Official Pac-12 Championship discussion thread

dirtbags · Post by **dirtbags** » Mon Dec 01, 2014 8:19 pm

there's a reasonable chance of rain in santa clara friday evening. it won't affect oregon's play, but i wonder if RR has the team drilling in the sprinklers at 6am again. haha.

catgrad97 · Post by **catgrad97** » Mon Dec 01, 2014 9:18 pm

RockyRaccoon wrote:
azgreg wrote:
Damn. Really wanted Gus Johnson.

He's called the game the last two years. Why not this year?

Catstatic · Post by **Catstatic** » Mon Dec 01, 2014 10:53 pm

dirtbags wrote:there's a reasonable chance of rain in santa clara friday evening. it won't affect oregon's play, but i wonder if RR has the team drilling in the sprinklers at 6am again. haha.

I am assuming that the stadium's field will hold up reasonably well to rain? It would stink to have this game in a mud bowl.

Go Cats!!

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 7:29 am

Planning for success: Marcus Mariota vs. Scooby Wright

http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id ... -vs-wright

Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota is 1-2 in his career against the Arizona Wildcats. Linebacker Scooby Wright III is 2-0 against the Ducks. After Friday's Pac-12 championship game in Santa Clara, California, one guy will either be perfect, or the other will be at .500.

Too often, storylines in big games pit quarterback against quarterback. It makes for fun fodder and debate, but they rarely play out since opposing quarterbacks don’t share the field at the same time. In this case, however, you have one of the best linebackers in the country going head to head with one of the best offensive players.

If Wright and Co. want to stay perfect against Mariota and the Ducks, chances are they are going to have to find a way to force turnovers. Recent history suggests that might not be a problem, since Arizona has had more success at forcing Mariota to turn the ball over than any other team has.

One of Mariota’s greatest assets is that he takes care of the ball. In 38 career games, he’s turned the ball over 23 times; 12 interceptions -- a pretty amazing stat -- and 11 fumbles. Of those 11, three have come while rushing the football and the other eight have come via sacks. The last time Mariota had a rushing fumble (non-sack related) was in 2012 against USC.

But against Arizona, Mariota has habit of giving it back. Six of his 23 career turnovers have come against the Wildcats -- three interceptions and three fumbles, two of those coming off of sacks.

A pair of Mariota’s most notorious turnovers, in fact, have come against the Wildcats. To be more specific, they’ve come at the hands of Wright, who has emerged as Mariota’s nemesis of sorts.

Recall last year when Shaq Richardson flipped a deflected Mariota pass back in bounds. Wright caught it. It snapped Mariota’s streak of 353 pass attempts without an interception, and the ‘Cats went on to win 42-16. Richardson should get at least 95 percent of the credit for his effort, but it shows up as a Wright interception on the stat sheet.

The second turnover, however, was 100 percent a Scooby Snack. Earlier this season, with Arizona leading the Ducks 31-24, it was Wright who sacked Mariota on Oregon’s final drive and ripped the ball from him as the two were going to the ground. Wright was credited with the forced and recovered fumble, and the Ducks never got the ball back.

“Scooby just has a knack,” Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said. “One, obviously, it is effort and he was able to keep on that play. It was just a great individual effort when he kept going. I don't think Marcus saw him and Scooby got the sack, strip and recovery, which was a great individual play on him. Scooby has done that to a lot of people through effort. That play was more effort than anything else. I haven't coached a guy like Scooby probably stat wise. Without going through the whole career of stats, there was probably no one with that kind of numbers.”

The numbers for both players are impressive. Mariota is completing 68.6 percent of his throws with 36 touchdowns to just two interceptions this season. He’s also run for 636 yards and 11 scores.

Conversely, Wright is tied for the Pac-12 lead with 139 tackles. But he also leads the country with 2.3 tackles for a loss per game (27 total) and is third nationally with 1.17 sacks per game (14 total). Those aren’t the typical numbers of an inside linebacker. Last week's Walter Camp national player of the week has re-defined the position this season.

Oregon coach Mark Helfrich, of course, doesn’t see it as “Mariota” turnovers. And in a lot of cases, that’s a sweeping generalization. Rather, turnovers are a team mistake.

“There are so many factors that go into being a productive offense,” Helfrich said. “It’s an 11-man job. It’s the timing of the route, depth of the route, all of those deals that come into play. If you hold the ball too long against these guys, you see it against everybody, it’s getting turned over.”

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 8:10 am

lol...I just predicted this in the Scooby thread, that this is the most important matchup of the game and that Scooby will wreak more havoc, this game, even with a "healthy" OL.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 9:27 am

Good For You · Post by **Good For You** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 9:39 am

Catstatic wrote:
dirtbags wrote:there's a reasonable chance of rain in santa clara friday evening. it won't affect oregon's play, but i wonder if RR has the team drilling in the sprinklers at 6am again. haha.
I am assuming that the stadium's field will hold up reasonably well to rain? It would stink to have this game in a mud bowl.

Go Cats!!

I'm pretty sure I saw a tweet where they are installing new turf this week. It's something like the 5th new field this season. Seems like they should go the field turf route.

3goggles · Post by **3goggles** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 10:56 am

Cowheard thinks Oregon will soundly beat us and he says he will tell RR that tomorrow during there interview. Doubtful that happens!

cat77 · Post by **cat77** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 2:38 pm

3goggles wrote:Cowheard thinks Oregon will soundly beat us and he says he will tell RR that tomorrow during there interview. Doubtful that happens!

I would love for that to happen. RichRods answer would be classic.

3goggles · Post by **3goggles** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 2:41 pm

cat77 wrote:
3goggles wrote:Cowheard thinks Oregon will soundly beat us and he says he will tell RR that tomorrow during there interview. Doubtful that happens!
I would love for that to happen. RichRods answer would be classic.

I will be tuned in thats for sure.

Catstatic · Post by **Catstatic** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 2:48 pm

The entire collegiate football nation will be watching your Arizona Wildcats' Football Team play the Oregon Ducks for the Pac 12 championship on Friday night. Unreal.

Go Cats!! Time to shock the world!!

3goggles · Post by **3goggles** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 3:00 pm

Catstatic wrote:The entire collegiate football nation will be watching your Arizona Wildcats' Football Team play the Oregon Ducks for the Pac 12 championship on Friday night. Unreal.

Go Cats!! Time to shock the world!!

Cats fans will not be SHOCKED!

PieceOfMeat · Post by **PieceOfMeat** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 6:26 pm

ya know, the real good thing about the game being on Friday is that I'm already excited and having to wait till Saturday just might make my head explode.

Hell, it might explode as it is.

#7 Arizona...with a chance to win the pac12...with a chance to go beyond that to the first ever CFP...blarghedfhyerhgheyyerasdg;lkjoiuslkjdfasldkjf *boom*

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 6:40 pm

Championship week edition of the Sports Guys. Fischer has been the best insight into this team all year.

azpenguin · Post by **azpenguin** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 7:54 pm

Win or lose, the fact that we're even having these conversations is still unreal. But these guys don't feel like they're done yet.

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 9:49 pm

cowherd is such a whiny pacific northwest born and bred passive aggressive lil bitch.

EVCat · Post by **EVCat** » Tue Dec 02, 2014 11:45 pm

Cowherd will be "straight up" with his picks and opinions and will "keep it real" with ramped up hyperbole...

...until he is wrong, and then he will deflect the point, make excuses, or flat out lie about never having said what he said (still running from his "Aaron Rodgers cannot win a big game" take).

Worst overnight change to a show in sports radio history. The excellent Tony Kornheiser show came to an end and the next day, the biggest douchebag in the sports talk game (think about how little I must think of him to say he is the douchiest of all the douches in that profession) was on the air. He is the epitome of the asshole who hasn't figured out "I was wrong" are the 2nd most liberating words in the language, behind "I'm sorry." Admitting your errors amplifies your successes, especially in something as subjective as sports. But he just hammers his "I know all" angle, and when wrong, presents the verbal diarrhea equivalent of the internet message board "link warrior" by bringing up barely comparable scenarios and scores to deflect.

ASUHATER! · Post by **ASUHATER!** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 2:19 am

EVCat wrote:Cowherd will be "straight up" with his picks and opinions and will "keep it real" with ramped up hyperbole...

...until he is wrong, and then he will deflect the point, make excuses, or flat out lie about never having said what he said (still running from his "Aaron Rodgers cannot win a big game" take).

Worst overnight change to a show in sports radio history. The excellent Tony Kornheiser show came to an end and the next day, the biggest douchebag in the sports talk game (think about how little I must think of him to say he is the douchiest of all the douches in that profession) was on the air. He is the epitome of the asshole who hasn't figured out "I was wrong" are the 2nd most liberating words in the language, behind "I'm sorry." Admitting your errors amplifies your successes, especially in something as subjective as sports. But he just hammers his "I know all" angle, and when wrong, presents the verbal diarrhea equivalent of the internet message board "link warrior" by bringing up barely comparable scenarios and scores to deflect.

Terrible take and completely wrong. The only people that think this way have probably not listened to his show in years and years. I have listened pretty much every day for about 7 years. He's usually right about most things and absolutely takes the fall when he's not. Most people that are just turbo homers just can't stand to hear facts and reality like he says it.

pokinmik · Post by **pokinmik** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 6:07 am

Bashing Cowherd is never wrong.

FreeSpiritCat · Post by **FreeSpiritCat** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 6:26 am

I have no idea what is going to happen on Friday. The only thing that would shock me is if UA blew out Oregon. I can't see that happening. But it sure wouldn't shock me if Oregon dominated the Cats.

3goggles · Post by **3goggles** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 8:00 am

Catintheheat wrote:I have no idea what is going to happen on Friday. The only thing that would shock me is if UA blew out Oregon. I can't see that happening. But it sure wouldn't shock me if Oregon dominated the Cats.

Why would that shock you if we blew them out?

Saint James · Post by **Saint James** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 9:26 am

Excuse me??? I really do not like the guy because he has plausible sounding arguments but highly spurious reasoning ability. For example, he stated that he can prove ESPN does not have an east coast bias. His proof was that ESPN has a contract with the PAC12.

If you do not see how stupid this reasoning is, then we have very little to talk about.

ASUHATER! wrote:
EVCat wrote:Cowherd will be "straight up" with his picks and opinions and will "keep it real" with ramped up hyperbole...

.
Terrible take and completely wrong. The only people that think this way have probably not listened to his show in years and years. I have listened pretty much every day for about 7 years. He's usually right about most things and absolutely takes the fall when he's not. Most people that are just turbo homers just can't stand to hear facts and reality like he says it.

EVCat · Post by **EVCat** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 9:30 am

ASUHATER! wrote:
EVCat wrote:Cowherd will be "straight up" with his picks and opinions and will "keep it real" with ramped up hyperbole...

...until he is wrong, and then he will deflect the point, make excuses, or flat out lie about never having said what he said (still running from his "Aaron Rodgers cannot win a big game" take).

Worst overnight change to a show in sports radio history. The excellent Tony Kornheiser show came to an end and the next day, the biggest douchebag in the sports talk game (think about how little I must think of him to say he is the douchiest of all the douches in that profession) was on the air. He is the epitome of the asshole who hasn't figured out "I was wrong" are the 2nd most liberating words in the language, behind "I'm sorry." Admitting your errors amplifies your successes, especially in something as subjective as sports. But he just hammers his "I know all" angle, and when wrong, presents the verbal diarrhea equivalent of the internet message board "link warrior" by bringing up barely comparable scenarios and scores to deflect.
Terrible take and completely wrong. The only people that think this way have probably not listened to his show in years and years. I have listened pretty much every day for about 7 years. He's usually right about most things and absolutely takes the fall when he's not. Most people that are just turbo homers just can't stand to hear facts and reality like he says it.

Thank you for your opinion. Your last line fits the Cowherd way perfectly. it is almost cultish sounding..."we are the truth...everyone else is wrong"

ASUHATER! · Post by **ASUHATER!** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 10:35 am

EVCat wrote:
ASUHATER! wrote:
EVCat wrote:Cowherd will be "straight up" with his picks and opinions and will "keep it real" with ramped up hyperbole...

...until he is wrong, and then he will deflect the point, make excuses, or flat out lie about never having said what he said (still running from his "Aaron Rodgers cannot win a big game" take).

Worst overnight change to a show in sports radio history. The excellent Tony Kornheiser show came to an end and the next day, the biggest douchebag in the sports talk game (think about how little I must think of him to say he is the douchiest of all the douches in that profession) was on the air. He is the epitome of the asshole who hasn't figured out "I was wrong" are the 2nd most liberating words in the language, behind "I'm sorry." Admitting your errors amplifies your successes, especially in something as subjective as sports. But he just hammers his "I know all" angle, and when wrong, presents the verbal diarrhea equivalent of the internet message board "link warrior" by bringing up barely comparable scenarios and scores to deflect.
Terrible take and completely wrong. The only people that think this way have probably not listened to his show in years and years. I have listened pretty much every day for about 7 years. He's usually right about most things and absolutely takes the fall when he's not. Most people that are just turbo homers just can't stand to hear facts and reality like he says it.
Thank you for your opinion. Your last line fits the Cowherd way perfectly. it is almost cultish sounding..."we are the truth...everyone else is wrong"

Not even remotely what I said. But good job making things up. I don't always think he's right but he has solid reasoning always and comes at everything from a non homer level headed view. Every week on his show he has a segment where he lists off things he whiffed on and was dead wrong about. He's not afraid of saying he was completely wrong. Unlike most homer fans who only want to live in echo chambers and be told what they want to hear on the radio.

3goggles · Post by **3goggles** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 10:47 am

Sure didn't hear Cowshit say he thinks that Oregon is going boat race us like he said he was going to today!!!

azthrillhouse · Post by **azthrillhouse** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 10:56 am

RR's segment with Cowherd finally over. Good interview, fairly generic, let RR talk a lot, I thought he asked reasonably good questions (and it was a pretty long interview).

Cowherd is a master of manipulation. He's really good at his job in that he takes positions that he knows people will react to, without it seeming like that's what he's doing (pretty much all talk radio hosts in & out of sports radio do this to some degree, but most are pretty obvious about it) . I'm not a fan as the result seems extremely calculated and non-genuine.

Saint James · Post by **Saint James** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 11:24 am

Listened to some of Herd today. Not as bad as I remember, so I recant my earlier criticism. Nevertheless, his argument against ESPN bias is too way off base.

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:57 pm

Fun ESPN video breaking down the options on one of our plays plus love for our line.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 1:07 pm

You mean the line that got no love?

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 1:10 pm

azthrillhouse · Post by **azthrillhouse** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 1:17 pm

azgreg wrote:You mean the line that got no love?

Speaking of the line, looks like it moved a point in Oregon's direction to 14.5....kinda surprised by that.

scumdevils86 · Post by **scumdevils86** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 1:26 pm

I hate cowherd so much.

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 4:28 pm

Just over 50 hours until we play for a PAC 12 Championship and a spot in the College Football Playoffs, so here is a gif reminder on how we beat the Ducks earlier this season.

We hit them hard on defense.

We ran the rock to control the game.

We executed and hit the open man. Both Jones-Grigsby and Wilson had receiving TDs.

We played as a team and finished as a team.

And finally, we wanted it more.

Bear Down! Beat the Ducks! Win and we are in!

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 4:46 pm

Gimino on how how we got to this point and what happens if we win.

Actually, I can't believe I'm about to type these words: Arizona should be in the four-team College Football Playoff if it beats the Ducks for a third consecutive time on Friday.

An 11-2 Arizona team that wins the Pac-12, beats Oregon twice and has other late-season victories over Washington, Utah and Arizona State while having no "bad" loss ... that's the resume of a playoff-caliber team, no matter what happens elsewhere in the country this week.

Welcome to the club Anthony.

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 5:45 pm

Best pod cast I have heard on this week's game is from CBS Sports Eye on College Football. The Arizona-Oregon discussion begins at the 9 min point. No new information, but a good discussion of the game.

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 5:49 pm

Here is a reminder that something special is happening with Arizona football. Win or lose on Friday, Wildcat fans of yesterday, today, and tomorrow are sharing a historic season.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 6:23 pm

The eDuck podcast preview.

http://oregon.scout.com/story/1488153-e ... me-preview

azthrillhouse · Post by **azthrillhouse** » Wed Dec 03, 2014 11:53 pm

dirtbags wrote:there's a reasonable chance of rain in santa clara friday evening. it won't affect oregon's play, but i wonder if RR has the team drilling in the sprinklers at 6am again. haha.

It's looking like it's going to be raining all afternoon, peaking at around 6 PM but continuing through the evening. Cue the national media yukking it up about how Arizona can't possibly handle a rainy game.

http://www.weather.com/weather/hourbyho ... A1018:1:US

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:43 am

azthrillhouse wrote:
dirtbags wrote:there's a reasonable chance of rain in santa clara friday evening. it won't affect oregon's play, but i wonder if RR has the team drilling in the sprinklers at 6am again. haha.
It's looking like it's going to be raining all afternoon, peaking at around 6 PM but continuing through the evening. Cue the national media yukking it up about how Arizona can't possibly handle a rainy game.

http://www.weather.com/weather/hourbyho ... A1018:1:US

This favors Arizona. Having just left the bay area, they've been slammed with rain all week continuing into the weekend.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:55 am

Time for RR to fire up the sprinklers.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 7:15 am

Nice piece by AG.

http://www.foxsports.com/arizona/story/ ... gon-120314

ghostwhitehorse · Post by **ghostwhitehorse** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 7:40 am

Pac-12 Blog predictions: http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id ... redictions

Kyle Bonagura, Kevin Gemmell, Chantel Jennings: Oregon

David Lombardi: Arizona

Ted Miller: in hiding.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 7:55 am

Time to start the game thread.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 10:12 am

Oregon's game notes.

http://www.goducks.com/pdf9/3020610.pdf

BearDown89 · Post by **BearDown89** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 10:30 am

ANGCatFan wrote:Here is a reminder that something special is happening with Arizona football. Win or lose on Friday, Wildcat fans of yesterday, today, and tomorrow are sharing a historic season.

Ha! Last game I went to was Assu 2010. Came down with a buddy from Idaho and we saw that dude in the vintage getup. He's a regular then I guess.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 11:10 am

This reminds me of the old equipment guys blog.

krissyp · Post by **krissyp** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 11:21 am

azgreg wrote:This reminds me of the old equipment guys blog.

CHILLS!!!~~

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 12:34 pm

Katzenfreund · Post by **Katzenfreund** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 12:44 pm

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Thu Dec 04, 2014 12:47 pm

Fantastic!

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