Morning Wrap: Oregon Wins Pac 12 and CFB Playoff Spot

((ht: foxsports.com))

So we know at least one of the four teams in the inaugural College Football playoff.

The Oregon Ducks assured themselves of a berth in the playoff Friday night after destroying Arizona 51-13 in front of a really small Pac 12 Championship crowd in Santa Clara, California.

All world Ducks QB Marcus Mariota improved his Heisman bid by throwing for 303 yards and 2 TD's. He enhanced it by running for 33 yards and 3 more TD's.

The maligned Oregon defense held Arizona to 224 yards while the offense did all the flashy stuff.

The win moved Oregon to 12-1 on the season and like we said, pretty much guaranteed them a shot at the National title.

Arizona, who had a resurgent season under head coach Rich Rodriguez, dropped to 10-3 and will likely get a solid bowl game draw.

Your highlights from FOXSports:

Oregon Football Players Get and Appear To Be Selling New Air Jordans

((ht:bizjournals.com/portland))

Hmmm….what was that argument about college football players needing to get stipends or paid?

It appears, according to a report in the Portland (OR) Business Journal that at least one lucky University of Oregon football player or someone related to one,  has a pair of the new "Limited Edition" Air Jordan sneakers on sale on EBay.

We don't know for absolute certain that it's an actual Oregon Football player selling the shoes…but. The shoes are apparently part of some "Player Exclusives" given to the football team by team owner…um…I mean Nike magnate Phil Knight or at least his representatives.

And yes, it's an NCAA violation if this in fact is an athlete selling the shoes. The Business Journal did contact the University who said they are monitoring but all inventory are accounted for as far as they know.

Read the entire story RIGHT HERE

Okay, so does anyone else find it amusing that there are apparently some 43 active auctions of similar shoes…that were supposed to be "Limited Editions" or "Player Exclusives"?

And for that matter, is there not a restriction on Nike granting athletes multiple pairs of shoes selling for a LOT of money? Money they would not have themselves?

And if only "Select" athletes get them, who decides who is in that group? While we certainly aren't against the whole "Stipend" thing, this is a bit excessive? No regular students have access to these. Heck, it appears a lot of athletes don't.

Just some of the many questions sitting out there. And no, we don't begrudge Oregon for taking advantage of the team owner's benevolent gift giving at all.

Would you?

Stanford's Statement, We Are Still Hanging Around, Cardinal Defeats Ducks 26-20

Florida State fans are rejoicing.  Number 2 Oregon has a loss.

In a game that had the west coast buzzing Stanford raced out to a 26-0 lead until the middle of the fourth quarter.  Oregon rallied as Marcus Mariota threw two touchdown passes but the rally fell short.

Stanford defeats Oregon 26-20.


"Our guys played extremely well today." Stanford head coach David Shaw said. "The fact that we've won two in a row against these guys, credit to our players, the coaches and preparation. Bottom line, they didn't give it to us. They didn't give it to us. We had to play our game and finish the game at the end, and we did."


"Our guys competed, no question." Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich said.

The Ducks defense couldn't figure out how to stop Stanford running back Tyler Gaffney who had a school record 45 carries.  Gaffney ended up with 157 yards rushing and a touchdown.

"Tyler Gaffney ran the ball tonight the way running back backs are supposed to run the ball in this game of football." Shaw said.

"Oregon's really good at filling in with their safeties, with their backside backers." Gaffney said. "It came down to lowering the shoulder and hoped for the best."

Marcus Mariota ended up 20-34 for 250 yards and two touchdowns.  Mariota admits he banged up, the knee brace he wore against Stanford is evident of that but he's not making excuses.

"I've got to learn to play with it."  Mariota said. "I've never really played with a knee brace before, so that's something that I've been doing in practice and getting used to."

With the Oregon loss Florida State sits in good shape to be Alabama's opponents in the BCS National Championship Game.

That is if the season ended today.

Oregon Suspends 2 For Selling Shoes, 3 Ex-Players Connected...

((HT: Campus Insiders))

There's a certain sense of obvious irony here with the act in the headline and the benefactor of the program, but the HQ digresses for the moment...

But our friends over at Campus Insiders have details on the University of Oregon dropping the hammer on three former players who sold team shoes along with current players Dominic Artis and Ben Carter. Artis and Carter have been suspended until further notice...

Here's their breaker on the subject...

Fred Richardson, Willie Moore and Carlos Emory are the ex-Ducks who were busted. Richardson and Emory transferred after their freshman seasons back in the spring, and Emory used up his eligibility after last season was completed.

And, then came the news releases...

"Ben and Dominic are two good young men who made a poor decision that was against NCAA rules I feel that both regret their decisions and the impact that it has on their teammates and our university," UO coach Dana Altman said.

In the same news release, Artis said: “I want to apologize to the University, to Coach Altman and to my teammates for selling team apparel. I regret my actions and do not want this situation to define me or my character.”

Oregon is set to start their season overseas in the made-for-TV event at Camp Humphreys in South Korea Friday.

Pac-12 Review: Wazzu Goes Pass Happier Than Normal, Stanford Stays Up, ASU Blows Out Washington

((HT: Pac-12 Network/FS1))

The Ess-E-Cee didn't have all the fun as conferences go on Saturday...

First, let's go to the records... and it didn't have anything to do with Oregon...

The HQ will give the Ducks credit for the pink touches to their amalgam of uniform combinations and permutations Saturday. But after a bit of a scare, they put the pedal down and beat Washington State as they should. The big story was Wazzu QB Connor Halliday, who set a D1 record for pass attempts with 89, breaking a record held previously by Drew Brees. Halliday also tied a record for completions with 58, tying the mark set by Andy Schmitt.

Admittedly, it's hard to pin down a 63-28 game to 1:40 with all that went down. But, here you go...


And, so you know, Washington State only had two yards rushing...

Oregon DC Nick Aliotti was less than happy about the efforts of the Pirate late in the game...
((HT: Campus Insiders))


Elsewhere, the HQ was keeping a keen eye on Boulder early Saturday afternoon as Charleston Southern was only down 22-10 in the first half. That didn't finish so well for the Bucs in the 43-10 loss...

Who knew Todd Graham had what his Sun Devils had in their system as they blew the living hell outta Washington (who won't be ranked anymore) after losing 53-24...

Ted Robinson and Glenn Parker confine their talk to 2:00...


Stanford knocked off UCLA in what a lot of folks didn't even consider an upset, and USC fans will have to try and figure out Coach O and what he'll say about the team's loss to Notre Dame in South Bend...

SEC Fans Apoplectic After Oregon Students Sell "We Want Bama" T-Shirts

Ctsy: Daily Emerald/Micheal Arellano

((ht: dailyemerald.com))

Really?

A pair of University of Oregon students have printed and are selling green t-shirts on campus with the phrase "We Want Bama" on them.

And the $10 t-shirts are going like hot cakes on the Eugene campus.

The two students decided to do it to draw attention that the current #2 ranked Ducks football team may be running headlong into a BCS title match with SEC Power and current #1, The University of Alabama.

Harmless fun, right?

Well, maybe....unless you are a crazy-ass Alabama and/or SEC Fan.

Already USA Today has a story titled "Oregon Football should hope and pray Alabama doesn't see this T-Shirt".

Read the USA Today story RIGHT HERE

We say "Good for Oregon". Why not? If SEC or Alabama fans are "Angry" about this, well, they need to lighten the heck up....

Can Oregon beat the Crimson Tide? Who knows? They may not even play.

Will they get the chance? Maybe. Alabama has a pretty easy path to the SEC Championship game, with only LSU at home standing in their way. They could, in theory lose that or the the SEC Title game to a Georgia or South Carolina team.

As for the Ducks, if they can survive games with Stanford and UCLA, yeah, sure, they are pretty much a shoo-in for a title game.

It's week #7 folks, there's a lot of football to be played. Yeah, sure, at this time Alabama and Oregon would seem to be on a collision course, but we'd argue at least one of them may not be one of the two best teams in College Football...so stop getting worked up over a t-shirt!!!!!

The Dirty Dozen and Bottom of the Barrel: The G Force Edition

Any of you geeks out there remember this?



Now imagine that you are the Alabama Crimson Tide...or Marcus Mariota and the Oregon Beavers...

Sportswriters across the land are hoping both can save the world and give them the game they drool over: Oregon vs. Alabama for the BCS Glass.

Will it happen?



Maybe it will....maybe it won't.

In the meantime, the field is beginning to settle, the undefeated teams are pulling away and separating themselves.

But is there REALLY a dominant team this year?

We don't think so.



Keeping that in mind, we will remind you of one constant. We are damn good at picking games...



Last week: So we leveled off 9-2 on the week, 59-5 on the season. Pretty good, isn't it...

But enough of that. As Casey Kasem always says, "On with the Countdown"

THE DIRTY DOZEN:

1) Alabama 5-0. Ha-Ha. Yeah, great, you beat Ga. State. Congratulations. But you have problems Slick Nick. Apparently you have/had an assistant paying players. Yeah...uh, that's not good. The NCAA generally frowns on it. But no fear, you have no near term challengers. This Week: vs. at Kentucky. Our Pick: Alabama 44, Kentucky 13

2) Oregon 5-0. Ha-Ha. Colorado had the lead on you...for about 30 seconds. We picked you to score 59, you scored 57....missed it by __that much. A bigger test this week on the road and Gameday in the house. This Week: at Washington. Our Pick: Oregon 37, Washington 31

3) Clemson 5-0. Barely broke a sweat against the 'Cuse...in New York no less. Well done. The meat of your schedule is ahead. Don't pull a Clemson on us. You could spoil the BCS party if you don't. This Week: vs. Boston College. Our Pick: Clemson 41, BC 23

4) Stanford 5-0. Congrats. You survived Washington. Though we'd love to see David Shaw and Coach Sark in the squared circle.



This Week: vs. Utah. Our Pick: Stanford 33, Utah 27

5) Ohio State 6-0. Congrats guys, you won the toughest game on your schedule last week. Unless you monumentally choke, you are going to run the table. But you may have the worst schedule in the entire BCS. Admit it. The Big 10 is awful this year. This Week: BYE

6) Florida St. 5-0 Wow! Two ACC teams in the top 6? How does that happen? Jameis Winston happened. That's how. We love watching him play. And the 'Noles next square off with Clemson. In 2 weeks. This Week: BYE

7) Georgia 4-1. Will the last healthy guy please turn out the lights? The best of the one loss teams has lost it's Top 4 WR's, Top 2 RB's and a handful of defensive starters. But they've held on. Allegedly the schedule gets easier, but Dawg fans are probably asking when? This Week: vs. Missouri, Our Pick: UGA 31, Mizzou 27

8) LSU 5-1  Okay, can someone please explain how a Les Miles team is scoring 45 a game? Cam? Zach? Answers please. It's time to find out if the Tigers will be running with the big boys at the end of the season. This Week: vs. Florida, Our Pick: LSU 31, UF 17

9) UCLA 4-0. Foks, this is your sleeper team. Though the schedule doesn't get easier. We really like what our pal Jimmy Mora Jr has done here. Brett Hundley is awesome. Need we say more. This Week: vs Cal. Our Pick: UCLA 33, Cal 23

10) Texas A&M 4-1. We continually profess our love for Johnny Football. He is the Tim Tebow of his era. Only the heel version.



No major challenges ahead. Until late November. This Week: at Ole Miss. Our Pick: Aggies 43, Ole Miss 30

11) Oklahoma 5-0. Okay Bob Stoops. Yes, you are underrated. But will you please stop whining about the SEC? You still have to win your own conference. Which is no guarantee. This Week: at Texas. Oklahoma 34, Texas 21

12) Baylor 4-0. Ok. University of Texas. You are delusional if you don't try to hire Art Briles from Baylor. He is a genius. Pure and simple. Put this team and Oregon on the field together and we might see someone score 100. And it would be fun to watch. This Week: at Kansas St. Our Pick: Baylor 70, K-State 16 (look it up)

THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL:



5) New Mexico State 0-6. Yikes. You lost to former Bottom member New Mexico 66-17? Really? How does that happen? Oh, wait, you are being outscored by 33 points a game on average. That explains it. This Week: vs. Rice. Our Pick: Rice 33, New Mexico St 0

4) Hawaii 0-5. Norm! Yes, Mr. Chow. We're talking to you. What happened? This used to be a proud team. And now this? How does that happen? Inquiring minds want to know. This Week: at UNLV. Our Pick: UNLV 40, Hawaii 20

3) UMass 0-5. So, yeah, that whole Fight Club thing from a couple weeks ago has served you guys well, hasn't it Charley Molnar? Dude. Either you can't coach, or...well. Where you stand right now tells everyone all they need to know. 7 points a game. ---sigh---This Week: vs. Miami (OH) Our Pick (do we have to?) Miami 8, UMass 7

2) Georgia St. 0-5. Yes, the mighty Saban is a kind and generous soul. 45-3. Consider yourselves lucky that you walked away relatively healthy Trent Miles and team. But your season isn't over. Don't forget. This Week: vs. Troy St. Our Pick: Troy St. 38, Ga. State 13

1) Southern Miss 0-5. Oh, Golden Eagles, how we pity you so. 17 straight losses, 4 turnovers as you go down vs. a horrible FIU team. If you could see us, we'd be shaking our collective heads. Where's Brett Favre when you need him? This Week: at East Carolina. Our Pick: ECU 47, S.Miss 13

OSG's College Football Crystal Ball For Week 2

#2 Oregon at Virginia

I’m racking my brain to figure out what was the biggest game ever played at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville and boom it came to me, when the Wahoos defeated Florida State in 1995 to end FSU’s ACC winning streak.

Oregon rarely crosses over the big rocks (Rocky Mtn’s) much less go as far east and the Ducks are travelling.  You have to go back to 1970 when Oregon played at West Point since the Ducks have travelled this far east. 

Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich come away impressed with the Virginia Defense.

They dominated BYU [defensively], which doesn’t happen very much.” Helfrich said in his weekly teleconference.

That may be the case last week but Virginia defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta loves a challenge and this is a biggie.

“…obviously this is one of the best college football teams in the country, and we happen to have the chance to play them here in Charlottesville.”

Yes Virginia you do but Oregon will be way too much to handle.

Oregon 42, Virginia 17

San Diego State at #3 Ohio State

The Aztecs were defeated by Eastern Illinois last Saturday.  What kind of chance do they have against the Buckeyes.

The Ohio State University 48, SDSU 3

South Carolina State at #4 Clemson

Do you think the Tigers will have a let down.

 “I know everybody looks at the schedule and thinks that it’s SC State versus Clemson.”  Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said.  “It’s an FCS team, but if you think that way then you get beat. I think there were eight FCS teams that beat FBS opponents last Saturday.”

Clemson fans, don’t worry.

Clemson 58, SC State 10

San Jose State at #5 Stanford

This was a close game last year with the Cardinal winning 20-17.  The Spartans defeated Sacramento State 24-0 for a confidence boost before heading the The Farm. 

Saturday is Stanford’s season opener. 

 “That’s [San Jose State] a good team,”  Stanford head coach David Shaw said.

The Spartans have won eight straight, that streak ends.

Stanford 34, San Jose State 24

Sam Houston State at Texas A&M

Raise your hand if you are over Johnny Manziel………. That’s what I thought. 

College Football’s spoiled brat will play again at Kyle Field to dismantle the Sam Houston defense.

“They are a tremendously talented team led by a Heisman Trophy winner.”  Sam Houston State head coach Willie Fritz said.  “But playing in front of a crowd of more than 88,000 again will be a great experience for our players and good exposure for Sam Houston State.”

Enjoy the experience Bearkats

Texas A&M 49, Sam Houston State 10 

More to come, stay tuned.

University of Oregon Gets Sanctions/Wrist Slap

((ht: goducks.com))

So, along with the other things going on this morning, the University of Oregon learned what the NCAA has decided to do with the charges of recruiting violations and using a non-compliant recruiting service (Wille Lyles).

And it's not nearly as bad as it probably could have been.

Here's the abridged version:

The NCAA found 6 issues--

1) Recruiting violations by the owner of a recruiting/scouting service how became a representative of the school's athletic interests
2) Use of said service which didn't comply with the NCAA legislation
3) Impermissible calls by non-coaching staff members
4) Too many football coaches
5) Former head coach (Chip Kelly) failed to monitor
6) Failure to monitor by the institution

And your slap on the wrist/penalties:

1) Public reprimand and censure
2) 3 Years probation, starting today (June 26th, 2013)
3) Loss of one scholarship for the next 2-years
4) Loss of 4 'Paid Visits' by coaching staff to recruits
5) Loss of 6 'Football Evaluation Days' from 42 to 36
6) No subscription recruiting services during probation
7) The recruiting service provider (Lyles) will be disassociated from the school (already happened)

And the penalty to former coach Chip Kelly, who now coaches the Philadelphia Eagles:

--An 18 month "Show-Cause" penalty, which means he can't coach in the NCAA until the end of next year. Not that he would want to now...

GoDucks.com provides the entire 28-page document RIGHT HERE

So--essentially, the NCAA is saying, "Yeah, you did some bad things, but we are going to slap your wrists". There is no bowl ban. There's minimal loss of scholarships and the NCAA can say "You were bad". And they get to say, without saying it, that it's Chip Kelly's fault.

What's the point?

This does little if anything to slow down Nike U/Oregon.



UPDATE:

Here's a statement released by former head coach Chip Kelly:

“Now that the NCAA has concluded their investigation and penalized the University of Oregon and its football program, I want to apologize to the University of Oregon, all of its current and former players and their fans.  I accept my share of responsibility for the actions that led to the penalties. As I have I stated before, the NCAA investigation and subsequent ruling had no impact on my decision to leave Oregon for Philadelphia. I have also maintained throughout that I had every intention to cooperate with the NCAA’s investigation, which I did."

Oregon FB Agrees On Violations... Mostly...

((HT: KVAL-TV))

Now that Chip Kelly has left the University of Oregon for the Philadelphia Eagles, it's time for the NCAA to get all the violations underway... most of the violations the school and the governing body agree on...

Some they don't... at least in the severity of them...

The Oregonian and KATU-TV in Portland filed an open records request and the paperwork focuses mainly on the Willie Lyles/Lache Seastrunk episode involving the written/not-written encouragement of having Seastrunk attend Oregon and Lyles reimbursement for the direction

The violations are considered "major" and involve the idea of "failure to monitor" by Chip Kelly. But, somewhat in conflict, there are no findings of a lack of institutional control or unethical conduct.

Oregon decided to give an incredibly generic statement on the release of the documents:

"The review is ongoing until the NCAA Committee on Infractions issues its final report. The integrity of the process and our continued full cooperation with the NCAA prohibits us from publicly discussing the specifics of this matter."

Here's the report from out west...


Expect Oregon to appeal the findings to the Committee on Infractions in the spring and the school has already performed two self-punishments: a scholarship reduction for each of the next three years and a two-year probation.

Oregon chooses OC Mark Helfrich to be Kelly's successor

Mark Helfrich (photo courtesy GoDucks.com)

EUGENE - To anyone following west coast college football, Chip Kelly's successor at Oregon should not be an unusual choice.

Offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich was named as Kelly's replacement early Sunday morning. Oregon will officially announce the promotion Sunday afternoon, and will continue Oregon's penchant for staying inside the family with hiring choices.

Another candidate for the job, former Stanford OC Pep Hamilton, was hired to be Chuck Pagano's OC with the Indianapolis Colts.

Kelly was in the middle of a coaching carousel soap opera, turning down the Cleveland job to stay in Eugene. Kelly surprised everyone when he turned around and took the Philadelphia Eagles' vacant coaching position. I guess the Cleveland job really IS that bad.

That reversal opened the door for the 39-yr old Helfrich, whom many said from the beginning would replace Kelly - maybe even being talked about for over a year. Helfrich had been Kelly's OC for the last four seasons.

Helfrich will be the third consecutive Oregon offensive coordinator that went on to become the Ducks' head coach. Kelly took over for Mike Bellotti in 2009, and before that, Bellotti was Rich Brooks' successor in 1995.

The HQ is also hearing that wide receivers coach Scott Frost will be promoted to offensive coordinator.

Oh, Yeah... The Bee-Cee-Ess Went Into The Blender Last Night...

And it only took two losses for that to happen...

Notre Dame's easy win over Wake Forest (sorry, J-Dub) assures them, at least, the two seed going into their game with USC...

Georgia and Alabama control their own fates at the Ess-E-Cee title game in Atlanta...

But Just as soon as Collin Klein ends up on the cover of the SPorts magazine that has Illustrations, they get whacked by Baylor in Waco...

Didn't really see that coming...
((HT: G4SportsNews))


And, then, The other issue happened in the Pac-12...
Remember what the HQ has always said about fast, athletic defenses squaring off against Oregon and their offense...???

Remember the Ess-E-Cee and their time keeping the Ducks in check...???

Stanford found a way- even if it took extra time to do it...
And, whaddya wanna bet Chip Kelly never ever kicks again...
((HT: KVAL-TV Eugene))

Late Night CFB: Oregon sprints past Arizona State

Oregon was down 7-0 after fumbling on their 1st play from scrimmage.

It would be the only time they trailed Thursday night. The Ducks used 143 yards rushing from Kenjon Barner and 135 from QB Marcus Mariota to fuel a 43-21 rout over Arizona State which quite honestly, wasn't that close.

Oregon's defense forced 4 turnovers and Arizona State's supposed #1 Pac 12 defense (if there is such a thing) couldn't stop the Quack Attack from doing whatever it wanted to.

There was concern...at least by the 4-letter pundits that Oregon might struggle because of Mariota's inexperience and it being his 1st road game. And...raising that question did a good job of drumming up interest.

But there's a difference. Oregon easily justified their #2 ranking in the Weeks OSG Sports Dirty Dozen and now climb to 7-0. They still face games with USC, Stanford and a really tough Oregon State team that could knock them off. But it would be a surprise if that happens.

As for the Sun Devils, they drop to a very respectable 5-2 under 1st year wandering coach Todd Graham. The program, which had been struggling under previous coach Dennis Erickson seems to have found some footing, drawing 70,000 to a Thursday night game in the "Valley of the Sun".

KVAL-TV in Eugene provides us with some highlights:

Green With Envy: Oregon Infiltrates Tempe Mountain

((HT: AZCentral.com))

The HQ knows that Oregon is heading to Tempe to take on Arizona State for a nationally-televised game tonight...

And, as people say, Thursday night is where ranked teams go to die...

So, Oregon fans, knowing where the home game is played, took their pride to the mountain top (literally) this morning to paint their colors over the "A"...

Evidence below...

Apparently, it has been painted over since the initial color changing...
Back to black...

Here's Todd Graham talking about the game... before he goes somewhere else...
((HT: ArizonaSports620))

Oregon H.S Running Back gets 600 yds, 10 td's..in one game

((ht: oregonian.com))

Have a season Thomas Tyner of Aloha (Ore) High School.

Tyner celebrated his 18th birthday with 643 yards rushing on 38 carries with 10 TD's...by himself as his team rolled over Lakeridge 84-63.

Yes, it was football, not basketball.

In case you are wondering, Tyner has 1,230 yards rushing...in 3 games this season.

Words cannot describe, so read about it from the Portland Oregonian RIGHT HERE

Wow!

We can only assume the Oregon recruit is being steeped in the same offense he'll play in next year for Chip Kelly.

This also reinforces the stereotype that nobody plays defense in Western Football. All the props due to Tyner for putting up Madden-like numbers, but come on. There's no way anybody can say either of these teams played defense.

And in case you are wondering, no, he didn't set a national record, that one is held by John Ginanntonio of New Jersey with 754.

Oh, that was done back in 1950.

OregonLive provides the video:

When You're Bored, Oregon Takes On Korean Rap...

The HQ will let you vote...

Which one do you like better...???
The re-mix...???


Or PSY's original...


We vote "draw..."

DEVELOPING: Chip Kelly To Bucs (UPDATE: Or Not)

And we're not talking East Tennessee or anything like that...

It's the big-boy Buccaneers, as in Tampa...

According to the Football Scoop and others, the soon-to-be former Oregon head coach is already in the throes of assembling a staff to head to Tampa...

Here's how KGW started looking at it in Portland...


After meeting with Bucs GM Mark Domenick met with Kelly and they're hoping to have a deal done, officially, within the next day or so...
((HT: KVAL-TV))


Monday Update: Claiming he has some unfinished business, he's staying...
((HT: KATU-TV/KVAL-TV))

Monday late Bowl games: Kickers gag and Kickers win

Because we know that you want to know what happened in the rest of Monday's bowl games.

They were decided by kickers.

Well, actually the Rose Bowl wasn't...

First: Georgia gags, Spartans win...in 3 overtimes.

The Georgia Bulldogs raced out to a 16-point lead in the first half before Michigan State knew what hit them. Brandon Boykin single handedly running away from the Spartans, causing a safety on Michigan State's 1st play, returning a punt 92-yards for a TD and later, in the 4th quarter, catching a TD pass.

They must have figured it out at halftime because they came back, scored late bringing the 2012 Outback Bowl to overtime tied...at 27.

The first overtime could have done it. Georgia's Baccari Rambo intercepted a Kirk Cousins pass, the Bulldogs ran 1 play before setting up for a potential game-winner from kicker Blair Walsh.

Walsh missed.

After overtime 2 gave us back-to-back field goals, Michigan State led off OT-3 with a 28-yard Dan Conroy kick. Georgia got the ball back, lost 4 yards in 2 plays and trotted Walsh out to try a 47-yarder, well within his range.

It was blocked.

Game over, Michigan State wins 33-30.

All we were able to find...that we could embed were some Michigan State end of the game highlights.

So dig it:



And then there was the Grandaddy of them all...or the game that ESPN has bought every aspect of. The Rose Bowl featured Oregon and Wisconsin and had the clock not run out, we are pretty sure they'd still be scoring.

Oregon won 45-38, they had 621 total yards, but didn't seal the deal until late in the 4th quarter, when Wisconsin WR Jared Abbrederis fumbled the ball after making a catch near the sidelines.

Well, actually they didn't seal it until Wisconsin tried spiking the ball after time expired...but you get what we are saying...don't you?

KVAL-TV in Eugene, Oregon gives us the team coverage..and eventually the highlights:



And lastly, the BCS consolation game, the Fiesta Bowl, featuring Stanford and Oklahoma State.

And again, it was a shootout. Andrew Luck of Stanford vs. Brandon Weeden of Okie State. The advantage went to the Cowboys, but it was close.

We also want to mention this stat: Okie State averaged 97.4 seconds on each of it's TD drives (thanks Andy Staples of SI for pointing this out).

The Cowboys get the win after Stanford kicker Jordan Williamson missed a chip-shot field goal at the end of the game and again in the 1st overtime. Oklahoma State kicker Quinn Sharp, he didn't miss his chance as the Cowboys win 41-38 in OT.

There were tons of arguments Oklahoma State should have been facing LSU instead of Alabama. We don't dispute them. Though we will say as much as we'd like to have seen that, we question if Oklahoma State could stop anyone.

But that is a debate for another day.

News9 in Oklahoma gives us the recap:

Oregon's Asper Gives Heimlich At Beef Bowl

((HT: KVAL-TV Eugene))

One of the highlights of Rose Bowl week is the eat-off between the two schools held at Lawry's restaurant. It's, traditionally, an astronomical amount of cow/prime rib that is inhaled by linemen on back-to-back days...

This time around, the father of Oregon's Tom Diamond, Paul, was seen in distress. Ducks lineman Mark Asper gave him the Heimlich maneuver and everything turned out okay.

Here's the interview with Asper...


Wisconsin is there today...

Cliff Harris Dismissed From Oregon: Report Says Citation At Thanksgiving

((HT: KVAL-TV Eugene))

Now the HQ may know why that happened...

The Fresno Bee reports that Cliff Harris was cited for less than an ounce of marijuana possession over Thanksgiving...

All the University of Oregon would say was that all of the info on the release was in their release, and that head coach Chip Kelly would not go over any kind of discipline in public.

Harris was busted for going 118 MPH last June and told the po-po that he and his friends "smoked it all" when asked why his car smelled of marijuana. Harris was suspended indefinitely back in October for more moving violations...

Here's Nick Krupke...


Harris has one year of eligibility left should he feel the desire to wait to play for another NCAA Division I school...