Jon Joseph

ESPN has released its first 2023 edition of the FPI. Rankings are adjusted as the season progresses. Frankly, I believe ESPN's SP+ rankings to be far more accurate than the fricken(fraudulent) Power Index. Here are the top 10 and other Pac-12 schools not ranked in the top 10. 1. Ohio State - I watched the Buckeyes' spring game and the 2 starting OL tackles looked like matadors; Ole! 2. Alabama - A new QB, a new OC, a new DC - Bama is getting a lot of love based on recruiting but I think LSU wins the SEC West for the second year in a row, 3. Georgia - A cakewalk schedule by SEC standards has the Dawgs in line for a Three-Pete. 4. LSU - IN 2023 I think Daniels will be the best QB in the SEC. 5. Texas - I've seen this movie before. 6. Michigan - Seems low for a team with a lot of returning starters and a 2-game 'schedule.' At Penn State and versus Ohio State. 7. USC - Don't look now but Riley is bringing in three 300-pound plus experienced DL guys from the portal. But will The Grinch coach them up? 8. Clemson - Can Dabo stop the decline? 9. Notre Dame - Seems high for a school that is replacing its QB, and OC and having to play Ohio State, USC, and playing at Clemson. 10. Penn State - I think PSU is a very legit dark horse to win the B1G and make the Final 4. Pac-12 other than USC: T 13 OREGON - Ducks are tied with FSU. 15. Utah - Will Rising's knee hold up? 21. Washington - Sorry Ducks fans but I would have UW ahead of Utah. 24. Oregon State - 3 Pac-10 teams in the top 25 ain't shabby. 41. UCLA - Pretty low for a team not playing a decent out-of-conference opponent (OOC) and having a relatively easy Pac-12 schedule. 51. CAL - I did not expect to see CAL this close to the top 50. 59, Arizona - Didn't help that he lost 3 starters to USC but I think Fisch's team finishes better than this. 62. Washington State - Wouldn't it be nice to see Wazzu upset Wisconsin back-to-back; and this time in Pullman? 64. ASU - Not a lot of love for Dilly. 71. Stanford - Replacing David Shaw with an FCS coach does not move the needle. Does anyone at Stanford care? 94 Colorado - This should have been a Prime number. Oregon's P5 OOC opponent? 22. Texas Tech - This will be a tough game against a fired-up opponent in a sold-out stadium in Lubbock and friend Tyler Shough at the controls. Do you think these rankings are reasonably accurate? Frankly, with the number of excellent and very good returning QBs, I think that the Pac-12 overall is underrated.

US News is generally considered to be the best at the business of ranking universities and colleges. However, it's still based on a formula that is as good as its programmed algorithm. One part of the formula is based on the number of Noble Prize winners who are faculty members. I expect that no undergraduate student ever comes in contact with these folks. It also does not take individual majors into question. For example, UNLV overall has a low ranking but its School of Hospitality and Entertainment (a/k/a Hotel School) is ranked 2nd in the nation just behind Cornell. I see Oregon having a lower enrollment than many Pac-12 schools as being a good thing. This has to improve the student-teacher ratio.

Read this and commented on JC's board. Great take but JC missed crediting Prime for introducing grits to Boulder breakfast joints.No joke! I saw Prime play against Elvis in Ann Arbor. FSU's, go anywhere play anyone Bobby Bowden's team vs Michigan with Elvis Grbac at QB. Prime and the Seminoles took the Wolverines down. My daughter went to CU so I often visited The Sink. Her junior year we were in Ann Arbor for the Kordell Stewart Hail Mary walk-off victory pass. (My only bad news is that she graduated from UW med school.) So great to see a Pac-10 school opening its wallet.

Please help me up from the floor! At least this cool cat looks like he could coach both sides of the ball.

How did this happen? Mario Cristobal, and DeBoer coaching up a darn good Fresno QB.

Great take but I see at least 2 of those games being grind-outs. At Oregon State and versus Utah.

I think it is far too early to make a comparison. I especially want to see what happens this season when UW trips to Michigan State and Oregon trips to Texas Tech, the results of the UW at SC and SC at Oregon games, and of course, Oregon at UW. In 2024 I want to see which of the 2 coaches does the best in replacing a veteran starter at QB. Having Nix come in to play for an OC he played for at Auburn and Penix coming in to play for DeBoer, his former OC at Indiana was a big benefit for both coaches. The recruiting numbers already speak for themselves and favor DL.

Cart, in 2014, did you watch #4 seed Ohio State defeat #1 seed Bama in the Sugar Bowl playing with its 3rd string QB? That tOSU team punched Bama in the mouth and had more speed on the field than Bama. That Ohio State team was loaded and well-coached. Not the fraudulent undefeated FSU team that Jimbo brought to the Rose Bowl. Baylor or TCU deserved to be in the PO that season and in the Rose Bowl, far more so than FSU. But the PO Committee with a 4 team field will never bench an undefeated P5 team.

Great take. Dillingham had one of if not the best OLs in Oregon history in front of Nix. I agree with all of your points but I think the rebuild, or not, of the OL by Terry will be key this season Love that the 2023 schedule gives Oregon an opener against an FCS team at home before having to trip to Lubbock to play a motivated and talented Texas Tech team. Also likely helps that TT is on the road at Wyoming for its opening game.

Nick may have helped the cause but Ohio State had, by far, a superior roster, and the Duck's best WR being busted for smoking dope and not having IFO really hurt the cause. Nick shut down the Auburn O but this was a much better and deeper Ohio State team that slipped in as the #4 Playoff seed and improved greatly during the season even when down to its 3rd string QB. The Ohio State OL punched the vaunted Bama DL in the mouth in the Sugar Bowl. Bama had Saint Nick and other quality coaches coaching the Tide D and it didn't matter.

Nix had the benefit of playing for Dillingham, the best OC he had at Auburn, and from getting away from the Auburn/SEC/ legacy pressure cooker. I think he and Stein will be just fine if Terry can successfully rebuild the OL.

Great take, David. Thank you. As to it being the players and not the plays see Lombardi, Vince. As to talent overcoming scheme spot on with your analysis of Oregon playing Ohio State for the title game. That Buckeyes team was loaded with guys like Joey Bosa still making waves in the NFL. 'AT' Georgia last season was another example of one roster being far better and deeper than another. But as Kirby Smart said post-game: Dan knows we have better players but he will get there at Oregon. AMEN!

Great take. To me, it comes down to the $ the B1G would pay versus the money Oregon makes off an unknown media amount. There is no baseline on either side of the fence unless the B1G/FOX has made an unknown offer to Oregon. I do not see B1G/FOX making a bid before knowing the number GK will come up with. (I do not want to be cynical but perhaps one reason GK is slow-walking the media deal is to keep the B1G and the B12 from the Pac-10 door.) Come the 2026 season my guess is that the playoff will go to 16 teams (and CBB at some point will go to 80) with no teams receiving first-round byes and both the 1st and 2nd rounds played on the home field of the higher-ranked teams. (For political reasons at least 1 G5 team will have to be included.) I expect if the field expands to 16 that the SEC especially will receive the majority of the top seeds. Recall that at the end of last season, the B1G only had 3 teams ranked by the Committee in the top 25 and the B1G W champ, Purdue, gave up 60+ points to LSU in the bowl game. But I agree with Charles that unless there is a significant change, such as players being deemed employees I do not see much happening on the P5 expansion front for the next 5 to 6 seasons except for the Pac-12 adding a team or 2 at a lower media share than the rest of the Pac-12 teams. The ACC is contractually locked in until 2036. I don't see FOX coming with more money for B1G media rights or for further B12 expansion. I do not see B1G members agreeing to a lesser share to help the LA schools cut down on travel. I do not see the 4 Corners schools or any other Pac member agreeing to take a smaller cut than the 4 new members to join the B12. And I believe that ESPN's spending spree has been put on hold by its parent. IMO, streaming is the CFB-media future.

Very good point but once the spring portal season closes it's pretty easy to rank a team's roster and you know where the games will be played. No school without a Blue Chip Roster (over 50% 4* and 5* recruits) won the BCS or has won a (BCS x 2) playoff title.

Which makes it so hard to prove. Tampering does happen on occasion in the NFL with a player in his last season prior to being a free agent but improper contact is internally and diligently policed and punished with the loss of draft picks and fines. Pat Narduzzi at Pitt was right about SC 'stealing' Addison but Riley after paying players for years at Oklahoma before NIL is not going to directly tamper. And Troy Dye? I get that his fiancee probably wanted to be closer to home but I'd love to know the details of Dye's, USC NIL deal(s.) Heading into the 2023 season the guy with a big beef against SC is Arizona HC Fisch. 3 of his starters including one of if not the best WR in the conference, Singer, transferred to SC. SC treated AZ like the Yankees did the once-upon-a-time Kansas City Athletics. Heading into the post-season KC owner Charlie Finley almost also 'sold' (traded) a few of his best players to the Yankees. Nothing new under the Sun.

And Fickell grabbing the SMU QB out of the portal should definitely help the Badgers O. I think Florida taking the former Wisconsin QB out of the portal is very questionable. Spot on in regards to Texas. I know it isn't an 'academic fit,' but UTSA and the San Antonio huge media market should, IMO, also be looked at as a candidate for expansion.

Sorry, Charles, and thank you Thom and Happy. I thought this was outside of the ESPN paywall. My bad.

PA, thanks for another great update. Media was not allowed to watch the scrimmage. I am guessing that big-money donors were the ones allowed to watch the 'game.' I recall during Pete Carroll's time at USC most of the practices were open to the press and the public, including Snoop Dog. I'm guessing that Texas Tech and others will have scouts at the to-be-broadcast spring game and the Portland State game. All cards will not be shown in either one of these two games but I wonder if not allowing the media and more fans in to watch a spring practice scrimmage is not at least somewhat self-defeating. But obviously, it's DL's call, and thankfully for Ducks fans everywhere, not my call.

But are 'they' doing it for the money or is their school doing it to them for the money? An estimated $70M a year in media revenue is nice but how much will trickle down to the athletes; especially, the non-revenue athletes? When it comes to recruiting non-revenue sports athletes I think travel may have a significant negative effect. I'm hoping travel issues will help Oregon's cause when recruiting in California for all sports. Charles, as the godfather of this great site, how much of a B1G media revenue slice would it take to convince you that Oregon needs to go to the B1G? I wrestle with this question. Should Oregon and likely UW make life easier for the LA schools by agreeing to be a 'junior partner?'

SMU football's win-win future: Pac-12 buzz, 12-team CFP spell opportunity THEATHLETIC.COM Whether or not the Pac-12 comes calling, the program is well-positioned for success in the American Athletic Conference in the near future.

Very surprised to see an experienced and experienced DL player transferring from Georgia and rumored to be headed to Southern Cal. Riley, with a lot of experience paying players at Oklahoma before NIL, continues to Poach-On!

The Ducks need TEs. Would not hurt to take in Bryant but the WR room looks to be loaded. Does anyone know how the touted OT transfer from Rhode Island is working out?

I can't help but wonder how Bruins and Trojans pitchers will fare when playing in the Midwest and on the east coast in March and April Then again, I really don't care.

ND, great post. As I noted elsewhere with the DL Georgia transfer Riley will have taken in good to excellent players from the ACC, B12, Pac-12 and it looks like the SEC. He took 3 starters from Arizona in the first portal opening, including the Wildcats' best receiver, Singer. My guess? This kind of stuff will not be welcome if he goes after B1G players starting in 2024. If this was the NFL, the Trojans would be out of draft picks for the next decade.

Big Man, Big Transfer. One of Georgia's starting DL guys, well over 300 pounds and played a lot for the Dawgs last season is in the portal and expected to sign with Southern Cal. If the prediction is correct, Riley will have poached good to very good to excellent players from the ACC, B12, Pac-12, and now, the SEC. Can't wait to see the reaction of his fellow coaches when he starts to do the same stuff in the B1G. ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... I agree with David Marsh that some of the players entering the portal have been 'told' to do so by the coaching staff. But except in this case and I know I am showing my age how about doing something for the good of the team and your existing teammates? How about competing for the starting job where you are instead of bailing out? Forgive me, but I do not see a higher power within a million miles of the transfer portal. And, obviously, roster tampering that would draw serious penalties in the NFL is rampant; especially, in college football and basketball.