Being to Nice?

Football is a rough game. You get hit, chopped down to the ground, sometimes punched, or even thrown to the ground. Most players have to spend a lot time in ice baths to help the body recover. As a fan of this great sport, I marvel out how these athletes deal with the rigors of their beloved game.


These athletes have a competitive vibe in them that makes them perform at the highest level of college football and the NFL. They have to look their opponent in the eye and tell them "you will not beat me today." or "my will is going to beat down your will today.". They go a hundred miles an hour during the game to make tackles, block other players, run by them, make a long pass, or any number of things that occur during a game. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that they have to make adjustments to what is going on DURING the game. They take that information and try to make their play on the field that much better. There is not a lot of time for being tranquil or nice during a game.


However, that is not to say that you have to be a jerk to be able to be an effective football player. I have seen plenty of solid, All-American, All-Pro football players lace up their pads and cleats and become the best football players on the planet. Walter Payton, Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, or Drew Brees are just some of the players whom I would call nice and were able to "flip the switch" into competitive football players in college or in the pros. This brings me to a player that is being called to nice to be an NFL quarterback. Marcus Mariotta of the Oregon Ducks.


I know NFL teams do a lot of background checking on their potential employees. They want the best athletes, the smartest athletes, the athlete that stays off the 5pm newscast. I recently heard a conversation on a nationally shown sports talk show and they were talking about how some NFL scouts were saying the Marcus Mariotta might be to nice to play the position. My ears did a double take with that comment. Really? A guy who just wins, has a better than average arm, is smart, humble, runs like deer, and has the size to be a winning NFL quarterback is going to be to nice to play? I say, oh hell no.


If he is going to be to nice, then he can go talk to Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Joe Montana, or even Steve Young and find out how to be nice and have a successful career in the NFL. This is so ridiculous to me and it should be to you.


With the current climate in the NFL, teams should be clamoring for a guy like Mariotta. He's not beating girlfriends, behind on child support, carrying guns, or standing up in the middle of the student union at the University of Oregon and shouting obscenities out loud (we know the reference here). He could be the face of your franchise for years to come. Kids gravitate towards athletes such as this, fans love players like this, and reporters love guys like this because they won't be rude or even condescending toward the media. Owners will love this guy because, like I said earlier, he won't be on the news for a negative reason.


There are plenty of over hyped, rude, news making thugs in the NFL as it is. Isn't it about time we start looking at the players that are the antithesis of this? I know it's a pie in the sky attitude, but saying a player is to nice to play at the highest level is just ridiculous. Here's hoping that Marcus Mariotta wins all sorts of Super Bowls, All-Pro honors, and has many positive stories about him on the news. 

Big Game Devils

Sun Devil fans have what they want now. They have a team that is playing at a high level, winning, and making the fans believe that they can do something special at the end of the season. Saturday night at 8pm they will have their shot at continuing this great season.




When you look at their opponent in the Utah Utes you have a team that will try and run the ball on you. They have a very good running back in Devontae Booker who has had 100 yards in over four straight games and with a good game manager in Travis Wilson they will be a lot to game plan for. The defense of the Utes will be attacking Taylor Kelly and the offense. They sacked Brett Hundley 10 times, so Utah won't be intimidated by Sun Devil Stadium and the fans. They will bring the heat on the Sun Devil offense. They have won four of their road games, including one at The Big House in Michigan and one at The Rose Bowl, granted Michigan is not that good, but still for a team like Utah and the struggles that they have had since coming to the Pac-12 a win at Michigan is a great win for them. Then going to The Rose Bowl and winning says something as well. This is a team that can't be taken lightly by the Devils.




However, this is different type of Devil team. They have had to go through some rough times, losing Taylor Kelly to a foot injury, having to mesh with back up quarterback Mike Bercovici quickly, getting embarrassed at home by UCLA, and having Taylor Kelly come back to start while many fans wanted Bercovici to keep playing. I've been impressed the Devils ability to stay the course and do what they believe is right for the program and not what the fans want.




Last week up in Seattle they showed me something as well. The conditions at Husky Stadium were brutal to say the least with the high winds swirling on the field. You would figure that the Huskies would have been the team to be accustomed to dealing with adverse weather conditions, but it was the Devils who dealt with the high winds very well. Getting big plays, controlling the line of scrimmage, and playing solid defense is the recipe for success at any level of football.




Now, the Devils need to step up their game this week. I think the Devils can certainly win this game because I think their offense is a little more dynamic than the Utes. They have great wide outs, especially with Jaelen Strong, have a great combo back/receiver in DJ Foster, and have a very mobile quarterback in Taylor Kelly. There is a question with Taylor Kelly's availability because of  concussion protocol. The trainers had to take Kelly's helmet from him on Saturday night, but I expect him to be playing against Utah.




The next thing that needs to happen is that Sun Devil fans need to get into the stadium early, be fired up, and make things difficult for the Utah Utes. The fans have to be raucous, crazy, and nuts for their Devils. This is a big game and the fans have to act like it.




It's time for the big game Devils to get the job done and continue on this hot streak and see what heights they can attain in this 2014 season.

The Week in the Pac-12

Pac-12 fans are used to this by now. The Pac-12 is crazy with parity and a little bit of chaos. Teams that were thought to have been the dominators in the conference have been shown to not to be as good as advertised, while the other teams that were under the radar have shown surprising results (Utah Utes).


This week in the conference showed us that we will have some big conference games next week.. (ASU/Utah). I, for one, is already looking forward to next weekend. I'll be at the Sun Devil and Utah game.


For more on what we learned this past weekend go to www.cfbroundtable.com....

Is Stanford back?

After last week in Tempe, people were ready to write the obituary for the Stanford Cardinal.  I was in attendance at the Stanford/Arizona State game and witnessed something I didn't expect to see. A Stanford team taken apart physically.


The Stanford team I saw in person couldn't do anything against a smaller, faster team in Arizona State. Kevin Hogan had no arm strength, his running back couldn't must anything on the ground, the receivers didn't help their quarterback at all, and the play calling seemed boring and very predictable. I knew that the Cardinal had some young skill guys and it was going to take some time to feel comfortable in the offense, but not like this. Lets fast forward to today.


Watching the Cardinal play against an Oregon State team that had also taken a heartbreaking loss at home against a very upstart Utah Ute team. It was apparent right from the start today that the coaches at Stanford had shortened the playbook a little bit and put in a bit of no huddle to change things up and not seem so predictable. They were still going to line up and hit you in the mouth with their strong offensive line and knock you back on defense.


They were running power and sweep plays in any direction they wanted. They were throwing the ball around the yard much better than last week. Even though Hogan threw two interceptions early, they kept with the game plan and tried to find that balance. They did. They were up 28-7 at the half. The game was over at that point. The Beavers didn't have anything to challenge the Cardinal today and the Cardinal was not going to let them come back in anyway.


Here's the question. Which team is Stanford? Are they the smash mouth team that I saw today? Are they the predictable team I saw in person against the Sun Devils? Those are two things I am wondering as Stanford heads into their big match up with the Oregon Ducks. David Shaw needs to keep doing what he is doing this past week. They looked like they have the past few years at Stanford. However, going into the Oregon game they can not be this up and down with their play on the field. Oregon is not the team to be so unsure with in regards to your play because they will take that uncertainty and blow you out by 40 points.


Stanford is a good team, they are not great like they have been the past few years because of youth and bit of inexperience. I hope the Stanford team that played today is the one that shows up in Eugene next week. The one thing I do know is that the Ducks and their crazy fans will be waiting for them with open feathers.

Sun Devil aspirations

I hear people talking about it a little bit right now, but if the Sun Devils win this week in Seattle against the Huskies there will have to be a pretty big bandwagon to hold everybody.


As of right now, the Sun Devils have a shot at the getting to the Pac-12 Championship and even an outside shot at getting to the college football playoff. The Devils are definitely hot right now and with the return of quarterback Taylor Kelly, who knows what will happen. It will certainly be exciting to watch the Devils....


For more on this... go to www.cfbroundtable.com

Arizona: contender or pretender?

Now that we have entered the "meat" of the Pac-12 schedule, there are many questions out there in terms of which teams are legit contenders and which ones are pretenders. One of those teams to me is the Arizona Wildcats.


At the beginning of the season many people thought that Arizona was going to be ok, not great, just average. They were going to be playing a very young quarterback, a inexperienced running back, and the defense was going to be suspect. Well, sometimes things work out a little differently than first thought. They get the wins over their weak non-conference opponents like they are supposed to and then comes the California game. A game in which I said California would win, but it would be close because it was a home game for the Cats and that the Golden Bears were an unproven commodity. The game was close. However, it took a monster effort by the Cats to come back and a Hail Mary pass at the final gun to win the game for the Wildcats. That is momentum that is hard to quantify with a young team.


Many times you don't know how a team, especially a young team responds to that kind of drama. They responded very well to the win. It gave them a surge of confidence that they can score when they want, they just have to put it together for an entire 60 minute game.  For the next couple of days they enjoyed the crazy Cal victory. Next up was Oregon.


Oregon presented a whole basket full of issues for the Cats. This game was up in Eugene, not at their friendly confines of Arizona Stadium. Oregon was wanting payback for the thrashing they took last year at the hands of the Wildcats. No payback was issued. The Wildcats made plays when they had to and their defense took control at the end when they needed to and brought the little quackers to their knees for the second year in a row. They left Autzen Stadium with a win and left Duck fans scratching their collective heads again. Here come the Trojans...


The Trojans came to the desert with a lot of talent. Young, inexperienced talent, but plenty of it. They had beaten Stanford up in Palo Alto at the beginning of the year. They looked impressive on paper and on the field. They were my darkhorse team from the Pac-12 South division. This looked like a "trap" game to me for the Wildcats and that is what it turned out to be. The offense didn't move like it did against the Ducks, they were letting the Trojans move up and down the field. USC could throw it and run it whenever they really wanted to, but the game was close. However, the playmaking ability was not their when it had to be. The Cats miss a game winning field goal at the end to lose.


I'm not sure which team is going to show up in Palouse this weekend. Washington State is a dangerous team at home. Their quarterback throws for a ton of yards which means he has great confidence in his skill players. He threw for over 700 yards against California and lost. Now, I am not saying he will be putting up those kind of numbers against the Wildcats, but with a young team like the Wildcats have it raises questions about the Cat defense being able to defend the pass of the Cougars.


I am not totally sold on the Wildcats being that team that challenges for the South division title just yet. They are a little green behind the ears for me. The youth and inexperience have got them this far, but in the last six games of the season I could easily see them going 2-4, maybe 3-3 at best. Now, that still gets them at best to an 8 win season, but after starting out so blistering hot, the cooling of the Wildcats may just be around the corner. I'll have to put them in the pretender category for now. The South division for the next few years will be a dog fight and with so much talent in the south division who knows who will come out of it. I would like to see the resurgence of "Desert Swarm" in Tucson because it adds a lot to the Pac-12 and college football in general. Once these players at Arizona get a little more experience, watch out Pac-12 Conference.

Pac-12 Expansion

Here is something that does not get talked much about anymore. Expansion. Like anything else in college sports these days, expansion is a money grab for the conferences that are wanting to expand. However, the expansion that a conference may do doesn't always work out for the conference.


Case in point, the Pac-12. They brought in Colorado and Utah and it really hasn't worked out the way they wanted it too.


To ready more about the Pac-12 expansion... go to www.cfbroundtable.com

Quick thought: USC and Len Dale White

As if things in college football could not be any more surprising in the world of college football this season, Len Dale White, former USC running back decides to go rouge on his former school. 


Evidently, White, who has been critical of the coaches and of the entire program at USC of late says he was kicked out of the L.A. Coliseum by Pat Haden after Haden had shook his hand. White was on the sidelines during the Trojans homecoming win over the Colorado Buffalos yesterday afternoon. After, the game, White tried to enter the room where the press conference was taking place. That, evidently is where Len Dale became irate. Why? You ask. Here is the reason. Security did not allow him into the room. So White decides that he has been disrespected in some way by his school and decides to make a scene because of that disrespect.


Let me get this right. A former player for a school, who had helped that school to National Championships gets escorted out of the stadium because he was trying to get a place where he couldn't be and he throws a childish fit because someone said "no." to him. Okay, some needs to tell me where USC went wrong.


Len Dale White is not a reporter, he's not part of any sort of media. He's just a former player. That's it. He admitted he was coming to the game to see his former coach Steve Sarkisian. He got a sideline pass for him and his buddies. He had seats for this game that most fans would die to have. The kind of access during a game with sideline passes is crazy.


Len Dale White was a good player, not a great player for USC. He needs to realize where he is in the pecking order at USC. He's not a member of the media, so if you want to talk to your former coach just wait until the presser is over. Universities have rules in place for a reason and some people think the rules don't apply to them at times. For Len Dale, yesterday was one of those times. I'm sure Len Dale White may be a good guy most of time, but for modern day athletes, they think they can do and go anywhere they want. Wonder if Len Dale White will be allowed anywhere on the sidelines for the next game?


Hats off to USC to sticking to their rules and not letting former players dictate what schools allow them do.  

Problems in Palo Alto

The last few years have been pretty good for Stanford fans and for the program. Rose Bowl trips, Pac-12 Champions, having Andrew Luck, and having one of the toughest defenses in the country. They have been a thorn in the side of all Oregon Duck fans the last couple of years and ruined their National Championship hopes.  However, things are not the same for the Cardinal this year.


Things have changed for the Stanford Cardinal. Part of the reason is that they are younger than they have been the past couple of years and that has its own growing pains, but the amount of speed combined with strength is not there. Last night, being in attendance at their game against the Arizona State Sun Devils I saw just how slow this Stanford team is. They could not catch up to the Sun Devils. The first half of last nights game was a scene of one team not being able to do anything offensively. Stanford had to many third and long situations because their play calling on first and second down were not effective in terms of trying to slow down the fast Sun Devil defense. The Devil defense was not going to let Stanford run between the tackles at all. The Stanford running attack was doing nothing and then they had to rely on the arm of quarterback Kevin Hogan.


Kevin Hogan has had the difficult task of being the guy that followed the All-American and overall number one draft pick Andrew Luck. He's not Luck by any stretch of the imagination. He doesn't have Luck's strength, arm strength, or ability to run, but Hogan has won and in the grand scheme of things that is what it comes down to. Hogan does not have the experience at running back that he needs to be effective in the passing game.  Last night, he was not effective. As I was watching the ineptness of the Stanford offense I started thinking should Oregon be concerned with Stanford?  Not that Oregon has a great defense, but I also thought that if Stanford Head Coach David Shaw doesn't fix these offensive problems, the speed of the Ducks is going to run right by the Cardinal.


One thing the Cardinal still do have is a big, strong defense. The defense can be physical and tough, but when they spend a lot time on the field and have to constantly chase down fast, quick offensive athletes then they get tired and the other team takes advantage of that. The Sun Devils have the quickness and the offensive tempo to wear down the opposition.  Guess what? That is exactly what they did with Stanford.


Stanford is not the same old Stanford that we have been accustomed to and they need to fix their issues on offense or they will not have the success that they have had the last few years. They got put on notice last night in Tempe. Hopefully, they heed this notice. 

The Rivalry: Oregon and Washington

It happens again this weekend in Eugene. The Rivalry. Oregon and Washington. What will happen this year? Anything can happen with these two teams and anything can happen off the field as well with the fans. This is about as heated a rivalry as it gets between two teams.






Back in the day, when I was growing up this game was pretty much a guaranteed win for the Huskies, they were the big brother to the Ducks. They showed no mercy in terms of the score and their fans showed no mercy in letting the Oregon fans know just how superior they felt to the Duck fans. When it was time for this game to occur Duck fans were all in. They would get their "quacker" mouth pieces out, which sounded so annoying to me because I thought "real adults are putting these in their mouths and making this annoying sound...?" Somebody needs some meds. Most of the time all this quacking the Ducks did were all for nothing. The Huskies owned the Ducks for many years.




The Huskies were coached by Don James and the Ducks by Rich Brooks. The Huskies were very disciplined and a heavy run first type of offense. They always had huge offensive linemen that seemed to look like a house with legs and boy, could they move the pile and open up holes for the likes of Napolean Kaufman. Quarterbacks such as Warren Moon, Brock Huard, Steve Pueller, Chris Chandler, and Jake Locker have all passed through the walls of Husky Stadium and put up many yards and victories for the Husky faithful. Growing up it always seemed like the Huskies were the ones in the Rose Bowl. Oregon was never a thought about the going to the Rose Bowl, they were always trying to break the five win barrier.


Oh, how times have changed. The Ducks made the commitment to their football program with the help of Uncle Phil (Nike) and have not looked back since. Even though they are known for their uniform combinations more than their wins, they have certainly become a force to reckon with in the college football landscape and even played for the National Championship in 2011. The rivalry has been dominated by the Ducks. In fact, the Huskies have not won this game since 2003. The Ducks have been running over people with their spread offense and the Huskies have been part of that running over.


To many fans of either school, this is known as hate week. For Oregon fans, Oregon State is the rival, but Washington is the enemy. For Washington fans, their rival is Washington State, however Oregon is the enemy. This "hate" between the two schools goes back to 1948 when both teams were in the PCC (Pacific Coast Conference) and Oregon tied for the conference title with the University of California. The conference decided that members of the conference would pick who would go to the Rose Bowl. Six out of the ten teams in the league were located in the Northwest, so fans figured Oregon was going to be the one that was voted into the Rose Bowl. That didn't happen. Washington went to the University of Montana and convinced them to vote for California. Montana voted for California, thus keeping the Ducks out of the Rose Bowl that year. Ever since then. Oregon fans have never forgotten about that slight by the Huskies. Older Duck fans have not forgotten, younger Duck fans may not know about that part of the history of this rivalry. I believe that this spark to the rivalry is one of the most important parts to know about this heated game. Fans should educate themselves to this fact.


Tomorrow, in Eugene, the fans will be crazy and wild inside Autzen Stadium, but the show really may be just be in the tailgating area of the stadium. A ton of trash talking will be going on during the game and in the stands. Husky fans might have to get in all their smack talk as soon as they can because I think the Ducks will continue the winning streak against the Huskies.


However, that is why they play the game. 

For Love of Football

Football can be very mysterious at times, it can be tough, and it can be amazing. It can also be all three of those things at the same time. Football can all of these things for the players, as well as the coaches who coach their players. Some days are better than others, but if a coach is worth his weight in gold then that coach or coaches preach "the process".


The process includes teaching them the fundamentals, teaching them to be responsible for their actions, showing them how to lose and win with grace and humility, and finally teaching these young men how to be a man. Last night for a group of young men that process showed up and the result was tremendous and I couldn't have been more proud of these athletes.


The football players I am talking about are group of athletes that comprise Mesa High School's JV football team in Mesa, Arizona. To those of you that do not know, Mesa High School is a high school that has a lot of history behind it. It's been burned to the ground, rebuilt, won many state championships throughout its wonderful past, and best of all, has tradition like no other high school I have been associated with. This tradition makes Mesa High a very special place for the students that attend there. Alumni come to football games all the time. There are third, fourth, and sometimes fifth generation students at the school.


Last night Mesa High JV played their rivals the Mountain View Toros. This is a rivalry that has been pretty one sided for a long stretch of time. It's almost a big brother, little brother type of rivalry in which the Toros look at Mesa as the little brother and Toros look at themselves as the older, wiser bigger brother. The tide may be beginning to turn in terms of that perception.


All week at practice, myself, and the other coaches on staff preached "the process" in terms of paying attention to detail, doing your job on offense and defense, and to look at Mountain View as just another team standing in our way of a victory. The practices leading up to this game were at best average, as anybody who has teenagers at home can attest to, getting a sophomore in high school to focus on anything can be very difficult. I was afraid that we may come out flat and not very aggressive. I have been wrong on many things in my life, this was added to the list last night.


As we were warming up, Mountain View was also warming up. They would break and yell "beat Mesa" loud enough so that our kids could easily hear it. Our athletes heard them just fine. I heard them just fine and it got underneath my skin a lot! I started telling players that this was our night, not their night. That we were the tougher team, the faster team, and that we were going to show them that our team was not to be taken lightly. Time to kickoff...


We kickoff, our players are sprinting down the field to make the tackle, and in the corner of ear, I hear one of my coaches whispering "break down, break down.." the Mountain View gets loose a little bit, however, he has the ball hanging out from his body a little bit and one of our Mesa players comes and smacks the ball loose and we recover the fumble and take over in Toro territory. A few plays later, we are in the endzone and up 7-0.


As the course of the game proceeds, the breaks tend to go our way and we end up leading at the half 20-7. The seven points that Mountain View got were a gift from us because of penalties on us. It kept their drive going and we paid the price for being undisciplined on the defensive side of the ball. In the locker room I press the point that we will take the opening kickoff and run the ball down their throat and put them out of their misery. Guess what? That is exactly what we did. Our quarterback performed very well, the offensive line performed well, and it was a great drive for our team.


The momentum was ours. The players could feel the tide beginning to turn in their favor and they were starting to feed off that surge of confidence and wanting to bury the Toros underneath a ton of points. Mesa got their wish. As their head coach, I was starting to see the other coaches wanting that same surge to continue. We started getting other players in, so that everybody could have that feeling of "yes, Mountain View is ours this year!". They were ours, there was no denying that cold hard fact.


When that final horn sounded, everybody lined up at the 50 yard line and shook hands. Elation on our players faces, dejection on the other side. I didn't care about how Mountain View felt, the only thing I was feeling was a sense of pride for our players. Mesa players were hugging each other, I even had a couple come up and hug me and say coach "We freaking did it!" Yes, you did. A 40-14 thrashing of the Toros. In our final gathering after the game, I told them that the feeling you will have tonight and walking around school tomorrow is something that you should never forget. I told the team, "You will walk around Mesa High tomorrow knowing that you beat Mountain View, how sweet is that?!".  Hopefully these players are walking with pride around the school.


Great job by our young players. Fear the Hop and Carry On....

Head Man: Mike Riley

Coaching football at the Division One level can be like riding a rollercoaster. One day you are riding high after a win. Then next day you are being yelled at and second guessed like you don't know what you are doing. It takes a strong individual to maintain their composure during the difficult times and the craziness of the great times. A major college coach has to have a level head that keeps his team emotions in check.




One of the coaches in the Pac-12 who exemplifies those characteristics is Mike Riley, head coach of the Oregon State Beavers. He is one of the most respected coaches in the country, does more with less, and maintains a high level of respect with his players.


Most people would not be able to pick him out of a crowd of people. Many football players may not be able to pick him out of crowd either. That is how unassuming Coach Mike Riley is. He is textbook definition of poise and coolness. Watching him on the sidelines, one would think he was at a tennis match or golf tournament because of his low key demeanor. He is rarely animated to the point of having an official call him for an unsportsmanlike penalty. Riley doesn't have that in his DNA. Now, that is not to say that he doesn't yell or scream every once in awhile at a player or an official, but he typically will handle adverse situations in the calm, cool way that he is known for.


Coach Riley was recently named the number two most underrated coach in all of college football by ESPN. In Corvallis, he doesn't get the 5 start recruits that a lot of schools get, he gets the 2 or 3 star athletes, and an occasional 4 star athlete. The four star athlete at Oregon State tends to be a rare sight. He gets kids that are not necessarily recruited by the big schools, may have a bit of "chip" on their shoulder, and then with the help of his staff coaches the heck out of those players. By coaching these kids the way he does, he gets the max effort and potential out of these kids. In the end, that coaching shows up on the field on Saturday afternoons.


He has coached 32 players who have earned All-American honors, 32 players have been drafted into the NFL (does not include FA signings), has the most wins in Oregon State history with 88, and has a couple of players who have been first round picks by the NFL. Stephen Jackson, drafted by the Rams in 2004 and this past season had Brandin Cooks selected #20 overall in the first round by the New Orleans Saints. He has had three players go onto the NFL and earn Pro Bowl honors. Derek Anderson, Brandon Browner, and Stephen Jackson have earned those honors in recent years.


Coach Riley's approach to coaching a pro style offense has benefited many players that have through Corvallis. It's an approach that players will see at the next level and provides them with a "jump start" on the any other player in the country.


One area that Riley takes a lot of pride in his that many of his players also accomplish things in the classroom. He has had players earn academic accolades more than 70 times in the last six years at Oregon State.


He is the known for the being "the best man in college football". A phrase that sports radio host Jim Rome gave him. He is respected by all, hated by none (other than opponents on Saturdays), and has created an environment in Corvallis that has led to a renewed spirit of winning and doing things the right way at Oregon State. I, for one, hope that he finishes his career in Corvallis and stays connected with the program forever. He is a great man and coach and one that should never be taken for granted by the fans of Oregon State. 

Going Deep: Sean Mannion

When pundits and fans talk about quarterbacks that they would like to have on their college teams you hear names like Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston, Brett Hundley, Everett Golson, and even Dak Prescott now. However, there is a name that I feel often gets left off and shouldn't be. That name is Sean Mannion, quarterback, Oregon State University.


You may be thinking, "who is this guy?". Many fans, casual fans, and pundits forget that this quarterback is getting close to setting the Pac-12 passing mark. With all of the quarterbacks that have come through the Pac-12, Sean Mannion may be the guy that stands a top the mountain after this season is complete.


He started off very inconspicuously at Oregon State. He was not one of those huge recruits that come in with a lot expectations placed upon them. However, Coach Riley knew he had something special with this young man. Riley runs a pro-style type of offense and with Mannion, that fit his style just fine. In high school, Mannion ran a similar style of offense, so running what Riley had in mind was not a big stretch for Sean.


Mannion possessed all the tangible things that Mike Riley likes. He's 6'5, 230 pounds, big arm, good mechanics, now it was on Riley and the offensive staff to help Mannion refine his skills, so that he could perform on a consistent basis at the Pac-12 level. As with any young quarterback, there were growing pains. He threw interceptions, 18 his freshman year alone. Taking sacks when he needed to throw the ball away, and injuries. He had injuries his sophomore year that forced him to relinquish his starting role to Cody Vaz. Vaz performed very well in Mannions spot, but when Sean was healthy enough, he came back into the starting role.


As he got older and more accustomed to the offense and became more in tune with his receivers, his numbers started to increase dramatically. His decision making was becoming better, therefore, his quarterback rating went up and the offense seemed to flow much better. His rating during his freshman season was 127.1, his sophomore season (injury season) was 138.8, his huge junior season was 146.5. His junior season was a season of huge numbers. He threw for 4,662 yards with 37 touchdowns. So far during this senior season he has thrown for over 1,300 yards with a rating of 129.7. How the season ends up for him depends on whether or not he stays healthy.


One thing that has helped him has been the type of guys he has been throwing to. He's had Markus Wheaton, who is now starting for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Storm Woods (still with Beavs, leading receiver), and Brandin Cooks (who is starting with the New Orleans Saints). When you have this kind of talent around you big passing numbers are sure to follow.


Last summer Mannion attended the Manning Passing academy when he impressed everybody with his arm strength and accuracy. He won an accuracy contest at the Elite 11 camp at the Nike Campus and then went to the Manning Academy and won that contest as well. Scouts like his size, strength of arm, and that he can make all the throws necessary at the NFL level. He wants to continue to work on his footwork and decision making skills as this season progresses, so that he gets drafted higher than the 3rd round projection the NFL had for him last year. That projection made him come back to Corvallis and work on those skills.


In the end, Sean Mannion doesn't get the huge publicity that others do because he plays at Oregon State, he's not a media hound, and he's certainly not looking for the pub. He will prove the point that just because he plays in Corvallis, doesn't mean that the NFL doesn't know where to find him and draft him. He is a shiny diamond in the rough who I believe will be drafted ahead of many of his contemporaries in college football this upcoming May.

Pac-12: What did we learn this week?

Another crazy week in college football is over and the state of Mississippi is the epicenter of the college football world. That state boasts the two best football teams in the country right now.


Well, out here in the West things are starting to work themselves out just a little bit. After a week where Oregon lost, the Sun Devils won on a miracle catch, UCLA lost on a missed field goal, Stanford blew a great chance at Notre Dame, and the Washington State quarterback passed for 734 yards AND lost people thought what would be on the menu for week seven. It was an awesome week six, so it was interesting to see how week seven played out.


Here are a few things I noticed about week seven and how it may affect things down the road for teams in the Pac-12.


One, UCLA is done. There season may end up being decent, but they ran themselves out of the college football playoff discussion. Maybe I should say Oregon ran them out of the playoff discussion. The Bruins offense had over 500 yards of total offense and lost. They ran the ball for over 300 yards and lost. If a team does this they usually win, but not the Bruins. Adding insult to injury, their crosstown rivals, the Trojans go down to Wildcat country and pull out a win. The Bruin defense was supposed to be the side of the ball that would dominate games for them and provide the offense with stops, so they could score more points. It's not working out they way they envisioned.


Two, Arizona was a bit overrated in terms of ranking. Not that rankings mean anything to the playoff committee at all. Prior to this week, the Wildcats were not ranked in the top 25 poll.  They beat Oregon up in Eugene and they go from not ranked to number ten? The biggest leap for any division one program in long time. Seeing how the offense fluttered against the Trojans I am convinced that the Wildcats are not a top ten program. The Cats may be a top 20 or top 25 program, but not top ten. There was no tempo to their offense, they were letting the Trojans run and throw the ball all over field. Even still, they did have a chance to win at the end. However, if you are a top ten team, a team like USC should not have a chance to win against you. Especially with all the inexperience and youth that the Trojans have.


Three, the demise of the Ducks has been greatly exaggerated. With their loss against Arizona many pundits believed that Oregon was out of the discussion for the playoff. After yesterday, they have put themselves into the discussion, maybe not the actual playoff, but at least in the conversation, so we don't have four teams from the SEC Conference in the playoff. Marcus Mariota also put himself near the top of the Heisman Trophy talk as well. How people took him out of the Heisman talk just because of one game is beyond me. To me, he's a top three NFL pick. He lead his team to a crushing of Bruin hopes yesterday in the Rose Bowl and in front of a national audience. I'm sure it made an impression to Heisman voters, if it didn't, those voters are idiots.


In the end, the Pac-12 is doing what it always does every year. They eat their own in terms of not having a dominate team. Having as much parity as the Pac-12 has is a double edged sword for the conference because having a lot of talented teams in the league shows strength in the conference, but having so much strength gives any team a pretty good chance of beating anybody in any given week. Which means a great team out of the Pac-12 may very well have two losses. That's not a good thing when you are trying to get into a college football playoff and prove your conference is a great one. The committee will probably not have a team in the playoff that has two losses, so this intra-conference cannibalism will not work out in the end for the Pac-12 more than likely. We, as a conference need a team coming out of play with only one loss, so the league gets a team in the playoff. The Pac-12 is a great conference and needs a shot at the title.


Lets see how this plays out. It's going to be fun to watch... hold onto your hats fans!

To Follow the Rules or Not to Follow the Rules, that is the Question

Rules are rules correct? Most people would say "yes" to that question. However, that is easier said than done. People break rules all the time. How many of you drive above the speed limit? Yeah, me too. The interesting thing about the whole "rules are rules" is when athletics is put into the equation people get very moralistic about following rules. Case in point Todd Gurley and Johnny Manziel.


When most people go to college they have to take out loans, have their parents pay for tuition, and have to get a job to help pay for the rising cost of attending college. However, when you are major college athlete, specifically football or even basketball and you get a scholarship to pay for that cost. You are also afforded a monthly stipend to help pay for rent, food, or just going out for the evening. The athlete is getting a free education that many people would die for. I would have done just about anything to get a school to pay for my education, but my athletic skills were not up to snuff, so that was not going to be an option for me.


The universities and colleges that benefit from these athletes play on the field are not sharing in the profit of fans coming to their stadiums to watch the games. Fans line up at college and university bookstores to buy jerseys, shirts, or any number of things that could contain these athletes likenesses. How much do these athletes see from that? That is a rhetorical question.


In my humble opinion, these athletes, like a Johnny Manziel or now a Todd Gurley, and many athletes in the past deserve to benefit from schools using their likeness or the number of their jersey. Anybody else in the business world benefits from things like this being used to sell product. However, when it comes to college athletes benefiting from something like that, people get on their high horse and say that athletes shouldn't.  They are getting a free education, yeah, ok, an education that they typically don't see to the end of their four years.


Keep in mind, we are talking about a handful of athletes around the country. Not every college football or basketball player is having their likeness used. So people thinking that this will equate to every athlete benefiting is just slightly exaggerated. I tend think most people would want to benefit from this type of celebrity. Should the rules be changed? I say yes.


As I stated before, we are talking about a handful of athletes, not hundreds or even every player on every team. I would like to say that these universities and colleges could set up some sort of athlete fund that the particular athlete could cash in on his departure from the university. Now, how much of a share that the athlete gets would have to be a negotiated thing between the school and the individual.


Johnny Manziel and Todd Gurley are only some of the players who decided to take advantage of situation that comes to very few people. A situation that I would say most people would take a chance on. Of all the players that are caught, how many more don't? The NCAA needs to redesign their rules that not only help the NCAA, but also these players that are putting millions into the pockets of the universities and colleges. After all, NCAA has repeatedly said that they are there to help and to protect the athlete. Well, time to put your money where your mouth is NCAA...

Does the Spread Offense hurt or help a Quarterback?

It's the new type of offense in college football and even has infiltrated the NFL to a certain degree, but its pervasive through out the college game. Thanks to Chip Kelly and others the spread offense with its use of the up tempo pace has created quarterbacks that run all over the place and try to squeeze out as many plays as possible. Watching all this offense occur I have asked myself this question: Does the spread offense help or hurt the maturation of a quarterback?


There have been many spread quarterbacks drafted that have not done that well at the next level. One of those reasons is the difference in playbooks that these guys are asked to absorb in college and in the pros. For example, when I went to the National Championship game in 2006 and saw Texas beat USC in one of the most epic football games ever, many people thought that Vince Young was going to be a great NFL quarterback. He had size and speed that intrigued many GM's, coaches, and fans around the country. I looked at him as average at best because with his speed, he liked to get out and run around. In the NFL you do not want to do that to much because you are putting yourself at great risk and your teams investment at great risk. The NFL is full of the best players on the planet, every week you are playing the best of the best. That doesn't happen in college.


The playbook. many of these college playbooks are pretty thin. The coaches are making the play call and asking these kids to make just a couple of reads and if it's not there, take off running and get the yards you can. Spread offenses are not ones where quarterbacks are under center so much. They are usually in the shotgun, not taking 3 step, 5 step, or 7 step drops. By not taking these different types of drops and working on getting the ball out in rhythm and on their footwork to get these types of passes out, they are stunting their growth and readiness for the next level. Their coaches at the college level are not helping these young athletes out and getting them ready for the NFL. However, the college coaches are like any other coach in their position. They are interested in winning and keeping their jobs, and if this type of offense keeps them employed with big contracts, then that is what the coach will do. When these players get to the professional level, the playbooks are huge novels with a whole new level of language that can be very confusing to a player that comes from a program where they were not asked to remember much in terms of calling the play.


R.G. III is another example of how these running, spread quarterbacks make it tough to invest in a guy that will run around a lot. When he came out of Baylor he excited many fans with his arm strength, speed, and the ability to make plays with his feet. I just was not sold on him. For one, he exposed himself to much to big hits, he had already torn ligaments in a knee, and I was not sure he could dissect a professional level defense. He proved me right in terms of exposing himself to huge hits. He got hit many times running around and was injured with another blown knee ligament. Griffin does not know how to "slide" properly to help avoid hits. He needs to learn how to do this or he will be out of the NFL sooner than he thinks. Are you listening Johnny Football?


Spread offenses do not help these great athletes out because it is not a complicated type of offense to run and by not taking snaps under center these quarterbacks are missing out on basic type of fundamentals that are essential at the NFL level. Until these guys figure out that they need a better skill set upon entering the "league", then we won't see any spread offensive quarterbacks flourish in the NFL.

Pac-12 feeding frenzy

The Pac-12 is at it again. They are eating there own and it may cost them a spot in the football playoff at the end of the year. Arizona/Oregon, USC/Arizona State, UCLA/Utah. Three games that changed the landscape of both divisions in the Pac-12 Conference.


With Arizona going into Eugene on Thursday and beating the Ducks. The Ducks were probably the best shot the Pac-12 had at landing a spot in the football playoff.  No matter how good the Ducks are, they have flaws that may have caught up to them at some point before the playoff or during the playoff. Arizona took a physical approach to the Ducks and it paid off tremendously. They rushed three down linemen, dropped everybody else, or blitzed up the middle to make Marcus Mariotta feel very uncomfortable. Once the Wildcats walked off the field with the win, the landscape of the playoff changed immediately.


People around the country were down on the Big 10 for their lack of having a team that could crack the top four to get into the playoff. At the same time the Pac-12 were winning big non-conference games, i.e. UCLA/Texas, Oregon/Michigan State. The press was falling in love with the Pac-12. I was looking at these wins as impressive and great for the Pac-12, but at the same time I was telling myself "just wait for league play to start, they will eat their own." They have begun to cannibalize themselves after this past weekend.


Once the Duck game was over, I started looking at UCLA or even USC to gain some ground and propel themselves into the top 10 or even top 5 in the polls. Not that polls mean anything to the people that decide the playoff.


USC had the game in their control. They had shut the run down, DJ Foster was not getting anything on the ground. The Trojans were having an issue covering Jaelen Strong though. He had close to 100 yards receiving by halftime. He is arguably the best player that ASU has and the Trojans could not cover his shadow, let along him. We have all seen what happened at the end of that game. Trojan defense made bad decisions and then the defense decides not to go attack the ball at its highest point and Strong goes up and gets the ball at its pinnacle. He steals a victory away from the Trojans. The win would have propelled USC higher in the rankings and given them a good shot at winning the Pac-12 South division. Now they face an Arizona team that will be feeling very good and wanting to take control of the south and the Wildcats will be in front of the home fans.


UCLA had control of things in the Pac-12 South after destroying Arizona State. I looked at them as the team to beat in the south division. Well, so much for thinking. Utah comes to town and ruins that thought. The Utes get out to a quick two touchdown lead and then hang on to watch the Bruins miss a last second field goal to win the game. This win by Utah showed me that maybe the Bruin flaws may be like the Oregon flaws and it finally caught up with them and that UCLA may not be as good as advertised. The jury is obviously still out on the Bruins.


The jury may be out on the whole Pac-12 as well. It may be the second best conference in the country, but the parity that it shows may be just the thing that keeps it from the playoff. Some how, some way a team needs to emerge from either division and show some dominance. Time will tell what team, if any, will come to the forefront and show they belong in the playoff with a chance to play for the title.

Bloody Saturday

Here we go fans. This is what makes college football worth watching on a weekly basis. A bloodbath of epic proportions happened over the course of the last three days.




It all started Thursday night with the Arizona Wildcats taking down the Oregon Ducks in Eugene. The Cats made the Ducks look very beatable and basically beat them using a three man front on defense. Then to add insult to injury for Oregon, they let a player with the name of Scooby strip their quarterback of the ball and temporarily end the Duck National Championship hopes. I say temporarily because of the amount of top 10 teams that went down yesterday.




It starts yesterday with Mississippi State taking down a very good Texas A & M 48-31 behind their quarterback Dak Prescott who threw for 259 yards and two touchdowns. They dominated the Aggies even though Aggie quarterback threw for 365 yards and four touchdowns, but he threw three interceptions and that certainly helped the Bulldogs score the ball. However, that was not the positive thing happening in the state of Mississippi yesterday afternoon.


Enter Ole Miss and their battle with Alabama who was ranked number two. Alabama came into the game with a very good defense, but it was Bo Wallace, the quarterback at Ole Miss that made the difference yesterday. He was making almost every throw that he needed to yesterday. He went 18 for 31and threw for 251 yards and three touchdown passes. With the Mississippi defense intercepting Alabama quarterback Blake Sims late the game the victory became reality for Ole Miss. The celebration was on in the state of Mississippi.


Then came the Utah/UCLA game and that was a hard one to call for me. Utah is better than advertised. Anytime you can go into The Big House in Ann Arbor and win the game you are good. I don't care how good or bad a Michigan team is. Winning in Ann Arbor for a program such as Utah is a big deal and tells a lot of people of how good you just may be. Now going into the Rose Bowl and playing a top eight program like the Bruins is a different can of worms for Utah. However, the Utes got out of the gate quickly by getting up 14-0 on UCLA. In the end the Utes made the plays to set up the end of the game field goal. Brett Hundley had a good game, but in the end, wins matter more than stats, and was not able to lead the team to victory. That was not the only stunner in Los Angeles last night.


Before the Bruins went down, USC had their hearts ripped from their soul. Arizona State, coming off an embarrassing loss to UCLA at home were about to go down in the Coliseum. Enter Mike Bercovici, he was having a fantastic game with his receivers and backs. With little time on the clock Bercovici hits Cameron Smith with a 73 yard touchdown reception. That play was helped that defensive back horribly misplayed the pass. Once the defender misplays the ball, there was nothing but open field for him and he ran to the end zone. USC gets the ball back, runs three up the middle plays that don't go anywhere and is forced to put the ball back. The Trojans were trying to just run the clock out because the Devils had no timeouts left due to some blunders early in the second half. However, the Trojan defense let the Devils put the ball in a position to heave the "Hail Mary" pass into the end zone and into the hands of Jaelen Strong. Strong who was possibly the best player on the field last night caught 10 passes for 202 yards, plus the winning grab at the end of the game. Bercovici had the stat line of the night with 512 yards passing, 5 touchdowns, and no interceptions. He also owned the most important stat of the night... he won.


With this kind of Saturday happening, who knows what happens from here, but it will certainly be entertaining to watch. I for one am looking forward to the rest of the season. I love the chaos.

A downer for the Ducks

Such high expectations. Maybe unrealistic expectations by the fans? Whatever it may be it all came to fruition last night in Eugene. To the common, bandwagon fan the Ducks were a championship contender with no flaws. However, to the fan that knows the game of football the Ducks have flaws and they were exposed last night.


First, the best thing about the Ducks is their quarterback Marcus Mariotta who was probably the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy going into last nights game with Arizona. Funny how things work out for people sometimes. With a few minutes left in the game last night, Mariotta had his Heisman moment right in front of him, ready to be taken. It didn't happen for him. I was sitting there watching that game and telling myself, "You will win the Heisman right here or possibly lose it right here." I think he may have lost it. More specifically, his offensive line lost it for him.  A quarterback can only do so much and if his O-line is not good, he will not have a good season or game. Mariotta got sacked 7 times against Washington State and I am certain that the defensive coordinator for the Arizona Wildcats saw that and decided lets get after him. The Wildcats got after the Marcus Mariotta last night.


Mariotta never got real comfortable in the pocket last night. He was sacked, hurried, knocked down so much last night that I never really saw him set his feet and really step into throws. He had a few passes that went far down field, but the Wildcat defense was not really letting them get many yards after the catch.


The incredible thing about the Wildcat defense was that they were only using a three man front to pressure Mariotta. The offensive line was a patch work offensive line. The Ducks do have injuries to the line and even had a true freshman on the line. Even with this three man front you would expect an offensive line to be able to stop a three man front, but they couldn't. The front seven for the Wildcats got to Mariotta time after time. That made the comfort level for him very questionable as the game progressed.


Another aspect that has been discussed is the quality of officiating last night by the Pac-12 referees. When hasn't the quality of officiating been questioned about a football. In any game there are missed calls or calls that raise the eyebrows of people in the stands or on the couch at home. Last night was no different. I see Duck fans posting on different blogs that their National Championship hopes were gone because a Duck player took a bow. Well, if you look at the rule book, taunting or showboating is one of those rules that seems to get called some nights and not on other nights. It got called last night after the Ducks sacked Anu Solomon and the Ducks Tony Washington decided he wanted to take a bow after completing the sack. He took the bow near mid field. The penalty flag comes flying out and the crowd erupts in anger and disbelief, however, Tony Washington can not blur that line between what is celebration and what is taunting. Washington forced the referees hand and that is not a hand you want to force. The call was made, it was a correct call. Did the Duck defensive end lose his focus for a second? Yes, he did, and it cost the Ducks dearly.


The season is not for the Ducks at all. They need to win out and that will be tough especially with a road game at UCLA, a home game with Stanford, and who knows what happens with the Civil War game at Oregon State. They certainly have their work cut out for them. They need to fix their offensive line issues which means players need to get healthy. Marcus Mariotta can only do so much. He is only one player and football is the ultimate team game, so it takes a team to win. The Ducks don't have a team playing together right now and that needs to change if they want to have any chance at being in the playoff at the end of the year.

Struggles for the Devils

 Thursday night Fox Sports One game. Huge crowd. Black out for the fans. Back up quarterback for the Devils. The Devils had everything going in their favor before the game started except that last reason listed. UCLA was in town with their own injured quarterback, Brett Hundley. However, Hundley was going to play.




After the first quarter, the game belonged to the UCLA Bruins. The Bruins made the Sun Devils one dimensional and their defense pinned their ears back to rush the Devils back up quarterback Mike Bercovici. Bercovici ends up throwing a interception while the Devils were on the verge of scoring. That score was a total momentum swing for the Devils, the defensive back for the Bruins returns the ball 95 yards for a pick 6 touchdown. As soon as that happened, in my head I said "ballgame." By the end of third quarter the game was out of control and it was "garbage time" for the Devil players. Jaelen Strong for ASU had about 160 yards, but a lot of that was when the game was already decided.


The Sun Devils need their starting quarterback Taylor Kelley back leading the offense. Not having him there will hurt this teams chances at winning another Pac-12 South Division title. He provides another dimension for the Devils. Kelley makes plays with his feet and can throw the ball down field. Defensive coordinators game plan for his dual threat activity. He makes Jaelen Strong and DJ Foster much better. Defenses will focus on stopping those two guys and once that happens the Devils are dead in the water. Mike Bercovici does not scare anybody in terms of being a threat. Yes, he has a strong arm, but he doesn't move around like Taylor Kelley does. A less mobile quarterback is obviously a lot more easy to defend. Defensive lines can just pin their ears back and get after the quarterback in that type of situation.




With Kelley out for the next few weeks the struggles will continue. For Devil fans, his return can't happen soon enough. With Stanford coming to town for the next home game, do Devil fans really want Mike Bercovici trying to beat the Cardinal? I think not. Taylor Kelley needs to heal up and get back in his Sun Devil uniform soon or this season for the Devils could be destroyed. Just saying...