SpongeWorthy

Oregon's only going to the BCS if they win the Pac 10.

Hmm, you're right now that I look at the standings. USC is the only one that has the quality opponents ahead of it and enough sex appeal to derail a Boise bid I think. Edit: MAYBE Arizona as they have Oregon, Cal, and USC remaining.

TCU's going to stay ahead of Boise if they both go undefeated and would be guaranteed a BCS berth. Oregon's loss hurts Boise so I do think they'd get bumped by certain 2 loss teams, yes.

Ridiculous. Start the investigation. I was blown away. Absolutely stunning negligence.

SEC replay officials are criminal.

That's a pick.

Someone should've given Patrick Peterson a banana. Cramps for your best corner leads to Jones running by your entire secondary.

Charlie better have his bags packed. Brian Kelly come on down...

When I said earlier that it was painful to watch Greg McElroy play I meant hilarious.

Toby Gerhart is just beasting all over Oregon.

It's painful to watch Greg McElroy.

This is why you can't have nice things Oregon.

Myth. The Bulls are shooting about the same % this year as they did last year. Of course the Bulls are scoring about 8 points per games less this year, despite playing a slightly tougher five games this year as they did last year. The Bulls are not aggressive enough this year, as can see by the lower FTA so far (112 through 5 games this yr, as opposed to 149 attempts last year), and Gordon wasn't a real factor in getting to the line. Personally the Bulls are missing Rose's explosiveness moreso the Gordon's offense. The Bulls had an effective field goal percentage of .493 which was only good for 20th in the league. The problem is that they're at .427 so far this season which is second to last in the league. They were 7th in 3 point FG percentage last year and they're dead last so far this season (.381 vs. .234). You can attribute that to no Gordon and Salmons/Hinrich being ice cold so far. The good news is that their rebounding on the defensive glass is vastly improved. They're 3rd in defensive rebounding percentage so far when they were 28th last year. Deng and a consistent Noah have been huge their so far. Sadly, Thomas not getting much run has helped that too. Keeping in mind a small sample size so far I think you can expect that letting Gordon going and replacing him with Salmons at the 2 and allowing Deng to slide in at 3 has had the effect you'd expect--trading much better rebounding/defense for a drop off in outside shooting. The good news is that Salmons should start shooting better and Rose will get healthier to help mitigate the losses on offense.

Thomas is out 4-6 weeks. Fractured left radius from a weight lifting session. http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/62614/20091106/tyrus_thomas_out_4_6_weeks/

Yes, he did. Of course, you have to have a quality arm and be able to read defensive backfields to run a pro-style offense though. Two things he can't do. This might be a really dumb question, but who was the last OSU qb to have a somewhat successful NFL career? They've never really had one.

Hell yeah. Nice defense Deng/Noah on the final possession. Thank god for Mo Williams too! Nice win.

That ball hit the rim.

Derrick has to demand the ball there. Salmons was playing like a dumbass but Rose needs take control in that situation and go rip the ball out of his hands if it comes to that.

Quickness wise I think he's closer to being back but I don't think he can elevate the way he wants to in traffic. I think it makes him tentative at finishing around the basket. He's not getting much lift on his jumper either. I just hope his ankle heals up soon.

They've fairly impressive defensively though. Oh yeah, way better defensively. Rose doesn't look lost on the pick and roll defense and putting in Deng at 3 has done wonders for the rebounding.

Rose is just nowhere near having his usual explosiveness. That's pretty frustrating. It's also frustrating that this is a jump shooting team that can't really shoot (especially 3 pointers).

Pretty good first half. Salmons finally showing some signs of life.

By my count he's 4/6 on jumpers so far this year. It's ugly and he basically has to swish it for it to have a chance to go in with that hideous sideways rotation.

I'd only be strongly in favor of getting rid of him if he insists on bringing back the same offensive coaches. Lovie's a defensive guy. I just don't see a good, creative offensive staff as likely to coalesce around him as it would around Cowher, Shanahan, Gruden, Holmgren, etc. The guys with the pull to build a top notch staff are available this offseason. I think Lovie's a fine coach but I think it's pretty telling that you don't see his staffs being poached of coaching talent.

Plus with all the high profile guys potentially available to be head coaches you're going to either fire Lovie, continue to pay him, and then have to bring in a Cowher/Shanahan/Gruden/Holmgren/etc. at a higher price. If you don't hire one of those guys you might be perceived as going low rent with an unproven candidate. Now if you end up winning with that guy all is forgiven but you're risking a backlash if he turns out to be another Jim Zorn or Scott Linehan.