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Go Ducks
Go DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo Ducks
Go Ducks
Go DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo Ducks
Go Ducks
Go DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo Ducks
Go Ducks
Go DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo DucksGo Ducks

All right here it is the AtQ bowl pick pool. It is on ESPN.com and you have to make an acount, sorry if you dont have one already. But hey, now you can play streak for the cash too. The scoring is their confidence system, more points for the bowls you feel better about. Don't do it like I did last year and put your confident picks at 1, that would not be smart. Ok on to the important part...

Group Name: AtQ

Group Password: Juju

Ted Miller just looked back at his preseason Pac 10 standings so I thought it would be fun for AtQ to try it out. Way back on media day we had a predict the Pac 10 standings fanshot with about 12 people taking a stab at the final results. 10 of us went with USC as the winners of the pac, oops. Only BayDuck and Takimoto truly saw the future and gave Oregon the nod. And we were all pretty wrong. 

Actual Pac 10 Standings

Nobody had Arizona in the top half, let alone second

And look at SC down there in fifth, amazing. 

here is my prediction:

USC
Oreg
Cal
OS
Stan
UCLA
ASU
UA
WASH
WSU

Check back to the original Fanshot and see how you did. 

In the spirt of the week, lets bring things back. We havn't had one for a few weeks so I thought I would give it my best shot. Go Ducks!

via i476.photobucket.com

Lobbestael doesn't get to start anymore, he is not sad. 

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Tool is starting, he is not happy

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WSU has aliens on their team. CHEATERS, eh you still loosen

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At the end of the day, you live in Pullman...

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For the last few year Takimoto and I have been sharing good omens before football games. So why limit all the Good Omens, so many out there we could be missing without the help of ATQ. So ill share some of mine so far and everyone should pitch in some good omens to get our Karma right for a bronco whoopin.

Continue reading this post »

So I picked up the new EA NCAA Football 10 today and thought I would share some Duck related info.

Quick Roster Notes

QB- Roper on the team

RB-LMJ is a sophomore, but you can change that

WR-Pflu and Harper and on the roster, but no Gianes. 

TE-Got Jordan as a TE, sweet

OL-?? who knows, even I wont have the OL numbers down till the season starts

DL- Blair is starting at End and Ferras and Toina are starting tackles (Sorry BisonDuck, your article is irrelevant in videogame land)

LB/DB- Thumbs up, they look good to me

UPDATE

Thanks to Doug for pointing out the best (so far) roster update. EASCncaa10. I just skimmed it but once loaded, but all the major mistakes seem to be corrected. 

Playbook

Really similar to last years playbook with two major changes. There are now a few formations in shotgun in which the TE will actually play HBack. Lots of fun shifting around to fills the FB and TE roles and lots of fun plays. There is also now a WIldDuck formation. Blount at QB, LMJ running the flysweep and Masoli chillen outside, lots of fun things to do.

Abilities

Masoli and Blount have everything you could want in the trucking department. They are both really good in this game, fun fun backfield. Holland is fast. And TJ Ward can HIT HIT HIT.

Uniforms

EA built a new uniform select screen in which you can pick from Home, Away, Alts and Custom. Teams have an appropriate number of alternates, you know three or four, a few with six and one team even had 14, attention whores. You can also chose what color for every element (Lid, Top, Pants, Socks, Shoes). Oregon has Green, Yellow, White and Black for the main parts, but NO black helmet. Only black and white socks and shoes for all. No wings anywhere, not even blacks from last year. Maybe a DL later.

For an actual review of the gameplay you are going to have to look elsewhere cause I'm lazy but I will say I am really enjoying the game so far, the new features are working well. 

Damn you pointguard, I wrote this post early this morning but my cable has be out all day. Sorry im going to throw it up anyway.

With the recent departures of Tim Floyd and a lot of his players, along with Jrue Holiday making it official the landscape of Pac 10 ball has seen a lot of changes. Especially at the top, with power UCLA and defending champs USC and UW preparing to start the summer with much different rosters. Coaching changes, recruiting and draft departures are all but set for the next season so I thought I would break down the rosters of the Pac 10 and see where everybody stands. The conference race looks to be a bit up in the air with a handful of teams with big question marks.  So with out further ado, here is my rundown, ordered based on last years final standings, top to bottom.

Washington (Defending Regular Season Champs)

Top Returners: isaiah Thomas, Quincy Pondexter
Key Loesses: Jon Brockman (Finally), Justin Dentmon
New Faces: Abdul Gaddy PG 5*, Three 3*
The Dawgs are loosing a big contributor and a small one in Brockman and Dentmon and both should be missed. But they are bringing their top player back, Thomas, and have some young bigs waiting in the wings. With the addition of Gaddy I would expect them to play small and fast with a pesky defense sparking the transition game. It kills me to write all of this, but they look good going forward. I would say the team to beat in the Pac 10.

UCLA 

Top Returners: James Keefe and Michael Roll??

Key Losses: Darren Collison, Josh Ship, Alfred Aboya, Jrue Holiday

New Faces: Tyler Honeycutt SF 4*, Brenden Lane PF 4*, Mike Moser SF 4* Reeves Nelson PF 4*

UCLA says good bye to a great Senior class that enjoyed so much tournament and Final Four success. The three graduates have been major contributors for years and will surely be missed, underlined by Holiday's recent commitment to the draft. But it is UCLA, so does anybody doubt their young players will step in and play at a high level. Ben Howland is still there to bring defense and hard work to his stockpile of talent. And the size of that recruiting class. They are young and next season might come down to whether they take their lumps at key times or if they can mask their inexperience.  

Arizona State

Top Returners: Derek Glasser, Ty Abbott
Key Losses: James Harden, Jeff Pendergraph
New Faces: Trent Lockett SG 4*, Four 3*s
For Arizona St it comes down to how much they were carried last year by Harden and Pendergraph; their two best players that provided much of the production and opened up their offense. To compete in the league next season the roll players from last year need to step up and be main contributors. There are a few young PF that will have their hands full trying to replace to production and heart of Pendergraph. I look for ASU to drop off next year and struggle with out the top end talent it had last year. 

Cal

Top Returners: Jerome Randle, Lebron James Patrick Christopher, Theo Robertson
Key Losses: Maybe a manager or some seniors from the student section? 
New Faces: Three 3*s
Cal did not have a senior on the roster last year and so one would expect to see the same team next year with improvement across the board. In his first year as coach Mike Montgomery must have put his players through sniper training, because they shot the long ball at an elite level. Going into 09/10 the three ball should be main question for a steady and experience Bears team. If they can convert from behind the arc at a high level again they should be contenders in the Pac 10 and beyond.    

USC (Defending Pac 10 Tournament Champs)

Top Returners: Dwight Lewis
Key Losses: DeMar DeRozan, Daniel Hackett, Tah Gibson, HC Tim Floyd, Lamon Jones PG 4*, Derrick Williams PF 3*
New Faces: New Head Coach TBD
There is mass exodus from the Trojan program shadowed by controversy and NCAA infractions. With Tim Floyd's handouts coming into the light, his players are heading to the NBA draft and his recruits are all being released from their LOI. With a coach yet to be hired and a roster with more holes and questions than maybe anyone in the nation USC is a complete unknown. It is hard to make any kind of prediction, but my guess is bad. The situation reminds me of Indiana a few years ago, and that is not good. 

Arizona

Top Returners: Nic Wise, Jamelle Horne

Key Losses: Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill
New Faces: HC Sean Miller from Xavier, Solomon Hill SF 4*, Kyryl Natyazhko C 4*
Zona is going to be without two first round talents that also happen to represent most of their size. They will be young and a bit undersized but they are bringing in a top coach to revitalize the historic power house. Miller always got the most our of his Xavier teams, working with A10 talent and smaller rosters. This might be the perfect hire and the perfect timing for the Wildcats. I bet they will take some time to really gel together as a roster and coach, but come Pac 10 play they should be a solid team. Oh, and Kyryl Natyazhko, that is actually his name, yeah. 

Washington State

Top Returners: Klay Thompson, Nikola Koprivica, DeAngelo Castro
Key Losses: Taylor Rochestie, Aron Baynes, Daven Harmeling, Caleb Forrest, HC Tony Bennett
New Faces: HC Ken Bone from Portland State, Three 3*s, One no star
Wazzu is in serious danger of slipping back into irrelevance if they struggle this year, and based on everything they lost it is a strong possibility. Ken Bone did a job job at PSU, taking them dancing and winning their conference, but he takes over a roster that was gutted from last year. Bone will have to do a lot with a little and I don't expect much from the Cougars next year.  

Oregon State

Top Returners: The Tarvers, Schaftenburger, Calvin Haynes
Key Losses: Rickey Claitt
New Faces: Jared Cunningham PG 4*, Roberto Nelson SG 4*
In his first year Craig Robinson lead the Beavers to a full turn around from their epically bad no win season. His team showed promise and potential and should be able to continue to build on last year. With minimal losses and some nice incoming players, OS will be looking to improve next year and will have another solid season. Boo.

Stanford

Top Returners: Landry Fields
Key Losses: Mitch Johnson, Anthony Goods, Lawrence Hill
New Faces: Andy Brown PF 3*
Coming off a year in which the biggest news was who was leaving from the year before, Stanford enters a year in which the biggest news is who is leaving from last year. Not a good trend to be stuck in. Second year coach Johnny Dawkins is loosing his three best players and bringing in nobody, sorry Andy Brown. The Cardinal have Pac 10 cellar door mat written all over them. 

Oregon

Top Returners: Tajuan Porter, Michael Dunigan, blah blah you know
Key Losses: Kamyron Brown, Frantz Dorsainvil, Churchill Odia, a few birds at Alton Baker
New Faces: Jamil Wilson SF 4*, Malcolm Armstead PG JC, Jeremy Jacob SF 3*, EJ Singler SF 3*
For some great analysis about the Ducks see Takimoto's post from about a month ago. My quick thoughts: What can Kent do with his back against the wall? Can Armstead come in and contribute? Will the youth of the Ducks make a leap forward and play Pac 10 ball? These are the questions that define the upcoming season and their answers will say a lot about next year and the future. It will also be interesting to see if this being the last year in Mac Court has any effect, positive or negative, on the team. 

So there you have it. You have to like how Washington, Cal and UCLA are set up, with Stanford, USC WSU and Oregon being the major question marks.

My super early prediction

1. Washington
2. California
3. UCLA
4. Arizona
5. Oregon State
6. Oregon
7. Arizona State
8. Washington State
9. USC
10. Stanford

Hard conference to call, especially the bottom half.  Comment away because it might be nice to talk about something other than the same football news. P.S. Auto Link doesn't work for basketball and I'm to lazy to go back and add stats, sorry.

Roster information via espn.com

Recruiting information via rivals

Ted Miller has finished his top 30 Pac 10 players and so naturally its time to tally up the scores and pick a winner. I awarded points for rank, 30 for 1st and 1 for 30th, and looked at the schools totals.  So lets get to it, sorry WSU you are not invited to this party.

Stanford- 6 points. #25

Arizona St- 25 points. # 24t, 13

Washington- 28 points. #s 23, 11

Arizona- 34 points. #s 29, 27, 3

Oregon St- 43 points. #s 24t, 22, 4

UCLA- 52 points. #s 20, 15, 6

Cal 57 points. #s 26, 8, 2

Oregon 88 points. #s 18, 16, 14, 10, 9

USC 116 points. #s 30, 21 19, 17, 12, 7, 5, 1

Mapping the elitle level talent produces results that really mirror common projected standings. USC, duh, being chased by Oregon. Then a pack of Cal, UCLA, and Oreon St. Followed by the jumble of bottom teams. These scores also shed some light on the characteristics of programs. USC is stacked, duh. Teams like Oregon St and Stanford are always overachiving based on talent. OSU takes middle of the Pac 10 guys and gets in the second tier and Stanford takes their lack of talent and doesnt suck all the time. Inversly UCLA and Washington are cronic underachivers(The last few years that is). Cal and Oregon fluctuate between being just ahead of the pack and nipping at the trojans heals. When you look at the top tallent and how they are generally coached the standings make a lot of sense.

Position Breakdown

DL- 9 players

LB- 2 players

DB- 6 players

OL- 2 Trojans

WR/TE- 4, two each

RB- 6 players

2009 might be a year where Pac 10 defenses do a lot of the heavy lifting for teams. At the top of the talent pool it looks to be a long year for OLs as they are going to be facing top talent across the line on almost a weekly basis. A large crop of new QBs will be going up against some solid DBs who are covering a group of Pac 10 pass catchers with very little depth. The lone birght spot for the offenses is the RB position matching up against what apears to be weak LB corps across the confrence. However, most would agree that many teams have promising groups of backers waiting to break out. It also could be a moot point if the stud ball carriers cant get past the DLines.

Pac 10 fans many be watching a different type of football this fall, grind it out, take your three, feild postion battle, deffensive football. Ew, who am I kidding. What I think is the number of defensive players on this list shows two things. One, is just the relative age of most deffesive players vs. offensive. Two, that the Pac 10 is become a more well rounded and improved confrence with some nasty units on both sides of the ball.

There is my 2cents. I may be way off or have missed a bunch of stuff so help me out if I need some tweaking. Go Ducks!

Mac court showed up tonight and it was awesome. It was loud, it was intense and it was a lot of fun. It is understandable that in a down season on the court the atmosphere in the arena will sag a bit. It just hurt to see an Oregon arena half full and producing average noise. But not tonight. We were 100% in Shaftenburger's head in the second half, he looked like he want to go to his happy place but there were 9000 duck fans in the way. They were bricking FTs down the stretch and buckling under the weight of the noise. (Hey beavers, would you like some marinara with your noodles?) Mac court did its job tonight and pushed our team over the top. As a senior it makes me happy that after a down year the Mac Court I have loved for 5 years made one final appearance

So we are all a bit upset about the current basketball season, yeah understatment. But I was thinking the other day the only way I can even be happy about the sport in general is my job. I work at University Catering, our kitchen is located in Bean, which in turn is located 15 feet from the greatest construction site since PK park starting going up. Everyday I walk to work I get to check up on how the new arena is doing and its picks up my spirits a bit. Now I now I'm not only one who could use a pick me but i might be the only ATQer who works next to the arena. So what did I do, take pictures of coarse. If you guys are into them I can get some more at a later date when things change visibly.

Establishing shot:

via i476.photobucket.com

Boring corner:

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Biggest drill I have ever seen(that big thing on the right):

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That doorway in the brick is where work, see real real close:

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Lots of big equipment:

via i476.photobucket.com

Sorry the lighting is not great. But you get the idea, its still a lot of dirt becoming a big hole. Still gets me thinking and that gets me excited. Enjoy!

So I was readiing the RG today, I believe Clark, and the article was talking about  the decline of TP and Catron's numbers in Pac-10 play. Which got me to thinking. With their lack of size and relatively unimpressive skill are they just getting to old for conference play? TP is short, yeah, but as a freshmen he was a big unknown, to everybody. So a team and their perimeter defenders had very little help in figuring out how to stop him. He got open looks and he canned them. His second year teams have played him 2-3 times and have a season worth of tape. And now they have twice that and everybody knows how to stop him, which is not that hard if you know what he does and doesn't do. He is too small to play to his weaknesses. If you buy that logic the same can be said for Catron, an undersized player with a lack of diversity in his skill set.

So am I on to something or crazy and starving for quality play? Unfortunatly this is not a problem one can really solve, so maybe I hope I'm wrong.

Lou Holtz is awful, as in terrible at his job. He is old, a homer domer, doesn't understand today's game, and is annoying as shit. These are some of the reasons why I 100% loath everything about him. So the topic came up, I said I could write a blog about it and this is my best shot. However, the nation championship game was on last night and the broadcast team of Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis was so terrible and all about Tim Jesus Tebow I cant resist.

They really got the ball rolling in the first half with my favorite moment of the entire game. A lil' paraphrase for you: If you have the fortune to meat Tim for five min or even a half hour you life will forever be better for it. Are you serious? The whole forth quarter was a Tebow love fest the likes of which have never been seen before, which is saying something. Including this gem in regards to the OU defensive back who said Jesus Tebow would be the 4th QB in the Big 12. Thom calls it the most ridiculous statement ever made. (Don’t remember the actually quote, but it was worse) Ever? So that means the entire history of talking correct. I just going to say there might have been a few worse statements made. Just piss poor all around by Fox, makes me happy for the ESPN BCS era, who woulda thunk it?

Speaking of ESPN and the BCS, the most important question we cn ask ourselves is: Will the executives wake up by 2011 and fire Lou Holtz or will he be on even more, and heaven forbid, call a BCS game? Oh what a scary thought. He can't remember players names, he mixes up schools, do we remember the last show he got through without a major mistake? Ok, so is not the best talker out of the talking heads, so that means his information and opinions make up for it, right. WRONG! He really does not understand the modern game. The spread is like a different language to him and it is always clear he has no idea what is going on. His blind, senile devotion to Notre Dame makes ESPN's totality of coverage loose credibility. His best quality is making everyone around him look and sound a lot better. Especially Mark May, a great open mind who's man job is owning Lou. Lou Holtz in general is just the worst person on TV. Whoever gave that man  a job should be worse that fired. He should be locked in a room with Lou and made to listen idiot ramblings about football for eight hours a day. Torture!


P.S. He spits all over the place when he talks. I mean come on his job is to talk. You have one job, one job!

So I have a fun idea: Before half time lets have the oregon band set between the the OS students and football team. Nothing bad could happen, right?

Obviously there was was lots of booing, cusing and middle fingers (Apparently the OS students really want to have sex with the OMB).Things escalated quickly. First some genius chick threw paint at a group of OMBers. About ten people had white paint all over the backs of the unis, hats and hair. The state troopers intervened and $2000 worth of uniform damages earn you a night in jail. Somebody should have told the guy who threw nacho cheese.

After the JJ touchdown the band began signing the fightsong and made everyone in orange very mad. Then WTIII reached the endzone, we sang again. This time the students didn't even have the heart to be mad, they just sat their with the best look ever on their faces. Jeremy Perry however was very, very mad. Along lines of: Shut up you mother duckers, shut the duck up, so on and so forth. He even got in the face of a 5'3" freshemn and told her to shut the duck up b*tch. Jeremy Perry does not censor, classy guy right there.

Eventually we got on the field to a chorus of boos and left to cheers. Go Ducks!