Jon Joseph

Give Lee Corso's prediction of LSU defeating Penn State for the title looks pretty good after the No. 9 Bayou Bengals road win against No. 4 Clemson. The visiting QB, LSU's Garrett Gussmeier, whose Dad, Doug, is the New Orleans Saints OC, looked far more composed and in control than did Clemson's Cade Klubnik. LSU plays Florida, South Carolina, and A&M in Baton Rouge, and will have the better QB on the road against Ole Miss, Bama, Vandy, and Oklahoma. LSU misses Georgia, Texas, and Tennessee. And don't forget 'overlooked' Georgia. The SEC's standard bearer was buried under an avalanche of Arch hype (tripe?), and how terrific Bama would be with DeBoer reunited with OC Grubb. Georgia plays Bama, Ole Miss, and Texas in Athens and is the SEC's Top Dawg until proven otherwise.

Thank you, Steven. After the top three or four, these rankings are a WAG. UCLA No. 12? Utah on the road, played with its Bruin food. B1G 16-2, which is nice. 2-1 against the P4, where the results mean more (ask Kalen DeBoer.) The B1G competition is more difficult in Week 2. Iowa's Kirk Ferentz is now tied with Woody Hayes for the most overall wins by a Big Ten coach, but will be the underdog in Ames, Iowa, against 2-0 Iowa State. Illinois has a tough game on the road against Duke. GameDay will be in Norman for Michigan versus Oklahoma, one of Week 2's headline games. Boston College visits Michigan State, and 1-0 Oklahoma State is OBD's 1st P4 matchup of the season. UCLA is -10.5 at 2-0 UNLV in a game Dan Mullens and his Rebels will be fired up to play. With USF's beatdown of Boise, Tulane, Navy, James Madison, USF, and UNLV are among the frontrunners for the G5/6 PO spot. Tulane has its home win over a bad P4 opponent, and UNLV will be looking to pick up a P4 win. As to starting the season with block buster games? Meh. I would have liked to see Texas at TOSU, and LSU at Clemson, with a couple of easy wins under the belt. But FSU out of the gate looked to be in mid-season form. 😁 How bout Lee Corso! Wins his first and last Hat Dance with Ohio State victories over Penn State and Texas. Lee has LSU defeating Penn State in the PO champ game. LSU looked the part last night, and LSU QB Nussmeier looked far more composed and in control than did Clemson QB Cade Klubnik. Lasso the Cowboys!

Here's an Insight into the Obvious. Saturday TraditionRapid Reaction: Julian Sayin outplays Arch Manning in win...Ohio State forced Arch Manning into too many mistakes on Saturday afternoon in a narrow win over the No. 1 Texas Longhorns.

PAWALLLLLLLLLL! https://athlonsports.com/college-football/paul-finebaum-had-three-historically-bad-takes-before-week-1

I would like to forget the loss on 1/1/25, but according to a few folks in Columbus, It Happened. 🤬

Saturday Down South credits Castellanos for walking the walk after talking the talk. DeBoer! What is he good for? Saint Nick wasn't there to save Bama. 😁 Saturday Down SouthThomas Castellanos tried to tell us this upset of Alabama...Alabama’s inability to come up with answers to the questions Thomas Castellanos asked flew directly in the face of the preseason narrative.

"If you're good enough, you're old enough, right?" Diaper Dandies on Display. So great to see.

Mr. Ca$tellano$ ca$he$ his check$! Who played better? Archie, Ty is the guy Simpson, or 'Saban isn't there to save them anymore,' Castellanos?😍 This guy was benched by Bill O'Brien at BC? HUH? Great win for Mike Norvell and the ACC.

OBD is 1-1 in 2025. I enjoyed this game far more than the first game. 🤬 Former SC QB coach and now BTN football guy Yogi Roth was effusive with his praise for Moore after watching him practice during BTN's fall football camp tour. Roth noted the arm strength is as good as it gets and that he believes Moore will contend for the top B1G QB spot and possibly a trip to NYC for the Heisman show. That was Men against Boys, but no different from last year's opener when OBD bumbled, stumbled, and fizzled. I think the loss in the opening game of 2025 has OBD super focused from the coaching staff on down. I just hope Pregnon is OK, and I wonder if Hughes is out for the season? Whittingham looked to be faster, quicker, and over his 2023 injury. The RB room is deep. Davidson will be a monster. Go Ducks! Buck the Cowboys. PS - How sweet is Texas and Bama going down on the same Saturday? Dante played better than the touted SEC newbies.

And the Tide was Rolled by FSU! I have Finebaum's Monday program scheduled to record.😁

Maybe he meant 'Rolled?' I think both Ds are that good.

Hats off to THE Ohio State University and to QB Julian Sayin. First-time starting quarterbacks are now 1-19 in their opening game starts against the No. 1-ranked team. And Sayin outplayed Heisman favorite and Golden Child Arch Manning. Texas, as my betting buddies and I thought, was going to miss 2024's excellent corps of WRs. But Texas will win a lot of games this season. How about new TOSU DC Matt Patricia's first game? Jim Who? And Day and new OC Brian Hartline made certain to keep it simple for Sayin. Great for conference bagging rights, and Pawalll should start packing his bags to leave the USA. Do you come from a Land Down Under? 1st half Under and Final score Under bets were a nice way to start the season B1G! Go Michigan! Beat Oklahoma!

With Dana Holgerson's hire as OC, the Huskers are trying to do so. Dana is from the Mike Leach coaching tree. With a short season after a long off-season, the first game results are usually too touted and too dissed. On the other hand, there was FSU's opening loss to Georgia Tech in Atlanta last season. 😁 Nebraska's next 4 games are in Lincoln, including a Week 5 game vs. Michigan. USC and Iowa are also home games. On the road vs. Maryland, Minnesota, and UCLA are winnable. At Penn State, not so much. Nebraska should be favored in every home game with the possible exceptions of Michigan and USC. Worst case looks like 7-5 with a shot at 10-2 and the PO.

It's a B1G ask for Buckeyes QB Julian Sayin today. Rookie QBs opening against No. 1-ranked opponents are 0-18.😒 Week 2, 1984, some guy named Jim Harbaugh was in his first season starting at QB for Michigan and led the Wolverines to a 22-14 win over No. 1 Miami in Ann Arbor. Harbaugh's Week 2 victory is the benchmark for the earliest in the season CFB win by a rookie QB over a No. 1-ranked team. Ohio State fans will tell you that it wasn't skill; Harbaugh lucked out. 🤬

The transfer from Rice, who was paid $1.5 million to start at RT for TOSU, was beaten out by a guy who started 3 games for Minnesota in 2024. 🤑

Thank you, Jordan, for another great package to open on Christmas Morning! Did Santa leave us some great games or what!🤩 Beat the Bobcats! B1G - 6-0 is a great B1G start! 😋

It's obvious that you have never been Cow-Tipping in Omaha. 😁

2026 OBD opens against Boise in Autzen. (Rob needs to read the: You never ever never schedule Boise State! memo.) Next week, off to Stillwater. I still can't figure out why? One thing I noticed last night was the Florida heat and humidity wearing down the Broncos. It was hot in Boise during August, but without the strength-sapping humidity.

I see OBD as a Dark Duck contender. 😁 Yardbarker3 Reasons Why Oregon Ducks are Dark Horse National Title...The No. 7 Oregon Ducks team have a lot of expectations coming into the season, but the Ducks have also been excluded from preseason conversations surrounding the national title race.

Never discount the Shucking Power beaming from a Hope Diamond-sized engagement ring. Rumor has it that Swifty left early to beat the traffic, leading to a late miracle INT. 😁 Cincinnati will not be a B12 bottom feeder in 2025. Especially, with Don Corleone on the Bearcats defense. Cincy makes the list of CFB guru Phil Steele's 2025 (pleasant) Surprise Teams. CFB fans overreacting to an opening game? Never happens, right 🤪? However, until proven otherwise, all of the above questions and criticisms of Nebraska should be The Rhule. AP NewsTravis Kelce and Taylor Swift attend Nebraska-Cincinnati...Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift have made their first public appearance since announcing their engagement.

Ducks - 38-13 Bobcats - 2 TOs Sacks - 4 Pass Yds - 250

Thanks, Darren, terrific article on the cusp of the 2025 kickoff. Dan's three-year record in Eugene is not dissimilar to Kirby Smart's at Georgia. It took Kirby six seasons and top recruiting classes season after season, and a couple of heartbreaking PO losses before UGA captured in 1st title in over 40 years. Oregon set NFL draft records for the number of players drafted in 2024; from 2021 through 2025, thirty Georgia Dawg D-players were drafted. The Jimmies and Joes have and always will matter. Dan's opening game spanking at the hands of Kirby and the first game of 2025 hurt, no doubt. But so did some guy named Tua coming off the bench for Bama, and after taking a sack, making a terrific throw into the end zone for a walk-off Natty and depression for the Dawgs. As Kirby said after the opening Ducks dusting, 'Dan knows we have better players.' You also need luck on the way to a title. Dyer's knee was down. The PO seeding last season was so egregious, even conferences that benefited, like the Mountain West and B12, voted to go to straight seeding in 2025-26. You lose a conference champ game and benefit from the loss? That's some bad ju-ju. Before UGA blew out TCU on the way to a title, Ohio State, behind the receiving wizardry of Marv Harrison, was lighting up the Georgia D. Marv went down on a play where the Georgia DB could have been called for targeting, and Georgia gutted out a close win, leaving Ryan Day to be criticized for not winning the big games. Dan's winning percentage of 81.5% has him in fifth place behind the '4-losses to Michigan - Fire the Guy!, No. 1 winner at 87.5%, Ryan Day. All good points made regarding Dan and the Ducks in the article, no doubt. Perhaps with the easiest schedule the Ducks have from 2024 through 2028, Oregon, with four returning starters, will win it all? If so, it would be a Herculean accomplishment. Thanks again for another terrific article. Let's start 1-0 with a bagging of Bobcats!

Four B1G games to date, two one-score games. If you are going to schedule an opening victory, be certain to bake enough cups into the cake. Ohio U - 2024 MAC Champ. Miami-Ohio 2024 MAC runner-up. Buffalo Bulls - MAC 3rd place, 9-4 in 2024. Cincinnati, a Phil Steele surprise contender for the B12 title this season. Hats off to the MAC teams. With NIL, largely unregulated 'college free agency,' and little or no control over tampering, it's a credit to these G5 teams and their coaches to go down swinging, if they go down. A long way to go in a too-short season, but I think Wisconsin and Minnesota, even though both looked to be improved on defense, will have a tough time winning in Autzen, and the same for Rutgers on the road. Rutgers went 5 for 5 on 4th down tries. Good news for Schiano's O but the D was swiss cheese in the 2nd half. Bob the Cats!

3-0 versus the MAC, but close to a couple of B1G heart attacks. Rutgers 34 - Ohio 31 - After Rutgers led 31-17. Minnesota 23 - Buffalo - 10 - Good first start for Gophers QB Drake Lindsey Wisconsin 17 - Miami (Ohio) - 0 - Transfer starting QB Billy Edwards injured, leaves game in 2nd quarter. The Badgers lost starter Tyler VanDyke in the first quarter of the opening game last season.😧 1-0 vs the P4 - B12 Nebraska 20 - Cincinnati 17 - In FG range with an excellent chance to send the game into OT, Cincy QB takes a shot at a TD, and the pass is intercepted in the end zone to give the Huskers a win. Wins are Wins, but Thursday night was a very shaky opening for the Big Ten. It could have been worse, ask the No. 25 G5 PO favorite, Boise. The Broncos traveled to Tampa and walked the plank in Buccaneers Stadium. South Florida 34 - Boise State 7 I'm pretty sure Boise will not be in the next AP Poll Top 25. Week 3, USF travels to Miami to play the Canes. Hmmm?

A Southeast-centric 2026 mock draft that has Matayo U, Kenyon Sadiq, and Isiah World going in the 1st round. Clemson - weren't the 3 projected 1st-rounders on a defense last season that SMU and Texas torched? Miami - with all of this 1st round talent (?) Mari-oh-oh is running out of excuses? Ditto for Auburn's Hugh Freeze. 😁 Indiana QB Mendoza going No. 1, well above the Mendoza Line, may not pan out, but he is one of the reasons I think this season's Indiana could be ... Indiana? Likely Ls in Autzen and at Penn State, but 10-2 is doable. But will the more than manageable OOC schedule derail this season's Hoosiers? https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/news/2026-nfl-mock-draft-preseason-edition-includes-5-qbs-taken-in-first-round-including-a-big-surprise-at-no-1/?ftag=SNL-04-10aaa0b&ET_CID=470217&ET_RID=52482716