1. Oregon-Opportunistic defense, team intensity, and uber confidence trickling down from the top. The QB issue isn't an issue. Remember: Justin Roper put up numbers in this offense, proving anyone can. Oh, and look at the Ducks first six games and tell me how they're not 6-0 and being hyped as a darkhorse National Title contender. Beaver fans: when you think you have enough barf bags buy one more.

2. Arizona-Other than the game @ Oregon, the schedule lines up aces. This league is still all about QB play, and Foles is the best in the conference. Arizona also sports an intriguing defense; it's loaded with high caliber JCs. Can all seven of those guys gel fast enough? Not sure, but I imagine they do to some degree. Legit contender in conference.

3. Oregon State-The Beavers have too much to overcome to win the conference. A green, sophomore QB, shaky run defense, and a remorseless schedule (forget the out of conference games, they also play 75% road games between October 9th and November 6th). The (poor) punting game, which could theoretically help mask shaky defense, isn't going to help the cause. The conference is down this year, a fact that will negate some of these problems, and the Rose Bowl motivation is omnipresent and cannot be discounted. But in the end, this is a flawed team. The Rodgers bros will their comrades to a 3rd place finish.

4. UCLA-I think I am one of the few who likes this squad. Prince improved in every game last year. The RB (Franklin) is good, and the defense has great potential with Datone Jones, Akeem Ayers, and Rahim Moore. Their special teams are rock solid. Dark horse team, and if Prince makes a quantum leap they're a conference contender.

5. USC-There are a lot of predictions that these guys are going to win the Pac-10. That is ludicrous. Coupled with the off the field turmoil, they severely downgraded at head coach and have an overrated QB. Fifth is generous and based solely on talent and reputation. The other 9 teams who were pushed around for a decade? Oh, they're going to be out for blood alright.

6. Washington-Jake Locker this, Jake Locker that. Jake Locker, sixth place.

7. Stanford-The loss of Toby Gerhart is huge. This team is not even average without him. A slow defense, an overrated QB with few weapons, and a head coach who is going to compound expectations (i.e. pressure) on his talent-starved squad by running his mouth.

8. California-The Pac-10 has become more defense oriented over the past five years, and that's been bad news for the Bears. A mediocre QB plus a new defensive coordinator should spell a down year in Berkeley.

9. Arizona State-Does anyone know what to make of this team? I sure don't. I do know that most of the players I see on paper either stink or are unknowns, and that's enough to warrant a 9th place finish in my blog.

10. Washington State-They are improving, slowly. Expect a lot of fight, improved D, and a solid ground game. The Cougs loathe being a mockery, and that just might be motivation enough to leapfrog Arizona State.

Now it's time to say good night
Good night sleep tight
Now the sun turns out his light
Good night sleep tight

-The Beatles

The second and final fall scrimmage is in the books. Sure, the fact that the defense gave up 182 yards and 3 touchdowns to a walk-on running back concerns me, but that's not where my rationale leads me tonight. No, what is most disconcerting is Beaver fan's reaction to the offensive bloodbath. They are actually excited that the offense is running roughshod. But more about that later.

Pleasant surprises from camp:

1. Katz has settled in nicely. He's going to make some terrible mistakes this season, but the best player at the position is starting, and that's all you can ask.

2. Jordan Jenkins appears legit. He's not as good as the defense is making him appear, but he's serviceable. It's hard to believe any defense in the Pac-10 would yield 182 yards and 3 tds to this player.

3. Mitch Singler will be a good possession receiver.

4. Obum is an engaging talent. I think his routes ultimately hold him back and make him a (goal line) specialist, or maybe even expect conversion to an Antonio Gates type TE.

5. Jordan Poyer can start.

The disappointments: well, you guys know my complaints about the defense, so I won't reiterate. Cliff Kirkpatrick, who both follows the team on a daily basis and watched the scrimmage, had this to say:

The defense, well, I’m worried. LB Dwight Roberson said stopping the run was an issue last scrimmage when Jenkins and Ryan McCants combined for more than 100 yards. This time Jenkins topped 100 on his own. He had runs of 41, 25 and 22 yards.

Yikes.

My opinion: Move Roberson to MLB with Doctor and Pankey at OLB. All things considered, it's the best possible corp. However, if history is an indicator, it's not going to happen. Riley won't start Doctor. At least not until he has a few losses under his belt and he becomes desperate. The more probable  "solution" will be a rotation at MLB (Wilson, Robinson, Unga) based on game situation. I still feel Unga is the most well-rounded of these three.

Back to Beaver fan real quick: their excitement over Katz toasting CBs for 60 yard bombs is akin to being happy your ace pitcher gives up back to back to back home runs in spring ball. It is not the norm, and it means something is drastically wrong. What it doesn't mean: that your team has the best QB and WRs on the planet. Do you realize how irrational that belief is? Having to outscore opponents is both a bad game plan and season strategy. Sorry to crash the parade.

Tyler Thomas, wow. Way to make your university proud and further asphyxiate Riley's on-life-support reputation for recruiting quality men.

Anyway, on to the important matters.

On August 18th, I questioned why Trevor Romaine wasn't on this team (greyshirting), and why Connor Hammlet (who was also greyshirting) received Fred Thompson's scholarship to become the 6th TE (no that is not a typo) on the roster. I knew Kahut was injured and therefore Romaine could come in handy, but further, it seemed a good idea to start grooming next years kicker…oh…I don't know, this year?

As September 4th approaches, the question becomes more valid. Cliff Kirkpatrick writes:

Kahut situation
Riley agreed with my concern over PK Justin Kahut's sore back lingering into the season after a car accident before training camp.

“We are not passed that concern until he starts kicking regularly,” Riley said. “At this point he hasn’t done that.”

The backup plan is for P Johnny Hekker to handle kickoffs and freshman walk-on Max Johnson from Astoria to do the extra points and field goals.

My problems with this situation are twofold:

1. The Beavers just went through this situation 3 years ago with Loomis and Serna. To error once is semi-understandable, but to not learn from that mistake is unacceptable. A kicker as poor as Max Johnson cannot under any circumstance be your contingency plan. There is no excuse or justification here.

2. The moment Kahut was injured, Riley should have been on the phone with Romaine. Instead, he called Connor Hamlett and added a 6th tight end to the roster and second from last year's class (Tyler Perry being the first). Is the 6th TE really a priority? I am having a hard time understanding the logic.

The defense's poor performance this fall had me concerned. Now special teams, which figured to be a strong point, may once again revert to 2007 levels. Having to out-shoot opponents, while fun, is not a winning strategy.

Let me guess, Mike Riley is a genius, and I'm the idiot?

Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I'll see you in my dreams
-Leadbelly

The contingent who dislikes this site must be pulling their hair out tonight. It's been hard to be wrong of late. Believe me when I say I'd like to be and I'm trying my best, but the Beavs just won't cooperate. Anyway, the first scrimmage is complete, and as predicted, the defense got steamrolled today, giving up 712 total yards. The powerhouse linebacking corp, led by vocal "leader" Keith Pankey, gave up 150 yards on the ground. Frankly, Mr. Pankey, your "leadership" was invisible as your linebacking. The secondary, meanwhile, couldn't stop Cody Vaz and Obum Gwacham, on their way to yielding a whooping 562 yards. How are they going to stop the four first round quarterbacks in this conference? You answer that however you need to in order to sleep at night.

Some will say, "But Angry, Paea didn't play!" Yes, well, keep in mind Quiz, Wheaton, and Phillipp didn't play, either. That's right, the first team defense was trounced by Jordan Jenkins, Ryan McCants, and Mitch Singler, et al.

This is the problem: you need the defense to be dominant this time of year. Not good, not adequate, but dominant.

Why?

Because the defense knows the offense's playbook. It's that simple. They practice against these guys daily and know the plays, yet they still can't stop them. The defense has an advantage; they should be stifling. A good friend of mine who was at Reser today told me he saw wideouts blowing by corners with ease. Worse, the backs ran over, through, and around linebackers. Arm tackles, missed tackles, lack of determination and passion, and generally more of the same problems we were told would be resolved. Lipstick on a pig, I suppose.

The defense's one bright spot? Blocking a kick by…you guessed it: all-conference placekicker…Max Johnson! I'm sure that didn't have anything to do with Max's skill set or anything. *Cough*

Incidentally, Riley was on The Jim Rome Show today at 11:35 local time. Rome talked about the slow starts, and asked what Riley would do differently this year to prevent that. Mike didn't have much of an answer, and his confusion showed in camp today.

The one positive from all this: the Vegas line versus TCU is beginning to look like an early Christmas gift for the Angry household.