Answers, Part I

Enough of the 102 weekly questions on "when's Ben going to be practicing again". How bout a more important rehab question...."What's the latest on Captain Phil from Deadliest Catch"????
This was one of the last questions, but it is the most pressing to me so I moved it to the top. The king crag season started earlier this month, but I haven't heard anything, or seen anything on Captain Phil's blog.
However, I know someone posted something about Captain Phil in the past, and said he ran Captain Phil's blog. So, please if anyone knows, please update us on what is going on with this.

how has practice been this week? good enough to pull off an upset or when rick says it was great and exciting is that just coachspeak?
It was ok, probably a little better than most Tuesday's and Wednesday's was solid. I was not at Thursday's practice. I think some of it is coachspeak, but there was some intensity to the first two days of practice this week.

Ted Miller (ESPN's Pac-10 Blogger) had an opinion piece in regards to the Pac-10 being a little too ambitious with their scheduling. I personally love the scheduling, your thoughts?
Some of it is overscheduling, like in the case of Washington playing Oklahoma and Notre Dame this season. But schedules are done years in advance, so when UCLA scheduled BYU, the Cougars weren't a top 15 team. Plus, with the overall weakness of the conference, playing a few nice non-conference games is important. But from top to bottom, I still think the Pac-10's non-conference schedule is average, at best.

What do you think the liklihood is that Stan Hasiak doesn't choose Cal and bail on his commitment to UCLA since he still is planning on visiting?
I think Hasiak winds up staying with UCLA. He always liked UCLA, and his dad also likes UCLA. I think he is going to Cal just so he can have a school to compare to UCLA.

Also, how quickly will the 2 newest commits (Jayson Allmond and Brandon Sermons) be able to contribute?
Contribute? That can happen next season if Sermons comes in and plays well at cornerback, and perhaps Allmond can play on special teams. But contribute and make an impact or two different things.

During Belotti's tenure, Oregon is tied with USC (or in second, behind only USC) for; fewest losing seasons, best conference winning percentage, most years finihsing ranked, & most top 3 conference finishes. Is Oregon a conference power, if not, why?
Conference power? I don't think that. I think Oregon is one of the best teams in the conference, but the Ducks won one league title since 1995. USC is a power and has dominated the conference. In the last decade Oregon won the second-most games the league, but that speaks of its consistency, not a powerhouse.

How does Kai Maiava look in practice? Does he project to a center or guard?
He looks very good, agile and mean. My understanding is he projects as a center, and the coaching staff loves him there.

based on your opinion, who are the two most talented RB's on this roster not named Kahlil Bell? That includes the Scout guys....
Aundre Dean and Milton Knox, but Dean needs to have holes to run through to showcase his ability. Knox is a tough runner with very nice feet and great work ethic. They are two very different running backs.