Jon Joseph

Franklin has opted-out.

Thank you, David. This game is, by far, the biggest game in Liberty's history. CUSA is not just G5, it is on the lowest rung of the G5. Below even the MAC. AAC champ 10-2 SMU played a far harder schedule than Liberty and its fans were not happy that 13-0 Liberty was ranked No. 23 and ahead of The Ponies. SMU fans on the way to the ACC would have brought more fans from Dallas to Glendale than will be coming from Lynchburg, VA. The Fiesta got the G5 end of the stick in the last season of the 4-Team Invitational. I find it interesting that the PO CT used SOS to justify leaving 13-0 FSU out of the field and paid zero attention to SOS when it came time to determine the NY6 G5 representative. The Fiesta Bowl will host a 2nd round PO game in 2024 which game will be sold out and which will be a game of interest. The bowl opt-outs for Liberty are for the most part on the D-side of the ball where Liberty was average in 2023. Both starting safeties are in the portal with one transferring to CU and the other to San Jose State. On O, all hands appear to be on deck for HC Jamey Chadwell who has put up a perfect season after coming to Liberty from Coastal Carolina. Chadwell has a terrific dual-threat QB in Kadon Slaughter who transferred to Liberty after being dismissed from Tennessee following a second arrest. In 2023, the QB from Cedar Hill, TX, threw for 2750 yds, 31 TDs, 5 Ints, QBR of 85.8. Slaughter ran 153 times for 1064 yards, a 7-yard average per carry, and 12 TDs. He is no joke. Slaughter has help from RB Quinton Cooley. In 2022 in his 3rd season at Wake Forest, Cooley put up 246 yards. In 2023 after transferring in, Cooley put up 1322 rush yards on 213 attempts (6.2 average) and 16 TDs at Liberty. In the CUSA title game vs. New Mexico State, Liberty won 49-35, Slater went 20-25 319 yards. NMSU shortly before the champ game. defeated Auburn in Alabama but the same NMSU team was blown out by Fresno State in its 2023 bowl game. Chadwell's offense is referred to as the 'Pseudo Option.' A triple option with a verticle passing game and I think Liberty will score on a Ducks' D missing several 2023 starters. The Liberty O in 2023 led the nation in rushing. Slater and Coolley were first-team CUSA and Chadwell was CUSA's co-COY. Will the Liberty D be able to shut down the Bo O? Bucky Irving is suiting up. Troy Franklin is not suiting up. I think we'll see lots of fireworks on O with the most fired-up Flames having a puncher's chance to overcome the +17 spread, Go Ducks! Extinguish the Flames!

How about Seven, 7!, HS recruits signed in the 2024 class Neon? You don't need receipts for the IRS when you recruit like this. Buff, do we have anything revenue-wise to write off? CU later and have fun in the P4-2 along with your Pac-2 buddies. These 2 will undoubtedly create a Power conference. Right, Canzano? There is illusion and then there is delusion. De-Nile is not a river in Africa. AFLAC!

DG won't help OREGON? Silent Night, Holy Night. Boomer, your bed is pulled down and your room is ready.

Grandpa, love you Man but I see it not as a fiasco but as a bridge to a 16-team PO that will have a true PO field. Of course, teams 17, 18, and 19 will be whining. The same thing happens with teams 69-72 in the CBB PO. Looking forward to your take my friend. 1868? Was Charles in the booth? Next to Abner Doubleday?

Sigh and why play all of these games? A 'real' PO will put the best players on the field. And an even better PO come 2026 will provide broadcast competition beyond ESPN and likely, a deserved slice of the PO pie for the players. A true PO is coming with 2024/25 being a bridge to a more inclusive and better PO.

1Ducker1, thank you for the Kudos and the comment. Bowls? I don't know. If you had 12 bowls involved in a 24-team PO that would be splitting money with the bowls. And if use the bowls, this would be penalizing teams from the West and the Midwest. 24 makes sense for FSU but this would be a lot of games before the title game for teams that have played big-boy schedules. I like 16 and I do not believe that a team with a legitimate shot to win the title would be out. And with 24 teams, a lot of lesser opponents would give the top-seeded teams close to a 1st round bye. Like, Liberty at Michigan on steroids. I would prefer that the first two rounds be played on the field of the higher-seeded teams. Reward the home fans without making them travel hither and yon for the opening and quarter-final rounds. If the weather is a concern in the Midwest, use closed stadiums, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Minneapolis for the 1st 2 rounds. Again, everything possible not to share money with the bowls. Money that one way or another will likely be shared with the players. Of course, I would have no problem with a replay of the Cowboys/Packers Ice Bowl. Get at least a few of the southern teams out of Dixie where the majority of the 2024/25 games will be played. In 2024, Oregon could qualify for a home game and a first-round bye but could also be playing an opening game down south followed by a quarter-final Peach Bowl, a semifinal game in the Cotton or Orange Bowl, and the champ game in Atlanta. Game locations have to be fairer across the board for teams and played outside of the South to have an even chance at the title. Thanks again for your thoughts and kind comments.

Great take Micro. FSU's media deal that it signed onto willingly ends in 2036. The Pac-12 deal ends in 2024. No Pac-12 team jumped ship early and no Pac-10 teams should be paying a non-existent exit fee.

Liberty vs. Oregon Prediction, Odds, Trends and Key Players for Fiesta Bowl FANSIDED.COM Oregon's pursuit of the College Football Playoff came up just short, but still qualified for a New Year's Six Bowl. The Ducks may have some opt-outs, but Bo Ni

I appreciate the sentiment but if they have been injured they have been injured by the market and their lack of market power and not by 10 partners who stuck to the partnership agreement until it concludes. Why should the Ducks and nine others pay an 'exit fee' when their grant of media rights ends? This was a cheap, disrespectful, use of a loophole to score money that these 2 did very little or nothing to earn. No way in a world of 'real business' would 10 partners who have had their pockets vacuumed by the lowest producers in the firm bend over like this. As Charles does a great job of pointing out, the graft will be 'amortized' but why not another legal filing including a federal court filing where jurisdiction would be granted as the result of plaintiffs from various states filing suit? Roll over because you 'feel sorry' for partners who were left behind as a result of their contribution to terrible conference leadership, lack of investment toward winning CBB and CFB titles, and rejection from CBS, FOX, ESPN, and NBC and a low-ball offer from a streaming company trying to get its foot in the college football sports arena on the cheap. I'm not buying the sob story. Oregon and UW are supposed to take B1G money and share it with OSU and WSU. Oregon and UW are not charitable organizations. Then, after being shaken down, you surrender a home game and give the plaintiff its top revenue game of the season? Justify this by losing a road game against a G5 opponent that never should have been scheduled to begin with. This does not happen in the real world and proves once again how woeful academicians are at running a business. As for Rob, SMH. Feel sorry? These two in the money ball sports have since the start of the BCS era done next to nothing to help the bottom line. Their facilities are sub-par. They are basically off the scope of the nation's sports radar. These two should be thanking larger market teams and teams that invested far more capital than these two in men's CBB and CFB for carrying them. Not playing the role of being left behind by 'traitors.' The marketplace left these two behind and no one else. We still have to live with Rob's illogical scheduling, give a home game vs. a P5 opponent for a road game vs. a little league team in a venue where your fans will be abused (only in the movies and in the world of college sports) but it is such a B1G deal escaping this nonsense, I'm not going to let thievery and stupidity get me down. However, on Christmas day I'm going to save my charity for those who deserve the same. Thanks for the take Charles and this too shall pass but I don't believe that Oregon won anything here.

Puddles will have a chance to do some Badger brushing next November in Madison. Thank you for all of the great posts here. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Extinguish the Flames!

Thanks Krsmqn. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to OBD brothers and sisters. Here's hoping the Ducks will help make a Merry New Year for us all. And thank you Charles for going way beyond the extra mile. Boun Natale.

Oregon Duck - He's a successful coach in the regular season. 1-1 in bowl games at Stanford. 1-6 at Michigan including 0-2 in the PO.

Nolen signed with Ole Miss.

Correction. Bama struggled but it did defeat USF by more than 1 score, 17-3. With QB Milroe on the bench.

Thanks, Ryan. Very good look ahead. To play for let alone win a CFB title requires a Blue Chip Roster, which Oregon has, great coaching, and luck. Bama is the PO 4-seed and the betting favorite among the wise guys to win it all but Bama isn't there except for a miracle walk-off TD pass against old rival Auburn. And Bama defeated USF(!) in a one-score game. Also, with the disparity in CFB scheduling, it helps to have a 'manageable' schedule. Bill Connelly's SP+ ranking of the 15 most difficult schedules in CFB in 2024, includes 7 B1G teams. Florida comes in first. 2. USC/ 3. Northwestern/ 5. Purdue/ 8. Washington/ 12. UCLA/ 13. OREGON/ 15. Michigan State. Florida will not do so but the B1G teams will play 9 conference games. Oregon does not have an easy playoff row to hoe in 2024, including a stretch of 8 games in a row until an idle week before the UW game. And playing an OOC game on the road against your arch-rival in Corvallis instead of an 8th home game does not make the job any easier. If Oregon made the PO field as an at-large team, the champ game would be the Ducks' 16th game of the 2024 season. Oregon makes it and wins the B1G champ game it would no doubt have a 1st round bye but with the champ game, Oregon would still be playing its 16th game in the PO title game. You not only have to be good, you have to be lucky, including on the injury front, and have a deep roster. And the 9 PO champs to date, have all played 8 conference games. And other than for Ohio State (SIGH) in year one, all of the winners have come from the recruiting-rich southeast part of the country. The first 4 PO games in 2024 will be played on the home field of the teams seeded 5 through 8. Road teams will be playing in tough venues and perhaps in bad weather. 2024/25 Quarterfinal Venues - 12/31/24 - Fiesta Bowl. 1/1/25 - Peach, Rose and Sugar Bowls. Semifinals - 1/9/25 - Orange Bowl. 10/10/25 - Cotton Bowl. Final - 1/20/25 - Mercedes Benz Stadium - Atlanta, GA. Most of the games will be played in Dixie. Again, where and when a team plays will matter. A quarterfinal in the Peach Bowl, a semi-final in the Orange or Cotton Bowl, and the champ game again in the 'Peach Bowl' would be very difficult for a West Coast team, even if the team plays a quarterfinal game in the Rose Bowl. None of these games are being played in enclosed midwest venues, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Minneapolis, something that will need to be addressed come 2026. With its roster and with a QB who has accounted for 125 TDs in his career to date, Oregon IMO is odds on to make the PO field in 2024. Then? Thanks again, Ryan.

GULP! No wonder Jim advocates for directly paying the players. Entertain NFL offers? What NFL team would be willing to match this offer? Huge game coming up vs. Saint Nick. Jim is PO 0-2. Nick is 16-6 including BCS games. Jim loses the corps of his 3-year B1G champ team. What will the rebuild look like? He is being out-recruited by Day and DL. At $12.5M a year, I'm reasonably certain that Jim would be making more money than the governor of Michigan and everyone on the governor's staff.

Thanks, Steven. 7 picks. Wow!

My friend Mr. FishDuck, I agree with you not being sold. Based on the man's record post-OREGON, why would anyone be sold on Chip? When he was hired at Oregon as HC he landed on an assistant coaching 3rd base and thought he hit a triple on his own. Make no mistake, in many ways, he revolutionized CFB offenses but the CFB world caught up to him. Going 8-5 in 2023 with the schedule he played was suspect, Yes, he defeated SC but was then trucked by Cal and also lost to ASU in LA. Hats off for beating Boise but he started the wrong guy at QB in the game. Garbers coming in as the replacement QB led to a win in the LA Bowl. Hats off to him for his success in Eugene and making CFB FUN, including ticking off Saint Nick, but for an NFL team to take a third dip in the Chipper pond, no comprende. The last thing our buddy Justin Herbert needs is Chip as the Chargers' new HC. I'd open the wallet for Harbaugh before hiring Chip.

And DG comes in with 125 TDs paving the way for stud QB newbies, 😍 - I've just gotta wear shades.

And Christmas came early for new B1G brother Northwestern. The Power 2, How Do You Do? B1G Winners UCLA and NW, and more to come. Cal is an ACC and not a B1G loss.

Hats Off to our new Northwestern brothers. Taking down Utah and winning by far the LOS in the process. Against a team that usually wins the LOS 8-5 in a season where NW was left for dead and a win over a team ticketed to do significant things in the B12 in 2024, Not on Oregon's 2024 schedule which is a good thing, NW is a team that lifts its weight well above recruiting rankings. Bowl guru Coach Whit is now 0-5 in his last 5 bowl games. GO B1G!

And, DL will be bakk!

Pete was .500 in New England and made an NFL PO appearance or two, including playing in Super Bowls. Chip made it to the PO before he became the Philly GM and then he completely failed with the 49ers. Pete in CFB had it going at a level that brought ESPN to an auxiliary office in Heritage Hall. Chip at UCLA is 1 game over .500. Career-wise, Chip is nowhere close to Pete.

We Need the B1G dues even if they come from Flounder!