Jon Joseph

Grandpa, I enjoyed this and your other articles, and I admire your quest for 'Fairness in Scheduling.' The NFL does everything it can to ensure that one team does not have more Jimmy's and Joe's than another NFL team. But there is no accounting for Joe Montana and Tom Brady. If CFB were a collective of 138 teams, or, more likely, 68 Power 4 teams, would conference schedules be 'in synch' if there was a high school draft with draft choices based on the reverse order of the prior season's results, restrictions on transfers, a salary cap on direct payment, but not on a player's unrestricted NIL deals, penalties for improper contact with players and coaches, and a conference schedule that gave the prior season successful teams the most difficult schedules and the worst teams the easiest schedules? Doing all it can, the NFL cannot come up with 'equitable scheduling?' Oregon State's rules of the CFB road are no different than Oregon's rules of the road. The rules were the same for Bear Bryant's and Nick Saban's Alabama teams as for the other members of the SEC. Oregon men John McKay and John Robinson had success at USC. Clay Helton had the same resources and ... Perhaps, in a perfectly balanced CFB world, 34 of 68 teams could finish 6-6. But you and I know that this isn't happening on this plane of existence. When the Big Ten had 14 teams with two divisions, the East Division dominated. Regardless of travel and traditional issues, swap Ohio State and Penn State with Minnesota and Iowa, and there would have been a material difference? Most likely, Ohio State and, on occasion, Penn State, would have played East champ Michigan for the conference title season after season. Again, I very much enjoyed the article and the discussion it engendered, but at least from my experience, you can legislate, in part, moves toward societal equality, but equality in sports? The wheel turns. Not so long ago, Drew Brees and Bob Griese led Purdue to B1G titles. We just witnessed Purdue's rival, Indiana, make the greatest Phoenix-like flight in the history of the sport. IMO, there is no way you can make any conference in football or any sport at whatever level, grade school through the NFL, equal. Because humans in every respect are not equal. And this is why Indiana's champ game meant, sorry SEC, so much more. Add ASU and Arizona, CU and Utah, or Notre Dame and ? to the B1G, and have 10 teams in a West and East conference? Such a great article and fun to discuss. However, the cream, or more in synch with today's game, the dough, will rise.

A bit more on the game and the final score, starting with USA coach, John Wrobleski - JW played his college hockey in the Big Ten, skating for the Notre Dame Irish. In the Gold Medal game with the USA down 1-0, Wrobleski had the gumption to pull his goalie and send 6 attackers on the ice with more than two minutes left. The equivalent of a Hail Mary attempt in football before the final play of the game. USA team captain Hilary Knight, who played college hockey for Wisconsin and was in her fifth and final Olympics, scored the game-tying goal with a little over one minute remaining in regulation. With netting her 15th goal to tie the game, Hilary Knight finished her Olympic hockey career with the most Olympic goals scored for the USA. Laili Edwards, 14 years younger than Hilary, is also a Badger and the first Black woman to play on the Women's Olympic team. Growing up in Cleveland, Hilary was Laila's hero. Megan Keller, who grew up in Big Ten country in Detroit and played her college hockey at Boston College, scored the winner in OT. Hats off to Canada, defeated earlier in the qualifying rounds by the USA 5-0, for giving us a Gold Medal game that harkens back to Mike Eruzione and the 1980 Miracle on Ice game. https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/inside-john-wroblewskis-hockey-career-163546685.html Sunday, 8 AM Eastern, 5 AM Pacific, NBC, the USA men's hockey team plays Canada for the Gold Medal. Six B1G boys play for the men's team.

By Gosh! Here's an update on Tosh. His recruiting efforts did not Sag. Instead of saying, 'Aloha, Bears, ' Sag stayed in Berkeley. On3'Where's Jaron?' Inside Cal coach Tosh Lupoi's wild first...New Cal coach Tosh Lupoi had a wild first day that included an impromptu flight to Hawaii to lock down QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele.

If you're Smart, you should answer the phone. 🤪 On3Fernando Mendoza reveals what stopped him from choosing G....

Is help coming in Dana's direction? Oregon Ducks On SITwo Recruiting Targets That Could Change Everything for O...The Oregon Ducks basketball program is in a position to add to an already solid group of 2026 basketball recruits, who are now committed and have also signed a

A couple of B1G notes - OBD is one of 10 CFB teams that did not lose a 2025 starter to the portal - OBD, Arizona, Army, BYU, Miami, Notre Dame, SMU, Temple, and VA Tech. Curt Cignetti scores again! Cig's contract has automatic escalation clauses based on what the highest-paid CFB coaches are making. His adjusted payment of $13.2 million per annum will make Cignetti the highest-paid coach in CFB. CBB - Two of tomorrow's games could be a preview of the 2026 Final 4. No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 3 Duke in DC - 6:30/3:30 ESPN No. 2 Houston vs. No. 4 Arizona - 3/ Noon ABC I think Cig won the bet he placed on himself, right? 🤑

Thanks, Mike. It's always great to 'hear' from you, terrific articles and comments-wise. OBD is 2-for-2 in qualifying for the 12-team playoff. In 2024-25, OBD went 1-1 versus the team south of Michigan. Because of the screwed-up seeding format, OBD played Ohio State in the 2nd round instead of the winner of the Boise State at Indiana 1st round game. Against one of these two teams, Oregon shakes off the rust and wins the Rose Bowl. My guess is that no other No. 1 seed in the postseason history of college sports playoffs, team and individual, has ever been hosed over as badly as was No. 1 seed Oregon. The other seeding bad juju also involved the Rose Bowl. Joey Harrington and OBD, and not Nebraska, should have played Miami for the BCS title. However, was there a Rose Bowl opponent that could have defeated that Hurricanes team that embarrassed Nebraska 37-14? How about NO! There's bad luck, and then there's being screwed over so badly by the system in place that the rules are changed the following season. 🤬 Last season, a group of wounded Ducks lost its second game in a two-loss season to the champion Indiana team playing with the Heisman Trophy winner at QB. Had the 2nd loss been played in Bloomington, Indiana, instead of in Atlanta, 30,000 to 40,000 fewer Hoosiers fans would have been in attendance. This was the second occasion in 2025-26 that the Ducks had to travel thousands of miles more than their opponent. Under the current playoff format, Oregon is odds-on to be the 'victim' of geography. Call this 'bad luck' if you so choose, but you cannot Duck geography. Urban Meyer's Ohio State team that defeated OBD was loaded with future NFL players. Same for Ryan Day's championship Ohio State team. Both teams had and benefited from a roster advantage. Indiana? Even playing at home, Miami could not overcome the fickle finger of football fate that came up pointing at the biggest rebound in the history of college football; a history that goes back to 1895 when Yale went 16-0. So yes, to win it all, you have to be lucky as well as good. The Auburn and $cam loss was a referee's hose job at the hands of Big Ten refs who didn't have the foresight to see they were favoring the SEC over a one-day B1G brother. 😧 But the two champ game losses to Ohio State and the home and Peach Bowl loss to Indiana? The Buckeyes and the Hossiers had the better team, the better-coached, and better-prepared teams. Teams that also, for the most part, avoided the injury bug. Season five for Danno. It took Kirby Smart six seasons to win it all and six seasons for Ryan to win the Day. Let's hope that for OBD, timing will soon meet opportunity. This season is the only time under the current broadcast agreement that the playoff champ game will be played in the Pacific time zone. See you in Las Vegas? Can't win it all if you ain't playing for it all. No thrill of victory 😍 without the possible agony of defeat. 🥶 Thanks again, Mike!

USA gals are Golden. 😍 In a game that went into Overtime, USA 2 - Canada 1.

Amen, but CFB sold the right to make playoff and bowl decisions to Disney/ESPN.

Thanks, Gat. Petitti's PO format proposal no longer includes automatic qualifiers. The season would begin in Week Zero. There would be no conference champ games played. Petitti proposes a 16-team field in 2027-28 and 2028-29, with the field going to 24 teams in 2029-30, which just happens to be 😁 the first year of the Big Ten's new media deal. The B1G's current media deal will be the first P4 conference deal to expire and be renegotiated. The B12 deal runs through 2030-31. The SEC's deal runs through 2033-34. The ACC's deal runs through 2036. Petitti has the B1G perfectly positioned. (Not to be confused with Larry Scott having the Pac-12 perfectly positioned. 🤬) While it hasn't to date been given the antitrust green light, streaming service Venu, owned 50/50 by Fox and Disney/ESPN, signals an intent of the two to cooperate on the media front. Fox owns 60% of the Big Ten Network, so it will be the B1G's 'go-to' network. I'm hoping that, come 2030, ESPN will become a Big Ten broadcast partner. No entity supports CFB more than ESPN, and I think ESPN being a B1G and SEC broadcast partner will lead to agreement on an expanded playoff format. I like 24-teams, no AQs, top 8 ranked teams with a short 1st round bye, and at least the 1st and 2nd rounds played on campus, as part of Petitti's format. And the PO starts and finishes two weeks earlier than today. If the NCAA managed the FBS CFB playoff, we'd already be at 24 teams. CFB Needs the Dues! The money that will rain down from a 24-team field with the PO to start and finish two weeks sooner than today. 🤑

Here's hoping that Hilary will have a good Knight! AP NewsHilary Knight gets her dream matchup as US faces Canada f...Hilary Knight got her wish. The United States women's hockey captain and her teammates will be going for gold against archrival Canada on Thursday.

Thanks again for the great article to ponder. I don't believe in a conference with 16 or more teams that in-conference scheduling can be 'fair.' In 2023, I don't believe any human or any computer programmed to make in-conference scheduling equal could have predicted that the college football program with the most losses in the history of the sport would qualify for the playoff in 2024 and win the whole darn thing in 2025. The NFL does all it can to achieve parity among the 32 teams. Besides Bo being injured and a new head coach with a clue, the Pats were in the Super Bowl because New England stunk the prior four seasons, and accordingly, played the easiest NFL schedule in 2025. It just so happens that Ohio State plays the most difficult conference schedule in 2026, plus a game at Texas. But do you want your top brands and the two teams that played for a conference championship the year before to have the most difficult schedules the next season? Such scheduling would be putting multi-million dollar bullets in your gun and shooting your conference in the foot. There is a solution, and it's a solution that reflects the state of today's game, including the teams that have qualified for a 12-team playoff the last two years. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti's 16-team, 4-4-2-2-1-3 automatic qualifier format in 2025-26 would have had one fewer G5 team, but one more B1G, SEC, ACC, B12 team, and Notre Dame would also have been in the field. Playoff play-in games would help with scheduling symmetry. Wisconsin had a brutal schedule last season. A sixth-place Badgers team may well have been better than a third-place team that had a lightweight schedule; settle it on the field. 1st and 2nd place are in the playoff field, 3rd and fourth place teams are rewarded with flex scheduled home game in the final week of the regular season. The 5th and 6th-place teams have a shot at the playoffs, and more fans would be involved and invested in the entire season. The price of attendance for Oregon home games next season, and for home games coast-to-coast increase significantly in 2026. Flex-scheduled playoff play-in games would bring in more media dollars. And with an AQ playoff format, a B1G/SEC out-of-conference football challenge could be played every season for bigger B1G/$EC media money. Much of the PO Committee's subjectivity would be eliminated. More money for the ACC and the B12 helps stave off further consolidation and keeps millions of ACC and B12 football fans invested in the great game of college football. No need to further shuffle the CFB conference deck. Your Honor (if you are still awake), I rest my case.😁 [Oops - If and as I expect will happen in 2030, B1G teams keep the playoff money they earn, and media revenue is based at least in part on the number of folks watching the games, adding Cal and Stanford, with a floor for annual investment in athletics for all conference teams, might make sense.]

Love this article and thanks for the velvet hammer. My great reply did not get a pass from you, Professor. I get it; been there and velvet-hammered before. For the most part, all hammering was well deserved. Chancing a deserved critique, might I suggest the following B1G add-ons, with the understanding that the next media deal will see B1G teams keeping the majority of money they earn in the postseason, and media revenue will be shared by eyes on the prize; how many people are watching you play ball. Cal, Stanford, CU, Utah, UNC, and Duke. (Notre Dame, if amenable, would take the place of one of these six teams. If ND agreed to go B1G, perhaps add UVA with ND.) Three eight-team divisions. Twenty-four-team playoff. Flex schedule the last two weeks of the regular season for playoff play-in games. Seven division games. Four cross-over games. One OOC game. PS - Two trips to the Eastern time zone in November of 2026 is cruel and unusual, but usual for OBD.

Thanks, Charles. So many terrific movies - The Apostle was one of his best.

USA Women vs. Canada Gold Medal Game - Thursday, February 22nd USA Network 3 EST/ Noon Pacific The USA Women's Team features Captain Hillary Knight, Minnesota, competing in her 5th Olympiad. Hillary is the Women's Hockey trailblazer. Her play for the Golden Gophers helped put Women's ice hockey on the college sports map. Twelve more B1G players will be on the ice for the Gold Medal game: Minnesota - Lee Stricklin, Kelly Pannek, Grace Zumwinkle, Taylor Heise, and Abbey Murphy. Wisconsin - Caroline Harvey, Kirsten Sims, Laila Edwards, and Ava McNaughten Ohio State - Hannah Bilka, Joy Dunne Penn State - Tessa Janecke Disclosure - I have an additional reason to cheer on the USA. For the 8th time, Ms. AJ Mleczko will be the color commentator for NBC's broadcast of the Olympic Gold Medal game. AJ was an All-American player at Harvard and played on a USA Olympic Gold Medal team. AJ's Dad, Tom Mleczko, a/k/a 'Eye Chart', was my college roommate. --- Men's hockey semifinal games on Friday: USA vs. Slovakia/ Canada vs. Finland. So, Hosers, it's odds on for another Gold Medal game matchup between the Canucks and the Yanks on NBC - Sunday, 2/22, 8 AM EST/ 5 AM Pacific - 😧 Men's Hockey team - Michigan - Kevin Connor, Quinn Hughes, Dylan Larkin, and Zack Werenski Minnesota - Brock Faber - This guy definitely should have played for Faber College, where Knowledge is Good 😁 ... Roundball Heads Up - ESPN Saturday 6:30 PM EST/ 3:30 Pacific In a possible champ game preview, No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 3 Duke

New Seeding Format for College Baseball 2026 NCAA Championship - Play Ball! On3NCAA Baseball Tournament: New seeding format will alter F....

2026 - Joel Klatt Loves LA? SC could be scary on O. UCLA, or Under Chesney, LA should improve. https://www.foxsports.com/stories/college-football/college-football-stock-watch-why-usc-heading-right-direction-alabama-isnt

I guess UW was boat raced?😁

Top portal player for every ESPN preseason top 25 team. DT Gray at Notre Dame and RB Limar at UW make the list. It's black and white, not Gray, to me; I want Gray back! Safety Perich is OBD's top guy. ESPN.comBest college football transfer portal addition for top 25...A look at the incoming transfers who will have the biggest impact on the best teams in 2026.

Thanks, David. A lot of talent on the 2026 roster. I'd add the already-impactful DL players A'Mauri Washington and Bear Alexander. When, if ever, has OBD had two potential All-Americans on the interior of the D-line?

10 Explosive Os in 2026, including OBD at No. 5. Week 2 opponent, Oklahoma State, comes in at 10. Hmmmmmmm? All that love for the Golden Archie and Texas again?🤔 Just Sayin. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-footballs-offenses-2026-texas-miami-portal-hauls/

ESPN's Bill Connolly is the creator of the SP+ college football rankings and one of today's top college football (CFB) journalists. Bill's article on the state of college football is an excellent look at how CFB morphed into what it is today: chaotic but more popular than ever. Connolly also suggests how to fix what ails CFB today. With many conflicting agendas, a fix will not be quick or easy. Bill advises that CFB should be wary of further CFB consolidation. If a CFB Super League had come to fruition in 2023, forget Indiana, Fernando, and a smoking hot Cig. ESPN.comFor college football's future, be careful to understand h...The sport's manifest destiny opened doors for Indiana and others. Consolidating power and access could eliminate the thrill of that growth.

Bama Hammer is not hammering the One Score plus 4 - Bama HammerFor SEC football fans, hating the B1G's 24-team Playoff p...For some SEC football fans, making college football a tournament sport has always felt wrong. The risk is devaluing the regular-season games significantly. To a

Break out the brooms; it's a sweet SWEEP! https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/baseball/2026/02/15/oregon-baseball-opens-2026-series-sweep-over-george-mason/88695305007/?utm_source=smg-duckswire-strada&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SMGba

The NFL has a Playoff. CFB has a too-long bowl extravaganza. CFB powers-that-be are doing everything they can to mess the postseason up. Folks still tune in, but for how long? https://trojanswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/trojans/football/2026/02/16/idea-fix-problems-college-football-playoff/88623896007/?utm_source=smg-trojanswire-strada&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SMGbaseline&utm_term