FanHouse OregonDucks

It takes a lot of work, effort and luck to go winless for the year in a conference. It means dropping heated rivalry games. It means not being able to win at home. It means the team is beyond bad, but also unlucky. Oregon has been all of that this year. Finally, though, the Ducks broke through by beating Stanford 68-60.

This game was an immovable object meeting an irresistible force -- only not. Oregon had been winless in the Pac-10, while Stanford was winless on the road in the conference. Something had to give and in the end it was the Cardinal.

USC at Oregon | 1st Half | 2nd Half

It's a Fox Sports Weekend, if you are a Pac Ten fan, as four of the five conference games are being broadcast on the NewsCorp-owned cable networks, bookended by the USC Trojans' visit to Autzen Stadium and the traditional 10:15 PM Eastern Pac Ten Game of the Week between undefeated Arizona State and former contender Cal Berkeley.

Today's matchup pits the nation's second-best offense against the third best defense in the country and features two one-loss, top-ten teams. The winner controls their destiny. The loser starts to think about how many more ganes they'd have to lose to go to the Hawaii Bowl instead of the Sun Bowl.

Vitals, TV Info and Pregame Notes after the jump . . .

With perennial BCS contender USC at the top of the Pac Ten, it is hard to draw the line between "contenders" and "pretenders"... In 2006, the Pac Ten faced the very real possibility of having five teams tied for fourth place in the conference--and 2007 looks like there could be eight bowl-eligible schools fighting for six mediocre bowls.

While these schools aren't quite worthy of being grouped in with Stanford among the conference "dregs" you won't see any of them traveling to Pasadena in January, either.

Oregon Ducks

Last year: 7-6 overall, 4-5 Pac Ten WHY THEY'LL WIN: The Oregon Ducks have consistently been "contenders" for the Pac Ten crown but have consistently come up short in recent years. They have brought the spread-option to the Pac Ten and will continue with QB Dennis Dixon at the helm in 2007. Rivals' eyes are still adjusting to those wacky uniforms. The Ducks get conference favorites USC at home the week after the Trojans travel to South Bend for what could be a trap game. WHY THEY WON'T: Oregon has consistently challenged for the Pac Ten crown but have consistently failed to pull it out. The Pac Ten has allegedly improved the quality of their referees this year, which won't give the Ducks that little something extra that propelled them ahead of Oklahoma in 2006. PROGNOSIS: Oregon may not even be the best team in their own State, let alone their own conference. They should be able to hang with the Conference contenders, but on paper there are just too many schools that seem better than them.

It's being remarkably under-discussed how Oregon Head Coach Ernie Kent is basically daring the Oregon administration to fire him or extend him. Keep in mind, that this is the same head coach who came into the season on the warmest seat in the PAC-10 and the subject of FireCoachKent.com (since pulled, but you have to love Google cache). A coach who isn't exactly fully supported by the outgoing Athletics Director (AD) and the present AD, Pat Killkenny.

Oregon has been one of the more surprising teams all season. Two or three seasons of completely underachieving and it finally comes together this year. Apparently Ernie Kent has been feeling pretty good about his bargaining position. The day Tommy Amaker was fired from Michigan and the day before Oregon's second round game against Winthrop, Kent didn't hide any interest or why.

Said Kent: "I have an agent, and he's been contacted by some people. All I'm going to say is that I want to be at Oregon as long as they want me there. But if they don't want me there anymore, and Michigan wants to talk, Oregon owes me the opportunity to listen."

Kent said he never would pursue a vacant job. But if they want to talk, he's all ears. Also, Kent said he prefers to wait "until we've finished our own tournament run," before talking more about his future.

Kent's contract actually runs through 2010, but unlike previous years it hasn't been rolled over prior to the start of the season. It's not like Kent is in the last year or even 2 years from his contract expiring. He's got 3 years. Michigan has denied any contact with Kent.

How that short little bit about his agent being contacted and his willingness to listen, can not be construed as pursuit of a vacant coaching job, is only if you take it as an attempt to leverage a new deal and/or extension from Oregon. Thank goodness he would rather wait to discuss this.

Well, I guess Kent just likes to make sure his name is out there.

Illinois had an opening in 2003, and hired Southern Illinois coach Bruce Weber. But not before Kent looked at the list of candidates, and asked friends if they would contact various media, and inquire why he wasn't being mentioned for the job.

He's like John Calipari in that respect. Always loves to see his name mentioned for other jobs.

Have to give him some credit for guts, since that sort of talk and if Oregon had fallen flat against Winthrop, he'd be taking heat for needlessly distracting his team in the NCAA Tournament. He would likely be looking for work at a mid-major. Instead, they handled Winthrop with ease and now look like a strong shot for at least the Elite Eight. Still, few programs like to be threatened like that, and Kent's popularity isn't that strong. He had best get to the Elite Eight if he wants to get an extension from Oregon or a serious offer from Michigan.

For realz.

Oregon booster and recently named athletic director Pat Kilkenny's salary terms were released Tuesday. His base salary with the university comes to just $25,008/year. The upshot is the deal comes with some killer perks, namely a bonanza of tickets, a country club membership, health and retirement benefits, Nike merchandise, cars, $10,000 annual discretionary cash and much, much more.

Minus the goodies, his best salary comparison is: preschool teacher. Who saw that one coming? Thing is, he's awash in his own money so compensation isn't of great importance.

Kilkenny last year sold the California insurance agency that had made him a wealthy man, and said when he was hired by the UO that he would not take a salary. University spokesman Phil Weiler said the relatively modest amount is needed to establish a clear employment relationship with the university that might not exist if Kilkenny worked entirely for free or for a token amount, such as $1 a year.

How noble. More praise for Kilkenny here.

I don't know about you, but I'd like to be at his station in life - sitting atop the athletic department of a prominent college, wealthy enough to demand nothing in compensation and willing to throw around several g's to pay for a handful of Oregon students to make a road trip in support of the basketball team. Oh, and for kicks I'll get $25k, free golf and 19th hole relaxing fireside sips of cognac. Tough gig, let me think about that for a moment ... Yeh, I'd take it.

H/T: Google Alerts

After taking a beating this season for the sub-par performance of officials in Pac Ten games, Verle Sorgen, the conference's coordinator of referees, has announced his retirement.

Sorgen held the position for 21 years, after serving as a referee himself for as many--but none was as turbulent as 2006.

Who can forget the Oregon-Oklahoma game where the officials not only botched the replay but then gave the ball to the wrong team? The 15-minute review-and-re-review of a touchdown in the USC-Oregon game later that year likely led to the institution of a new time-limit by the NCAA.

And although Sorgen is said to be, " recognized nationally as one of the experts on the rules of college football and on officiating mechanics," his officiating crews were recognized blogophere-wide for their incompetence in 2006.

I like to think one of the general ideas college football and basketball fans can agree, is that it is a dangerous thing when the boosters have a little too much say (I'm looking for an A-MEN from Tommy Tuberville and the Auburn faithful, here) in the athletic department. They are vital for the money they provide and sometimes for their name recognition, but when they overtly begin meddling in the athletic department, it's like you can hear Mission Control counting down until KA-BOOM!

Now Oregon has always been a little different since the co-founder/CEO of Nike, Phil Knight, is a huge booster and influence. There's just been a different vibe, I guess. So maybe this is perfectly natural.

The University of Oregon has hired insurance executive Pat Kilkenny, an alum and prominent school booster, as its new athletic director.

Kilkenny replaces Bill Moos, who in November announced plans to step down next month.

Kilkenny is chairman emeritus of San Diego-based Arrowhead General Insurance Inc., which he acquired in 1984 and sold in 2006.

Near as I can tell the qualifications Kilkenny has for the AD position are the following:

1. Ran an insurance company.
2. A powerful booster who gets along very well with uber-booster Phil Knight.
3. An alum, class of '74.
4. Part of the group that helped pay the $2 million settlement on soon-to-be-former AD Moos.
5. Gave $1.5 million towards the new basketball arena.
6. Willing to do the job for free.

I'm not kidding about the last part.

University President David Frohnmayer said Kilkenny will serve as AD for two years. He has agreed to return his salary to the school for "academic and athletic purposes."

I guess, he'll get a nice tax deduction from it, and the school telemarketers won't badger him for a couple years for new donations. It's the two-year term that just adds to the oddness of it. I'm not familiar with many ADs getting two-year contracts. At least, not real ADs. It just makes it seem that Kilkenny is simply some sort of figurehead AD.

Departing AD Moos recently extended Belotti. But if I'm basketball coach Ernie Kent, who came into the 2006-07 season on the hot seat, I'm not feeling particularly comfortable. Despite what had been a great season up until a couple weeks ago the Ducks are now struggling. A booster will now be his boss.

If I were Kent, I'd make sure the health care plan will still pay for that rotator cuff surgery he's putting off, regardless of the employment status in April.