I hope these ratings don't go to our teams head. Too many question marks. We haven't established the run (esp given our stud RB), don't put pressure on the QB, and questions remain on defense.

To our benefit we have a senior-laden offense with largely solid but not dominant players, and we do just enough to win. A weak schedule has facilitated our rise. Who knows, maybe this is a great team effort, and we'll continue to roll. Hopefully we get healthy the next month, which includes 3 winnable games and a perfectly timed bye.

The last 3 games will be a true test, and then next year rebuilding.

Is a GOAL of his to coach, and to coach college football?

Does he know Plough well? What kind of offensive schemes does he like?

Agreed. Along w recycling requirements, DEI targets, and 'partnership' to meet DEI targets. All dependent on what Orr has accomplished the past two years.

I read Orr as more seat of the pants, let's paint a picture of moving quickly and decisively. I got no impression the current stadium is condemned, unless they're going to use that as justification for quick removal. Like you noted, their are EIR reports, 'stakeholders', students may want a say, concept drawings, actual financing, state approval (?), etc. That doesn’t happen in 3 months, and Hornet Stadium most likely won't see construction for a year or more.

Side note: Oakland had a quickie fire sale on the Coliseum, sold it to a small group with big dreams, and they already missed their first contract-required down payment.

FTR, Stanford alum and developer John Arrillaga led the new 2006 Stanford Stadium project. They had a local architectural firm, local builder, and ran two shifts six days a week, finishing demolition and rebuilding in under a year. Local meaning within two miles. The $85 Million facility expanded to $105 Million (+20%) to add more concession stands, restrooms, and decorative stucco.

Student 'demographics' have changed substantially the past decades, and 'technology'. No Grad, no Mr. Bs, no Ketmo.

Writer John Canzano on Substack:

"The most troubling officiating performance of the weekend had to come at the end of the UC Davis-Portland State Big Sky Conference game. The Vikings were leading No. 8-ranked UC Davis 26-21 and seemingly won the game on a pass breakup in the end zone at the end of regulation.

"Until…

"The referee told the clock operator to put one second back on the clock, giving the Aggies an extra play. I was at the stadium and confused because I watched the ball hit the turf and noted the “0:00” on the clock. The play (and clock) isn’t blown dead until the ball lands, not when it hits the receiver’s hands and heads off. The scene merited a pause and a quick replay review to be sure it was correct. But that’s not what happened.

"UC Davis used the extra play to score a game-winning TD (called on the field) that didn’t look like a certain TD. The ball carrier appeared to be out of bounds before the ball reached the goal line. After a lengthy replay review, the referee announced the play stood as called. He announced the ball carrier had possession of the ball in the end zone. The official later informed PSU that there was not a conclusive replay angle available. So which was it?

"On my way to the parking lot after the game, I bumped into Dante Chachere, Portland State’s quarterback. He had a terrific game. Chachere was sitting outside the stadium on a curb with his parents. I stopped to talk to him. He had tears in his eyes."

It's complicated. If we run predictable first down LL between the tackles, LL dump off, we don't use a second back, Robbins is a season-long decoy, there are probably other tendencies, it's predictable. They load the box or tee off. Fischer is our future, and he's not getting touches. I do think Plough opened the playbook for Idaho, a solid move.

Nevertheless, 5-1 is sweet. We'll need to put together a complete game at the end of the year to be successful.

PSU changed DC mid-season.

I mentioned this once before. Last year in a football TV halftime broadcast, Chancellor May said we were working on big things.

So it's either still being worked on, or didn't pencil out. What major components would we need?

- stadium - add 5-10,000 seats
- NIL monies
- new scholarships for FB (20?) and 20-25 for gender equity

In 6-8 years it sounds like all of these TV-centric conferences will reshuffle again. UCLA and Cal may come back west.

It's worse. They only lost to FSU 14-9, so they could easily have been sitting at 2-0 in league, a victory over top-10 Miami, and a recruiting bonanza.

Cal alums online have minimal faith in Wilcox. They see him as a nice guy but not a sharp coach, with horrible OCs. But the AD, who they don't like, extended his contract.

FTR, as we stand now for UC football teams:

Aggies - 5-1, 2-0
Bears - 3-2, 0-2
Bruins - 1-4, 0-3

We'll see. The Hornets are what - a middle of the pack FCS school? This would entail:

- New football-only stadium - sounds like possibly a tribe naming deal, 25,000 seats. Three, four, five years out? Play games at Hughes in the meantime.

- Alternating between The Well and Sac Kings home (tough for students). Neither ideal.

- New track facility / stands bc of the new stadium - maybe they repurpose some of the current bleachers.

- $35 Million for NIL, separate from getting the stadium built? How much per year is this?

If TV sets are still important, it gets the PAC-X the 20th largest TV market. But then everything is reshuffled down the road.

As we stand now for UC football teams:

Aggies - 5-1, 2-0
Bears - 3-2, 0-2
Bruins - 1-4, 0-3

They took Idaho State down to the wire.

Making it more nerve wracking - the Ags marched the length of the field (94-95 yards) in two minutes with one (?) timeout and included two interior runs (plays) early in the drive that chewed up time. The announcers remarked several times we were burning needed time.

Third-to-last play: around :12 mark MH rolled out a slow developing play which used 8 seconds (incomplete pass), which seemed to imply only one more play. Next at :04 was the quick incomplete pass to Hutton, clock reads :00, but the refs add one second.

Tough call. The referee who made the call was right there, so to reverse him requires overwhelming proof. The replay angle we saw wasn't optimum.

35-10 Cal 8:06 Q3.

Yes! Next year will be massive rebuilding on offense, they need live reps. Fischer came up big last year vs Montana.

It would be nice if we could get enough breathing room to get our young tall receivers playing time - Pickett and Mascheroni are both 6'4".

How about play Robbins on the return team? We need more plawmakers.

Cal Poly 28-24 - Q3 - Poly hanging in there, just scored.

38-38, Q4, 5:31 left, CP has put up over 280 yards rushing.

Soft 5-1 now.

I missed the early part of the game where they dropped 14 quick points on us, but some key issues:

- coming out flat (an ongoing problem)
- special teams allowing the rookie return man to burn us for a big gain
- TE /WR miscues on the TD pass
- struggling to establish a run game
- 2 running plays when we had limited time to go 95 yards
- limited pressure on QB?

Our schedule is perfect w 2 winnable games and then a needed bye before Showtime.