Today started off on a high note for me, college football-wise. I was thrilled when, in the morning, I set my DirecTV VCR to record the 3:30 pm Oregon State vs. Idaho State game on The CW (channel 32) and the 4:30 pm Oregon vs. Idaho game on the Big Ten Network (channel 601).
While that may not sound like a big deal to football fans who don't use DirecTV -- we live in rural south Salem, Oregon, where there's no cable options -- those of us who suffered through many years of not getting the Pac-12 Networks due to a never-ending corporate pissing match between them and DirecTV rejoiced when the Pac-12 became the Pac-2.
Not because we were happy about the demise of the Pac-12. I was really sad when every member except Oregon State and Washington State headed off to other conferences: the Big Ten, Big 12, ACC. But the plus side for me was being able to see every Oregon and Oregon State football game in the 2024 season.
Unfortunately, there's now a corporate pissing match between the Big Ten Network, which is owned by Fox, and Comcast/Xfinity. Today I commiserated with a friend who is an avid Ducks fan and has Comcast at his Salem apartment, sending him this text.
It warmed my heart just now to be able to record the OSU game on The CW and the Oregon game on the Big Ten Network after so many years of having to deal with DirecTV not having the Pac-12 Networks. I’ve been reading that the Ducks game is blacked out on Comcast due to a dispute between them and the Big Ten Network. I’m curious if that’s true for you.
It was. He responded with:
Well the table has turned (I fear), and your home is able to get Ducks and Beavers football, and it sounds like I will be unable to get at least the Ducks games. Again a dispute on how the profits are split. But I haven’t heard from Comcast one way or another. What a bizarre twist for the local Duck fans. If they are blacked out they just might riot.
It's unclear how long the Comcast blackout will last. An Oregonian story about this issue says:
The question now is whether the impasse will last days, weeks or months.
“I don’t know about months but certainly weeks,” an industry source said Saturday.
The blackout imposed by Fox, which owns the Big Ten Network, came in response to Comcast refusing to move the Big Ten Network to a basic subscription tier along the West Coast once the four schools joined the conference.
I thought both The CW and Big Ten Network did a fine job with their broadcasts of the Oregon State and Oregon games. I'd never watched The CW before (CW stands for the two founding organizations, CBS Corporation and Warner Brothers). The announcers and camerawork seemed comparable to ESPN and Fox.
My big disappointment today was how Oregon played. They were favored by about 50 points over Idaho but ended up winning by just ten points, 24-14. I don't think Ohio State is quaking with fear about playing Oregon on October 12 given how Oregon looked today.
Either Oregon isn't deserving of its #3 national ranking at the moment, or Idaho is a much better team than expected. Perhaps both are true.
In the fourth quarter Oregon just had a 17-14 lead with a 3rd and seven near the Idaho goal line. An Idaho lineman went offside, leaving Oregon with a 4th and two. Oregon then scored, a game changer since it was looking like Oregon might have to kick a field goal, making the game 20-14 with Idaho having about 5 1/2 minutes to score a touchdown and win the game.
That's pathetic for a team with a quarterback vying for a Heisman trophy that has set its sights on a national championship. Hopefully Oregon will get its act together before it plays Oregon State on September 14. Oregon State won comfortably 38-15. Oregon won uncomfortably.
Bill Oram of the Oregonian started off his column with:
Oh boy, it is certainly tempting to lay into the Oregon Ducks today. To say they bought into their own hype. Label them paper tigers. Call for everyone to lay off the talk of a playoff.
They were supposed to manhandle the team from the panhandle. Instead, it was nearly a Vandal scandal.
The Ducks were spectacularly close to ending up on the wrong side of one of the biggest upsets in college football’s storied history.
Michigan almost got off the hook for its 2007 loss to Appalachian State.
In 16 games against FCS opponents since 2002 — all wins, of course — the Ducks’ average margin of victory had been more than 46 points.
On Saturday, they were favored by 49.5.
Their actual scoring advantage? Three points with barely eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter, before they managed to eke out a 24-14 victory.
“The score is what the score was,” Dan Lanning tersely told reporters after the game
And what was that?
Unimaginable? Unacceptable? Unforgivable?!
Maybe all three. It doesn’t have to be an upset to be upsetting.
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