Jon Joseph

With the game being played in Oxford, Pelican State Governor Jeff Landry likely promised Lane that the entire Louisiana National Guard would be deployed to guard Lane on the way, with a platoon or three stationed on the visitor sideline. 🤪 Throw out the records, GameDay will be there.

Finish the Power 4 No Bowl 4 You - ACC - 2-10 Boston College, 3-9 Syracuse, and Virginia Tech, 4-8 Stanford, UNC, 5-7 FSU. 6 out of 17 teams. Two Coaches fired. B12 - 1-11 Oklahoma State (!), 3-9 Colorado, 4-8 West Virginia, 5-7 Baylor, Kansas, UCF. 6 out of 16 teams. One Coach Fired. FWIW, 33% of B1G teams not bowling is the best percentage in the Power 4. The SEC leads with four coaches fired, plus one deciding to drive in another Lane. Did the Rebels Miss? Or has Ole Miss found a Golden replacement?

OBD's Perfect PO Path - Oregon Ducks On SIWhy The Oregon Ducks Might Get The Perfect Playoff PathThe No. 6 Oregon Ducks finished the regular season with an 11-1 record, winning a rivalry matchup against the Washington Huskies. Despite the win, the Ducks wil

Mike, when considering the B1G and the SEC from top to bottom, I took a look at how many teams are not bowl eligible this season. Big Ten - 2-10 Purdue, 3-9 UCLA, 4-8 Maryland, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and 5-7 Rutgers. Six out of 18 teams. Two coaches fired. SEC - 2-10 Arkansas, 4-8 Florida, and South Carolina, 5-7 Auburn, Kentucky, Mississippi State. Six out of 16 teams in a conference that played eight conference games this season. Four coaches fired. How much of - 'Every game in the SEC is a battle like no other, Just Means More, and other conference champions would have three or more losses if they had to run this gauntlet!' - is myth compared to the reality we see played out. In these mega-conferences, SOS varies significantly. Compare A&M's 2025 schedule with Florida's. Compare Wisconsin's 2025 schedule to Michigan's. The B1G was superior to the SEC in the 2024 postseason, including 3-loss Illinois defeating 'PO screwed over 3-loss South Carolina', and 5-loss Michigan defeating 'PO screwed over 3-loss Alabama.' The two PO screwed SEC teams had all hands on deck for their bowl game. Half of the starters on the Michigan D skipped the bowl game. Bama had a 1st round draft pick at QB. Michigan had Thin and Air at QB. Compare the rosters of the six no-bowl B1G and SEC teams, and the SEC has better rosters. No doubt. But this does not ipso facto mean better results on the field of play. Coaching matters. Fun to ponder all of these issues, especially during this mini offseason.

Mike, great post. I think playoff expansion discussions are ongoing that will lead to at least a 16-team field or, more likely, a 24-team PO field with automatic qualifiers. Too much like the NFL? Other than for guardrails agreed upon by the NFL and the Players Union, what in CFB today does not resemble the NFL? Money rules the CFB roost, but unlike the NFL, the CFB billionaires have not learned to coexist. Better than a Super Conference would be a 24-team field with 6 at-large teams, which keeps a 4-PO-team ACC and the 4-PO-team B12 in existence. I don't believe a 3-loss USC, and Michigan, a 3-loss Georgia Tech and SMU, a 3-loss Arizona and 2-loss Utah, and two G6 teams in the field will destroy the foundation of CFB and CFB's regular season. I'd even be OK with 3-loss Texas and 2-loss Vandy being in the field.😁 A PO with AQs would likely lead to a B1G/SEC football challenge. I believe it could also lead to 10-game conference schedules (five home and five away games), which makes sense in this era of mega-conferences. Give the 'lesser conferences' four teams in the field and the G6 two teams in the field, and guardrails in CFB, as we see in the NFL, may be allowed with Congress giving CFB much-needed relief from litigation. BTW, A&M's conference schedule this season was putrid.🤮 Thanks again for the great take.

It's possible, but I think both Miami and Notre Dame will be in the field.

Indy, preferably in the Cotton Bowl, but more likely in the Orange Bowl, with OBD coming off a win and the Hoosiers coming off a long bye. Make no mistake, Indy is darn good (DUH!), but watching the Hoosiers vs. Iowa and Penn State, I think it was The Perfect Storm Day for the Cigs in Autzen. I do not want to play Texas Tech in Dallas or an SEC team in New Orleans. After defeating Indy in the Orange Bowl, knock wood, how about a semifinal game in Arizona in more friendly territory in the Fiesta Bowl?

JMU. SEE: Liberty in the Fiesta Bowl in Autzen. 😁

USA Today is PO benching the ACC - 😁 CFP rankings prediction, updated College Football Playoff bracket

More axes than a Cal vs Stanford game. Is Mark Stoops next? ESPN.comKentucky expected to fire Stoops, sources sayKentucky is expected to fire football coach Mark Stoops, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel on Sunday, with the process set to formally play out Monday.

HOME PO game! One of Ohio State/Indiana will host the Rose Bowl, with the other hosting the Cotton or Orange Bowl, with the Sugar Bowl reserved for the SEC champ. Get a win under the belt in Autzen and advance at least one step further in the PO than last season. This is a young football team that will have a tough bowl matchup in the 2nd round in Dallas, Miami, or New Orleans. I want the team to experience at least one PO win. The semifinal sites this season will be played in the Fiesta and Peach bowls. Teams from Dixie reap the reward of this so-called PO, a front for a bowl extravaganza.

Former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald will replace Smith at Michigan State.

Here's the story from ESPN. At least Smitty scored 1 B1G win this season. UCLA in play? He's a SoCal guy. ESPN.comMichigan State fires coach Smith after 2 seasonsMichigan State fired coach Jonathan Smith on Sunday, the school announced.

He's down the Lane to Red Stick. Ole Miss to hire DC Pete Golding to replace Lame.

Good post, but I think that Texas not being ranked in the top 10 is about to sway Sankey and others to Tony P's PO format. SIWhy Beating Texas A&M Won’t Help Texas’s Chances at Colle...The selection committee has shown that losses matter more than big wins this season, and the Longhorns’ three defeats loom large against other bubble teams.%

Arkansas is looking for gold in (Ryan) Silverfield. Ryan is stepping up to the SEC from Memphis.

Heather has Texas out and OBD in at No. 5. ESPN.comProjecting Tuesday's penultimate CFP top 12We assess how the committee could stack the top teams in the country after Week 14.

Texas is being left out because one of its 3 losses was to a bad Florida team, and the Longhorns melted down in Athens. Texas also struggled to defeat 5-7 Mississippi State and 5-7 Kentucky, which lost to Louisville yesterday, 41 to Zip. A&M's SEC opponents have a combined losing record. A&M could not stop the Notre Dame and Arkansas run games, and it is the only P4 opponent Texas was able to run the ball against. Texas getting in as the SEC's 5th team could happen if the committee moves the Horns past two of the SEC teams it defeated, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt. If Texas gets in, I think it will be no lower than the 10th seed. And I think OBD will be the 5th or 6th seed. But ...?

There's a new Top Tiger at Auburn. Golesh is on the menu. Florida is rumored to be after Tulane's Jon Sumrall. After hiring and firing Billy Napier from the G6? I wonder if the Gators went Fisching? ESPN.comAuburn hires South Florida's Golesh as new coachAuburn has hired South Florida's Alex Golesh as its new coach. Golesh, who went 23-15 over three seasons at USF, will get a six-year deal, sources told ESPN.

BTW, if a post-champ game 2-loss team is going to be moved to make way for 3-loss Texas, it will again be BYU crying the PO blues. If 7-5 Duke defeats UVA in the ACC champ game, the ACC could be left out of the PO field in favor of the American champion and Sun Belt champ JMU. If you want to watch a conference implode, let this happen, and 2-loss Notre Dame getting in instead of 2-loss Miami. BOYCOTT THE DOMERS! Beg for B12 admittance.

NO! Give me seed No. 5! 1st round game vs the American Conference champ or JMU, before most likely playing in the Cotton Bowl.

Here are the Ken Massey rankings updated through Saturday's games. https://masseyratings.com/cf/fbs/ratings The Athletic's Stewart Mandel began his review of this weekend's games with the following: 'There is going to be a record amount of outrage in college football come Tuesday night.' My response: DUH! With mega-conference disparity in conference game Strength-of-Schedules, there were going to be more two-loss and fewer-loss teams that would fit in a 12-team playoff. Perhaps, Stewart, you, and other CFB experts should not have been so quick to accuse Tony Petitti of coming up with a playoff format that would eviscerate college football. Besides a bigger paycheck than you thought you'd ever see, record coaches' salaries, players making millions of dollars over the table, and more eyes on CFB than ever before, by all means, let us keep our PO unsullied; all teams must earn their way into the field. The SEC's Greg Sankey revoked his (faux) approval of Tony's PO plan and decided to move to a nine game conference schedule, because the PO committee's use of new metrics would not leave a worthy 3-loss SEC team out of the field. Greg, you may want to ask Sark how the 3-loss thing is working out? I think Tony Petitti may soon be acclaimed as the smartest guy in the room, although I expect Greg will take credit for his help in crafting Tony's plan. Using Massey's rankings, this is what a 24-team PO field would be. ACC - 14 Miami, 29 Louisville, 30 SMU, 33 Georgia Tech Big Ten - 1 Ohio State, 2 Indiana, 3 Oregon, 16 USC B12 - 9 Texas Tech, 11 BYU, 13 Utah, 24 Arizona SEC - 4 Georgia, 6 Alabama, 7 Ole Miss, 8 Texas A&M G6 - 32 JMU, 36 North Texas At Large - 5 Notre Dame, 10 Oklahoma, 12 Texas, 15 Vanderbilt, 17 Michigan, 18 Iowa 7 SEC/ 6 Big Ten/ 4 ACC/ 4 B12/ 2 G6/ 1 Notre Dame The top 8-seeded teams have a 1st round bye. The first three rounds of the PO would be played on campus. 1 Ohio State vs. 17 Michigan at 16 USC 2 Indiana vs. 18 Iowa at 15 Vanderbilt 3 Oregon vs. 19 Arizona at 14 Miami 4 Georgia vs. 20 Louisville at 13 Utah 5 Notre Dame vs. 21 SMU at 12 Texas 6 Alabama vs. 22 JMU at 11 BYU 7 Ole Miss vs. 23 Georgia Tech at 10 Oklahoma 8 TX A&M vs. 24 North Texas at 9 Texas Tech The only first-round repeat game would see Michigan at USC. Will this happen? Possibly, but not before 2027 at the earliest. Or, we could see Tony Petitti's 16-team 4-4-2-2-1-3 format come to fruition. OBD is off until playing a 1st-round PO home game on December 19th or 20th, which is nice. 😁

🤮 How many Rebels will Portal King Lane take with him to LSU, and will the chosen portal players sit out the PO? It's all about the Student-Athletes, right? 🙃

A(ll) C(hortle) and C(huckle). Extra Credit - North Carolina State 42 - North Carolina Adult Cheerleaders 19. 🤪 The 33rd NFL team comes this close, but misses the playoffs. 😁 ACC conference champ game on December 6th in Charlotte. 10-2 UVA vs. 7-5 Duke. 🤮 This is Not a basketball game and not a typo! Keep on enabling Notre Dame. B12 - Texas Tech vs. BYU - I believe we watched this movie not so long ago. SEC - Alabama vs. Georgia - Can't you keep your Dawgs out of Atlanta! B1G - No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Indiana - The battle for PO seed 1 or 2. 😴 Dear Media Check Writers, can we just call the whole thing off?

CAL 38 - No. 21 SMU 35 Nice audition for Nick Rolovich. From COVID cashiered to coaching at Cal? Go-Go Rolo! It's only a movie. 😁 ACC champ game. UVA is in. Playing 7-5 Duke? These two teams will meet next Saturday for the ACC title. Maybe? 🤪 I don't care how badly Notre Dame beats Stanford today. With Miami's blowout of Pitt, and A&M, which for the most part played SEC marshmallows, losing to Texas, and USC finishing 9-3 at best, why should a 10-2 ND without a top 25 win be in the PO instead of Miami? ACC champ, UVA or Duke 😁, is in the field. I think? 🤔Should both Miami and ND be left out? Bring on Tony Petitti's 16 or 24 game PO.