Jon Joseph

Thanks, PA for another great post. As expected, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has already come forth to question the format of the expanded playoff come 2024. A format he helped to design along with MW commissioner Craig Thompson (resigned), Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick (resigned), and B12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby (resigned.) With the Pac-12 going bye-bye as a Power 5 conference, Sankey argues that there should be 5 and not 6 spots in the field guaranteed for conference champions. He also is having second thoughts about seeding preferences for conference champions. With 9 G5 and P5 conferences remaining, this is rational and will likely be what we see format-wise come 2026. Of course, Sankey is not objective when it comes to altering the 2024/25 playoff format. Opening another at-large spot is more than likely to result in another SEC team in the field and SEC teams being higher ranked if there are not 4 1st round-byes for conference champions. As a B1G fan (say what?) I agree with Sankey's suggestions. there is no reason politically or otherwise to assure 2 G5 champions are in the field. Changing the seeding format in 2024/25 may not make sense but another at-large team makes perfect sense. Come 2024 with the expanded playoff, it makes sense for the B1G to go to a 10-game schedule and assure that all teams will have 5 home and 5 away conference games. As noted by the author, this would put pressure on the SEC to move to at least 9 games. If the playoff doesn't reward one of the Power 2 for playing two more conference games then perhaps the entire playoff will go away in 2026, notwithstanding the money to be made. As noted by the author, the B1G will not return to divisions. Permanent scheduling partners equal pods. Ohio State and Michigan will play every season and they have no desire to play Penn State every season as is the case today. Ditto Penn State when it comes to playing the Buckeyes and the Wolverines. Looking forward to the 2024 B1G schedule is fun and when announced, the B1G Network will have this covered top to bottom.

Pretty good? Ask Ryan Day and Ohio State and Sonny Dykes and TCU. The D no showed vs the Buckeyes. Only the UGA O and an injury to Marvin Harrison, Jr. bailed Georgia out of what could and probably should have been a semi-final loss. It was a team effort that led to the beatdown of Horned Frogs.

Thank you Mario for going MIA and no longer being able to run off Tyler Shough and burying Justin Herbert. Yes, I get the young man was injured last season but even when healthy, Mario did a great job of messing up 2021 ACC Rookie of the Year, QB Tyler Van Dyke. Wasn't Mario's fault, of course. Mario fired yet another incompetent OC.

Stein is fine. Ranked #18 OC coming into the 2023 season. Ranking the Top 25 OCs in college football in 2023 WWW.SATURDAYDOWNSOUTH.COM Offense wins championships in the modern era ... and these play-callers are the best in the business.

fred, spot on. But if there is one G5 place worth traveling to it is to Hawaii and the most excellent Pacific Islander recruiting grounds.

And next season SC opens vs LSU and UCLA plays at LSU. GULP!

Close to The Death penalty in football with the basketball program also dinged. Clean hands with the roster tampering getting Addison and others on board, right, Coach Narduzzi? No NIL payments to Williams and new recruits whatsoever, right? $10M a year for a guy who lost to Tulane and has a football playoff record of 0-3. Meanwhile, the 'Community College' has a football playoff record of 1-1. Pay to attend admissions scandal. AD was fired for inappropriate conduct. I'm close to certain that the SC president was out of bounds fiduciary-wise when she led the charge not to expand into the Central time zone. And on 3 occasions Carol Pinnochio told the Pac-12 commissioner that it was all good before going Foxy and B1G. Translation of the Chinese - Sorry, I can't make the Pac-12 president's meeting. Sincerely, Carol Folt

Stadium smaller than #18 in the B1G, Northwestern at @47K. Eyes on the prize, football average viewership in 2022. 12. Oregon - 2.210M 34. UW - 1.150M 41. Wazzu - 907K 57. Oregon State - 625K As Charles and John Adams note - Facts are stubborn things. I also note that Oregon State did not turn down the money earned by Oregon and UW from the football playoff and the money earned by Pac-12 schools from the CBB tournament. In recent years, OR ST chipped in with CBB money once. Baseball championships do not equal dollars.

YES!

Good thought but 'capitalism' and 'fairly' do not belong in the same sentence. This is all on terrible leadership from the top down for close to two decades.

I doubt that this will happen, I have a hard time counting past 12!

I hope this is not a total duplication of the above comments. Dump the Oklahoma State and Baylor series regardless of whether the Beavers can clear its own OOC slate. Rob, you are now a B1G Boy. No two-for-one G5 games with playing at Boise State, Utah State, or at any G5 school unless it helps with recruiting such as playing at Hawaii. If OR ST can't clear its slate, replace OK ST and Baylor with certain wins even if you have to buy wins. Last season, Michigan State played Colorado State, Hawaii, and UConn in Ann Arbor and was the #2 seed in the playoff. Come 2024 Oregon's B1G schedule, rightly or wrongly, will have far more cache than playing in the Pac-12. Beat the B1G teams on the schedule, advance to the B1G title game, or finish 3rd in the conference and possibly even 4th in 2024/25 and Oregon will have a very good shot at a spot in the 12-team playoff field so long as it plays but 1 little guy OOC and 2 G5 teams. And the 3 OOC games come 2024/25 all should be played in Autzen. Yes, play Oregon State, likely an MW member when practicable but it takes two to tango. BTW, for the 2nd season in a row, Oregon State is not playing a P5 opponent OOC. And Oregon State's stadium seating capacity is smaller than the smallest B1G (16), Northwestern Ryan Stadium which seats at @43,000.

Austin Mock, The Athletic, predictive model for Pac-12 win totals and odds to win the conference. Every game is simulated thousands of times based on play-by-play data adjusted for the opponent. Below are the odds to win the conference, the number of wins projected for each team likely to be ranked in the AP Poll preseason Top 25, and the best bets according to Mock's model Odds to win the conference. USC - +200 Oregon - +325 Washington - +325 Utah - +500 Oregon State - +1000 Win totals and percentages for winning the conference title. USC - 9.2 - 25.77% Oregon - 9.4 - 22.57% Washington - 9.2 - 20.02% Utah - 9.0 - 17.94% Oregon State - 7.9 - 4.96% And UCLA - 8.6 - 7.89% Mr. Mock's Model (is this a perfect name for a predictive model or what?) likes Oregon's chances far better than Mr. Media. Bets Bets - Arizona - Over 5 wins - +100 Utah - Over 8.5 wins - +120 USC - UNDER 8.5 Wins -110 LET'S PLAY BALL!

Lots of intelligent people will be doing all they can to limit non-revenue sports travel east and west. One thing we know is that tech has taken away much of the need to be in a classroom live for a lecture. This is where ironically, I guess, streaming will come in to help the cause. You can bring the classroom with you on a laptop. I can envision Oregon and UW baseball and softball teams sharing a charter, with tutors on board, and traveling to say, Happy Valley, Pennsylvania for a week of round-robin games vs Penn St, Rutgers, and Maryland. And the same type of travel west for B1G teams located in the east. Ditto for golf, softball, volleyball, and other sports. Fortunately, Oregon and Washington will not have to worry about ice hockey travel. Everything that can be done will be done to accommodate non-revenue sports athletes and to assure Title 9 compliance. And the non-revenue athletes will have the opportunity to perform on a far bigger stage which could translate into significant NIL income. You are now selling your NIL coast-to-coast and not just on the west coast.

Having just watched B1G Now with the positive continuing coverage of adding in Oregon and UW makes me even more certain that the Northwest schools made the right call. Come 2031, the new B1G deal will be off the financial charts and Oregon will be getting a full slice of a huge media pie. Apple has all the money in the world and yet Apple ground down the Pac-10 because it wasn't willing to step up and pay a reasonable amount to run a college sports beta site. And the deal had a 3-year life if the projections needed to get a return on par with the B12 with nowhere to go after 3 years if the Pac-10 canceled out. Why would Oregon and UW, given a choice, not pass on this for the security that comes with being a member of the Power 2? Why would Oregon trust GK and his friends to put together a better deal three years from now? Certainly, I respect your POV but for Oregon to pass on this opportunity would be on par with the senseless business decisions and non-decisions made under the reign of Larry and the Captain of the Larry Team, Michael Crow. I am so happy that Crow will now be in Oregon's rearview mirror. I'm also happy that Oregon will be in a conference where SC is not driving the bus. Many of the medals heroes win are granted posthumously.

Yes. And Jim Delaney's' idea about forming a network dedicated to one conference was laughed out of the college football world room.

However, in 2018 ESPN offered to buy and operate the Pac-12 Network and sign the Pac-12 on for a 12-year media deal. Pac-12 leaders (?) demurred and Larry kept his multi-million dollar network CEO salary in place. I doubt that ESPN was going to pay a premium for the network but I do think that ESPN would have returned each school's investment and the network would have had 'varsity-like' coverage and be up on every available cable outlet. (Neil Everett might still have a World Wide Leader job.) Distributions from the network would have met and likely exceeded the network projected revenues. And in 2018, ESPN was in a financial position not only to acquire the network but also to pay a healthy price for the conference's Tier 1 media rights. USC could have again received a bigger piece of the media pie and the Pac-12 is not RIP. Another example of See Foot, Shoot! You reap what you sow and don't sow.

Likely because CBS and NBC knew by following Fox's lead if could get Oregon and UW at a discount.

Ask Scott Frost?

25 questions for our newest B1G buddies. 25 burning questions about the 2023 Big Ten season SATURDAYTRADITION.COM Wondering how 2023 will play out on the field in the Big Ten? Saturday Tradition has you covered with 25 burning questions... IT IS BIG!

North Beerchug State? I love it but more to the point and in full support of David's excellent article, see point #1 below. https://collegefootballnews.com/cfn/whos-left-for-the-sec-college-football-is-business-5-expansion-thoughts

The National version of 25 questions. Hayes: 25 burning questions about the 2023 college football season WWW.SATURDAYDOWNSOUTH.COM Had enough realignment talk? So have we. Matt Hayes tackles the biggest issues for the 2023 season, in and around the SEC.

25 Questions for the Pac-12 in 2023. Gold: 25 burning questions about the 2023 Pac-12 season SATURDAYOUTWEST.COM As many obvious answers that abound in the Pac-12, there are just as many questions, if not more. The biggest? Can the league... 2024 - The answer is Four?

The Coaches Poll Preseason top 25 Poll. 5 Pac-12 teams and Texas Tech makes the cut. Coaches Poll top 25: Michigan ahead of Alabama, Ohio State in preseason college football rankings - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM The Georgia Bulldogs also start on top of the Coaches Poll for the first time since 2008