The PAC12 THREAD v.2

[WhiteMamba]

Holy Cow I had never heard of Gil Dobie until I saw something posted on him at another site:

Gil Dobie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dude makes Nick Saban look weak.

Holy Cow is right. DUDE DIDNT LOSE MUCH!

 

[WhiteMamba]

If the Pac goes 9-0 We should be considered the second best conference behind the SEC and closer to the SEC than people think.

kind of already is the case

 

[The Derski]

Stanford vs MSU should be one hell of a defensive battle.

 

[The Derski]

kind of already is the case

Yeah but its not a consensus. After the bowl games it should be. There are still Big 12 homers out there claiming to be better than the Pac.

 

[The Derski]

Colorado St. vs Washington St. 12-21-13
Fresno St. vs Southern Cal 12-21-13
Boise St. vs Oregon St. 12-24 13
Washington vs BYU 12-27-13
Texas vs Oregon 12-30-13
Texas Tech vs Arizona St. 12-30-13
Arizona vs Boston College 12-31-13
Virginia Tech vs UCLA 12-31-13
Michigan St. vs Stanford 1-1-14

 

[The Derski]

Yeah I picked every Pac 12 team. Make your picks

 

[WizardHawk]

I just want it in record that it wasn't a Husky bringing up Dobie and his crazy record. He was our HC when UW completed a full decade without losing a single game, but shit that was 100 years ago ffs. His full coaching career is nearly unmatched. Dominated with every school he coached yet you don't hear many people bring his name up. Truly one of the greatest college coaches of all time.

 

[The Derski]

Colorado St. vs Washington St. 12-21-13
Fresno St. vs Southern Cal 12-21-13
Boise St. vs Oregon St. 12-24 13
Washington vs BYU 12-27-13
Texas vs Oregon 12-30-13
Texas Tech vs Arizona St. 12-30-13
Arizona vs Boston College 12-31-13
Virginia Tech vs UCLA 12-31-13
Michigan St. vs Stanford 1-1-14

The only underdog is WSU.

 

[SUBuddha]

I will always wish the best for Stanford since that is where I went to law school but I don't see how sustainable any long term football success is at Stanford.

Most of the people there are the type that would rather study than go to the football game (who can blame them?), there are only around 7,000 undergrads I believe and the classes are extremely difficult. I have to imagine Stanford professors are less accommodating than those in larger schools where football is so important.

I just think there are a lot of obstacles to Stanford's long term success.

234 I would agree with you, with any other coach. I think Shaw can sell the team and the school better than anyone. Do I think they keep going to BCS bowls (or playoffs) not consistently, but I think you are looking at a 8-4 to 11-1 team for the next 4-6 years.

Oh and sorry to be away, I was in GA all week for a writers conference for my wife, I am on page 212 of 248 right now. More to come, especially about the CCG.

 

[JahiiCarson_SqodGeneral]

234 I would agree with you, with any other coach. I think Shaw can sell the team and the school better than anyone. Do I think they keep going to BCS bowls (or playoffs) not consistently, but I think you are looking at a 8-4 to 11-1 team for the next 4-6 years.

Oh and sorry to be away, I was in GA all week for a writers conference for my wife, I am on page 212 of 248 right now. More to come, especially about the CCG.

Shaw could leave to Houston he could be a grest camdidate for an NFL job.

 

[RegentDenali]

Pac-12 should roll through bowl games

Ted Miller -

The Pac-12 is favored in eight of its nine bowl games, as Oregon State is the only underdog in its matchup with Boise State in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.

That's good news and bad news.

The good news is the conference has an excellent chance to post an impressive bowl record. The bad news is it has a chance to embarrass itself, too. Anything less than 6-3 would be a major disappointment.

Of course, the Pac-12 blog has always taken a dim view of judging a conference by its bowl record, despite its annual inevitability. The college football postseason is filled with teams with varied motivation, not to mention coaching turnover -- see Washington and USC, as well as Boise State. Still, a program is responsible for itself.

The biggest reason the Pac-12 should thrive this bowl season is also the biggest negative for the conference: just one BCS bowl team, unlike the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12, and unlike the previous three seasons. Yep, the deepest Pac-12 perhaps in history ended up being a negative when it came to handing out bowl invitations.

The most aggrieved party is No. 10 Oregon, the only eligible at-large team to be passed over. The Ducks were hoping to be pitted against Alabama in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, but the bowl went with Oklahoma, honoring a relationship with the Big 12 and perhaps thinking the Sooners will travel better than the Ducks.

Not to incur the wide-eyed wrath of Oregon fans, but the Sooners' case probably was stronger on merit, too. The Ducks lost two of their final four games, and they barely slipped by 6-6 Oregon State in the Civil War to conclude the season. Oklahoma is riding a three-game winning streak that was capped by impressive victory over No. 6 Oklahoma State on Saturday. Paired with the Sooners other quality win -- at Notre Dame -- that's more impressive than the Ducks best wins (UCLA and Washington). And the Sooners losses, to Baylor and Texas, are at least comparable to the Ducks' (Stanford and Arizona). According to ESPN Stats & Information, Oregon's and Oklahoma's schedules were pretty equivalent, the Ducks ranking 50th and the Sooners 55th.

Sure, Oregon would be favored against Oklahoma, but the Sugar Bowl folks took the temperature of the respective fan bases and found more smiles in Norman than Eugene.

Finally, to be honest, the way Oregon looked over the final month of the season suggests they'd be better off allowing the Sooners to deal with Alabama and Nick Saban.

As for the conference champions, kudos to Stanford for negotiating the nation's fourth-most difficult schedule with an 11-2 record. In fact, the Cardinal is ranked No. 1 in ESPN Stats & Information "Championship Drive Rating," which measures a team's overall merit -- the "difficulty of achieving their W-L or better and how well they control games using in-game win probability; both adjusted for quality of opponent."

Of course, Stanford, which opened as a 3-point favorite against Michigan State in the Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO, is where the Pac-12's overall offseason perception will start. It figures to get a tough fight from the defensive-minded Spartans. A Cardinal loss would diminish the Pac-12's national perception as a whole -- as in trickle down from the Big Ten champion being superior to the Pac-12 champ.

Oregon's matchup with Texas in the Valero Alamo Bowl is interesting. If both teams show up with their best game, Oregon wins by two or three touchdowns. But the Ducks over the final four weeks of the season would lose to Texas. The Ducks need to be motivated. They need to know, for one, that the Longhorns figure to be fired up, as they are perhaps playing their last game with Mack Brown as their coach.

The biggest mismatch of the conference's bowl season might be Arizona State against Texas Tech in the National University Holiday Bowl. The Sun Devils have won seven of eight -- the loss coming Saturday in the Pac-12 title game -- and are among the nation's hottest teams. The Red Raiders? They've lost five in a row, the last four being blowouts.

UCLA is in a similar situation in the Hyundai Sun Bowl against Virginia Tech. The Bruins have won four of five, while the Hokies have lost three of five. Virginia Tech's defense will challenge Bruins QB Brett Hundley, but the Hokies are horrid on offense.

USC and Washington will be the conference's biggest question marks due to coaching changes. The Trojans face a very good Fresno State team led by QB Derek Carr in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl, while the Huskies face a BYU team that ran all over Texas earlier this season in the Fight Hunger Bowl. Under normal circumstances, both matchups would favor the Pac-12. But these aren't normal circumstances.

Oregon State will face a Boise State squad with the same deal in the Hawaii Bowl. While this is a down year for the Broncos, it's hard to bet against Boise State with Chris Petersen in a bowl game. But he's now in Seattle. The Beavers, by the way, really need to win this game, otherwise it's going to be a sour offseason in Corvallis.

Meanwhile, Arizona makes the longest trip to meet Boston College in Shreveport, Louisiana for the AdvoCare V100 Bowl. This is interesting just because you have the top two running backs in the country in Arizona's Ka'Deem Carey and Boston College's Andre Williams.

Finally, Washington State will be playing in its first bowl game since 2003 in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl against Colorado State. The Cougars have wins over USC, Utah and Arizona. The Rams' best win is over 5-7 Wyoming. Mike Leach and the Cougs should roll.

Again, when you added it all up, 9-0 is not unreasonable and 7-2 is almost pessimistic. But bowl games are funny things, and this has been a funny season.

As we move into a four-team College Football Playoff with a selection committee weighing who's in and who's out, perception might become even more important than it was with the quintessentially subjective BCS.

The Pac-12 seemed like -- at the very least -- the nation's second best conference, no matter the BCS bowl situation. It needs to make good on that during the bowl games.

 

[RegentDenali]

Shaw could leave to Houston he could be a grest camdidate for an NFL job.

Word is Houston is making him one of their primary candidates.

 

[RegentDenali]

Per ESPN, the 6 Heisman finalists:

Jordan Lynch
Johnny Football
Tre Mason
A.J. McCarron
Andre Williams
Jameis Winston

 

[JahiiCarson_SqodGeneral]

Word is Houston is making him one of their primary candidates.

Good Casey Tucker put us and Stanford in his final 2...... We need this kid on our line.

 

[WizardHawk]

So in the end it was likely Oregon State's near victory that kept Oregon out of the BCS. Might not have had a good end to the season Wallace, but your team did have an impact on the big bowls. Well played sir... well played.

 

[JahiiCarson_SqodGeneral]

Watching some of the Petersen presser looks like a great coach. There have been Boise State coaches in the past who havent been succesful but Koetter should of had another year because his team was talented in 07 and Erickson got all the credit.

Petersen ran a bad offense at Boise State? Is he looking for a new OC at UW?

 

[SUBuddha]

I'll stick with my earlier prediction

Stanford 30
ASU 41

The games just going to get away from the Cardinal so to speak.

Again away for a bit, but how does that prediction taste now IB?

 

[WizardHawk]

Again away for a bit, but how does that prediction taste now IB?

I think all of us that thought ASU was for real quickly gave congratulations to Stanford for an impressive win.

Curious that you would throw this back in his face though. Didn't think higher educated people were really into that sort of thing.

 

[Ironbreaker]

Again away for a bit, but how does that prediction taste now IB?

Well. I've already congratulated the Cardinal and ate my crow.

I'm not going to suck your dick.

 

[WizardHawk]

Damn, I always seem to miss out on the drama until it's too late. Looks like a bit of a war happened in the texas thread. Loved that another poster accused our own Mamba of deleting posts that called him out on something. Crap, if he actually went around doing that about 10% of all of my posts would have been deleted by now.

That's why I keep saying I'm glad I'm no longer a mod on any site. It's a shit job with no thanks from those you work the hardest for. Can't win no matter what you do and it takes away your time from just having the same fun as everyone else.