110 Comments
User's avatar
Charles A Roseberry's avatar

Covered a lot of ground, John, and covered it well. I totally agree that Justin Herbert was handicapped by coaching, or lack thereof during his Oregon tenure. Might even be worse at the Chargers so far. I think the potential has improved. One thing that seems to always be overlooked with Herbert is his intelligence; as I recall he graduated pre-med at Oregon with a 4 plus gpa. Just sayin,' Charlie

Expand full comment
John Canzano's avatar

Thanks for being here.

Expand full comment
Jack Bird's avatar

I agree 100% with John's comments on Herbert's coaching.

Expand full comment
John Canzano's avatar

Was hard to watch...

Expand full comment
The Real Rich's avatar

You may not have enjoyed Cristobal's system and style, but the man got results at Oregon.

Expand full comment
Ben Johnson's avatar

Amen to that!

Expand full comment
John Smith's avatar

I am starting to wonder if there was something more beneath the surface of Smith's departure, the abruptness of it and the apparent anger as evidenced by the dump of gear at Goodwill. Let's be real, MSU gives him more money, and that is it. You can talk about resources, NIL, etc, but he is not going to WIN any more games then had he stayed put. For West Coast person, East Lansing is awful.

He seems to have bailed fast and with emotion, not just the money. We won't have answers anytime soon, but it's just something on my mind I can only really share with this crew.

Expand full comment
BackDoor's avatar

He was just reacting to a known vs an unknown. Most of us would. The unknown was how could OSU fare nationally in a conference most likely of Mt. West teams, and a financial situation that will be difficult after the Pac12 paybag dries up, visibility for recruiting, assistant salaries, fan engagement, and so on. Likely those issues could be ignored singularly, but not as a package at the same time.

Expand full comment
Ben Johnson's avatar

Job wasn't done, bailed on his kids, in a very poor fashion.

Expand full comment
SCBeav's avatar

I think there is something to this. It was seemingly an emotional decision that flew in the face of everything we had heard about wanting to raise his family in Corvallis and build something there. On the other hand, JS's coaching style was always kind of impetuous, with fake FG and crazy and risky 4th down calls. Maybe deep down, that's who he is.

Expand full comment
Jim T's avatar

Disappeared in the Gulag, never to be heard from, or cared for, again….

Expand full comment
John-Henry Cottrell's avatar

I want to know what JSs wife is thinking... Is she happy with her family in Siberia, does she wish her husband waited out for UW?

Expand full comment
John Canzano's avatar

Siberia... :)

Expand full comment
Jim T's avatar

No way JS would have been considered for that job.

Expand full comment
Edward Schwallie's avatar

John your opinions and analysis are great but you got something wrong-the Beavs play the Buffs on FRIDAY night (7pm). Scott, Raegan, Talia and the rest of the Beavs need as many fans in Corvallis as we can get because after 3 road losses to top 10 PAC12 teams they finally get #3 Colorado at home to get a statement win. Go Beavs!

Expand full comment
John Canzano's avatar

Corrected.

Expand full comment
Ed S.'s avatar

I will be there for sure. Scott has another talented team, but they really need to find a way to win on the road!

Expand full comment
Mark Castle's avatar

I know Harbaugh rubs a lot of people the wrong way, but I've always liked him going back to Stanford. When his move to the Chargers was announced Herbert was who I immediately thought of. I think it's going to work out.

Expand full comment
Bob Lowe's avatar

Interesting that Netflix’s entrance to sports is with a fake sport/bad theater.

Expand full comment
The Real Rich's avatar

Some revisionist history around here regarding Cristobal. I get it if you're not a fan of his style or don't believe he maximized Herbert's development (I disagree, but o.k., it's a legit argument) but to denigrate his results in Eugene is a mistake. In four seasons, one shortened by Covid, he took the Ducks to four bowl games, won two Pac-12 championships, won the Rose Bowl, beat Ohio State in Columbus (Oregon had never beaten Ohio State anyplace in football...not once...never) and was 35-13. He was also the best recruiter in the conference and top ten in the country. That's not a bad record.

Expand full comment
Dennis Miller's avatar

I wish I cared about college basketball Ike I did back in the 70’s. Ronnie Lee, Dick Harter, John Wooten, Kiki Vandewai (spelling?), Stan Love Greg Ballard

Expand full comment
BackDoor's avatar

The same players on a roster for 3-4 years gave you that connection.

Expand full comment
Ken's avatar

Amazing Kliavkoff going to a commissioners meeting repping P12. Guy literally has no pride. It’s clear he’s forcing a payout. He’s made enough free money there. Time for him to move on with pride. Though, I suppose that ship has sailed.

Expand full comment
BackDoor's avatar

Pac12 Presidents regret on passing on the Apple deal?

Sunday’s game between the Buccaneers and Lions generated an average audience of 40.4 million viewers on NBC and Peacock. Of the amount, 3.3 million viewers consumed the game on Peacock and other digital platforms.

NBC Sports drew 29 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, Telemundo and other platforms for Houston’s 45-14 rout of Cleveland. Peacock accounted for 3.1 million of those viewers.

Of the 140 total Wild Card games played dating back to the 1991-92 season, the 22.86 million for Dolphins-Chiefs exclusively on Peacock ranks in the bottom 30.

Expand full comment
Ben Johnson's avatar

Not worth trying to explain to others in here...they don't get it. Drinking too much of the linear cool-aide.

Expand full comment
Quackman's avatar

Backdoor gets it. He backs it up with facts which you apparently ignore. Streaming will eventually be the primary viewing platform for all ages, but it’s not there yet. The B1G knows this and does it right with a combination of linear and streaming.

Expand full comment
Bill's avatar

So happy for Justin Herbert, now hooked up with a great coach who will use his skills and win.

Re Dan Lanning… one more plus for him and Ducks visibility; I heard Lanning will be featured on Sports Illustrated LAST print magazine cover before it goes 100% digital. That should be a collector copy for Duck fans! I’ll definitely be buying 2, one to read, another to wrap and put away.

Expand full comment
BackDoor's avatar

Uh, saw it too. It was a fake cover. All it was missing was Lanning in a swimsuit.

Expand full comment
Jack Bird's avatar

Interesting comment on the Peacock wildcard game, except it was also played on linear TV in both teams home markets and on mobile devices on NFL plus. The linear component unfortunately was the missing piece of the equation with the Apple TV deal.

The Big 10 and SEC will be doing a big mix of linear TV and streaming soon enough. Ultimately, like linear TV, the money in streaming is likely to go to the biggest markets.

One thought though. Had their been streaming in the Pac this year, given the crazy demand for Colorado football, something like that might have generated some sales.

Expand full comment
Timothy Moran's avatar

I doubt ESPN would have hyped Colorado at all if they had been playing those games on Apple...which in hindsight, would have been better for the free world!

Expand full comment
Edward Schwallie's avatar

You are absolutely right about missing linear TV for the Apple Deal and that the Big 2 will get a big chunk of streaming revenue in the future. Knowing the Ducks are in the Big10 next year I signed up for that special $29 year long Peacock deal they pushed for their playoff game. They will have a Big10 game a week plus lots of other B10 sports (Vball, MBB, WBB, hockey, gymnastics, baseball/softball, & even T&F). They also will have extra Olympics coverage on Peacock. Pretty good deal for <$2.50 a month. CBS coverage is over air but if you sign up for Paramaount+ you can stream CBS coverage. You do need to work a Fox sports login to get Fox's coverage on Fox (which is also over air), FS1, & BTN. Then you can get all other Big10 college sports through BTN+ it will be so much better than the PAC12 Newtork.

There was no way the Apple Deal would have matched the exposure the Ducks/Huskies (in all sports) will get with being part of the Big 10. Also we as fans (especially those who watch other collge sports beyond football) will get so much more coverage and access than what we had with the PAC12 Network which was so hard to even get.

Expand full comment
Quackman's avatar

Agree 100%! The coverage is 100 times better than what the Apple deal would have provided for all the facts you presented.

Expand full comment
Ben Johnson's avatar

Haven't watched a Fox episode of anything for 6 months...don't really miss it. If they want to torch the west coast, they can survive on the east.

Expand full comment
Edward Schwallie's avatar

So as a Beaver athlete & alumnus you must have missed the Friday 11/24 Civil War on Fox which 4.12 Million people watched. The day after the Apple Cup got 5.85M to watch on Fox. Next fall ABC/ESPN is not getting Ducks vs Huskies which last season they got 7.04M & 9.25M to watch their 2 contests. It will be on Fox. I am pretty sure not all who watch those football games were notl from the east so I they might get some west coasters to tune in even if you Ben boycott them.

Expand full comment
Jim T's avatar

Day tripper….

Expand full comment
JoeDelaney's avatar

Apple was offering a glorified affiliate deal.

CFB meant so little they passed entirely rather than ante up an inconsequential sum to keep the Pac12 together.

What might have been is a fun thought exercise, but life with Apple would not have cured the rot that ate through the league.

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment deleted
Jan 25, 2024
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
Jack Bird's avatar

I wouldn't keep it for that either. I do like Apple Plus for some of their movies & TV shows and I have teenagers who stream everything. They had never heard of cable TV or the three old networks (NBC, CBS or ABC) when I mentioned them once. To them, it's all sling, netflix, prime etc.

Expand full comment
JML's avatar

Dan Lanning has done a great job at Oregon and his future there looks even better, but could somebody explain to me his love affair with cigars. To me it seems like such a low class look.

Expand full comment
The Real Rich's avatar

I see your initials...are you Lanning's wife?

Expand full comment
Kurt in Philomath's avatar

The thing that jumped out at me when glancing over the 2024 ACC football schedule was that EVERY team in the league has two bye weeks, and a few schools have three bye weeks. I don't remeber the Pac-12 schedule having two bye weeks for ALL teams. Seems USC may have been the only one with two byes regularly. Two byes can certainly be a benefit -- unless your head coach is using the bye week to look for another job.

Expand full comment
Patrick Tally's avatar

Nearly all FBS teams will have two open dates next year because they have 14 weeks to play 12 games next year and again in 2025. It is just a fluke if the calendar. FSU and GA Tech get 3 byes because they p!ay a Week Zero game in Dublin, Ireland.

Expand full comment
Todd H.'s avatar

Still with the Kliavkoff thing, huh? I guarantee he’ll be a footnote, sooner than later, like then mention at the bottom here today. Moving on.... I’m ecstatic for the marriage of Her-Baugh. What would be a good wedding gift? The avoidance of golden 💍 sanctions, I suppose. No, it’s cool. The Bolts needed a lift. ⚡️Hoping for good things on the field for them. 🏈

Expand full comment
Bluedawgpromotions's avatar

Are you wishing you'd have been in Gill last night for Tinkle's Beavs big win?

Expand full comment