Jon Joseph

Not a good day for the 8-teams in the field SEC. 8 Mississippi State loses to 9 Michigan State 6 South Carolina loses to 11 OREGON! 3 Kentucky loses to 14 Oakland. Kentucky was expert Dickie V's pick to win it all. In the New SEC, Tennessee plays Texas on Saturday. Like Dana and Creighton, TN's Rick Barnes will be going against his former employer. 😁😁😁

I promise I am not hunting for clicks. But I am surprised that no one else is taking umbrage at this scheduling ploy by the SEC. In 2024, I will not be surprised to, of course, see the SEC champ with a top 4 seed and a first-round bye. OK, this is expected. But in addition to the bye, three out of the four first-round games, at least, are likely to be played on SEC home fields. Looking at myriad preseason top 25 polls, Oregon is the only SEC team routinely ranked to where the Ducks would be the 5 to 8 seed and have an opening game in Eugene. Come 2025 in the SEC, rinse and repeat. I hope B1G Commish Tony Petitti is not being suckered by the olive branch extended by Sankey. Petitti on behalf of his conference has to call this garbage out.

Who's buying the drinks? A busted Bulldog from Starkevagas or a plucked Gamecock?

He put a Gamecock in a Cuisinart. DUCK!

And 9-seed Sparty easily handled 8-seed MS State.

Shut Everything Closed USC (E). South Carolina follows Mississippi State in losing 1st round games to B1G (or soon-to-be B1G) teams. Dana going against his former employer will be fun. Creighton played a sloppy game and still picked up an easy win. The Illinois win keeps the (New) B1G undefeated to date in the NIT and The Tourney. Another bird awaits plucking. Beat the Bluejays!

Rece thinks the ACC 'as is' is done. https://athlonsports.com/college-football/rece-davis-saddened-college-football-basketball-conference-couple-years-left

"Bizarre" is likely an understatement. No restrictions whatsoever on players transferring twice. Proctor is probably only the first of the guys who 'committed' in winter and will be gone in the spring. I'm hoping we will not see this about-face with Dante Moore and other transfers who via their agent and other third parties, if not directly contacted, are no doubt being pursued by poachers. Kadyn Proctor, Iowa and three lessons for a new level of transfer frenzy THEATHLETIC.COM When you lift all restrictions on transfers in college sports, this is what happens.

Spartan. Good take but everyone agreed to the media rights deal at a time far different than that of the CFB/CBB world we live in today? In return for ESPN capitalizing and managing the ACC Network, the ACC agreed to a deal through 2036. This still works for Boston College, Wake Forest, and Georgia Tech, but not for brand names Clemson and FSU. And it's the brand name more than the market size that draws eyeballs. Clemson, SC is a small town. Miami is a big city. Clemson draws far more viewers than does the U. I get why Clemson and FSU do not simply want to suck it up as they are left behind by the B1G and the SEC. The B1G media deal ends in 2031 and with the new deal and revenue from the football and basketball post-season each B1G team, including Oregon as a full partner, will likely be bringing down $100M per annum. Clemson and FSU do not want to hang in and support Pitt, Syracuse, and Duke, like Oregon and Washington, with the grant of media rights ending, were no longer willing to support OSU and WSU. Clemson and FSU both have far more capital invested in athletics than the schools they are carrying. FSU, with BCS titles, and Clemson with playoff titles, are the only two ACC teams to move the needle in football. I doubt the two plaintiffs will escape the ACC without paying an exit fee of some kind but like Maryland when it left the ACC for the B1G and sued over the amount of the exit fee, both will get a discount. Are the suits against the ACC 'honorable?' Perhaps not but millions of dollars are at stake and Clemson and FSU are not going to sit around and be eclipsed by Northwestern and Vandy.

ESPN has an opt-out coming up soon. The World Wide Leader can opt to drop the ACC and in accordance, shut down the ACC Network which lags behind the SEC Network and Fox's Big Ten Network. Then? CW for the ACC?

The SEC is not only staying with eight conference games and four out-of-conference (OOC) games in 2025, it is duplicating the same schedule as 2024 with road games switched to home games and vice versa. Eight conference games will give the SEC a playoff leg up; especially, if every SEC schedule is determined by the PO Committee to be 'brutal.' On the field of play, this is not the case. For example, in 2024 in a conference likely to have eight teams ranked in the preseason AP Poll, Missouri OOC and in-conference will play two games versus the preseason top 25. Oklahoma has six top-25 teams on its schedule and is likely to have the same number in 2025. Missouri, Ole Miss, and Tennessee have the easiest SEC schedules in 2024. Alabama, Oklahoma, and Florida have the most difficult strength-of-schedule; why are the Tide, Sooners, and Gators putting up with this? Oregon plays Michigan and Ohio State in 2024 and misses both in 2025. The 2024 schedule being repeated in 2025 in the B1G would have given Ohio State a back-to-back scheduling advantage. Would Michigan have agreed to a repeat? In a 16-team conference playing the same eight teams in back-to-back years means that a number of a team's players will miss a conference opponent before running out of eligibility. The B1G in this regard has done a far better job of scheduling through 2028. But if the SEC in 2024 and 2025 dominate the playoff field, should the B1G stay with nine conference games? The 2024 scheduling format is, at least in part, a ploy by the SEC to be paid more by ESPN for the extra conference game. Even if the B1G decided to go with eight conference games would the existing media deal with Fox, CBS, and NBC allow for this change to occur without a revenue cut for B1G teams? With a playoff, every conference should be on the same page in scheduling and Notre Dame should be playing 13 regular season games, with ten of the games versus P4 opponents. There's too much money involved to allow the ACC and the SEC to game the system by playing only eight conference games.

A take on the future of the ACC, B1G, SEC, and ESPN. In college football realignment, the SEC, Big Ten and ESPN may decide ACC fate BAMAHAMMER.COM This week the biggest news in the world of college football was not Clemson's lawsuit against the ACC. The Tigers were just following along with what FSU had al

The 2024 game in Corvallis instead of playing Texas Tech in Eugene is a $6M to $8M+ hit to the local Eugene/Springfield economy. Was this taken into consideration? It would be interesting to know how much money had to be returned for rooms reserved for the Texas Tech game. Travel Lane County WWW.EUGENECASCADESCOAST.ORG Fans cheered the Ducks as they returned to the gridiron against Fresno State, but it was local businesses cheering more as fans dropped cold hard cash over the weekend.

FWIW and somewhat OT, the B1G went 3-0 in last night's NIT action. The Gophers, Badgers, and Buckeyes all won their 1st round games. Ohio State has won NCAA titles and Wisconsin and Minnesota have featured many quality basketball teams. Not one of the three believed the NIT to be beneath them.

Contracts and challenged, torn up, and renegotiated every day. If you are a lender and the borrower files for bankruptcy reorganization your contract is subject to being renegotiated by the court. Maryland sued the ACC over its exit fee when it left for the B1G and saved millions of dollars. The powers-that-be at Maryland should have simply said, 'Oh, well?' Are you aware of the money these two schools that did little or nothing to earn the money are grabbing? If the Pac-10 had pursued a remedy outside of Washington the settlement amount would not be close to what the Pac-2 are getting. 12 people form a business. 10 depart without having to pay an exit fee. The 2 left are entitled to the Good Will and all of the assets and the ten departees are still on the hook for their share of liabilities? Only a group of fools would agree to this. Only academicians would agree to anything this onerous. The Pac-2 will not share with their new partners. They'll drain what they stole and then join the G5. It's a rip-off. None of the 10 being hosed over agreed to this kind of resolution at the time the by-laws were agreed to. 8 out of 12 would have been enough to change the by-laws if the departing 8's lawyers and the Pac-12's lawyers had not been asleep at the switch.

Mike, I disagree with you but I certainly do not mean to be disagreeable. You made your case very well and I appreciate you making this effort.

An Honorable Mention for Dana. Which coaches historically out-perform expectations during the NCAA Tournament? SATURDAYTRADITION.COM A few college basketball coaches stand out amongst their peers when it comes to performance in the NCAA Tournament.

According to Athlon, Oregon will play in four of the fifteen including the second and third-ranked games. https://athlonsports.com/college-football/big-ten-football-15-must-see-games-in-2024

CFN likes the Ducks in a close-call win over the Gamecocks. https://collegefootballnews.com/predictions/south-carolina-vs-oregon-prediction-game-preview-ncaa-tournament-first-round-2024

The UW AD is now the AD at Nebraska. Intra-conference poaching. Does UW have the money to stay competitive in CFB and CBB? UW could not come close to matching DeBoer's $10.5M from Bama. It would be interesting to know the salary differences with this hire by Nebraska. A+m paid a whole lot of money to poach alum Trev Alberts from the Cornhuskers.

No control over NIL in the NFL as such would be illegal as the NCAA learned the hard way. But the League does, of course, have agreed upon restraints on free agency and a 'rookie' pay scale. The agreement is between the owners and the players union. In CFB which entity will represent 'management' and what will a union look like when the best players are gone after three seasons on campus? CFB will shrink into a Super League; Puddles will be a player but lots of questions remain to be answered.

Does Oregon lose to DJU and FSU? Come On Man! It's a long off-season. Crowning a champion in college football's 2024 64-team playoff - ESPN WWW.ESPN.COM We complete our mock playoff, from the Sweet 16 through the Final Four and the national title game.

Proctor best not visit a Proctologist in Iowa. Bama is showing DeBoer $10.5M per annum and I guess that The Tide's war chest is bigger than the Hawkeyes war chest. I wonder how much more money the young man scored with his head fake? I am happy that athletes can capitalize off of their own NIL, including Caitlin schilling for State Farm, but out-of-control free agency? I don't believe unrestrained NIL is sustainable. At least not sustainable for many of the 134 G5 and P4 schools.

Gamecock fans are cocky, who knew? 'We are the SEC and you are not!' But about that stadium floor ...

Thanks, Duckster. And thanks also for posting the earlier article on Dana. Both are a most enjoyable read. 'House money' defines it perfectly. Now, how long can Puddles stay at the table? South Cackalacky played well in a deep conference. But was it good and deep or just deep? The Tournament will be the tell. In another post, Charles posted a comment showing Oregon State declined an NIT bid. Huh? One run a few years back that led to far too much sugar being poured on the Beavers coach means you don't take advantage of a chance to improve? I also was not happy about seeing UCLA, USC, and UW telling the NIT to get lost when Ohio State, Iowa, and Minnesota all accepted their invitation. Not a good look IMO for 3 of the 4 newbies. Thanks again. Pluck the Gamecocks!