I agree that Oregon has a great runningback but they lost the one two punch they had last year that was so good, and the other guy was better in my opinion. The O-line is the key and I remember a #4 finishing OSU that trounced Notre Dame in the Fiesta bowl being ranked #1 by Sports Illustrated in the pre-season and going 5-6 when they had the best runningback in the conference (Kenny Simonton). The fact is the 3 year 1000+ rusher could not do the same things with a dismantled O-line. I don't expect Oregon to go 5-6. They are loaded everywhere but on the O-line, but that will translate into some key conference losses.

It's easy to say that about the lower tear teams like Washington or Wazzu (sniff...) but give me a break. OSU has really been putting together some great seasons and five straight bowl wins in six seasons. They had a #2 in the nation 7 players drafted last year and have won six consecutive games in the last three years for 9,10, & 9 wins. Why would they be lucky to win 5 games? I will admit that I am an unashamed Beaver fan, but I can recognise talent, and the top ranked teams in the conference (USC, Cal, Oregon, & OSU have plenty). But hey, I'm game. USC will be lucky to win 4 games... RIGHT! Enjoy your tickets at Autzen Stadium.

Wow, bob-1246145, please tell me you were just joking. Do you think before you speak/write? Let's think about this. The Beavers have an relatively easy non-conference schedule (compared with the last few years), playing Portland State, UNLV, and Cincinnati (though I think the Cincinnati could be very competitive, the Beavers will have revenge on their minds, and come out the victors on this one), which should give them a 3-0 start. Then they open their conference schedule with Arizona, which also should be competitive, but is very much a winnable game. Therefore, a 4-0 is start well within the realm of possiblity. and then later on are the gimme games of Washington, Washington State, and Stanford, which would bring their win total up to 7. Of the remaining games (ASU, USC, UCLA, Cal and Oregon), you figure they should win at least 1, 2 or possibly 3--with Oregon and USC, being their toughest games and Cal should be fairly difficult, though in the last decade OSU has fared quite well when playing at Cal, as they do this year. Let's not forget that OSU has beaten a #3, a #2 and a #1 in the last three years. How many premier teams in the country can claim that? Not very many at all. Also, let's not forget that Mike Riley's unblemished bowl record at OSU. Therefore, if OSU won 9 games when they had Penn State and Utah (the only team to go undefeated last year) on their schedule, why shouldn't they at least duplicate that total this year with an easier non-conference schedule and Mike Riley's unblemished bowl record? As you can see a claim of OSU getting 5 wins or less is just ludicrous, barring major season ending injuries at multiple key positions on both sides of the ball.

It must be that every highschool athlete dreams of going pro because I can't think of anything else drawing me to USC. It's a pretty rough area just off campus. There are some nicer venues in the bay area, and even westwood. But boy can those Trojans play football. They are impossible to beat at home and nearly impossible to beat when you have them reeling on your field. The Beavers have beat them two of the last four years, barely so after huge leads... BTW. Thanks to Pete Carol for taking a knee at WAZZU last year before half. Hopefully the Cougars will be more compettitive this season.

I laughed so hard at pond chickens! Thanks for making my day. The pond chickens are always overrated. The Beavs have a very impressive team this year. I think the ducks are going choke.

I think both the Ducks and the Beavers can and will finish in the top 4, but injuries have such an impact as do match ups. Last year the Beavs lost their top two offensive players and got thrashed at home by the Ducks. That said, I am not sure they would have won had they had the Rogers brothers because they scored 38 points without them but gave up 65 to those other guys from our great state. It pained me deeply to watch the game, but the same defense came out and completely shut down a strong Pitt Team a few weeks later after being dismantled by the Ducks. The Ducks will be good, but I agree that there are questions. If they stay healthy I see them worthy of close to the preseason ranking they have and if they can manage to get by BSU early (they should be motivated) then there is no telling how far they can go. I am not as sold on Kelly (unknown commodity) as I am the previous coach. Bellotti was proven...

Oh, and except for the O-line, the Ducks are LOADED! They have the money, the facilities (actually both Autzen and Reser are impressive venues anymore), and the largest body of fans from Portland. Years ago when I-5 was going through it could have gone through Corvallis but we wanted to stay small and let Albany have the freeway rather than running it down 99W from Salem directly to Corvallis and to Eugene through Junction City. A change in that seemingly innocuous decision could have put Corvallis 10 miles closer to Portland and Eugene 10 miles further away. The Beavers have been paying for that oversight in the pocket book ever since...