Jon Joseph

I just finished the fast forward replays of The Fiesta Bowl, Rose and Sugar Bowls. Oregon will not be ranked in the final AP Poll top 4 but should be, And Bo? Take a well deserved bow Son. I watched an entire season of CFB. The conference with the best OOC record? And the conference with the best bowl record? The Pac-12. The best team in CFB that eviscerated FSU in its bowl game? Probably Georgia. But Nick except for one time always beats Kirby. Michigan plays bully ball. But Michigan as well as Bama did not play their best ball in the Rose Bowl. Michigan's B1G wins came against 2 teams that failed in the post-season. Michigan will play gutty ball versus Washington, But UW has the better QB and the far better offense in the game Monday night. And Michigan is about to play against the best O it has faced this season by far, including playing Bama and its let's go bowling center in the champ game. This upcoming game reminds me of the game when heavily favored Michigan played under-Dawg UW and QB Warren Moon in the Rose Bowl way back in 1978. Moon, a guy who paved the way for African-American QBs, helped UW win the game by 7 points. I see another for UW, close game in the champ game. But the Pac-12 (RIP) was the deepest and best conference this season. And UW accomplished something I never thought that I would see. Going 13-0 in the Pac-12 for the first time since Utah and CU signed up. And the UW coach, all-be-it at much lower level of CFB, has won titles. Jim Harbaugh? Can Michigan maul UW? Perhaps? But I think that for Left Coast reasons the UW OL is not as respected (ask Sark) as it should be. And UW just defeated a team that also, earlier in the season, defeated Bama. The QB play and O play improved for Bama over the course of the season after the loss to Texas, but the same D was there against Texas. Six sacks for Michigan vs. Bama, I don't see this against quick release Penix. IMO, Texas is a better team than this Michigan team and Michigan swallowed 3 cup cakes OOC and played B1G dog meat for the most part in the regular season It's Michigan that everyone calls the grittier team. I think the team with equal grit and far more power on O and with the better QB, which matters on all levels of football, will win the game come Monday night. Stats are decieving in CFB. Michigan's D stats? Against what kind of opposition? And the Wolverines O hit the brakes when it played, finally, better opponents. UW had a more difficult SOS and it will win the champ game by 7 or less points and put an exclaimation point on how badly the Pac-12 powers that be screwed up. And next season? If Gabriel stays upright the Ducks win the B1G title and have a great shot at being the 2024/25 champion. Go Purple! Beat Blue! And pave the way for the Pac-4 not having to adjust to the B1G but for the B1G having to adjust to modern CFB.

And the O's Michigan faced? The Pac-12 was deeper and better than the B1G this season. Michigan played O-neutered teams Iowa, Penn State and Ohio State in its toughest games. Taulia Tag with some help from his run game would have taken Michigan down. To be plain: The Pac opposition this season was far better than UM played against in the B1G. Far better. And but for Saint Nick mostly owning Kirby Smart, UGA would have defeated Michigan in a 1st round game. Texas is a better team than Michigan with more weapons on O. Why Sark gave up on the ground game? HOWEVER, Sean McDonough had one of the great comments ever in the Sugar Bowl when another Irish guy, Greg McElroy, noted that Quinn Ewerts would have had a first down if he hadn't tripped over his own feet. "Kind of like our crew on Bourbon Street last night." Washington IMO will win the champ game by 10 or more points. McCarthy is a good CFB. UW QB, Penix is a great CFB QB. With far better receivers and playing behind a better OL, by far, than the Bama OL. This is another 'Rose Bowl' matchup with the B1G team coming in overrated. Ask Warren Moon.

Great take. I humbly and respectfully disagree. Marcus won the Heisman. Bo was perfectly positioned to win the Heisman and came up short in the Pac-12 Championship game. He battled but he was outplayed by a guy who should have won this year's Heisman, Michael Penix, Jr. I think there is one glaring omission in your contenders for Oregon's best player ever. Dan Fouts. He didn't light it up in college but had the best NFL career of any Ducks player. He represented UO with class on the field and later in the broadcast booth. And in the NFL, Dan and Coach Don Coryell revolutionized how The League plays offense. But based simply on college play, Heisman winner Marcus Mariota was the best all time Duck and will be the one Duck, to date, showing up in NYC for the Hesiman Award ceremony year after year. Bo deserves a whole lot of love but a Heisman winner will be remembered far longer than a guy who balled out and finished 3rd. Thanks again, Alex. Fun to ponder.

Stars matter. Transfers matter. But coaching the game still matters. 247 Team Composite Roster Rankings (recruits and transfers) before the start of the 2023 season. No. 1. Alabama / No. 6. Texas/ No. 14. Michigan/ No. 26 Washington - OREGON No.10 Washington's Joe Moore Award winning OL is made up of 5 recruits from high school and no transfers. None of these recruits was ranked higher than No. 170 coming out of high school. UW twice defeated No. 10 ranked OREGON (sigh) and also defeated No. 8 ranked USC before defeating No. 6 Texas in the Sugar Bowl. Win the champ game and UW will be the first team without a Blue Chip Roster and without a Blue Chip Composite Roster to win a BCS or Playoff champioship. Win the champ game and Michigan will be the first team without a Super Roster, in the top 10 Composite ranking to win a championship. That's coaching.

The irony continues. In its last season (sorry, Pac-2) the Pac-12 at 5-3 comes in at the top of the P5 conferences with the best bowl record. 41 bowl games in the books with one left to play Monday night in Houston when two 2024 B1G teams play for the title. I appreciate the righteous comments OBD members have made about the importance or lack thereof, of bowl games; especially, in this age of opt outs. However, with few impactful out-of-conference (OOC) games played every year, bowl results will be pumped by conferences with the better records and dinged by the losing conferences as being meaningless. In this day and age of the ESPN/FOX, SEC/B1G fight for CFB Power 2 hegemony (the SEC is admittedly ahead, by quite a bit) It Just Means More to come ahead of the SEC. Especially to the ESPN and FOX marketing reps. Below are the P4 2023/24 bowl results. And the adjusted results for 2024 conference realignment. ACC - 5-6/ 5-8 with Cal and No. 24 SMU losses. A bitter end to the regular season carried on into the post-season with 3 of the ACC's ranked teams going down. No. 22 Clemson did defeat NR Kentucky in a great bowl game with 42 points scored in the 4th quarter! Clemson rebounded from 4-4 to finish 9-4 and will likely be favored to win the ACC in 2024/25. But that opener vs. Georgia in Atlanta? B12- 5-4/ 6-5 - Arizona made the B12 Commish and B12 fans happy with its defeat of off to the SEC Oklahoma. And after being blown out by Texas in the B12 champ game it was nice for the B12 to see Oklahoma State take down Texas A+M. The 'New B12' results diminished only by underdog Northwestern defeating Utah in Las Vegas. SEC - 5-4/5-6 - Two B1G wins by No. 9 Missouri and No. 11 Ole Miss, were offset by both of the Alabama schools going down and newbies Oklahoma and Texas going 0-2. By SEC standards this was not a good post-season; especially, with no SEC team playing for the 2023/24 Championship. Pawalll! But with its recruiting prowess, it's history, it's administrative and fan support and yes, with continuing to play 8 conference games, I expect the SS SEC will be back at full steam as early as next season. In many respects for SEC fans it's a shame that Nick again took down Kirby. Georgia could quite easily have been 2023/24's best and most complete team. B1G - 5-4 - 9-4 - How sweet it is when the four new friends bring bowl victories along with? SWEET! 41 bowl games in the books and the final Final 4 game will have the 'New B1G' finishing 10-5 in the post-season with a championship in tow. The 1st playoff title to be won by a team that played 9 conference games. And if UW wins, the first BCS/Playoff title to be won by a team without a Blue Chip Roster. A new B1G adventure awaits OREGON, UCLA, USC and UW. I can't wait and I think it is going to be great! To whet your 2024/25 appetitie, how about these OOC games? Clemson vs. Georgia in Atlanta/ Texas at Michigan/ Notre Dame at Texas A+M/ FSU at Notre Dame/ Florida at FSU/ Miami at Florida/ UCF at Florida/ Alabama at Wisconsin/ Houston at Oklahoma/ USC vs. LSU in Las Vegas/ UCLA at LSU (the Saturday before playing Oregon in the 1st B1G game for both) and, how about OREGON at Oregon State! (Hmmm?) In 2024/25, I expect we will see a number of B1G/SEC match-ups in the first season a Real Playoff. What took so long?

Would any Joe Moore trophy winning OL be underrated if it played anywhere but on the Left Coast? Would Penix have lost the Heisman to a guy who went 2-3 against teams with a winning record if he played anywhere other than the Left Coast? BTW, before the Heisman winner arrived in the SEC he wasn't all that on the Left Coast. He was surrounded by better players at LSU. The 'experts' for some reason believed Texas was going to crush the UW guys because Texas defeated Bama, before Saint Nick kind of righted the ship, and was bigger than UW. The bias beat lives on. Let's see how Left Coast teams are viewed playing in the B1G that was much weaker than the Pac-12 in 2023. In 2023, especially with having to play 9 conference games, the imploding Pac-12 was the toughest of the P5 conferences. I note there is criticism above for UW playing a tight game against ASU. With an 8 game conference schedule, UW could have boarded the Chattanooga Choo-Choo instead.

Picking up on Charles take in regard to the offspring of unmarried parents, Kalen De Boer, UW has not lost a football game in the last 450 days. The winning streak of 21 games is the tops in CFB. Last 10 wins have been by 10 or fewer points. Last 5 wins by one score. That's some darn fine coaching and the wins have not come against a carton of cupcakes. Penix 1st QB with 4500+ yards in back-to-back seasons since some guy named Mahomes did this in 2015/16 at Texas Tech. As Charles notes, 31 rush yards and no sacks was icing on the Husky Texas victory cake. The UW O will be by far the best O Michigan has played against this season with a far better OL than Bama brought to the Rose Bowl. No QB Michigan has faced has anywhere near the talent of Penix helped out by CFB's best group of WR's and a TE who can catch the football. How in the heck did Bama beat the Right Coast Dawgs? I guess it's a Saint Nick/Kirby thing? Kirby did win one huge game vs. Nick, but Nick is 5-1 against Smart's UGA teams.

Michael Penix Jr. serves as unlikely final villain to Michigan’s title hopes SATURDAYTRADITION.COM Michael Penix Jr. is all that stands between Michigan and a national title, and he's a familiar if unlikely foe for the Wolverines.

5 early thoughts ahead of Washington vs. Michigan in the College Football Playoff National Championship SATURDAYOUTWEST.COM Let's spin it forward to next week's College Football Playoff National Championship showdown between Michigan and Washington in Houston.

A Michigan title may be sleazy but not as sleazy as Auburn's title playing with $cam.

3-0! They're playing for clicks! OBD be playing for Ws! Keep best QB in the conference, DG, upright and good things will happen.

At least one if not 2 PO records will fall when UW faces Michigan. For the 1st time a team that played 9 conference games will win a championship. No team without a Blue Chip Roster, more than 50% of the roster made up of 5 and 4* recruits (BCR) has won the BCS or Playoff. UW does not have a BCR. 16 teams came into 2023 with a BCR. Michigan at 54% was 14 out of the 16 BCR teams. If UW wins, another record will fall.

Thanks, David, for another great take. Who will play QB at Ohio State? (Cam Ward has declared for the draft.) QB Air (!) Noland is a 5 star recruit but being a 5* does not equal playing great ball in the Power 4. And at least in part, I think Lou was right, tOSU is 'softer' under Day than it was under Urban Meyer. Will Michigan's McCarthy declare for the draft after the champ game? Regardless, Michigan is losing the core of the team that has gone 3-0 vs the Buckeyes in the last 3 games. Oregon does not play Penn State in 2024 but the Pann State O is as bland as an O can get. And the vaunted Penn State D was lit up by Ole Miss. Iowa was pathetic yesterday. Wisconsin had a chance to defeat LSU playing without the Heisman winner. Next year's trip to Madison in November will likely be a tough game. SP+ has ranked the 15 most difficult schedules in 2024. 7 B1G teams are on the list: No. 2 USC/ No. 3 NW/ No. 5. Purdue ( OREGON trips to Purdue in 2024); No. 8.UW; No. 12 UCLA (at UCLA will be Oregon's first game against a B1G opponent); No. 13 OREGON; and No. Michigan State. Sparty will be visiting Eugene next year. No Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State on the list. DeBore did get a quality QB transfer out of the portal. Will (I Never Met A Football I Didn't Like) Rogers who was prolific playing for The Pirate at Miss State will attempt to replace Heisman Winner (Ooops!) Penix and I expect will play well in DeBoer's system. 2-loss Oregon, Missouri, Penn State would have been in a 12 team field this season. With 2-loss Ole Miss and Oklahoma on the cusp. I expect that will see at least two 2-loss teams in the PO in 2024. Danno is 2-0 in his bowl games with a close win vs. UNC and QB Drake Maye and yesterday's roasting of the Flames. I believe Oregon will be competitive in the B1G from the get-go and will go at least 2-1 vs. Michigan, Ohio State and UW. It's going to be B1G Fun.

Mike, great take. UW played a more difficult schedule than Michigan. Michigan's B1G wins, and yes there were opt outs, came against bowl favorites and bowl losers, Ohio State and Penn State. UW's best wins. Twice, sigh, over Oregon bowl winner Oregon and a win onthe road vs. No. 14 Arizona that defeated No. 12 Oklahoma and a road win at a NR SC that just pasted the No. 15 team in the land. The Pac-12 conference in 2023 than was deeper than the ACC, B1G, B12 and even the SEC. I thought this would play out last night. And I think it will play out in Houston.

OK. 14-0. Run your conference slate and go 13-0. The 1st team to do so since CU and Utah signed on. 4500+ passing yards. 430 pass yards last night against the number 3 team in the nation playing a Southern team in Dixie. 7 wins over bowl teams and 2 wins over what will be AP top 10 Oregon, top 15 Arizona on the road, and in addition, wins over bowl teams Cal, USC, Oregon State, and Utah. I think USC may finish in the AP top 25. It will be a joke if SC is ranked behind Louisville. The best player in CFB came through last night.

I humbly disagree. I don't think that Michigan has the fire power to hang with UW's O and I very much doubt that the UW OL will give up 6 sacks like the Bama OL did yesterday, that the UW center will play bocce ball with his snaps, or that Penix will fumble or otherwise turn the ball over 4 times. The Rose Bowl was an exciting game but it was a error-filled with both teams stumbling and bumbling.

Thank you, Doctor. Michigan opens -4.5 vs. UW. Some of the margin can likely be attributed to UW's Dillon, the leading rusher in CFB from November 1st on, going down late. One of the most untimely injuries in CFB history that along with an interfering with the TX punt returner correct call, gave the Horns the chance to pull out the victory. I'm betting on Penix. 14-0, The last 5 wins have come in one possession games. The 3 top teams I watched yesterday were UW, Texas and Oregon. I think all 3 with all hands on deck, Troy Franklin among Ducks opt outs plays as does the Rimington Award winner, and I think all 3 would have defeated Michigan or Bama. I am so happy that both Bama and Texas went down to shut up the ESPN SEC hype machine. How disengenous to say that FSU could have been in a playoff if the ACC, B1G and Pac-12 had not delayed the 12 team field with no mention of SEC Commish Greg Sankey working to take OK and TX out of the B12, while working with B12 Commish Bowlsby, in structuring a new PO format. The B1G goes first with SC and UCLA and the SEC would have been fine with this? Right? And I am so sick of Herbie et al telling us about all of the great SEC games we will be blessed to witness on ABC and ESPN come 2024. Hey, Herbie, how about these games: Texas at Michigan; Oregon at Michigan; USC at Michigan; Michigan at UW; Ohio State at Oregon; UW at Oregon; Oregon at Wisconsin; Penn State at USC, and 2023's most watched regular season game will again be played when Michigan visits your alma mammy. After watching the Sugar Bowl I came up with a great idea! Maybe, CFB should wait to hand the CFB MVP Award until after the biggest games of the season are played? The ESPN/SEC hype machine went to work and a guy who finished 2-3 vs, teams with winning records won the Heisman over a guy who just threw for 430 yards, 4500+ for the season, went 14-0 to date, and defeated 7 bowl eligible teams including Oregon twice. And in the process, played 9 and not 8 conference games. If Penix had played in the SEC do you think he might have won the Heisman? Michigan's D is absolutely legit. But Michigan did all it could yesterday to choke with a missed FG, 2 fumbled punts, and an O that disappeared in the 2nd half before a great late drive to tie the game. Michigan with 6 sacks and 4 Bama QB Milroe fumbles almost found a way to lose the game. I like the Dawgs, Penix, the UW OL, and a D that comes through when it has to, to win back-to-back games in Dixie and take home the final Final 4 title. But no matter which team wins, it will be a B1G win. Cue Paul Finebaum? If Paul doesn't opt out he's on at 3 PM Eastern today to tell us Michigan should have been disqualified from the post-season and why Harbaugh should be in CFB jail. Hey, Paul, what's the old SEC rubric: If You Ain't Cheatin' You Ain't Tryin'. Of course there is the 2024 season to be played but UW at Oregon in the final regular season game in 2024 could be right up there with Michigan at Ohio State. GO! (GULP!) Dawgs!

Fiesta Bowl: Liberty's Jamey Chadwell Assesses Oregon Defensive Performance WWW.YARDBARKER.COM Liberty's offense ran through every defense they faced in 2023. Once the calendar flipped to 2024, however, they ran into a challenge they couldn't overcome: the #8 Oregon Ducks.

Not sure about that but I am sure that Penix, who if he played in Dixie would have won the Heisman, threw for 430 yards against the Horns and did not come close to this number vs. Oregon. As good friend Mike West pointed out after the game in Seattle, an Oregon D back perfectly positioned intercepts or at least knocks down the pass after Oregon was, again, stymied on 4th down, Ducks win. Oregon pasted a 13-0 team today. Oregon trucked a whole lot of once ranked teams before basically no-showing for the champ game, at least early on, in Las Vegas. It's too bad because this was a champ quality team. But I am fired up for next season. With Ohio State and Michigan on the schedule and perhaps, gulp, Natty Champ UW, how after extinduising the Flames, can you not be fired up.

YES! YES! YES! ESPN, go to your room!

WOW! 2 B1G Boys headed to Houston (?) to play for a title. 4th and 2 and Jimmy goes for it skidoo! And a Wolverines star, Blake Corum seals the deal with a great run in OT. And picking up on the Poncho no snap muffs posts, the last snap as were a number of others to Bama QB Milroe never allowed for an RPO to be other than an R. And how about them SACKS! Oregon lost twice by 6 points to a team that I believe will win the title. Oregon made mincemeat of the team it was relagated to play. Never complained about the matchup, simply took care of business. Hats off to Bo, the players, Danno and staff. The Ducks new B1G buddies best watch out. Oregon comes into the B1G off of a terrific season and with the conference's best QB, whether or not McCarthy returns for Michigan. And with Danno beefing up the DL with athletes. and not some of the blubber guys Sark fielded tonight: well, 😍! And the B1G finishes 8-5 in bowl season. 3-0 in NY 6 Bowls. 2-0 vs. the SEC in the semis. So, the B1G will finish post champ game 9-6 with bragging rights and lots of Foxie, and not EsecPN headed into 2024.

I like it! Pefection or nada. Bo by a scintilla beats out Bama's Mac Jones for the career percentage record. Looking at the NY6 bowl games, I have not watched a better QB than Bo, Miroe? McCarthy? Welcome to Bo's jock. And the Heisman winner went 2-3 against teams with winning records. Come On UW. I want an ALL-B1G champ game.

OK, Hoosiers reduced to Hosers. Flames, EXTINGUISHED!

Oh No! I should not have watched Hoosiers last night! And David took a rock ...

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. - Mike Tyson. Come out fired up and punch the Flames in the mouth. Thanks for thoughts, Charles. Go Ducks! Extinguish the Flames!