Jon Joseph

Love this article and thanks for the velvet hammer. My great reply did not get a pass from you, Professor. I get it; been there and velvet-hammered before. For the most part, all hammering was well deserved. Chancing a deserved critique, might I suggest the following B1G add-ons, with the understanding that the next media deal will see B1G teams keeping the majority of money they earn in the postseason, and media revenue will be shared by eyes on the prize; how many people are watching you play ball. Cal, Stanford, CU, Utah, UNC, and Duke. (Notre Dame, if amenable, would take the place of one of these six teams. If ND agreed to go B1G, perhaps add UVA with ND.) Three eight-team divisions. Twenty-four-team playoff. Flex schedule the last two weeks of the regular season for playoff play-in games. Seven division games. Four cross-over games. One OOC game. PS - Two trips to the Eastern time zone in November of 2026 is cruel and unusual, but usual for OBD.

Thanks, Charles. So many terrific movies - The Apostle was one of his best.

USA Women vs. Canada Gold Medal Game - Thursday, February 22nd USA Network 3 EST/ Noon Pacific The USA Women's Team features Captain Hillary Knight, Minnesota, competing in her 5th Olympiad. Hillary is the Women's Hockey trailblazer. Her play for the Golden Gophers helped put Women's ice hockey on the college sports map. Twelve more B1G players will be on the ice for the Gold Medal game: Minnesota - Lee Stricklin, Kelly Pannek, Grace Zumwinkle, Taylor Heise, and Abbey Murphy. Wisconsin - Caroline Harvey, Kirsten Sims, Laila Edwards, and Ava McNaughten Ohio State - Hannah Bilka, Joy Dunne Penn State - Tessa Janecke Disclosure - I have an additional reason to cheer on the USA. For the 8th time, Ms. AJ Mleczko will be the color commentator for NBC's broadcast of the Olympic Gold Medal game. AJ was an All-American player at Harvard and played on a USA Olympic Gold Medal team. AJ's Dad, Tom Mleczko, a/k/a 'Eye Chart', was my college roommate. --- Men's hockey semifinal games on Friday: USA vs. Slovakia/ Canada vs. Finland. So, Hosers, it's odds on for another Gold Medal game matchup between the Canucks and the Yanks on NBC - Sunday, 2/22, 8 AM EST/ 5 AM Pacific - 😧 Men's Hockey team - Michigan - Kevin Connor, Quinn Hughes, Dylan Larkin, and Zack Werenski Minnesota - Brock Faber - This guy definitely should have played for Faber College, where Knowledge is Good 😁 ... Roundball Heads Up - ESPN Saturday 6:30 PM EST/ 3:30 Pacific In a possible champ game preview, No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 3 Duke

New Seeding Format for College Baseball 2026 NCAA Championship - Play Ball! On3NCAA Baseball Tournament: New seeding format will alter F....

2026 - Joel Klatt Loves LA? SC could be scary on O. UCLA, or Under Chesney, LA should improve. https://www.foxsports.com/stories/college-football/college-football-stock-watch-why-usc-heading-right-direction-alabama-isnt

I guess UW was boat raced?😁

Top portal player for every ESPN preseason top 25 team. DT Gray at Notre Dame and RB Limar at UW make the list. It's black and white, not Gray, to me; I want Gray back! Safety Perich is OBD's top guy. ESPN.comBest college football transfer portal addition for top 25...A look at the incoming transfers who will have the biggest impact on the best teams in 2026.

Thanks, David. A lot of talent on the 2026 roster. I'd add the already-impactful DL players A'Mauri Washington and Bear Alexander. When, if ever, has OBD had two potential All-Americans on the interior of the D-line?

10 Explosive Os in 2026, including OBD at No. 5. Week 2 opponent, Oklahoma State, comes in at 10. Hmmmmmmm? All that love for the Golden Archie and Texas again?🤔 Just Sayin. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-footballs-offenses-2026-texas-miami-portal-hauls/

ESPN's Bill Connolly is the creator of the SP+ college football rankings and one of today's top college football (CFB) journalists. Bill's article on the state of college football is an excellent look at how CFB morphed into what it is today: chaotic but more popular than ever. Connolly also suggests how to fix what ails CFB today. With many conflicting agendas, a fix will not be quick or easy. Bill advises that CFB should be wary of further CFB consolidation. If a CFB Super League had come to fruition in 2023, forget Indiana, Fernando, and a smoking hot Cig. ESPN.comFor college football's future, be careful to understand h...The sport's manifest destiny opened doors for Indiana and others. Consolidating power and access could eliminate the thrill of that growth.

Bama Hammer is not hammering the One Score plus 4 - Bama HammerFor SEC football fans, hating the B1G's 24-team Playoff p...For some SEC football fans, making college football a tournament sport has always felt wrong. The risk is devaluing the regular-season games significantly. To a

Break out the brooms; it's a sweet SWEEP! https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/baseball/2026/02/15/oregon-baseball-opens-2026-series-sweep-over-george-mason/88695305007/?utm_source=smg-duckswire-strada&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SMGba

The NFL has a Playoff. CFB has a too-long bowl extravaganza. CFB powers-that-be are doing everything they can to mess the postseason up. Folks still tune in, but for how long? https://trojanswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/trojans/football/2026/02/16/idea-fix-problems-college-football-playoff/88623896007/?utm_source=smg-trojanswire-strada&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SMGbaseline&utm_term

6th World? With 5 other P4 Groupies. 😁

Will Dante join the elite circle of Heisman winners? Autzen ZooThe simple, surefire Heisman campaign for Oregon's Dante...Oregon is legendary for flash and innovation, for always being on offense and seizing attention.

Here's hoping these three Ducks stay healthy (knock wood) and come through this season. YardbarkerThree Oregon Ducks Entering Make-or-Break SeasonsEUGENE – The 2026 Oregon Ducks season already features lofty expectations and National Championship ambitions. In addition to big team goals, individual players have a lot to compete for.

I certainly understand your POV. However, what if an 8-4 team played the most difficult schedule in a given season and a 10-2 team played the easiest schedule? Last season with this format, No. 23, 8-4 Iowa, would have been the only 4-loss team in the field. And Iowa defeated 2-loss Vandy in a bowl game with all hands on deck except for an Iowa LB who will go in the first two rounds of the draft.

Tonight on Big Ten Network - 7E/4P - No. 2 in the nation, Ohio State Men's Wrestling visits No. 1 Penn State. 16,000 fans will be on hand to watch this B1G battle. Penn State has won a record 77 dual meets in a row. The last dual meet the Nittany Lions lost was on January 31, 2020, 17-19 to Iowa in Iowa City. The effervescent, high-on-life Shane Sparks will be on the call for BTN. This is a real wrestling match, not a WWE fixed wrassling match. All 10 of the PSU wrestlers are All-Americans. Ohio State brings four All-Americans to Penn State. In other winter sports, Michigan State is No. 1 in Men's Ice Hockey, and Michigan is ranked 2nd. Women's Ice Hockey Rankings - No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Minnesota, and No. 4 Penn State. Men's basketball - 2nd-ranked Michigan is odds-on to win a CBB title for the first time since Michigan State won in 2020. Women's CBB - 2nd-ranked UCLA, No. 7 Michigan, and No. 8 Ohio State are ranked in the top 10. Enjoy!

College Football News: Why the B1G PO plan makes sense - https://collegefootballnews.com/college-football/big-ten-24-team-playoff-why-it-makes-sense

Defense! Washington and Perich are on the 1st team, early AA D. The love for Texas and the SEC? Manning and not Dante or Sayin at QB? As I recall, we watched this movie last season, no? Texas is -2.5 against Ohio State, a reverse of last season's odds for the game in Columbus. Texas finished a fortunate 9-3, with the Longhorns escaping defeat at Kentucky and South Carolina. I trust the data used by Pro Football Focus to identify the best players; I do not trust rumors and hearsay. And, when in doubt, go with the SEC guys, especially when you work for the SEC's 'partner.' Coming into 2026, I have the same question for Texas I had for Penn State in 2025: Sark is still the Texas coach, is he not? And I also have the same question I had for Clemson last year: the same guys returning for Clemson are the same guys who lost 4 games in 2024, right? Maybe the portal players coming into Texas will be all that? I'll believe it when I see it, including Cam Coleman being as good as Jeremiah Smith at wide receiver. As Indiana proved last season, it's not the parts, it's the sum of the parts. ESPN.com2026 college football Way-Too-Early All-America teamFrom Arch Manning to Jeremiah Smith, these are the best of the best at every position.

The NCAA said, "No!" to Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss's request for a 6th season of eligibility due to a medical condition when he played for Ferris State. No surprise that a Mississippi judge told the NCAA to go to its room and said, "Yes" to Trinidad's request. The judge issued a temporary restraining order against the NCAA that will allow Chambliss to play for Ole Miss for what should be the 12-game regular season. Good luck to the NCAA attorneys petitioning for an early trial on the merits. Mark your calendars for Week 3, Saturday, 9/19/26, when LSU and Lane Kiffin travel to Oxford, Mississippi. Expect to see the GameDay crew in The Grove with Herbie and Chris Fowler on the call. They won't say it out loud, but the SEC coaches who will play Ole Miss in 2026 cannot be happy with this decision. As a CFB fan, I'm pumped to watch more of CFB's Houdini escaping from the clutches of players trying to bring Trinidad down. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/ole-miss-qb-trinidad-chambliss-injunction-sixth-season-ncaa-eligibility/?eid=c7d8647c6247db8d08c59fe44bc30380a147aa90b9e33099045cd46ddc6a485b&ftag=SNL-04-10aaa0b&ET_CID=524936&

The B1G has a businessman at the top. This proposal would rain more money down on top-level CFB than any other alternative proposal. What I don't like: 24 instead of 16 teams, although the first round would be playoff play-in games like we see with the First 4 in the CBB tournament, quarterfinal games in bowls, and not on campus, and I would prefer a system with automatic qualifiers up to a point, which would result in better out-of-conference games and the additional money that would come with an SEC/B1G Challenge. I've read three articles to date on why the Bama vs. Ohio State series in 2027-28 should not be canceled because of "The Good of the Game". Hogwash! ADs are paid to look out for the good of their program, and both Bama and Ohio State will have challenging in-conference nine-game schedules. I reiterate, have a system with automatic qualifiers, and quality OOC games will follow. I do like the elimination of conference champ games that are close to meaningless with today's expanded PO. I also think that a move to 16 teams would result in Week 0 becoming Week 1 and bring other positive and necessary changes to the CFB calendar. This proposal could be for leverage only; an attempt at bringing the SEC back to a 16-team AQ format. What effect will the SEC playing nine conference games this season have on Greg Sankey's PO format thinking? I'm rooting for many three or more losses SEC teams. And I hope beyond hope that No. 12 seed Notre Dame knocks No. 11 seed LSU out of the PO.😁

Good take and spot on. I did not mean to say Cig would win another title this season. I meant to say that he has a coaching staff and a system in place that will keep Indiana in the top 25, at least, while he is in Bloomington. To me, a team in contention for a spot in a 12-team PO field every season equates to success. At some point in the 2025 season, all of the teams you listed were potential playoff teams. Most people would consider the teams to be Blue Bloods. In 2025, all of the teams on the list had Blue Chip rosters. Indiana did not. With free agency and pay-to-play in college football, will we see more Indiana's coming out of nowhere to win it all? I think we're more likely to see teams on your list and other once successful programs at the top before we see another team make a Phoenix-like rise from the ashes of the sport. I also doubt that we will see another CFB hegemony as we recently saw at Alabama under Nick Saban. I sure hope this grey beard gets to see OBD in the champions circle.

Thanks, iubhounds. Great to have you with us on the Forum. I know that Cig's Indiana team broke the Blue Chip Roster Championship ceiling. Coming into last season with the 72nd combined roster ranking makes this an even greater accomplishment. This season, Indiana's combined roster ranking only moved up 64 spots to No. 8. 😁 And Cignetti's long-time OC and DC earned well-deserved pay raises and are back in Bloomington in 2026. Coming into 2025, the AP pollsters ranked Indiana at No. 20. This season, Indiana will be in the AP's top five and is in the top five future championship odds along with Ohio State, coming to Bloomington on 10/7/26, Texas, Georgia, and Oregon. Like Mendoza in 2025, Josh Hoover transfers in ranked the 4th-best QB in the portal. In 2021, Hoover, from the Dallas, Texas area, was originally committed to Indiana before signing with TCU; Hoover is bringing 9600 yards passing and 71 TDs with him. In 2026, Indiana's three 'manageable' out-of-conference games will allow new QB Hoover to acclimate with the team before conference play begins with a home game against Northwestern, and then on the road at Rutgers. Could Cig have drawn up a better opening set of games? Before the Week 7 game against the Buckeyes, the Hoosiers will play back-to-back road games with a visit to Nebraska after the trip to New Jersey, but should be 6-0 coming into the home game versus Ohio State. Before the date with Indiana, Ohio State will play at Texas, Illinois, and at Iowa. Ohio State will travel to Bloomington after a home game versus Maryland, and will easily defeat Ball State and Kent State at home. If Ohio State wins in Austin, Ohio State at Indiana could be a battle of the top two teams in the nation. The only concern coming into 2026: Indiana has reached the mountain top, will it stay there? My money's on Cig.

A beautiful tribute. Thank you.