JabbaNoBargain

No disrespect at all! I agree, we need to win one and not be satisfied with where we are, but there isn’t an official blue-blood criteria. When it comes to recruits, our recent success and ability to operate in 2024 is more relevant than say, USC winning a title 20 years ago versus us not having one. Everyone in the world outside some of us and a few jealous programs think we’re there, but I agree, status quo would not be success.

Owned by the “conference” I do believe.

Historically I think we needed the title to elevate, but I personally don’t think so anymore. As we all know, history is being dumped on its butt left and right lately. Pre-playoff championships really aren’t all they’re cracked up to be as they get more in the rear view mirror. Minnesota has 7 claimed national titles in football for instance. Seriously, Minnesota? In the playoff era, only 15 teams have made it, 6 teams have a title, and only 9 of the 15 that have appeared have won a playoff game, including us. Despite no title, I think 30 years of “new tradition”, with numerous BCS Bowl wins and one playoff victory makes us a new age blue-blood. Even after we win one, there will still a handful of currently relevant schools that will still say, “Only 1? Big deal junior.”

Very exciting in a macro kind of way for me. Looks like we’re #7 give or take now. BTW, anyone else notice Stanford lurking in the rankings?

There will no doubt be years where there are more important games for making the playoffs, but we’ve removed all doubt that they’re our primary rival, and arguably really have been since 1994. I have to ask though, if you’re on the list twice, is the second listed game really worthy? Nebraska on there three times feels like a stretch.

Anything he wants

Third string? They had a pretty good stockpile of QBs and Ezekiel Elliot was a pretty decent player 😆 he ran for 700 yards in tOSUs last three games against Wisconsin, Alabama, and then Oregon. OBD was down to about two WRs and the offense consisted of chucking the ball to Byron Marshall. That was not some feeble team on we lost to, they were on fire and we were beat up and lacking depth.

Lights out! That list yet rated a 3 star by many…watch his stars magically go up in the near future.

Well Mr. Board Game, you of course need a compatible system (PS5, XBox, etc.) The game itself is $70 for the standard edition, $100 for deluxe. Kirk Herbstreet is heavily involved with the game, not sure exactly how the ratings are done, but they seem pretty good overall outside of a few teams not in the big 2 conferences being inflated.

Can’t wait for this game! I think EA Sports is clearly trying to have a diversity of highly rated teams in order to have broad appeal. Hmmm, any future lessons/foreshadowing to be learned from that?

Accurate 😆

From a Beaver site regarding Ashley. Let that get the blood boiling Jon. Beavis desperately wanting to join a conference from the jump, but not having any takers is them standing on principle for all that is good and righteous.

All about perspective. Over in OSU-land, some people are angry that she wasn’t harsh enough on the “treacherous 10”, that she mentioned love of OBD, and that she is a descendant of Benedict Arnold that will now be covering OBD in the B1G. From what I can read (no way do I pay to read the 🤡), her farewell reads pretty much like that of an athletes farewell as they enter the portal. P12 forever! Hugs and kisses. Now pardon me while I join a successful conference.

Preach! Couldn’t agree more and I’m not even sucking up 😆 People are just guessing on so many topics, but bottom line, this evolution is exactly what was needed to give “upstarts” like OBD a real shot. No matter what forces shape the next 10 years, the Georgia’s of the college football world will still be there, and hopefully, so will OBD. Once we there, we ain’t leaving.

In fairness (as if they deserve fairness) it is still early…we just picked up one DB and shot up 16 spots 😆

Fun article! For me, my "love" of CU, ASU, etc. dies with the conference. My conference love has always revolved around how it helps OBD. More macro than anything...I want OBD to win the best conference, but really couldn't care less about the actual individual success of the other members. So you can bet I'll be rooting for all B1G teams to kill it out of conference this year. Good example. I'll be rooting for Utah or Arizona to take the B12 this year, but again, to reflect well on us. Once we clear 2024, if Utah/Arizona go 3-9 in 2025 I really won't care or feel a shred of nostalgia.

B1G was actually the first thing I looked for! I also went to a local Duck Store yesterday to see if there was any new gear with the B1G logo, can’t get it soon enough 😉 I really like the court design, very sharp. There is a chance the trees will look too busy for me after a while though.

New territory and unanticipated consequences. This is what happens when you “rush” into something. I say “rush” because they could have been planning the mechanics of this for 5+ years, but clearly they were not. There isn’t another North American sport that has pre-championship playoff games (I consider the Final 4 a singular event) at true neutral sites that have capacities of 50,000+, probably with good reason. For football fans, bowl games were the end of the road and a way to take a family vacation someplace nice. Most families don’t take two vacations in a row, so they need to ditch anything related to “bowl thinking”, it won’t work. Really reminds me of how half-baked the old playoff was with the bowl rotation nonsense. We’re giving up traditions left and right, time to let this one go.

Thanks for the info. Thats a solid explanation. So is it just coincidence that there are always 25-30 5 stars? Never 40, or just 10?

By knucklehead I was meaning “busts”, more than intelligence. Bad word choice. That being said, I always thought stars were a reflection of the pecking order of the current class? 5 star = top 30, etc. BTW the fact this is a relative and not absolute ranking also diminishes the value of being 5 star imo. Is getting a low end 5 star in a below average class really a “5 star”? If the system is based purely on the physical specs of a 16-17 year old, then being a 5 star versus a 4 is greatly overrated imo. Motor, drive, intelligence…somewhat important 😆 So I’ll go full circle to the original question, and like my original answer. With the portal, we don’t really need more 5 stars out of HS. I get excited when it happens, absolutely. But a roster with more 4 star dudes out of HS, up front on D and at WR will get us there.

Are the old SWC or BIG8 naming rights available? We could start a collective to buy the rights and “form a league”.

The high school evaluation game is dubious. Seen too many knuckleheads get 5 stars, especially the last 5 years or so. I appreciate the sentiment, but we’ve really only lacked in two areas in recent history IMO. The trenches on D, and WR. Getting some of the best and more depth in those two areas, no matter how many stars, is what will push us to the next level.

Additionally, what does it mean if we go win the B1G and Utah wins the B12, in year one? It’s saying something, not sure what, but it is something. Maybe Cal will win the ACC as well 😂

Why would you do anything that highlighted you’re in shambles? Having a league that can only retain 2 members probably isn’t something you want to take pride in when trying to con some new members to join up.

Beavis did win the 1942 Rose bowl, which was played in Durham NC due to uh, Pearl Harbor. The only Rose victory between the PIG2 was held on the east coast when everyone was signing up to join the military, but hey, they’re power teams.