Official 2012 College Football Season Thread - Page 26

Defense always has the advantage in college football because of the long time frame between regular season and bowls. Giving Nick Saban six weeks to study Oregon's offense is a helluva lot more advantageous than Chip Kelly being given six weeks to study Alabama's defense. Until Oregon holds the best teams they face under 40, I suspect they can't give up their advantage and still beat an SEC champion consistently, who will almost always be tougher, more athletic, and played a far tougher schedule to get ready.

I think UO's defense has been pretty strong throughout the season -- you have to remember that against USC (and today against Cal) they had a lot of injuries in their starting line; hell, today their entire starting defensive line was out. I am a bit worried about Avery Patterson's injury from today's game, but by bowl time a lot of their best defensive players will be back on the field. I mean, it certainly shows that the bench is not really that deep for Oregon, but they do have some good talent and I think by the time the Pac-12 championship comes around, and more of their injured players are back in, we'll get a better sense of how good the defense really is.

Also, while I think it is possible to really blunt Oregon's running game, Mariota is fantastic, very much underrated, and getting better all the time. He has the second highest completion percentage in the league (71%, and closer to 80% over the last four games) -- higher than Klein, Manziel, Barkley, McCarron, etc. He's got more than 8 yards per attempt, he averages more than 6 yards per attempt when rushing. He actually ranks first in the nation in overall QB rating. Oregon has a cornucopia of offensive weapons, and I think people underestimate how difficult it is to guard against all of them in one game.

I sort of want ND and KState to lose out just so that Oregon can crush an SEC one-loss team and prove that the Pac-12 has the best program in the country.

I saw Oregon play in person last night, Mariota is the best of the CK QB's by a far. He's got a funky looking delivery, but his passes were all right on the money. If Kstate or ND play them for the championship, it will be probably be a blowout.

The one thing that really bums me out as a lifelong Oregon fan is that if we win the NCG this year, Kelly will leave for the NFL and it will never happen again. I mean, maybe if Helfrich stayed on, and with the recruitment help they'd get from winning a title, but odds are Kelly will clean out the coaching staff and someone from outside will come in with an inferior system.

Are you from Oregon?

The University of California, Niketown-Eugene could probably pay CK a NFL contract... which is bad news for the rest of the Pac12 because Oregon is starting to outrecruit UCLA, Cal, Wash, Stanford, once they start competing directly with USC from year to year nobody in the Pac is going to touch them.

Yeah I'm from Oregon. Grew up in Portland, and my dad went to UO. Used to go to the Civil War games back when Bellotti was head coach. Always liked the Ducks but it's been so much fun to follow them ever since Kelly got the head job.

As to the money -- I don't think that's an issue. They're already paying him more than the median NFL head coach salary, and they'd be happy to pay him more if he won a championship. I think he just genuinely wants to win a Superbowl, and thinks he's capable of it (he probably is). I think he would stay with UO until they win a championship, but if that happens this year, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he goes to the NFL.

As an Former Student, yeah. We get our rowdy out during yell practice but even then it wouldn't occur to Aggies in general to be disrespectful to opponents.

http://tabmetrodallas.wordpress.com/2012/09/09/74/

Of course, while A&M was taking it to Bama, I was at Robertson stadium watching the Cougars get blown out by Tulsa.

Aggies have always been known to be very good hosts to their visiting opponents.

There are always exceptions.

I think A&M showed everyone that Bama doesn't have the defensive ability to slow down an Oregon offense all that much.

Perhaps Oregon is better than the 2010 version, but Auburn's D wasn't anything special either and it held them firmly in check. The Ducks might beat a team like Bama, but they wouldn't score 50 or anywhere close.

Also note that after a 20 point first quarter explosion, Bama held A&M scoreless in the 2nd and 3rd and then to 9 points in the 4th. Points more to a mental lapse or lack of preparedness at the beginning of the game, something that wouldn't be a factor in the NC game.