Late Kick journalist Josh Pate has been very kind to Our Beloved Ducks in some of his recent videos concerning both high school and portal recruiting. However, he just began a new campaign, a new line of reasoning for why a Pac-12 team should always be considered inferior to an SEC team…even an SEC team with a worse record! It is a new form of propaganda, of journalistic bias that we will undoubtedly read and hear of often in the future.
His justifications make me want to hurl…
Pate was referring to a recent article by 247 Sports by Bud Elliot about the 2023 Blue Chip Ratio, and how the top 16 teams in nation have had movement in the BCR as programs like Oregon are surging upward. In the video below, Josh starts gushing at the 7:50 mark and goes on for a minute and 42 seconds about Our Beloved Ducks, stating that, “Oregon is a powerhouse recruiter.”
He is even more kind as he states, “even when you count for USC, they (Ducks) are the best recruiting power on the West Coast.” He goes on to posit that if Oregon makes a change of conference later that, “in the B1G, outside of Ohio State–they (Oregon) would be the best recruiter there.” Listening to this had me basking in the glow of Dan Lanning’s staff successes. But in the wrestling world, (I wrestled in high school) they call this the set-up-before-the-takedown.
The video above is queued up to begin at 9:41 where his new line of reasoning begins, as he points out that eight of the top 15 in the chart are SEC teams and how, when Texas and Oklahoma join the SEC soon, it will be common for a SEC team to have six of the top 15 on the Blue Chip Ratio list on their schedule. His concern is with, “…the committee, (Playoff) if they’re not led in a proper direction…”
What?
He gets into convoluted logic of how a 7-5 SEC team could be quite good, yet bypassed by the committee for a team with a better record. He then gets specific in his example between the Pac-12 and the SEC when he states…
“If we get into a world in the future where Oregon State is 11-1, and LSU is sitting at 9-3 with three-point losses to Alabama and Texas and I get a committee member saying, ‘what do you expect us to do? Compare a 9-3 team to an 11-1 team?’ For extra dramatic flair to drive home his new rationalization for ignoring the miracle job done by Coach Jonathan Smith in Corvallis, Pate says he would “toss his laptop into a lake” upon hearing that from the committee.
So five Pac-12 teams ranked would not matter? Oh wait, the strength of schedule is based on rankings, and if the SEC has five teams ranked with a higher average….? See how easy it is to dismiss anyone but the SEC? It does not matter that Oregon has a high Blue Chip Ratio, because they play in the Pac-12. Thus the BCR can be used for the SEC and against teams in the Pac-12?
The Blue Chip Ratio Top-16. (Screenshot from 247 Sports Video)
Pate repeats the mantra we are sure to hear again, with “I do care that the (Playoff) committee, four teams or twelve teams, properly understands how to interpret strength of schedule.”
If we don’t agree? He begins his argument by sticking all doubters with the tag of being “casual-minded,” and how an opposite position is simply one of the “big lies” of college football. You gotta give him credit as he is good, so skilled that he has really set up a new narrative and made it compelling to those who want to believe. This is truly the beginning of the media brainwashing that is occurring before the committee meets, before the season even begins!
Denigrating Oregon State or any Pac-12 team that has improved into a great program is the logical slippery slope that ends up on the Ducks’ lap, and hurting our Playoff chances. I was astonished at the tack taken, and the lack of response from anyone in our conference. This new take of using the BCR against a conference or for it is a nasty one.
Am I over-reacting? Share your thoughts in the only forum-with-decorum on the web because…
“Oh, how we love to ponder about Our Beloved Ducks!”
Charles Fischer (Mr. FishDuck)
Eugene, Oregon
Top Screenshot from Late Kick Video
Charles Fischer has been an intense fan of the Ducks, a season ticket holder at Autzen Stadium for 35 years and has written reports on football boards for over 23 years. Known as “FishDuck” on those boards, he is acknowledged for providing intense detail in his scrimmage reports and in his Xs and Os play analyses. He and his wife Lois, have a daughter Christine, reside in Eugene Oregon, where he was a Financial Advisor for 36 years and now focuses full-time on Charitable Planned Giving Workshops for churches and non-profit organizations.
He does not profess to be a coach or analyst, but simply a “hack” that enjoys sharing what he has learned and invites others to correct or add to this body of Oregon Football! See More…
