An Assortment

Jeremiah Sirles, an offensive line recruit who was a visitor for the UCLA game, has announced that he will be making his verbal commitment to either Nebraska or Oregon this upcoming Friday....either way I'll be sure to give a brief summary of his final decision once I find the news. The moderator on Chat4Quacks believes Sirles is an Oregon lock so it will be very interesting to see if that information turns out to be true. In regard to Sirles it's interesting to note that he was rated a 4-star by both Rivals and Scout but has currently been reduced to a 3-star on both sites. I'm not really sure what the reasoning was for this, and to be quite honest I'm not really sure that it even matters at this point.

So what's up with that referee in the LSU vs. South Carolina game going Chuck Norris on the Gamecock quarterback and giving him a nice forearm shiver to the ground?

Here's the video if you haven't seen it yet:



The more I watch that video the more I find myself pondering what in the hell the referee was actually thinking? I've heard some people say that Stephen Garcia, the South Carolina QB, was making a run right at the guy and he just defended himself. If you watch the video though Garcia doesn't even see the ref to his right before he is knocked to the ground. Hell, the ref actually looks like he drops back into coverage before he sees the QB start to run and then he makes a conscious attempt to take him out himself. ESPN mentioned yesterday morning that the ref was actually a linebacker for Kentucky back in the early 70's which may actually explain a lot. I'm guessing that he just had a brain fart of Mt. Everest proportions and instinctively played the QB like he did back in the day. Does this make it right though? Of course not. I think the ref should probably be suspended, but instead the SEC is going to sweep that one under the rug and hope that we all just forget about it. RIIIIGHT. Apparently the people in charge of the SEC haven't heard of YouTube...2 Million viewers of the combined clips of that play in the last 3 days. I don't think anybody will be forgetting about it anytime soon.

What can we expect from Oregon this weekend? Arizona St. is in need of a win VERY badly considering they've dropped their last 4 contests, and Oregon needs this as a statement game to show they won't be a pushover for the rest of the season. I think Oregon will try to establish themselves on the ground (big surprise there) while Rudy Carpenter and the Sun Devils try to air mail passes across our suspect secondary. Before the season began I never thought our secondary would be the biggest liability on this defensive unit, but luckily Oregon has had a knack for getting to Rudy Carpenter the last 2 times the teams have met up. I expect ASU's defense to give Oregon problems on the ground which will force the Ducks to throw. I expect a couple of turnovers from both teams, but a very strong showing by Jeremiah Masoli. I think the bye week will have worked wonders for the Ducks and I expect them to get on top early. Unfortunately, the game isn't on TV and I don't have the patience for Jerry Allen's feeble attempts to depict what is actually going on. My birthday is on Saturday and I'm going to assume that the Ducks got the memo that I simply want a "W" for my b-day gift. A Duck victory it will be.

Prediction: Oregon 31 - ASU 27

Feel free to post a comment on what you think the score will be!