Jon Joseph

Thanks for this nugget. Three teams on the ND schedule had winning records this season: Miami, SMU, and USC. The only road game the Irish play against a 2025-ranked opponent is the last game of the season trip to LA. 😧 SC, please do your part to stop this SCAM. Other programs ticked off about the PO committee deal that will have a top-12-ranked ND automatically qualifying next season are threatening to stop playing ND. Hypocritical? ND chastised Tony Petitti's PO plan for having automatic qualifiers. PO Poohbahs - Knute Rockne and the Gipper left the building about 100 years ago. 🤬

As predicted by Darren and others, the Last LA Bowl will be played for the last time on Saturday, ABC, 5 PM Pacific, between UWho and (never, ever, schedule) Boise State. 'Prominent Bowl?' WOOF! Prominent college football bowl game is being canceled

USC's Trojans Wire calls out ND. Setting the stage to cancel the series? https://trojanswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/trojans/football/2025/12/10/notre-dame-whines-eliminated-cfp-usc-football-rivalry/87701817007/?utm_source=smg-trojanswire-strada&utm_medium=email

Thanks, Darren. Insightful and humorous as always. Plus, I love it that you and David Marsh do not simply request comments, but that you both stick around to participate in post-article discussions. If the NCAA managed the FBS postseason, we would have a PO with a 16-team or more field. There would be no ranking show teasers. Top teams would play home games up to the semifinals on January 1st. The CBB tournament has a much larger field, and the controversy of not being one of 68 teams in the field was more about ESPN (there they go again), giving Dickie V a platform to rant from. The CBB committee discloses its metrics and the use thereof to the public. As the season progresses, you know the teams that had the top, Quad 1 wins, which are given greater value, and the teams that may look good but have played tripe. One month before the Selection Show, the CBB committee releases its top 16. If the final selections and rankings do not appear to match the early ranking and the committee's metrics, the CBB committee chair explains why, and questions are not dodged. Unlike CBB, CFB teams do not play enough games against the better teams out of conference (OOC), and also in today's mega-conferences, where in-conference schedules vary widely. There is not enough data to subjectively determine who is the 'most deserving,' 'the best, ' or any of the other nonsense fed to us by ESPN. Selectively fed to us peasants, the CFB committee hides the metrics it uses like squirrels hiding their nuts. If the sausage grinder is broken, don't expect good sausage. The PO format is FUBAR! Tony Petitti laid out the formula that reflects the reality of today's game and the quality of the participants, and was booed off the stage by folks who would have made millions more dollars this season if Tony's automatic qualifier had been used to select the teams. This includes the SEC. UVA and BYU would be in a 16-team field. So would Notre Dame, Texas, Vanderbilt, and USC. This would destroy the regular season? Teams with brutal in-conference schedules, say a 3-loss Florida and Wisconsin this season, would have had the opportunity to play their way into the field on the final weekend of the regular season. Teams are mutually canceling P4 OOC matchups. Why not. OOC, the nation's No. 1 team chomped down on three cupcakes without having to leave home. Next season, Notre Dame opens with Wisconsin in Green Bay and then hosts Rice. One 2025 PO team is on the schedule, No. 10 Miami in South Bend. The only other game against a team ranked by the committee is the regular-season finale against No. 16 USC in LA. By comparison, next season, Ohio State plays two PO teams, plus two other top 25-ranked teams in conference, and also plays at Texas. The Irish schedule is serendipitously set up for success. Why is Texas hosting Ohio State? Why is Michigan hosting Oklahoma? CBF is big business; these marquee OOC games make no business sense. The format encourages fan disappointment, not looking forward to excitement. PO expansion talks are ongoing. I'm hopeful that come January 23rd, if not sooner, CFB will have an expanded PO field in 2026-27, with Tony P holding AQ format firm. And with ESPN's teaser rankings limited. Meanwhile - Dunk the Dukes!

Moore potential hires include Ohio State Man Marcus Freeman - Just when things are going so well in South Bend 🤬 https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/michigan-coaching-candidates-after-sherrone-moore-firing-kalen-deboer-marcus-freeman/

ESPN update on Moore's arrest. Wanna get away? ☹️ ESPN.comEx-UM coach Moore detained by police after firingSherrone Moore, who was fired as Michigan's head football coach Wednesday, was detained by police and then turned over for investigation into potential charges.

On3 confirms his arrest. Charges yet to be disclosed.

Here's a list of potential hires from SI. It's refreshing not to see Danno's name on the list. There's a party going on in Columbus. 🤪 SITen Candidates for Michigan Football Coaching Search Afte...The Wolverines’ job will be attractive even if it’s late in the cycle with Kalen DeBoer, Brian Kelly and NFL coaches in the mix.

I'm seeing signals that tell me Michigan will try to pry Connor Stalions away from his high school coaching job. 😁

You lose one game to Ohio State and ... 😁 It looks like the Big Brother coach has followed the path of the Little Brother coach. MSU's firing of Tucker for cause was upheld. (J. Smith is available.) This is a talented and young football team with a good recruiting class. How many recruits bail and how many vets, including QB Underwood, transfer? Will Michigan show up to play Texas? Interim coach Biff Hoggi's play-calling was better than Moore's. I expect Biff (sorry, McFly 😁) will be the interim coach with a chance at the permanent gig. Underwood was committed to LSU before his services were purchased by Larry Ellison. I'd be shocked if the Portal King hasn't reached out. Maybe Michigan will alter course and go for a private capital deal? Stunning. After the events of this season, I thought nothing could shock me? Michigan visits Autzen next season. OBD return game in Ann Arbor in 2027.

Notre Dame's approval rating is now lower than lawyers? I'm not certain, but they aren't winning many friends with the PO'd meltdown. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/nancy-armour/2025/12/09/notre-dame-football-whining-over-cfp-snub/87689944007/?utm_source=usatoday-sports-strada&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=usatbaseline&utm_term=Content

Here are the 2025 'Your Team Choked' rankings. Ranking the most disappointing college football teams of 2025 Picking Nits is spot on.

4th best odds and 4th best path seem to be the consensus - ESPN lists Oregon to win the championship as best bet during the CFP Hats off to ESPN's Pam Maldonado, who recently had harsh words for OBD, and now has Oregon as the best bet on the board.

With BYU oh so close in 2024 and this season, the B12 has a legit gripe. Hats off to B12 Commish Yormark for instead telling Notre Dame and its way-over-the-top AD to go to their room. https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/big-12-commish-very-critical-120338540.html

GREAT POST! For once, the NCAA is not at fault. The NCAA has nothing to do with the FBS postseason. The college football playoffs conducted by the NCAA do not include Now You See It, Now You Don't rankings teasers. For some inexplicable reason, the Domers fracked up; they trusted the Committee. 🤪 It's all good for the Irish. Next season, ND opens vs. Wisconsin in Green Bay, followed by a home helping of Rice. The Irish play one 2025-26 PO team in 2026. Along with Ohio State at Texas, LSU at Ole Miss, don't miss Miami's trip to ND on 10/7/26. The next most 'difficult' game on the Domer's 2026 schedule, the finale vs SC in LA, which could (and I hope will) be the last game in the series. They're crying in South Bent, but close by, they are not shedding tears and likely sharing laughs at NCAA HQ in Indianapolis. 😁