69 Comments

As a Coug fan I have always liked and followed the Beavers. Both schools have a lot in common. I would love to see the Beavs win the Pac this year. They have a chance. Smith is building something special in Corvallis and is doing it the right way.

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Pac 12 football is shaping up to be a great season, if for no other reason than the list of QB's who will all be out to prove something as they play head to head. I can hardly wait! I think you downgraded Nix a bit in your analysis. We'll see/!

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I couldn't put him in front of Williams... and Penix was just fantastic... if Nix didn't get hurt at the end of last season, I may have given him a Heisman vote. Those three are all terrific.

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Yeah, I wasn’t downgrading Penix, he was amazing. But I personally agree with others that Williams is overrated based on where he plays. But then I think the entire USC team is overrated.

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I think your order is perfect. DJU has upside. We will see how he does. Who knows, he might end up the top QB in the PAC12. He has the physical talent. But at this point, he has to show us

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I don't know why not? Williams IMO did not deserve the heisman...IMO Penix was the best QB in the Pac last year...(And I'm a Duck). Penix just was pretty incredible (except in his bowl game where he was pretty pedestrian). Williams just had the USC moniker next to his name...that's it! otherwise I thought he was about the 3rd or 4th best QB. BEhind Penix, Nix, and side by side with Utah's Reising and Thompson-Robinson

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"Williams just had the USC moniker next to his name...that's it!"

That actually made me laugh! Thanks...

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Just hoping the PAC-12 can land a TV package we can access without giving up our first born.

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I am constantly impressed with the players Smith and Co recruit... not just ability, and coach-ability, but the modesty, dedication and family-focus. I have always loved the Beavs as my Alma Mater, but Smith really makes me have a deeper commitment to the team as a fan as well. Many articles from Clemson and comments from Clemson fans are always the same, DJ is one of the nicest and upstanding men in the locker room.

Win or lose, this is far more important to me... I am forever a proud Beaver fan.

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SC ran up and down the field on every team they faced last yr except Oregon st. They were a good QB away from winning that game. With DJ they just upgraded significantly. Watching him develop here locally in HS he’s a gamer and by all accounts really great kid and he will be playing with a chip on his shoulder after the way it went down at Clemson. Huge get. Fully expect them to once again be the best team in the state and meet them this December in the CCG.

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Wish there was a 12 team playoff this coming season. Pac 12 could legitimately put three teams in. I don't know how anyone gets thru it with just one loss?

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It will be a gauntlet.

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well on the bright side, while Nix, Rising, & Penix will be gone, there will still be some very good QB's and offenses in the Pac in 2024 Ugaleile, Dante Moore, & others.

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I am more interested in which teams improve the most on defense.

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Good insight John! What a tough league this will be this year. No gimmies this year!

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I watched this kid in high school and always wondered why he went to Clemson. Not sure how good he will be for OSU but he was amazing in HS, like a man among boys.

This shows also in your list how far Cal is falling behind. Lost their QB and now have some third stringer off a Sonny Dykes team and the kid isn't even 6 feet tall...oh boy, another 3-4 win season coming up.

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John: It is common knowledge your daughter goes to school in Corvallis. You always claim you are impartial and intelligent. You boast about your career. You were on your own podcast with your wife recently regarding your first dental visit with a new hygenist. I choked when you asked your listeners if you should have stated your occupation was a sumo wrestler or a pro sports agent or a well-known mover and shaker from Portland, Oregon. If you were honest with the nurse you would have just told her the truth. I do not listen to your podcasts anymore and reading your column is not something I do daily . You are not impartial and the Beaver football coach you feel is a big-time guy whom you just love. Smith a nowhere in the class of Lincoln Riley or Chip Kelly. Smith is no offensive genius and when you said he had the best offensive mind in the Pac-12, I strongly disagreed.. To have a good offense, you have to have good players, plus score a lot. . The Beavers last season in Seattle showed me that Smith needed to go back and take college football 101 at a community college. Against the Huskies, in Seattle, the Beavers usually never show up, and always lose. In 2022, they were the same old Beavers. Miss me with the wind and rain story. On the road, you always kick short field goals. Especially, when you do not have a decent qb. In a monsoon at the purple house in front of a crowd twice as big as your field holds, duh. Smith thought 3 points would be better than O, or was it the other way around? Check the Beavs' football record in Seattle or at USC, and you might get it. Smith got 0 points, when he could have had three twice. Six beats 0 according to my calculator. So does 3. Beavs lost by three; Smith said the weather was just like Corvallis in the summer. He liked it.

I watched the whole game and I did bet real money at a sports book in Sheridan, Oregon called Spirit Mountain. I had the Huskies with no point spread;; called the money line. Easy money, just like having USC in Corvallis, again with no point spread, when the Beavers only threw four interceptions. The OSU team missed the flight to play Utah,. They got buried, and that game was over after two minutes. I had to blame horrible coaching by Smith and his whole staff. If Smith is the coach you say he was, at least he should have had a game plan at Utah. I know all about the new Beaver qb, and am sure you are convinced the Beavers might finally have a great season, starting in about six months. After the spring game in a few weeks, you will rave about the Beavs' new signal-caller. You will pick the Beavers to win the Pac-12. My prediction is that Oregon, UW, USC, UCLA, and Utah will be better than the bandits from Benton County. I have not seen their schedule, but know they will not play one of the Los Angeles schools, probably USC. Might see you in Autzen in November, when ESPN college game-day is there for USC and Oregon. Ditto for Reser when the Montlake Monsters, in purple, will win. Check out major league baseball in a few weeks. With the new rules, the average game is said to last two hours instead of the current three or four. Make sure you watch the mighty Beavs in men's basketball at the Pac-12 tourney in Las Vegas. Rather than be afraid to dump Wayne Tinkle, because of his buy-out clause, OSU will just keep tinkling on themselves. The last two years have been worse than a train wreck at Gill. Watch OSU finally fire big Wayne. Pat Reser, an old teacher of mine in Hillsboro, Or in 1963 whom the huge (38,000) football stadium is named after, decided after making a huge donation to the city of Beaverton, that she has seen enough bad basketball. Wayne can take his millions via buy-out and go build another power-house program in Europe where Tinkle jr. is a star in a D league paying minimum wage. Slats Gill and Ralph Miller are trying to get their names removed from Gill Coliseum and Ralph Miller Court. Gary Payton and GP the third have changed their alma mater. OOOOOSSSSSSSSSSUUUUUUUUUUUU.........PU. What happened to the 4- lane dirt track to be built around the field at Reser? OSU wants to build a track program, but currently they have no facilities. In Eugene, there are new plans to build a small track and field facility, so as to try and keep up with Oregon State Beavers. Autzen was expanded 20 or so years ago. It now holds almost 60,000. The big boys all have stadiums with at least 85,000 capacity, and most are 100,000 or more. The Pac-10 is miles behind the SEC and Big 10, even the ACC in football. Football pays most all the revenue for college sports. It has huge deals for the major football schools. If the Pac-12 ever gets a new deal for tv, the schools will be lucky to get half of what USC and UCLA will start making in just under 18 months. Watch the Chipster and Lincoln Riley with just an extra 30 million or so dollars, per year, take their programs way ahead of the Pac-10. Money talks and the Bruins and Trojans were smart to leave the titanic of the Pac-10. Big money talks and ----walks. Thanks Larry Scott, and please Duck boosters donate what you can so we can get some big, fast, mean defensive lineman. Ask Georgia or Alabama, or Dabo Sweeney, if defense wins natties. I do not mean just one or two players either; you need to be at least two deep on defense. Uncle Phil, whose book was very good, has done more than enough for the Ducks, or I would ask him to bring in some players. Now that you can pay college players legally, with the superb facilities in Eugene, a great new young coach, and the Nike Duck connections, give them five years to catch Georgia, Alabama, Clemson, Ohip State, and Michigan, et al, in college football. The track and field program in Eugene is strong.

I still have the Sports Illustrated magazine, dated August 15, 2001, with Joey Harrington and Ken Simonton on the cover. It says "State of War, in Oregon a national title is at stake!" Never have read it all, as I got it in a plastic cover at GI Joes, when it just came out. It was hailed as a collectors edition then. The Beavers were ranked number one (go ahead and fact check me) and the Ducks were number 7. The othere were: Florida, Miami, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida State, Nebraska, Tennessee in order. Dennis Erickson had crushed Notre Dame in a major bowl (Fiesta) months before. The Beavers were flying high until they lost their first game that year. Reminded me of Ralph Miller in the early 80s and ranked number one in the USA. Beavs never made the final four with Miller. See Lamar, Kansas State, (Rolando Blackman) and Georgetown (Patrick Ewing and John Thompson) who all beat the baby Beavs in the NCAA tourney. In three tries in a row, Miller smoked too many cigarettes and could not breathe before or during each game. A sad story. Beavers have not had a good program at Gill since, unless you count Wayne's one hit wonder when his son played for him, fairly recently. DUMP TRUMP 2024 , and do not get any covid shots. I only got five Pfizer ones because an ex-friend who loves trump, told me the more people that get vaccinated, the faster it will spread and go back to China. His only friends all died because they did not get a covid shot. If you want to be a three time loser, vote for the ex-president again. I can get you two free bumper stickers each; they say STUPID. You put one on your car and one on your forehead. Postage free too. Ridin' with Biden until 2029. GO DUCKS!

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"Ridin' with Biden"....says it all

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hope you are pumped to see Tinkle's boys win the pac-12 mens basketball tourney! They are just as bad as last year; some of the worst basketball ever seen in Oregon. OSU pee you and quit tinkling on your new 11 dollar sneakers. DUMP TRUMP 2024

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I know you are but what am I!!

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look in the mirror you fool, or go see a doctor.

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Ok. Who’s alter ego is Donnie?

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LOL, Donnie relax a little pal. For somebody who doesn't read John's stuff anymore, you sure seem engaged (enraged) to me.

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It’s ok… this is a safe place. Tell us who hurt you.

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Willy Taggart and Mario Cristobal coming to Eugene; good riddance to both those fools. Miami was horrible last year and Willy got dumped after a year at FSU!

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So that’s why you’re angry with the other teams? How’s that make sense?

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Oregon State had some good teams in the 60s and pretty much nothing since. Are they back? 2023 will reveal a lot.

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So, Donnie, don't sugar coat it; tell us how you REALLY feel!!

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Go Beavs! This will be interesting and our new seats on the new west side!!!

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Dabo Swinney, he's not related to our meteorologist Dave Sweeney.

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I thought it was the long time coach of Fresno State and WSU :)

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"But between Uiagalelei, returner Ben Gulbranson, and four-star freshman Aidan Chiles the Oregon State quarterback room is deeper than at any point in recent history." John, I think you can take the conditional "in recent history" off this statement. I do not EVER remember, or have read about, a better QB corps at Oregon State. Who were Terry Baker's backups? (Gordon Queen in 1962). Heard of him? Me either. Queen was not a 4 or 5 star (equivalent since those rankings weren't around then). Moore never had a QB room like this and neither did Sean Mannion or Derek Anderson. And neither did Jonathan Smith. Maybe the year 2001 is close when Smith had Anderson as a QB-mate. I watch the big SEC schools and they land a couple 5 star QBs every year, even picking off someone like Joe Burrow from Ohio State. The best teams stock up on very good QBs (injury never far away) which then attracts all the other talent like WRs, RBs and OLs. Coach Smith has the Beavs on the right track!

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and when was the last time ESPN put any care to not just talk about OSU but actually fly out to Corvallis?

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I would guess 2012, maybe 2013.

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March 2, 2023
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ChatAI asked to sound like an annoying Ducks fan?

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😂

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You have heard of AI right? Donnie has it! Artificial Insanity!!

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Thems some good Oregon brownies...

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Stream of consciousness. I think.

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Ducks fan who is hoping that DJU works out well for Oregon State. (Except, of course in the Civil War game.)

If he does not decide to go to the NFL after the 2023 season I believe he would be eligible to play at OSU in 2024, correct?

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While he would be eligible, even if he does great in 2023, I would assume his time in Clemson will hang heavy for NFL recruiters. I would imagine he would want to do two years to increase his stock and show consistency. I would imagine we have him for 2 years.

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Yes, but I'm guessing he's one and done.

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A I is a steak sauce. AI is called artificial intelligence and the trumpsters claim it is not even in existence. they deny global climate change also. Marjorie Green and Sarah Palin claim that they have evidence of a latin american dictator and his fixing the dominion voting machines so trump could finigh first in the 2020 election. Only problem is that Trump lost and he is not only a BIG FAT LIAR and a moron, but nobody in this universe has any evidence of a fraudulent election. So, all you GOP party circus scientists can eat _______ using a rusty spoon. Ridin' Biden in 2024. DUMP TRUMP 2024 unless he gets arrested first, or loses to meatball Ron, the governor of Florida. Biden and the Ducks are all I need! Beavers please get a mens basketball team before Gill burns up .little tinkle keeps ruining his loafers. OOOSSSUUU pu p.s. please leave those poor research sheep alone that are used by the engineering dept. it is not funny to kidnap a sheep and drive drunk in Corvallis at 3 am, especially as you get arrested and kicked off Mike Riley's team. The 2 bros. that had the sheep in their back seat as the police stopped them, told the FBI that they had no idea about a poor little black sheep 🐑 asking for a pit stop. Fact check me Beavos; all arrests in the country are a matter of public record. Before going to prison, one player gave Riley a black grand child. His daughter claimed the father is japanese-cuban. Go figure; it could only happen in Benton county. Hope the Beavers do not lose to themselves in the big spring game coming up! Four signal callers might not be enough; I i am fine with Bo Nix and Dan Lanning and Donald Duck. GO DUCKS and Huskies and Beavers cannot both beat Oregon 2 years in a row. Civil War is in Autzen in November 2023; be there all you Believer Beavers and please be in orange thongs or g-strings. The pay back to the orange beavos and purple Huskies is going to be oh so tasty!! Ducks and USC in Autzen in November for college gameday and huge game; I am already there using my space ship to get there early. the A-1 steak sauce tastes great on a thick juicy filet mignon and bucky Beaver agrees!

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Critical year for OSU. As the realignment game continues to spin being a very good to great football team elevates Oregon State in these discussions. People tune into great stories and winning. That will help in the long run

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Rising and Utah are going to once again make people eat their words. I'm sorry, but there's no way that Nix and Penix, with a full year's of tape for PAC DCs to study, are going to sneak up on the competition once again. Williams will have another good year but Utah has shown the formula to play him and, unless he channels his inner Archie Griffin, is not going to put up Heisman worthy numbers in 2023. Don't believe me? Ask Bryce Young, among others, how post-Heiman seasons end up. There usually isn't a repeat. And DJ...well, he might be the next big thing among PAC QBs, but, then again, he might not. There's a reason my Clemson fans weren't sad at all to see him depart South Carolina...maybe he figures it out at Oregon State or maybe he doesn't...the jury is still out, which is why I think placing him above Rising in the QB ratings is something I definitely don't agree with.

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