Pac-12, the 2015 season and who is who

We've already covered some prime territory this past winter and spring and for that I am pleased with most everyone's interesting input. The ever escalating power struggle in the Pac-12 conference has proven to be one of the most interesting scenarios I have ever witnessed in the sport. Just look at what happens when USC and the 9 dwarfs come into a lot of money, more than they had ever seen. Up to very recently, only 2 school football programs were generously funded well above their needs. Oregon and USC. Now there seems to be money to burn everywhere you look and "new arms of the corporation" such as The Pac-12 Networks have appeared out of nowhere and are beginning to generate a healthy cash flow. Furthermore, profits generated by Pac-12 TV are divided up by the schools in the conference and no one else gets a piece. if money is what makes the world go around, at the rate things are moving, we are all going to be flung out into space pretty soon. The future looks bright and competitive.

I hope to see in this thread as many interesting point of views and details about the teams and upcoming season's games as there are to tell over the next 4 months as opening day creeps up on us. Personally, I hope to feel educated enough by then to have some strong and accurate opinions about the opportunities to win a bet that will be presented every week for 15 consecutive weeks beginning in September.

I will let my discoveries unfold the easiest way I know how and just let things happen as they naturally do. Randomly is good but divine guidance (luck) is always better. Now I have a place to go when I feel like sharing some knowledge that could make someone a buck or two out west. When it comes to playing at a book there is one axiom to go by that seems to work viciously well insofar as who prevails at the cashier's window...

The more you know, the less they know.

OK, here's a fun clip I stumbled upon just a little while ago. It's UCLA vs Arizona a few years back when the Bruins were getting pummeled weekly. Note the score (near the end of the first half.) It's pretty good indication of what was then vs what is now. This clip begins with a fan running out onto the field in a fake referee's uniform and ends in total mayhem. Let the good times roll !!

Oregon will play it's spring game on Saturday and all the talk is about redshirt freshman RB Tony Brooks-James who many compare to LaMichael James.

I think the biggest news coming out of Eugene this week is they are holding open tryouts for Oregon cheerleaders this week.

Wanger said:

Oregon will play it's spring game on Saturday and all the talk is about redshirt freshman RB Tony Brooks-James who many compare to LaMichael James.

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That is some surprising news, but not really that surprising. What a hellacious backfield the Ducks have going for them already, even without Tony Brooks-James.

Conan said:

That is some surprising news, but not really that surprising. What a hellacious backfield the Ducks have going for them already, even without Tony Brooks-James.

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It's not often you hear the DC rave about a redshirt freshman RB, if it wasn't for the Derby on Saturday I'd go down and watch the game.

http://www.csnnw.com/ducks/don-pellum-gushes-over-tony-brooks-james

Wanger said:

It's not often you hear the DC rave about a redshirt freshman RB, if it wasn't for the Derby on Saturday I'd go down and watch the game.

http://www.csnnw.com/ducks/don-pellum-gushes-over-tony-brooks-james

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I think Don Pellum might have a spot for him in his defensive backfield.
That slipped out of his mouth within the first 30 seconds of the video.
He and Scott Frost should settle any differences about the kid's future
their own way. Mano a mano.

I hope they keep it clean.
cheersgif
La Chayem
(to life)

And along comes the most consistent player in the Duck's defense this past spring. Henry Mondeaux is a 6'5" 290 lb. example of an athlete that plays both TE and DE. I don't know whether or not Pellum was joking about this guy catching passes because I recently saw a 400 lb tackle eligible catch a pass and run 40 yards with the ball for a TD. Which 170 lb. CB or safety wants any of that? It is written all over Mondeaux that he will be a big producer if he carries his talented play forward from here.






'

you realize this thread will quickly go south once you know who logs in... BTW, I'm more optimistic about the Ducks upcoming season then I thought I would be.. I think this is a reload program now... No reason to think we can't compete for another Pac 12 title and possibly make some noise on the National scene again..if we can get Adams up to SPEED so to speak for MSU, watch out...

Now that the Oregon homers have had their wishful thinking posted, let's get on to other Pac 12 teams:

Cal: I am going to make a lot of money fading Cal this season because of two things. First, they have no defense at all, and HC Sonny Dykes will find out, no defense means a very tough job getting wins. Second, Cal will be extremely fortunate to win one away game. I invite you to look at the schedule and find me one away game that they will be favored to win. As of now, there is none.

Washington: The Huskies will be light on experience on both lines. Opening at Boise State may set the tone for this team in 2015. They have a very difficult stretch starting on 10/8 with a trip to USC, followed by Oregon, at Stanford, Arizona, Utah, and at Arizona State. Hard to figure out where this team will finish up. A good team to pass on at the wagering windows.

Stanford: This team still has a very poor offense, especially by Pac 12 standards. They do get UCLA, Washington, Oregon, and Notre Dame at home, but this season, Stanford will be reduced to "spoiler" role in the Pac 12.

The Pac 12 South is by far, the superior division in the Pac 12. UCLA (if it can get it's personnel issues straightened out), USC, Arizona State and Arizona can defeat anyone in the conference. Utah can definately be a challenge. Only Colorado remains on the doubtful list to win 6 games.

The Pac 12 may have a difficult time getting a team into the playoff. Oregon travels to Michigan State and USC travels to Notre Dame in non-con action. These are major payback games for the home teams. Both Pac 12 teams should be dogs. If both lose (which is quite possible), then neither team can afford to lose a conference game, and that is asking a lot from any Pac 12 team. The conference overall, is just too tough for any team to realistically sweep. No team has been able to do that in the past 4 seasons.

BigdaddyQH said:

Now that the Oregon homers have had their wishful thinking posted, let's get on to other Pac 12 teams:

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You and your butt buddy Chris Paradise are cut from the same mold.

BigdaddyQH said:

Cal: I am going to make a lot of money fading Cal this season because of two things. First, they have no defense at all, and HC Sonny Dykes will find out, no defense means a very tough job getting wins. Second, Cal will be extremely fortunate to win one away game. I invite you to look at the schedule and find me one away game that they will be favored to win. As of now, there is none.

Washington: The Huskies will be light on experience on both lines. Opening at Boise State may set the tone for this team in 2015. They have a very difficult stretch starting on 10/8 with a trip to USC, followed by Oregon, at Stanford, Arizona, Utah, and at Arizona State. Hard to figure out where this team will finish up. A good team to pass on at the wagering windows.

Stanford: This team still has a very poor offense, especially by Pac 12 standards. They do get UCLA, Washington, Oregon, and Notre Dame at home, but this season, Stanford will be reduced to "spoiler" role in the Pac 12.

The Pac 12 South is by far, the superior division in the Pac 12. UCLA (if it can get it's personnel issues straightened out), USC, Arizona State and Arizona can defeat anyone in the conference. Utah can definately be a challenge. Only Colorado remains on the doubtful list to win 6 games.

The Pac 12 may have a difficult time getting a team into the playoff. Oregon travels to Michigan State and USC travels to Notre Dame in non-con action. These are major payback games for the home teams. Both Pac 12 teams should be dogs. If both lose (which is quite possible), then neither team can afford to lose a conference game, and that is asking a lot from any Pac 12 team. The conference overall, is just too tough for any team to realistically sweep. No team has been able to do that in the past 4 seasons.

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Wanger. Are you some kind of nut? It certainly appears to be the case. Do you deny that all Conan and Red Eye talk about is Oregon, a team that was a total disgrace in the Championship game last year. A team that has NEVER won a National Championship in football and probably never will? I try to talk about all teams, but those two do not have the ability to begin to comprehend what goes on in other conferences, much less the Pac 12. I thought this thread was suppose to be about the Pac 12. Instead those two turn it into an Oregon love festival. Screw Oregon. They had their chances and like most people from Oregon, they failed miserably. 42-30 is failing miserably when you are 7 point chalk.

BigdaddyQH said:

Wanger. Are you some kind of nut? It certainly appears to be the case. Do you deny that all Conan and Red Eye talk about is Oregon, a team that was a total disgrace in the Championship game last year. A team that has NEVER won a National Championship in football and probably never will? I try to talk about all teams, but those two do not have the ability to begin to comprehend what goes on in other conferences, much less the Pac 12. I thought this thread was suppose to be about the Pac 12. Instead those two turn it into an Oregon love festival. Screw Oregon. They had their chances and like most people from Oregon, they failed miserably. 42-30 is failing miserably when you are 7 point chalk.

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Thread had potential till you came with your usual garbage about anything Oregon, you and your butt buddy Chris Paradise are quickly becoming ignore list candidates.

BigdaddyQH said:

Wanger. Are you some kind of nut? It certainly appears to be the case. Do you deny that all Conan and Red Eye talk about is Oregon, a team that was a total disgrace in the Championship game last year. A team that has NEVER won a National Championship in football and probably never will? I try to talk about all teams, but those two do not have the ability to begin to comprehend what goes on in other conferences, much less the Pac 12. I thought this thread was suppose to be about the Pac 12. Instead those two turn it into an Oregon love festival. Screw Oregon. They had their chances and like most people from Oregon, they failed miserably. 42-30 is failing miserably when you are 7 point chalk.

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Ohio St was just better...We shouldn't have been favored in that game....+7 was the play...By the NC game we were pretty well depleted with skill players..Did very well considering what we lost. Another Pac 12 title, a playoff win isn't anything to hang our heads over.

Wanger said:

Thread had potential till you came with your usual garbage about anything Oregon, you and your butt buddy Chris Paradise are quickly becoming ignore list candidates.

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Dadddyo has been on ignore for a few weeks now. It's never been quieter in here for me. Chris Paradise I can live with because at least he has a half a brain and makes a few valid points. Neither really contribute anything to the forum other than childish arguments and needing to get in the last word.

The problem with the ignoree is if they get quoted by another poster, then you see what they wrote. And it's kind of like a car accident. You don't want to see it, but you can't look away.

RED EYE said:

Ohio St was just better...We shouldn't have been favored in that game....+7 was the play...By the NC game we were pretty well depleted with skill players..Did very well considering what we lost. Another Pac 12 title, a playoff win isn't anything to hang our heads over.

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Player losses like that always hurt the chemistry of the team, along with having to alter their game plans. OSU was just on a roll and had a hell of a lot of momentum coming into the Final Four. OSU basically did the same thing to Alabama. The stats weren't really as close to the score. They outgained them by about 130 yards and had almost 300 yards rushing against Bama. Which until this past season has pretty much been unheard of against that defense. Probably nobody was going to beat OSU. But I would still like to have seen a TCU/OSU final. I thought those were the two best teams at the end of the season..And another argument for an 8 team playoff.

RunLeeRun said:

The problem with the ignoree is if they get quoted by another poster, then you see what they wrote. And it's kind of like a car accident. You don't want to see it, but you can't look away.

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That's why everybody would be better off just ignoring this half wit..

Wanger, anything less than a smear about Oregon is what BD considers a love fest. He is the only poster here that considers himself better and more knowledgable than everyone else that posts in my threads or where he has some notion that his information is reliable and yours isn't. He is like a litmus test for how bad USC has lost or been beaten by the team he puts down. And in EVERY instance, his diagnosis is nothing short of terminal and forever. The biggest problem is that he believes he is objective and everyone else is a homer. But he showed us in the past that his picks will break you if you use them. The man can't pick a side. In his weekly selection thread, he would only use huge moneyline chalk plays which proves he is chickenshit when it comes to showing us his gambling knowledge. He will tell you how brilliant his system is but at some point he loses a wager and gets wiped out in grand fashion just the way he was warned about what will happen eventually and it didn't take more than about ½ season to find out everyone was right. By the 8th week of the season, I had amassed an enormous lead over him as I was having a good time talkiing about ALL of the teams and making good on my work as I was picking winners at a 60%+ rate which put him in the cellar. The difference between us is that I have nothing to prove to anyone because I've been a successful handicapper with a consistent winning record here every year with very few exceptions. He manages to disprove that he knows what he is doing and tells you that his bets would drown anyone that also gambles anything less than he and his butt buddies in Las Vegas. He knows almost nothing about offshore shops and thinks the offshore gambling industry is weak and puny compared to his buddies in Vegas.

He also thinks Stanford won't mount an offense despite the fact that Kevin Hogan and his offense finally got their act together in the last month of the 2014 season and played well. He sounds like he knows what he is saying but he trips over his own opinions like Stanford all the time. I think he actually has these huge blind spots in his thinking about any team or coach that beat USC. Beware.

They be stylin'...


Don Pellum (L) Oregon's DC and Gary Campbell (R) Oregon's RB coach.
An actual photo taken of Don Pellum on the field at the Rose Bowl vs FSU.

I wasn't going to say much about this, but being from the town of Podunk, W.A. (Western Appalachia, Oregon) where the major difference between a redneck and a hippie is the shotgun mounted in the rear window of his pickup. And the way to tell if he's married is to check whether or not there are tobacco spit trails running back on both sides of his truck. A small miracle has occurred that has the wine and cheese crowd in Ashland, Oregon displaying a healthy yawn instead of a blank stare on their faces when you mention college football.

The very lowest of NCAA divisions, the star-studded NAIA (just below Div III on the ladder of CFB powerhouse divisions) was won by SOSC (Southern Oregon State College.) The sum total of my experience with that school was a speeding ticket I got once upon a time while driving by its campus, admittedly because I missed a speed limit sign while ogling a nice pair of titties and a tight but rotund ass. That's hardly worth remembering but for the miracle of having my ticket dismissed for avoiding any further traffic citations from the police for the ensuing 12 months, a personal best for me in this highly booby trapped part of the state. Over the aforementioned year that passed without a traffic citation, I was stopped no less than 5 times and let off the hook each time I was flagged down. Speeding ticket dismissed !! Now that is truly remarkable and also true.

Well that still doesn't top what happened last week to a fellow named Austin Dodge, the SOSC Raiders QB who led his team to its first NAIA championship last December. He was actually signed to an NFL contract by the Atlanta Falcons the very same day the NFL draft concluded. ZOUNDS !! Somebody knows something. (Just ignore that little man standing behind the black curtain who's making all those thunder and lightning effects and sounds.) How did Atlanta find this guy and why sign anyone who's best game ever didn't amount to much more than a notch above sandlot competition? The word is out on him that his fundamentals are a thing of beauty. Now if he makes it into a game, that would surprise me greatly. Personally I would prefer seeing that female with the nice titties naked in my bed with the lights turned down low.

Here's a little snippet about him:

The last time Austin Dodge put in this much work, he had control over the situation. The result for the Vancouver quarterback was winning the NAIA national title for Southern Oregon last December. This time, Dodge waits.



Dodge says he'll sit with friends and family on a deck at his parent's home Saturday during the NFL draft, hoping to hear his name called. But the 6-foot-3 Dodge -- who broke every meaningful NAIA passing record during his Southern Oregon career -- has no idea if he'll become one of this year's draft picks, or if free agency is in his future.

As I said, Atlanta snatched him right up following the end of the NFL draft. San Francisco, San Diego and Green Bay had also been in contact with SOSC head coach Craig Howard about his star quarterback.