10 this year but I would doubt to see them favored in any more than 4 games this entire season and would be suprised to see a finish higher than 8th in league play. I don't think he will be fired after this year but after Jordan Kent's eligibility is complete after next season Ernie will be gone from Eugene and I hope Bill Moos follows him.

Power Poll

1. UW - Outside of an injury plauged Gonzaga haven't been tested yet . . . Brockman shoul;d be freshman of the year in the Pac 10, just think what they would be like with Martell Webster as well.
2. UCLA - RPI loves these guys as they have played a much tougher schedule than UW, I would not be surprised to see UCLA end the season as league champs.
3. Arizona - I still think they need another shooter to step up for them
4. USC - Weak schedule but the win over UNC was impressive not that the student body noticed or anything.
5. Cal- Nice to see Leon Powe back at it after missing last year with a knee injury
6. Stanford - based on personell alone . . . they should be able to win a decent amount of games in the Pac 10
7. WSU - No one likes to play WSU, they'll win a few games they shouldn't and I don't think a NIT appearance is out of the question
8. Oregon State - Haven't played since 12/14/05 and that was a win against a team in Northern Colorado who sports an RPI of plus 300
9. Arizona State - Expect to see Rob Evans fired at year end
10a. University of Portland - 3-0 versus in state competetion first time since the 50's they have swept PSU, UO and OSU.
10b. UO - Is there a fireenriekent.com website up yet? There is no excuse for how poorly this team has played . . . can it get any lower than the UP loss?

Fantasy football . . . the bane of my existence

So I play fantasy football just like the rest of America does now . . . however I do have to say the first year I played was way back in 1986 if you would believe it! They actually had a class at good ole Roosevlet Middle School in Eugene that really all you did was have a fantasy draft, follow your team and then learn how to keep score of a baseball game . . . the "final" was how well you scored the game. Well back to my original topic, this guy in our league let's call him Patrick has won the whole dang thing three years in a row. He is that guy in everyone's league who makes the random picks that make everyone laugh then they turn out to work (Chris Cooley, Joe Jerivicus) . . . he always goes on either early or late losing streaks and then somehow sneaks in to the playoffs and then erupts for a 120+ week . . . well the last two years I have dominated the regular season only to lose in the playoffs to him when his team explodes for huge points on the one week in the last 10 that my team loses. Now I am out all my money and he will probably win the league again . . . I really need to get in a league that rewards the regular season champ for something . . .