Nick Daschel is a veteran sports writer and columnist who has worked on the West coast for nearly three decades. Nick has covered the Pac-10 for about 15 years, primarily focusing on the Northwest schools.
Fact: Since when did the road to the NFL draft wind through Oregon? This weekend’s draft tabbed seven Beavers and six Ducks, a record 13 picks between the two schools.
Comment: Say, UCLA, Arizona State, Arizona, Stanford, Washington and Washington State, don’t you guys have some work to do? Oregon State had seven players taken in the 2009 draft, more than the Bruins, Sun Devils, Wildcats, Cardinal, Huskies and Cougars combined.
Fact: Not one school in the mighty Southeastern Conference, that bastion of all that is great and superior about college football, had more players taken in the NFL draft as Oregon State. Not even national champion Florida.
Comment: I’m not piling on here or anything.
Fact: Meanwhile in Los Angeles, the draft weekend scorecard was USC 11, UCLA 0.
Comment: Um, Rick, you might want to rethink that “The Football Monopoly in Los Angeles is Officially Over” thing.
Fact: The BCS’ little schools – the Pac-10 and Big East – were the most productive in the NFL draft. The numbers: Big East 27 (3.4 players per team), Pac-10 32 (3.2), SEC 37 (3.1), ACC 33 (2.8), Big 10 28 (2.5), Big 12 28 (2.3).
Comment: A couple of observations – 1, before the Pac-10 puffs out its chest about the depth of its quality, we’ll point out that 24 of the 32 picks came from three schools (USC, Oregon State, Oregon). The other seven contributed a whopping eight players to the draft. 2, Guess the NFL wasn’t too impressed with all of those fancy Big 12 offenses this year.
Fact: UCLA wrapped up its spring drills with a less-than-impressive offensive performance, where the quarterbacks combined to throw four interceptions in the Bruins’ version of their spring game.
Comment: On the other hand, that bad offense might be due in part to UCLA’s defense, which might be on the verge of something terrific. The Bruins have three certain first-team all-leaguers in defensive tackle Brian Price, linebacker Reggie Carter and cornerback Alterraun Verner. If others come along, the best defense in LA in 2009 might be at UCLA, and not USC.
Fact: Washington State’s spring practices mercifully came to an end Saturday with a 51-play scrimmage.
Comment: Fifty-one plays is a scrimmage? Isn’t that more like a quarter? That’s all the Cougars can do these days with all of their injured and punished bodies on the sidelines; WSU had only 22 players on defense for spring drills. Makes you wonder whether Paul Wulff wishes he were back at Eastern Washington. The short answer: No. Turns out Eastern football is losing money.
Comment: According to the story in the UW Daily, the school isn’t optimistic that it will reach last year’s total by the season opener, either. The buzz and good feeling about the new coaching staff isn’t enough to pry C-notes out the wallets of Husky boosters in this economy, apparently.
Fact: What is 890 pages thick and an important part of USC football? It’s not the team’s playbook, but the strength and conditioning program’s record book.
Comment: Whatever happened to going green, anyway? Seems like a lot of trees to kill to keep track of the grunts and groans.
Nick Daschel covers the Pacific-10 Conference for Buster Sports, and can be reached at ndaschel@bustersports.com
Comments
Fact: 7 Beavers + 5 Ducks= 12. 7+6= 13 and the actual figures for your facts.