Jon Joseph

Bama's loss is 'That School Up North,' Ohio State's gain. The Buckeyes' wallet is wide open. 2 5*'s from Bama to the Buckeyes in the last week. Wow! Ohio State has now moved to having the 2nd best odds to win the 2024/25 title, just behind Georgia. And notwithstanding the game in Autzen, Ohio State has a far easier schedule in 2024 than the Dawgs.

In fairness, new NCAA president Charlie Baker 'gets it.' He has already called for a separate division for big-time CFB with said division regulating itself. Add Notre Dame and one other program (UNC, Kansas?) to the B1G. Add Clemson, FSU, and 2 others to the SEC. Other than for antitrust reasons, why invite any other team to a playoff beyond the 40 B1G and SEC teams? What team is going to win it all outside of a 40-team Power 2? Cal? Utah? OK State? Wake Forest? And why split the money with bowls and perhaps even the media? Combine the Big 10 and SEC networks and stream the playoff games. Play all PO games on campus except for the CFB Super Bowl. It's headed in this direction. Probably sooner rather than later.

Spot On! How great was it that DL got a big-time cameo appearance at the national title game? Hopefully, he'll soon be one of the coaches on the sideline. 1/20/25 in Atlanta?

Thanks, David. Another insightful take. Case in point: Justin Sayin, 2024 No. 1 QB recruit from Carlsbad, CA. signed with Bama to play for Saban. He will now be playing at what is becoming for Alabama, 'That School Up North,' Ohio State. Two 5* recruits from Bama headed Day's way in the last week. Including the 2023 SEC Newcomer and Bama's leading tackler last season, safety Caleb Downs. Chip Kelly? Over the same period in Westwood, Jim Mora had a better record than Kelly and was a far better recruiter. Dan Gurrero who was a terrible AD, helped lead UCLA's athletic department into 'bankruptcy.' Kelly stayed with the same average DC for years before Lynn showed up this season and Lynn is now off to USC. I cannot believe another billionaire NFL owner is ready to pay Chip millions of dollars more to coach a team in the NFL. Maybe Jody Allen is this out of it? When it comes to recruiting, Chip is simply lazy. DeBoer, IMO, would be a better fit in the NFL than Kelly. It's a place where he could coach up guys 'recruited' by a GM like the 49ers's John Lynch. All the pieces serendipitously fell together for DeBoer at UW over the last 2 seasons. He beat Texas twice. My guess is that he'll have a hard time beating Texas in the SEC because he will not have the same Jim's and Joe's on the field as did Saint Nick. His recruiting will not come close to Sark's. DeBoer has never signed a recruit ranked in the overall 200 recruit rankings. Even with NIL, recruiting from high school and the portal is based on relationships. And, does the track record show that you can get me into the NFL? As more Ducks players matriculate to the NFL, I think Dan and his crew's recruiting will only improve to where Oregon is a steady top 5 recruiting machine. Go Ducks! Vandalize the Vandels! (And beat Ohio State, Michigan, and UW!)

Oh, Oh! Ohio State picking apart Alabama's carcass following Nick Saban's retirement WWW.YARDBARKER.COM No program has benefited from Nick Saban's retirement more than Ohio State.

Drake, roll this season back with a 12-team playoff. If Oregon had played in the champ game it would have been Oregon's 17th game of the season. So spot on! To win it all you will not only have to be good, and lucky but also deep.

Agreed! No 1st round bye. Spot reserved for G5 if not in the top 16. Other than that, playoff teams seeded as teams are ranked by the Committee, 1 vs. 16, etc. I'd like to see the 1st 2 rounds on campus and SoFi, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, and Detroit added to the existing bowls in a rota that does not favor teams located in the south. With the money to be made when ESPN's exclusive goes away after 2025/26, I think expansion to 16 is inevitable.

Until the next media round, if then, Conference Champ Games are not going away. These games are built into broadcast packages. All media packages end in 2030 or 2031 except for the ACC which is locked in with ESPN and CW through 2036. Although, FSU and its lawyers may have something to say about this. The Power 4 conferences all play without divisions beginning in 2024 when the B1G and the SEC drop divisions. Especially in the SEC with 8 conference games, a champ game will often be needed to settle tie-breakers and to see which team, at least in 2024/25 and 2025/26, wins the title and scores the 1st round bye.

Per SP+, Florida has the most difficult SOS in the nation in 2024. USC is No. 2, Oregon, No. 13. QB Mertz did have a good year at UF and he is back.

A football legend at U of A would not take much. Arizona is, other than when AZ played at UCLA, the only Pac team never to play in the Rose Bowl. Had Fisch not left, AZ would have been in contention for the B12 title. Now? AZ trips to Utah in 2024. Utah on paper has one difficult road game, at OK St. Keep Rising upright and I think Utah is the B12 leader in the clubhouse. Fans showed up for the football games this season but more often than not AZ does not sell out a small stadium.

Buckeyes trip to Autzen on 10/12/24. No game is scheduled vs the Buckeyes in 2025. But in 2024, it is conceivable the two Os could play 3 times. But this will most likely not happen if Oregon or Ohio State wins the B1G title and has the 1st round bye. I think we see a 16-team PO in 2026 with all teams starting play on Week 0. The 2024 season's PO concludes a year from today, 1/20/25. I do not think that a 24-team PO is manageable. 24 teams would be interfering more with NFL playoffs than will happen in 2024. Champ games are part of the media package and I don't think they will go away.

Buckeyes sign transfer safety Caleb Downs. SEC Frosh of the Year in 2023. My goodness!

The Bill O'Brien hire article that has been posted, thank you, is another example of how all-in Ohio State is this season. Like Michigan was goosed by a PO loss to underdog TCU, Ohio State is similarly incented times the 3 losses in a row to Michigan. For Day to give up playcalling, if this is the case on game day is surprising. Behind Stroud, Day lit up the B1G sans Michigan, and the UGA D in a great 2022/23 PO game. In 2023 McCord was not Stroud and the tOSU OL continued to dip in production. The tOSU D was terrific in 2023 and should be so in 2024. And you don't pick up a Bill O'Brien off the street for nickles and dimes.

Facts are troublesome things. John Adams

For an old guy who used to get sports through the newspaper and SI, this is sad. Good thing I saved all of the Swimsuit issues.😍

Bama 'commit' 5* Julian Sayin from Carlsbad, CA has entered the portal. Good luck Kalen. He is considered to be an Ohio State lean.

5* Bama QB Justin Sayin, who committed to Bama, has entered the portal and is an Ohio State lean. He joins many Bama players in the portal. 5* S, Downs, who as a true frosh led Bama in tackles and was All-SEC, is also on Ohio State's radar along with home state Georgia. Ohio State is on a 2024 full-court press. Sayin is from Carlsbad, CA and you can bet that Lincoln Riley at SC will make a strong play for Sayin.

5* QB and Bama commit Justin Sayin, has entered the portal with an Ohio State prediction. If this happens Sayin, along with 5* QB Air Noland would be the 2nd 5* to sign with the Buckeyes. Something's got to give, right? Sayin is from Carlsbad, CA. and will be on Lincoln Riley's radar.

I like the game host prediction instead of having to travel for a 1st round game on 12/21/24 or so, but how about winning the conference and securing a bye? Having to play one less game to get to Atlanta for the champ game will, I think be a big deal. I think it's odds on that one of the B1G or SEC champs that get the 1st round bye will be in the champ pole position. I think but I am not certain, that come the second round the top-seeded and perhaps 2 top-seeded teams with a bye will get their choice of the bowl site. I have yet to see an article that details how the bowl selection process under the new PO will work. The Rose Bowl is a 2nd round PO site, after teams 5-8 host a 1st round game. After the 2nd round, all bowl sites in 2024/25 will be in Dixie with Atlanta hosting the Peach Bowl and champ game. UGA anyone? Thanks for the post. Where the Ducks will end up as shown on Ducks Wire, 247 Sports, will be but one of thousands (probably tens of thousands) of posts forecasting the Delighted Dozen PO field. USF? Lot's of competition for the G5 spot including Boise, the 2nd game on the Ducks 2024 schedule, Memphis, which defeated Iowa State in its bowl game, Liberty, QB Salter removed his name from the portal and will be back at Liberty, Air Force Academy, other AAC and Mountain West contenders. APP State, Troy, and JMU from the Sunbelt should also be in the mix. Why the Sugar Bowl to play FSU? FSU (I look for Clemson to be here and not FSU) and the ACC were never contracted with the Sugar Bowl during the BCS/ 4-team PO era. If UGA finishes 1 it will opt, if given the choice for the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. If Ohio State in this example has the 2nd seed, I think tOSU opts to play in the Rose Bowl. If it does finish with the No. 3 seed and is given the choice, FSU would choose the Sugar Bowl over the Fiesta Bowl. The semi-final sites are the Cotton and Orange Bowls. Champ game will be played in Atlanta in Mercedes Benz Stadium.

The Bill O'Brien hire article that has been posted, thank you, is another example of how all-in Ohio State is this season. Like Michigan was goosed by a PO loss to underdog TCU, Ohio State is similarly incented times the 3 losses in a row to Michigan. For Day to give up playcalling, if this is the case on game day is surprising. Behind Stroud, Day lit up the B1G sans Michigan, and the UGA D in a great 2022/23 PO game. In 2023 McCord was not Stroud and the tOSU OL continued to dip in production. The tOSU D was terrific in 2023 and should be so in 2024. And you don't pick up a Bill O'Brien off the street for nickles and dimes.

https://collegefootballnews.com/ohio-state/2024-ohio-state-football-schedule-3-things-to-know

https://collegefootballnews.com/oregon/2024-oregon-football-schedule-3-things-to-know

30 day window for Bama, UW, AZ, and SJS. AZ players are leaving like Tucson is on fire. Lots of good Bama players out the door. And the last UW 2023 starter out the door please turn out the lights. The powers that be have to get portal dates figured out. In 2024 the portal opens before the first playoff games on 12/21/24 and the playoff does not conclude until 1/20/25, 5 days before the traditional date when underclassmen have to declare for the draft. And in the middle of 'all this' the first signing day appears. Managing an NFL schedule today compared to a CFB schedule is a piece of cake.

As the wags in the midwest are calling it, the B1G conference handed Ohio State an OPPS, Ohio State Playoff Protected Schedule. Of the on-paper contenders, Ohio State has the least rocky row to hoe in conference and its OOC schedule in 2024 looks like Michigan and UCLA the last 2 seasons. This year, Michigan plays SEC Texas OOC, in Ann Arbor. UCLA plays at LSU during the Ducks 1st Off Week and the week before Oregon opens the B1G schedule with a trip to LA to play the Bruins. This should help the Ducks' cause. UW's toughest OOC opponent, like Oregon's, comes against a Pac-2 opponent. Wazzu at Lumen Field in Seattle. USC not only plays LSU in Las Vegas OOC but also plays Notre Dame in LA in the final regular season game. With the expansion to a 12-team playoff, until the playoff committee shows that strength of schedule matters instead of just Ws and Ls, I see no reason to step up the OOC schedule. Heroes often win their medals posthumously. Thanks to all of my editors for the great work! I need all the help I can get.

Was it over when Rutgers bombed Coral Gables?