UW Wins Over Oregon in NIT

Sure, it was only the NIT. And make no mistake, the championship game of the Not Invited Tournament is still just for a school to say it has the 69th best team in the country.

Still... UW's 90-86 victory over Oregon on Tuesday night was emotion-packed that boasted all the symptoms of a rivalry game.

The rivalry on the field is well documented between the two schools. The rivalry appears to be rapid and has spread to the hardwood as well.

Oregon fans taunted the UW's Nate Robinson in the early-2000's by holding up cardboard cutouts of Gary Coleman and chanting the minuscule actor's name to poke fun at Robinson's height.

Robinson famously retaliated by dunking at the end of a win at Oregon once the game had been decided. Baller.

My Pac 12 Bowl Rankings

1. Rose Bowl Game: Oregon (11-2) vs Wisconsin (11-2)
- the Ducks have lost two BCS bowl games in a row, so they will need to win to make a firm claim at being one of the nation's elite.

2. Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma State (11-1) vs Stanford (11-1)
- Yes, I know both of these teams have better records than my No. 1 ranked game, but I just love watching Wisconsin!

3. Valero Alamo: Baylor (9-3) vs Washington (7-5)
- Baylor will most likely be featuring the Heisman Trophy winner: QB Robert Griffin III. Need I say more?

4. Bidgepoint Education Holiday: Cal (7-5) vs Texas (7-5)
- There's a rivalry angle here.

5. Hyundai Sun: Georgia Tech (8-4) vs Utah (7-5)

6. MAACO Las Vegas: Boise State (11-1) vs Arizona State (6-6)

7. Kraft Fight Hunger: Illinois (6-6) vs ULCA (6-7)

Pac 12 Coaching Changes

It has been a whirlwind week in the Pac 12, making the Conference's first championship game seem a bit anticlimactic. Here is a summary of what happened:

Rick Neuheisel of the UCLA Bruins was fired following last weekeend's 50-0 loss to No. 9 SoCal.

Dennis Erickson was fired from Arizona State around the same time.

Paul Wulff was dismissed from Washington State while the Cougars hired Mike Leach, former Texas Tech coach.


Rick Neuheisel is headed for his last game with the Bruins (6-6, 5-4), and a challenging one at that as he faces the Oregon Ducks (10-2, 8-1).

Oregon Ducks Drop to USC

I was very surprised by the outcome of the USC Oregon game - I had my money on Oregon for sure.

A few things we learned from the game:

- Lane Kiffin of California is hands down getting work done at USC. He obvioulsy knows how to recruit, organize and play-call.

- Cinderella stories do exist.

- Marqise Lee is a spectacular replacement.

Let's take a look ahead. Despite losing its hopes of a national championship shot, Oregon is still the favorite to win the Pac-12 title and get to the Rose Bowl. The Ducks will win the Pac-12 North over Oregon State, earning the right to host the championship game on December 12.

Do you agree? Comment and let me know!

Stanford Oregon Game Looms Closer

The Stanford Cardinals must have a pot of gold and a leprechaun stowed away somewhere with all the Luck they've been having. Sitting at 8-0 and heading into a game against the Oregon State Beavers, the Cardinals are sitting pretty.

Not so fast?

What about the upcoming game against their second in command, the Oregon Ducks (7-1). The Ducks, before meeting the Cardinals, must take a trip to the tough Washington Huskies.

What will the Oregon Stanford game look like? Will Oregon take a win from the Luck-y Cardinals?

I think so. What do you think?

Stanford and Oregon Lead Pac-12 in BCS

The Pac-12 only has three teams in this week's BCS rankings, but they do have two teams in the Top 10 of those rankings. No. 6 Stanford continues to slowly climb towards the top as Andrew Luck and co. continue to stomp opponents. Oregon is the highest ranked 1 loss team coming in right behind Stanford at No. 7.

Oregon's only loss was to top ranked LSU, so Oregon can still climb higher if they continue down the path of success. Oregon will play Stanford in three weeks.

Week 5 Pac 12 Preview

Best Upcoming Matchup: UCLA run offense vs Stanford run defense. For all of UCLA's early season issues, the Bruins do still hold a strong rushing attack. They are averaging 214 yards per game (ranks No. 2 in the Pac 12); TBs Jonathan Franklin and Derrick Coleman average more than 5.5 yards per carry. On the other side of the line, Stanford leads the entire nation in run defense. So far, no Stanford opponent has managed more than 51 rushing yards.

Keep Checking: Washington State WR Marquess Wilson. Wilson leads the country by averaging 143 receiving yards per game and he is only a sophomore. He's also averaging 28.6 yards on 15 catches. Wilson has at least 91 receiving yards and one touchdown in all three games.

Skyrocketing Numbers: Oregon RB LaMichael James has exceeded 200 rushing yards in each of the past two weeks and gained a school-record 288 in a 56-31 victory over Arizona. James now leads the nation with 613 rushing yards and is averaging 9.4 yards per carry.

LSU Beats Oregon on National Tv

Okay, so Oregon was stomped on National Tv by Louisiana State last night. I've had some time to digest this lost because I'm a huge Oregon fan. Here are my thoughts.

This is not a huge blow to Oregon's season. Oregon was replacing practically their entire wide receiver corps, offensive line, defensive line, and linebackers. Not to mention they were playing without star cornerback Cliff Harris. Oregon has tons of players to fill big holes and I expect that this team will be humming by week 4 and looking great. It wasn't reasonable to expect this team to get back to the title game, no teams go back to the title game year after year. Not even Alabama did it last year and they were loaded.

This does not hurt the Pac 12's reputation. Sure they lost in the spotlight, but look at it realistically. They were playing a loaded LSU with tons of veterans , while the Ducks were replacing starters nearly everywhere. The Ducks proved that they could beat an SEC team last year. If Oregon had played this game in week 5, it would have been a completely different story.

Oregon will be really good by week 5 and I fully expect them to run the table and make noise in the Rose Bowl.

Pac 12 Player Rankings Continued

This is a continuation of the Pac 12 player rankings done by Ted Miller on ESPN.com Here's how he ranks players 9-5

9. Cliff Harris, Oregon
8. Juron Criner, Arizona
7. Nick Foles, Arizona
6. Matt Barkley, USC
5. Vontaze Burfict, Arizona State

Sports Illustrated Puts Stanford Ahead of Oregon in Polls

For the first time this preseason, a poll has placed Stanford ahead of Oregon in the polls. Here's how SI thinks the season will shake out.

Here's SI's top-25.

1. Alabama
2. Oklahoma
3. LSU
4. Stanford
5. Oregon
6. Florida State
7. South Carolina
8. Boise State
9. Nebraska
10. Arkansas
11. Texas A&M
12. Wisconsin
13. Oklahoma State
14. Michigan State
15. Notre Dame
16. Virginia Tech
17. Arizona State
18. TCU
19. Ohio State
20. USC
21. Mississippi State
22. Missouri
23. West Virginia
24. Auburn
25. Florida

AVCA Preseason Coaches Poll Released

Check out the preseason coaches poll that was released today for Women's volleyball. There is a ton of Pac 12 flavor at the top and it's important to note that Oregon and Arizona also received votes. Here's how the coaches see it this season.

Rank	School (First-Place Votes)	Total Points	2010 Record	2010 Final Poll
1	Penn State (54)	1486	32-5	1
2	Southern California (5)	1424	29-5	3
3	California (1)	1354	30-4	2
4	Texas	1313	27-6	4
5	Nebraska	1221	29-3	7
6	Stanford	1150	27-4	5
7	Washington	1112	24-9	6
8	Illinois	1066	24-9	9
9	Florida	1031	29-2	8
10	Hawai'i	976	29-3	13
11	UCLA	903	22-9	12
12	Minnesota	810	26-9	10
13	Purdue	739	24-11	11
14	Northern Iowa	619	30-3	14
15	Colorado State	533	26-5	16
16	Oklahoma	485	23-11	21
17	Duke	465	27-7	18
18	Iowa State	430	20-9	25
19	Dayton	334	28-4	15
20	San Diego	315	24-6	17
21	Ohio State	256	24-12	19
22	Long Beach State	234	25-8	NR
23	Tulsa	193	31-3	20
T-24	Michigan	170	23-10	NR
T-24	Tennessee	170	25-7	24

Oregon's Daryle Hawkins Set to Play Receiver

Daryle Hawkins spent all of last season playing a little bit of running back, wide receiver, and quarterback. This made him an incredibly valuable practice player because of his versatility, this also stunted his growth a little bit because he wasn't able to focus on one position. Well, the Ducks have finally decided what position he'll play: wide receiver.

Hawkins had been practicing at quarterback during his 2009 season that he redshirted because there wasn't a lot of depth at quarterback. Last season, the Ducks had Nate Costa, Brian Bennett, and Darron Thomas so the need for a quarterback simply wasn't there.

The Ducks have a ton of depth at quarterback again with both Thomas and Bennett returning to the team.

Hawkins seems happy to settle into receiver:

“It’s nice to have a certain group you can learn from,” Hawkins said. “When you’re bouncing around, you’re not really a part of any single group. It’s kind of like you’re just jumping in.

The Ducks lost a lot of firepower at receiver last season with the graduations of DJ Davis and Jeff Maehl, their two leading receivers. They'll need a big season from Hawkins in order to make up for the lost production

Pac 12 to Launch Pac 12 Network Next Year

All Pac 12 football games will be playing on national TV starting next year. This could really help with recruiting because out of state kids want their parents to be able to see all of their games. Oregon Ducks' head coach, Chip Kelly, was more than excited about the news:

"Instead of saying, 'As long as we're playing well, we're on TV,' it's a guarantee now that every game is available."

There will be a national channel of the Pac 12 network accompanied by six regional channels. The six regional channels will be Oregon, Washington, Northern California, Southern California, Arizona, and Mountain.

The conference already has a 12 year contract with ESPN and Fox to air the high profile games nationally.

Oregon Duck's Chip Kelly Center of Attention at Pac 12 Media Day

At the inaugural media day for the Pac 12, Chip Kelly wasn't asked a lot of questions about how his football team would fare next season. He was asked mostly about his relationship with Willie Lyles, the head of a recruting service who the Oregon Ducks paid 25,000 dollars. Interestingly enough, the often short tempered Kelly had no problem answering questions and was pretty cheerful in his responses. Although he wasn't able to talk about anything specific because of a statement released by the school, he didn't shy away from the topic. Here is an example of what he said:

"As head coach of this football program, we're held accountable for everything we do," Kelly said. "So we look forward to when we can [comment]. I'd love to talk about it. There are a lot of answers I'd love to make sure we can get out there."

He went on to say that "there a lot of misconceptions".

I can't wait to hear Kelly's side of the story. Clearly he is extremely optimistic about this and he is sending a message that there is a lot more to this story than most in the media believe. If that's true, it would be huge for Oregon.

1st Pac 12 Football Media Poll Released

The media released their first poll on the Pac 12 today. Here is how the media thinks the Pac 12 will shake out this year. It looks like the media asssumes Oregon will beat Stanford at Stanford, which is extremely interesting to me. We'll see if that's true.

North (first-place votes)

1. Oregon (29)... 239

2. Stanford (13)... 220

3. Washington... 142

4. Oregon State... 120

5. California... 110

6. Washington State... 51

South (first-place votes)

1. USC (24) ... 230

2. Arizona State (13)... 207

3. Utah (4)... 170

4. Arizona (1)... 140

5. UCLA ... 89

6. Colorado... 46

Oregon Gets Commitment from QB Recruit

The Oregon Ducks received some good news today. After being in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, they received a commitment from quarterback Jeff Lockie today who is from Danville, Califorinia.

Lockie had also received an offer from San Diego State. Lockie threw for 2,500 yards last season for 26 touchdowns and also ran in six touchdowns.

Lockie is the second Oregon commitment who is a quarterback. Jason Rodrigues of Rockville, California has also committed to play for Oregon and he is a member of the ESPN top 150 recruits in the nation.

Oregon has 8 commitments total for the upcoming recruiting class so far.

Mark Your Calendar: November 12th, Oregon-Stanford

The biggest game in the Pac 12 next season? This ones easy. It's when Oregon plays Stanford on November 12th. This game will likely decide who wins the vaunted Pac 12 North Division, which in my opinion, is significantly harder than the South.

Last year when Stanford visited Oregon, they led 21-3 early before Oregon prevailed 52-31 in front of a raucous crowd in Autzen stadium. Oregon went on to play in the National Championship Game while Stanford killed Virginia Tech in the Orange bowl. Their loss at Autzen was their only loss of the year. Had they won at Oregon, they would have played for a National Title.

Andrew Luck returns for the Cardinal while LaMichael James and Darron Thomas return for the Ducks. This game in Palo Alto will decide who plays for the Pac 12 championship, and possibly, who plays for the BCS National Championship.

Oregon Football Program in Shambles?

Oregon's football program could be in quite a bit of trouble. There were reports in around April that the school had paid a recruiting service 25,000 dollars. Most schools pay around 1,000 dollars or so, so the big check to the recruiting service by Houston-based Willie Lyles.

The recruiting service is legal if they are offering videos, game tapes, and phone calls, but the NCAA was curious about the huge sum Oregon paid.

Oregon could be in some big trouble. The players that are known to have been in contact with Lyles are LaMichael James, Darron Thomas, and Lache Seastrunk, three of Oregon's best players and most highly coveted players.

Oregon has yet to say anything about this.

Former Arizona State Receiever Kerry Taylor Tweets that Erickson Should be Fired

Kerry Taylor, Arizona State's leading receiver tweeted this on Sunday:

"Just did an interview about the problems of ASU football and why Dennis Erickson is NOT the right man for the job."

He went on to say:

"I want ASU to win Pac12 Championships, all us ASU fans do. But in order for that to happen we need a new Head Coach. That's all I'm saying."

This report above is from ESPN.com

Here are my thoughts on this. First things first, Taylor did not need to tweet this. This does more to hurt their football program than it does to help it. He did the right thing by meeting with Athletic Directors, but taking it public gives the school bad publicity. Secondly, I think he's right. I go to the University of Oregon and I was really worried to play Arizona State. They have a really talented team and I really thought we could have been upset. Thankfully, they made so many stupid mistakes that the Ducks were able to prevail. This team had more penalties than any other team in the Pac 10 last year and was a very talented team. Dennis Erickson might be just too old for this job.

Oregon Ducks' Cliff Harris Suspended Indefinitely

After being cited for driving with a suspended license after being caught speeding at 118mph, the Oregon Ducks have suspended Cliff Harris indefinitely. Coach Chip Kelly said in a statement released Wednesday that Harris will be suspended for at least the season opener September4th against the LSU Tigers in Cowboy Stadium. Kelly said that Harris can reduce his suspension by adhering to the rules of the football team, but that he will definitely miss the season opener.

"Cliff's future clearly is in Cliff's hands," Kelly said. "Earning an opportunity to represent the University of Oregon and this football program certainly rests far beyond a player's ability on the field of play. Our behavior out of the spotlight often is more important and will be held to a higher standard. Until Cliff is able to conform to the same standards all of us must comply with, his status will remain unchanged." (ESPN)

This is a huge blow for the Ducks. In order to beat a very talented LSU teams, they need all their big weapons. It's a virtual home game considering how close Louisiana is to Texas compared to how close Oregon is. I still think the Ducks have a really good shot at winning this game, but they really could have used the playmaking ability of Harris.