Jon Joseph

Another good take, NG. Thanks. Between losses to Georgia, what quality teams did Texas play in 2024? Texas missed Tennessee, Alabama, Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Missouri. Texas is 0-2 vs. the Committee's Top 25. Like Notre Dame, Texas did defeat 8-4 A+M. Which is nice. The SEC is aided by half of the conference being ranked throughout the season. Thus, a win over an average SEC team is a 'Good Win.' And ipso facto the SOS of SEC teams will be better than teams in other conferences playing and defeating average teams. The SEC is deeper than the B1G, no doubt. But any team that went 11-1 in the SEC even against a schedule as weak as Indiana's (like Mizzou?) would be in the PO. I take no offense at the B1G being called out, it comes with the territory. Interesting that in 2023-24 when UW defeated Texas, back-to-back, and Michigan defeated Alabama, no one, except FSU fans, beefed about the Tide and the Horns being in the Final 4. Hats off to Notre Dame. A team with a Blue Chip Roster won the LOS against a visiting team. It won a game it was favored to win. Perhaps this is the Year of the Irish. ND defeated Georgia Tech playing without its starting QB in Mrcedes Benz Stadium and will now play a Georgia team in New Orleans without Carson Beck. BTW, did Notre Dame play a daunting schedule? Hardly. I watched Georgia overwhelmed and embarrassed in Oxford. I understood that Georgia had a new O-line playing against an excellent D-line. Post-game, I still believed Georgia would play for the SEC title. I wasn't writing Georgia off as the result of one game. On the other hand, I watched Bama embarrassed in Norman, and with a third loss, I did not believe Bama should be in the PO. Losses have to count in the SEC too. No group of fans is as conference-centric as SEC fans which is fine. Had Indiana won last night legions of SEC fans would not be touting the B1G as the greatest CFB conference of all time. One favorite won last night. Let's see how Penn State, Texas, and Ohio State do today. There'll be some noise if Tennessee and Texas lose. If PSU and tOSU lose the noise will be deafening. GO DAWGS! Dash the Domers. And GO DUCKS! Make Heupel Your Huckleberry and Ryan Your Rasberry!

RED ALERT! 🦨

Saturday Tradition with a Deep Dive into the PO Pool of 1st Round Games. Spoiler Alert: The author is going with the chalk - ND, PSU, TX, + tOSU. SP+ is calling for at least one upset. The Ultimate Playoff Primer: The real tournament is here. Let the madness begin SATURDAYTRADITION.COM Matt Hinton analyzes every key aspect of each first-round Playoff game and predicts who will advance to the quarterfinals.

Mac Backs the Bucks. Greg McElroy gives worst prediction possible for Tennessee vs. Ohio State ALLFORTENNESSEE.COM We are inching closer to the showdown between Tennessee football and Ohio State in the first round of the College Football Playoff. People in Knoxville are fire

Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful, IPAs By the Fireplace Delightful, Since Dixie Teams Have to Come Up NO., Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow! Weather forecasts for College Football Playoff campus games predict freezing temperatures, chance of snow - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM Three first round games could face below-freezing temperatures in the CFP Bummer for our UGA friends. Beck is officially benched, Kirby will have a new Gunner. Turn Day Into Night! Make Hash of Heupel! Is it just me or does Heupel look like he just escaped from Shawshank? How are you fixed for blades? 😁

To Date, OBD has Earned $8M for the B1G + Hoosiers, Nits, and Buckeyes a Collective $12M for the conference. Pretty good contribution from Junior Member OBD, no? 🤔 What are the matchups in the College Football Playoff? APNEWS.COM After a chaotic end to the regular season in college football, the matchups are set for the first 12-team version of the College Football Playoff. Here's a look at who's playing, game times and... Before deciding not to cheer for B1G member schools, understand the $ involved. ACC member teams SMU and Clemson will each pocket at least $4M. The Tigers + Ponies do not have to share the money with the ACC. I think that 'You Eat What You Playoff and Tournament Kill' will be B1G come the next media deal in 2031. Hash-Mark Heuple! Destruct Day!

USA Today. It's 5-1 for The Catholics Over the Cigarettes. 🥵 Notre Dame-Indiana predictions: Picks for the College Football Playoff first-round showdown WWW.USATODAY.COM Notre Dame and Indiana will clash in the opening first-round game of the College Football Playoff. Who will win? Our experts weigh in. On the Right Coast (the wrong coast for watching sports) I hope around Midnight to GOOGLE a Hoosiers Dumping of the Domers.😎 Indiana had a soft schedule? Indiana was not the Hoosier state team that played one-third of its schedule vs. the G5 and went 3-1. 😧 Harass Heuple! Ravage Ryan!

I See Dabo Getting Texas Two Stomped. 😁 Clemson, Dabo Swinney back in playoff: 'Been taking shots for 16 years and we just keep winning' WWW.USATODAY.COM Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has heard his share of criticism, but "we just keep winning," he says as the Tigers return to the College Football Playoff. Takin' Hits for 16 Years? Poor wittle clemson.

As Always. Winners and Losers. Winners and losers of Thursday Night Football: Chargers rally past Broncos WWW.USATODAY.COM USA TODAY Sports breaks down the winners and losers of the "Thursday Night Football" game between the Broncos and Chargers.

Harbaugh Got A Kick Out of This. Dicker the Kicker Comes Through. Jim Harbaugh, Chargers take advantage of fair-catch kick: 'My favorite rule in football' WWW.USATODAY.COM “It's my favorite rule in football," Jim Harbaugh said of the fair-catch kick. The play helped jump-start the Chargers' comeback on TNF.

Terrific Ball Game! Hats off to two great Ducks! The NFL is relentless. Two good NFL games up against the CFB PO games tomorrow. The NFL's antitrust protection prohibits The League from broadcasting games vs. college games but only until December 1st. Which games will draw more eyeballs? Is this any way to treat your free farm system? How many eyeballs will the Cotton and Orange Bowl semifinals draw being played on Thursday and Friday night? And the Champ Game is on a Monday so as not to interfere with the NFL playoff. Can't we all just get along $😁

3500 tickets are made available to the visiting team per CFP guidelines including tickets for members of the visiting band members and mascot Smokey. I'd let the band members in for nada if they promised not to play Rocky Top on a continuous loop 🤮 and to pick up Smokey's 💩. There will be more Scarlet and Gray than Orange in the Shoe.

BUCKS 24 - VOLS 17. High 40 degrees. Low 28 degrees. Feels like 35 degrees. Rain starting before noon that could turn to snow flurries. There is not much wind predicted at game time, so for Ohio in December, it will not be all that cold at the 8 PM kickoff. A long Day in Columbus if tOSU loses and Ryan Day best have a chopper nearby and ready for lift-off. Ruin Ryan! Humiliate Heupel!

30, if you can't be true to your school, be true to the $$$! 🤑

The Pressure is On! College Football Playoff games, first-round picks: Ohio State must dominate, Notre Dame out to flip narrative - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM Top storylines to watch as the 12-team College Football Playoff era kicks off this weekend with first-round action Rent Ryan Asunder! Humble Heupel!

COME - ON - MAN! Q. What do a leaf and Ryan Leaf have in common? A. They both die when you pick them. 🍻 Cheers!

Thank Goodness! 🤪

Thanks for the post. Go Ducks! OT - One of Nebraska or Penn State will play the winner of Pitt vs. Louisville for the Volleyball Championship. No. 1 seeded Ohio State lost to Marshall in the Men's Soccer semifinal; Vermont won the title. SYRUP ALL AROUND! 😉

tOSU vs. THE SEC. Hmmmm? Ohio State record vs. SEC teams: Will Buckeyes' bowl struggles continue in College Football Playoff? WWW.SPORTINGNEWS.COM

A Key Stat for the 12 Playoff teams. Yes, Gabe is The Man! 1 key stat for each Playoff team that you should know - Saturday Down South WWW.SATURDAYDOWNSOUTH.COM These stats are worth knowing about each team in the 2024 College Football Playoff field ahead of the first round.

Hoo(sier) Knew?😁 Suddenly, the Hoosier State is the Epicenter of college football SATURDAYBLITZ.COM If you play in it, they will come. The basketball State of Indiana is experiencing a college football euphoria, as it prepares to host an on-campus college foot

I posted this elsewhere but I believe this excellent AP article deserves its a spot of its own. The Michigan running back pictured playing in the Rose Bowl, Bob Chappius, was an All-American at Michigan and my Uncle Harvey's roommate. Both men returned to Michigan after seeing combat in WW2. My Uncle Harvey Jones was the captain of the Michigan golf team. (The good golf genes skipped me. 😒) 12-team college football playoff arrives after 100 years, a few billion dollars and many detours APNEWS.COM It took more than 100 years, a few billion dollars and the cold, hard realization that you can’t fight progress forever.

AP - A Long and Winding Road to the 12-Team Playoff. The pictured RB, Bob Chappuis, was my Uncle Harvey Jones's roommate at Michigan. Harvey returned from combat to captain the Michigan golf team. 12-team college football playoff arrives after 100 years, a few billion dollars and many detours APNEWS.COM It took more than 100 years, a few billion dollars and the cold, hard realization that you can’t fight progress forever.

'Facts are stubborn things.' - John Adams Trust a teacher to throw facts into the mix and muck things up! 😁 Terrific take. One other item I'll add to why OBD is Off the Radar - ESPN vs. FOX. FOX's broadcast numbers took a way back seat to ESPN this season. The Big Noon KO instead of showing the biggest B1G games in Prime Time? Did not work out. Interesting that FOX was instrumental in breaking up the Pac-12 and I cannot recall a single SC game broadcast by FOX this season. OBD was often on NBC, a network that promotes Notre Dame far more than the B1G and CBS which had a troubling transition from the SEC to the B1G. CBS did not get the top B1G game at 3:30 as it did in the CBS Must-Watch SEC time slot. Nessler and Danielson seemed to be going through the motions. And when you air Penn State at Purdue at 3:30 Eastern? The Tradition is all over the B1G but the conference is top-heavy and does not have the attractive mid-level conference games we see in the SEC, on ABC/ESPN. The B1G Network does a terrific job of covering all of the conference's sports but ESPN has more than double the number of BTN subscribers and it also has the ACC and the SEC networks that it owns and manages. College GameDay dwarfs FOX's pregame show numbers. OBD and the B1G have the weaker media hand. Add this to the geographical situation David so correctly noted and even with the impressive and aggressive marketing of the Ducks it's tough to be in front of the parade. How to fix this? JUST WIN BABY and KEEP ON WINNING - They Will Follow. Thanks again, David, for another terrific article. Hash Heupel! Wreck Ryan!

This is truly a BIG Weekend for the B1G. Are the B1G teams overrated as dozens in Dixie so believe? Friday - 5 Pacific - ABC - No. 5 NOTRE DAME -7 vs. No. 10 INDIANA Holy Hoosiers. What would the preseason odds have been for this being the opening game of the 12-team Playoff? Astro, meet Nomical. Indiana did defeat a team with a Blue Chip Roster, Michigan, in Bloomington, but Indiana was manhandled in Columbus by a team with a deeper blue roster, Ohio State. The Irish have a Blue Chip roster. Notre Dame went 3-1 vs. the G5 with Army and Navy supposedly being Top 25 wins, and 5-0 against the Irish's favorite bakery located in ACC Pastry Patsy Country. Clemson and FSU want out, not the Irish. USC lit up the Notre Dame defense. Notre Dame's best win came against 8-4 A+M. Army at No. 22 is Notre Dame's only Top 25 win. Notre Dame 27 - Indiana 23. The Irish win but don't cover on the way to play Georgia in New Orleans. .................................................................................................................. Saturday - No 4 PENN STATE - 8.5 vs. No 10 SMU 9 AM Pacific - TNT It's been a wonderful season for SMU. As a condition of joining the conference, SMU agreed to take no media revenue through 2036. However, in a futile effort to placate Clemson and FSU, the ACC agreed that member schools would eat what they killed in the post-season. In the process of shutting Bama out of the Playoff, SMU has already pocketed $4M with a chance to earn more if it can win in Happy Valley and advance to play Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. Will PSU coach James Franklin finally win a meaningful game? Franklin came within a score of Ohio State and OBD this season but could not close the deal. PSU fans know they have the easiest Playoff path - vs. a P4 runner-up, with a home loss to BYU and a loss to 3-loss Clemson, and G5 Boise on the way to Atlanta. I think the Nittany Lions are on the way to a Fiesta. PSU 38 - SMU 24. ................................................................................................................... Saturday - No. 6 OHIO STATE -7.5 vs. No. 7 Tennessee 5 PM Pacific - ABC The weather outside may be frightfully cold, it's December in Ohio after sundown, but the HEAT is most definitely on Buckeyes coach Ryan Day and Ohio State AD, Ross Bjork. The Buckeyes opened the wallet for players who could have gone pro in 2023 and for a few studs from the portal including All-America DB Caleb Downs and All-American Center, Seth McLaughlin, from Alabama. Unfortunately for tOSU, Seth is down and out. Ohio State openly and loudly proclaimed that 2024 Was Championship Or Bust! Gulp! A 21-point home favorite, Ohio State lost to the hated School Up North for the 4th year in a row and looked B-A-D in the process. Oh, and Ohio State lost to The New Kid On The Block, That Team Out West. The Tennessee Volunteers? It is so hard to get a handle on this season's SEC. The Vols beat Bama in Knoxville but were never in the game vs. Georgia in Athens and flamed out on the road in Hog Heaven. Tennessee had one of the easiest SEC in-conference schedules but could not make the SEC Champ game in Atlanta. I think this will be a low-scoring affair with two excellent defenses getting after it. This is the SEC vs. B1G Main Event. The OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY - 21 - The VOLS - 17 So, I have the B1G going 2-1. Sit back, relax, smell the Roses, and let me know if you agree with my handicapping which in the past has shown to be Cover-Challenged. Ruin Ryan! Hurl Heuple!