Checkin' on the Pac: Oregon

USC has not lugged the entire weight of the conference in the past decade, I couldn’t disagree more. YES, the Trojans have done a extraordinary job when reaching those BCS games and whipping teams like Oklahoma and Penn State. Pete’s teams played well in the spotlight, and in those big out of conference games regular season or in bowl play, the Trojans had a great record. It’s quite lethargic and ignorant to ignore things that took place in the regular season and what other Pac-10 teams have done. What about Oregon blowing out Michigan in Ann Arbor handing the Wolverines their worst home loss in the history of the Big House? Four years earlier, the Ducks ran Michigan out of the stadium and beat them thoroughly in Eugene. The Ducks getting snubbed out of a national title shot at Miami, and instead crushing a formerly #2 ranked Colorado team; the same year the Ducks beat the Top 20 Wisconsin Badgers on national TV. What about a win against Oklahoma in Eugene, containing Adrian Peterson just enough to get the win. (onside kick of not, we still had to score and won)

I’m the first to admit, I’m not completely drunk by the Cool-Aid, I recognize Oregon has not had the best bowl record and has been unable to distinguish itself as a national player year in and year out. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to compare Oregon’s zero national titles and zero Heisman trophies in the Casanova Center with USC’s storied past, especially in the Carol era. What I am trying to say is that Oregon I think has done a good job of shouldering the load of flying the Pac-10 flag outside of the conference.

And it was retarded!

What happened was Cal was practically #4 in all polls leading up to the last week. They won their last 7 games en route to being Pac 10 runner up. With a weird stroke of lobbying by Mack Brown (UT’s cunning coach)- the Coaches Poll catapulted Texas over Cal to get the at-large berth for the BCS Rose Bowl and Texas went on to dismantle Michigan (I think?).

Cal was scary good that year. They lost to us at the Coliseum (my birthday weekend)- but it was a game that coulda gone either way.

The AP college football poll left the BCS altogether after all that shilling by Texas and the “packing the ballot box” by those Big 12 & SEC coaches. It was a stain on the game for sure.

The Rose Bowl had no choice but to award the game to Texas over Cal. It was a weird circumstance that I think has been rectified since then- giving the Rose Bowl Committee more leeway to bringing in a traditional Pac 10/Big Televen New Year’s Day game.

“Unlike the Bush scandal, other teams can’t accuse Oregon of cheating during the season.” (Jared Light)

This is what I’m thinking: Considering the Bush scandal- NO ONE can accuse USC of cheating.

Matter of fact Jared- define “cheating”.

So since you’ve opened that door yeah it would have been nice if Joey had called BULLSHIT when Jared opened his trap about USC “cheating.” And I agree, the ducks are going to get bitch slapped by the beavs in Corvallis, and the Bears have a damn good chance of exacting their own kind of revenge. You might also want to add Stanfurd to the list of potential losses. Now that the ducks have the target painted on their backs we’ll get to see how they wear it.

I like how you thinks he called Bush/USC cheaters, and then go off on a tirade of insults.

You are what makes the internet an awesome adventure, sir! Props are deserved.

Why don’t you go do some research of your own. L James didn’t beat anyone up. Go and read it yourself, you can find the details online. And how is his comment that Oregon returns the best RB group delusional? You are the very reason I can’t stand USC and it’s smug attitude. I laugh my ass off every time I go down to the Coliseum and sit in the stands and listen to the moronic comments made by Trojan faithful. Maybe it’s all the smog in the air, or stress from the constant gang violence in beautiful SoCal not sure, but you obviously have not done your own research and made yourself sound like an idiot.

In terms of the program being dirty, you can justify it any way you like big guy. USC IS ON PROBATION AND GOT MORE THAN A SLAP ON THE WRIST. You can curl, coil, twist and turn the word ‘cheating’ any way you’d like. After the Bush thing blew up on yahoosports.com years ago, and people starting paying closer attention to the entire athletic program it was blatantly obvious that Garret was running a circus.

My family met a group of USC Boosters/Alums at the Oregon Electric Station back in 2005, and ended up eating with them in the bar area the Friday night before Bush and Company made their tour stop in Eugene. They brought up possible sanctions, WE DIDN’T, they did. This was 2005. One of the guys, an attorney in L.A. and active booster for the program was saying that there were rumblings amongst a few that they didn’t like Pete’s celebrity program he was running despite all the success and they were worried. That was nearly 5 years ago. You can deny it all you want, and I’m not going to act like I knew what happened but I know this, the NCAA hit USC real hard, a USC program that is a big money maker for everyone, and that would not have happened if USC didn’t stink of blatant gross negligence.

See you Saturday night October 30th.

As it applies to Reggie Bush/Jeremiah Masoli question. And that’s been clarified.

You have a point with what was said in the COI final report as it pertains to “consultant” Pete Rodriguez. It’s my understanding that Rodriguez was a special teams consultant, not listed under any personnel staffing as a paid coach. This part is true. And it was true for half a season until it came under the purview of compliance and the NCAA. The COI did say that the Rodriguez hire was a “more than limited competitive advantage” but I ask: you tell me how it was cheating.

Let’s also be aware of the fact that Jared himself, have said the sanctions were too harsh. With that, I’ll go further. This COI had it in for USC. That’s not an excuse or to justify Coach Carroll’s decision to hire Pete Rodriguez in the first place- but, anything the COI could have hammered USC with- they looked with a fine tooth comb and ONLY REALLY FOUND THIS.

The rest of the report- Tim Floyd/OJ Mayo = NOTHING. Reggie Bush/LaMarr Griffin and New Era = they already decided on our guilt prior to the COI hearing in Jan 2010 and truly didn’t want to hear about Coach McNair’s response to his initial interview with NCAA Enforcement Staff. They concluded (Enforcement) that McNair was misleading in his answers and calculated in his responses and therefore- should not be trusted. Hence- Pete Rodriguez.

So the short answer is: yes, maybe you can call Pete Rodriguez cheating. . . .in the off-season and beginning of 2008 season. What does that have to do with Bush and all our #1 – #4 finishes in the BCS?

Canard, that was a good one- and you don’t know how much this particular Coach Carroll misstep is gonna affect the upcoming NCAA Appeals process as it pertains to our sanctions. My lawyer buddies are telling me this Pete Rodriguez situation with regards to the COI final report will be the linchpin in keeping ALL SANCTIONS intact and our efforts to repeal some of the aspects of the COI final report will be all for naught based solely on this Rodriguez insertion in the COI final report.

I dare must, agree with that assessment. Our appeal is an uphill battle to begin with, this Rodriguez comment will cement the COI’s findings and the Appeals Board will probably side with them and deny USC.

How many outside coaches visited your program in the last year? How other programs did Chip Kelly visit? How many phone calls were made to Chip to ask him questions about his offense? How many phone calls and emails did Chip and staff send to other coaches/consultants at other programs sharing information and asking questions?

Every program interacts with other coaches. USC got caught in a technicality by the Evil Empire.

a little levity is always appreciated. if you live in an area surrounded by logging camps with rain 350 days a year, you’d better be able find humor in situations.