pac-10
Leap Frogs (11/17)
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 | Episodes | No Comments
Ty and Dan dissect TCU’s big win from a number of angles, evaluate Cincinnati’s BCS ceiling, bow down to Toby Gerhart, and batten the hatches for another Notre Dame coaching search. Plus, commentary from Jerry Palm and East Bay Greg, as well as voice messages and results from pick ‘em and fantasy football.
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Horseshoe Battle (9/10)
Thursday, September 10th, 2009 | Episodes | No Comments
Ty and Dan welcome Ken Gordon from the Columbus Dispatch and BuckeyeXtra.com to discuss Saturday’s big showdown between USC and Ohio State, the Big Ten conference, and the progression of Terrelle Pryor. Plus, witty voice messages, a ton of e-mail, and a very special announcement.
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A Double Dose (9/1)
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 | Episodes | No Comments
Ty and Dan ramp up their efforts in preparation for the start of the college football season by inviting two guests to the program: Rob Moseley from the Eugene Register-Guard to talk Oregon and Anthony Dasher from UGASports.com to discuss Georgia. Plus, some chit-chat about Rich Rodriguez and Dan’s adventure in the Canadian wilderness. (Episode 55)
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August Countdown: California (13)
Thursday, August 20th, 2009 | Blog, Team Preview | 1 Comment
Throughout August, we will be counting down the top 25 teams (as listed here) going into the 2009 season. Today, we break out the pachouli oil, impressive SAT scores, and our loudest protest bullhorns as we take a seat on Tightwad Hill to catch a glance at this year’s Cal Bears squad. Somewhere, Adam Duritz is totally feeling our vibe.
First Impression
Cal is and should always be a good football school. There’s a good amount of talent in Northern California and a great amount in Southern California. The school boasts academics that almost nobody else around the country can. God help the entire Pac-10 if they ever get impressive facilities. Could you imagine if they actually cared about the program up there? Yikes.
Moving on, Cal has become a consistent preseason second tier national program over the last five years, and there are games in which they absolutely deserve it. As good as Jeff Tedford is as a QB guru, QB play has been inconsistent, and at times, downright odd.
In light of Ty continually calling Cal “Clemson West,” eventually they won’t have the usual Cal lull, win at least ten games again, and justify the yearly hype. I think. Maybe.
Last Year
The season started out with a back and forth win over Michigan State (solid scheduling) that highlighted a tremendous running game in which Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen both notched hundred yard games. They then flew east to Maryland and played at what felt like 6:00 A.M., got down early and lost. Quite simply, the Bears weren’t prepared and they dun’ brain farted in College Park.
Two painless wins over Colorado State and ASU begat a third quarter at Arizona that may have been the worst quarter played by any Top 25 team all year. UGLY. 28 points later, Tucson chewed up and spit out Cal’s case for Pac-10 contention. Woops.
A win over UCLA led into a sloppy victory in the rain over Oregon. Quarterback play on both sides was abhorrent against the Ducks in Berkeley, and Cal even did all they could to hand the game away, but Oregon refused to do enough to win on a sludgy field. Cal wisely accepted the win and moved on. Clearly, I haven’t.
Cal then lost to the top two teams in the conference on the road (at the time), USC and OSU, before closing out the season with two straight home wins and a home bowl game win over Miami.
The year was essentially defined by the emergence of Jahvid Best, a surprisingly stout defense (over the second half of the season), and Nate Longshore agonizing epilogue.
People
The first name in Cal football is now Jahvid Best. He’s the most dangerous open-field runner in college football. Luckily, and this is just a prediction, but the Pac-10 will almost assuredly only see him at 75-80% for a good period of time. Simply put, he gets beat up.
Kevin Riley fully takes over for a (thankfully) departed Nate Longshore. Riley’s shown flashes of being really good (see: 2007 Armed Forces Bowl), but has also shown a knack for being really average. Touted RS freshman Brock Mansion has been challenging Riley during the offseason, but Riley has been the consistent #1 at camp.
Every worthwhile skill position guy is back, and the addition of RS freshman Marvin Jones to the receiving corps should add flash to an already decent group (Nyan Boateng, Verran Tucker).
The big places where the Bears take an equally devastating hit are at center and linebacker. Alex Mack was generally considered to be the best center in the country last year, and Cal’s experienced, focused LBs anchored a defense that carried the team throughout the second half of the season. Plus, LB Worrell Williams apparently doesn’t like me, so I’m happy he’s out of the state.
The defense will need to get lockdown performances out of Syd’Quan Thompson (9th year senior) and the rest of the secondary, but as stated before, it’s a running league this year, so much of the pressure should be off of the defensive backfield.
This Year
Cal will blow at Maryland the first week of the year. Book it. The very next week, I could see Eastern Washington taking down Cal. Ok not really, but I’ll do my best to predict Cal’s bonehead loss(es).
Minnesota has certainly improved, and even though the game is in Minny’s new stadium, the Gophers only seem to beat up on bad teams, which the Bears certainly are not.
Here’s where it get’s tricky. Cal gets another road game, this time at Oregon, which is one of their two hugely difficult tests. Lucky for Cal, defensive coordinator Bob Gregory has schemed superbly against Oregon’s spread the past few seasons, and the Ducks are coming off of a September schedule that includes games at Boise State and against Utah. Cal finally goes down here.
It doesn’t get any easier the next week, but at least USC comes to Berkeley this year. By this point, USC at home may be more attractive than the Ducks in Eugene, especially since I’ll be in Autzen Stadium, giving the Ducks that extra something. Ok, the Dan Rubenstein shoehorning ends here.
The rest of the season should be fairly easy to navigate: UCLA is better, but still building; ASU can say the same; Oregon State is always able to develop and insert players (and beat Cal); Arizona is tricky but comes to Cal; Stanford is fiesty, but breaking in a new QB; Washington is abysmal.
Conclusion
Is this the year Ty stops calling Cal “Clemson West?” Maybe. USC is as vulnerable as they’ll ever be. The schedule isn’t brutal. other than LB, and the middle of the offensive line, there’s experience everywhere. That said, there’s still a part of me that knows that they’ll beat a good team and lose to one, and then they’ll beat up on a bunch of lower teams and then lose to one or two. Oh Jeff Tedford, we know ye too well!
Prediction
9-3. They lose to Oregon, USC, and Stanford. I think. Ok, I have no idea, but it feels right.
Game Highlights Set to Unfortunate Music
-Dan
August Countdown: Oregon (15)
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 | Blog, Team Preview | 1 Comment
Throughout August, we will be counting down the top 25 teams (as listed here) going into the 2009 season. Today, I will be insufferable and go into way too much detail about the Oregon Ducks. Our uniforms are bright, our mascot picks fights, and our cheerleaders are better looking than yours. See, I’m insufferable already.
First Impressions
It seems that Oregon is in that perennial “Who Can Challenge USC?” position with Cal, and for good reason. The Ducks have an explosive offense, are well-coached, and have distinctive home field advantage at Autzen Stadium.
That said, 2009 is a transition year, but has the possibility to be much more. Chip Kelly, the Ducks’ offensive coordinator the past two years, takes over for the former Dean of the Pac-10©, Mike Bellotti. There’s always concern with a regime change, but since the hire was from within, and nearly all of the staff was retained, the transitions have and should be minimal.
The schedule is devoid of non-conference cupcake games, but a weird year in the Pac-10 should provide for a number of interesting opportunities for the Ducks to vie for a conference title.
Last Year
In what turned out to be Mike Bellotti’s final season, the Ducks had an uneven start, in no small part due to what has become an Oregon trademark -- quarterback issues.
After beating two terrible teams in Washington and Utah State, the Ducks needed double overtime to win in West Lafayette over Purdue. The following week saw a Boise State cheap shot take down Jeremiah Masoli early on in his first start, which came as a part of a 37-32 loss. The supposedly-dominant secondary got burned by play action all day.
Including the expected loss at USC, the Ducks won their next three of four, due in large part to the emergence of JC transfer LeGarrette Blount at running back and the steady rushing of senior RB Jeremiah Johnson.
A sloppy game (from both sides) led to a sloppy loss at Cal, but was followed by a close win at home against Stanford, another close one in Eugene in a shootout over Arizona, and the most satisfying game of the season, the deconstruction of both Oregon State and their Rose Bowl hopes in Corvallis, OR.
In what always seems like a good, high scoring game, the Ducks outmuscled Oklahoma State in the Holiday Bowl to send Coach Bellotti into retirement in style. Despite the expected losses in personnel going into 2009, momentum is present.
People
The Duck losses in personnel are significant and can’t be overstated: S Patrick Chung, RB Jeremiah Johnson, CB Jairus Byrd, DE Nick Reed and both starting defensive tackles, C Max Unger and two other OL starters, plus the talented, but inconsistent WR Jaison WIlliams were all lost to the draft or graduation.
In addition, the turnover in regime led to some expected transfers: QB Justin Roper, WRs Chris Harper and Aaron Pflugrad, and a rotation defensive tackle all decided to transfer after the spring.
Beyond alllllll of that, the Ducks return a number of playmakers and important pieces. SI cover boy Jeremiah Masoli finished the year stronger than any QB in the country, LeGarrette Blount is joined by LaMichael James in the backfield to form the best-named RB duo in the Pac-10, if not the country.
The offensive line is being rebuilt, but the group up front has been stocked well in recruiting. Defensively, the rebuilding process of the defensive line is more troubling because of the number of top notch RBs in the conference (Rodgers, Best, Gerhart, Grigsby, and 12 different USC guys). The younger, quick LBs are the strength of the D, while the secondary could go either way. It always helps that four year lockdown CB Walter Thurmond III returns, though.
This Year
The question/story of the tear is if the Ducks can develop up front on both sides of the ball. If the offense can open up holes and give Masoli enough time in the pocket, Duck running backs should maintain their recent level of productivity and Masoli should sit atop the conference as its best quarterback. If the defensive line can hold their ground, Oregon’s linebacking corps should similarly be among the best in the conference.
The schedule is a bit tricky, but the conference portion is ideal. September without a down week (@Boise St, Purdue, Utah, Cal) makes for a tough first month, but every key Pac-10 game (USC, Cal, OSU) will be played in Eugene, with the possible exception of Arizona in late November. If the Ducks come out of September unscathed, they’ll be a top 8 team. One loss is more realistic and frankly, as a fan, I’ll take it.
UCLA is improving, but they’re not there yet, the Washington schools will continue to be freebies (thanks Ty Willingham!), and USC is as vulnerable as they’ll ever be. Once again, it all rests on the defensive line.
The Ducks always seem to have trouble in Arizona, but if they’re still healthy come week 11, the Ducks should have the firepower to finish the year strong against the Wildcats and then an Oregon State team in Eugene that has significant losses on both sides of the ball.
Conclusion
I’ve never been great at predicting an Oregon football season. They’ve had more line turnover than they’ve had to deal with in quite some time (as if that needed to be repeated). Nine wins isn’t unreasonable, ten would be a really good season, eleven is probably a best case scenario, with twelve only in the discussion if weird, fluky circumstances in the Pac-10 are coupled with unexpectedly dominant play from the Ducks. See? I promised insufferable and biased, and I delivered.
Prediction
10-2. I’ll go on the record today and say Boise won’t even be close. Ducks by at least 17.
Game Highlights Set to Unfortunate Music
-Dan
August Countdown: Oregon State Beavers (24)
Monday, August 3rd, 2009 | Blog, Team Preview | 2 Comments
Throughout August, we will be counting down the top 25 teams (as listed here) going into the 2009 season. Today, we travel to the metropolis of Corvallis, Oregon, which boasts the slogan “Business is Good Here”, calls itself a “bike-friendly city”, and is known as the “fifth smartest city in America” according to a recent study by Forbes magazine. So, it’s got that going for it, which is nice.
First Impression
Dan Rubenstein hates beavers. All of them. Especially ones from Oregon State. We don’t want PETA dishing out any DDOS attacks on SolidVerbal.com, but in the interest of full disclosure, we just had to put that on the table.
Now, with that in mind, nobody would hold it against you if you chose not to root for Oregon State’s college football team after its pyrotechnic 3-0 victory over Pitt in last year’s Sun Bowl. (We’d totally understand — that game would’ve made Baby Jesus cry.) However, there are reasons to be excited about Beaver football in 2009, mainly because of the dynamic duo of Jacquizz and James Rodgers. Jacquizz led the team with 1,500 total yards from scrimmage; James was just as dangerous with 1,000 total yards; together their speed and versatility figures to cause many long nights for opposing defensive coordinators. That, combined with the impressive way with which Oregon State rounded out its 2008 season, and there is reason to be optimistic.
The main question, though, is who will be in charge of getting the Rodgers brothers the ball. Lyle Moevao led the Beavers last season in passing, but in recovering from shoulder surgery this spring, has given Sean Canfield the chance to steal his job. Regardless, coach Mike Riley knows he needs more consistent quarterback play in ‘09 if he hopes to survive the meat of his Pac-10 schedule.
Last Year
The Beavers pulled their season together quite nicely in 2008 after an extremely rough start with back-to-back losses to Stanford (of all teams) and Penn State. But after a win against Hawaii and a bye week to figure itself out, Oregon State pulled the year’s biggest upset by taking down USC by a 27-21 score. Despite a let-down loss to Utah the following week, the Beavers won their next six games before being blown out in the Civil War against Oregon. And then there was that Sun Bowl victory, but we should probably just agree to delete that from memory.
People
It will be interesting to see how Mike Riley handles his quarterback situation. Lyle Moevao led the team in passing in ‘08; however, his 13 interceptions were troublesome and didn’t instill a whole lot of confidence. Both Rodgers brothers return, but Riley has his work cut out for him on the left side of his offensive line, where his team figures to be particularly inexperienced, likely starting a redshirt freshman at tackle. Defensively, Mark Banker has a bit of a project on his hands, especially coordinating a way to stop the pass, but listen for names such as Keaton Kristick and Stephen Paea.
This Year
Though the Beavers will be dealing with some inexperienced units, there is a distinct possibility they could start the year 6-0, setting up a showdown in the Coliseum with USC. Portland State, UNLV, Cincinnati, Arizona, Arizona State and Stanford are all very winnable games. But common logic leads you to believe that USC will be fired up and ready to avenge last season’s upset, and you should well expect a monstrous blowout at the hands of the Trojans on October 24th.
It doesn’t get any easier after USC, as the Beavs square off against a much-improved UCLA squad on Halloween, then on the road against Cal the following week. Both will be difficult games, look for Oregon State to split. The final regular season game (the Civil War) is anyone’s guess.
Conclusion
Oregon State has a knack for sneaking under the radar. It usually does this by suffering a bad loss early in the season and then slowly creeping its way back into the discussion. Arizona State, USC, Cal and Oregon feel like losses for the Beavers in 2009, and not surprisingly, all are road games. Throw in a random home loss just for good measure.
Prediction
7-5
–Ty
Solid Verbal Podcast: Episode 48 (7/23)
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 | Episodes | No Comments
Ty and Dan talk with Jon Wilner from the San Jose Mercury News about the troubles of the Pac-10’s television deal, the obstacles facing USC, and the ongoing Mike Stoops Experiment. Plus, new features on SolidVerbal.com and tons of listener e-mails.
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Solid Verbal Podcast: Episode #10 (10/23/2008)
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 | Episodes | No Comments
Ty and Dan reach the vaunted 40 subscriber plateau and plan out the madness of the Solid Verbal Combine. Plus:
- Dan’s trip to Austin
- SEC referees beating up quarterbacks
- Texas Tech hiring kickers that win contests
- Inmates hitting the recruiting trail
- The Pac 10’s awful television arrangement
- This week’s games
- Your e-mails
Email the show at solidverbal@gmail.com, leave a voice message at 206-426-3252, or visit us on Facebook!
Solid Verbal Podcast: Episode #5 (9/17/2008)
Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 | Episodes | No Comments
Ty and Dan ponder a USC-Ohio State game without a Beanie Wells injury and assert that Ohio State should no longer be allowed in a BCS Title game. Plus, the duo talks about…
- Dan’s muddy trip to Iowa City and his subpar experience outside Kinnick Stadium
- The illustrious “Phil Steele Threshold”
- Auburn’s soccer-style victory over Mississippi State
- The curse of the Oregon Quarterback and how Oregon alums are preparing themselves accordingly for possible knee injuries
- The Pac-10’s choke job against the Mountain West Conference
- Predictions for the week ahead
E-mail the show inbox at solidverbal@gmail.com or leave us a voice message by calling 206-426-3252.
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