Jon Joseph

Football Power Index - Which college teams are undervalued? - ESPN WWW.ESPN.COM The first FPI for the 2024 season is out, and ESPN's college football reporters are here to break it down.

Thanks, Alex. Imagine a Ducks top 10 QB and WR in the league? Dan Fouts 3rd round draft pick, No. 64, in 1973. He retired in 1987 and was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1993. Chargers coach Don Coryell and Dan revolutionized the NFL downfield passing game. Ahmad Rashad was the 1st round, No. 4 pick of the Saint Louis Cardinals in 1972. An RB at Oregon from Tacoma, Washington, Rashad switched to WR in the pros and played in 4 Pro Bowls. Both men went on to NFL broadcasting careers, Everything I'm reading from Pro Football Focus and the other 'experts,' say it will be all systems GO for BO to start for the Broncos. There is a lot to be excited about while waiting (SIGH) for both the Ducks and the NFL seasons to begin. Denver's opening regular season game comes on 9/8/24 on the road in Seattle. Go Ducks! Vanquish the Vandals. Autzen Stadium on 8/31/24. Thanks again.

'VICIOUS?" 😁 GO DUCKS!

Thank you, Stevan. Where do they find these guys? 14,865 yards passing/ 125 TDs/ 26 Ints./ 63.1 completion % /1060 rushing yards/ 26 ranking TDs/ 2023 All B12 QB, not playoff QB Quinn Ewers at Texas. It may have been a long journey for Dillon but he is hardly a 'journeyman.'

Another CFB 2024 Chaos Take. 2024 Chaos Scenarios, No. 6: What if Quinn Ewers gets hurt again? WWW.SATURDAYDOWNSOUTH.COM There's a world in which the most noteworthy injury in college football is Texas QB Quinn Ewers giving way to Arch Manning.

No. 3 in returning production. 247 Sports best OL in 2024. I am happy that these Cowboys are not riding into Eugene until 2025. College football odds, bets: Why Oklahoma State is undervalued as a Big 12 championship contender - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM Mike Gundy's Cowboys have played for two of the last three Big 12 championships Make or break in 2024? 9/21 Utah, 9/28 at K State. No Arizona and no Kansas on the schedule. Blown out by Texas in the 2023 B12 title game but defeated Texas A+M in its bowl game.

Ann better get busy in the Arbor. Ranked No. 41, where is Michigan's championship bump? Wolverines lead top football recruiting storylines - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM Michigan would like its national championship to begin to generate some momentum

What in the name of Cheech and Choong was the FPI algorithms smoking? 5 SEC teams in the playoff field could certainly happen. However, Oklahoma and Tennessee are in. LSU, Ole Miss, and Missouri are out? This by far, is the worst preseason ranking I have seen for Ole Miss and the highest that I have seen for Oklahoma. Oklahoma plays Auburn, Ole Miss, Missouri, and LSU on the road and Texas in Dallas. Tennessee and Alabama visit Oklahoma. Oklahoma has a QB whose only start was in a bowl loss to Arizona where the young man threw for over 300 yards but also threw 3 picks. Every OL starter in the bowl game is gone. BTW, where is Utah? The other ESPN computer, Bill Connolly's SP+ is a more accurate predictor of future results. Bill has four SEC teams in the playoff field, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, and Ole Miss. Bill also has four B1G teams in the field, Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan, and Penn State. The ACC's SEC would be the 3-seed with Utah being the 4th-seed. Georgia is No. 1 in the FPI and SP+ which I understand. IMO, the FPI rankings of the SEC are off-the-wall. Thanks for the post.

Never a doubt! Oregon Baseball Outlasts No. 14 UC Santa Barbara 2-1 WWW.SI.COM Oregon baseball is one win away from a super regional. The Ducks upended UC Santa Barbara 2-1. UO stays unblemished heading into Sunday's regional final. Thank you, Charles, for the great coverage of the Diamond Ducks.

YES! 😍

OBD getting some B1G champion love. https://athlonsports.com/college-football/big-ten-title-chances-spark-debate-among-college-football-fans

If you have to tell people you are relevant, are you relevant? Big 12 to distribute record $470 million amid realignment - ESPN WWW.ESPN.COM Big 12 schools will share in a record $470 million of revenue distribution, the conference announced Friday when wrapping up its first spring meetings as a 14-team league and before growing... How about a Big (12) NO!

It Ju$t Mean$ More. It'$ the $EC. Where our $tuff is $weeter than your $tuff. Then again, if you get 4 to 5 PO invites playing 8 game$, why move to 9? Citing rivalry games, SEC looks for more money for 9 conference games WWW.NYTIMES.COM DESTIN, Fla. — The SEC office hasn’t given up trying to get more money from ESPN in exchange for adding a ninth conference game. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said the conference had...

Friend, Jabba, when it comes to Danny Boy, I'm all in favor of his execution. (Thank you, John McKay.)

And here I thought it was June 1st, not April 1st. BTW, Danny, your neck needs a bigger pencil.

HUH? This article pops up on Yardbarker on the first day of the June critical recruiting period. This is Sense-Less. Dan Lanning needs to get out of Oregon before it's too late WWW.YARDBARKER.COM Oregon’s head football coach, Dan Lanning, is one of the best and youngest coaches in the game. He is heading into his third season with the Ducks, but he should be counting his days in Eugene.. OK, there's Brain Dead and then there is Daniel Fisher (not Fischer,) straight out of Gridiron Heroes. Based on this effort, Gridiron Heroes should be renamed Gridiron Zeros. "No question Oregon is one of the most famous college brands." I guess Danny noted that Oregon was the 7th most-watched college football program in 2023, with over 4M folks tuning in on average for every game. But having played for a BCS and a Playoff title means the job at Oregon stinks, right? Dan is making $7M a year which increases to $8M a year in 2028. He should blow this off and leave for one of only three decent jobs in CFB. If you are not the head coach at multiple Playoff title winners Alabama, Clemson, or Georgia, you're in the wrong place, right? It's obvious Eugene has a problem because Chip Kelly left for more money and a place where he didn't have to recruit, Mark Helfrich was fired because he couldn't do the job, better to keep him on a finish sub-.500? Slick and Mari(o) left for dream jobs and more money than now disillusioned boosters would be willing to pay. How about the Slick return on investment at FSU? How about the U's return after paying the most money ever for a private school head coach? The B1G is tougher than last season's Pac-12. Oregon will be the 5th brand team in the B1G. Danny, get your Sierra together. I don't know about Gridiron Heroes preseason top 25, but I have not seen a preseason poll where Oregon finishes worse than second in the B1G and outside the 2024 playoff. And of course, coaching in the SEC at Bama gives one a much easier road to a title. By the way Danny, are you aware that Mrs. Lanning and Dan once lived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and it just may be that they prefer Eugene? You probably were not out of diapers so trust me when I tell you that between Bear Bryant and Saint Nick, Alabama kind of sucked. Danny, if you go off of your meds again and need help, please do not call 1-OBD-GET-HELP. Ditto for the jerks at Yardbarker who recycle this garage instead of taking it straight to the dump/ . Have a really nice day.

$ (shocking) will likely have the SEC going to 9 conference games in 2026. BTW, someone please tell CBS that it no longer covers the SEC! SEC once again considering a nine game conference schedule SPORTS.YAHOO.COM SEC still looking into the idea of a nine-game conference schedule.

I hope B1G Commish Tony P. is paying attention. The SEC Needs To Go To A Nine Conference Game Schedule: Barrett Sallee WWW.OUTKICK.COM The SEC needs to go to a nine-conference game schedule for the good of the entire conference. SEC will play 64 OOC games in 2024 and the majority put the cake into the cup. Mizzou - The Massachusetts Daily Double - BC and UMass + Murray State and the Buffalo Bulls, not Bills. Ole Miss - Playing at Wake Forest is as tough as it gets, right?

Give me 5! No. 5 on possible chaos in 2024 CFB. 2024 Chaos Scenarios, No. 5: A Group of 5 team wins a Playoff game WWW.SATURDAYDOWNSOUTH.COM What happens if we get a smaller school breaking through as a Cinderella in the first year of the 12-team Playoff?

Only 'sometimes?' Greg Sankey's frustration with the NCAA reaches boiling point: 'Sometimes you have to be a jerk' - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM The SEC commissioner has become more agitated in recent months and was set off by a question Thursday about his experience with the NCAA

Isn't that what Knute said about the Gipper? Nothing new under the sun.

Find me a way to revoke the ACC charter. And then, please pick me up from the Dexter Lake Club floor. 😍

2002 - I understand your POV. Yet not so long ago Maryland left for the B1G. It was a different media deal then but via suit over the then ACC exit fee, Maryland saved $20M. FSU and Clemson are the lead litigators, but six or more ACC programs join in, and goodbye to ACC as it is today. But as my post asked above, how much value will any ACC team bring to the Power 2 conferences' bottom line? Ditto, B12 teams showing the money. Looking at the viewership statistics, do the Power 2 conferences need more programs? Would the NFL benefit by adding teams in Salt Lake City or Stillwater Oklahoma? My friend Jabba and I have debated this question. With all due respect to you and Jabba, size goes to size, and existing media deals will not stop value-added programs from coalescing into 40 or fewer programs into a Super League. I'll watch, but Arizona at Utah in 2024 will draw fewer viewers than any SEC game that does not have Vanderbilt in the mix. Does my POV make me happy? NO. But five decades ago the NCAA had its broadcast monopoly and the media became the overseer of college athletics. It was not over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor, but it is financially over for programs that cannot find their way into the Power 2.

ESPN to have ‘unilateral’ option to end media rights deal with ACC, per report SATURDAYROAD.COM ESPN's media deal with the ACC includes an interesting twist. Dean Wormer: "There is a little-known codicil in the Faber College Constitution which gives the Dean unlimited power ..." It's ESPN, and not litigants Clemson and FSU, that holds the future of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in its Dean Wormer-like hands. ESPN's ACC media rights deal gives ESPN the option in February of 2025, to opt out of the existing Mickey Mouse media deal in 2027, before the current deal expires in 2036. [Note, it is a different set of circumstances with Texas joining the SEC but the Longhorn Network will go off-air in July 2024 and be folded into the SEC Network.] Why would ESPN with a favorable ACC media deal, one priced well below what ESPN is paying for the SEC sports inventory and on par with the deal for B12 inventory, want to terminate a deal in its favor? 1. The Worldwide Leader, Fox Sports, and Warner Bros. recently announced the creation of the streaming service, 'Venu.' The formation of Venu comes amid cable TV cord-cutting which has materially lowered ESPN's subscription base and is in recognition of the move to pay-for-view streamed sporting events. Venu arrives as part of the Cold War-like thaw between the Murdochs and the Disneys. The model of buying sports inventory and selling game and event inventory to advertisers at a markup is no longer ipso facto profitable. Businesses have cut back advertising budgets. Pac-12 fans are well aware of this; the timing of the Conference of Champions' new media negotiations coming up for bid and the conference's refusal, unlike the B12, to go to the market sooner was the final Conference of Champions bite into a bushel of rotten Apples. So, today's favorable deal with the ACC may not be all that favorable down the road. Yes, the existing deal with the ACC is more than reasonable, but as profitable as showing Clemson vs. Florida State on pay-to-watch Venu? More profitable than closing down the ACC Network and eliminating the obligation to cover all of the ACC's sports? Why not do independent broadcast deals with Clemson and FSU without having to drag along Boston College and Wake Forest? 2. What if ESPN does not exercise the option and Clemson and FSU split? Without these two playing football in the ACC, will the operation of the ACC Network yield a profit as it does today? Why would Clemson and FSU fans and casual ACC fans continue to subscribe to the ACC Network without its two biggest football brands? Would Disney and its parent, Walt Disney, want to be left holding this kind of bag? 3. Is there any assurance that Clemson, FSU, and other ACC programs will be welcomed by the B1G or by the SEC? Clemson and FSU may find homes but if the remaining ACC teams do not, this again leaves the World Wide Leader holding the bag. 46 of the 47 most-watched college football games featured at least one B1G or SEC team. Ergo, what incentive is there for the B1G or the SEC to expand? FSU drew on average 4.16M viewers, 9th in the nation according to Nielson, and Clemson came in at 19th with 2.90M viewers. FSU and Clemson are not members of the American Association of Universities (AAU). To date, no program without AAU membership has been invited to join the B1G. Is the B1G in play for these two? The SEC is in the Florida and South Carolina marketplaces. The rivalry games, Clemson vs. South Carolina and FSU vs. Florida are broadcast by ESPN. Excluding, 'We're Only Here for the APR,' Vandy, the second least-watched SEC team, Mississippi State, was the 32nd most-watched SEC team in 2023, drawing over 2M viewers a game. As brand-worthy as Clemson and FSU may be, neither program would bring to the SEC the brand value brought by Texas. In 2023 Texas finished 8th in the number of viewers (one spot behind Oregon at 4.43M!) with 4.26M viewers. Adding Florida, Georgia, and Texas A+M to the Texas schedule will boost the Longhorns viewership. With its viewer numbers already at the top, why would SEC member teams want to add any teams to the spreadsheet? Unless ESPN was willing to pay for more inventory with the SEC moving from eight to nine conference games. North Carolina was on average, the 46th most-watched college football team in 2023. The Tarheels drew an average audience of 966K. However, UNC is in a media cat-bird seat. North Carolina is a marketplace not served by the B1G/Fox or the SEC/ESPN. UNC is an AAU member institution and in the B1G's academic wheelhouse. North Carolina is projected to be the nation's 7th most populous state come the 2030s. And North Carolina brings with it basketball prestige. Both of the Power 2 conferences would be after UNC, hot, heavy, and with a bushel of dough. The ACC implodes and B1G/Fox and SEC/ESPN will both be after UNC and Notre Dame. Notre Dame finished tenth in viewership numbers in 2023 with 4.15M viewers. The B1G and Notre Dame have a rancorous history; however, Notre Dame is a member of the B1G in Men's and Women's ice hockey and a better academic fit in the B1G than in the SEC. Both North Carolina and Notre Dame would likely come on board the B1G or the SEC as full revenue members. Again, with the ACC media deal it has in hand, I see ESPN doing nothing to hasten the demise of the ACC. I'm happy that I am not the executive(s) at Walt Disney having to decide in the middle of an all-time turbulent college sports world whether or not to put the ACC on Double Public Probation.

B1G W/L totals. I do not believe that Oregon will both defeat and lose to Michigan in 2024. I do believe USC will defeat Penn State in LA and will not lose 3 home games vs Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Notre Dame.