Jon Joseph

GREAT POST! For once, the NCAA is not at fault. The NCAA has nothing to do with the FBS postseason. The college football playoffs conducted by the NCAA do not include Now You See It, Now You Don't rankings teasers. For some inexplicable reason, the Domers fracked up; they trusted the Committee. 🤪 It's all good for the Irish. Next season, ND opens vs. Wisconsin in Green Bay, followed by a home helping of Rice. The Irish play one 2025-26 PO team in 2026. Along with Ohio State at Texas, LSU at Ole Miss, don't miss Miami's trip to ND on 10/7/26. The next most 'difficult' game on the Domer's 2026 schedule, the finale vs SC in LA, which could (and I hope will) be the last game in the series. They're crying in South Bent, but close by, they are not shedding tears and likely sharing laughs at NCAA HQ in Indianapolis. 😁

A concise summary of Big Ten rankings at the close of the regular season, including the conference championship game, and a comparison ranking of B1G bowl game opponents. The Massey Composite Rankings (linked in the article) uses 89 different rankings, including the CFP, AP, and Coaches rankings. Seven B1G teams are ranked in Massey's Top 25 - 1. Indiana/ 2. Ohio State/ 4. Oregon/ 15. USC/ 17. Michigan/ 18. Iowa/ 22. Washington After the champ games, Texas Tech moved up to No. 3 with OBD dropping one spot to No. 4. The consensus ranking for the two likely Orange Bowl opponents is Red Raiders 4.16 and OBD 4.41. (No. 5, UGA - 4.55.) JMU is ranked No. 20 with a consensus ranking of 22.79. Factor in the Autzen Advantage, and OBD should be a three TD favorite over the Dukes. https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/big-ten-rankings-regular-season-150200411.html GO DUCKS!

What's the Over/Under on Heisman finalist Jeremiah Love and his coach, Marcus Freeman, sitting out the award ceremony? 😇

Following the 2024 century-award winner, Dillon Gabriel, Fernando Mendoza has been named The Chicago Tribune's 101st winner of The Silver Football Award. The Silver Football Award is awarded to the Big Ten's best football player in a given season. The award is older than the Heisman Trophy, being presented for the first time in 1924 to Red Grange. 2025 award winner, Indiana's QB Fernando Mendoza, was announced on the B1G Today program by Union League of Chicago Vice President Bob Kreisman. 😁 Fernando is the front-runner for the Heisman Trophy and should win the award, depending on how many Southern Region voters prefer Don Diego Pavia over Don Fernando and leave Mendoza out of their top three. Congrats, Fernando! Now, you and your Cigs smoke Alabama/Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl, and perhaps, OBD will get revenge in the semi-finals.

QUACK! The SEC's best buddy 😁likes OBD to win it all! Autzen ZooDanny Kanell picks surprise team to win the national cham...CBS Sports and Sirius XM college football analyst Danny Kanell has filled out his bracket for the College Football Playoff.

Aut the Zoo likes Oregon's PO path. Autzen ZooPlayoffs give Ducks a chance at a sweet revenge tourIt is that time. The final College Football Playoff rankings and bracket were released on Sunday, leaving Ducks fans buzzing with anticipation. After going 11-1

Notre Dame is ticked off and raising Cane 🤬, but in Canes country, it's all good. 😍 Jim Phillps with a velvet hammer - We really love you ND but ...😁 Canes WarningACC Commissioner puts ND in its place after CFP chooses M...After Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua accused the ACC of doing "permanent damage" to its relationship with the Irish over how hard the conference pus

For OBD, the road to Miami goes through Miami. But not U! There's something about Indiana and easy schedules, no? OBD has, according to this article, the easiest PO path of any team playing a 1st round game. FanSidedCollege Football Playoff rankings by easiest path to the...They say conference championship weekend is dead in a 12-team Playoff world, but don't tell that to Indiana and Ohio State.

Mistakes have been made! I am profoundly sorry. 😉 Oregon Ducks On SIPenn State AD Speaks Out After Leaked Rant Dissing Oregon...The Oregon Ducks' budding Big Ten rivalry with the Penn State Nittany Lions has taken a interesting turn. In a recent leaked audio clip that went viral on socia

Great Take! At first, I thought you were referring to this season's Pin Strip Bowl in the Bronx. I'm sure Dabo's guys can't wait to take a trip up north in December. 😶‍🌫️ And what a great season for the Nits! Going 6-6 and qualifying for a bowl game. 🤪 Clemson vs Penn State is the AP Voters' Delusion Bowl, no doubt. And Voters, how about Archie getting Horny and Cheesy vs. Michigan? Serious Note - I was happy to see that Matt Campbell is keeping interim PSU head coach, Terry Smith, on the staff.

Whether it's Monday with Marsh or Tuesday with the Teacher, it's All Good! Please, football gods, it would be nice to have all hands on deck on 12/20; it may be imperative on 1/1. TT coach Joey McGuire has not forgotten Bo Nix leading OBD to a comeback victory in Lubbock. The comeback loss was one of the first things mentioned by McGuire during his Selection Sunday interview. Let Ohio State possibly deal with A&M in Dallas. Defeat JMU, and it's a longer trip to Miami (DUH 🤪) from Lubbock than Dallas, and gives OBD the chance to close the attendance disparity. If Mari-oh-oh takes down the Aggies, it's also nice not to have to play the U in Miami. Make Chesney's 1st Visit to Autzen a Bad Memory!

Sant Rosa, thanks for this and the other WSJ posts. Short practices have been part of Curt Cignetti's process throughout his coaching career. Curt learned this process not from his time at Bama working for Saint Nick, but from his Dad, Frank Cignetti, Sr., who finished his career coaching the West Virginia Mountaineers. On his way to his first head coaching job at Toledo in 1990, Saban was Frank Cignetti's DB coach at WVU in 1978-79. Before Toledo, Saban also coached for Don James at Nick's alma mater, Kent State, Syracuse, Ohio State, the year after working for Frank Cignetti, Navy, Michigan State, and the Houston Oilers. Frank Cignetti's first coaching head job in college, like Curt's, was at a small school, Division II Indiana University Pennsylvania Crimson Hawks, never to be confused with the Crimson Tide. Frank Sr., a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, taught his sons, Curt and Frank Jr., who coached for Pitt, the New York Giants, and the Green Bay Packers, to take care of their players. When you are coaching at IUP and WVU and not at a school with a deep roster like Ohio State, keeping players healthy is paramount. Curt was Nick Saban's recruiting coordinator at Bama and helped Saban build one of CFB's deepest rosters. Curt was close to 50 years old when he took a $125,000.00 pay cut and left Bama for IUP. He got a 'decent' return on this bet on himself. With only 136 teams (at least in theory) competing for a title, college football coaches are members of a small fraternity. Destroy the Dukes! Chastise Chesney!

A good look at the PO 1st round games from Connor O'Gara - Saturday Down SouthEarly Round 1 Playoff thoughts on a wide open fieldThe Round 1 matchups for the College Football Playoff are in place, so here's what's worth watching for in each game.

😴 If a tree falls in South Bent ...?

Strike while the Dome is hot! Cancel ND without delay. Many pac-12 teams have open dates. No reason to inflate the postseason MIA (😁) Domers schedule. To Wit: In the fall of 2026, the Gurus of Grapevine No. 1 Hosers will battle No(t) Texas - The Somewhat Ticked Off Green, Howard's (Endangered) Bisons, and some Western Kentucky guys who, like Uncle Bill, have a still on the top of a hill.

Great comment, JS. They're afraid of playing Ohio State OOC instead of Ohio Wesleyan. And why not? The nation's No. 1 team played donut holes OOC. A 24-team PO will include two G6 teams. Including Tulane and JMU in the 12-team field is because of a screwed up ACC, lawyers, and politicians. Notre Dame, Texas, Vanderbilt, and yes, USC, would have a chance to win it all? Tulane and JMU?

5-7 Rutgers said, 'Good Knight' to a bowl invitation. Practice? Practice! For the P4, I think a 13th stand-alone champ game and lower-level bowl games are dying on the vine. FCS - 24 team PO. If the NCAA and not ESPN managed the FBS postseason, we'd already have a 24-team PO. Stop dumping on Tony Petitti and go to 24 with AQs and plenty of at-large spots that would keep Notre Dame and Miami out of the cardiac ward and make everything groovy in South Beach and South Bend.

Thank you, Charles. It's chaotic and frustrating but pay-for-play and transfer-whenever-for-whatever-or-no-reason seem to have leveled the playing field. Piling on and pointing out other preseason and early-season errors. We got Knowles, you got ... Patricia? 😜 Dabo, doing it his way, leads Clemson to another championship! 😧 The Real Death Valley winners were not Kelly's Heroes, even though Brian used a million dollars of Pat Mc ... er, his dollars to build a roster that would sweep the South and not buy a $54 million broom to sweep him out of office. 🤬 The Guv of Louisiana wants you to know that he is focused on matters far more important than college football. 🤪 He simply can't remember what they are. 🤔 All of you Butkus Award winners whose spouses are Blackhawk pilots, please step forward. USA! USA! USA! 👍👌❤️ FSU beats Bama! What a Seminole win! We're bac... We were invited to a bowl, notwithstanding our 5-7 record, but we obviously don't need the extra practices. 🙃 Texas is bac ... er, Cheesing It vs. Michigan. What's that? On September 12, 2026, Ohio Wesleyan will be replacing Ohio State? (Same season ticket price!) 😉 Yes, Virginia, there is a Duke. Not to be confused with the Dukes making their way West to Autzen. (And it don't cost OBD nothin' to play a Sun Belt team! 🤑) We defeated USC! We don't understand the reason we're not in. We had the nation's best losses. We're taking our ball and staying in South Bent! 😇 Oregon played a crummy schedule. Six Big Ten teams are not bowl eligible. Your conference sucks! The Ducks are wayyyy overrated! What's that? Six ACC, B12, and say-it-ain't so, Pawalll, SEC teams aren't bowl eligible. Nothing to see here, move right along. ☹️ 14 new starters? The Ducks are foie gras. 🤔 We watched BYU blow lunch in Dallas. By the time the next game kicked off, it was 5 PM in Bristol, so between cocktails and hors d'oeuvre's we only have a foggy recollection of the game in Atlanta. What's that, Bama got the Dawg beat out of it? Waiter! More martinis with olives and make it snappy! 😴 Only five teams in and only three out of four hosting first round games! Greg Sankey demands that those enhanced new metrics be even more enhanced! 🤮 The U is in. ND is out, and we play JMU and not TOSU. Out OBD's way, this looks like another perfect day. 😍

Congrats, Brother Gat. You are now banned in Bristol and Birmingham! 🤬 According to posters in the post office, you are toast in Tuscaloosa. 😍

The AP looks at how a loss in August tarnished the Domers. Hey, AP, this just in! In the NFL, a loss in September does not go away because it was a 'good loss,' the team that lost improves during the season, and come October, according to a committee of unaccountable experts, the team looks so good when winning. To Hades with the record, this team deserves to be in the PO! (Like Alabama and South Carolina last season, right?) AP NewsWhy did Notre Dame's August loss cost the Irish a playoff...The College Football Playoff selection committee's decision in 2025 has sparked controversy. Notre Dame was dropped from the playoff despite not playing last week.

I think SC will be more than happy to help ND with its schedule. 😁

Terrific post. Thanks. Oklahoma won at Alabama. A rematch in a different venue with both O's being beaten down over time. ACC and B12 have one team in the PO. Vandy, Texas, and Notre Dame are left out. Alabama's bad showing against Georgia doesn't count. So why does BYU's bad performance count? A crescendo of complaints that can be dampened by backing the Big Ten's AQ PO plan. No matter the metrics used or abused, there are not enough games between teams with equal rosters to make a CFB PO anything other than a guessing game. The Notre Dame/Miami controversy is only a controversy because of five nothing-burger committee rankings before the PO field, and the seeding of the field was finalized. During GameDay on Saturday, Herbie said these interim rankings need to end. Nick Saban, Pat McAfee, and Desmond Howard, via body language, agreed. Rece Davis, who made his bones as a host, did not react. Five SEC teams are in the field, and SEC coaches are whining about playing nine conference games. Oregon is the only team outside of the SEC hosting a 1st round game. Three of the four 1st round games played in SEC stadiums are not enough. "In a conference so great from top to bottom, why should we play more than eight?" Fine, play seven and have an SEC intramural playoff. The 18-team Big Ten and 16-team B12 played nine conference games this season, and each has six teams that are not bowl eligible. (5-7 Rutgers, along with Notre Dame, turned down bowl invites.) The 17-team ACC and the 16-team SEC played eight conference games this season, and each has six teams that are not bowl eligible. If the SEC gauntlet is so brutal, why are there so many one and two-loss teams? Why aren't there more teams in Dixie missing out on bowl games? Why did so many SEC coaches get canned? In 2025, Florida's schedule was brutal. A&M's schedule was not. Mega-conference SOS will vary significantly year to year. But I cannot foresee a season where a 4th-place B1G or SEC team would be an embarrassment to a 16-team PO field. If you use preseason polls, human or otherwise, that have over half of the conference ranked in the top 25, you are ipso facto going to have the most difficult SOS and SOR rankings. DUH! I want the ACC and the B12 to survive. I don't want to see a G8. I don't want to see millions of ACC/B12 fans 'disenfranchised.' So, wake up, commissioners, and back the Big Ten PO format, tweaked as needed and agreed upon over the next six weeks. Do not allow the foolish pride of, 'You have to earn the right to be in the PO!', to lead to millions of dollars in lost revenue. Put this ESPN subjective nonsense to bed. I posted what a 16-team playoff field would be after the committee's fifth rankings tease, there would still be complaints, but nothing as we see with this current format and selection process. Fans in South Beach and in South Bend would be happy. Let's do what Dan Ackroyd and Eddie Murphy did: Destroy the Dukes!

I love that OBD is the PO 5th seed and is -21.5 vs. JMU. What a reversal, thank goodness, from last season's PO opener. Defeat JMU on the 20th, and it's a terrific break to play Texas Tech in the Orange and not the Cotton Bowl. Notre Dame, hoist on its independent petard. Too bad, so sad. In the ACC as a football member or in the B1G, and ND is likely in the PO. Bama? No way was the committee going to penalize a Bama team with the nation's top SOS for losing a conference championship game, especially with so many starters not able to play yesterday. If Bama is healthy, I think the Tide has a chance to roll over an over-ranked OK team that it significantly outgained in the regular season loss. Keep Those Machines Turned Off! Beat the Dukes! 😁

THIS: Canes WarningScott VanPelt states Miami win over ND is THE data pointOn his eponymous SVPod, Scott VanPelt stated Miami's win over Notre Dame is not just a data point, its THE data point.

I love this! Bring on Tony P's PO format ASAP. Notre Dame had 'better losses?' I watched 10-2 Miami defeat 10-2 Notre Dame. Miami's best win is the defeat of No. 10 ND. ND is 1-2 vs the top 25, was battered in South Bend by an A&M team that was propped up by a crummy in-conference schedule. ND's best win was a 10-point home win over No. 16 USC in a typhoon. When two teams are as close as these two, using anything other than head-to-head results is simply speculation. I watched both teams destroy Pitt. Both looked capable of defeating one another. The format sucks. Both teams have Blue Chip Rosters and playing to their potential, both could win a Natty. Tulane and JMU will not win a title this year or in any other year.