Jon Joseph

Put not your trust in money but rather, put your money in trust. Oliver Wendell Holmes

Great take! Not only is the Pac not dead but I still believe the new media deal will be as good as the B12 deal and in a 12-team conference, assuming SDSU and SMU are added, Oregon has a terrific shot at making the 12-team playoff field year after year. An easier row to hoe than having to finish in the top 2 or 3 in the B1G. Having to travel 2 time zones plus for every B1G away game will take its toll on the LA schools. And SDSU gives the Pac additional CBB cred. As I have oft noted (probably too often) this is the toughest media market for college sports in the last decade. And streaming will be a part of the new deal, as it will be in any conference having ESPN as a media partner including the SEC and also in the B1G where Peacock, with far fewer in-home relations with consumers, will be streaming games from LA and is also streaming the UW at Michigan State game this season. One of the major ways to gain necessary media exposure with the LA schools departing will be for Pac schools to schedule and win big-time OOC games.

San Diego State tells Mountain West to take a hike amid Pac-12 rumors FANSIDED.COM San Diego State has informed the Mountain West that it intends to resign from the conference. As it turns out, conference...

Clark, never better than tied 63 in Major golf events to date is in range of a big-time title in LA. Pro Ducks: Wyndham Clark in US Open contention heading into weekend DUCKSWIRE.USATODAY.COM There’s a Pro Duck in the final pairing on Saturday at the U.S. Open. Let’s go Wyndham!

Good take. I think whether or not SMU gets an invite comes down to the Pac-10 media partners. If they believe it will be beneficial it will happen. Otherwise, no. Media controls expansion today far more than does a given conference. Why I think the B12 making noise about the 4 Corners schools is just that especially when adding UConn and/or Gonzaga would mean the 12 members agreeing to take a lesser share. An interesting question that I hope Oregon is given to answer would be whether $30M to $40M in media revenue in the Pac-10 beats $50M in the B1G. On paper for both football and basketball, it would appear to be far easier to make the playoff in CFB and CBB in the perhaps 12-member Pac than in a 16-team B1G.

And any offer has to be bankrolled by FOX and/or junior partners CBS and NBC. And any offer will not be for a full revenue share.

A bit like the Pac-10 presidents agreeing to a great-of-rights pledge subject to a new media deal bringing in enough $. Once before SDSU gave notice that it was leaving for the Big East and scurried back to the MW. Why not give notice and potentially save $17M and ask forgiveness if a move to the Pac or B12 doesn't work out? The MW is not going to pass on the San Diego market.

I should have yelled TWO!

There be monsters out there in Seattle but CFB players are not among them. One more year of Michael Penix and a sterling WR room and then what? Lots of fun to dog the Dawgs but in the longer run Oregon vs UW has to be a big (not necessarily B1G) game of national interest. UW and the Pac-10 need UW to win at Michigan State in 2023, a game that will be available to 20M Peacock viewers and others willing to pay for view. Come 2024, the already comparatively ignored P5 conference will be even more ignored. Other than Oregon vs UW and the buzz around Prime Time and CU what Pac-10 (12 with G5 SDSU and SMU add-ons) games will be must-watch TV? Stanford versus Notre Dame? GK is doing his best I am sure to sell the Pac-10 diminished game inventory but obviously, this is not an easy task. And SDSU and SMU will not ipso facto raise interest in the conference. I continue to believe that a merger of some sort with the ACC is the Pac-10/12's best long-term play if it wants to keep the existing 10 teams together. If UW is not nationally relevant Oregon will be the Pac-10's lone ranger.

ESPN+ Bill Connelly (paywall) has posted his review of the FORMER Pac-12 North. Bill Connelly (BC) went out of his way to note that his prior review of the Pac-12 South and this review were incorrectly based on the former division formats in the Pac-12. I'm certain Bill received a lot of flack for thinking that the conference still has divisions but at least he recognizes that college football (CFB) is played on the Left Coast. BC's SP+ 2023 Pac-12 rankings and each team's SP+ national ranking. 1. USC - 7 2. Oregon - 11 3. UW - 17 4. Utah - 14 5. UCLA - 24 6. Oregon State - 30 7. Washington State - 58 8. Cal - 54 9. ASU - 63 10. Arizona - 70 11. Stanford - 95 12. CU - 108 BC notes that he is in the process of revising the SP+ algorithm to accurately include players brought in from the transfer portal. He admits that teams such as ASU and CU with large numbers of new portal players added to the roster are difficult to rank. I have no idea why Utah is behind UW in the Pac-12 rankings but ahead of UW in the national rankings. BC's Burning Questions for The former Pac-12 North teams. 1. Oregon and Washington are basically the same (super exciting) teams. Which is better? And how will Bo do without Dilly? In 2022, Oregon went 1-3 versus SP+ ranked top 20 teams. UW in 2022 improved its SP+ ranking from 84 to 15. In 2022 only two CFB running backs carried the ball 150 times or more and finished with 6.5 yards or more. UCLA's Zach Charbonnet and Oregon's Bucky Irving. Michael Penix is 1st on the list of BC's favorite Pac-12 former North Division players with Bo Nix coming in 2nd. 2. Can Oregon State's O rebound more than its D regresses? Is DJU the answer at QB or will his play continue to be a CFB question? Oregon State does not have USC on the schedule and does not play a P5 team out-of-conference. The Beavers play UCLA, Utah, and UW at home. A terrific scheduling break for the Beavers. 3. Does Wazzu have the athletes? BC notes that Wazzu's roster would be solid in the Mountain West but not so in the Pac-12. 4. Has Justin Wilcox solved the "portal usage at a nerd school" question? And I add, can he overcome his own administration? 5. Does Troy Taylor have anything to work with at Stanford? A new coach in a very difficult situation down on the farm. Think the SP+ conference rankings are correct and based on SP+ will the Ducks play USC in Las Vegas for the 2023 conference championship?

Thanks, my friend. We've had so much rain in the SE this winter and spring that I have time on my hands I blame the weather as the reason why I did not qualify for the US Open. PA Duck, NJ Duck, all moderators, and Charles are the ones who truly deserve the credit. Go Ducks!

Love it! But how about we don't recruit against Oregon because we are in Stanford's academic time zone? UW would have been far better off if Lake had been beamed up by aliens before he took the job. And this can't help Jen Cohen's shot at scoring the SC job.

Great take. Yet Mullens somehow convinced Michigan State to schedule an H+H beginning 7 seasons from now. Scheduled Ohio State to a home-and-home series. What is the degree of difficulty in playing in Autzen when Ohio State was scheduled and when Michigan State shows up 7 seasons down the road compared to today? If there is any with DL at the helm, Autzen will likely be a more difficult place to play. So, using Autzen as an excuse, which I have never heard out of Rob himself, is an excuse for not closing better deals. Coffee is for closers. You don't ask for the sale, you don't make the sale. IMO the 6 games against B12 teams are a result of Rob serving on the playoff committee in Grapevine, Texas, and following the Texas Tech AD in the role of committee chairman. I am far from certain that Rob is doing the best he can. If it's his best a lot of Pac-10 ADs are better at OCC scheduling. This includes the Wazzu, ASU, Arizona, Cal, CU, Stanford, and Utah ADs. Yes, Autzen is a tough place to play but it is also difficult playing in Salt Lake City and Utah is the 2 time defending Pac-12 champion. Also, the UW AD, Jen Cohen, did a superior scheduling job before Ohio State chickened out. What connections does Oregon otherwise have for playing TX Tech, Baylor, and OK State? The 1 cupcake, mid-level G5 opponent, and respectable but not great P5 team model worked in the 4-team playoff era. There is a reason why many SEC teams, Bama at Wisconsin in 2024, H+H with Texas in 2022/23, Georgia vs Clemson in 2024, and B1G teams, Texas at Michigan in 2024, Ohio State H+H vs Notre Dame in 2023/24 are ramping up the OOC schedules. The reason is the coming 12-team playoff. Oregon's SOS is already taking a hit with the LA schools departing, possibly replaced with SDSU and SMU. It needs better P5 OOC opponents to offset this. But, I am well aware that I could be wrong, not as to viewer numbers of Oregon games that will on average certainly decline the next 6 seasons unless there is a big streaming bump, but as to Rob's OOC scheduling model that may be acceptable to the playoff committee in which case I will be the first to apologize.

Great take. But there are millions more 'no ones' out there than the 13M who subscribe to the Pac-12 network and who can access streaming. And yes, when the Pac schedule is released it may not even be covered by Larry's network, and if covered it will receive nowhere close to the B1G schedules released over the FOX/B1G Network and the ESPN/SEC Network. But it is instructive that Oregon's athletic department is in the black financially, one of the few G5/P5 schools to have this luxury, and that, unlike Wazzu, for example, the department will not live or die based upon media revenue alone. Easier to recruit when you have national buzz but recruiting is a people-person business and Dan is burying the majority of B1G schools in 2024 recruiting to date. But I expect recruiting against SC and UCLA especially will become more difficult come 2024 and that in the long run and preferably the short run, Oregon has to find a way to receive more media exposure. I am far less concerned about streaming than you. I more than understand your point but when streaming becomes the norm for sports broadcasting, as it will, along with off-site broadcasts of events, tech advances will make access to streaming far easier than what we have today. I think that the majority of B1G and SEC games will be streamed within the next 5 years. ESPN+ has already announced that this is on the way and the NBC B1G games broadcast from LA this season will be streamed on Peacock, a network that currently has but 20M subscribers, Take that LA schools! Oregon has cachet with its brand like no other west coast team other than USC. But it cannot rest on its laurels. One reason I am so frustrated by playing good but off-the-radar B12 teams for the next six seasons OOC. Oregon cannot hide its light under a bushel, especially with the LA teams headed to the B1G which not only hurts media-wise but also SOS-wise. And with a 12-team playoff field arriving in 2024, we can only hope that SOS will matter to the committee.

SEC Pot, please call Kettle. Greg McElroy cautions B1G to not ‘stack the deck’ in scheduling to boost Playoff chances SATURDAYTRADITION.COM Greg McElroy offers some advice for the B1G.

B1G love for the Buckeyes. I'm shocked! The B1G 10: New schedule format for 2024-25 protects Ohio State at the expense of TV viewers SATURDAYTRADITION.COM Every Tuesday, Matt Hayes tackles the 10 hottest topics in the Big Ten … USC, Traveler is no longer the lead pony.

I wonder if this is payback for the Tide submarining the move to 9 conference games? In 2024 the Tide plays at Wisconsin, at LSU, and has Georgia coming to Tuscaloosa. As for UGA, Georgia plays Clemson OOC and at Bama. Winners and losers of the SEC's 2024 schedule release WWW.YARDBARKER.COM Breaking down the winners and losers of the SEC's 2024 schedule release.

A few takes on the below list. It's clear by a number of omissions that the author needs an old-fashioned visit behind the woodshed! Oregon State - How can Heisman winner Terry Baker not be on the list of great Beavers QBs? Not only did Baker win the Heisman but in the same athletic season in played in the Final 4 of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. The only college athlete to accomplish this feat. One that may never be broken. Washington - Warren Moon is mentioned but not mentioned is the significant impact he had on the QB position across the nation. Moon was not the first African-American QB to play college football but he was the most impactful. Both in being the 1st Black QB to be named All-American and drawing national attention when UW upset a favored Michigan team in the Rose Bowl, making an entire nation take notice. Today, fortunately, QBs of color no longer have to play in Canada before being allowed to show their bona fides in the NFL. No mention of a Huard and Sonny Sixkiller are big misses. Sixkiller may have the greatest QB name of all time. Although Elvis Grbac might disagree. UCLA - The author notes that Kris Kristofferson played QB for USC but fails to note that Mark Harmon who went on to play Jethro Gibbs in the hit TV series NCIS, played QB for UCLA. Mark's UCLA team defeated #1 Nebraska in 1972 in a huge upset. Mark's Dad, Tom Herman, was an All-American at Michigan. Washington State - Drew Bledsoe is rightly mentioned here but what isn't mentioned is that Bledsoe was 'Wally Pipp-ed' (look it up youngsters!) by 6th-round draft pick Tom Brady. Colorado - Personal note. My daughter Hillary, a junior at CU at the time, and I were in the Big House when Kordell Stewart threw one of the more memorable Hail Mary's in College football history. Oregon - Where is The Dutchman! The failure to mention Norm Van Brocklin, born in Parade, South Dakota in 1926, is a huge omission. Van Brocklin served in the Navy from 1943 to 1945 before matriculating at Oregon in 1946. In his two seasons as the starting QB Oregon went 16-5 in the Pacific Coast Conference with Norm being named to the All-American team in 1948. (I was a robust 1-year-old!) A 4th-round draft pick by the Rams, there were questions regarding whether Van Brocklin should be draft eligible after only 2 seasons of college ball, Norm went on to have a great NFL career playing for the Rams and the Eagles. Enough with the history lesson; class dismissed! Oregon Football: Ranking the history of QBs at every Pac-12 school DUCKSWIRE.USATODAY.COM The Pac-12 has a long history of elite quarterback play. Which school can claim the title of ‘QB University’ out west over the past...

That's what my grandparents had to say about airplanes and the telephone and my great-grandparents' thoughts on indoor plumbing. KIDDING! But I don't believe streaming will be an option when it comes to sports broadcasting in the very near future. If you want to watch you will have to swim upstream. Peacock streaming B1G games from LA and ESPN going exclusively to streaming down the road is a portent of what is coming. Love your comments.

Great take. But I don't see it happening if the Grinch who stole defense is still on board. Someone has to get the better talent playing together. And this is it for Caleb Williams who will be extremely difficult to replace in terms of on-field accomplishments. In 2024 SC opens against LSU in Las Vegas. We'll see or we won't see the progress SC has made on D up to 2024 and whether a rookie QB will have the chops to take down an SEC blue blood with a coach very experienced in playing against Troy. In 2024, I don't see SC being better than #4 in the B1G behind Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State. And I think Fickel at Wisconsin who is bringing the O into the 21st century will also be very competitive. Plus, traveling 15,000+ miles will be a toll on amateur athletes who have responsibilities pros who travel these distances do not have to deal with. Playing Michigan and even Iowa in LA in 2024 will not be easy. Neither will be playing at Ohio State come 2025. How many Pac titles has SC won recently? 1 with Sam Darnold at QB and SC has yet to make the playoff and I don't believe it does so in 2024 even with the field expanding to 12 teams.

I don't know. 7 SEC teams are playing in the 8 highest ranked out-of-conference games in 2024. This includes Georgia vs Clemson, Bama at Wisconsin, LSU vs both SC and UCLA, and Texas at Michigan. This is because they know that SOS will finally matter, we all hope at least, come 2024 and a 12-team playoff field. I don't see a buyout of what is likely to be a better program under Dilly but IMO will not challenge for a Pac-10 title any time soon.

No sport in the world limits its playoff field to 3% of the contenders based on regular season results. How often do number one pro and college seeds win titles? The Bruins set a record for regular season points and lost in the first round of the Stanley Cup. Oregon as a big-time underdog just traveled to Nashville and won the regional over highly ranked home team Vanderbilt. Oregon would not have been in the mix in a four-team field. Come 2024 we will see 1st round upsets of teams ranked 5-8 and playing at home. And we certainly will see 2nd round upsets in round 2 when the highest-seeded 4 conference champions are likely to be dogs against lower-seeded but better teams. If I have a beef with the 2024/25 playoff model it is with the top 4 ranked conference champs receiving 1st round byes instead of the top 4 seeded teams. The second beef is Notre Dame being playoff qualified with only playing 12 regular season games. The expanded playoff will IMO, certainly be more fun than the one-off BCS and the BCS x 2. And will draw far more eyeballs.

Great and spot-on take but the old bowl days were gone when the BCS showed up. More money for athletic departments that spent it on facilities and coaching salaries with the players' now getting a piece of the pie. A 12-team field will dwarf the number of relatively few who watched UGA destroy TCU last season. In my mind, the question for the B1G and the SEC come 2026 is whether we would make more money expanding to 20 to 24 teams each and conducting our own playoff shown only on our respective networks or pay for view streamed.

Why the field is now at 12 and may well go to 16 come 2026? The powers that be even in the SEC know that the playoff has to draw far more national interest. Especially with the playoff media deal with ESPN coming to an end after the 2025 season.

Tradition? Spot on regarding the stadium itself but people watching the game under a snowbank only see the sunshine and the Sun Gabriel Mountains.