2022 Pac 12 Thread

[FearlessF]

so, Clay Helton is available and interested in moving to Lincoln?

[Brutus Buckeye]

Images of pink uniforms Oregon is rumored to be wearing Vs UCLA this season. Can’t find an official source for this photo; emerged on a message board, likely photo-shopped before upload. But hey, knowing Oregon’s fetish for uniform flair it’s on brand:

[img width=298.997 height=500]https://i.imgur.com/YdIi7xe.jpg[/img]

Were it not the far Left Coast, I'd say that there's no way in Hell that they are actually doing this. But it is the far Left Coast, so the only surprise is that they haven't done it already. 

[CatsbyAZ]

As an Arizona alum, you take your wins however few and ill-gotten they come. Such as last season’s only win – a 10-3 washout Vs a California team missing 30 players thanks to Covid. But yesterday the Wildcats smacked around 12-win San Diego St Aztecs team to launch their new stadium, 38-20, ringing in what might be as jumpstarting of a win as most anyone else had over the weekend.

Arizona racked up 461 yds Vs SDSU’s 232. SDSU’s only TDs were gifted by TOs deep on Arizona’s side of the field. Arizona’s new QB, Jayden de Laura, a transfer from Washington State and the Pac 12’s Freshman of the Year last season, slung it around like a pro behind an OL that played miles improved from last year. New weapons emerged downfield, particularly with Cowing and McMillan, and a committee of three RBs emerged as production for tough yardage.

Next week’s home opener Vs Mississippi State will likely bring spirits a bit back down to earth, but this win is as important as Arizona has had in a while. Despite expected losses against the Utahs and UCLAs, yesterday’s win puts a blue print in the mind of the roster that this is how you win going forward. And with enough winnable fluff across the Pac 12 schedule, I never thought I’d say the Wildcats might be able to push for a 2022 bowl.


https://twitter.com/ArizonaFBall/status/1566197722306080768

[Cincydawg]

Duck unis might be pink due to red and abrasion 

[FearlessF]

UCLA football set a program low for single-game attendance at the Rose Bowl during its 45-17 win over Bowling Green in Week 1. Only 27,143 fans purchased a ticket for the game, snapping a record that has stood for roughly 30 years.

The previous low point for the Bruins at the Rose Bowl came on Nov. 7, 1992, when 32,513 fans were in attendance for a 26-14 win over Oregon State in a game followed a five-game losing streak. However, the listed attendance on Saturday was roughly 5,000 fans lower than the previous mark. Attendance is typically calculated by tickets purchased, meaning that there were likely many fewer fans actually in the building.

[EastAthens]

UCLA football set a program low for single-game attendance at the Rose Bowl during its 45-17 win over Bowling Green in Week 1. Only 27,143 fans purchased a ticket for the game, snapping a record that has stood for roughly 30 years.

The previous low point for the Bruins at the Rose Bowl came on Nov. 7, 1992, when 32,513 fans were in attendance for a 26-14 win over Oregon State in a game followed a five-game losing streak. However, the listed attendance on Saturday was roughly 5,000 fans lower than the previous mark. Attendance is typically calculated by tickets purchased, meaning that there were likely many fewer fans actually in the building.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1566181277081804800

[Cincydawg]

Ouch.

[Brutus Buckeye]

C'mon, no one is going to sit end zone seats in a nearly empty stadium. Let's see what the crowd looks like, 20 to 20. 

[FearlessF]

After Nebraska’s uninspiring Zero Week loss, USC’s biggest fan blog, Trojan Wire, is leaning in on creating parallels between Scott Frost and Clay Helton:

“The reluctance and inability to take ownership of specific problems and fix them with a “whatever it takes” mentality? This is the world USC lived in through the 2021 season, going back not just to the Clay Helton years, but to Steve Sarkisian and a much less mature version of Lane Kiffin.”

“Helton annoyed USC fans to no end by expressing optimism when the reality of the situation was terrible. Fans don’t mind optimism in itself; they do mind optimism when not accompanied by accountability and honesty, and an ability to accurately evaluate situations.

OPPONENT WATCH: GEORGIA SOUTHERN
The Eagles won their first game for new coach Clay Helton in commanding fashion, beating Morgan State 59-7. Georgia Southern owned the game but especially poured it on with four touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

Known for being a run-the-ball program for many years, Georgia Southern put it up 46 times with QB Kyle Vantrease throwing for 367 yards. The Husker defense saw Vantrease last year when he was the QB at Buffalo, with Nebraska winning that game 28-3. Definitely an impressive score. Tough to know what to make of it. Morgan State was 2-9 last year with a lot of lopsided losses.

[CatsbyAZ]

Duck unis might be pink due to red and abrasion

To split the hairs over whether Georgia’s bludgeoning of Oregon was more about how Georgia is really good or more about how Oregon was really terrible, I’m going with the latter. No matter how well Kirby Smart’s recruiting and player development is, Georgia was still fielding a lot of inexperience and new starters. No way should Oregon have looked that awful given how much future NFL size and talent is studded across the Duck’s roster.

Georgia’s mass destruction of the Ducks reinforces my suspicion of Oregon’s eager hiring of Dan Lanning. Oregon wanted to be Georgia when they hired Lanning on the basis of his position as the Bulldog’s defensive coordinator, which is a terrible line of reasoning for going about ever hoping to become as elevated as Georgia. It’s the same fatal mistake numerous NFL teams make when hiring Bill Belichick’s young assistants with the delusion his assistants are copy/pasted bit-by-bit file transfers of Belichick himself.

Dan Lanning’s recruiting thus far is great, but the holdup with this is that too many of these fresh faced coaches, when they are first hired young – Sarkisian, Kiffin, Lincoln Riley, Tom Herman, Marcus Freeman, Jeremy Pruitt – make initial recruiting splashes before stubborn deficiencies later take hold in the way of insufficient player development, hapless game-planning, and getting out-coached. The Ducks will run off Lanning like Helfrich, and it’s just as well. If Dan Lanning is going to pull off any success at Oregon he’s heading back East the first chance he gets. Just like Willie Taggart and Mario Cristobal before him.

Live Look at the SEC's talent edge over the Pac 12:

[Cincydawg]

That defender is Malaki Starks, a freshman, of whom more will be heard I suspect.  Oregon has good talent based on recruiting rankings.  Just not as good.

[CatsbyAZ]

UCLA football set a program low for single-game attendance at the Rose Bowl during its 45-17 win over Bowling Green in Week 1. Only 27,143 fans purchased a ticket for the game, snapping a record that has stood for roughly 30 years.

Chip arrived to UCLA amidst a Bruins attendance collapse fitting of Earnest Hemingway’s description of bankruptcy: “Gradually, then suddenly.”

Bruins fans will easily find blame with Chip Kelly, who kicked off most of the team during the first three seasons in which UCLA went 10-21. But larger forces than Chipocrit are causing UCLA’s decline both in attendance and to the program:

1. Home attendance was in decline before Chip Kelly’s arrival, dating back to the latter half of Jim Mora’s tenure – the “gradual” half of “gradually, then suddenly.” Still, USC knows success following Lincoln Riley’s hiring will translate to a full stadium in no time.

2. Local coverage for both UCLA and USC is way down. Radio and newspaper outlets devote noticeably less segments and articles than before. Still, USC is able to force the headlines and media promotions they want.

3. California's recruiting pool isn't as robust anymore. Still, USC is determined to adjust, especially intending to counter Oregon's success signing the state's prime targets.

4. One point never openly discussed is how the changed demographics of the UCLA student body might be translating to lack of interest in UCLA football. At UCLA there's almost no undergrad interest in going to the football games. The population is not just Asian-American heavy, but it's also boasts large foreign Asian numbers that culturally never grew up with football. UCLA casts a global admissions net resulting in the type of highly competitive undergrad, even within the US, that doesn't see the college experience as also rooting for the campus teams. Still, USC heavily promotes the football program and game day experience across its campus, and even during the lower attendance of Clay Helton's last few seasons, tailgating was still a huge campus event.

[847badgerfan]

LA market.

Yay.

[FearlessF]

and USC delivers it

trade the bruins for the Huskies

grab the Seattle market