First Round Game: (#3) Virginia Tech vs (#11) Arizona State

Vote once on each game.

	Virginia Tech vs Arizona State
	Virginia Tech
	Arizona State

Okay, so there’s no playoff, we know that. But what if there was? At One Click Sports News, we’d like to find out how it would play out. To see who really might be the best team in the land.

Beginning now, and playing itself out over the next week, we’ve set up a virtual 16-team bracket taken from “The Sports Idol” Justin Meyers . Each day there will be a set of games to vote on. Winners advance, until we have a “virtual” college football champion.

To vote on the first two games, click below. Voting will close at midnight each day.

Past Results:

First Round:
(#9) West Virginia 84%  (#8) Kansas 16%
(#7) USC 86%  (#10) Hawaii 14%
(#11) Arizona State 52% (#6) Missouri 48%
(#12) Florida 70% (#5) Georgia 30%
(#4) Oklahoma 79% (#13) BYU 21%
(#3) Virginia Tech 88% (#14) C. Florida 12%

Today’s Games: (2nd Round)

#3 Virginia Tech vs #11 Arizona State (Vote Now)

#1 Ohio State vs #9 West Virginia (Vote Now)

Current Bracket

[Click here for Round 1 results.] 

If you were to reboot college football’s post-season, what would it look like? BCS? Bowls? Playoffs? “The Sports Idol” Justin Myers outlines his “Perfect Playoff System” in this week’s Duck Sports News feature, “Idol Time with Justin Myers”.

Take a listen here.

Join the “Virtual Playoff” - Vote on each game - see who the virtual national champion would be!

You can catch “The Sports Idol” with Justin Myers on ESPN Radio 1320 “The Score” Monday through Friday between 3:00pm and 6:00pm.

By Don Smalley

DSN Contributor

No offense to Utah, but if the Ducks are going to have a regular season game in the Rose Garden, they have to make sure the opponent is a name that will ensure a sellout.

The idea of the Papé Jam is a good one. It gives the Portland Duck fans a chance to see their team play. It gives the Ducks a chance to play in an NBA arena, a taste of the big time, if you will.

But the fans have proven that if the quality of the opponent isn’t a marquee-type name, the Rose Garden will only be half full. To see three-quarters of the 300 level in the Garden covered by black curtains was disappointing.

I remember when Kansas came to Portland and the Garden was absolutely packed. The atmosphere in that place was electric and special. It also helped that Oregon knew they had a chance to win the game, which they did.

The first opponent to ensure a sellout is Gonzaga. They will guarantee a sellout. An Oregon-Gonzaga game ticket would be hard to come by. The ‘Zags are a quality opponent who has history in the NCAA tournament and they are close by who will bring droves of fans with them. It would be a homecoming for Mark Few, of sorts. The storylines would be endless.

After Gonzaga, Oregon needs to find more teams like Duke, North Carolina, Texas or Syracuse. They need to bring in a high-profile school or a team that has a high-profile coach like Bobby Knight of Texas Tech.

The Papé Jam is a yearly special event. Oregon needs to make sure the game and the atmosphere is special. There was nothing special about Utah.

In this athletic and political season, here are a couple of stories that are not about Oregon, or Cal, athletics, exactly. But they’re close enough for us to post them on our blog.

Don Kahle suggests that the Eugene City Council should look to the University of Oregon’s Pat Kilkenny as an example of leadership.

Debra Saunders in The San Francisco Chronicle argues that Cal’s tree squatters at Memorial Stadium have done so much for a cause so trivial.

JJ

OSU’s Kyle DeVan made some pointed remarks about the class differences between Oregon and Oregon State on OregonLive.com.

“It’s white collar-blue collar. it’s like, ‘oh, look how nice their facilities are!’ ..

“It seems like they get babied. They got some crazy stuff over there, and it’s neat to see all that stuff, but you don’t need all that fancy stuff to have a good, winning program. All you need is a pair of cleats, helmet, shoulder pads and great coaches. And I think that’s what we have (at OSU).”

Here are a couple of questions that come to mind:

• Does he have a point? Is Oregon white collar? Is Oregon State blue collar? Why?

• Have the Oregon football players done anything to deserve the “fancy stuff”?

• How would the perception of the schools differ if a donor gave OSU $100 million dollars? Would they still be “blue collar”?

JJ

Here’s the discussion at BeaverSportsNews.com. 

ESPN’s Sportscenter just announced the finalists for this year’s Heisman Trophy Award. And Dennis Dixon is not among them. Here are the finalists:

- Tim Tebow, QB, Florida

- Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas

- Colt Brennan, QB, Hawaii

- Chase Daniel, QB, Missouri

JJ

Duck fans, what do you think?  Who should win now?

Who should be starting QB for the Ducks in the Sun Bowl? “The Sports Idol” Justin Myers talks about this issue in the Duck Sports News feature, “Idol Time with Justin Myers”.

Take a listen here.

You can catch “The Sports Idol” with Justin Myers on ESPN Radio 1320 “The Score” Monday through Friday between 3:00pm and 6:00pm.

Here’s what Ivan has to say about Dixon:

“This isn’t complicated: Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon is the best player I saw this season. The sublime Statue of Liberty fake at Michigan, when he trotted into the end zone, stood as the cherry on top of the Ducks’ astounding upset. The command and maturity he displayed when Oregon defeated USC in October illustrated how he could maintain his poise and leadership even when he didn’t break off one big play after another. The fourth-down, 43-yard touchdown run on the Ducks’ initial possession at Arizona, the last touchdown Dixon scored this season, proved how good he is, if only because he ran it with a torn ACL. Two possessions later, his knee buckled, and Dixon’s season ended. From that point on, Oregon was outscored, 81-47, and lost three in a row. Oregon fell from the BCS Championship Game to the Sun Bowl. If that doesn’t tell you how good Dixon is, nothing else will.”

For crying out loud, what is it with Beaver fans? You won the stinkin’ Civil War - in Eugene, for the second year in a row. Just enjoy it.

Yesterday, on the Sports Idol radio show, Beavers were calling right and left complaining about one thing or another. And today, BuildingTheDam.com posts this story about the head official for the Civil War being a UO alum. I totally agree with his point, if it is true he’s an alum, he should not have been officiating the game. It’s just not right. But, wasn’t winning enough for the Beaver fans? What more do you want?

It’s as if they feel a bit of survivors guilt and feel the need to “add something” to the victory. But I can see that – the Ducks were playing with their 5th string QB and leading in the fourth quarter, in a game where nobody gave Oregon a chance.

I just don’t think the Beavers know how to win. What ever happened to winning and keeping your mouth shut, knowing you were the better team on that day?

A friend of mine emailed me yesterday: “They really have a fine football program. Why don’t they act like it, instead of acting like they’ve never been here before.”