2008 Preseason Consensus

Links (6)

Whatever Happened to Great Expectations?
Published 6/16/2008 by SMQ at Sunday Morning Quarterback
... Accordingly, Dorrell’s team beat the Beavers by 18 points that year, then demolished OSU by 26 last year in Corvallis. Dorrell easily out-recruited Mike Riley every single season according to Rivals. Almost every magazine picks UCLA to finish ahead of the Beavers. Obviously, an easy, easy win in the Rose Bowl... ...

Bring Out the Tin Foil Hats
Published 6/17/2008 by Menelaus at Bruins Nation
... at linebacker; We have two green, undersized and inexperience defensive ends; and We have seen recruiting suffer through much of Dorrell's tenure, with most of the help this year being in the form of freshman. And, don't just take our word for it.  Even if one were to question our motives, surely they would believe virtually the same predictions coming from such folks as "prognostocenti par excellence" Phil Steele and others: 6.  UCLA - The Bruins have just 9 returning starters and ...

A Somewhat Obligatory Assessment of: Arizona State
Published 7/14/2008 by SMQ at Sunday Morning Quarterback
... years, destroying Nebraska in 1996 and Iowa in 2004 and taking LSU past the wire in the narrowest possible loss in 2005, but given last year’s flops against good teams, UGA at home and USC on the road look like extremely probable losses. They’re the only two in that category, though, and if the Devils can take five of six again against Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, UCLA and Arizona -- they enter the season a tentative favorite in all of those games, and as the presumed runner-up to the Trojans -- another 9-3, Holiday/Sun Bowl kind of season is in order. A ...

Underlying Literary Themes In the Pac Ten
Published 8/21/2008 by Matt Hinton at Dr. Saturday
... In both cases, 2008 is broadly cast as a zero-sum proposition: a bowl game, or you're fired. Judging from the forecasts, it looks like the chips are on "fired." ...

The script does not call for Jacquizz Rodgers' shoulder injury to ruin Oregon State's Rose Bowl run
Published 11/25/2008 by Matt Hinton at Dr. Saturday
... time. On the other hand, if you're from the school of Major League, The Bad News Bears, The Waterboy, Hoosiers, The Mighty Ducks, A League of Their Own, Little Giants, the 1973 New York Knicks or pretty much any other underdog sports movie ever made, you've seen this too many times to be worried. The Beavers' season is already a contrived screenplay, complete with a rock bottom performance that validated all the skeptics, followed by an obscure hero emerging from the most unlikely place to ...

Bowlin': A Sun Bowl where everything is gravy
Published 8 days ago by Matt Hinton at Dr. Saturday
... So: Was it fun? That's in the eye of the beholder. Generally, given the meh expectations and the horrendous 0-2 start, yeah, it was a total blast. Given the long ascension sparked by the USC upset in September, it might take a while for a few Beaver partisans to get their stomachs back after the bottom dropped out against Oregon (did it really have to be Oregon?) just as the view was getting really good on top of six straight wins. Queasy or not, you can't complain about the Sun Bowl, but when you were 60 minutes from the Rose Bowl, you can't be entirely "Happy to ...