This isn’t really a rivalry as much as an annual public execution, so it’s probably time to stop playing this video:
Greatest moment of my life, with the official exceptions of my wedding and the birth of my daughters. Maybe I’ll stop playing it next year…
…well, that was barely devastating, and only mildly dominant. They’ll need a much stronger effort if they have any hope to win by 35 at Cal.
Brief thoughts on Notre Dame football:
So I’ll meet you at the bottom if there really is one
They always told me when you hit it you’ll know it
But I’ve been falling so long it’s like gravity’s gone and I’m just floating
It’s not like NBC to make bad decisions…
Ladies and gents, I present the undefeated, number one ranked Oregon Ducks.
This is the first #1 ranking in the history of the program. The word is that Boise State will be #1 when the first BCS standings are released tonight. That’s appropriate, given the strength of BSU’s schedule thus far. Oregon has a much tougher road from here on out, however, and if both teams are undefeated at the end of the season Oregon will likely have the #1 position. The Nebraska and Ohio State defeats help both teams by making it less likely that either will get jumped in the standings, although BSU really has more to worry about than Oregon on this point.
Big time NCAA sports are truly a loathsome institution. Nevertheless, I can’t help but feel enormous pride at how far the Oregon program has come. Such are the contradictions… Go Ducks!
…and this is why they pay me the big bucks! I could handle an OU-UO championship game…
In honor of tomorrow’s Oregon-Tennessee tilt, I feel compelled to repost this:
Loomis and I are leaving for MordorKnoxville early tomorrow morning. Pray for our safe return.
I don’t really understand this particular criticism of Saban. If they had the ball with under a minute and no timeouts, OK (although, even then, trying to “run up the score” would actually be against your team’s interests, so who cares?) But if you can’t run down the clock by kneeling, I don’t see the problem with running the ball making it a three-score game to ensure the championship if you can. Then again, while there may be some exceptions in extreme cases, when it comes to big-time college or professional sports, I’m not very sympathetic to bitching about “running up the score” in any case. If you don’t like the other team to run up the score, stop them. You’re not playing squash with a frail grandparent or something.
Unless my math fails, J. Theibault has assumed an insurmountable lead in the 2009-10 LGM Bowl Mania competition. Kudos and congrats are due! Mr. Theibault should contact me at his earliest convenience regarding prize info.
As usual, an enterprising soul could have made a killing by betting against my picks. Something to remember for next year…
Today is the last day to join the LGM Bowl Mania league, or to fill out your bracket if you’ve already joined. Remember: READ the instructions, or you might find yourself ranking the games in exactly opposite the manner you intend.
League: Lawyers, Guns and Money
Password: zevon
I have created an LGM College Bowl Mania League. First place wins a nifty prize.
League Name: Lawyers, Guns and Money
Password: zevon
So I find this interesting (no link, but you can find state by state data here):
Setting aside the utterly unscientific nature of such polls, I’m mildly surprised by the Ducks’ nationwide dominance. I would expect the Ducks to be favored because a) the Ducks are higher ranked, and b) they just won an exciting game on ESPN, while Ohio State hasn’t played since November 21. The extent of the dominance (68-32) is higher than I would have expected, but I’m especially surprised by its geographic extent. Ohio State unsurprisingly wins Ohio, and it does better in the Midwest states of the Big 10, but it gets crushed in border states that don’t have Big 10 teams (71-29 in Kentucky, 70-30 in West Virginia). Even in the other Big 10 states Ohio State doesn’t do particularly well; apart from the 50-50 tie in Iowa, the closest it comes to winning a state is taking 45% in Illinois (and it takes only 35% in Michigan). Are there perhaps two dynamics operating here, with general Big 10 sympathy on one level contradicted by local resentment of Ohio State on another? If so, it’s interesting that the pattern doesn’t appear to be replicated in Pac 10 states, all of which support the Ducks at a pretty high clip (including 82% in Washington, where I’d expect the most resentment).
I suspect the answer may be thus: Ohio State graduates are simply more objectively loathsome than Oregon graduates. Thoughts?
The most consequential Civil War game ever played will begin shortly. It’s fair to say that over the past six or seven years, the Oregon-Oregon State rivalry has utterly displaced the Oregon-Washington rivalry that dominated my college and graduate school years. It’s all right, everything is all right, the struggle is finished. I have won the victory over myself. I hate the goddamn Beavers.
….ROSE BOWL!!!
You know, the world would be a better place if Joseph C. Avery had never left Pennsylvania.
Paul Campos, Above the Law 2011 Lawyer of the Year
Erik Loomis, HNN Cliopatria 2011 Best Series of Posts
