2024 American college football

The SEC hasn't BEEN all that for a while now.
Like I've said in two otha places.
Talent goes where the money is - and so do students.

If you can pack a half a NASCAR race into a stadium and charge hundreds of bucks per seat per game?
I imagine some of it might trickle down into the lesser know title IX sports where the students have time to actually pursue a real degree.

As far as the Ducks?
Who knows?
Strength of schedule will sort itself out too.
If you're in the top tier of your position would you want to get a shot at the 'bigs' by playing in the SEC or the Big 10?
Both might feature an off-the-field fight but SOME conferences have to deal with injuries not caused by pepper spray.
Oregon has the wind at their back at the moment, they've earned a bye week and they don't have an excuse in the world not to have an empty injury roster.
If they stomp a mudhole in Texas' bottom I might actually ROOT for them while they're doing it!

Just be careful what you wish for.....
Like they say in the Aflac DUCK commercials..... "Name Injury Likeness....."

 

Where did you come up with geoduck as any Oregon State symbol?

The state "shell" is the hairy triton. I thought for years petitioning for poison oak as Oregon's official shrub, but never really pursued it.

THE DUCK AT UNIVERSITY OF OREGON -- or Puddles -- a name U of O administration hates, but is used by all students -- comes from eons ago when UO teams were informally called Webfoots.

Oregon State University has Benny the Beaver. The beaver is the official state animal. Students at OSU have all the sophomoric "fun" with the mascot as you would imagine.

It's time for UO to win the national championship. The university's Uncle Phil (Phil Knight of NIKE) is not getting younger and he deserves to see a title year after the millions he has invested at University of Oregon.
kris
PS...Above post has more than a dollop of sarcasm....but you'd have to be an Oregonian to "get" it.

 

Let's you, Bob and I get together. I will teach you "Oregon , My Oregon," the state song. Required of all elementary students in my day in my tiny hometown.

Oh that is I will teach the OLD song, not the one fiddled with by the legislature a few years ago.
kris

 

Poison oak in general is native to the Western portion of Oregon, where most of the population curses the vine. Poison ivy in the east, although they overlap in some areas. Poison ivy bothers relatively few in Oregon for a few months each season. Poison oak, is a pain 12 months of the year for multitudes.
kris

 

@bwilson4web might drive out to harvest some of the poison oak for his political signs!
(Although 'Bama has a surfeit of this bio weapon!)

 

For those interested but uninvited:

<<<Trigger Warning!!!>>>>>
I listened to every word of this song but I am an SEC fan, and thus may have missed some blatant racism in this version, for which I bed the indulgence of the mods!!

 

Why would there be this thread and this one, both kicked off on the same day in 2024?

 

I figured you might have had reasons, to be disclosed at some later date.

 

RIGHT ... YOU POSTED THE OLD SONG

Nobody I knows hears anything objectionable.....but....O.K. I have to calm down. Need to keep my rants to myself.

If you want to see WORLD class athletes and see the unofficial Oregon fight song....watch this...I promise you will like it...extra points if you know what movie it was stolen from -- the first few moments are priceless. See how many Heisman, Olympic stars you can spot in the crowd...starting with Marcus Mariotta. If you strike out they are identified at the end. Video courtsey of Uncle Phil.

shout university of oregon - Google Search

 

The 'shout' link didn't work for me - but fear not.
I'm a 'little' more curious than that - and AT$T is a Texas based company - so....yeah.
Take that where you will.

Top-5 PC Yootube vid!
I hope whoever made that is knocking down 8-figures as a (political?) consultant somewhere.....

“Christ.......Seven Years of College Down the Drain. Might as Well Join the F**king Peace Corps.”.......

AND THAT, ladies and gentlemen is WHY we have collegiate athletics!!!
(...and WHY it is important!)

 

At least they didn't call it a "world championship."
There will be a declared winner, and a trophy.

I have to admit that I am (as of this date/time) a little ignorant of the final '12'
According to ESPN at this time (CNN with a decent sports desk) the 'final 12' are......
1. Oregon (12-0)
2. Texas (11-1)
3. Penn State (11-1)
4. Notre Dame (11-1)
5. Georgia (10-2)
6. Ohio State (10-2)
7. Tennessee (10-2)
8. SMU (11-1)
9. Indiana (11-1)
10. Boise State (11-1)
11. Alabama (9-3)
12. Miami (10-2)

SO....
What do the polls say?
Me?
I'd wait a week and see what Vegas says.
They seem to be a pretty good indicator with politics - and it's the ultimate 'crowd sourced' (peer reviewed) predictor of the final trophy earner.
I personally like (hate!) Texas and wish they'd put another three loss team in the mix besides 'Bama.
I root for the Pachyderms BUT I don't see them as performing well in clutch games.

MY opinion.
Current street value: $0.02

 

Vegas was an early and consistent predictor of the recent election - and some before that.
In my own very niche community there was a for-real scientist (John P Craven) that used Vegas style betting to um....'seek answers.'
So...I'm not a particular fan of the late Dr Craven for personal reasons BUT it is possible that people with 'skin in the game' can be biased BOTH towards and away from 'truth' depending on what 'skin' they have in the game.

If you're betting hard-earned money for....the Vols and you are unfortunate enough not to live in the 'Volunteer state' (for example) then you might be incentivized to measure things with a 'real 12-inch' ruler, and leave your passions on the stoop.

Me?
I think Tennessee is a damn good team - and I am most decidedly NOT a fan of their team or their coach (MY bias!)
I hail from the Hoosier state, which is over-represented in the 'final-12' and I think that at least ONE of those teams are vastly over-rated.
If you put a gun to my head and made me bet $100m of MY money for one of the teams - it would NOT be Oregon....Or Indiana....Or Alabama...
I'd probably go for Texas - a team that I loathe almost as much as......______

Hope is not a plan.
I would not mind if the ducks pull it off as I think it would be better for the NC2A - but of their team I have no opinion because, as you mentioned, their feet have NOT touched the ground - YET.

Some colleges CAN REALLY 'do it all.' as I illuded to earlier.
Military colleges tend to (more or less) enforce academic AND sports standards as well as military training including (some say) adherence to an honour code.
If 'standards' are standard and a 'top 100' is significant for reasons beyond the number of digits most humans have then I would submit that military colleges are OVER represented in your 'top 100' colleges - meaning that they really CAN 'do it all.'

Disclosures:
I root for Alabama, generally although I do not think that they belong in the final 12.
Same for my beloved Hoosiers - although I am GLAD they're there.
Oregon absolutely belongs in the final 12, and they earned their bye week. If they don't emerge as the final champs then it's not an 'Oregon' failure but rather a systemic failure.
The market will correct for this - to the DETREMENT of the once-proud American tradition that colleges really CAN 'do it all."


-THAT's sports.