Jon Joseph

Dilly made a difference at Auburn and also at Oregon. If Nix had stayed with the Tigers he would have been part of the Harsin demise. At the QB position in particular your OC and the system you play in can make a world of difference. I think one of the more interesting things to watch in 2023 will be how B1G castoffs Joe Milton at TN, Payton Thorne at Auburn, and Grahm Mertz at Florida play in the SEC. We've already seen how escaping Herm helped out Daniels at LSU. Not only was Dyer down but Nick A. also shut $cam down.

Hayward, if Joey had his way Justin Wilcox would be the Ducks coach and recruiting would be somewhere in the lower 30s or upper 40s. And would a guy like Nix be returning at QB? I doubt it. Caleb Williams, Bo Nix, Michael Penix, Jr., and Cam Rising all transferred in. Christian Gonzalez is emblematic of how successfully Dan can pluck the portal. Certainly, Matayo will be a baller at Oregon. But at the start of the season at the very least I expect that Jordan Burch will have more of an impact. NFL free agents do not always work out but I'd much rather go with a guy I have film on playing against college competition than a rookie coming out of high school. It's a new day and age in CFB. Plucking the portal properly is as important in many respects as the recruiting rankings.

Even with Fox driving the bus, the B1G is not going to go after non-AAU member schools. This is one way in which the B1G distinguishes the conference from the SEC. In 2024, Nebraska will be the only B1G school out of 18 members not to be an AAU member university. Nebraska was an AAU member at the time it joined the B1G; otherwise, it would not have gotten the invite. B1G presidents would much prefer to add AAU member schools Georgia Tech, UNC, Duke, and UVA over Clemson and FSU. Unlike the Pac-12, the B1G can afford to be an Elite Club.

Hayward, I already have riffed enough on your excellent comment. But I do want to note the incredible story about where Oregon is today. And where is it today? Oregon is sitting in the CFB cat-bird (no offense Puddles) seat. No matter how CFB sorts itself out, Oregon will not be left behind. (Unless it decides the game is no longer worth the candle.) Amazing for a program that for years produced some incredibly talented players like Norm Van Brocklin, Dan Fouts, Ahmad Rashad, and a personal favorite, Patriots tight end Russ Francis, and many others I did not mention but did not have a great deal of success on the football field. The marketing of Oregon has made the Oregon brand one of the elite brands in college football. A smaller-sized school in a smaller-sized city in the Northwest is now known both nationally and internationally. Playing frequently in and winning Rose Bowl games and playing for a BCS and a Playoff championship is something very few schools have accomplished. With the help of NIKE, Phil Knight, Bob Sasser, and an administration that supported the development of athletics across the board, Oregon football has ascended to much-watch TV and plays in a stadium that is acknowledged as a place with SEC-like fan support. Other smaller schools have had a moment in the sun, VA Tech, W. Virginia, and recently TCU, for example, but Oregon is the smaller school to have continued success, although occasionally interrupted success. One heck of a story and a whole lot to look forward to.

Notre Dame without the ACC to play other sports in is in a pickle. Having all of its teams other than football and ice hockey that plays in the B1G, having a home in the ACC, along with the ACC football scheduling agreement, enables ND to stay at least quasi-independent in football. As to equal revenue splits, I see this going away as you so suggest as conferences continue to consolidate and linear broadcasting moves to streaming. With streaming, the size of media markets will be meaningless, as is kind of the case today. Cal and Stanford are both in a major media market but this did not entice Fox, CBS, and NBC to fund their entry into the B1G. Schools will be paid based on the number of people who pay for streaming subscriptions and watch given teams play. This along with being rewarded for playing in and advancing in the football and CBB playoffs. I expect that the coming CFB players union will negotiate for a piece of the media pie. And a players union will allow for bargained agreement on transfers, among other things. I believe a high school draft will follow suit which will eliminate NIL being used as a recruiting inducement. And eliminating the huge recruiting piece of being a coach will bring down college football coaches salaries. I don't know if it's a brave new world but it is a new world and college football being entirely monetized will lead to NFL Lite and possibly CBB Lite. FSU already has an investment bank considering whether to buy FSU athletics programs. This I believe will be the norm with schools licensing at least football and CBB to 3rd parties for an agreed-upon payment and with an indemnity against liability associated with football in particular. Will football and men's basketball athletes be students in any sense of the word? If so, perhaps there will be a football and basketball major course of study. I believe that additional conference consolidation will occur in the next 6 years or fewer.

Thanks, PA. To me. it's about the result and not the predicate. Speculative autopsies matter not. Puddles is partially in the money and will be totally in the money come 2031. Pay millions for the SFO market when Cal and Stanford play in front of empty stadiums? Pay millions for the Corvallis and Pullman markets? Headliners play at Caesar's Palace and others are Lounge acts.

With athletes deemed to be employees, teams like Northwestern, Vandy, etc. may voluntarily withdraw instead of dealing with the consequences such as negotiating with a players union. Agreement with a players union is the only way, IMO, that transfers can be controlled. I do not see any way that NIL will be restricted. There is a salary cap and restraints on rookie contracts in the NFL but no restraints on NIL. I think it is likely when players become employees that we will see a high school draft which would eliminate NIL bidding for recruits. I do believe a school like Vandy will get a piece of the football pie and remain in its existing conference for all other sports other than football and perhaps men's basketball. Title 9 could also play a major role in how ever this all sorts out. But who knows how this will all come down and who has been tough to locate in the current conference consolidation.

The graffiti folks in South Central would make short work of this.

Sir Notalot, below is Saturday Out West's projection of the USC game-by-game record in 2023. I like the prediction of Tommy Trojan leaving Eugene with the L and the tip of the hat to the Autzen SEC-like atmosphere. Loss at Notre Dame? I don't see it. I believe QB Sam Hartman was the all-time system QB playing in the unique slow-mesh option O at Wake Forest. Pitt's Pat Narduzzi got after him in 2022 and brought the house on D. The result was 6 picks. And Notre Dame has no WR that can stretch the field. After last season's win over Notre Dame, Riley, and Caleb Williams will come into South Bend with a lot of confidence. In this game that will be watched nationwide, I expect Riley to showcase Williams. IMO, there is no way that ND can win a track meet vs USC. Sorry, but a see a loss against Utah or UW far more likely than a loss at Arizona. Unless the AZ D has improved significantly, I do not see the AZ D holding down Williams. The biggest predicted win on SC's schedule? How about being idle in Week 13, the week before the conference champ game? Typical of the conference that Puddles is flying away from to give another escapee a huge scheduling benefit. I think that Oregon will match up with SC in the champ game in Las Vegas. Oregon will be coming off what perhaps will be the last Civil War game against an extremely motivated opponent. This will be a most physical football game. USC will be watching, healing, and game-planning against Oregon and every other team in championship contention. Why not give an NFL playoff wild card contender the week off before the 1st round of the playoffs while all other contenders play? No one in Pac-12 HQ, Merton Hanks, and others get this? I hope Rob Mullens didn't roll over for this as well as UCLA and SC leaving with the benefit of the Cali scheduling agreement but I very much doubt it. SC receives the benefit, because of conference cluelessness, of playing San Jose State in Week 0, a game that will be played next Saturday. Former AD Bohn may have been many things but this is super smart, playoff-designed, scheduling.

Bo does Dallas! Or, something like that.

Great take, David. Thank you. The ACC's crummy media numbers are goosed by distribution from the ACC Network. With the media distributions, ACC schools received @$40M from ESPN in 2022. More than the B12 and Pac-12 distributed. But far behind the B1G and the SEC. Larry Scott was foolish to enter into a 12-year media deal. A deal that runs through 2036 is beyond foolish. The ACC as currently structured is gone within 5 years. All it takes is 4 ACC schools besides the ones that black-balled Cal and Stanford, Clemson, FSU, UNC, and NC State, to crater the conference and allow teams to depart without the payment of any exit fee let alone $120M. And ESPN will have to on the one hand come up with more money but will on the other hand, lose the cost of the ACC deal and the cost of operating the ACC Network. As David notes, the prize schools money-wise are Clemson and FSU. Clemson was No. 10 in average number of football viewers in 2022, with 3M viewers. FSU finished No. 15, with 2.030M viewers. After this, you drop to No. 43 NC State, with 881K viewers, No. 46 UNC with 849K viewers. Then 48, Syracuse. 49, Georgia Tech. 56. Pitt. 59. Miami. 60. Wake Forest. By comparison, Washington State finished 41. with 907K viewers. Notwithstanding the objections of South Carolina and Florida, as was the case with Texas and A+M, Clemson and FSU make perfect sense for the SEC. These two are not AAU member schools so I believe both are off the board for the B1G. I think the most likely candidates nationally for the B1G are Notre Dame, which could be left with no ACC football scheduling agreement and nowhere for its other teams to play, and AAU member schools Stanford, UNC, Duke, Georgia Tech, and UVA. I can see the SEC having an interest beyond Clemson and FSU in Louisville and NC State. Maybe No. 13 most-watched TCU and No. 24. most-watched Oklahoma State (only 1 spot behind Oklahoma.) I think Miami gets left behind. A smaller Private school drafting off of its glory days, No. 60 in viewership as noted above, and without an on-campus football field. Regardless, size goes to size in big business. College sports have been fully capitalized and there is nothing collegial involved when public media companies 'own' the Power 2 conferences. The NLRB, various state legislatures, and numerous plaintiffs are all after college sports, at least football, and men's basketball players, to be deemed to be employees. When, and it's a question of when and not if this happens, the final consolidation will see a Power 2, AFL - NFL consolidation. Going to Congress for relief is a fool's errand. This is the natural progression flowing from the NCAA losing its broadcast monopoly in 1984 and the idea that college football needed the BCS to determine its One True Champion. You take the money in any endeavor and you pay the price. And once money rules the day, the pursuit of more money is inexorable. The price here among other things is the loss of tradition, the destruction of loyalty, every school and player looking out for themself and themselves, and young men no longer playing football in the daylight. Thanks again, David. Do I like all of 'this?' Heck no! However, and I would be a hypocrite to think otherwise, I am extremely happy that Oregon caught the last plane out and is headed to B1G country.

I think you can see Lubbock from here.

Kirk, good take. But next year Michigan will also be breaking in a new QB. Thus be it ever in college ball.

Well we made it to the airport Caught the last plane out. As we taxied down the runway I could hear those Beavers shout, "Don't come back here Puddles!" But if I ever do I'll bring B1G money And maybe a Natty or two.

As long as Puddles found a seat in the last lifeboat, I do not care which Northwest school decided to first get off the Titanic. As Charles has noted, Puddles is moving up B1G. Below is an example. The B1G placed the most players on the preseason All-American team. AP Preseason All-America: B1G leads all conferences in first-team selections SATURDAYTRADITION.COM AP Preseason All-America: The B1G led all league's with a dominant first-team showing.

Interesting that Pac-12 guru ranks Oregon 17 in his AP Poll vote and expects the Ducks to finish 9-3. Because of the Blue Blood history, I get the preseason love for USC. But the back end of the SC schedule is loaded and I don't think that SC defeats Utah, UW, UCLA, and Oregon this season. Utah? Made the champ game in 2022 only because of its schedule. The SC D stunk. But Utah was fortunate to defeat SC in SLC and also fortunate that it was coming off of a game vs CU, probably the worst P5 team in 2022, while SC was coming off of a game against Notre Dame and Williams played on one leg in the 2nd half of the champ game. UW? With better coaching decisions both Oregon and Oregon State would have defeated UW last season. Because of the depth of the conference, I think Oregon finishes 10-2. Wins the champ game and wins the Fiest Bowl game. Your toss-up take is spot on.

David, Cristobal did recruit a thumper, talented RB in Trey Benson who balled out at FSU in 2022 and is on the All-ACC Preseason team heading into 2023. Benson is projected to be one of the first RBs to be drafted in 2024. Tyler Shough, if he can stay healthy is another guy who will go in the 1st 3 rounds of the draft. Mario tried with all his might to bury Justin Herbert but there was too much innate talent there for Mario to totally screw the guy up. QB Tyler Van Dyck was the ACC Rookie of the Year in 2021. Yes, he was injured during the season in 2022 but even before then, Mario made him look like a run-of-the-mill QB at best. Mario is a recruiting champ and a coaching chump. He is a .500 head football coach. As a number of players voiced when DL showed up, 'Football is fun again.' And you heard the same from the Ducks fans. Thank the U for taking Mario MIA. But, then again, he was MIA when he was coaching in Eugene.

Cohen is currently serving on the CFB Playoff Committee. Before the move to SC, she still would have had to recuse herself from the discussion involving any Pac-12 team. Did Dolt, er Folt, get it right this time? Maybe Jen wanted a change of scene regardless but I imagine that UW would not or could not match the SC salary. Will Wazzu AD Pat Chun, rumored to be in the mix for the Ohio State job, be a candidate for the UW job?

OK, I do kind of care. Viewer wise it is Wazzu getting the short end of the stick. In 2022, Washington State came in at No. 41 of the 131 P5/G5 teams ranked by the average number of football game viewers. Wazzu averaged 907K viewers a game. That's punching way above its weight class. 45. Cal - 857K/ 47. Stanford - 846K/ 57. Oregon State - 624K And Beavers fans believe their school has the same brand appeal as No. 12 Oregon with an average of 2.21M? Riiiiiiiigth! College football realignment: Wazzu has 3 backup plans, and 2 of them are out there FANSIDED.COM With the Pac-12 on its last legs, Washington State has been evaluating its options. What does the future hold for Cougars? As told in a conversation with E...

A look at future conference opponent Minnesota's 2023 schedule. Hide the women and gophers! Thursday, 8/31, no OOC tune-up, the Gophers open up vs Nebraska. Goldy drew the shortest end of the 2023 East/West crossover stick. Michigan State at home? OK. But add on #2 Michigan at home and on the road at #3 Columbus. Brutal. And the OOC slate isn't all that easy. A decent MAC opponent in E. Michigan. A game vs decent Sun Belt opponent Louisiana and a game at #21 UNC. Minnesota gets Illinois and Wiscon at home in the West but trips to #25 Iowa. No Natty for Goldy in 2023 is not a tough prediction.

Below is a summary of an excellent article, written by Seth Emerson of The Athletic. Seth is a Georgia graduate who covers the Bulldogs and all things SEC for The Athletic. In going for its 3rd college football (CFB) championship in a row, Georgia is trying to match the Minnesota Golden Gopher teams of 1934, 1935, and 1936. 1934 - MN went 8-0 with one close call, a 13-7 win at Pittsburgh in front of 64,000 fans. Grantland Rice All-American guard, Bill Bevan, was the last B1G player to play without a helmet. A QB (single-wing tailback) and guard on the 1934/35/36 rosters, Bud Wilkinson, went on to have a Hall of Fame coaching career at Oklahoma. Bud also played on the Gophers' hockey team. At Oklahoma, Bud came close to a championship 3-peat. The Sooners did win the title in 1955 and 1956 but in 1957, even though finishing the season undefeated, Oklahoma finished 3rd in the AP and Coaches Polls behind Ohio State and UCLA. Wilkinson's team at Oklahoma had a 47-game winning streak and Wilkinson did win one more title at Oklahoma, making him the only CFB player and head coach to win 3 titles as a player and 3 as a head coach. (Note, when reading about Dwight Reed below, the Big 8 was integrated in 1951. Black athletes played on all of Wilkinson's teams.) 1935 - The Gophers again went 8-0. Minnesota did not play an Ohio State team that went 7-0 in the conference but lost to Notre Dame. This season was the first for Dwight Reed, who played end on offense and defense. Reed was the lone Black player on the Minnesota championship teams. The one southern team the Gophers played that season, Tulane, refused to play with Reed on the field or the sideline. Reed watched the game in New Orleans from the press box. In 1936, Minnesota played and defeated Texas in Minneapolis. Texas beefed about Reed playing but coach Bernie Bierman told Texas that Reed was playing. After the game in 1936, Bierman canceled all future games scheduled against teams from the south. Dwight Reed is a member of the Minnesota Hall of Fame and also a member of the B1G Hall of Fame. 1936 - Minnesota opened the season in Seattle with a 14-7 victory over the Huskies. The evening before the game the hotel the team was staying in burned to the ground but no Minnesota players were injured. Minnesota did lose a home game, 0-6, to No. 3 ranked Northwestern. This was the first year of the AP Poll and the trend was set, it is better to lose early than late. Minnesota and Northwestern both finished 8-1 but No. 1 Northwestern lost 26-6 to Notre Dame in the last game of the season. to finish No. 7 in the final AP Poll. Number 1 and AP Poll champion Minnesota did outscore its 1936 opponents 203-32. Other teams claim titles in the years Minnesota was awarded its three consecutive championships. 1934 - Unbeaten Alabama was the champion choice of the (Richard) Poling (!) System. In those days, B1G teams had far more ranking juice than teams located in Dixie. 1935 - In 2016 (!) the American Football Coaches Association awarded TCU the 1935 title. 1936 - Rose Bowl champion Pittsburgh, 21-0 victor over Washington, finished 8-1-1 and was ranked No. 1 by College Football Ratings Association. However, the NCAA CFB Record Book recognizes Minnesota as the consensus champion in these three years. How times have changed? Black players deservedly dominate CFB rosters today. Not one player on Minnesota's roster in 1934/35/36 weighed 200 pounds or more. And I very much doubt that any player could run the 100 in less than 11 seconds if that. Bernie Bierman passed in Laguna, California in 1977 with a net worth of $5M. Current Minnesota coach PJ Fleck is paid @$6M a year. Bernie was paid @$10,000 a year. He was a very successful businessman after retiring as the Gopher's head coach. Unless Georgia plays OREGON in a playoff semifinal game or for the title in 2023, best of luck to the Dawgs on its quest for a 3-peat.

Thanks, PA. Looking at the photo there does not appear to be a whole lot of downhill skiing going on near Lubbock.

Interesting the way in which the schedule breaks down. Oregon gets Portland State at home in week 1 while TX Tech has a fairly long trip and will be playing Wyoming in Laramie at altitude. Also interesting that Oregon plays at UW on 10/14 with both teams coming off of an idle week. Oregon plays Cal on 10/21 before tripping to Utah while the Utes come off a game at SC. On paper, that's a tougher 2 weeks back-to-back than the Ducks will face.

College Football News ranks the Pac-12 2023 schedules. According to CFN, Oregon is looking good IF you agree with Oregon's schedule being ranked at 11 in the Pac-12. With games against 4 Pac-12 teams preseason ranked in the AP Poll top 25, with two on the road at Utah and UW, I think this ranking is low by at least 5 spots. Then, add in a trip to Lubbock. IMO, Oregon's schedule should be ranked no lower than 5. I do agree with UCLA receiving the bon voyage scheduling gift. https://collegefootballnews.com/cfn/pac-12-football-schedule-rankings-2023 Overall, CFN has Oregon's schedule ranked 47 out of 133. Hardest Game - Washington - not USC 2. CU - Hardest game - Oregon - not USC 4. Stanford - Hardest game - USC 7. Utah - Hargest game - USC 8. UW - Hardest game - USC 18. USC - Hardest game - Notre Dame WRONG! How about at Oregon instead of at ND.

Great point Charles on the 2024 DL. But I think that Dan will again prove to be a masterful Puddles Portal Plucker.