The Wiz of Odds

Give the People What They Want — Duck Cheerleaders

Yes, we could have used an action shot from Monday's Rose Bowl to lead this post, but we're all about giving customers what they want. And that means an image of the Oregon cheerleaders.

This shot, along with the others after the jump, are courtesy of Image of Sport. You can view Image of Sport's full gallery by clicking here.

As for the game, it was a classic, with the Oregon Ducks holding off the Wisconsin Badgers, 45-38.

Bellotti's Monthly Pension Tops $41,000

Mike Bellotti has a gift that keeps on giving.

Bellotti, the former Oregon coach and short-term athletic director, gets a monthly pension of $41,341.67 from the Oregon Public Employee Retirement System, the Oregonian reported.

Bellotti, 60, is one of 837 people who get more than $100,000 a year from the system, but he's at the top of the heap by a sizable margin. Next on the list is Frederick Keller, an interventional radiologist with the Oregon Health & Science University who probably doesn't have the slightest idea what "Cover 2" means. Keller cashes a monthly pension check of $31,459.45.

Bellotti, now an analyst for ESPN, had a final compensation package between $1.9 and $2 million from Oregon. He made no apology for his fat pension.

"Put in all the taxes I've paid to the state of Oregon," he told the newspaper.

Bellotti was Oregon's offensive coordinator from 1989-94. He then became head coach, a position he held until March 30, 2009, when moved into the athletic director's seat. Nine months later, he quit to join ESPN.

Then, in a move that took large brass ones, Bellotti demanded a severance of $7 million from Oregon president Richard Lariviere, who learned from university general counsel that Bellotti had no contract with the school. He was merely working under a handshake deal.

Lariviere took stock of his legal position and wisely settled for $3 million.

Photographer Gets Flattened on Oregon Sideline

Hope this gentleman is OK. Watch as he gets knocked over by Arizona State receiver Gerell Robinson.

Chip Kelly to Kid: 'Hey, Will You Shut Up?'

Perhaps the most interesting moment of the Arizona State-Oregon game came at the end when Duck coach Chip Kelly tells a fan to put a sock in it. "Thank you," Erin Andrews says.

Oregon

Can Oregon chart a course back to the BCS title game? That question could be answered Saturday when the Ducks play Louisiana State in Arlington, Tex. A loss would saddle the team for the rest of the season — a damning blow to any talk of winning the BCS title. A victory springboards the Ducks to the top of the heap.

Click the image to enlarge. Thanks to Rachael and Landon.

Bowl Championship Series Title Game

The Wiz of Odds is conducting a comprehensive study of bowl game expense reports. All of the data collected — expense reports for 56 teams and bowl surveys for 40 teams — are being posted on the site. Here is the latest installment. For an overview of the project, click here.

The Bowl Championship Series title game is a stand-alone entity staged by one of the four BCS bowl organizations annually. The Rose, Sugar, and Orange fund the game through their 501(c)(3) organizations. The Fiesta has a special-purpose 501(c)(3) called the Arizona College Football Championship Foundation used to present the title game every four years. Thus, the classification is always 501(c)(3) (or public charity). The first game was played in 1999.

2011 participants: Oregon and Auburn.

Oregon expenses: Tickets to the title game ranged from $200 to $325 and the Ducks reported 1,761 absorbed tickets at a cost of $555,575. Total expenses were reportedly $2.54 million. Oregon's official party — the team, coaching staff, band, cheerleaders, faculty and athletics department personnel — numbered 493. That’s below the norm of 568. Download Oregon Expenses

Survey: Athletic director Rob Mullens indicated he was "very satisfied" on nearly every category. But when asked about location of seats, the number of ticket purchases required and cost of game tickets, he downgraded to "satisfied." Download Oregon Survey

Auburn expenses: The Tigers reported absorbing 2,456 tickets at a cost of $781,825. Total expenses were listed at $2.9 million. Auburn’s travel party of 938 was the largest among the 56 expense reports obtained by The Wiz of Odds. Download Auburn Expenses

Survey: Athletic directors had six choices on the surveys: excellent, very satisfied, satisfied, neutral, dissatisfied and very dissatisfied. Jay Jacobs indicated he was "satisfied" on every question but four. He was "neutral" on the number of ticket purchases required, cost of tickets and the condition of the practice and playing field. He rated the overall bowl experience "excellent." Download Auburn Survey