as the P12 champ Oregon gets steamrolled by a mediocre Cyclone team.
Not that things could get any worse for the conference.
Not that things could get any worse for the conference.
P12 showing up in spades
- Thread starter BleedCrimsonandGray
- Start date
The Pac 12 still has a men's basketball team that hasn't lost a regular season or tournament game since COVID 19 started (for a few more hours at least)
Not much more predictable than a post like this. Iowa St wasn't a mediocre Big 12 team since it barely lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship game just before Oklahoma steam rolled Florida which barely lost to Alabama in the SEC championship game. Oregon had only the 4th best record in the Pac 12's very shortened season and only got in the Pac 12 championship game because UW couldn't play. It is very hard to draw any conclusions from any of this but I would have put big money on someone making a post like this as soon as Oregon got beat.
I’m coming on strong here, but who TF cares if it was predictable? Yeah, the PAC sh— the bed, AGAIN. So you get posts like that. Doesn’t mitigate anything about the PAC’s increasingly embarrassing reputation nationally. Oregon can’t even make the excuse about a letdown game against a motivated/insurgent ISU, because ISU was actually favored.
Regarding all the qualifiers about ISU ackshually being pretty good and Oregon not being pretty good, quick question: does anyone outside of 99xxx zip codes remember who lost the 1997 Rose Bowl? Winners hoist trophies, losers hoist caveats.
Cristobal seems to be a great recruiter, but I have to question him and his high-priced coordinators as in-game coaches, at least for this game. The alternating QBs throughout the game, especially in the middle of a drive, killed any rhythm the offense might have developed and seemed so arbitrary as to when a change was made. Mario defended the decision saying "we thought both quarterbacks gave us the best chance to win." What??????
Anyway, a forgettable Pac-12 season as part of a forgettable college football season.
Glad Cougar
Anyway, a forgettable Pac-12 season as part of a forgettable college football season.
Glad Cougar
If you had seen either team play this year I can't believe anyone honestly thought Oregon would win. Iowa State was the obvious favorite. It wasn't just the "rah rah" stuff. ISU has better coaching, a really balanced offense, they take care of the ball, and honestly equal talent on the field at this point in time.
The P12 was terrible this year because the conference completely botched the roll out of the season. Nobody was prepared to play.
Oregon needs a curmudgeon of a coach. The kids show up for the wrong reasons.
Oregon has a new QB and new OL. Some here would call that a three year rebuild. Maybe seven years depending on the defense.
Arizona State lost the 1997 Rose Bowl. Great game though.
If only it were just this year. We are 7-14 in our last 21 bowl games. Imagine if we actually had a tough bowl game slate like the Big 12 and SEC?
I thought about this before I posted it, then thought, "nah, nobody will be pedantic enough to confuse this with the 1997 CALENDAR year..."
🤓
Somebody better tell Nick Saban he can use those excuses...
Wrong, lol.
Apparently me stating the P12 sucks top to bottom frombthe tes to the front office gets people really salty.
I obviously know what you meant, but...it’s only played once a year, and ours was 1998.
And, You clearly underestimate my penchant for pedantry.
It’s a lose-lose for me, because if I say 1998, someone says “don’t you mean the 1997 season?” and if I say 1997, 95coug says, “ACK-shually...”
It is what it is. I’m in the camp of, if you want people to respect you, quit showing your ass. If you want better grades, don’t petition to get rid of grades - study harder.
PAC is getting a reputation for being soft, and the excuses for it are showing we deserve that reputation.
Did you see the size of the OL and front 7 defenders in the semi final games???
The PAC 12 does jazzercise, the rest of the nation actually lifts weights. The PAC 12 will be soft until the league as a whole decides a 240lbs bench press isnt enough.
I would go so far to put blame on Hs coaches too. The culture of football at the HS level here is a joke. That bleeds into kids just not leaving HS at the same level of preparedness as the rest of the country. Damn near every school in the PAC 12 is a development school. There are very few kids that show up on campus without a ton of work to do.
Most HS kids on the west coast would rather play football on a screen than on grass.
In general, building one's brand>>>>>>>> playing football and winning.
Money, or more specifically lotto type money, has fundamentally changed the landscape of college athletics.
If I had to blame one program in our conference, it's USC. I mentioned in another thread that Ohio State (should be) a shining example for USC on how not to f*ck up your built in advantage. You have access to the best OL and defensive front 7 players in the Nation. You have the best facilities money can buy. You have the ability to hire the best strength and conditioning coaches and nutritionists in the Nation. You can recruit the best QBs, RBs, WRs, and DBs without trying.
Since I started following football in the 1970's, there are a handful of programs who have never deviated from this formula. Sure, they've modified their offensive approaches and leveraged their advantages with recruiting the best skill position players, but Ohio State and Alabama can beat 8 teams on their schedule by running 2 TE sets on offense, and they do that in several games/year. They don't put their best on film every week. Why? Ohio State doesn't need 4 WR sets to beat Purdue and Rutgers.
For some inexplicable reason, USC got the dumb idea to move away from student body right and fielding the meanest defense in the P12. That decision has allowed the other P12 schools to build programs that feature speed and spread offenses because USC isn't punching them in the mouth up front anymore. Alabama and Ohio State can, and still do light up the passing game, but it's because they feature the running game first. USC went full west coast 2 decades ago, and they've doubled down by bringing in the air raid. Programs like Oregon and WSU say thank you for that.
Don't forget that living in Los Angeles - the US capitol of entertainment, nightlife, beaches, weather and culture - is a hell of a lot easier to sell to kids than Columbus or Tuscaloosa (trust me, I've been to both), especially when 1/2 the conference's talent already lives driving distance away.
That's what I'm talking about. USC has been a colossal failure over the past 20 years. What in the Hell are they doing running the air raid?
SC can run any scheme they want. They can get any kid they want. All they have to do is pick what scheme and what DNA they need. Hell, same for UCLA.
Watching all these kids leave the West Coast for the Midwest or the South tells me that the top of the conference doesnt have the right people in place. They cant sell them, develop them or coach them as well. The other schools are showing them exactly what they wanna see and kids are buying it. There is no counter punch from the PAC 12.
If there was anyone that laid out the blue print on how to go from nowhere to somewhere in the PAC 12, it was Harbaugh. He got big, strong, tough kids that beat you up on the line of scrimmage. The rest of the conference wasn’t ready for it.
It’s like the entire league forgot that you have to teach blocking and tackling and kids need to lift weights, not go to jazzercise and have a big circle jerk about their half squat or how many times they can bench 185.
Watching all these kids leave the West Coast for the Midwest or the South tells me that the top of the conference doesnt have the right people in place. They cant sell them, develop them or coach them as well. The other schools are showing them exactly what they wanna see and kids are buying it. There is no counter punch from the PAC 12.
If there was anyone that laid out the blue print on how to go from nowhere to somewhere in the PAC 12, it was Harbaugh. He got big, strong, tough kids that beat you up on the line of scrimmage. The rest of the conference wasn’t ready for it.
It’s like the entire league forgot that you have to teach blocking and tackling and kids need to lift weights, not go to jazzercise and have a big circle jerk about their half squat or how many times they can bench 185.
It could be that after Pete and U$C's sanctions the amount of alumni paid for houses for athletes parents... and other such endowments... went away or greatly diminished.
It can't be discounted that hooker and blow parties still sell kids at places like Bama and their ilk, as well as whatever other bene's they're handing out to top recruits.
Make you wonder how many brand new Camaros are rolling around the streets of Eugene these days.
I dont think you can give kids cars any more. Too much flash. Too many chances to wind up on IG.
I think it’s prob monthly payments to parents through friends/agents/some kind of summer league coach or trainer.... maybe even bit coin... something untraceable. Never enough to really be lifestyle changing cause then it’s too noticeable.
Also, consider how much $$$ is spent on facilities. These schools are selling a luxury lifestyle. They’re trying to overwhelm kids with flashy and shiny stuff. The more their school looks like they’ll be living in the “Lifestyle’s of the Rich & Famous” tv show the better shot they have at the kid. Think about it, you’re 18... poor, live in a crap house/apartment in a war zone of a neighborhood.... you have all these offers.... you step on campus at Oregon State and it’s nice.... then you trip to UofOregon and see that you’ll be living like you’re a millionaire. Which are they gonna pick???? All of a sudden playing time, depth charts, schemes, coaches, academics are not even part of the decision. It’s about how well off can I live for the next few years.
Considering nobody is under the microscope like Alabama, I think Saban actually runs a pretty clean program (as clean as he could be expected to, given the job of herding cats/boosters). Yeah, then-16-year-old-dad Reuben Foster ought to explain why he flipped from UGA to Alabama and is later seen driving a $70k Hummer H2, but he's been in the crosshairs for 20 years. Hugh Freeze didn't start in the spotlight, and eventually got caught.
Plausible deniability and generating tons of cash makes NCAA lose interest. Kind of like how Tosh Lupoi's coffee cups of cash at uw never really went anywhere.
Speaking of my post directly above, then-4-star OL Laremy Tunsil committed to Georgia, then flipped to Ole Miss. His mother (and another family member, I think) were later found to be employed by the University of Mississippi... you don't get away with that for very long. And they didn't. Hugh Freeze is gone, Lane Kiffin (!) is in.
Regarding facilities, I can't vouch for the rest of the CFB powers, but Georgia is cutting straight to the chase with $$$ - check out their recruit welcome center in their welcome facilities. They're also on social media doing this for wannabe recruits/Bulldog players. Message: "commit to the G, get rich"
Speaking of my post directly above, then-4-star OL Laremy Tunsil committed to Georgia, then flipped to Ole Miss. His mother (and another family member, I think) were later found to be employed by the University of Mississippi... you don't get away with that for very long. And they didn't. Hugh Freeze is gone, Lane Kiffin (!) is in.
Regarding facilities, I can't vouch for the rest of the CFB powers, but Georgia is cutting straight to the chase with $$$ - check out their recruit welcome center in their welcome facilities. They're also on social media doing this for wannabe recruits/Bulldog players. Message: "commit to the G, get rich"
Basketball had it figured out years ago. Kids are coming to school to get to the NBA. Everything else is bullshit. It isn't about academics or "family" atmosphere or even close to home. They're going to schools based on lifestyle and getting to the NFL.
Of course. What sucks for the WSUs of the world is that the primary factor in a kid getting to the NFL is existing athletic ability, skill, and talent, which causes it to largely become a positive feedback loop.
Get 4- and 5-star recruits
4- and 5-star recruits get drafted and play in the NFL
Tout "getting players to the NFL"
Sign more 4- and 5-star recruits
Repeat
Sure, at the margin, there are some arguments about better coaching, bigger stages, and better facilities, and some points about which schemes are being run in the NFL (which, e.g., cut against Leach when he was here), but most of these programs "getting players to the NFL" is who they're signing, not what they're doing with them while on campus.
It’s a lose-lose for me, because if I say 1998, someone says “don’t you mean the 1997 season?” and if I say 1997, 95coug says, “ACK-shually...”
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Hey, if you think that was a lose-lose situation, just try to convince some people of the reality that WSU did NOT go to two Rose Bowls in five years. The reality is that they went to two Rose Bowls in six years, but some folks just cannot wrap their heads around that reality.
