Home Football Post Signing Day/Post Season

Post Signing Day/Post Season

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Early signing day is over. If somebody wants to compile the list of names who signed today, I can stick it up at the top of the thread.

Beavs basically signed 3* players across the board. Which doesn’t mean much since a 3* rating is basically where most D1 athletes land. It’s a wide range and we’re not getting guys at the top if thay range, in general.

Portal opens soon. The annual roster turnover is about to begin. Feel free to track rumors about visitors and potential poaching victims below.

679 COMMENTS

    • Interesting. I had assumed he was injured but he didn’t play at all the last 3 or 4 weeks I don’t think. Wonder if he was sitting due to xferring? Don’t think he had an injury announcement but I mightve missed it. That’s a pretty big blow unfortunately. He was probably the starter again with Singleton on the other side. Guess that means Ayers is the guy now. I know they brought Tucker in, but he didn’t play 1 snap at San Diego State and moved on from Oregon so I’m not sure there’s a guarantee he will actually be that guy to make an impact. If they can keep Thomas, Singleton, Thomas and Ayers, that’s a good core but damn, the drop off after those 4 is massive.

      Switching gears from football, the House ruling increased baseball scholarships to 34. While I think it’s more than necessary to have increased that limit, I wonder how this will impact what the beavs can do as we move forward. Can’t imagine we’ll be in a position to pay for 34 scholarships and I’m sure the scholarship scarcity is what has helped some of the parity in college baseball. I doubt we make enough in NIL to offset lack of scholarship money to give guys more NIL to then pay for school, etc. Hopefully baseball can continue to thrive, but getting a deep reduction to media revenue and then having to deal with teams being able to offer more NIL and pay for more scholarships seems like the odds are getting more stacked against us.

  1. A look at the names and positions:

    SIGNED

    Maddox Conway, OL, 6-6, 260, Cypress, Tex.

    Sean Craig, S, 6-3, 180, Henderson, Nev.

    Bleu Dantzler, OLB, 6-3, 230, Chandler, Nev.

    Niklas Fisher, OLB, 6-3, 240, Cypress, Tex.

    Trey Glasper, CB, 6-1, 170, Henderson,

    Kourdey Glass, RB, 5-9, 190, Hanford, C

    Jeremiah Ioane, ILB, 6-2, 215, Henderson, Nev.

    Skyler Jackson, RB, 6-1, 205, Henderson, Nev.

    Logan Knapp, OLB, 6-6, 230, Concord, Calif.

    David Madison, CB, 6-0, 160, Plano, Tex.

    Jesse Myers, OLB, 6-3, 230, Santa Rosa, Calif.

    Jake Normoyle, OL, 6-4, 295, West Linn

    Cody Siegner, TE, 6-7, 225, Crane

    Noah Thomas, OL, 6-6, 275, Vancouver

    Blake Thompson, CB, 6-1, 170, Richmond, Tex.

    Jalil Tucker, CB, 6-0, 180, Mesa College

    Zephen Walker, S, 5-11, 180, Lewisville, Tex.

    Elijah Washington, WR, 5-10, 165, Oakland

    VERBALLY COMMITTED

    Tristan Ti’a, QB, 6-3, 190, Pleasanton, Calif.

    “Bray is committed to developing young players, and it’s what he sold during his first year as Oregon State’s head coach. He believes OSU’s history of taking a freshman and molding them into a potential NFL talent during his most recent tenure – 2018 as an assistant coach, 2021 as defensive coordinator, 2024 as head coach – “is always intriguing to a young person,” Bray said.

    Bray also believes the new Pac-12 with schools located in the West, has appeal to certain players.

    “It’s really the only conference in the country that you can play regionally anymore. For a California kid, a Washington kid, an Oregon kid, the ability for your family to truly watch you play every weekend has been an intriguing thing for some of these guys,” Bray said.

    To that point, 13 of the 18 Oregon State signees live in Oregon, Washington, Washington and Nevada. The Beavers’ two in-state recruits are West Linn offensive lineman Jake Normoyle and Crane tight end Cody Siegner. Just north of the Columbia River in Vancouver is offensive lineman Noah Thomas.

    The only player who verbally committed to OSU but wasn’t announced with the class is quarterback Tristan Ti’a. Bray said “everything’s good with him,” and that Ti’a plans on signing in February so he can celebrate with other signees from his high school, Amador Valley High in Pleasanton. Calif. A source told The Oregonian/OregonLive that Ti’a is completely committed to attending Oregon State.

    Bray laughed when he was asked about the start of the transfer portal.

    “The portal window technically has been open for a couple months now, when you talk about coaches recruiting our guys and guys saying they intend to enter the transfer portal,” Bray said.

    Asked how many of his players have been contacted by parties from other schools, Bray said “anyone that started for us.

    As for Oregon State getting busy in the portal, Bray doesn’t expect to be as active as a year ago, when the Beavers’ roster was rocked by the sudden departure of Jonathan Smith. Bray said he’ll be looking for about a half dozen players, with the heaviest concentration at offensive line due to the loss of multiple starters, then perhaps a pass rusher, a defensive lineman, cornerback and quarterback.”

    https://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/2024/12/oregon-state-sells-nfl-level-development-and-regionality-to-its-18-man-early-football-signing-class.html

    This is pretty consistent with the pattern Angry predicted. Decrease in talent, OSU becomes a developmental team, players will get poached with NIL by other schools to fill roles or maybe start after they have been developed.

    B12 is apparently also taking a hit in recruiting comparison to the SEC and B10. With all his hype and attention and even finally a decent record, Coach Slime’s class only ranked 34th in the natiion. Moneyed schools are buying up talent (see Michigan, UO). The other day a UO fan was telling how disgusted he was by Michigan buying that QB off with a big NIL deal and flipping him from another school….ha!

    OSU and PAC can’t compete with this kind of money, and we’ll see if BSU can retain their pattern of national relevance every several years.

    Networks must be happy with their product distribution. A “Big 10” conference championship will feature Penn State and Nike U, and they’ll play at a neutral site: Indianapolis? Looking very professional….

  2. Portal recruiting will depend entirely on how many guys we lose.

    Interesting to hear the OL is a focus. That seems to indicate all the young guys who have been getting playing time aren’t projected full-time starters. I do like the focus in that area, though!

    QB comment is interesting, too. That seems to anticipate that someone transfers and they aren’t satisfied with the McCoy/GJ/Gutridge competition.

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      We need depth at OL and DL.

      OL held on by a fingernail this year, after starting with eight solid rotation guys. DL had to regrow a couple fingernails.

  3. If anyone who started is getting pursued by poachers, we must have a lot of guys on that list. Injuries across the roster led to a lot of 2nd and 3rd string guys seeing the field early. How many injuries were actually guys who decided to transfer and shut it down?
    It does seem like a stacked deck at each interval for the Beavs.

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      And if guys are sitting out early due to already having offers to join other schools, wtf is the point of trying to run a program and asking fans to donate?
      Your donation gets you maybe a few games from a player, before they decided to shut it down?
      I agree, deck is stacked at each interval and the stacks just keep getting taller.
      The reason Jensen Huang doesn’t donate to athletics probably isn’t totally because he doesn’t like athletics. It’s also a terrible business model and a bad investment. He doesn’t like to make bad investments, even if the cost to his personal finances would be minimal.

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        “The reason Jensen Huang doesn’t donate to athletics probably isn’t totally because he doesn’t like athletics. It’s also a terrible business model and a bad investment. He doesn’t like to make bad investments, even if the cost to his personal finances would be minimal.”

        Bingo.

        He’s helping provide super computing capacity for research.

        People like Knight, Ohio State, and Michigan alumni will pay to be associated with a winner when they could actually invest in some that financial or other returns.

        No way am I sending $ to OSU so they can rent a player for a year, or less if the player decides meaningful post season play is out of reach and they want to protect their health for another renter….

  4. 12

    So we now have 25-30 schools poaching starters from the other 70? How do the numbers even work that way? If the 25-30 schools think they missed so badly on starters who end up at OSU or WSU, and feel the need to buy them, what does that say to the guys on their own roster? In my anti-Duck conspiratorial mind, I figure it is more about removing the best players from your competition, even the better players from OSU end up not playing at the next school. The NIL is essentially a refined version of the 1970s USC roster where they had a 5th string OL who would start at OSU if he wasn’t buried on USC roster because the roster had no limits etc. Only now NIL creates a yearly, culling of the lower end roster spots at moneyed schools, and they swap those guys out for starters from the schools who can’t afford to play the NIL game. Example is Bolden. He would have been WR1 for OSU, but is about WR7 at Texas. Texas had a few guys leave for draft and brought in a few WRs with Bolden, but they weren’t bringing Bolden in to be WR1, they knew he would be buried but they paid him anyway. It is a new form of roster stacking without the bottom 40 roster spots being dead weight for 4 year scholarships. So the next logical step is what Stanford has already done- Implement a football general manager that reviews and manages NIL packages, player development, player acquisitions and reviews of the roster regularly to see how to improve on a yearly basis, departing from the 4 year mindset of any group of signees; all above the role of the head coach, Andrew Luck is the first pro team general manager for a university football program.

    The result is a mad rush for players to cash in on this new yearly free agency while it lasts, skip the post-season or sit out the last few games rather than getting hurt, and in the process it has now destroyed the appeal of the traditional bowl season. I’d guess the NIL and transfer stuff is the main reason why we magically have a 12 team playoff structure arrive just as fewer and fewer teams have the entire roster playing in the post-season. Of course, the obvious next step is to expand the playoff to 16, so you have 16 power programs with invested post-season rosters and “something to play for still”.

    • Great post. It is exactly like the “blue bloods” loading up the roster with unlimited scholarships available. The rich get richer.

    • That’s why you position yourself as a development program, not just to HS commits, but young transfers like GJ who find themselves on the outside looking in. You’re just recruiting the guys who were already burned once by the big programs. It almost makes recruiting those transfers more important than HS guys. I hope Bray’s staff gets this (reality will set in once our roster gets picked over).

      Look at tOSU’s QB depth chart. There are going to be a few really interesting transfers leaving there in the next 12 months or so. Many such examples.

      • The whole “recruiting cycle” mentality for the coaches needs to change to a “find for the next free agent” period of acquiring one year free agents as about 40%of the roster. This will naturally become a huge challenge for the CEO head coach to keep up with. It also plays into the unscrupulous as an easy avenue towards a new form of cheating since there are no real guard rails anymore. The “no contact until entering the portal” concept is already exposed as a foolish and probably intentionally unenforceable rule. So at this point, which schools are willing to be brazenly crossing the line for the guys they want? Of course it is the same schools who brazenly cheated in prior eras.
        So now they just announce their payroll publicly and create a public relations frenzy over their payroll to stir interest for the next cycle of guys they will poach. Some schools like to play this game and don’t mind being the brunt of jokes, mockery or having the reputation as cheaters. They think it is the way to win in the current sports climate. And maybe they are right. But it will be a net loss for the sport overall.

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          In that respect (short cycling free agents), what Lanning has done is pretty impressive,. I think getting so many key transfer players is QB (Oklahoma), WR (aTm) DT (MSU), CB (UW), kicker (OSU) – and those are just the ones I’m vaguely familiar with – to play together and go undefeated is pretty remarkable.

          OSU can’t get in-program players on the same page that quickly…QBs and WRs for example…or Bray saying Hayes FG accuracy problems were not his problem alone, but rather the blocking-snapping-ball placement….

          It’s like Lanning is managing a fast foods restaurant with constant teenage staff turnover…not a way a lot of coaches want to live. Lanning acts built for it.

  5. 3
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    #66th in recruiting. Weren’t we hitting the 30s under Smith? This is a pretty atrocious class. I realize some of that is losing P12 prestige, but still…

  6. 2
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    Nvidia is in some legal hot water and that could be one reason for any NIL involvement. It would be great to see him step up and donate like the Dark Knight at Nike.

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      Nvidia donates to his alumni NIL fund as a public relations coup, OSU gets $500 million to the athletic NIL fund as a Christmas bonus? I think the greatest part of it would be the Duck fans instantly howling about how lame it looks to try and find our own Phil Knight. Or Huang could simply buy Nike and cut them off. LOL

    • I wonder if GJ can catch? He might be more valuable as a Victor Bolden type receiver who’s undersized but beats guys with his speed

        • Like having two lil’ RBs that can throw 20-yard spirals?

          Exaggerating, I know they can both throw farther than that. But nobody’s going to respect the passing threat.

          Allah (if he doesn’t leave for NIL $) is going to be bigger and stronger next year. Run him, get Clemons, Durant, Anderson out there. Run and run and play action…

          I’m not glad Walker is returning. Appreciate the dedication, but don’t think he’s quite a true #1 WR…more like a Shane Morales…should be a third option with good hands for possession catches….

          • Why not? You could have a set based on pre-snap motion with jet sweep, screens, and short passes getting guys into space. “Two back” set with two QB’s and one RB to run RPO. It’s just as much about misdirection and keeping the opponent on their toes than anything.

            Also, McCoy was the top-rated QB in PFF on ‘deep’ passes (20+ yards) in the MWC/P12. He really struggled with the intermediate throws (10-19 yards).

  7. Hearing the Beavers are going to add…

    This is premium content. Please subscribe to What it says in forms anyone know what this means and if it’s gona happen today

  8. Tinkle on Euro-recruits:

    “Though Tinkle’s forged his international strategy this spring, it’s been years in the making. His coaching staff has spent time in Europe the past several summers. Tinkle felt a breakthrough three years ago when he signed German forward Michael Rataj, now a junior and perhaps the Beavers’ best player.

    What struck Tinkle in general about players in the European system was a trait that he embraces.

    The majority of them are pretty loyal to their clubs,” he said. “We’re thinking there’s a different level of maturity and thought process over there, of staying loyal to who’s giving you the opportunity. We see it in Mike. He appreciated the fact that we gave him unbelievable opportunities as a freshman and sophomore.”

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      Plus they can’t get that pesky NIL money. . Tinkle is running a sweatshop, they better produce or someone’s going to call the INS agents.

    • Tinkle must have a lot of bitterness still toward Pope, Bilodeau, etc to bring this up in an interview like that. He clearly hasn’t embraced the way things are (and probably wont before his contract runs out).

      This is akin to complaining about the refs. You may be right, but no one feels sorry for you and you can’t control it.

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    How in the world did WHOREgon get the #1 recruiting class? I never in a million years thought this would ever happen, especially beating out blue blood SEC programs! It’s not just the money, because the Texas schools and others have just as much if not more money than WHOREgon. I’m curious if they have influence over the recruiting services, where if a kid has an offer from uo, their ratings increase so when they end up signing the Loi, it pads their numbers? I have no proof, but I wouldn’t put it past them since they have the best Public Relations department in the entire sports world.

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      They’ve been building towards this for years…the anti-tradition uniforms, the branding, uniform design expanding broadly (and poorly) across NCAA sports, than the NFL, even MLB…facilities development and modernization at O….the whole association with Nike…most young kids know about Nike, and know the brand before they EVER think about college….kids aren’t just committing to UO, their committing to being associated with the Nike brand, one of the most successful brands in the world and in history. Nike’s ubiquity makes it uninteresting to me and I don’t buy it or wear it, but I get that other people like it…the marketing acumen that other schools can’t match, honed at Nike, than applied at UO athletics, …their collective, which the school admits they have no control over, and which other major, rich programs called out preseason 2024…”it’d be nice to have their money…” having the #1 class isn’t really surprising at all. I’m a little surprised it didn’t happen sooner but not disappointed.

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      I watched the last 5 or so minutes and it’s going to be a very long season. I bought season tix but doubt I’ll use them. This team just doesn’t have much talent but should get a pass this year bc Rueck has to put together this roster on the fly after the traitors bolted. The only player really showing up on the box scores is Reagan and the test are just pretty much meh….

      Rueck recruits players to fit his system but very seldom do those players for into another system.

      Like I said, it’s going to be a long season and MBB certainly looks to be much more competitive than WBB. I feel badly for Rueck but…

  10. one pacific player just got really hot, made something like 6 straight 3’s in second half, hats off. It sure felt like that player didnt miss once in 4th

  11. Bronco Mendenhall is the new Utah St coach. Should this concern us? Is he an old dog unable to adjust to the new realities of college football, NIL etc? Or will he build a winner out of Utah St?

    • USU can’t have that much NIL money available, but it will definitely be higher profile than UNM and they spend more than UNM. I think as long as we have a stronger donor base we’ll have an advantage, but we can easily throw away the goodwill during this purgatory period if we aren’t successful. That’s one of the reasons 2024 hurt so much. Donor goodwill and lingering conference prestige is all we have going for us above the MWC teams at this point.

    • Fresno just hired the north dakota state coach that won a few NCs. I’m not sure if it’s the same one that went to usc or not but interesting hire none the less.

  12. WBB has no scorers; just a bunch of role players. As a whole they are a turnover machine, totaling 29 last night against Pacific. Kennedie Shuler had 7 on her own, followed by Marotte (a senior) with 6. They only play zone defense so far, and not too bad at that. Sela Heide might as well be a cigar store Indian; slow, with little mobility or reflexes and she can’t jump. Point guard Shuler has an assist-to-turnover ratio of less than one and has literally no ability to hit the 3 point shot (16% on the season). You would think that Kelsey Rees at 6’5” would have a good inside presence, but you would be wrong. She likes to sit outside and pop 3’s rather than develop an inside game. They are atrocious long-range shooters. Although the desire is there, lack of fucking talent is their downfall. Will they win some games this year? Sure, but it will be against lesser talented teams and/or teams with less discipline.

      • Yepes? Well, she rarely sees the floor from what I’ve seen. There was a nice write up about her prior to the season that suggested she was a solid player but so far nothing. This team, sad to say, is just awful but that’s what happens when your roster gets gutted. He will get the program kick started again but it will take a different approach for recruiting players than before.

        What Rueck ever saw in Schuler, I’m not sure bc she possesses a very limited offensive game as she can get to the hole but can’t finish and gas no perimeter game. Heide wouldn’t start for most teams and would be a backup. .Marotte is coming off ankle surgery so she’s really there only perimeter threat and Rees is probably their best offensive threat but no post game. This team might get 10;wins but not much more than that. What could have been…..

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      Scott Rueck is an amazing person. He doesn’t need to be a martyr for OSU wbb. 511 in attendance at last night’s game. Less than a year since Talia’s 3-pointer with 1 second on the clock and a full house rushing the floor. It’s unfair misery but I don’t see how this program can recover and I would wish Rueck well if he chose to leave.

      • He brought the program back from the ashes after he took the mess over created by LaVonda Wagner. It’s different times, that’s for sure, but I have confidence he will get it done. This year’s a throw away bc he had to scramble to assemble a roster and do it quickly with bodies. Hopefully, he will look at tinkles strategy looking more toward international players as they seem to be more mature in their thinking and it’s not all about getting exposure on social media like TVH was focused on.

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    Hedberg with a media deal update (take it with a grain of salt):
    CW and WB/Discovery (TNT/TBS) have emerged as leading candidates. Value “could be” $13-15M. Expect things to be finalized in Q1 2025 after MWC court case is settled and P12 is free to assist with exit fees for new teams.

    Texas State has an above average chance of joining (makes sense given the TSU president was helping with the OSU/WSU flags on Gameday at UT). Memphis and Tulane have also been discussed as potential members in talks. UTSA is likely out due to lack of financial resources and required exit fees from AAC (which I guess P12 doesn’t want to pay?)

    P12 Networks is currently producing ACC content, which is interesting.

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      This is a good group of programs that would make up a top basketball conference and a football conference that is just behind the ACC and Big 12. Good outcome for those sports.

      Baseball will be the real loser unless we can figure out a creative situation there.

  14. UCLA has a lot of guys entering the portal. Maybe west coast guys looking for a new spot. Gundy needs to be on the phone. Same with Stanford and Arizona. Lots of guys who fit what OSU needs, and could be familiar with OSU.

  15. Joel Valdez entered portal makes five guys in portal more probably coming I think 15 to 20 transfer out and 10 to 15 come in McCoy is expected to enter Carlos make in it he entered a while ago

  16. Randomly just checked Jermod McCoy’s stats at Tennessee.

    That guy killed it this year. Got a bag of dough as well. Good on him. Wish he would have stayed but that’s the reality these day, highest bidder.

    • There was some good evaluation on him. Playing as a true FR at OSU…ALMOST intercepted Penix in that 2 point loss to UW…

      I won’t be surprised if he’s in the NFL in 2-3 years.

  17. I’d expect to see quite a few more portal guys here next week. Gotta make room for the new class and portal guys. Calm before the storm.

  18. Watched the Portland Pilots WBB vs Princeton and UofP is legit. They have some nice length, good athletes, play solid D and can shoot from the perimeter. They are 9-0 and will just absolutely school the beavers this year. Pilots look like a solid NCAA tourney team and I think several players were on the team last season when they bush whacked the ducks by 40+ points.

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    A number of these signees, especially the DBs, are very light. I know they’ll have the training table and weight room and gain weight, but not sure they’re looking like PAC athletes of 2-3 years ago.

    It will be challenging to balance developing kids in terms of both skill and weight/strength and then losing some to transfers.

    No offense to safety Kane, but OSU doesn’t need a bunch of undersized DBs.

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      Yep. While the overall stats show that this class is in range of what the Snake era classes were, it’s definitely a drop down in perceived talent. All it takes is to look at the offer sheets and most these guys don’t have any P4 offers. Our top rated commit had 2 of them I think. On a positive note, we did beat out a lot of our new competition in the P12 which is nice but we’re not recruiting at a P4 level this year. Now look at the Ducks and their class of signing the most 5 star guys by any school and people still want to play this game? Our talent is trending back to Gary Anderson era and Ducks is arguably the best it’s ever been and tops in the country. Add to the mix that our starting qb is likely Ben Gulbranson and you can just imagine how this game is going to go in Eugene next year. Obviously we’ll have to see how we fair in the portal but this is shaping up to be an utter bloodbath

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    That Boise State UNLV game showed how bad we need an OC. Each team had a plan and recruits could see what type of system they would be operating in if they were to commit to those schools. I watched every OSU game this year and I still have no idea what Gunderson is trying to do. I don’t think he even knows.

    I can’t imagine what he is trying to sell to recruits. Hell, even Air Force has a system and players know what to expect by committing to play in that system.

  21. I think we need to adopt the Boise State type model. They have been consistently good for decades. Godd coaching definitely helps. They always seem to get very good QB play which is critical. The Beavs, not so much.

    • Their model this year was to surround a generational RB talent with average/above average everything else. Not exactly an easy one to replicate.

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      Boise also has an airport! Some of you will understand this reference, it goes back to the Lindsay Schnell days.
      They also have the Albertsons money flowing in. Ever since Al Reser passed, OSU lacks the financial flow that many schools have. Although Nevada and Air Force don’t have the talent that OSU supposedly has, yet they beat the snot out of us! UO is also going to pick our roster apart towards the end of the transfer deadline in case they have any missing pieces they need to fill. We will be a recruiting pipeline for them, especially after they win the National Championship.

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    Pretty shocked to see ASU winning the Big12 Championship, especially of the four teams that joined, went 3-9 last year, roster turnaround with transfer portal and NIL is crazy

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    Damn, these conference championship games have been boring blowouts so far. My only hope is that James Franklin will finally win a big game and wipe that smug smile off of Lanning’s face, but given PSU’s track record, it’s probably not likely.

    • It’s amazing how these young, focused, energetic coaches are able to produce with such high roster turnover.

      Money obviously helps, but Even if they are getting top shelf talent (e.g. Lanning), it’s remarkable to get everyone playing together so quickly. They’re taking advantage when everyone else is struggling with high turnover. They must have and communicate clear visions for what they expect.

      I agree with another earlier post, I can’t tell what Gunderson is trying to do and I voiced that concern early Barnes’s on UCLA’s play in their loss to OSU last year (he was just WB Coach I think?). He says its player dependent, but I can’t see landing high 3* QBs and WRs based on this past year…I think it will increase recruiting challenges long term along with the conference, schedule, etc.

  24. Among the schools making the cut was the Oregon State Beavers. Washington, Cal, Boise State, and Utah also made his narrowed-down list. Schools that did not make the cut for Thomas include Arizona, Iowa State, Oregon, San Diego State, San Jose State, and Washington State.

  25. I love it,” Thomas told BeaversEdge about a prior trip to Corvallis. “Corvallis is the place to be, the campus is so nice, and the people are very welcoming.”

    Notably, Thomas’s older brother, Skyler Thomas is currently a redshirt junior with the Beavers and as of now will be returning for his redshirt senior in 2025.

    Oregon State currently holds one commitment in their 2026 recruiting class from three-star quarterback Degan Rose.

  26. Thanks for sharing! Yeah, great news. Prior to NIL money, I’ve mentioned before that places like Columbia, MO, Manhattan KS as well as a number of other Power 4 schools campus’ can’t hold a candle to Corvallis. I think the not having an airport is a lame excuse/argument. What is it, 30-45 minutes to Eugene airport?

  27. From Jon Wilner:

    “The experimental season is over. Next comes what could be termed the exhibition season, followed by the real deal.

    Are Oregon State and Washington State ready for their new existence? Are they on track to thrive when the Pac-12?s rebuild becomes official and five schools from the Mountain West join the conference?

    Did fall 2024 tell us anything about fall 2026 for the Beavers and Cougars?

    “This year, especially for Washington State but also the Pac-12 — it was an incredible win for the Pac-12 because there was a season,” Ryan Leaf, The CW network analyst and former WSU quarterback, told the Wilner Hotline.

    Given the situation just 15 months ago, after 10 schools decided to flee the Pac-12 and leave the Beavers and Cougars behind, the past three months have been an undeniable success.

    The two-team conference produced a season that met major college standards operationally and competitively. The game broadcasts on The CW were first-rate. The Beavers and Cougars recorded three wins over power conference opponents. WSU won the Apple Cup and became bowl-eligible.

    Yet both teams finished on low notes — a reminder of the challenge ahead.

    The Beavers (5-7) were one game short of bowl eligibility, unable to overcome a long midseason losing streak. They experienced a barrage of injuries, especially on defense, and ineffective quarterback play.

    Gevani McCoy, Ben Gulbranson and Gabarri Johnson completed just 60% of their passes and threw more interceptions (11) than touchdowns (seven).

    Were they used properly by first-year coach Trent Bray and his staff? Gulbranson had the best efficiency rating and highest yards-per-attempt but spent much of the season behind McCoy.

    “Ever since Jake Luton (in 2019), they haven’t had a quarterback who was ‘the guy,’” said The CW’s Nigel Burton, a former Oregon State assistant coach. “They thought DJ Uiagalelei would be that, but he clearly wasn’t. They have got to find someone who can throw and run at this level.”

    That wasn’t an issue in Pullman, where sophomore quarterback John Mateer emerged as an elite playmaker: He led the country in total touchdowns with 44 — three more than his former teammate, Cam Ward, who transferred to Miami last winter.

    The Cougars (8-4) beat Washington and Texas Tech, won eight of their first nine, climbed to No. 19 in the AP poll and were on the outskirts of the College Football Playoff race in the middle of November.

    But a second-half defensive meltdown at New Mexico derailed their playoff drive and seemingly squashed their sense of urgency. The Cougars lost at Oregon State the following week and blew a fourth-quarter lead against lowly Wyoming at home in the finale.

    All three losses came with WSU favored by double digits.

    “Their only real goal when they were 8-1 was the playoff,” Leaf said. “When that went away, I think there really was a disconnect.”

    In his view, “people checked out.”

    What’s next for the Pac-12?

    At the conference level, there are momentous issues to address. The Pac-12 must sign a media rights agreement for the 2025 season and beyond, add at least one more football-playing school and prepare to welcome the five new members (Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State) on July 1, 2026.

    (Feedback from media companies will dictate which school, or schools, the conference targets and the degree to which it attempts to bolster its basketball product, which will include Gonzaga in fall 2026.)

    On the front lines, the Beavers and Cougars must fortify their rosters and coaching staffs for the next version of the Pac-12.

    If this season is any indication, the rebuilt conference will prove challenging. Oregon State and Washington State hardly dominated their Mountain West competition. In fact, they lost more games head-to-head (eight) than they won (seven).

    Clearly, neither program is on Boise State’s level. But several losses came to teams that finished in the bottom half of the Mountain West standings.

    There are immediate concerns, as well.

    Oregon State must identify a dependable quarterback, whether it’s one of the returnees or a transfer. And that quarterback needs targets in the passing game.

    “They need speed,” Burton said of the receivers. “They have nobody who can take the top off a defense and let (receivers) Trent Walker and Darrius Clemons go to work underneath.”

    The offensive line is “good enough,” Burton added. But the other side of scrimmage is in bad shape.

    “They are woefully behind on the defensive line,” he said of a unit that allowed 186 rushing yards per game. “That’s the main issue. They have nobody who can push people in the middle and nobody who scares you off the edge.”

    Washington State’s to-do list isn’t nearly as long, with one item looming over everything: The Cougars must keep Mateer from entering the transfer portal — a task that seemingly became more daunting this week.

    On Monday, WSU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle left for the same position at Oklahoma.

    On Wednesday, Sooners quarterback Jackson Arnold entered the portal, potentially opening a starting spot for Mateer, who grew up in Texas.

    And on Thursday, freshman tailback Wayshawn Parker announced he was entering the transfer portal.

    “They need to hang on for dear life to Mateer,” Burton said. “If they keep the team together, they have all the pieces.”

    This article originally appeared on Wilner Hotline.

  28. MBB beats Idaho by 24 and Fallah has 25 point game. I really think this team is legit and could do very well on the WCC of they continue to develop all their chemistry… A far cry from the WBB situation where they are so thinn with talent, it’s like watching a division 3 team play.

    • Doesn’t have the tools between the ears for what Gundy was trying to do. Needs to be the center-piece dynamic playmaker in a wide open spread system like he was at Idaho to be successful, preferably against less talented players that can’t neutralize his athleticism.

      Gundy’s offense is Multiple and deliberate in trying to isolate and exploit matchups from different angles. Needs a QB that can make all the throws, beat you with his legs, and process the game cerebrally at a high level. McCoy and BG can only do 1.5 out of the 3.

      Gundy’s mistake this year was trying to work around something that wasn’t work-around-able and sticking to it for too long without changing his approach, classic rookie coach blunder.

      • 10
        1

        I think RG is making the mistake of trying to force guys into his system instead of coaching the guys he has. McCoy did perfectly fine shredding the same caliber of defenses we played this season when he was at Idaho. If you don’t have your ideal QB on the roster, give your QB his ideal situation to thrive.

  29. 2
    1

    Watch McCoy take off at his next stop. He either was a poor fit in our, whatever offense we run, or poor coaching on the Beavs part.

  30. I’m realizing that SMU is in the worst situation of any of these championship games teams. The narrative has basically dwindled to SMU wins and Alabama doesn’t get in, but if SMU loses, Alabama and Clemson get in. In other words, SMU is screwed before the game even started.

  31. 7
    9

    It’s obvious that uo is destined to win it all this year. Unbearable for this Beaver fan to watch. I just don’t see anyone or anything stopping them unfortunately. I will NEVER cheer for the best team that money buys.

    • 17
      3

      It’s strange how Duck fans and alums pretend that money has nothing to do with their success. Listening to Eugene radio this week, they kept talking about how the U of O was attracting all this talent because it’s such a special place with no mention that it has just become a bidding war. I have a theory that they are able to bury their heads because Uncle Phil is paying all of the bills and they haven’t had to make the financial sacrifice that the fans of other schools do.

      • 12
        5

        uo is like a homeless person who won the power ball lottery, then bragging to the World about how hard they worked for their wealth and success. Had Phil Knight attended OSU, it would have happened to OSU. They just got lucky. Both programs were in the cellar of the PAC 8, then the PAC-10. The money didn’t start flowing until they made the Rose Bowl in 1994.

      • 9
        4

        Seems like obvious penalties never get called on them either. Ferguson clearly pushed off to get open on a key 4th down play and it was crickets from the refs. 45-30 with about 7 minutes left, it’s over.

      • 9
        3

        I told my cousin, who is a UO alumni and fan, they’re a pro team with a bunch of paid free agents, she gave me this blank look like I was stupid.

        These free agents don’t care about the university, it’s what collective will pay them. The collective is not managed by the school, so the farther this goes, the less the team has to do with the mission of the university.

        Maybe that’s been true for a lot of players historically in at “blue blood” programs..

      • 6
        8

        I mean, okay? Sure, some people might act that way. Not really sure what your point is. Can you name an elite college football program in this day and age that doesn’t have an insane amount of money pumped into their program and players? It’s effectively a requirement to be elite now. It doesn’t hurt that Oregon is a nicer, much more beautiful place to live as compared to where most successful teams are located.

        As much as it sucks, their team is perfectly molded for the NIL era. Uniforms, facilities, and backing from the number 1 sports clothing company in the world.

          • It’s definitely not as nice of a town compared to Corvallis but compared to most of the top college football teams towns though? It offers a lot more. Not to mention all of the amazing natural beauty and outdoor activities that are close by. South Bend, IN? No. Columbus? Pass. Almost every SEC town with its lack of nature and killer humidity for 10 months of the year? Pass. State College, PA is the only other town in the current top rankings I’d consider living in.

          • 1
            1

            I should say 15 years ago, you would have been correct. The restaurant scene is 1000 times better than it was then. There are still only a dozen or so top tier places, but there used to be maybe 2.

            But is it so hard to make the basics–burgers, pizza, fried chicken? The best chicken is from a Caribbean restaurant.

  32. 3
    2

    SMU shouldn’t be punished for losing that game and Alabama shouldn’t be rewarded because of SMU playing the game. If SMU is left out, I’d bet they will have a lot of well heeled Dallas lawyers lining up to sue. Probably will have Florida St and the rest of the ACC lining up with them.
    SMU was battling more than just Clemson on the field. They weren’t welcome in the club apparently.

  33. 6
    7

    Phil Knight has openly stated that he wants a National Championship before he dies, and he wouldn’t be holding anything back for uo to succeed in doing so. It’s all about money.

    • 2
      2

      This actually came from Rick Neuheisel who after attending a National Coaches meeting this past summer stated that it was an open secret Phil Knight was supplying Oregon with “unlimited NIL resources” to sign whoever they needed to win a championship. He alluded to Knight’s advancing age as a reason behind his decision.

  34. 4
    3

    As every week passes, it’s unfortunately looking more and more likely that this may actually be Hole’s year to win it all.

    All of the traditionally elite teams seem to be having down years and look beatable. They’re three wins away from the title now, and the only team I can see beating them is Georgia. I know Oregon has always been known to have late season chokes, but at this point I don’t know.

    Beavs really need an Omaha run to raise some morale.

    • 3
      3

      What was it, 10 years ago they were in the national championship game and lost to Ohio State?

      They’ve stayed in the top 20 ever since, except that brief down period of 1-2 bad seasons with the Fortune Cookie coach.

      Phil Knight has probably spent well over $300M getting UO to this point, with facilities and NIL.

      They were going to win it all at some point.

  35. 3
    1

    Interesting how Texas, Penn St and SMU all get their 2nd loss in competitive 1 score conference championship games but only SMU is assumed to be out of the playoffs.
    I want SMU to get in just to disrupt the repeat of the same brands every year.
    It would be nice to see Alabama get bumped at least one year in my lifetime.

    At this point all SEC teams essentially have a 2 loss mulligan on all other conferences. They only play an 8 game conference schedule and are still in the playoff conversation until they get a 4th loss. Nauseating.

    • 1
      1

      This is becoming a true professional league, and the playoff committee and media rankings need to go. Probably end up with a 64 team league, and 16 teams getting into play offs, with conference sub divisions based on either geography or nostalgia (the Saban Division of the SEC!).

      Those left out can fill out a number of bowl games and make them entertaining for some.

      The SEC narrative that they play the toughest schedule and deserve extra mulligans IS absurd. It’s reinforced by their belief that they built this system and the popularity of college football, so they can’t possibly be left out.

      • Saban was whining about strength of schedule, which I agree with to a point, but since the SEC and Big 10 are the greatest conferences on the planet, they should have at least four teams make the playoffs. This is eventually where this is headed.

    • SEC pouting:

      “Georgia’s victory unlocked a first-round playoff bye. When ESPN’s Laura Rutledge asked Smart during an on-field interview what that bye means, Smart sharpened his tongue.

      “It means rest for a team that Greg Sankey and his staff sent on the road, all year long. We get to take a little bit of a break and get ready for the College Football Playoff,” Smart said. “This team needs some rest.”

      Georgia fans cheered Smart’s acerbic jab at the SEC’s boss, while a grim-faced Sankey listened.

      Fun though it might be to come after “the man,” when you unpack Smart’s comment, you realize how zany it sounds

      Georgia played exactly four true road games all season. One of those came against Kentucky, the SEC’s second-worst team.

      The Bulldogs also played neutral-site games against Clemson and Florida, but neither Sankey nor his staff determined the location of those games.

      Three stiff road tests. Georgia lost two and won one.

      Undeniably, Georgia’s schedule qualifies as one of the nation’s toughest, but it compares to the schedules faced by Florida, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Mississippi State, LSU and Vanderbilt.

      Want to compete in the SEC? That means playing some tough games.”

      The false narrative management never stops. Can’t just let the results speak for themselves.

    • Agree. Also I believe you mentioned earlier why should Georgia get into the playoffs since they starting QB is hurt. Granted we don’t know the extent of his injury, but to be fair, if we use the selection commitees logic from last year, by passing an undefeated FSU team due to their injured QB, then Georgia should be left out. Of course, the networks won’t dare bring this up. If I’m FSU I’m calling my legal office first thing tomorrow morning to file some lawsuits.

      • Are you gonna try to sell the idea that another conference champ is better than Georgia? Because 5 conference champs had to get it. So who do you think should be in over Georgia? Army?

        Make no mistake, FSU being left out last year was ridiculous but you’re making a poor argument here. Georgia is still clearly better than Army even with s backup QB.

        • No, no, no!!! My argument is about the reasoning why an undefeated FSU team who won the ACC was left out last year. It was my understanding the injury to their starting QB had a lot to do with leaving them out. So with Georgia’s starting QB out, they get a top four seed.??? Granted more playoff openings this year but I think FSU was a top 5 or better team.

          • Last year only 4 schools made it and the committee had no obligation to include conference champs.

            This year it’s 12 schools and requires 5 conference champs.

            Not complicated. Has this system began last year FSU not only has a spot but they’d likely get the 4 seed and a bye. Different rules now, simple as that.

    • 3
      1

      It’s too bad they blew second-half leads against the Quacks and UTN, or they would be getting some national notice. They are a much different team than we’ve previously seen. WCC has some strong teams, so I don’t know how it will end up, but the opportunity is there.

      • Lots of inexperience and maybe confidence issues. I’ve always wondered if Tinkle just sucks the confidence out of the guys with how he coaches. You kind of see signs of it in the past.

    • It’s on the players in my opinion. Everyone blames Tinkle’s offense, but offensive sets in basketball haven’t really changed much in the last several decades. You either execute them or you don’t. International players tend to be much more fundamentally sound. And a better fit for Tinkle’s offense.

  36. Tinkle could/would never make that kind of change on his own. Look at the number of assists this year. I’m betting on the new assistant coach and maybe a little Roberto Nelson?

    • I guarantee that Tinkle is able to run more complex sets because of the players he has. As I mentioned above this team is much more fundamentally sound than previous teams.

  37. According to an alert, I got… Alabama not in the playoff! If true, I can’t believe they didn’t screw over SMU. Can’t wait to hear the SEC wonks whining.

  38. 11
    4

    The only good news about the sickening development of Oregon winning the Big Ten, is that a likely rematch with Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. God it would be poetic justice if the Buckeyes beat them.

    • 2
      6

      Ohio State without their 2 strongest OL players isn’t the same team. Hate to say it, but every team facing oregon in the playoffs has a distinct disadvantage. Penn State is probably still the most able to take them down in that setting.
      Ohio State has OL injury issues. Georgia has a QB injury.
      Notre Dame and Texas both have the athletes, but havent proven they are THAT team.
      Sadly, Oregon with a bye week has a pretty clear path at this point.

      • 2
        1

        Yeah, it seems like everything is breaking the right way for Uncle Phil’s team. I think Georgia and Texas have the defenses to slow them down but Ewers needs to make more plays at QB. Don’t count out Sparky who has been playing very good!

  39. 3
    2

    I’m glad to see the SEC finally gets pushback.
    As far as the matchups, I’m interested to see if the SEC can get any team to the semis let alone win it all.
    Now that we have a form of true tournament, and not a narrowly selected brand beauty pageant, I’d say the shine will come off of the SEC narrative a bit.
    As for the matchups, I think every team is flawed except the Ducks unfortunately.
    Tenn would be a better matchup to beat the Ducks than Ohio St a second time.
    In order, I think Notre Dame/Indiana winner has the best shot to win it all.
    I’d like to see SMU, Boise St, ASU, Indiana all win at least 1 game just to silence the big brand propaganda.
    It will be a tall order for any team to win 4 in a row so I’d guess the champ will be from among the teams with byes, and it would be insanely cool if it wasn’t the Ducks or Georgia.
    Notre Dame/Indiana seem like the
    Likeliest to upset Georgia and get to the championship
    I am an ASU bandwagon guy at this point and it would be hilarious for Dillingham to beat the Ducks and deny them another shot at a “natty.
    My championship game might be ASU vs Boise St
    But we know the refs can play a huge part in these games so it will more likely be Oregon vs Georgia.
    Toughest round 1 game is Notre Dame/Indiama.
    SMU may catch fire with new life and no more pressure.
    I’m just glad it isn’t the same 4 teams again.

  40. WSU to Holiday bowl against Syracuse. Good location and venue, I’d have enjoyed it if Beavers made that bowl….as long as teams aren’t decimated by transfers leaving….

    Future PAC member BSU to playoffs….

    Former PAC members UO and ASU win their new confront first year….

  41. 3
    1

    tOSU QB Devin Brown is transferring after the CFP. He could be a good pick up for us. Originally from AZ, good runner. He’s worked with Gebbia so there is a connection there, too.

  42. Here we go again. No more BG, no more JM. GJ is sticking around but showed he isnt ready to run a team. Do we commit to get the young guys reps or do we go full portal mode again and bring in an experienced QB who will be here for 1-2 years max?
    We alrwady know the coveted retreads wont be coming here

    • The smart thing to do would be to build the offense around GJ’s skill set unless KG is showing major upside. GJ deserves a pass because his game action was so limited. He has a proven running skill set and he’s now the most experienced QB on the roster. Bring in an experienced but not established transfer as a “safety valve” like BG was this year. IMO Devin Brown fits that mold perfectly. He lost the tOSU QB battle several times and isn’t going to be an attractive option to top-tier teams. I’m not saying he’s the guy, but we’re basically looking for someone that wants to start at a MWC-level program.

      If we start with the system and try to force a guy into, we’ll get Tinklesque results 9 times out of 10.

      • What is the offense and system though?

        Seems like it needs to be defined, and you try to get at least 2 QBs on the roster that can play in it and a third that’s probably going to be asked to do much less if forced into action. Not every QB is going to be exactly alike, I get that.

    • I’m high on Gutridge.

      I expect next year to be basically practice and development. Probably make some low-level bowl, and get the extra reps before the Pac 12 starts again.

      I’ll just be looking for improvement and (hopefully) intuitive play.

  43. Luca Vincic is transferring. Think he was originally a Coach M guy. Did he play much? I didnt watch games closely enough this year to know

  44. Does anyone have first-hand knowledge of how the portal works behind the scenes? I mean, I’m assuming most of these kids are working with talent agencies who act as the middleman between the athletes and the Collectives. They’re the ones who know what positions the teams need and how much they’re willing to pay. I’m guessing some of the agencies don’t even charge the athletes until they get a contract, then they just take a % of whatever the athlete gets. So an agent could tell an athlete they know of X number of teams looking for their skills and they’re willing to pay $Y. So the athlete tells the agent to let the teams know they’re interested and if it’s mutual, then they enter the portal.

    This is just what I envision, but I have know inside knowledge.

    • I imagine there are a few clear lines of communication through the process and each has a middleman for plausible deniability.
      Player, family, GAs on staffs, 7 on 7 camp guys with thousands of contact numbers, NIL directors at each school, head coach & position coaches:

      We know form Bray that players are approached all year long and during the season. Those who approach are either family/through family or old camp guys with their number. If the players are contemplating transferring, and word gets out, it likely adds to the text traffic. Pseudo-agent (think of an old 7 on 7 camp counselor) who has become a pseudo agent contact for many universities. The camp guy knows all of the GAs and low level behind the scenes staff for about 40 schools. All of the schools aggregate their messaging through these 3rd party “non” agents (and there is no direct contact from any of the paid coaching staff until it is time to close the “recruiting deal”.) The camp guys/agents know through the low level staff who is thinking about leaving and who they are hoping to get as a replacement. The camp guy/agent is also in contact with the NIL as a seperate call, negotiating and setting the price before the kid goes into the portal. Once he goes in, at a set price, then the camp guy leaks to other NILs what athlete X is valued at and if anyone is willing to up the deal. This is where the player goes public and makes some show about indecisiveness, waiting for the original school to ante up or he jumps to the school with the biggest bag of cash. The agent gets a small cut only when the kids transfer and get their money. This is a horrible incentive model for the future stability of college athletics and introduces crazy financial incentives for everyone surrounding the athletes instead of the athletes themselves.

  45. 5
    1

    Beavs wrap up a solid TV rating year with 1.7M viewers against Boise.

    In a year where we were never ranked, we may have been the top rated unranked team on TV. If we weren’t, we were definitely close.

    • Most viewed game of the day, third most of the week, Ohio State/M @ 12.3M, Kansas Stste/Iowa State 2.01M.

      Thanks Jeanty!

      Lotta people saw “Hank’s” 83-yard jaunt though…

    • Andrea Jordan was the CB who entered and he was a starter this year and would’ve been next season too. Like McCoy last year, he played well as a Frosh/Soph and will turn that into a bigger bag. Hard to tell about Wesolak. He never really played. Injuries? Maybe personality wasn’t a fit? Who knows. Have to assume if he was even remotely healthy, that he would’ve played with how shitty and injured our defense was.

    • Wesolak was a head case (but talented), ran himself off the team with stupidity. Andre Jordan was the CB that left would have started. Vincic a likely starter or at least a good amount of rotation time.

      Somewhat surprised Chisom and Melvin didn’t announce today. I expect Jordan Anderson (Malachi out played him big time in practice) and at least one other receiver to hit the portal soon.

      Hanging onto Exodus Ayers would be a big win.

    • 2
      1

      Gutridge will probably get a decent shot if he stands out in camp . Scout team player of the week multiple times (FWIW) decent size, arm strength. He should put on good weight and strength this off season.

      • 7
        1

        ???
        Prototypical size and skills plus a mental advantage?

        Why is nobody thinking a RS Frosh can do anything?

        Have we never seen any such thing before?

        Just weird reading these comments. People actually think GJ can do more?

        • I really hope Gutridge gets a shot, I think he could be an absolute sleeper multi-year starting Beav QB (finally), but maybe not next year. Love his film, especially considering he was primarily a basketball player and he has only played football earnestly for a few years. Will be good to see how he’s developing in the Spring.

    • Ti’a isn’t being recruited to start as a Freshman, especially with him not being able to enroll early.

      They’re looking to bring in 1-2 guys from the portal to compete with Gabarri for the job in camp.

  46. 4
    1

    I guess we should be happy that our wr are coming back but at the same time, only 2 of them could really get open so not sure what to think. Hopefully Valsin can add another dynamic to that room when he’s healthy. We need some speed.

      • Durant, Anderson, Clemons could be good and provide decent+ size.

        Can’t understand wht they haven’t been able to use Zach Card’s speed. Is it lack of playbook understanding on his part? Hands? Lack of blocking?

    • Isn’t Jordan Anderson still on the team
      Too? Was he part of the practice squad with Guthridge all season?
      Let’s hope we aren’t limited to former walk-ons at wr for next year.
      I appreciate Noga and Walker but the wr room hoped has guys waiting to surpass those guys.

      • From what I could find, he only played in 4 games with 1 target. Funny enough, I remember the target as it was against SJST and would have kept the drive alive but he dropped the pass.

  47. This new world of instant-free agency in college football makes my head spin.

    Over a THOUSAND players decided to jump ship from their teams and seek greener pastures. Unreal. I guess the silver lining is that maybe in the massive game of musical chairs, some of these guys may end up on OSU’s roster. Gotta be strange to be a coach in this new environment.

    From ESPN:
    “Recruiting personnel departments are scrambling to evaluate the more than 1,000 FBS players who became available Monday and get them locked in for official visits.

    Transfers have until Dec. 22 to take their visits before the next dead period. Now that signing day has been moved up to the first week of December, coaches cannot go on the road to visit these transfers over the next few weeks, leading to a mad dash to get them on campus as fast as possible. Expect a ton of commitments to come in next Sunday and Monday.

    Entering Tuesday, here are the programs that have had the most scholarship players enter the portal so far:

    Power 4: Arkansas (21), Kentucky (19), Arizona (18), Purdue (18), Mississippi State (17), Texas A&M (16), Wisconsin (16)
    Group of 5: New Mexico (29), Charlotte (25), Tulsa (23), Middle Tennessee (22), Sam Houston (21), Louisiana Tech (20)”

    • I’m sure he’ll get a chance at a larger school with more money. Hell, Florida is brining in Justyn Martin from UCLA who really only played vs Penn State. He was a a high 3 or 4 star guy in HS so maybe that helps the higher visibility for him but kinda makes me think the Beavs are more likely going to have to find someone from FBS again or perhaps another G5 school that has played. Guess we’ll see what the portal brings but with what funds we have, tempering expectations is the way to go

      • 3
        1

        Why would Martyn go to Florida to back up one of the top rising sophomore QB’s in the country? Is UF really throwing that kind of money at a backup?

        Stupid sport.

        • Hasn’t committed to then yet but they’re bringing him in for a visit. That being said, oregon is paying a lot for their backup, Texas has Ewers and Manning, etc.

  48. An NC State WR Kevin Concepcion is entering the portal….guy ought to be a Beaver with that last name?!?

    An argument could be made for Gamecock…

    • Beavs “looking” for experienced and productive players in the portal is much like me “looking” for a Maserati to commute daily. Looking doesn’t equal acquiring.
      Hopefully they are “looking” and signing within their budget.

      • What’s he supposed to say? We are looking for under-performing players that are over-valued that get paid like a Maserati but play like a VW?

        • Yeah it is entertaining to look over the Maseratis but altogether different to actually consider buying it. For PR purposes put up the good hype of looking at all options but reality hits pretty hard when you must leave the Maserati dealership and head to the Toyota used car lot. We are looking for the Toyota Sienna with 350k miles and no salvage title hoping it will go another another 50k miles on our budget.
          Beavs are reduced to minivans and worn out pickup trucks. Other programs get the sports cars and new trucks.

          • It might appear that way so far but keeping mind, the beavers are only one year into the entire new landscape of CFB and let’s see how that adapt and rebuild.

            So far, Tinkle seems to have figured out a formula to adapt to the new landscape although it’s a small sample size at the moment, it certainly looks encouraging. I hope that Rueck figures it out too, and I’m sure he will.

            As far as the new landscape is concerned, Mike Gundy from OK State made a pretty strong case recently to reign in the NIL and the portal making some very excellent points.

            Highlights were: following an NFL model by hiring a commissioner, a governing body accountable to the Commish, NIL Contracts, buyout provisions, redefining the SA as employees thereby invoking labor relations with collective bargaining agreements, unions, etc. Tommy Tuberville also seems to be on board with these ideas too.

            I think sooner rather than later, the pendulum for balance and parity is going to swing the other direction and level the playing field bc if they don’t, fans in general will get bored and frustrated year after year seeing the same group of teams with the deepest pockets making the playoffs.

            If the TV viewership numbers start to decline due to apathy, advertisers will start to pullback on paying millions for ad slots during the CFB Playoffs.

            I think well eventually go back to the future, but I’m not certain when but hopefully soon

  49. UC Davis to the MWC in all sports except football. Not really a significant story because it doesn’t move the needle on media deals or anything, but maybe weakening the Big West will encourage P12 to take some of the better baseball schools?…

  50. Beavs should review the 5 FCS defenses against the run and try to grab at least 4 guys from those lines who were the reason they were good defenses with NIL$.
    Then identify the 3 or 4 best pass rushers from the top 5 sack teams in FCS and sign 2-3 of those guys with NIL$.
    Look for the best tackling linebackers in FCS and get the top 2 with NIL$.
    Then chase about 2-3 decent, accurate and mobile FCS qbs as plan B if GJ or Guthridge don’t work out.

  51. 2
    5

    Nick Daschel just wrote a short piece on the portal exits for OSU and it showed the Ben G was undecided on whether he’d return next year. I thought I read he’d already decided he would go pursue his medical career?

    If he’s smart, he’d step aside and let the next generation of OSU QBs do the job. I always thought BG was pretty much a glorified backup that could more or less manage a game but never put the team in his back and win games. Ben, it’s time to move on…..please!!!!

  52. 1
    2

    It’s funny how some experts give the ducks only an 11% chance of winning the title when they’ve already beaten three top 10 teams. Maybe the thinking is that tOSU beats Tennessee and gets another shot at the ducks on a neutral site. If that’s the case, it’s hard to beat Avery good team twice in the same season I suppose. We shall see.

      • Yes they do and I doubt they beat either tOSU or Tennessee. In reality, I think it’s a down year in CFB with Georgia being good but not dominant,,same thing for tOSU, Alabama and Michigan both way down and teams like Indiana and Boise, both good but not great playing the playoffs.

  53. Steven Nelson unretires, signs with KC Chiefs practice squad.

    Likely an active roster addition in the near future as one CB apparently broke an ankle and another is struggling.

  54. WCC is suing Grand Canyon for not paying their entrance and exit fees. GCU states they don’t intend to, despite having signed an agreement to do so.

    It can’t be that large of a total. Margins must be down for GCU Inc.

  55. On a list of underpaid assistants:

    5. Tosh Lupoi, Oregon, defensive coordinator

    Compensation: $1.9 million

    Considering the undefeated Ducks are a favorite to win their first national championship and finished the regular season ranked No. 7 in total defense, Lupoi isn’t just underpaid, but severely so.

    Oregon made a statement its first year in the Big Ten, securing its spot in the conference title game in mid-November. The Ducks are seeded No. 1 in the playoff after beating Penn State in the Big Ten championship game. Lupoi has long been a renowned recruiter and the Ducks boast the No. 8 class according to 247Sports.com’s 2025 composite rankings. If they win their first national championship, expect that recruiting haul to get a lot more talented.
    Bottom line: Lupoi and his agent should be renegotiating this contract ASAP. ”

    Yeesh, had no idea their assistants were paid THAT highly…their D doesn’t look dominant just looking at scores?

  56. 2
    6

    There is no shot that any playoff team from the first round goes through a 4 game win streak to win a national championship. I have seen a lot of predictions and many are picking Penn St and Texas to waltz into the semis. And Oregon/Gerogia both get upset or barely get by to the semis.

    I’d expect some surprises this year since there aren’t 2-3 outrageously dominant teams. Ducks don’t meet the eye test like past Alabama/Gerogia teams did with overwhelming size/speed and obvious NFL talent all over the field.

    I figure ASU will beat either Texas or Clemson.
    Oregon could lose to OSU or Tenn. And I might take Tenn to win that part of the bracket to face ASU in the semis.

    SMU is being completely disregarded by all pundits. I pick SMU to roll Penn St. Boise St beats SMU.
    Indiana is better than given credit and Notre Dame can’t pass at all. Indiana upsets ND, and adjusts to the new Georgia qb by getting lots of pressure. Indiana vs Boise St in semis.

    Fox/ESPN/TNT execs all gripping once Georgia is exposed. Championship game will be ASU vs Indiana as the 2 best coaching stories of the year finish in a slugmatch. ASU wins a National Championship one year removed from the basement of the PAC12.

    Once the last SEC team is eliminated, Sankey begins plans to deconstruct the playoffs.

    • “Once the last SEC team is eliminated, Sankey begins plans to deconstruct the playoffs.”

      They’re of the view they “built this” (college football popularity and viewership) and can’t be left out.

      But in true, professional competition, writers or committees don’t pick the champion….so SEC needs to get used to new schools with the financial resources to buy talent (e.g. UO).

  57. UNC able to pay Belichick $10mil per year for 3 years. Clearly Oregon State cannot compete in the new normal of college athletics. I guess we’ll have to settle for rooting for academics. Rah-Rah!

    • Seems like a gamble. Excellent rep and pro connections obviously, but can a guy his age connect with the players? Maybe, the top recruits/players are pros now…

      • Belicheck took all week trying to determine how committed UNC really was. So they negotiated what his roster salary cap would be, what his salary would be, and how many of his assistants would be getting $2-$3 mil contracts to join him.
        Now he is on the clock for his legacy. He has a 3 year window to develop an elite defense with his old patriot schemes and somehow develop an offense on his own. It will be interesting to see who he hires for OC and DC.
        Probably a good gamble for Belicheck to try college while there is no real cheating or salary caps. He can do anything he wants and buy as many players as he can in the current free agency climate.
        His biggest challenge will be overcoming the NC rep as a basketball destination.
        And he will probably despise half the roster by October if he fails.

      • Wonder if he moves to guard? Has 2 years left and Van Wells is back so center isn’t necessarily a position we need a guy who you’d presume would be coming to OSU to start so seems likely he moves to guard right?

  58. FSU vacillating:

    “LAS VEGAS — Nearly 16 months after its formal notice of withdrawal from the ACC, Florida State has taken a new and odd public stance as its acrimonious lawsuit against the conference continues to play out.

    Who said we ever wanted to leave the ACC?

    “We’re in the league the last time I looked,” FSU athletic director Mike Alford told USA TODAY Sports during the Sports Business Journal Intercollegiate Forum. “We never said we wanted to leave the league.”

    Actually, they did.

    In Florida State’s August 2023 lawsuit against the ACC, on page 32 of the 38-page complaint, item 151 states: “Florida State be deemed to have issued its formal notice of withdrawal from the ACC under Section 1.4.5 of the ACC Constitution, effective August 14, 2023.”

    At issue is the school’s media rights deal with the ACC through 2036, which according to Florida State officials tops out at $42 million annually — nearly $30 million behind the annual payout to neighboring SEC schools.

    During an August 2023 meeting, the Florida State Board of Trustees said it wanted an exit plan from the ACC by August of 2024.

    “It’s not a matter of if we leave,” former Seminoles quarterback and Board member Drew Weatherford said during the 2023 meeting. “But when and how.”

    When asked yesterday, Weatherford – at the SBJ Forum as the founding partner of Weatherford Capital, which is seeking to partner with universities in the unsettling financial climate for college athletics – softened his stance from 2023.

    “There’s a lot of potential answers to the problem,” Weatherford said. “Long term, it’s going to be hard to be hard to compete if you’re at that financial disadvantage.”

    When asked if Florida State was still positioned to leave the ACC, Weatherford said, “We just have to solve for (the financial disadvantage). If we can do that where we are (with the ACC), that’s great. If we can’t, I’m still open to the option that we need to find another conference.”

    ACC commissioner Jim Phillips declined comment for this story.

    The ACC is arguing that it owns Florida State’s media rights under a Grant of Rights deal that every team in the conference signed. To leave the league, FSU would owe the ACC an exit fee (estimated at $125 million), and future media rights through 2036 (estimated at nearly $500 million).

    While those numbers could be mitigated through legal action, the underlying problem for Florida State moving forward is it has no alternative to the ACC. Three people told USA TODAY earlier this spring that the Seminoles landing in the Big Ten or SEC wasn’t realistic. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect the sensitivity of the discussions.

    The Big Ten, the people said, had reservations about Florida State’s ability to be a strong “partner” moving forward.

    It now appears the reality that the Seminoles have nowhere to go is settling in.

    “We’ve always questioned the revenue distribution,” Alford said. “Go back in history, you will never see the president or myself say we want out of the league. We have great peer institutions, we’re a lot alike. We’ve always had great communication. Jim (Phillips) and I from day 1. We’re trying to solve the problems.”

    When asked if FSU and the ACC were any closer to reaching a resolution, Alford said, “Who knows? That’s not for me to decide. I’m not on that side of the wall. We’ll see. They know where we stand.”

    $42M is insufficient? SEC gets so much media $$$…

    Beavers hoping for $15-20M a year?!?

  59. Saez and Vadrawale coming back.

    I know Vadrawale most from his string of appearances as our lowest ranked defender on PFF, but he actually started and finished the season pretty well and just had a few rough games in the middle of the season. Typical inconsistency of young players. Seems like he’s well positioned to improve next year.

  60. Did not see Niko Taylor announcing for the NFL draft on my bingo card. Seems like he could’ve used another year of playing time for sure. Definitely hurts the defense a bit away he would’ve been a big piece for us next year.

  61. Do the Beavs take a shot at getting Malachi Nelson? He is back in the portal and leaving Boise St.
    Former 5* that was still recovering from off season surgery in fall and by the time he was healthy Madsen had locked up the starting job for good.
    Maybe Nelson could come in and be a great fit with 3 years to play. Maybe he has 1 great year and transfers again but I’d prefer that to another whiff on qbs.

  62. If you could convert one loss from the last three season into a win, which one would you choose? I’d pick USC in 2022. The team just played such lock down defense against the eventual Heisman winner for the season, and we were winning for about 55 minutes of game time. Such a heartbreaker. Having that back would have made us have a 2 year home winning streak, and may have gotten us an at large NY6 spot.

  63. I keep seeing Beaver fans complaining about Coach Smith tying to poach more OSU players again. Anybody know which players they’re talking about?

  64. Updated returning projected starters and position group PFF rating:
    QB- Johnson (58)
    RB- Hankerson (76)
    WR- Walker, Clemons, Valsin (Anderson/Durant?) (71)
    TE- Caufield (51)
    OL- Strand, Voltin, Wells (76), Anderson, Hand? (limited snaps by all these guys except Wells)

    DL- Pome’e, Collins (63)
    Edge- Saez, Omotosho, Hickle (63, not counting Hickle)
    LB- Jordan, Chisom, Foster (71, 62 if Jordan is gone)
    CB- Ayers, Singleton, Thomas (65)
    S- Thomas, Ivy (68)

    Even with just these guys (and no incoming transfers), returning experience is much better than this year on defense. We’re going to need across the board improvement from these guys to be a solid unit. The encouraging thing is that the young guys (Ayers, Chisom, Foster, Saez) mostly trended up over the course of the season. If they can keep playing at the level they did in the second half, we’ll be in decent shape.

    We need QB competition and a few experienced OL transfers on offense.

  65. Besides U Nike being sued by its own volleyball team:

    “The remaining plaintiffs in a sex discrimination lawsuit against Nike won a late-stage victory on Friday.

    After one hour of oral arguments, Judge Amy Baggio ruled from the bench that there will be one trial in the case.

    Nike had asked for separate trials for each of the four remaining plaintiffs, arguing, among other reasons, that they worked in different departments for different managers and didn’t get paid and promoted in the same manner.

    The monolithic Nike does not make individual pay decisions,” said Felicia Davis, an outside lawyer who represented Nike at the hearing.

    Laura Salerno Owens, a Markowitz Herbold lawyer who represented plaintiffs, argued they have enough in common for a single trial. She also said holding four separate trials would be a waste of resources and require redundant arguments and jury selection.

    Baggio tentatively agreed with plaintiffs’ arguments at the start of Friday’s hearing, then affirmed her decision after a short recess and ruled from the bench, saying judicial economy and the amount of common evidence outweighed the possible negative impacts to Nike of combining the trials.

    Nike had argued that a single trial could lead jurors to generalize one plaintiffs’ circumstance to others and put the company at a disadvantage. Baggio said she would remain mindful of that when the trial begins.

    It’s scheduled to start on March 10.

    Friday’s hearing also included allegations from Salerno Owens that Nike executives have given inaccurate deposition testimony and sat on key evidence.

    This year, Nike has turned over documents in discovery that plaintiffs believe should have been provided much sooner.

  66. 10
    2

    Indiana HC wins COTY award and you know myopic duck fans will get their panties all in a bunch over this selection.. While the Zero’s SOS was 42 and Indiana was 67th, Indiana doesn’t possess nearly the same level of resources as does UofSchNike. It was really quite amazing that Indiana performed so well with something like 24 players brought in from his previous job at a G5 school but even more impressive, they were all 2 and 3* players. So I think this was a well deserved award to the right guy but I’m sure a duck fan or two that has been in disguise on AB, will down vote this comment bc they think they are entitled to virtually every award including the national championship. Boo-freaking whoo girls!!!!

    • 9
      1

      Indiana coach deserves it, Dillingham at ASU is close behind him. Both had great seasons and quite unexpected results. I am kind of hoping they both get at least 1 win in the playoffs and hopefully 2 which would knock out Texas, and likely Oregon for ASU; Notre Dame and Georgia for Indiana.

    • If Jordan and Chisom leave, that’ll be rough. Not sure outside of Foster we really had anyone else play middle LB this season. And if a true frosh is passing people by, might not be a great indicator that the backups are very good

          • Not taking anything away from Foster, but considering Jordan and Chisom are both younger guys themselves, and then Foster being a freshman seems like the backup situation is thin at best. JUCO guys have often shown to take a year or two to adjust and that probably hurts their development being injured. Just unfortunate since there were definitely bigger areas of concern on the defense than middle LB but if we lose both starters and our most tenured returner from a playing perspective is a true freshman who played on rotation, they better hit the portal hard.

          • That’s the hard part with the constant turnover of decent talent. You restarting guys that barely are ready. Any injuries and you are playing walk ons or guys that aren’t ready.

  67. Watching Montana State and Idaho in the playoffs. Idaho has some pretty dynamic players and MSU does too. I wonder if OSU tries to go that route again, but I’m hoping they don’t. It’s too much of a jump especially the QB position.

    • They’re dynamic in that context….mostly not appropriate for DI goals for decent bowl games…Beavs should be striving for Alamo, Holiday bowls until/unless they get major donor $$.

      I hear MSU games and tailgating are fun…

    • 2
      1

      Do any of these players have a major or take classes? Are they taken in by Cam Ward and Travis Hunter going from small to big schools? Do they get that much more money? They can’t remotely think they will make it into the League.

      • 4
        2

        I truly have no idea but if someone offers them a few 100k, they’ll likely jump ship just like Damien Martinez did along with the rest of the them…
        .
        This garbage has to stop or the only programs that will survive are the one’s with deep pockets.

  68. I think the roster is a little bit like a public auction with 20 different programs kind of wandering around the Valley Football Center looking over the goods and deciding if they make a lowball offer just to see what they can get for cheap.
    I don’t think any other programs really believe guys on OSU roster will really impact their team, and any offers are more for depth and a guy they don’t have to go find but someone else already
    Found for them.
    Not a good scenario for OSU.

  69. I fear we are in a house of cards. I flipped through yesterday’s Joe Beaver and John Canzano podcasts. The OSU Nil guy was on JB – maybe 3/4 through assuredly saying the Beavs can compete in NIL. Hinted at a big matching donation coming up. Now AB starts listing guys that are leaving. JC had a clip of Theresa Gould sounding a little too enthusiastic about a media deal. JC suggested she sounded like Kliakopf –

    • 1
      1

      They have some donor willing to contribute $1m, but only of the dam nation collective can get 250 “new” subsribers to sign up for monthly donations.
      Sadly, 250 seems like a pretty steep goal to attain. You’d figure most willing donors would have already signed up, so finding 250 new ones wont be easy

      • 10
        4

        I listened to that interview on JoeBeaver show yesterday. You have to credit that OSU NIL guy for sticking to the script and bloviating in the midst of a real time existential threat to OSU sports existence. The truth is without NVidia caliber backers, OSU is toast. The landscape demands that anybody outside of the chosen brands must “buy your way in” via big donors much like SMU has. Once SMU birt the bullet and went all in, it became the new process for anyone to get to join going forward. It is a form of extortionary progress that protects the big brands for the short term.
        Talking in an interview about taking care of OSU athletes, and doing everything against the grain of how everyone else has been operating is Don Quixote level stuff. Rewarding players rather than buying players. It will have less and less return on investment as time goes by though. No one is giving awards for doing things the right way in the current climate.
        Andrew Luck at Stanford and Bill Belichick at North Carolina are the future of major college athletics. OSU should be examining how to run an NFL front office and work on scouting 1000s of players expecting half the roster to turnover each spring. The teams that will win going forward are either the teams that simply buy as many players as possible or the teams that can locate the right type of player that is underused or not utilized correctly. Of course, OSU is reactonary and backward in this whole endeavor. Trying to piecemeal some NIL at lower numbers is a fool’s errand and gets you mocked even more than before. We are essentially Motel 6 promoting ourselves like we are a St Regis. Players know the difference. They see the facilities, the organizational quirks, the backwards approach to what it all has become, and the lack of a true conference still.
        I would never donate to OSU NIL in this environment because it is simply flushing money down the drain and being given to kids who will simply leave next year after they already took the cash.
        This unrestricted free for all free agency is the worst case scenario for OSU, beyond even losing the conference as far as I’m concerned. I figure the only reason Belichick took the job at NC is because the window will only last for another 2-3 years before there is a major overhaul of college football particuarly. He will have his NFL guys surround the program, buy the right qb, and fill the roster with enough guys to try and win a National Championship only while this insane era is happening. This 3-5 year span will be a blight on the history of sports or it will be the harbinger of the end of college sports. Guys like Belichick don’t jump into situations like the current era without thinking they can maximize their chances to win right away. For Belichick, I figure he thinks he can identify and build a roster of his free agents quicker than anyone and win right away. This is the current situation, and it is a bad era for OSU to try to compete against more and more schools who. just plan on raiding rosters for their depth every few months.
        Bray is not prepared for this, and neither is the OSU athletic department. Right now all I see is head in the sand Pollyanna talk about the new era of PAC12 conference but the conference won’t matter if 40% of the players are departing for new rosters every year. I just wonder howe any of this is sustainable and where the outside the box thinkers are at OSU to actually anticipate something rather than react too late at each turn. OSU is so small time with their mindset, it may be a merciful shift to just simply drop to FCS. The athletic department seems to operate at about that pace anyway.
        Unless NVidia guy drops $500 million into a perpetual roster fund, we are screwed anyway. No way the OSU alumni base will ever get behind the sports to the degree that is necessary in order to truly build up the program and compete steadily. Sadly, I think OSU athletics is doomed, and probably has been for a while. A lot of whistling past the graveyard in Corvallis.

  70. 1
    3

    I don’t the answer to this so posting to see if anyone might know answer. With Marshall opting out of their bowl game against Army in the Independence Bowl, could Oregon State be a replacement since they are just under bowl eligibility with 5 wins. Not saying we would have any chance against Army but getting some practice time and real game experience for the younger guys helps quite a bit with development.

    • Love Melvin and Chisom and hate to lose them after developing them for 2 years. But it’s an asset vs liability thing too. They want to get paid and value themselves on their talent and NIL value vs their production. They weren’t good this season, in some games they sucked.

      Chisom was known to be ready for the portal half the season. Melvin scrubbed his socials of OSU right after his exit interview because he didn’t like his $ valuation.

      It stings and I worry about the domino effect, but their production is replaceable in the room and in the Portal without having to get donors to over-pay these guys.

      Reality of “professional” college athletics and glad we aren’t hitting up our biggest donors in a panic to not lose guys when it doesn’t make $ sense.

  71. 2
    2

    Wonder what Bray is thinking and how long he’ll stick around?

    Agree with the comments above about OSU AD too reactionary, always years behind it seems.

    • 7
      1

      I think there’s some assumptions that the current NIL and portal situation will remain unchecked, however, I don’t think that’s the case. Mike Gundy had a presser last week providing a glimpse of what might happen. Once SA are defined as employees, that will completely change the game and will invoke labor relation issues such as CBA, contracts, buyout clauses, non-compete conditions, etc.

      For the moment, the pendulum has wildly swung in favor of the players causing significant stress on the entire landscape of college sports. However, after the excitement over the new playoff format starts to normalize and fans become frustrated with the same teams year after year buying their way into the playoffs, frustration will result in boredom. Consequently, things will balance back again. .

      I’m not a fan of Tommy Tuberville or his politics but he appears to be very vocal on restoring balance and talks about dropping legislation and if the coaches are on board, legislation will get strong support and the pendulum will swing back in the other direction.

  72. Braves on the verge of beating a net ranked team of 21. Beavs up by 11 with 51 secs left. Braves have 21 turnovers but still lead by 11.

  73. Was Murphy actually in Corvallis or was that a troll post by someone and if not what proof that he’s on visit at osu because we need actually proof

    • Do we really want a 6th year senior?
      I liked him for the beavs 3 years ago when he left CU, but we got DJU.
      At this point he’d filling in for 12 games and moving on, which i guess is actually the new norm, so i probably shouldnt question it

      • Welp, Lewis is now following Bray fwiw.

        I’m ok with that as a low cost veteran to come in and compete with Gabarri for the job, but not if they bite on him as worth a big NIL pay day.

        Leads me to believe that none of the big fish they wanted to pay were very interested, or that was all BS.

        He only threw 5 passes against the Beavs and they didn’t win another game the rest of the season, but he was mostly efficient and dual threat with 60% rushing against his pass attempts. Gundy most really want a running QB.

      • Next year is a make or break year, honestly. Program will be in a big hole with little to recruit on if we put up another stinker. I’m okay with a rental QB.

  74. If we go by guys Bray is newly following as a sign of transfers potentially coming to OSU, here are the most recent ones:
    Emar’rion Winston- Local OLB/EDGE, class of 2022. Signed with Oregon originally. OSU recruited him pretty hard back then.

    Raesjon Davis- Former USC Trojan LB. Grad transfer with 1 year.

    JT Hand- signed with OSU recently

    Gabe Powers- Ohio State LB transfer. Formerly 4* 2022 class guy.

    Riley Wilson- Montana LB transfer

    Bryun Parnhan- UW senior LB transfer

    TJ Crandall- WVU CB transfer(we know he visited and OSU has a good chance to land him due to proximity to home and familiarity with current guys on OSUs roster.

    Ansel Din Mbih- WSU DT transfer

    Deshaun Werner- Kansas frosh Edge Rusher, former 4*(Kansas’ highest rated recruit, ever, actually)

    • UNLV has the template to follow at this point. They just loaded up on a couple of transfer qbs, and a lot of FBS 2nd and 3rd string defensive 3 stars who needed a change of scenery but were quite talented in the MWC. Beavs need to become the Next Chance University where guys can come to build up their chances again after being cast aside by the big programs.
      How do you market into that space with 1000 kids entering the portal at once though? OSU needs to be known as “the outpost to hone your skills but we won’t be able to pay you much” destination. But it kind of has to be a good analog to all of the noise about guys just transferring each year. Can OSU implement some contract language that would help the program down as they sign players? Nothing is binding but sometimes a guy’s word means something to him and perseverance is a disappearing quality in college football these days.

      • It’s unfortunate, but probably the best way to market that is to show how much your outgoing transfers are getting paid with their new teams.
        For instance, Damien Martinez. Played and developed 2 years at OSU and got paid handsomely by Miami.
        If you can build up a resume showing guys who came out of nowhere to get paid after putting un some time with the program, you might have something to hang your hat on.
        But for the handful of successes our outgoing players have had, there have been way more failures.

  75. Sucks that Jordan and Chisom bailed. At the same time though, name one play either made this year. The only one I recall is Chisom getting a targeting call in the first game. I’d like to have them back, but it is not like they were so dominant they are irreplaceable.

    • 4
      1

      I just remember them both taking bad angles and attacking the wrong gaps on run stops. Go back and watch the Duck game and count how many times the linebackers were completely lost on the run plays.
      I think Chisolm was pretty undersized and Jordan was always reacting and late to read what he saw most of the time. The only loss is the benefit of a bit of a year of starting experience. No actual loss of production though.
      It is probably likely that there can be a net gain of production even if it is with 2 FCS guys who are upperclassmen transfers coming in to replace them.

      • They’re both undersized, but Jordan was generally in the right place and was better in coverage than our LB’s normally are. Losing Chisom sucks because he was trending up at the end of the season.

        Neither is irreplaceable, but it sucks to lose experienced guys who could have grown into stars as Beavs.

        • Biggest problem is that we have no game experience guys behind them. If they “weren’t that good” yet were the best on the team, that spells trouble unless you can reload in the portal. ILB shouldn’t have been a major area of focus with so much more on this defense that needed to be addressed but now you lose both starters and that really hurts.

  76. OSU WBB is getting hammered by Irvine. I’m not sure any player on OSU roster would make any former PAC12 team roster. They are a horrible perimeter shooting team and the two bigs, Heide and Rees, have virtually no offensive game. Marotte is not very good and Schuler is about as bad of a player you’ll find at this level.

    Hopefully, Rueck has some much better recruits coming in next year bc they’re are like watch a high school team…0-11 from 3 point range and even the announcers keep commenting the law of averages would eventually hit a 3.

    29 points with 8 minutes left on the game. That’s laughable bc Irvine isn’t a juggernaut.

  77. “…Irvine isn’t a juggernaut.”
    True, but a decent team averaging 23 W’s over the last three seasons, several players with experience.
    The Rueck teams of the recent past would have been expected to bring home a 5-15 pt victory.
    A new world now, but the same old Rueck…..teaching every day…..we are so lucky to have him.

    • Agreed and it’s just really frustrating to watch this team form hero to zero bc of a bunch of social media, attention seeking players from last year’s squad defect, namely Tvo who led the effort to bolt. None of them are making significant contributions to their teams and Gardiner for UCLA has been a virtual no show the last few games. Even beers #s at Oklahoma are starting to go down.

      • Frustrating for sure, but the reason for the fall goes beyond “a bunch of social media, attention seeking players…”.
        Sure, they are the direct factor but the root cause is the overall change in college athletics caused by the almighty dollar and the influence agents with an ax to grind have over 18-22 year olds. Those gals (and their families) were sold on the negative impact of the conference disaster.

        Jonas Chatterton’s departure didn’t help. Again, the conference situation probably is the primary explanation. (Any chance a bag of $ for bringing in Beers was a factor??).

        • WBB, unless you’re a superstar, doesn’t garner nearly the same lucrative NIL deals as football players do TVO in her post game presser after the loss to So Carolina, specifically stated when asked about exposure talked about, “we are trying our best to get more exposure on social media.”. She made no mention about the conference situation or anything else other than more exposure. From people close to the program, beers tried to keep the team together but TVO was really the team leader and major factor in players leaving. I’m sure beers got some NIL, but I doubt it was a significant amount..

          TVO primary reason for leaving had nothing to do with NIL but turned out that her boyfriend, one of the Arnold boys transferred to play football at USC, so even her statement about exposure was just a smokescreen.

          Regardless, it’s tough to see a team that was destined for greatness reduced to essentially a team that will struggle to win maybe 10 games this year with such minimal talent.

          I have season tix but doubtful I’ll go watch them play as o can save time and money trying to watch them on TV and it’s a hard watch bc nobody on that team can shoot 2s.let alone 3s.

      • 3
        1

        Espn will do a 30 for 30 documentary in about 15 years asking some of these players (all sports) if it was worth jumping for a bag of money. I’m betting most will say it wasn’t worth it in the end. They’re kids/young adults and kids/young adults do dumb shit without reflecting on the consequences, they live in the now. I doubt any of these kids will answer the question of what their greatest memory of college sports is by saying the money they made when they transfered to so and so university.

  78. Sounds like they did go after Murphy and in the end it was less about the amount of $ they offered and more about wanting to stay in a Power Conf, but maybe it isn’t 100% over yet? Mixed signals.

    Getting spun as a win because they have a getable guy they really like and they’re gonna use the extra $ instead to fill starting roles on OL and D.

    So it’s probably Lewis.

    • Just weird they wanted Murphy cause supposedly it was known at Duke he refused to do much running if any at all, designed plays or having the pocket break down and having to run.

    • Lewis would be a good pick up and an immediate upgrade over anyone we had this past season. Former 4-star guy with lots of experience who has one more year to boost his draft stock. #2 QB in the MWC according to PFF and one of the higher rated ones in the country.

  79. 6
    2

    Luka V commits to Michigan State and the pudgy gnome program.. A gift that just keeps on taking….what a piece of crap he turned out to be.

  80. Beavs land transfer DL from Western Carolina, Tahjae Mullix. 6’3 270, PFF grades him as an average DL at the FCS level. Depth guy with experience, probably not an immediate impact starter.

  81. – Mary Murphy & Ann Schatz are calling the men’s bb game tomorrow evening – if I connect to the game, it will be with an on mute button or with KEJO radio. I can’t do.that to my eardrums.

  82. CSU and USU are suing the mwc for their exit fees. Now the rest of them should join in and drown the mwc in filings. It might be cheaper just to settle in the end. Also Northern Illinois in talks to join MWC. Im starting to get worried we don’t have an 8th member lined up yet.

    • Hang in there bc I think the delay for the 8th team is waiting on the media deal. I think Memphis state, Tulane and/or Texas State join after the deal is done and we know what the $$$ is going to look like. I think this will all be settled by February (media deal) and the #8 team soon after

    • There’s still lots of chatter about Memphis, Tulane and TSU joining. TSU president was helping wave the WSU and OSU flags at gameday. Tulane gave their HC a big new contract to keep him from bolting for a bigger job. Plenty of positive signs about those three. It’s just waiting on the media deal valuation and MWC suit to close so the P12 knows they’ll have money to help with exit fees.

      This is an elite basketball conference if we can add those three. Arguably a P5 football conference, too. We just need a few baseball additions…

  83. Beavs are going to be very bubblicious at 42 NET right now. They need to have a good showing at the Diamond Head Classic given all the low ranked teams in the WCC. Thankfully we get Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s and San Fran twice this year.

  84. Saw somewhere that Dickert is saying Mateer got 7 figures to xfer. There’s no chance to compete man. This is crazy. Even professional sports have salary caps. This shit is wild

    • Gotta cut boosters out of revenue generating sports.
      If they generate revenue, they shouldnt need donors to survive.
      Donors should only be allowed to dinate towards programs that actually need funding to survive, aka the non-revenue sports.

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      Supposedly Teresa Gould reached out to Mateer asking him to stay. OU offered $3M vs WSU’s $1M. Wow.

      OU took WSU’s OC and WB coach, too. Seems like a big gamble.

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        Can’t blame him if they offer $2m more. That’s a lot of money. This season by Boise State might be the last year that a non-p4 school had a shot at advancing in this playoff system. With the money disparity taking place, the “best G5” squad in the final 12 is probably a body bag game.

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        Considered by some to be #1 transfer in the portal, 29 passing TDs, 15 rushing TDs, 7(?) INTS, very productive.

        $3M is crazy though. Good for amateur, but it’s like watching NFL teams throw crazy money at free agents….

        Agree WSU and OSU can’t compete football in this context. OSU needs a long term plan instead.

        The new PAC could become a pretty good basketball conference with Gonzaga, SDSU, maybe Memphis(?)….maybe WBB follows, Rueck can eventually rebuild? Beavers can try to stay nationally relevant in baseball…

        Here’s a take from the Spokesman Review:

        “Cougar Collective, by all accounts you did amazing work putting together a roughly million-dollar package to keep Washington State’s star quarterback. It didn’t work. It’s time to try something else.

        More on that below.

        WSU used to call itself “Quarterback U” because of all the signal callers who came through Pullman before getting drafted by the NFL. The moniker still fits, the pitch is still the same: Come throw passes in Pullman and get paid.

        But now there’s an addendum: Come to Pullman and get paid … by your next school.

        For the second straight year Cougars coach Jake Dickert has seen his quarterback leave Pullman as the most coveted passes in the transfer portal and, with players reportedly getting name, image, likeness deals on par with what NFL first-rounders used to make, he’s making it part of the recruiting pitch. What else can he do?

        “Biggest thing for our program is it proves, once again, our process is working. Our process is working. We’re offering a bunch of kids that have no other Power Five offers. We’re developing them into lega

        That’s a pragmatic, forward-thinking message from a man for whom it surely was not easy to say. Not while watching Cam Ward, the QB who transferred from WSU last season, leading Miami to one of its best seasons in decades and finishing fourth in the Heisman trophy voting.

        But here’s the thing. If the Cougars are going to become a feeder program for the blue bloods – and make no mistake, they are – then there should be some compensation when they do it well. There should be able to improve their program for the investments they make in players on behalf of the richer schools.

        It would be a great way to start to restore faith in a system that few seem to approve of, even those at the top.

        This is an issue that other sports have figured out. In international soccer leagues when one of the big name teams takes an upcoming star from a smaller team, they pay what is called a “transfer fee.” What happens is the team buying the player gives money to the smaller market team. The smaller market team gives up a future star who probably wasn’t going to stick around anyway, and has some funds to improve its roster.

        And college football has already figured out a mechanism to do this, one with which the coaches are intimately familiar: the beloved buyout clause. Let’s take a recent, semi-local example, that of Kalen’s DeBoer’s leaving Washington for Alabama. In his contract with UW he had to pay $12 million for leaving early, an expense that Alabama of course assumed as the cost of doing business.

        The Huskies took that $12 million into their accounts and it helped them afford Arizona’s Jedd Fisch, who himself had a $5.5 million buyout. UW got a new coach and had $6.5 million left over. No reason to think this couldn’t be done with quarterbacks, with the Cougars getting some money from whichever

        school Mateer signs with. That money can go toward another quarterback, and maybe some offensive line help, too.

        Here is where the Cougar Collective comes in. Since NIL is still the only mechanism for paying players, this would have to be done by the collectives that have formed to facilitate these payments. At WSU this is called the Cougar Collective.

        These groups exist because the NCAA maintains some token, somewhat comedic rules around the NIL deals players form with companies such as “deals can’t be tied to athletic performance” and “NIL can’t be used as a recruiting tool.” Right. Apparently Mateer is just that good at visiting sick kids, or whatever.

        The collectives are there to do some creative thinking and come up with semantic ways to get around the rules. Often this takes the form of having the players perform some token charity appearance, in exchange oodles of money, that is NOT based on athletic performance, wink-wink.

        Most outrageously, some collectives have even been granted 501(c)(3) status because of these tenuous charitable fronts. Write WSU superfan and newly-elected congressman Michael Baumgartner and tell him to look into it.

        So, Cougar Collective. Find some way to make the next up-and-coming WSU QB pay you a buyout if he transfers out. Yes, I’m sure there are rules against it. I’m also sure there are rules against pretty much everything NIL collectives do, and the creative thinking and ingenuity you’ve shown this month can find a way. At the very least, the money you are giving WSU players for something other than athletic performance should be repaid if they leave the team before the bowl game.

        Come up with some clever legalese for the contract. Trust me, a high school kid enrolling at WSU isn’t going to turn down your money because their next school might have to pay you back for it.”

        https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2024/dec/16/jacob-thorpe-washington-state-should-get-more-than/

      • College sports are getting gross. However, I am enjoying programs like OU taking the money to go to the SEC, then getting beat and basically forgotten about because now they aren’t the automatic top 2-3 in the conference every year just because of their history and recruiting. I’m guessing fan bases and boosters will have regrets and will want to go back to the times when they would roll everyone and just have to win 2 big games a year to have a shot at a championship. They did it to themselves. Greed.

  85. Obviously sucks to lose Mateer like that, but at what cost and what’s the end goal? Pay him $1m for a year and then what? We can’t afford $1m each year for 1 impact player.

    • The reason Cignetti was so good at IU this year is because he has been a lead recruiter and an elite talent evaluator for quite a while. He had the James Madison roster filled with guys who were P4 talent playing and winning at JM. He proved it by bringing many with him to IU and they won at IU as well.

      The future is to invest in talent evaluation of two groups:
      1) The guys lost in the numbers and stuck at 2nd/3rd string at P4 schools like Oklahoma, Washington, Nebraska, Michigan, Ole MIss etc and see if they want a chance to actually play in real games for OSU or just get reps in practices at their current school. Some of these guys may come in without any fanfare or NIL demands for a year or two of prodcution before jumping for an NIL offer somewhere else, but they would have been contributors.
      2) Finding FCS guys who may not have P4 measurables but are highly productive and have heart/competitive fire. Find a few of those guys each cycle and add depth without a lot of NIL costs.

      • “The future is to invest in talent evaluation…”

        Great point. That should always be a priority and reflected in the salary of the staff that does the evaluation, but it is under-emphasized.

        May be a good idea to remphasize and reevaluate strength and conditioning too. Need to develop them as much as possible and better protect their health.

      • Well, i think Indiana did shell out a lot of NIL as well. I thought I saw a graphic they spent in the top 20? Anyway, not saying he wasn’t a good recruiter but that they did also throw a ton of cash into NIL

  86. Someone noted above that Mateer will make more next year than NFL back-up qb. How long until the NIL athletes begin to challenge the NFL’s pay structure? How many top college qbs are going to be happy to take a pay cut when they are drafted? Cam Ward may lose a lot of money once he is drafted by all accounts. Will the NFL make the argument that the rookie contracts should be even less for qbs since they have already been paid handsomely? Or can the NIL athletes shift the story to how unfair it is for them to take a pay-cut to play professionally and the NFLPA will use it as a platform for additional power to the players etc?
    I don’t think this current structure is sustainable for even another 2 years. There will be a major adjustment to bring some balance and fairness to what is happening. There are way too many schools losing ground in this current circumstance. It can’t continue with only a handful of schools capable of taking advantage of the NIL arrangement.

    • It won’t be long until someone challenges the eligibility rules (4 years plus a redshirt plus a medical). Great college players who can’t make it in the NFL for one reason or another will argue there’s an economic market for them to participate in at the college level and their ability to earn an income and make a living is being arbitrarily limited by those rules.

  87. 4
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    SMU is the sleeping giant that has awakened. Imagine being in SMU’s situation and having 10-20 oil billionaires lined up to build an NIL roster for the current era? They have been fully invested for less a a year since they bought their way into the ACC and already have made the CFP. What will another 2-3 years of buying the roster filled with legit Texas kids look like? According to them, they have just begun focusing on football again.
    I’ll predict that SMU success will blow up the SEC charade of superiority before anything else does. I’m kind of rooting for SMU to just go crazy in this NIL era and dwarf Ohio St and Oregon by spending about $100 mil for a roster and win it all.
    SMU may be the one school to blow the whole thing up and still be playing by the new rules in place.

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      Example of SMU donor clout from an ESPN article:
      SMU raised $100 million in 5 days after joining the ACC last year.
      4 donation @ 8 figures!
      35 donations @ 7 figures!
      82 donations @ 6 figures!

      This is just the beginning before they have tasted any real success. It is coming if they can beat Penn St and make a run, the SMU base will open up checkbooks like no other school really can, and a lot of the Texas schools know it. I’ll root for SMU to blow it all up by beating them all at their own game of trying to buy championships through paying athletes outrageously.

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        Texas A&M hasn’t been on the sidelines as a program mentally/psychologically for the last 40 years either. SMU has had a mentality shift within the program and booster sphere that is no longer captive to the psychological grip of being under the death penalty. I think the major difference will be a no holds barred attack on the powers and structures that doomed them for the very things they are legally able to do now.
        This is the irony of SMU. They have 40 years of unleashed fury, fandom and cash that can be spent exactly as they did before but with enemies on their minds to motivate the boosters etc. It is a full admin effort and I hope it succeeds and should be quite entertaining.

        Just last year they were being mocked for the ACC media deal and they brushed it off as no big deal. Now they are in CFP ahead of Texas A&M. Off to a pretty good start.

        • I’d suspect A&M would be a playoff team if they were in the ACC too. That and the Big12 are the easiest paths to the playoffs currently. SMU had a cake schedule at the right time

          • aTm has their own issues. They would find a way to win the conference once in a blue moon… maybe.

            They would spend the rest of the time finishing between 3rd and 8th.

  88. new 6A state champion from West Linn is locked in love with the Beaver State. Jake Normoyle is an All-State offensive lineman, standing 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds from the Lions who is committed to Oregon State. His dad, Chad, was a Duck.

    “With the other commits that are going there, I know them very, very well. I’ve had the chance to meet them and I’m excited with the group of guys that we’re going to have, and I am excited about what coach [Kyle] DeVan is bringing and how he can form us to be better young men and football players,” Normoyle said. “And I think that is kind of the reason that I mainly stuck with Oregon State but also the fact that it’s a smaller town and everyone is all about football there when the football games are going on and I think that’s what for me is the leading factor.”

  89. Where does it show that and you mean Michigan I think osu hopefully lands him he will start up his draft value and Michigan horrible fit a run heavy team and could lose job to there five star 10 million dollar qb can someone find need about transfer targets put on here from edge and blitz if your a member

  90. Appeals are kinda dumb Oklahoma state qb got 8th year but declined to go to nfl please post transfer portal news stuff and rumors and stuff from blitz and edge

  91. MBB is fun to watch this year. You have to hand it to Tinkle for finally figuring it out. This looks like the kind of team he’s always wanted, but was inexplicably unable to put together one that even remotely resembled it. Night and day difference.

    Biggest weakness seems to be lacking any real go to scorers and not having a good true 2, but we’re loaded with versatile swing men, Minor fills the stat sheet like a shorter GP2 and we have pretty good depth down low.

  92. Beavs up 66-41 with 5 minutes left. 8-2 and blowing a lot of teams out and that’s a good sign. This team looks legit as they play tough defense and everyone can shoot the ball and Fallah is solid inside and the 6’7″ kid from Lithuania is really a quality talent as is Minor,, Rataj (sp) and the others.

    This ye could easily be 10-0 and on the top 15 had they not those two close and winnable games. Time to get on the Tinkle wagon while there’s still room.

    • Tinkle may catch lightning in a bottle. I’ll stay off the bandwagon for a bit longer.
      Defensive intensity looks good and the offense is more than a dribble/shoot u detained point guard. Both improvements from previous years.
      I see quite a few skilled big guys, several athletic wing guys with size and a couple of really good ball handling guards. Now the mystery is can they operate as a unit once Tinkle attempts to over coach them.

      Another NCAA run would be a nice shot in the arm for the OSU fan base. But that run would also have an extension tied to it for Tinkle.
      Choose wisely Grasshopper…

      • At this point, we should just be excited we have something to cheer about. If this team gets to the dance,, tinkle could be a candidate for COTY.

  93. It appears things are looking favorable for the Beavs to land that 4* TE from BYU, Jackson Bowers.
    I dont have concrete confirmation, but the usual signals that I see before the Beavs land a commitment are there, and that’s all I’m going to say.

    Also, I noticed Bray is now following QB Brendon Lewis back

    • From what I’ve heard Lewis had a really good visit but wants to do the others (Memphis and maybe one other).

      Think they probably locked Bowers up on his visit unless someone else swoops in with too much $.

    • BYU? Has he already completed his mission work? I like these players but everytime we recruit one, they leave for two years and you never hear from them again, no matter how many *’s they have.

      • I watched the entire game and sac state has some decent players and is 1-4 in games decided by 7 pts or less and is now 2-9. The beavers really look like a legit team as every starter has a solid offensive game, can shoot the 3, great off the ball movement, very tough defense, good passing, etc. I don’t really see a huge weakness although they did get a little sloppy at times and with ball security.

        If things go their way, I can see them making the NCAA tourney and being a tough out. Tinks could be a candidate for national COTY if that happens.

        I think this is his best team with some quality depth and the bigs are talented

  94. My son just texted me and let me know that Dickert just left for Wake Forest….I guess that leaves the Beavs in better shape than WSU.

  95. Weird move by Dickert. Must have been a significant pay raise otherwise it’s just a knee jerk reaction on his part being annoyed losing all the good players he’s developed and always being bottom of the table in NIL (even compared to us).

    I doubt the Wake Forest NIL situation is much better, though. Small school with a small alumni base who will always be matched against huge schools with huge donor bases (and now Bill Belichick!)

    • Remind me of Smith going to the current Big10. MSU is the 10th best program (at best) in the conference. Wake in the ACC?? Most years they are likely bottom tier.

    • Nothing super weird, just a coach moving up the ranks and pay scale. Guy started in DII and now is in a big boy league along with big boy money. He’ll have the same NIL problems their as he had at WSU. But everyone but the top 10 or so teams are in the same boat. It’s college football life now. I’d expect Bray to jump if he has a few good season developing guys and making bowl games also. No one is loyal anymore, they don’t have too be.

      • I’m sure it is in the back of Bray’s mind; looking ahead to his next gig…however, Bray hasn’t done much, yet, to where a college looks at him and says – “Wow, this guy has to be our next head coach no matter what the price!” I have a bad feeling about the future of the “PAC 12” – next year is just a wasted season – play WSU twice??? What is this, 1910? I still contend that we should have worked a deal out with the MWC, but it appeared to be ‘beneath’ us to do such a thing. The MWC appears to be pretty good as most of the teams we played were able to handle the Beavs well, at home and away. The MWC utilizes the portal well, too, as it always seemed that the teams had incoming transfers from significant programs, too.

        Pretty disappointed in the whole mess this year. I always enjoy the bowl games, but that past enjoyment has also been kicked in the nuts. For most of these lower tier bowls, you get to watch players who never heard of while an assistant coach and a makeshift group of coordinators
        try to cobble together a respectable game plan. Not sure the bowl coordinators want to see this either. What a fucking mess!

          • As we all know, not all coordinators make great head coaches, Bray might be and probably is a better DC than he is a head coach – we’re going to find out one way or the other because we took the easy and most expedient way to hire the HC last year. If Bray does get picked up as a DC somewhere else 2-3years down the road, what kind of condition will the program be in at that point should be a major concern.

    • I wonder what his guaranteed money is. Coaches nowadays maybe be doing exactly what kids are doing with NIL. I don’t really care where I go just give me a good chunk of change that could be life changing and I’ll put up with anything for a few years until I get fired.

  96. On one hand, I get why Smith, Dickert, et al, leave tiny programs, I really do, but on the other hand, I’m surprised there aren’t more coaches who stay at programs with low expectations so that they can build out their own personal legacy there, have a low pressure job, and be able to still rake in millions and millions. Especially for someone like Smith, who absolutely destroyed all good will and legendary status that he had built at his alma mater for a job I doubt he’ll still be at 5 years from now. I just think a lot of these coaches are hyper-competitive, egomaniac psychopaths. However, there are still some great coaches out there that the bigger programs have certainly tried to poach but stay where they are because they’ve built something comfortable, for example, Monken at Army, Campbell at Iowa State, Whittingham at Utah, Troy Calhoun at Air Force.

    • It likely came down to Mateer as the last straw for Dickert. Their NIL group put together the best package they could and it was still dwarfed by the Sooners. Dickert is the paradox of the guy that is super angry about everything going against him while laughing all the way to the bank in the next breath.

      WSU needs to sustain and recover or it will be a bad look for the new PAC12. They will probably be forced to do pretty much what OSU did last year and find a bunch of current guys who are alums to come back to Pulman and make a run until things settle down again. The fan base up there is probably gripping like we all were after the gnome left last year. Words don’t men a whole lot anymore from players or coaches, and it isn’t good for the sport unless you can afford to just cycle through to the next guy.

      Barnes needs to be on top of scouting for new coaching staff just like Bray needs to be scouting for new portal guys. It is all the same at this point. Have a FCS coach and entire staff ready to go if Bray and his guys bounce in a year or two.

      So who is the favorite for the conference next year?

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      Smith will be one of those guys that gets canned and disappears for a year before taking an idaho/ new mexico state kind of job but then never puts it together again because the game passed them by ala Hawkins from boise.

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      WTF are you on about? ‘Tiny Program’ my ass – the Beavs were a c-hair from a PAC 12 title last year and have been fairly competitive, not withstanding the nightmare years of Gary Anderson. If not for the implosion of the PAC 12 over the last 24 months, we may have won a title this year. I still blame Lincoln Riley for this mess and nothing makes me feel better than to see USC wallow in mediocrity; the same with the huskies, too.

      • Yes. Tiny program. Meaning we don’t have the program finances, talent, history, prestige, or academics to consider ourselves a top dog when it comes to football. Saying we were a C-hair away from a conference title last year is hilarious. The team lost 4 conference games and didn’t even make the conference title game. Yes, we were a good team from 2021 through 23, but we are returning to mean. Historically speaking, the Beavs are typically a 4-5 win team AT BEST, hence why the majority of the fanbase continues to look nostalgically back at a single New Years 6 win 25 years ago as the pinnacle, whereas a win like that would have been forgotten within a couple of years by the top dogs of the sport.

        Remember, of the old so-called power 5, Oregon State is one of the worst college football programs of all time, along with the likes of Indiana, Iowa State, Washington State, Northwestern, and others.

          • The 28 years were almost 28 years ago.

            It’s a ridiculous thing to compare to this millennium.

            Those of us who lived it know we’re not a small program. We remember the east stands being a small section of bleachers on a hill.

            Go away.

        • We don’t have the academics……you just proved to everyone you are not what you proclaim to be. The Beavs have one of the best engineering programs in the country as well as an amazing research school as witnessed by the multi-million s of grants they receive.

          Go join a site that is focused on you candle-making, backstabbing and Testicle-less ducks you LOSER!

  97. New commit Keyon Cox from UCF. Had offers from Mississippi State, Syracuse and Boston College out of High School. Didn’t play much at UCF, but offers from 2 programs on the rise and a lower tier SEC school say he must have been a little overlooked coming out of high school. 3 years remaining for him to make an impact. Hope he pans out.

  98. One funny personal note about the WSU coaching situation.

    Mt. View kid (Bend Oregon) had committed to Wake Forest and just flipped his commitment to WSU. Wonder if he flips back? From what I heard he plans to stay at WSU because he doesn’t want to go to the East coast but what a weird spot for a kid to be in.

  99. Reportedly 6000 fb players – all divisions – in the portal. Hilarious. Please, OSU, don’t be so desperate – maybe find players who. might possibly care about an academic major.

    • The only players that are going to stay at OSU are the ones that can’t get more money somewhere else. Hell, at this point, you could say that about every player on every team.

      Players who are going to play in the NFL are good enough to get paid top dollar in college. Players who are above average but maybe won’t get drafted are still going after the biggest bag they can get because it might be their only shot at padding their bank account. And the players that are just average aren’t going to the NFL and they are getting paid by a college, so their best shot is to get a degree that they can fall back on. Those are the ones that will stay at OSU.

      • The ones who will stay are also the guys that don’t meet NFL measurables and won’t have anybody recruiting them highly in the first place. Skateboo is the perfect embodiment of who the Beavs need to be looking for eventually. Undersized guys with big heart, overlooked guys who will appreciate the opportunity, smart guys who know that their life is going to be more than football in 10 years or so.

          • At least we had him for one year to build relationships. There will be guys that are too good for Idaho that pass through there…

            Might give GJ a landing spot if things don’t work out for him here.

  100. “Washington State, Wake Forest, Sam Houston State, Tulsa, Fresno State and Appalachian State will field a new head coach when they play the Beavers during the 2025 season.

    the Beavers face only five returning coaches next season in games against California, Texas Tech, Oregon, Houston and Lafayette.

    Sam Houston announced Wednesday that it is hiring former offensive coordinator Phil Longo as its head coach. Other new coaches on OSU’s schedule are Tulsa’s Tre Lamb, Appalachian State’s Dowell Loggains, Fresno State’s Matt Entz and Dickert at Wake Forest. Washington State, because of Wednesday’s news, is looking to fill its vacancy.”

    Instability reigns it seems….transition times can be interesting or at least pique curiosity, but regular instability for the have-nots will drive fans away. The haves will likely enjoy an even greater advantage in signing talent.

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    Maybe ignorance is bliss. We just stop thinking about football until August and we are surprised by which players are still here, who just arrived as transfers and which coaches are still on the staff. It is too frustrating and a roller coaster to see all of the changing on a daily basis. Players chasing bags of NIL cash and coaches chasing “dream jobs” ahem…also bags of cash. And the kicker is all of this is happening while we are still waiting for the CFP to actually begin. Somehow the schedule for recruit signing day/transfer portal and coaching changes needs to be adjusted for everyone involved. This is insanity.

    Consider 6000 athletes in the transfer portal only 3 weeks after the regular season has ended, an early signing day, and a coaching carousel that leaves no staff untouched, all while many teams are in the midst of preparing for post-season play, how is any of this a good scenario?

    NCAA has lost any power/respect and has basically let the system devolve until it destroys itself.

  102. Excerpts from;

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/columnist/dan-wolken/2024/12/18/college-football-playoff-tv-ratings-nfl-saturday/77057879007/


    One of the most fundamental principles in American sports — Saturdays in the fall are for college football, while Sundays are for the NFL — did not happen by accident.

    In fact it was written into a bill passed by Congress and signed by President Kennedy in 1961. The primary purpose of the law was to grant professional sports leagues an antitrust exemption for negotiating television rights collectively and distributing the money equally, which was no small feat during an era when anything that hinted at communism was bad politics.

    A key part of the deal was that the NFL would lose antitrust protections if it broadcast any games from 6 p.m. on Friday nights until Sunday that were being played within 75 miles of a high school or college game. In effect, that meant Saturday was legally protected as college football’s day.

    But 63 years on, there’s a catch: Restrictions on the NFL are only valid through the second Saturday in December. Back then, that made a lot of sense because the college season was already over, save for the New Year’s bowl games.

    These days, though — and especially this year — it has put college and the NFL into direct competition. And the result of that conflict will undoubtedly suck up a lot of attention next week as we analyze the first set of games from the expanded College Football Playoff.

    By adding more teams, more rounds and extending the season all the way until Jan. 20 for the championship game, college football is trying to grab a piece of real estate the NFL has already claimed. And that presents a whole bunch of existential issues that could shape how the playoff looks in the future as the sport’s leaders try to figure out what works best to put their sport in the spotlight.

    Everybody will be looking closely to see how the ratings look,” Aresco said. “I think at some point it’s just tough to get in there without having that overlap. It’s going to be very interesting. There’s just limited flexibility where you can put these games if you want to maintain (competitive) equity and not have games spread out during the week where someone will have the rest advantage for the next round.””

    Had college football embraced a real playoff a couple decades ago when it became clear there was an appetite for something besides the Bowl Championship Series, it might have had a chance to put down roots on these Saturdays in December, even if they aren’t protected by law.

    Instead, the NFL has filled that void — and rightfully so. From mid-December on, Saturday is their day. College football, and its partners at ESPN/ABC and TNT, are the ones trying to shave off a piece of their audience. It’s going to be great for college football fans, but the reality is that the games will need to deliver to break through when they’re running up against the most bankable ratings monster in sports (NFL).

    “They (NFL) take territory,” Aresco said. “They’re not shy about that.”

    The direct conflict college football finds itself in now is a continuation of the unavoidable, but mostly self-inflicted scheduling issues that have plagued the CFP from the beginning.

    In the College Football Playoff’s first 10 years, ratings were generally good when the semifinals took place on New Year’s Day and not nearly as good when they’ve been on other days. That was no surprise to anyone, except for the people who created the CFP with expectations that they were going to “change the paradigm of New Year’s Eve in this country” in the words of former director Bill Hancock.

    What really happened is that college football learned it doesn’t have the power to shape viewing behavior on that level. In other words, it’s not the NFL.

    With bowl and television contracts expiring in 2026, the playoff will have more flexibility and power to demand that its quarterfinal games primarily take place on Jan. 1. This year will feature a New Year’s Day triple header with one game kicking off at 7:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. That’s more traditional territory where college football can dominate.

    In an ideal world, college football would end on New Year’s Day like it did for decades. But unless conference commissioners are willing to shorten the regular season (no chance), move the season’s start date a couple weeks earlier (highly unlikely) or eliminate conference championship games (tough sell), the CFP is going to spend most of its time fighting for oxygen with the NFL’s crescendo toward the Super Bowl.

    That’s a tough, tough battle. And after this weekend, we’re going to get the first data set on whether college football is going to pay a price. ”

    Now add these factors to fans losing interest due to free agent, transitory players and coaches….when do non-SEC and non-B10 fans start turning away?

  103. To OhioBeavs point above about Texas oil money catapulting SMU into the playoffs:

    https://fortune.com/2024/12/18/texas-billionaires-college-football-championship/

    “Southern Methodist University has spent most of the last four decades in college football’s wilderness. A one-time powerhouse turned pariah, the Mustangs languished for years playing obscure rivals in second-tier leagues. Things got so bad that the SMU program’s most famous alum, NFL Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson, once suggested the university should drop the sport.

    Now, however, SMU is competing for a national championship for the first time since Dickerson suited up in the early 1980s, when he led the team’s legendary Pony Express rushing attack. “We’re not a laughingstock anymore,” Dickerson recently told ESPN.

    The current Mustang squad’s resurgence has been fueled by big dollars. Ironically, heavy spending—in the form of an illicit slush fund that paid for lavish player recruitment gifts—is what led to SMU’s undoing in 1987, when the NCAA handed out the “death penalty” for the first time in the sport’s history, shutting down the school’s football program for the year.

    A $15 billion meeting

    It’s near impossible to compete in the top echelons of college football without belonging to one of the sport’s four major conferences. Last year, after years of lobbying behind the scenes, SMU finally got a ticket back to the big time. It came from the Atlantic Coast Conference, known as the ACC, home to five-time national champion Clemson, as well as elite schools like Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia.

    The offer came with a catch, however. SMU would have to forgo nine years of media rights payments, worth more than $200 million, for a seat at the table. SMU’s billionaire backers, however, hardly blinked.

    Shortly before receiving the invite, David Miller, the chairman of the school’s board, quickly organized a meeting of 12 wealthy donors. The net worth in the room exceeded $15 billion, according to Yahoo Sports.

    The group included oilman Ray Hunt, worth about $7 billion himself, and his nephew, Clark, the owner of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. Also in attendance were Rich Templeton and Marty Flanagan, the former CEOs of Texas Instruments and Invesco, respectively.

    “It’s a couple hundred million dollars,” Miller, the founder of EnCap Investments, an oil and gas private equity firm, told Yahoo at the time. “I’m not losing sleep over it.”

    The bet paid off quicker than most expected. SMU came within a last-second field goal of winning the ACC during its first season in the conference. More importantly, the team’s 11-2 campaign earned a No. 11 national ranking and a spot in the College Football Playoff, leaving heavyweights like Alabama and Miami outside of the 12-team field.

    SMU is an eight-and-a-half-point underdog as it travels to take on Penn State in the first round of the tournament this Saturday. Four wins away from a title, however, it’s clear the Mustangs are back where their wealthy supporters believe they belong.”

  104. Statistically, Maalik Murphy looks like Derek Anderson.

    Tons of big-time throws on deep balls, pretty low rate of turnover worthy plays, but he was also the least accurate QB in the ACC (not just on deep throws) and pretty poor under pressure (despite having one of the lowest pressure rates among ACC QB’s). Also, he only scrambled two times all year and threw it away four times. Dude’s a statuesque gunslinger. Pretty impressive stats for a first-time starter, though.

    Lewis is kind of the opposite. Not as much of a downfield passer. More efficient, and more prone to throw it away or scramble. One of the top running QB’s in the country in terms of number of long runs and number of broken tackles. Seems like a better fit with what RG wants to do with the offense. Maybe he can be flexible if the talent is there?

  105. Watching the “AOS LA Bowl” – so Dan Mullen is the new HC for UNLV? That guy has a reasonable coaching pedigree: 35-14 at Florida. How did a middling MWC team like UNLV snag this guy???

  106. The University of Oregon’s athletic department is worth $780 million and valued as the 17th most valuable in the country according to a report by financial network CNBC.

    The report listed the country’s top 75 major college athletic departments. Oregon State was No. 66 at $326 million.

    The country’s most valuable program is Ohio State at $1.318 billion. The Big Ten and SEC had the top five programs, with Notre Dame at No. 6. Four were valued at more than $1 billion in Ohio State, Texas ($1.281 billion), Texas A&M ($1.264 billion) and Michigan ($1.062 billion).

    CNBC used factors such as alumni and fan base, donations, revenue and football attendance to arrive at valuations.

    The most valuable conference is the SEC at $13.3 billion, with the average school valued at $832 million. The Big Ten is a close second at $13.2 billion. Far back is the ACC at $9.6 billion and Big 12 at $6.7 billion.

    The new Pac-12 is incomplete, as Colorado State, Fresno State, Utah State and Gonzaga are not among the top 75. Washington State is the most valuable, No. 61 at $392 million; San Diego State is No. 67 at $287 million and Boise State No. 72 at $176 million.

    Of the former Pac-12 schools, USC is the most valuable $932 million, No. 12 overall. Washington is No. 27 at $658 million.

    One surprising valuation is Arizona State. The Sun Devils program has a lower valuation than Oregon State at $279 million. Another mild surprise is UCLA. Even though it’s located in the population-rich Los Angeles area, the Bruins program is worth only $472 million, No. 54 overall.

    Here is the complete report. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/19/college-sports-programs-valuations.html

    Doesn’t appear to take into account NIL, which departments do not control obviously.

    Also, Texas a&m coach says things are out of control, and college football needs leadership and rules and regulations…apparently college football satire is dead?

  107. If Murphy actually signs, Bray and the staff had better go find some receivers. Murphy will be in the portal again next year if he spends a year with our current crop of guys who can’t get separation.

    • Valsin looked pretty good before injury. Clemons is explosive when healthy. There’s some capable guys. I’ll take another good one though. At least walker is a pretty sure handed and somehow gets open.

    • On3 Transfer Portal has Maalik Murphy committed to the Beavers FWIW. If that’s accurate, that’s a great sign and he can do the off season workouts with our receivers.

        • Crazy. I was just thinking last night that he doesn’t seem like our kind of guy from a play style or personality standpoint. See: him jokingly flipping off his coach and posing for picture on the NC State logo after beating them.

          We’ll see, I guess. GA taught us that failure to find a QB will be a coach’s downfall.

          • Mobile guy who can accurately make short throws. Murphy is neither mobile, nor accurate. He’s a big gun-slinging pocket passer.

            One plus here is that Murphy has huge upside and a few years of eligibility left. One PFF stat I like is the big time throw-turnoverworthy play ratio. It shows how much a QB can create while also limiting mistakes. The top NFL prospects and top performers are USUALLY the guys that score best on that metric.

            Murphy is in the top 15 in the country in this stat playing against pretty good competition and his best game came against the best competition (SMU).

      • A few days ago, someone was adamant stating no way MM was transferring from Duke to OSU and I argued he was a California kid from Englewood. I can’t find his post but it looks like he was very wrong…

        I’ll have to check out MM highlights bc I know nothing about him except he threw for quite a few yards and tds but also had like 11 picks too.

        Any thoughts on his potential and whether he’s a significant upgrade or more like DJU?

        Oh, I read a comment above by student beaver suggesting OSU doesn’t have the academic pedigree to be considered a big time academic school. So he certainly proven he’s not who he claims to be bc OSU engineering and research emphasis are some of the most prestigious and nationally recognized programs in the country. Overall OSU is ranked nationally 144 out of 436 for their academics. He is and will always be a duck troll no matter how hard he attempts to disguise his loyalty.

  108. Big get for Beavs! Duke was 9-3 and Murphy set school records in his first year. You can nitpick his statistics but the bottom line is he will likely improve a bit in his second year as starter. Assuming we can keep him. But it seems to me like he felt like he made a mistake not going to Oregon State when he transferred last year.

    • He saw our uncoordinated 2024 offense and said “now THAT’S what I’ve been missing!”

      I’m happy the Beavs showed they can land a big name, but how does a non-mobile 60% pocket passer fit running this offense. Our only successes last year were when the QB was mobile. And our OL is replacing several key performers.
      But, as far as what I’ve come to expect for OSU recruiting, this is still about as big of a signing they’ve gotten in quite some time, so kudos for that. Now put him in position to succeed.

      • It’ll be interesting to see if Gunderson can earn his money now and develop an offense that will work for this personnel grouping, rather than try and make Murphy play in a stereotypical RPO offense or whatever. Clearly they were reluctant to go with the traditional pocket passer last year in Gulbranson. If they try and force a square peg through a round hole next year, this thing will blow up in a bad way.

      • Give it time. He was trying to compete with an Idaho qb, missing the #1 receiver for a lot of the year, 2 out of 9 scholly o lineman, and limited running backs. Let’s see what he can do in year two with more of his guys knowing his system. 41 points against Wazzu when you have a qb that can throw. I’ll take that.

  109. Whether this pans out on the field remains to be seen, but getting a well-known transfer like Murphy is a great look for the Beaver program and could be a boost for the program in multiple ways.

  110. Didn’t zenbeaver make a comment before that we didn’t think we could match others’ NIL offers for Murphy, but the silver lining was that left NIL money for OL and DL? Does that mean we’re screwed on OL and DL now? :)

    • What was being floated at the time was that even though it stung they missed out on Murphy, Lewis was a great new option as the #1, and he would be so much cheaper and leave more resources for others.

      When Lewis called other schools to tell them he was committing to the Beavs they convinced him to take a visit which extended things.

      Then things didn’t go as Murphy had hoped at Auburn and Kentucky (probably a mix of fit and not as much $ as he wanted), and those teams went in other directions.

      I have no idea how much $ they put together for Murphy, but I can’t imagine it’s significantly more than Auburn or Kentucky, so I’m guessing there were some other factors at play. None the less, Murphy’s options for a substantial NIL payday were dwindling.

  111. Well, looks like we splashed some cash. Murphy chose OSU because “they really wanted me and really made me a priority.” Can’t get much clearer than that…

    We outbid Auburn and Kentucky??

    • Things are looking up for next year with the incoming players and the portal. I’m not sure how we’re doing it, but it looks promising. For WSU, things aren’t looking so good. They are now where we were last year. It will be interesting to see who they bring in as their new HC but he will be way behind recruiting just like we were last season. I guess we weren’t their friends anyway……snicker, snicker

      • They’ll be fine.

        Next year will be rebuilding, but we’re both in limbo anyway. Two years is enough to build a core team with potential. And they’ve always been friends. I know at least two dozen fans I call, “Hey, man. How’s it going?”

        And then we relearn each other’s names over some beers.

  112. I have a close family friend that has gotten a feeler as a corner from OSU. He’s 6’4 180. He has a 2.5 cumulative GPA (I’ve been telling him for years he has the ability, but needed to bring his grades up.) He’s my oldest son’s best friend. I’m not looking to just do this for OSU, he has had a very hard life. He’s gotten offers from BYU and Wake also. He’s looking to go JUCO, but if he does, I don’t think he will stick with the schooling. I’m really thinking the stability that a D1 program could give him would help. He’s a great kid and I’m just posting to see what he could do to get in a stable program which I think Coach Bray is trying to build.

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