[Card Fan in OR]

The bigger issue, over SOS or conference appearance, is how a Oregon would react to a loss. If UW beats them, do them have the little bit more of motivation to come out and beat Stanford? Or does it deflate them and make them come out flat? I tend to think that a loss to UW will make the Ducks even more amped up to beat us. But the effect is probably marginal.

And that is the essence of my question. All this talk about tiebreakers and what happens if Oregon beats us and....Is not where I thought this thread would go. Who do I root for to make it easier for us to remain undefeated and (secondarily) move up in the rankings. Are we better facing a "softened up" Duck team before we take care of business, or do we want them coming to Palo Alto with one loss? I think the better they look, the more it helps us after we dispatch them. Doesn't mean I am going to root for the Ducks, though. Just can't bring myself to do that.

[Card Fan in OR]

The bigger issue, over SOS or conference appearance, is how a Oregon would react to a loss. If UW beats them, do them have the little bit more of motivation to come out and beat Stanford? Or does it deflate them and make them come out flat? I tend to think that a loss to UW will make the Ducks even more amped up to beat us. But the effect is probably marginal.

And that is the essence of my question. All this talk about tiebreakers and what happens if Oregon beats us and....Is not where I thought this thread would go. Who do I root for to make it easier for us to remain undefeated and (secondarily) move up in the rankings. Are we better facing a "softened up" Duck team before we take care of business, or do we want them coming to Palo Alto with one loss? I think the better they look, the more it helps us after we dispatch them. Doesn't mean I am going to root for the Ducks, though. Just can't bring myself to do that.