This weekend, I made the decision that I simply had to 'do something' every night. So, for the evening wrap I will talk about some things going on in the sports world around us. The great thing about doing this thing here - there are no requirements. It does not have to be about recruiting; it doesn't even have to be about Oregon or college football. That brings me to my first thought.
Parity reigns supreme
When Cal hired former duck Justin Wilcox, there were plenty of people who wondered two things. One, was he ready to be a head coach and two, what on earth would he do with the dumpster fire that Sonny Dykes left behind? The truth, though, is that the team was not a dumpster fire, they were just poorly coached on the defensive side of the ball.
Wilcox has been around a lot of really good coaches and one in particular taught him the most critical lesson - being the head coach is like being the CEO of a corporation. You are there to establish a culture and to hire the best 'workers' you can find to make the company as strong as possible. Mike Bellotti was the consummate CEO football coach. He was widely known not just for his offensive acumen as an assistant, but his ability to find the best assistants on the rise. Surely he made mistakes (Rich Stubler), but he also brought a lot of really talented coaches to Eugene.
So when Wilcox took over at Cal, he brought on Beau Baldwin as offensive coordinator and Tim DeRuyter as defensive coordinator. Those were incredibly smart hires. When Cal came back to beat Ole Miss Saturday, it made the reality of parity seem that much more tangible. With the losses of LSU, Ole Miss, Auburn, the continued mediocrity of Florida and Tennessee, it is quite apparent that right now the SEC is Alabama and everyone else.
The Pac-12 has not escaped the parity train. Stanford is 1-2; as is Arizona State. Arizona looks better - but not by much. Washington State seems better on defense, but they have struggled early in games this season. Oregon State has regressed. The south really does not look much better. USC struggled with Western Michigan and almost lost to a Texas team which had looked a bit lost earlier in the season.
Some of this is just the natural course of an early season. Teams are ranked with no evidence other than what they did last season and what people think they might do this season. Then the games start to get played and we learn a lot of what we thought was an illusion. We really won't have much of an idea about most teams until we get into conference play; and that includes Oregon.
Charles Nelson
In his Monday press conference, Willie Taggart mentioned that Nelson had a sprained ankle and was hopeful that he would return soon. When is soon?
I don't think he will play against ASU. He might make the trip, but don't count on him being available for the game. Taj Griffin looked very good in his return to the field in Laramie, and I would expect to see plenty more of him. While Justin Herbert has certainly felt more comfortable with Nelson on the field, Griffin's return could help. I would expect a lot more work with Breeland and Freeman coming out of the backfield to get him more comfortable.
If ever there was a game to be missing your most experienced receiver, it might be Arizona State. They have struggled to cover anyone this season, so I would be confident that the Ducks will be able to put up a lot of good numbers even without Nelson this weekend.
Buying &Selling
One thing I would really like to implement as a Monday Wrap mainstay is this buy and sell segment. It could be any team; any sport. Today I am going to stick with college football
Buy: Wisconsin. The Badgers have always had a strong rushing attack and a solid defense. But the return of Paul Chryst who is now in his third season, also saw the return of much better quarterback play. The development of Alex Hornibrook is very impressive. Though the win over BYU is probably not quite as impressive as the score would indicate, Hornibrook's record setting performance has me putting Wisconsin stock up.
Sell: There are plenty of schools I could go with here; Ohio State, LSU or Stanford - I will turn to the ACC. I was never high on LSU and I doubt that Ohio State will continue to play poorly; Urban Meyer is too good a coach.
To me, though, the team that I think has begun a fairly steep descent is Louisville. Even with the returning Heisman Trophy winner, the team seems to have regressed considerably. Their win over North Carolina is now devalued and they have played very porous on defense. It really does not get much better from here for the Cardinals. I like Bobby Petrino as a coach, but the move to the ACC is proving a bit more challenging than some thought. With Lamar Jackson last season, Louisville went 7-1 in conference play, but were 5-3 in the two prior seasons and look destined for a similar finish this season.
I only mark them in the 'down' category because this seems to be the leveling out of the program and Jackson's departure following the season could further erode their results