Jon Joseph

Good post, thanks. BTN, The Big-10 Network uses 247 Sports recruiting, portal, and combined roster rankings. Accordingly, tOSU's numbers are terrific but behind Oregon as discussed on yesterday's BTN signing day special. I certainly understand why Charles likes Rivals. With the BTN using 247, this is what I intend to use.

Good call on Nebraska and Ruhle. The Cornhuskers are No. 3 out of 134 ranked teams in returning production with the No. 18 recruiting class. No. 6 in the B1G. Ruhle is also bringing in transfers who will help the cause. UTEP and No. Iowa trip to Lincoln or OOC games as does CU in a revenge matchup. The Huskers play at Ohio State, Iowa, and USC but miss Oregon, Michigan, and Penn State. Wisconsin trips to Lincoln. I think Nebraska and Wisconsin, with the Badgers also in the recruiting top 25, and if QB Van Dyke can play like he did before Mario showed up, are two B1G dark horse contenders. AMAZING! Your Dawgs lose a 5* QB recruit to Nebraska, Raiola, and still finish #1 in recruiting.

Bet MGM has early odds up on 18 teams in the running to win the 2024 College Football Playoff. The odds have been adjusted for coaching and roster changes at Alabama, Michigan and Washington. Below are the 5 B1G teams with odds in the top 18 (The B1G Favored 5.). For reference purposes, Georgia +350 is No. 1. No. 2 - Ohio State - +500 No. 5 - OREGON - +1000 No. 7 - Michigan - +1400 (up from +900) No. 11 - Penn State - +2500 No. 14 - USC - +3500 Before looking at the above teams' respective Strength of Schedule (SOS), the following are the 247 Sports Combined Roster National Rankings for the five teams and the ESPN+ 2024 Returning Roster Production Rankings of 134 teams. The Combined Roster Rankings will be adjusted after the 2nd portal go-round. Returning Production rankings uses playing time and 2023 production, and not just the number of returning players. The Big 10 Network uses the 247 Sports rankings for recruiting, the portal, and the combined roster rankings. National Rankings - Roster - OREGON - No. 3 / Returning Production - 28 Roster - Ohio State - No. 5 / Returning Production - 70 Roster - Penn State - No. 15 / Returning Production - 23 Roster - Michigan - No. 16 / Returning Production - 128 Roster - USC - No. 17 / Returning Production - 99 In 2024, OBD is in a great position in terms of both the roster ranking and returning production. USC and Michigan have a lot of replacing to do. For reference purposes, our buddies in Seattle come in last in the B1G's returning production ranking, No. 130. Comparative Strength of Schedule Rankings. Caveat, the following is far more art than science. SOS is calculated using the 2023 records of the opponents that appear on a respective team's schedule in 2024. During the season, SOS will change week-to-week. As will the Strength of Record rankings. Deviations in total games played are the result of the number of 2023 Playoff and Bowl teams on a team's 2024 schedule. Michigan and Washington played 15 games in 2023. Oregon played 14 games. Most bowl teams played 13 games. The following is the combined win/loss record for the opponents the B1G Favored Five will face in 2024, listed by degree of difficulty. In 2024, Michigan and Ohio State both play 8 home games. Oregon, Penn State, and USC play seven 7 home games. USC - 106 - 53. This happens when you play both teams that played for the 2023 championship (both on the road) and two out-of-conference games versus a 10-3 LSU, a 10-3 Notre Dame, and a respectable G5 opponent in 6-7 Utah State. ESPN's SP+ 2024 SOS rankings have USC ranked No. 2, only behind No. 1 Florida. OREGON - 101- 57. OBD joins SC as the only two of the B1G Favored Five that will play teams in 2024 that won 100 games or more in 2023. The Ducks also join the Trojans playing both Michigan and Washington. However, the Ducks draw the B1G Boys Daily Double, Michigan and Ohio State. USC does not play Ohio State in the regular season. The Ducks 2024 schedule is ranked the 13th most difficult in the nation by SP+'s early ranking of 2024's 15 most difficult schedules. MICHIGAN - 98 - 59. The rematch in Seattle in 2024, playing Playoff team Texas out-of-conference, and 2023 NY6 Bowl opponents, Oregon and Ohio State is not an easy ask. The win total is increased by also playing 9-4 Fresno State and 6-7 Arkansas State out-of-conference. New head coach Moore has to replace a lot of production on both sides of the ball. Michigan does play both SC and Oregon in Ann Arbor. PENN STATE - 88 - 67. The Nittany Lions are likely the B1G's happiest campers over divisions going away. PSU plays Ohio State in Happy Valley and misses, for the first time since 2013, nemesis Michigan. If there had been a 12-team playoff going back to BCS in 1998, Penn State would have been 2nd in the number of appearances. The schedule sets up for a run at the 1st 12-team Playoff field. Here's one scheduling quirk. PSU plays UCLA at home and trips to USC the following Saturday. OHIO STATE - 83 - 71. This, my OBD friends is why the Buckeyes 2024 schedule is referred to as 'OPPS.' The Ohio State Playoff Protection Schedule. In 2025, Ohio State will open the season against Texas. In 2024, the Buckeyes play three G5 teams out-of-conference with a 2023 combined record of 12 and 25. All home games. Ohio State plays two tough road games, Oregon and Penn State. Ohio State plays Michigan in Columbus and plays against 6 teams that went bowling in 2023, with 4 of the 6 games vs 2023 bowl teams being played in The Shoe. Oregon plays 9 teams that played in bowl games in 2023. Five of the 9 games will be played away from Autzen. Unlike NFL scheduling designed to result in parity, college football schedules vary widely in strength-of-schedule difficulty. Teams contending for a CFB Playoff berth do not play the same number of regular season games. Last season, Oregon should have played a battle-tested 10-2 AAC champ SMU in the Fiesta Bowl and not 13-0 CUSA champ Liberty. It will be very interesting to see with the Playoff expanding to 12 teams if the Playoff Committee will take strength-of-schedule into consideration and not simply wins and losses. Michigan in 2023 and 2024 made the 4-team field playing three G5 opponents out-of-conference with all six games played in Ann Arbor. This 'stuff' needs to stop. Ohio State does pay a visit to Eugene in 2024 but based on the B1G Favored 5 2024 schedules, Ohio State definitely has the Pole Position. GO DUCKS! Vandalize the Vandals!

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey speaks on problems facing college football: 'There are no magical answers' - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM Sankey spoke about the SEC's new advisory committee with the Big Ten

What will the Big Ten-SEC partnership look to accomplish? - ESPN WWW.ESPN.COM So, the two superpowers in college athletics -- the Big Ten and SEC -- are partnering up to attack some of their biggest issues. Details remain unclear, but whatever you do, don't call it an...

National Signing Day: Big 12 poised to finish outside top 20 in recruiting rankings amid Texas, Oklahoma exits - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM It marks the first time in the 247Sports era that the league has been shut out of the top 20

College football recruiting rankings: SEC, Big Ten dominate as top classes emerge on National Signing Day - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM Realignment has only furthered the two conferences' stranglehold on the recruiting rankings

Michigan, Washington, UCLA, and Northwestern, you just made the wrong list. National Signing Day 2024: Michigan, Washington among teams needing to improve recruiting in 2025 cycle - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM These programs need to step up their efforts on the trail after some lackluster results in the 2024 cycle

Terrific Signing Day 90-minute wrap-up show on today's B1G Live on the Big 10 Network (BTN). Lots of love for Oregon. BTN uses the 247 recruiting and combined recruiting and transfer portal roster rankings. Oregon finishes No. 1 in the B1G and No. 3 in combined recruiting and transfer portal rankings, behind Georgia and Alabama and two spots in front of Ohio State. OHIO STATE! Did you ever think even a year ago that we would see this? Amazing. Wherever you have to go to subscribe, do subscribe to the BTN. Better and deeper coverage of Oregon since the relocation to the B1G was announced than in 10+ years on Larry's Network.

Huge, not only have former arch enemies the B1g 10 and SEC 'allied' but ESPN and Fox are doing the same. Wow! Does this pass the anti-trust 'Market Power Test?' What media entity will be able to compete against the Fox/B1G and its inventory, the ESPN/SEC inventory, ESPN's and Fox's B12 inventory, and ESPN's ACC inventory? How will another entity be able to compete against this? The entire enterprise continues to devolve with fewer teams able to compete the the B1G/SEC Boys.

Chip Kelly, Go To Your Room! UCLA's Compsite Ranking is No. 86! This brings up the rear of the B1G including Northwestern (with zero transfers brought in), Indiana, and Purdue. No wonder he is interviewing to be the Seahawks OC. Is the guy just lazy, doesn't give a whip, or both? Top drawer academic school with a beautiful campus in Westwood. You can't sell this?

I LOVE your Cal call! Great post, you beat me to it.

The 'difficult games on the Hurricanes 2024 schedule - Away - Florida, Louisville, Georgia Tech, and perhaps, Cal? Home - VA Tech, FSU, Duke. There could be 4 Ls here no doubt. And Mario usually drops 1 game he should win. I get your recruiting point but no team without a Blue Chip Roster won the BCS or the 4-team Playoff title.

YES! But come 2026, the B1G/SEC will kick this format to the curb.

Updated 247 Sports 2024 Roster Composite (recruiting and portal) Top 10 and B1G teams in the top 25. 1. Georgia - Even with losing a 5* QB to Nebraska! 2. Alabama - DeBoer will have a very blue Blue Chip Roster 3. OREGON - DL killing it in recruiting and portal picking. 4. Miami - Will it translate to the field of play? 5. Ohio State - Buckeyes take a back seat behind Puddles. 6. Texas - The game at Michigan is likely the top OOC game of the 2024 season. 7. LSU - IMO, LSU is not getting enough preseason love. No Georgia. Bama, Oklahoma, and Ole Miss play in Baton Rogue. 8. Oklahoma - Houston, Tulane, Tennessee, at Auburn, at Ole Miss, at Mizzou, Bama, at LSU. Whew! 9. Notre Dame - Make or break year for Coach Freeman could come down to playing in LA vs USC in the final regular season game. 10. Auburn - Nice recruiting on the way to a rebuild. Our friend Robbie Ashford has transferred to South Carolina. 15. Penn State/ 16. Michidan/ 17. USC/ 18. Nebraska/ 23. Wisconsin

Lots of props to Puddles in Hayes' latest B1G takes. The B1G 10: Why Nebraska is poised for a breakthrough in 2024, at long last SATURDAYTRADITION.COM Freshman QB Dylan Raiola is the key to everything. And he might be good enough to lead a Playoff push. Plus: B1G power rankings and more.

The B1G 10: Why Nebraska is poised for a breakthrough in 2024, at long last SATURDAYTRADITION.COM Freshman QB Dylan Raiola is the key to everything. And he might be good enough to lead a Playoff push. Plus: B1G power rankings and more.

I think OBD fans may still be confused over the format for the CFB Playoff for the next two seasons. I do not believe the ACC representative - Clemson, FSU, Louisville, NC State, ?, will be ranked 3rd or 4th in the Playoff Committee's penultimate 2024 ranking. Ditto the B12 champ - Utah, Arizona, OK State, Kansas State, Kansas, ?. However, with a format of the top 4 ranked conference champions being seeded 1-4 and receiving a 1st round bye, both the ACC and B12 champions are odds on to be seeded in the top 4. I believe this format will disappear come 2026 under a new Playoff format. A format the B1G and the SEC will significantly influence. As the author of the posted article, Pete Fiutak of College Football News (CFN) notes, one problem with the Playoff is that the champ game will not be played until 1/20/25 encroaching well into the NFL playoffs. CFN's Projected 2024 Playoff Field and Results. 1st Round games will be played on the home fields of teams ranked 5-8. Friday - 12/20/24 - 9. USC at 8. LSU Saturday - 12/21/24 - 11. Clemson at 6. Texas/ 12. Boise State at 5. OREGON/ 10. Penn State at 7. Notre Dame Quarter Finals - Tuesday - 12/31/24 - Fiesta Bowl - 4. Utah vs 5. OREGON - Nice way to bring in the New Year. Wednesday - 1/1/25 - Peach Bowl - 3. Florida State vs 6. Texas/ Rose Bowl - 1. Ohio State vs 8. LSU/ Sugar - 2. Georgia vs 7. Notre Dame Semifinals - Thursday - 1/9/25 - Orange Bowl - 2. Georgia vs 5 OREGON Friday - 1/10/25 - Cotton Bowl - 1. Ohio State vs 6 Texas Champ Game - Mercedes Benz Stadium Atlanta, Georgia 1. Ohio State vs 2. Georgia. Under this format, the No. 1 seed, B1G champ Ohio State, plays in Pasadena, CA., plays Texas in Dallas, Texas, and plays Georgia in Atlanta. No. 2 seed Georgia plays in New Orleans, Miami, and Atlanta. B1G Commissioner Tony Petitti will have to address playoff sites come 2026. Ohio State fans have a short hope to Indianapolis for the B1G title game but asking a fan base to then travel to California, Texas, and Georgia is a bit much; especially for the No. 1 seed. The basketball tournament has the No. 1 seeds staying close to home. Comes 2026 and perhaps there will be an expanded field, no 1st round byes, and with the 1st and 2nd rounds played on campus? https://collegefootballnews.com/news/college-football-playoff-will-be-huge-daily-cavalcade It's going to be B1G fun!

I use Comcast for wi-fi but stayed with Dish for TV reception. This worked out to be less expensive than going all in with Comcast and Comcast has a nasty habit of disagreeing with ESPN from time to time and dropping ESPN on football Saturdays. Great take. If you weren't already divorced who would have been after that experience? 😒

Want to feel dizzy? Read this take on CFB's QB Transfer Carousel - A very good take on the ripple effect of Gabriel and Moore transferring to OBD. Untangling college football's web of offseason transfer QB movement THEATHLETIC.COM When you have 42 Power 5 programs (and counting) bringing in new transfer quarterbacks at once, many more QBs end up feeling the impact.

Recruiting thoughts: Dan Lanning's rise, Kalen DeBoer's win, Terry Bussey's decision THEATHLETIC.COM The vast majority of the recruiting fireworks are detonated in December but there are still some storylines to follow on signing day.

Recruiting thoughts: Dan Lanning's rise, Kalen DeBoer's win, Terry Bussey's decision THEATHLETIC.COM The vast majority of the recruiting fireworks are detonated in December but there are still some storylines to follow on signing day.

We see Illinois in Autzen in 2024 but do not play the Hoosiers in 2024. Bob Knight. Coached Mike Krzyzewski at West Point. Played on a great Ohio State team, with Jerry Lucas, Larry Siegfried, and John Havlicek. Ohio State won the NCAA title in 1960, defeating Cal in front of a lot of Golden Bears fans in the Cow Palace in Daly City, CA., by 20 points. tOSU played for the title in 1961 and 1962 but lost to in-state rival Cincinnati on both occasions. It's going to be B1G fun!

Thanks. David, terrific article. The Pac-12 is defunct but this isn't stopping the Pac-2 from so far, black-balling the PO format change from 6-6 to 5-7. (See post above.) This is a bad long-term move. The B1G and the SEC could easily decide to hold a PO on their own. The results from the PO 1st round games but out to bid have not been positive. CFB honchos thought these games would bring in $25M each. However, a Ducks vs Liberty 1st round game was valued at only $5M. ESPN may buy the entire post-2025 PO for $1.3B, less than what was being counted on from the new PO media deal. Why make room for 'The Little Guy' when ROI stinks? An 8th seed B1G Iowa playing 1st seed SEC Georgia in Athens would draw far more eyeballs than Liberty playing 'Tween the Hedges. The Pac-2 holding up the change to the PO format is one reason why the B1G/SEC Alliance was formed. The Power 2 does not want to have lesser teams and conferences deciding on where CFB in particular is headed. The Pac-2 has no broadcast deal of its own. It is paying the MW to play games against MW teams but OSU and WSU will not be able to compete for a conference title in 2024 and 2025. The two also agreed to pay $10M down the road to the MW for every MW team they may try to poach. The Pac-2 scored a victory in court but the Pac-12 assets are subject to a $72M set off of some kind to Comcast, a possible $3M to the Holiday Bowl, and the severance payment to Kliavkoff. I get it. It is what it is. However, I am still PO'd over dropping a home game with Texas Tech for a road game in Corvallis which will be the most-watched game the Beavers play all season. The ACC? How long as you so noted David, can this group hold together? I think it's likely that we will see some kind of merger down the road with the ACC and the B12. The ACC goes away Notre Dame and UNC join the B1G and Clemson and FSU join the SEC and perhaps 2 other teams, why would the two need to expand beyond 40 total member schools? What teams would be left out with a legitimate chance to win a title? How much money would the P2 Playoff be worth compared to bringing in other contenders? Again, David, thanks for the terrific article. With the P2 alliance, with the P2 lapping the other conferences financially, the media power of ESPN/Fox, the NLRB finding, subject to appeal, that Dartmouth basketball players with no athletic scholarships, as is the case for all Ivy schools, are employees of Dartmouth, the anti-trust suit against the NCAA filed by the Florida and Tennessee ADs, FSU's and the ACC's litigating, I think CFB is in for more shock waves. As to a B1G champ game rematch of the Os, Ohio State has a far easier road to travel in 2024 than our OBD. As you so noted David, very rarely did B1G W teams play both Michigan and Ohio State in the same season. In 2024, no team in CFB except OBD plays 8 games in a row without an idle week, and with the final 6 games in the regular season being a yo-yo of away at Purdue, home vs Illinois, away at Michigan, home vs Maryland, away at Wisconsin, week off, UW. Brutus' schedule does not come close to being this Brutal! Ohio State also has the advantage of 8 home games. With the cancellation of the TX Tech game and trip to Corvallis instead, Oregon plays 7 home games. In the meanwhile, thanks again, David, and Go Ducks Vandalize the Vandals.

Virginia holds Miami to 38 points in statement conference win WWW.YARDBARKER.COM On Monday night, Virginia rode its dominant defense to an impressive 60-38 win over Miami, improving its resume for the NCAA Tournament.