Jon Joseph

THIS does not help Chip's cause. All conference DE Mitchell Agude has entered the transfer portal. Lots of significant losses on both sides of the ball for the Bruins. The worst 8 team win school in the country in 2021? In 2021, UCLA did not post a victory against a team with a winning record

Great take. Is the team 2-1 after the OOC games or 1-2? (Sorry, I don't see a W in Atlanta.) And how will the team respond if it is 1-2? I doubt that any first year Pac-12 coach has been handed a more difficult schedule than has been handed to Dan Lanning and his new staff. This is far from Chip Kelly inheriting a group of excellent assistant coaches. I see 2022 as a work-in-progress that will have its highs and lows. And I see game 3, BYU at home, perhaps being a pivotal game as to how the rest of the season plays out.

Woo! Woo! Love the article Charles, and the goals on D and O you hope to see achieved in 2022. Meet these goals and I think you are looking at the Ducks winning the conference in 2022, and if not advancing to the playoff, playing in the Rose Bowl. On the D side of things I think the QB play in the conference will be better in 2022 and a number of Os will be tougher to stop. On O, do we have a guy who can replace do-everything Dye? I love the optimism and as you so note, we'll have a better idea of what the 2022 team will look like post spring ball. CFB? Still the best sport going. But the long, long off season? UGH!

Jim Delaney was the man who came up with the idea for a network dedicated to single conference's athletics. The B1G Network has been a home run for the conference. Delaney also was prescient enough to take less media money a few years back so the B1G would be the first at the table to renegotiate media rights in 2023, before the Pac-12 deal ends in 2024 and the B12 deal ends in 2025. ESPN and the SEC have already altered their media rights deal that will increase when TX/OK join the SEC. The ACC, unless Notre Dame joins as a full time football member, is stuck with a deal with ESPN through 2036 that pays each ACC team $17M a year plus a payout from the ESPN owned ACC Network. The B1G is now being paid $440M per annum for its tier 1 media rights. The Athletic's Andy Staples, after discussion with Delaney who is now a CFB consultant, and various media rights experts, expects that beginning in July of 2023, the new B1G media deal will bring in $1B per annum. In addition, add the B1G Network revenue and payouts from the CBB tourney and the expected expanded CFB playoff field and every B1G school will be bringing in approximately $100M a year. The only conference that will be able to come close to this kind of revenue is the SEC. The writing has been on the wall for quite some time. The B1G and the SEC will have far more money and power than will the ACC, B12 and the Pac-12. The Pac-12's media deal(s) will increase come 2024, but will come nowhere nowhere close to the B1G/SEC deals. Expect the same crummy kickoff times, The same lousy Pac-12 Network coverage; or, and more likely, the financially insolvent network going bankrupt. Also, expect the best coaches and players in every sport to be targeted by SEC teams in particular, and also by the B1G. Under the above described financial circumstances will the Pac-12 conference hold together? Will USC be content with a lesser media deal that it has to split equally with Washington State? If they are not doing so now, sub rosa, shouldn't UW, Oregon and USC, to name 3 financially viable conference members, be reaching out to the B1G to expand west? Also, run any likely projection of a 12 team playoff field and season after season both the B1G and the SEC will likely put at least 3 teams each in the field while the Pac-12 struggles to get 2 in the field. CFB is Big Business. Stand still in big business and you most definitely fall behind.

I agree that competitive games are preferable. I think once TX/OK come on board the SEC will go to 9? But as of today Kliavkoff wants 8 with an OOC game versus the ACC and an OCC game versus the B1G. Frankly, I don't think this scheduling agreement will come to fruition. The 7th home game played by almost all SEC teams does help the revenue cause. And playing 8 clearly helps create an easier path to the playoff.

Sorry, I meant to note that but 1 Pac-12 team in this scenario would be in the playoff field. Better than all but 2 playoff seasons but still seriously lacking grid on the gridiron.

I'd like to thank the members of the Academy, Sir Charles of The Forum and Fortuna.

The stats over their time playing QB between Brown and Nix are not that dissimilar. But Nix played against far better competition and unlike Brown, beat more than 1 top 25 team he started against including (sigh) Oregon. The only Oregon QB in the QB room that has faced a crowd and the talent Oregon will see in its opener 'at' Georgia is Bo Nix. If he is the starter, this will be Nix 4th start vs the Dawgs. As I have mentioned before, if they got a fair shake, Thompson and Butters could not beat out journeyman Brown. Considering that NIx had his best season when Dillingham was the Auburn OC, I would be very surprised if he is not the starting QB come 9/3 in Atlanta.

12 team playoff? The Playoff suggested by a committee of the SEC, B12, MW commissioners and the Notre Dame AD, isn't close to coming to fruition. Why, when CFB post--COVID needs the dues? Egoism, jealousy, add other deadly sins and the old saw, academic integrity, mean that we are stuck with a four team so-called playoff field through 2025. We assume that the guys and gals who manage the P5 and G5 are intelligent, right? But tribal affiliation as has always been the case with our species, trumps logic and common sense. It's every conference for itself. This, while at same time the 32 owners of NFL teams just gave us a great group of playoff quarter-finals, semi-finals and a to the wire Super Bowl. There is nothing new under the CFB sun. Passing on a 12 team playoff that could have been initiated in 2023 is costing every G5 team at least $5 to $10M and every P5 team $20 to $30M. Standing still at a 4 team field, approximately 3% of the teams competing for a title, through 2025 is simply stupid. Stupidity authored by folks who should know better. Using Stewart Mandel's post signing day preseason rankings for 2022, this is what a 12 team playoff as suggested by the committee could have been come 2023. 1. Alabama - SEC vs. 9. At Large (AL) Michigan at 8. AL Michigan State 2. Ohio State - B1G vs. 10. AL North Carolina State at 7. AL Notre Dame 3. Clemson - ACC vs. 11. B12 Baylor at 6. AL Texas A+M 4. Utah - Pac-12 vs. 12. AAC Cincinnati at 5. AL Georgia The top 6 conference finishers and 6 AL constitute the playoff field. Much needed money would rain down. Under the guise of NIL pay-for-play, players could have been compensated for competing in the 12 team playoff. The NY6 Bowls could be used for quarter-final and semi-final games. I know this is not a hot Oregon CFB topic. But it is the off season so why not ponder what could have been? CFB: We have met the enemy and it is us.

There is a reason why Dillingham brought in Nix and there is a reason, assuming they got a fair shot, why Thompson and Butters could not beat out journeyman Anthony Brown. These two may simply have been overrated by the recruiting services? Nix has 2 seasons of eligibility left if he wants to stay and play 2 years for the Ducks.

Great take. The college back-up QB is an endangered species in this era of wide open free agency. Many the school will be pulling its next starting QB not from the bench but from the portal. Starting QBs Rising at Utah, Williams at SC, Nix at Oregon (if he wins the job,) Penix at UW, Plummer at CAL, de Laura at Arizona, Ward at WSU, and it looks like Tyson at ASU, all transferred in. I think this is also the case with Nolan at OR ST? Recruiting the portal today is a big deal. Especially at the QB position.

Interesting that Daniels best year was his true frosh season and he seemed to retrogress the next 2 seasons. If Nix fully recovers from ankle surgery he is not a Daniels type run threat but he is OK running the ball. It certainly didn't take long for Dillingham to take Nix out of the portal. Maybe he watched Nix defeat the Ducks? (SIGH.) Nix is an Auburn legacy and he was the presumptive 2022 starter for Auburn. ASU and Auburn both seem to be headed in the wrong direction. 4* recruit Paul Tyson, Bear Bryant's great grandson who transferred to ASU from Bama, is likely to be the Sun Devils starting QB.

I heard this on ESPNU and I agree with the announcers that this is a very strange time to be entering the portal. Lots amiss at ASU. Will Herm and the AD survive. I know it would be good for the conference to say goodby to ASU Prez and Larry lover, Michael Crow.

Thanks cart. I'm hoping Rising and Utah get a 7:30 eastern kickoff (on ABC?) when they play 9/3 at The Swamp? At least Oregon gets to play indoors on 9/3. In early September, The Swamp will live up to its name. Payback? In 2023 UF has to play at altitude in SLC.

Week One could come down to the network that is broadcasting a given game? I think FOX will do all it can to get the ND/Buckeyes game as the Big Noon kickoff game? CBS may want to feature the UGA/OR game in the 3:30 eastern time slot reserved for the the top SEC game of the week (CBS has 1 more year before ESPN takes over.) And the Utah at Florida game could be a 7:30 eastern broadcast on ABC. This would be a merciful start time for the Utes.

I sense that Fentress is not on your birthday party list?

No team that played 9 conference games has won the playoff in its 8 seasons of existence. Perhaps the Pac-12 needs to smarten up the schedule? To not play Utah the same weekend Bama is playing New Mexico State?

Gene Smith is one AD out of 14 B1G ADs. Yesterday, Iowa AD Gary Barta said he hoped the conference moved to 8 games as soon as possible. There is no unity regarding this issue across the B1G conference. Ohio State is in contention for the playoff every season. Not the case for the other 13 teams whose AD's recognize that no team that played 9 conference games has won the playoff.

Great take Charles, thank you. The folks on the Georgia board(s) know whereof they speak. USC is the Pac-12's Blue Blood. USC moves the needle nationally. The conference needs a player in LA in order to come anywhere close to the B1G and the SEC in media revenue. Plenty of folks will watch Oregon play Utah for a Pac-12 title on Friday night; but plenty more will watch Oregon playing SC for the title. That's not speculation, that's based on the number of eyeballs that tune in to watch USC and Oregon play football. The Pac-12 has to pull itself up by the boot heels. The conference 'leaders' decided not to expand so what you see is what you get. And looking at the conference records OOC and in bowl games, what you see is junk. The hiring of Lincoln Riley and the signing of Caleb Williams put the conference, for a few days at least, front and center. Riley's hiring was far bigger news than the hiring of De Boer in Seattle and Lanning in Eugene. Will Riley be all that as a HC in LA? Will Williams, now the front runner odds wise for the Heisman, play to his potential? The answer to both questions is, 'I don't know.' But I do know that the hiring and signing gave a moribund conference some much needed positive publicity. The same kind of publicity sleeping blue blood Bama earned when it signed Nick Saban. CFB is big business. CFB is entertainment. The entertainment capital of the USA is LA. I hope Riley succeeds big time and when USC plays Oregon for the conference championship both are in the top 10 and battling for a playoff spot; or, spots once the field expands.

Great take. But Nix wins the job and 1 or both are probably gone. You can bet that both will be heavily 'recruited' to enter the portal and play right away for team X. And with the portal recruiting will likely come the promise on NIL $.

Ask Sark?

ZERO, ZILCH, NADA, NYET, NUDGE, is the number, or null set, of Pac-12 QBs invited to this year's NFL combine. Where have you gone Terry Baker, Jim Plunkett, Warren Moon, Dan Fouts, Marcus Mariota, Justin Herbert, Aaron Rodgers, close to a half dozen USC guys, et al? The conference QB play has nowhere to go but up. And I think in 2022 we will witness better QB in the Pac-12? At least, I hope so. WASHINGTON STATE. Cameron Ward transferring to WAZZU could be big? Ward won the Walter Peyton Award last season; the FCS Heisman. This young man threw for close to 5,000 yards in 2021. Helping Ward's cause, his HC at Immaculate Word has also 'transferred' to WSU and will be the Cougars OC. This should make for a seamless transition on offense. I think WSU is this season's Pac-12 'sleeper' team. I am looking forward to seeing what Ward and WAZZU can do when the Cougars trip to Wisconsin. (How did WSU get a H+H with Wisconsin?) ARIZONA. Great for the conference and great for the Wildcats that the once Pac-12 Frosh player of the year on O, Jayden de Laura, stayed in conference once Ward came on the scene in Pullman, and transferred to Arizona. Among others he will have to toss the ball to is the highly rater WR Zona 'stole' from the Ducks. The Wildcats will be more productive on O this season. I think the Oregon at Arizona game is a 'look out' game for the Ducks. ASU and UCLA - Jayden Daniels returns for the Sun Devils and DTR is back at QB for UCLA. Can Daniels return to the form he showed in his frosh season? Will DTR play more consistently and not repeatedly turn over ball? Regardless, these are two returners who have had their moments in the Pac-12. DTR has 3 OOC cup cakes to feast on before entering conference play in 2022. UTAH - Cam Rising is the man at QB from the get-go for the Utes in 2022. And when Rising was injured in the Rose Bowl, Bryson Barnes looked like a veteran coming off the bench. Utah runs an O with heavy use of the TEs. 2 of the top 3 TEs are back and Utah picked up 2 more TEs from the portal. Rising will have a chance to show his stuff vs Florida on 9/3 in the Swamp. Win this game in what should be brutal weather conditions for the Utes and Utah will be in the Final 4 mix. UW - Can Michael Penix, Jr., transferring in to UW stay healthy? When healthy he is a dynamic player who played for new UW coach DeBoer when DeBoer was the OC at Indiana. If he can stay upright, UW has a shot at defeating Michigan State in Seattle. OREGON STATE - Chance Nolan is adequate but the Beavers will not win a lot of games if it can't replace Baylor at RB. Interesting that no players have portaled to OR ST this season. CAL - Jake Plummer comes in from Purdue but Plummer lost his starting job at Purdue. I don't see a lot of improvement here from 2021 starter Garbers. STANFORD - McKee is back and he is decent but not great. Stanford lost its best RB, Jones, to USC. I think Stanford being bowl eligible in 2022 is not likely to happen. CU - yes. I'll see you but not before ski season. USC - Dart was from a bad QB. Ditto Slovis. But Caleb Williams brings a new dimension to the QB position at SC. And he will be playing in a system he is accustomed to under Riley and his top WR from Oklahoma is joining him at SC, along with Dye (sigh) and stud Stanford RB, Jones. What once were sacks will now be whiffs. SC's OL is nowhere near as bad as its DL. SC is going to put up a lot of points in 2022 and 2023, before Williams can go pro. On paper, Williams is the best QB in the conference and the best QB pro prospect. OREGON - Good bless Anthony Brown who did his best for the Ducks. Brown started 1 game vs a top 25 team that he won, at Ohio State. A big win no doubt but more of a team win than a Brown win. Comparing Brown's stats, mostly posted in the ACC, with NIx' stats put up in the SEC, is apples to oranges. Nix played against far more difficult competition. Nix has a number of top 25 starts and wins including a victory against Bama. Before being injured in 2021, Nix was having a very, very good season. And Nix has played for OC Dillingham. He has two seasons of eligibility left. Ty Thompson? Could not beat out journeyman Brown. But did he under Mario ever have a fair shot at the job? And Butterfield was also a highly ranked recruit. If Nix wins the job one or both of these guys are heading to the portal. Nix has played against Georgia. Nix has played in front of crowds like Oregon will see in its opening game and rarely sees in today's Pac-12. Nix faced tougher competition in the SEC than did Brown in the ACC, and the competition for Nix is about to get far easier. No Bama, Auburn, Ole Miss, MS ST, A+M, Arkansas and LSU are on the schedule. Annual Auburn foe Georgia, is on on the Duck's 2022 schedule. Nix is 0-3 vs UGA but 2 were very close games. On the whole I think the QB play in the Pac-12 will be far better in 2022 and I expect Nix to win the Oregon starting job and play big boy ball under HC Dillingham.

Thanks for the great reply. Who was the Clemson QB who was hurt when the Tigers lost at Syracuse? I could have sworn it was Watson? Being stronger than the Pac-12 does not = strong; AMEN! I don't think Dabo is praying for tougher competition but I believe the Pac-12 commissioner is doing so? I love the Ducks but Oregon has ZERO CFB championships and 1 Heisman winner. The Blue Blood in the conference is USC. Oregon rose when SC faded but not to the level of winning playoff titles. Does SC have to be good for Oregon to make the playoff? Heck no. Any P5 team that goes 13-0 is in the playoff. Does Oregon have to recruit DL guys like Clemson to win a championship? Looking at the PO winners to date, this seems to be the case. Does SC have to be good for the conference to score better media deals? I have to answer this question with a 'Yes.' Along with, conference teams playing better in their OOC and bowl games would not hurt the cause. Again. great points + great reply. From experience I can advise you that sooner than you think possible, that 6 year old little guy will be bigger, faster and stronger than Dad.

Great point. Where did Willie go 10-2? In the G5. Where he went 30-48 as you so accurately noted. SMH at the folks who believed that Mario would 'grow' as a HC. I have no understanding of why people believe Mario will return the U to the glory days but thank you for bringing him east.

Good points. But best of luck trying to sack Caleb Williams. Far more athletic than Joe Burrow, Dart and Slovis. And the SC offense will be led by a guy who has produced Heisman winners and runner-ups at QB.