Jon Joseph

Lane's war chest ain't Lame. O-line was one of LSU's biggest portal needs. LSU opens with Clemson. Week 3 at Ole Miss 😁, with road games against Kentucky, Auburn, Tennessee, and Arkansas. The games in Knoxville and Fayetteville are the final two games of the regular season. 5 SEC road games are a new thing for SEC teams. In addition to Clemson, LSU plays two cupcakes at home, Mississippi State, an earlier in the season Egg Bowl game, Texas A&M, Bama, and Texas. A far more difficult schedule than the one Kiffin played at Ole Miss last season. Even if QB Sam Leavitt stays healthy, I can see three and perhaps four or more losses. Kiffin is on a very short Natty leash. Good fortune for Seaton, but none for Kiffin.

He's playing for a terrific coach in Jason Eck. Eck turned around UNM last season, including giving Michigan a battle in Ann Arbor. He was the coach at Idaho in 2023, when Idaho gave Oregon all it could handle. Eck played on the O-line for Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin. He was mentioned as a candidate for the Badgers' job before Fickell was given another season. Beginning in the FCS ranks, this is Eck's 28th season of coaching. Cignetti has opened the door for older guys stepping up to the Power 4. If Fickell doesn't improve Wisconsin this season, OBD could see Eck and Moga on the Wisconsin or other Big Ten sidelines. (Note: Fickell signed QB Colton Joseph from Old Dominion, so ... 😍 Joseph played his high school ball in Newport Beach, CA.)

Nike, Addidas and other apparel companies are not happy over the possibility of their logo exclusivity being challenged. Condoms and Cliffnotes. Love It! As much as I can recall yesteryear, I enjoyed those study dates, which occasionally, but not often enough 🤬 , turned into biology labs. 😇 I do recall Coors helping with the condoms. 👌👍😁

I love Charles, er, Bryan Fischer's too-early 2026-27 PO bracket. Wins over Miami, Indiana, and Notre Dame - Sign me up! SIWay-Too-Early 2026 College Football Playoff Brackets: Exp...Is there another team in line to be the next Indiana? Will the Big Ten extend its streak with a fourth straight championship?

Dabo's Mad as Hell and ... 🤬 https://www.foxsports.com/stories/college-football/dabo-swinney-goes-scorched-earth-ole-miss-tampering-i-will-turn-you-in

Yep, lunch with the Brady Bunch. I'd love to see OBD in the Raiders' home stadium on 1/25/27. 😍

I'm Moore than happy with PFF's 2026 top 25 - https://www.pff.com/news/college-football-way-too-early-top-25-for-the-2026-season?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=college&_kx=GVhzUOTwm4KFXGxajXe-_3UQSycVDTUwQ95jZfv6GZOFo

PFF's list of the 101 top CFB players in 2025-26. 31 B1G players, Four Ducks - 12. Moore, 17. Thienenam, 32 Pregnon, and 100 Washington. Indiana and Texas Tech both have eight players in the top 101. Of interest for next season, 4 North Texas players are ranked. 39 RB Hawkins, 83 QB Mestemaker, and 85 LB Wesloski are three of the 17 Mean Green players who are following coach Eric Morris to Oklahoma State. OK State will be a far more formidable opponent in 2026. OBD plays the Cowboys in Week 2, after opening against preseason-ranked Boise State in Eugene. OK State opens at Tulsa. The Ducks will be the Cowboys' home opener in an always rowdy T. Boone Pickens Stadium. Here's hoping that the Pickens won't be slim. 😁 https://www.pff.com/news/college-football-pff-101-top-101-players-from-the-2025-season?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=college&_kx=GVhzUOTwm4KFXGxajXe-_3UQSycVDTUwQ95jZfv6GZ

Who cares? It's one minor league SEC team or the other. No B1G deal. 😁

Can you hear the drums, Fernando? 30.1 Million Viewers, but Oregon vs Ohio State for the title in 2015 is still No. 1 Oregon Ducks On SIMassive National Championship Game TV Ratings Approach Or...The Indiana Hoosiers defeated the Miami Hurricanes 27-21 on Monday night to secure their first national championship in program history. Millions around the cou

In South Central, Riley is bringing in former and long-time TCU coach Gary Patterson as the DC. Anton Lynn is off to his alma mater, Penn State, to be Matt Campbell's DC. https://trojanswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/trojans/football/2026/01/23/usc-football-retools-defensive-staff-difficult-2025-season/88302962007/?utm_source=smg-trojanswire-strada&utm_medium=ema

Thanks, Darren, for taking a peek at next year's team. 😁 Spot on regarding Dante. He has started 20 games, and he will improve next season, especially if Oregon can stay healthy at the skill positions. It would be nice to make it to the semis next season and have a healthy cast of players in the biggest game. That Dante and Ducks played so well with 15 new starters and every unit on the offense dealing with injury is a credit to the coaches. Regarding the list of complete teams, Ohio State struggled to run the ball against top defenses. I don't want to go Lou Holtz on the Buckeyes, but Miami punched the TOSU O-line and D-line guys in the mouth, and they couldn't handle it. And Sayin, in his 14th start, like Dante at times, couldn't handle being pressured. If Cam Ward had the 2025 Miami D in 2024, or the 2025 Miami team had Cam Ward at QB, I think both teams would have had a legit chance of going 16-0. Carson Beck was good, not great. I do agree that Mario is not the micro-manager he was with the Ducks, and he made solid OC and DC hires. As to his QB in 2026, that is to be determined by lawyers and judges. Miami is an example of a program that supported the House Settlement with no intention of limiting NIL or tampering. The U is not alone, but its poaching is not restrained by any settlement or legal agreement. Mensah, like Beck, is not another Cam Ward, and Bain and Mesidor will not be easy to replace. Wilson coming in from Mizzou is a good DE, but not as good as these two. However, in the ACC, the U is fielding the deepest roster, and no other program is bringing in the same talent. Indiana in 2025 was a complete capital T Team that played complementary football. Cignetti saw that the 2024 team could not compete on the LOS with the Ohio State and Notre Dame programs and did an excellent job of using the portal to plug the holes. And having your OC and DC with you for eleven seasons is a CFB luxury. Will QB Hoover, transferring in from TCU, come close to Mendoza's leadership and production? That's a big vacuum to fill. (Sorry 🙃) The talent is in place for OBD to make a run at the title in 2026, but you never know how that stupid oblong ball will bounce. Thanks again. Is it 9/5 yet?

A brutal non-call. Ole Miss should have had one more play, 15 yards closer to the end zone. One more Hail Mary attempt. In the champ game, the B12 refs allowed the Miami DBs to mug the Indiana receivers. I like the idea of letting the players play, but not to the point where grabbing a receiver's jersey, arm, etc., isn't called.

Ready for 1 more? Are we in The Twilight Zone? Is it only a movie? The Hoosiers' Jamari Sharpe's 4th quarter interception of Carson Beck with 44 seconds left in the 4th quarter on Monday night sealed the deal for Indiana. Jamari Sharpe graduated from Miami's Northwest High School and, like Fernando, did not get a scholly offer from the U, the team he loved. Sharpe is the nephew of Miami player Glenn Sharpe, who was called for interference late in the 4th quarter of the BCS champ game, played in 2002-23 in the Fiesta Bowl. Ohio State took advantage and defeated Miami for the national championship in 2002. Cannot make this stuff up!

Williams and the Williams family retreated when UW promised to sue to uphold the contract he signed, and after his agent dumped him. The Judge in the Duke case ruled that Duke had to put the QB in the portal, but has yet to rule on whether he will grant another preliminary injunction to allow him to sign with another team, or if he does sign, whether his NIL money is his or Duke's property. The excerpts from the contract he signed with Duke are clear that, in return for the consideration paid to him by Duke, he assigned his NIL rights to Duke for two seasons and agreed not to enter the portal in 2025 or 2026. He is, under the laws of North Carolina, an adult who entered willingly into a contract as so advised by his agents. Like Wisconsin and UW, I'm pleased to see Duke stepping up to enforce the deal the QB signed. Without any guardrails, what's to stop players from transferring in-season? The NCAA says a player can only play for one team in a given season, but when was the last time an NCAA rule was upheld in favor of a player's opportunity to make more money? Like Williams, after the requisite mea culpas, he'll be welcomed back. I'd love to be a fly on the wall the next time the Duke and Miami ADs meet up. Miami is working its way out of a Super Conference invite.