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Oregonâs been #2 (arguably) four times going back to 2001.
Show of hands: who has Oregon topping that over the next 25 years now that weâve made it?
I just spent four days in Pullman and think that unless some miracle happens for WSU it is going to be absolutely devastating.
I know Iâm a broken record and this isnât exactly the pointâŚ
But how many times has Wazzu beat the shit out of Oregon and told us exactly what we are?
I know I already said it, but itâs all so gross. And just for fucking football. Yeah, I know money has always been the driving force in sports, but college sports was actually fun at one point with conferences based on geography and fun rivalries.
Now you have a Big Ten that spans the entire country. Iâm SO HYPED for that Rutgers-Washington game! The SEC has at least stayed somewhat geographically connected, but of course, the SEC and Big Ten are just pillaging the rest of the country.
The Big 12 looks like it will stay afloat, but itâs shittier. The Pac 12, a cool fucking conference, is dead. Stanford, which routinely tops the Sears Cup standings (or whatever they are called now), is adrift, as are Cal, WSU, and OSU.
The ACC is intact for now, but FSU is threatening to leave, the âMagnificent Sevenâ have discussed leaving amongst themselves for the past year, and UVa and UNC have reportedly been approached by the Big Ten. And four schools have opposed the addition of Stanford and Cal (which would make for a dumb geographic conference, but I would be at least a bit relieved for those two schools).
Oh, and the Big East got demolished with previous conference realignment. It recovered when it comes to basketball, at least. And, of course, the smaller conferences have just been abused.
Itâs all so shitty. The ones who are really getting fucked are all the athletes in the ânon-revenueâ sports who are going to have miserable travel schedules.
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I have vague memories of the Ducks going to the '95 Rose Bowl, and I remember watching them get demolished by Colorado in the Cotton Bowl the next season.
I had some point to make that related to your post but I lost it.
Oregon football in the '90s was a lot of fun. I posted the video of us merking Sabanâs Michigan State in 1998. If RB Reuben Droughns doesnât break his leg against #1 UCLA that team wins 10 games (we took them to OT).
To hear a lot of Oregon guys tell it, that era was shameful. I just donât get it. Since Chip/Mariota we have one legitimate conference championship. The only real improvement has been in recruiting rankings. Cool.
Iâm not totally against conferences expanding if it makes sense. Penn State to the Big Ten was fine, etc. Itâs just that I hate the entirety of college sports being fucked because conference commissioners and school presidents want that juicy football TV money.
I was in school in the mid-late 1990âs. The ACC was fun as fuck with 9 teams. College basketball schedule was perfect - home and home against everyone. Every game was a rivalry to some extent and then you still had room in the schedule for an non-conference rivalry game (any sport), like UVa-VT, GT-UGA, Clemson-SC, FSU-Florida, FSU-Miami, etc.
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Yea Jesus wtf
I wish two of the other conferences (say Pac and BigXII) could have associated together to compete with the Big10 and SEC. An association with two conferences, most of the play is within the conference but contrive regular marquee matchups between Texas/USC/Oregon/Oklahoma type teams (could even have a mini-relegation structure within the conference to choose non-conference opponents). No sport besides football will be included in the association. Expand the championship to a conference playoff and an association championship between the two conferences. If the NCAA doesnât allow the postseason structure, threaten secession.
Seeing both conferences collapse is, as others have said, just gross. All this for a marginal financial gain to the SEC and Big10. I guess the leftovers can form a western Big East or ACC now. Yuck.
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Obviously the ACC was on a whole other level of competitiveness but Pac 10 mens basketball was so much fun when Stanford was elite.
Teams played everyone home-and-away and for awhile Stanford, UCLA and Arizona were top ten or close to it, year-in, year-out. Marginal NIT Duck teams would sell-out Thursday night games against USC. Now you couldnât pay Duck fans to go the new arena to watch the menâs team. Atmosphere is deader than the court is ugly.
If thereâs one thing college-aged kids cannot stand or recover from, itâs travel
U Chicago was cool and now itâs gone
Just because these teams are better, they think they can stop financially carrying the weaklings. Itâs downright un-American. We donât change things here, God damn it
I was in college (at Virginia) when Arizona won the title, beating three #1 seeds. That was pretty great.
Thereâs a point I have in here that Iâve struggled to articulate: if not for Chip Kelly realizing that you really can make the whole plane out of black box Oregon would be the same team it was under Bellotti and post-Mariota. Almost always making a bowl game and winning a conference title once or twice a decade. AND THAT WOULD BE JUST FINE. Autzen would be louder, even if often not sold out. Wins would be more enjoyable.
The basketball arena exemplifies this perfectly. Oregon isnât a big time program in that way. We donât have a fan base on par with Texas or Tennessee. The line was always that when McArthur Court gets replaced the new arena will have acoustics such that it will be just as loud. That was probably never possible, but they gave us the complete opposite. Instead of the band keeping the place bouncing after a quick 7-0 run and a timeout against Arizona itâs âhey Iâm here in section 203 and whoâs up for Duck trivia?â Mac Court didnât even really have a PA system. In Phil KnightâŚexcuse me, Matthew Knight Arena you can barely hear the band from most seats, itâs a token element. And I guess no one had the balls to name it The Nikedome. Wtf.
Oregon isnât responsible for the death of the Pac 10. We just exemplify why it happened.
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This Michigan self imposed 3 game suspension of Harbaugh is a joke. Just like the NCAA. So he sits out 3 games MI will win anyways. I guess they are trying to get ahead of it, but the fact they are facing any punishment is laughable in the face of say the Tennessee violations.
Sound like trump with the what about Biden defense
Jim broke the rules and basically told them to fuck off
Doesnât matter what other schools have done. He did this.
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Happy Holidays to all that celebrate.
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USC giving up 28 to SJSU is not a good sign for their playoff hopes
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Lincoln âLawyerâ Riley donât play no defense bruh
A few dozen posters have reached out to me to ask about my thoughts on the Bo Nix âBo-Daciousâ NYC billboard.
All I have to say is them not going with âBoey Heismanâ in a nod to the original Ducksâ Times Square billboard is unfortunate.
You may remember him for being a worse NFL quarterback than his backup at Oregon. I choose to remember him transitively beating 2001 Miami by 25 points.
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