How in the hell does Luck go back to school?

[fullyinvestedgirl]

You have no idea! I'm on super thin ice since I moved to enemy territory.

She's missing her grandbabies.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

I've said before that if you aren't smart enough to take $50,000,000 for a job in your major then you aren't smart enough to go to Stanford. I demand an academic investigation!

I think Luck is the best QB I have seen in person since Carson Palmer. He will make plenty of money and have a great career. The P12 North just got really interesting next year.

[RC Vikings]

The only one getting rich next year because of Luck's skill is Jim Harbaugh. Without Luck is the Cardinal any better than a .500 team? Harbaugh should give about 20% of what he pulls in to Luck.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

The only one getting rich next year because of Luck's skill is Jim Harbaugh. Without Luck is the Cardinal any better than a .500 team? Harbaugh should give about 20% of what he pulls in to Luck.

I'm not sure that is fair to say, all of the national pundits last year said that Stanford was only good last year because ofLuke Staley Toby Gerhart.

They do lose 3 OL starters that I believe all have 35+ starts, that could make next year rough.

[NorthwestUteFan]

Perhaps Luck thinks the lockout will actually happen next year?

[LA Ute]

Ted Miller has an interesting take:

There is no ulterior motive here. Luck has told everyone who would listen that he loves college. He's never seemed obsessed with the NFL, even if he would have been the No. 1 overall pick. And he comes from an affluent background: He didn't need the NFL right now, like so many young men who decided to leave college early do....

Luck led Stanford to a 12-1 finish this season and a likely top-five rating in the final rankings, which the program hasn't produced since 1940. Luck passed for 3,338 yards this year with 32 touchdowns. He completed 71 percent of his passes with just eight interceptions. He also rushed for 453 yards. He passed for 287 yards and four touchdowns in the Cardinal's 40-12 win over Virginia Tech in the Discover Orange Bowl.

He's a program changer: He makes everyone around him better.

That said: Stanford's depth chart takes some hits. Even some unanticipated ones: Defensive end/linebacker Thomas Keiser quietly followed the thunderous news about Luck with an announcement that he will enter this spring's NFL draft.

That means the Cardinal lose five starters on defense and seven on offense. And they're looking for a new kicker. There will be many questions this spring, questions that likely will be faced by a new head coach.

Still, Luck makes the Cardinal a legitimate threat to Oregon in the inaugural season of the Pac-12 North. Good recruiting under Harbaugh means Luck will have a solid supporting cast on both sides of the ball....

You hate to call a guy "can't miss," but Luck certainly feels that way. If he blows out his knee in the second game -- knock on wood -- he'd still be the top pick in 2012 (see Sam Bradford).

And if he plays all 12 games, it's hard to imagine him regressing to any significant extent.

But there we go again: Talking about the NFL. This decision wasn't about that.

This is about a young man taking a measured look around and saying: Life is good. It's good to be young. It's good to be the QB at Stanford. The real world can wait.

[SteelBlue]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?page=kreidler/110107

Kreidler's take:

First, Andrew Luck is no fool. His dad, Oliver, is practically an industry lifer, having gone from an abbreviated NFL career to leading business development for the league and running NFL Europe. From there, Oliver Luck oversaw the development of more than $1 billion worth of sports and entertainment venues in the Houston area. He hasn't ever been out of the loop.

So we may fairly assume that when it comes to the potential of an NFL lockout this spring or summer, Andrew Luck is all caught up as to what the fallout might be.

It actually makes more football sense for Luck to stay in the college game and duck the NFL's labor mess for a year. That's not nostalgic, and it has nothing to do with the magnificent tree-lined visage of the Stanford campus, or the way the stadium smells on a football Saturday, or any of the very nice images that Oliver Luck conjured Thursday in explaining his son's decision to forgo the draft. (Andrew, true to character, issued a one-sentence statement through the university and left it at that.) It's just plain football calculus.

[Clark Addison]

I would assume he just wants to play in a conference with Utah for a year.

[CJF]

With Harbaugh now gone, I think he might reconsider.

[LA Ute]

I would assume he just wants to play in a conference with Utah for a year.

I'm glad someone else said exactly what so many of us were thinking.

[NorthwestUteFan]

I would assume he just wants to play in a conference with Utah for a year.

It actually works out well for Utah, because Arizona, USC, UCLA, Colorado, but not Utah. And ASU, Arizona, USC, and Colorado all have to play Oregon.

Things may actuallty work out well for Utah, if they can find some cohesion and consistency on Offense.

As for Luck, I think he is reading the tea leaves. Perhaps he isn't interested in Carolina, and is worried that a lockout could eliminate a good chunk of his contract.

In other news, enjoy the short commute to San Francisco, Jim Harbaugh!

[Babs]

It actually works out well for Utah, because Arizona, USC, UCLA, Colorado, but not Utah. And ASU, Arizona, USC, and Colorado all have to play Oregon.

Doesn't matter. If you win out you'll have to play the best team from the other division, anyhow.

[NorthwestUteFan]

Doesn't matter. If you win out you'll have to play the best team from the other division, anyhow.

True. I don't hold any Pollyanna-ish belief that Utah will win the PAC championship next year.

All I am saying is there is a good chance to be well positioned at the end of the season as every team in the South division will have to play at least one of the two best teams in the PAC, and Utah misses them both.

Oh, and the season won't be over with a loss in September.

Life is good.