Jon Joseph

Mike, I'm out buying more beer to cry into. BTW, looks like Las Vegas is odds on for the new site of Pac-12 HQ.

I did watch Otto Graham play (SIGH.)

Rules? What entity is going to bring rules to the table? This is not, so far, the NFL. And it will not be rule governed without a players union. Without an entity to negotiate with who knows what, where and when? Today in CFB we are witnessing the 'wild west.' Instead of a peacemaker it's the banditos with mucho dinero who are making the rules. $8M and Lanning has a chance to compete against this? A+M just paid for best recruiting class ever? And is there anything to prevent this? I see further chaos coming and I see no governing body in a position to make any king of rules. David, I hope that your hope for some kind of constraint happening. But I don't see it happening after a 9-0 Supreme Court spanking of the NCAA and no one in charge of today's big time CFB.

With this news I expect Tampa Bay to be in the mix next season and make a good run at an NFL title. I guess hanging out with the wife and kids got old in a hurry? Has there ever been a better long term competitor than Tom Brady? In this day and age would TB have stayed in Ann Arbor and sat on the bench? He waited to play for years and defeated Alabama in his last game at Michigan. $ wise he could have hung it up years ago; especially, when considering the money made by his spouse. Some dudes just cannot shake the locker room and the thrill of game day. As an old-timer, I wish nothing but the best for a guy playing in the NFL close to 50 years of age, AMAZING!

And the former DC did the walking. I for one expect tOSU to win the B1G and return to the Final 4 in 2022.

Travel to Utah State makes sense. The MW put more teams into the NCAA tourney than did the Pac-12. But for Oregon to have to go to Logan for a post-season game? This simply hurts. Go Ducks but Come on Man!

I agree. I think part of Clemson's 'difficulties' (Tigers still went 10-3 last season) in 2021, was the result of DGU scoring the big Doctor Pepper deal and then throwing 9 TDs and 10 Ints. These insane, inane NIL deals will affect the locker room. How can they not? I do not begrudge anyone making money, even money well beyond their market value. But I bemoan the obvious, loyalty from coaches on down is now a myth. Travis Dye heading to LA was for me, a kick in the guts. Far more so than Chip, Slick + Mario leaving. I understand and fully support Charles' position to support what is left. I more than many, am not surprised that CFB has become all about the Benjies. I have, in a Cassandra-like manner, been predicting this for years. I simply HATE, there is no other word for it, that from the inception of the BCS you could see this coming from the proverbial mile away. And if a dolt like I could see this coming, where were the august leaders of the Conference of Champions? I have nothing but love for the Ducks, Charles, and the good people who populate this great board. And much love for the folks who show up at Autzen on game day. I have nothing but disdain for 'leaders' of the Pac-12 who bought into 'this' and allowed 'this' to happen. 30 Duck is spot on. CFB is simply part of an entertainment colossus. And the colossus on the Left Coast, football-wise, is left picking up the pieces. But please adopt Charles' and not this old man's attitude. My being grumpy does not mean that Oregon one day cannot win it all in CFB and CBB.

Thanks for the post Charles. Between this post and yesterday's take on the possibility of a QB recruit being paid $8M to attend Tennessee, I do not believe there is a scintilla of a connection between the CFB we have watched for decades and what we are seeing today. Frankly, I am depressed. If I want to watch pro football I can do so on Sunday where the NFL makes a collective effort, in concert with the players, to arrive at roster parity. It is not always the case, but consider the 2021 NFL playoffs from the quarter-finals on that for the most part gave us hotly contested, competitive games. (BTW, games that for the most part finished within the allotted broadcast time.) Compare this to the blow outs we most often witness in the CFB semi-final games. Michigan and Cincinnati in 2021 were very good college football teams. Both were mugged by SEC teams in their semi-final game. Simply look at the roster rankings coming into the 2022 season. 3 of the final 4 teams, at least, will be in the top 8 roster rankings. Then add to this roster disparity scheduling disparity. How do you hold a 'playoff' when contenders for playoff participation do not play the same number of conference games. In 2019, if Oregon plays Portland State at home instead of tripping to ASU for its 4th cross over and 9th conference game, the Ducks is in the playoff. And a 2nd Pac-12 team is in a NY6 money bowl game. I love this board and my Ducks brothers and sisters on this board and I will continue to chime in (likely to the chagrin of many.) But my following CFB with zeal is over and out. I am but one soul; however, I am seeing this same attitude of mine across the entire country. Money is not evil. The love of money is evil.

I predict, divorce to follow? Good to see the guy being lured into the LA life style. The less focus on football the better.

OK. at your request, you very Kool poster, I will now properly refer to you as Mister Kool Aide, a/k/a Sir Michael. Purple (emperor color) Grape being my preferred choice of fizzie. Every year, which fraternity dumps fizzies into the pool before the swim meet? In this case, I am the Delta frat dumpee; I beg thy pardon. Could have? Spot on. 2019, Mario and the Ducks could of/should of, gone to the Final 4. But the team that roasted Utah in the champ game under the leadership of the NFL Rookie-Of-The Year, no showed versus a mediocre team in Tempe. 2020? A lost season that concluded with an Iowa State butt wiping. 2021. You win a huge OOC game in a big time upset and then retrogress to the point where you are blown out in 3 of the last 4 games? I do not believe 62-60 Mario was ever going to take the Ducks to a final four, let alone a title. Is the roster there in 2022? You bet. IF the QB position works out, athletes are allowed to be athletes and the O plays large and not small ball. But the schedule is a witch. A whole lot of 'stuff' from the top down has to come together. And roster-wise, do the Ducks have the 4 and 5 start recruits at the positions that matter when the rubber meets the road? Good teams Cincinnati and Michigan last season came up with playoff flat tires. Your Majesty Kool Aide, I love your unrivaled enthusiasm. No one on your block will out sell you you come Kool Aide time. Even if you sell for a dime versus their nickel. But let's not jump the shark in 2021? Lots of new cooks in the kitchen stirring the pot. Shoot for the Koolest of Aide in 2022, I say amen. But I am adding a little more water to my Grape Koll Aide and looking for the punch to perhaps be the perfect serve in 2023?

Why not follow many the California resident to Las Vegas for all the reason Canzano notes and Charles was good enough to post. But if the Pac-12 is an 'Empire' today, it is the Empire of Ozymandias. Schill's comment regarding GK being the guy to lead the Pac-12 out of this 'mess' is an echo of ASU president, Michael (he should eat) Crow, saying the same about Larry. And this comment disappoints me. I'd love to know where Schill stood when it came to expanding the Pac-12's market size and eventual, market share? What arrow in his financial quiver does GK have that Larry did not have? GK is supposed to turn the network to solvency and relevancy without expanding the conference footprint? How?

I think Shaw has a whole lot of Mario in him? He continues to run the same O that he ran when he had OL guys and TEs routinely drafted by NFL teams. In fairness, with the admissions situation his opportunity to pick the portal is limited. Although this season he is bringing in a transfer CB from Oklahoma. And if you were a recruit who attended a football weekend on The Farm, how impressed would be by all of the empty seats? There also seems to have been a change in attitude from the administration compared to when Stanford was not only playing well in CFB but also in CBB. I think ending grad school preference for athletes and trying to eliminate a number of sports even with the endowment to pay for same, speaks volumes. But for the geographical barrier I believe that the leaders at Stanford would be happy to be members of the Ivy League? The number of fans attending Stanford CFB and CBB games resembles, except for rivalry weekends, the numbers who (do not) attend Ivy games. I see this attitude as a problem across the conference. How many administrations are willing to go all-in to compete at the highest level of CFB?

You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. Great news. Thanks Charles.

In addition to going 0-5 in its bowl games and again, not sending its champion to the college football (CFB) playoff, in 2022 no Pac-12 quarterback (QB) was invited to the NFL Combine for the first time since 2014. For the Pac-12 with a storied history of QB Heisman Trophy winners and many the successful QB moving on from the Pac-12 to the NFL, no invite to the Combine dance was another slap in the conference's CFB face. As we all are aware, the Transfer Portal and CFB 'free agency,' has changed the CFB roster calculus. None more so than at QB. A QB recruited out of high school is far less likely to start at QB today than was the case before the arrival of the Transfer Portal. This is happening coast-to-coast; look no further than QBs likely to start in the Pac-12 Conference in 2022. Arizona - Jayden de Laura - transfer from Washington State - 2020 Freshman Player of the Year in the Pac-12. de Laura's transfer is a ripple effect from Cameron Ward transferring to Washington State. de Laura should definitely lift the Wildcats QB play in 2022. ASU - Paul Tyson - transfer from Alabama. The 4* recruit is most likely to replace to 3 year starter Jayden Daniels, who transferred from ASU to a crowded QB room at LSU. Daniels transfer mirrors Auburn 3 year starter Bo Nix' transfer to Oregon. Daniels play retrogressed in 2021, but he was an above average starter for the Sun Devils. I have serious doubts that Tyson, who happens to be Bear Bryant's grandson, will improve the 2022 QB play in Tempe. CAL - Jake Plummer - transfer from Purdue. Plummer started 13 games for the Boilermakers before being benched for erratic play. He is not the athlete that was Chase Garbers, the Bears QB in 2021. I definitely do not see Plummer as an improvement over Garbers. Oregon - Bo Nix - transfer from Auburn. The 3 year starter at Auburn comes off a QB roller-coaster ride on The Plains. He was the SEC Freshman of the Year playing for now Oregon OC, Dillingham, but was often inconsistent. He has to win the job over Oregon recruits Thompson and Butterfield but his experience gives Nix the edge. I think Nix wins the starting job and starts his 4th game versus Georgia on September 3rd. I believe Nix will be an improvement over Anthony Brown as the result of his own talent and also from playing in a more QB-friendly system than did Brown. Nix has played ball in the toughest conference in CFB, in front of huge and loud crowds. Brown won one start versus a top 25 opponent, last season in Columbus. Nix has numerous top 25 wins including victories over Oregon (SIGH) and Alabama. Oregon State - Chance Nolan - transfer from Saddleback JC. Nolan's transfer to Corvallis was of the more traditional JC variety. And Nolan has to win the job against good competition. He did get the Beavers to a bowl game last season where his team lost to MAC opponent Central Michigan. He is a good CFB QB but that's about it. I see no big upside out of Nolan in 2022. USC - Caleb Williams - transfer from Oklahoma. Jaxson Dart at SC was a very good QB for Troy. Williams coming in caused Dart to transfer to Ole Miss. Williams is one of the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy in 2022. Outstanding WR Drake London is gone but new SC head coach Lincoln Riley is bringing in a lot of WR talent from the Transfer Portal. Playing for Riley and not Clay Helton, should result in a significant upgrade in the QB position at SC in 2022. The SC OL that returns 4 starters was not terrible in 2021, giving up 18 sacks in 12 games wile playing in front of a QB nowhere near as athletic as is Williams. UTAH - Cam Rising - transfer from Texas. Rising finished 6th last season in the ESPN QB rankings. After he replaced Baylor transfer Charlie Brewer at QB (my mega bad anointing Brewer after the Utes 2021 spring game) in his 11 games as a starter, Utah converted 56% on third down. No other team in the nation finished better than 54%. Rising has risen and is now The Man at QB. Britian Covey (who I think played 8 years for the Utes?) is a loss but Utah returns its top 2 TES and its leading RB from 2021. Right out of the box Rising has the chance to continue his excellent play in the Rose Bowl and if Utah can defeat Florida, Rising could be a legit candidate for the Heisman. With game experience I expect Rising to improve his play from 2021. Washington - Michael Penix, Jr. - transfer from Indiana. Penix had a very good season at Indiana when UW head coach DeBoer was his OC in Bloomington. However, he is injury prone and will have to win a very competitive battle for the starting position. UW was a mess on O last season. I think UW will improve on O in 2022 but I do not know if this will be due to Penix per se. Washington State - Cameron Ward - transfer from Incarnate Word U. I now it was FCS football but any QB who passes for close to 4700 yards and 47 TDs with 10 picks is balling out. Ward is 6' 3" and 220 pounds. He was the FCS player of the year in 2021. His IWU head coach, Eric Morris, is now the Cougars OC. de Laura was a very good CFB QB, Ward could be the second coming of The Mustache and off the charts good. Prospective QB 2022 starters recruited out of high school. Colorado - Brendon Lewis who started as a true frosh for the Buffs at QB in 2021 returns, but CU is such a mess I doubt that we will witness much improvement in his play in 2022 Stanford - Tanner McKee returns at QB for a Stanford team that struggled in 2021. He has a lot of talent but will his supporting cast be enough improved for him to improve? Does this sound familiar? Stanford's best RB in 2021 transferred to USC. Of course, he will likely look like the 2nd coming of Jim Plunkett/Andrew Luck when he plays in Eugene in 2022. UCLA - Dorian Thompson-Robinson is back for his 4th season in Westwood. Chip Kelly did flirt with the Transfer Portal, with QB Dillon Gabriel from UCF all but signed before heading to Oklahoma to replace Caleb Williams at QB. DTR is historically erratic. He will author a great series of plays and in the next series look like in never played football before. But look out! UCLA's 3 out-of-conference games, all played in the Rose Bowl, should be walk-over wins. Give DTR and Chip momentum and UCLA could be the surprise team of the 2022 season. 75% of the Pac-12's presumptive QB starters in 2022 will have transferred in to their respective school. I do not know for certain but I think this is unprecedented in the rich history of Pac-12 CFB play. I do see an overall upgrade in conference QB play in 2022. Enough improvement to see an invite or two to the 2023 Combine. But enough for a Pac-12 team to return to the Final 4? I very much doubt it.

The VOLS no longer have to pass money to recruits in McDonalds bags. TN ran a pay-for-pay program. prior to NIL. Think the NCAA will follow up on this? THIS is CFB today. Either the boosters step up with this kind of cash or top drawer players will not be matriculating at your school. CFB needs a salary cap, control on free agency, more stringent restrictions on roster tampering, and a high school draft with negotiated salaries for 1st year players. In order for this to happen there has to be a players union with which to negotiate. If this happens and football is not outsourced to a 3rd party(ies), football players will become employees. Can an employee be dropped to 2nd string without an administrative hearing? Can schools afford to pay FUTA, FICA, health insurance premiums, retirement benefits, etc. to these employees? If so, at what cost to Olympic sports? And how does all of 'this' fit with Title IX? The NCAA is done regulating big time CFB. Unless Congress steps in, something like the above described NFL-Lite will happen and it will happen sooner rather than latter. And many the school offering athletic scholarships to CFB and CBB players will cease doing so. In turn, many other varsity sport, such as golf, tennis, swimming, etc. will become club activities. DGU and Dr. Pepper is an example of a bad deal. One would expect the marketplace to react after a number of bad NIL deals are made. But this is college football with fanatics with ridiculous money; fanatics not concerned with a traditional ROI approach. I expect to see no market correction. With the BCS, CFB sold part of its soul. This sale has followed the predictable course; greed and the love of money ruining an afternoon entertainment event many of us fervently followed for decades. From the 'average fans' perspective, does your school's coach making millions of dollars a year instead of tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, make the game better? Do scores more administrators being involved and richly paid make the game better? Do waterfalls in the locker room make the game better? Do kickoff times that have you arriving back home after midnight make the game better? Has the SEC post-BCS growing from just another conference to becoming CFB dominant make the game better? In my case, all of the above questions are rhetorical.

Make no mistake, I appreciate this comment. But cultures are very simply proved up on the field of play. Frankly, I was one who did not get all of the love for Mario's culture that rarely showed up on the field of play. Your 'culture' is defined by Ws and Ls.

Then again, how many cameras caught COVID? I'm kidding but as far as cameras are concerned, it's all good.

Chuck Duck you broke what I thought was the 'political discussion wall.' Florida? Ditto South Carolina. It concerns me regarding matters of 'science' that the representatives of some people see it one way when others see it the other way. This is far from a scientific approach. In South Carolina, small businesses were not shut down into oblivion. We had what I call reasonable COVID constraints imposed in South Carolina. Per capita we had no significant difference in deaths than happened in states that were far more COVID restricted. I miss living in Bend, OR, but I prefer the libertarian government in which I live today.

Seven in the slot could be very interesting. Britain Covey with far more speed.

Great take. No way do I see the B1G and the SEC sharing their revenues with 'lesser' conferences. It could well end up that there is no consensus regarding the playoff come 2026; actually, well before 2026 because the Playoff Committee has to have a done deal in 2025 at the latest, to shop to the media. Even if these 2 big boy conferences did share, without a high school draft I do not see parity coming to CFB. I don't see a HS draft working unless you had a 'Super League' of 24 to 40 teams. Expand the PO field to 6/8 or 12 and there will be more money, no doubt. But how will the money be split? This was GK's biggest concern. He was not going to vote for a playoff extension beyond 2026 before knowing the financial terms. The SEC takes in Clemson and FSU and the B1G responds by taking in AAU member schools (Pitt, UVA, UNC, Duke, Georgia Tech, Kansas and Iowa State are logical candidates) then why not just have a playoff of BIG and SEC schools? Add Clemson to the SEC and the B1G has 1 PO championship and the other 7 champs would all be 'SEC teams.' Add in Oklahoma who has made the Final 4 on 4 occasions. To date the Pac-12 has 1 PO win, the B12 has zip. I'm following Charles' recommendation. Let's enjoy THIS while we can. At least a 4 team PO field is the devil the Pac-12 knows. CFB is changing so rapidly and there are so many unknowns. One 'unknown' I would be willing to bet on, the ACC will not hold together as-is. I'm not quite as certain on a merger of B12/Pac-12 teams, but I do think this has to happen in some fashion or another for 'western' CFB to be financially and competitively viable.

Glad you recovered. But 3? That's a good start.

Love the enthusiasm. I think a Pac-12 title may be doable this season but a Natty, not so much. Definitely want to see the team improve as the season plays out, unlike what we saw in 2021. But 2 top 20 teams in the 1st 3 games is a big ask for a team with so many questions coming into 2022. A number of coaches have won titles in their 2nd year. 2023 when the Ducks play at TX Tech instead of 'at' Georgia and play 4 and not 5 conference road games is the year I see as a possible final 4 season. But I don't expect Utah will go away and I do expect SC to be much improved under Riley.

Great take. But Charles is spot on regarding the guys on the field in Eugene compared to the guys on the field in Athens. With all of the 'newness' and with the 2022 schedule I think Ducks fans may well have to exercise patience. However, being ready to play to the level of the Oregon roster and not down to the level of the opponent is something we should expect to see against every opponent.

I do not disagree with you. Seeing as how we are not going back to the pre-BCS days, I am totally in favor of Playoff expansion at the P5 level and I am also in favor of the G5 holding its own playoff, with the G5 receiving some of the P5 $ to temper political concerns. I am not in favor of Notre Dame being a stakeholder; having the same power voting-wise as do entire conferences. I'm not certain come 2026 that there will be a P5? Will the ACC, B1G, Pac-12 and the SEC give the 'new' B12 the same status it had without OK and TX being part of the conference? Will there be additional conference expansion before 2026? Clemson and FSU are tied into a bad media deal through 2036, but Greg Sankey has indicated the SEC is not finished expanding and these two are rumored to be next up for the SEC. There is a big financial gap between the B1G and the SEC and the other 3 P5 members and this gap is going to significantly expand after the next round of media negotiations. And who knows where pay-for-play and players as employees will go; especially, with the NCAA walking away from regulating G5 and P5 football. Having said this, I favor an 8 team field. Using today's conference format, 5 P5 champs and 3 AL. No guaranty that a G5 team gets in unless, like Cincinnati last season, a G5 team is ranked in the top 8. If this was the format, looking at the PO Committee's rankings in the 8 seasons of the PO to date, the SEC is likely to have 3 teams in every year and the B1G likely to have at least 2 in. So expansion will likely lead to more national interest and will certainly deliver more to the bottom line but IMO, will not bring parity to CFB. In favor of the forlorn hope of returning to the pre-BCS days, the Rose Bowl this season drew slightly fewer viewers than the number who watched the Alabama/Cincinnati semi-final. Of course, it doesn't matter what I think. Come 2026, the B1G and the SEC will have the financial advantage and accordingly, the playoff format negotiating leverage.

Craig, with all due respect, your last name is trending toward Eye Chart territory.