Jon Joseph

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.

Why not give the cash to Portland State?

Terrific thoughts but I note that Florida is and will be the dog when it visits Salt Lake City. The last two games Cal played against the SEC were victories over Ole Miss. Personally, I feel that Georgia has eclipsed Bama as the IT program in the SEC. And I also think that LSU is closing in on The Tide. Below are the top out-of-conference games in 2024. Clemson vs Georgia/ Miami at Florida/ Notre Dame at A+M/ USC vs LSU in Las Vegas/ Texas at Michigan/ Alabama at Wisconsin/ UCLA at LSU and a kind of OOC game will see FSU at Notre Dame in November. Meanwhile, Oregon plays Texas Tech. An upcoming B12 program but the game will draw nowhere close to the eyeballs the games listed above will draw. And a win over TT in Autzen will not help Oregon's SOS when it comes to a 12-team playoff. I expect, finally, that SOS will matter to the playoff committee when it comes to seeding the 12-team field and determining the at-large teams. The Ducks in-conference schedule is already taking an SOS hit with the LA schools going away. And I think we will all be shocked if the committee does not favor B1G and SEC teams. I find it interesting that in 2024 both LA schools are playing LSU. Look at the above list. 7 of the 8 games involve SEC teams that certainly run the risk of taking a loss from every opponent on the above list. The SEC is scheduling like this not because it will perhaps stay with 8 conference games in 2024 but because they know that SOS will matter come 2024. A close loss to a highly ranked opponent out-of-conference is likely to matter more than a win against a team that is an underdog. Charles has correctly pointed out that viewer numbers should trump media market numbers when it comes to valuing Oregon. Oregon was the 7th most-watched team in the nation in 2022 because it played Georgia in Atlanta. Even with the beat down in Georgia, Oregon was in the Final 4 mix with a suspect D before losing close and winnable games to UW and Oregon State. Oregon also had terrific viewer numbers in 2021 when it played Ohio State in Columbus. Texas Tech? Baylor? Oklahoma State? I could not come close to doing the job that Rob is doing in Eugene including making a great baseball coach hire but I think the next 6 seasons are predicted on yesterday's 4 team playoff field and not the expanded playoff field. The art of the deal is important when it comes to scheduling and I think Rob settled for the next 6 OOC games rather than trying to sell Oregon. Oregon has a great brand but it will not sell itself.

The answer is likely Commissioner George Kliavkoff but the post below has nothing to do with the new media deal that has been kicked to death, resurrected who knows how many times, and kicked to death again. You know that Prime and Bo are on the list. https://athlonsports.com/college-football/who-is-facing-the-most-pressure-in-the-pac-12#gid=ci02c1b9fa20002707&pid=deion-sanders-colorado

Amazing when you compare the Autzen seating capacity to others in the top 10. UCLA at 10? The Rose Bowl is 1 on January 1st but not when the Bruins play there. Autzen Stadium ranks as one of the top atmospheres in college football DUCKSWIRE.USATODAY.COM Autzen has had the reputation of being one of the toughest places to play for opponents, but how does it rank with other stadiums?

The B1G schedule and its travel demands will be hard enough on the Bruins in 2024 but UCLA also opens at Hawaii and then plays LSU in Baton Rogue.

E WA, Utah St, and a visit to Waco? I understand the thought process that made sense when the playoff had 4 teams but with 12 teams starting in 2024, I'm not sure that this scheduling model makes sense. Not one of these games will come close to the magic 4M viewer number. BTW, does anyone know what it will cost Ohio State to buy out of the return game owed Oregon? With the LA schools coming on board tOSU didn't wait long to pay UW $500K to buy out of the 2024/25 home-and-home series. Just like the Buckeyes to wait a year prior before giving Oregon the scheduling shaft.

Good take but I do not see FSU anywhere in the B1G mix. Ditto Clemson. All B1G schools other than Nebraska are AAU members and Nebraska was a member when it joined the B1G. I think school size will have far less impact on the decision to expand than will viewership numbers. Obviously, the B1G will not bend over like the ACC and take in Notre Dame unless Notre Dame brings football with it. The bad blood between ND and the B1G goes back to the 1930s when ND was dumped on by the Big 10 for being a Jesuit institution and ND's academics were suspect which is not the case today. ND is one school that FOX would open the wallet for and is not a fit in the SEC.

Thanks, H. All are AAU member schools which matters to the B1G. Not being AAU members is why I think Clemson and FSU are correctly excluded from your list. Viewer-wise, Oregon laps Cal and Stanford but the academics could be enticing to the B1G prex and the LA schools would prefer these two over OR and UW. Lesser competition and UCLA would escape the Cal tax. Of course, no expansion decision will be made without the approval of FOX. And I doubt that any of the 4 Pac schools you cited would be offered a full media share. If the ACC goes away before its media deal ends in 2036 the Domers will have a dilemma. Unless ND is willing to join as a full member the B1G will not add ND. And ND would have no place for its other sports program including its Lax ream that just won the Lax NCAA title. If ESPN/SEC makes an expansion move or B1G goes first the other conference will follow suit. But in today's media world, I don't think the money is there for further expansion in the near future. I see the Pac as the next P5 conference to expand adding SDSU and SMU. Notre Dame ice hockey does currently play in the B1G. Georgia Tech is an AAU member and the B1G might want to tweak the SEC with a team in Atlanta. Miami is a relatively small private school with good academics but plays football in an NFL stadium and Miami is a smaller media market than Orlando,

That would mean in a day and age when you cannot lop heads off a heck of a lot in alimony payments.

And Seattle does not appear to be the place to be for recruits. Heartbreaking, right? Washington loses commitment from QB recruit in class of 2024 SATURDAYOUTWEST.COM Washington is losing a key recruit.

Stanford receives a gift from the Longhorns. At least 1 Pac team is headed to Omaha. Unbelievable! Lost fly ball sends Stanford past Texas and back to the College World Series SATURDAYOUTWEST.COM Stanford outlasted Texas 7-6 in Game 3, reaching Omaha on one of the wildest endings in NCAA Tournament history.

Yes, the Ducks made the list coming in at #5. Michigan, Ohio State headline five best college football running back rooms entering 2023 season - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM There are some loaded backfields in college football waiting to terrorize defenses this season

Jon, love you man but why enable anyone who has stabbed you in the back? If UCLA wants to come all the way back-Pac fine. But other than that why would the Pac help out UCLA non-football sports and why would the B1G retain UCLA as a football member only when the value rests in Bruins basketball? UCLA is only in the B1G because SC got the invite and because of basketball and not football. And so FOX could keep ESPN out of the LA market. UCLA basketball is the straw that stirs the Bruins drink. The B1G/FOX for $60 to $65M a year will not allow UCLA CBB to escape the media rights deal it has signed on for.

If Texas has Blue Blood based on results since the beginning of the BCS and BCS X 2, then so do many of the teams with similar results. Oregon and UW have made the 4 team playoff field. Texas? Texas is Blue Blood only in the mind of UT boosters and fans.

And roster strength at year-end does not matter at all compared to a team's record.

I am so sick of SEC teams that lose bowl games blaming the loss on the SEC team not caring about the result because the game was meaningless. Horse manure!

I do love you even though there will never be another ewe.