Jon Joseph

Great take. At 5-2, the B12 had the best bowl record of the P5 conferences. Baylor and Oklahoma State won NY6 bowl games over respectively, Ole Miss and Notre Dame. The B12 in 2021 was a far better and deeper conference than was the Pac 12. I don't disagree with the ACC take but the ACC finished with 4 teams ranked in the top 25.; the Pac-12 finished with 2 ranked teams and went 0-5 in its bowl games.

Sorry, that's all-in revenue. You can't be suggesting that the money distributed to Pac-12 teams comes close to the money distributed to B1G and SEC teams? The numbers you show are base madia deal numbers that do not include for instance the money the B1G and SEC networks bring in. I'm very happy to compare all-in numbers but I assure you the the B1G and the SEC are way ahead of the 3 other P5 conferences and I also assure you that 'as is' the Pac-12 new media deal will bring in more money but will not close the gap on the wealthier conferences. Not once since its creation has the Pac-12 Network brought in the the lowest projected income. As I so noted, the numbers I used come from Jon Wilner of the Mercury News, who does an excellent job of tracking conference finances. The SEC is trading its $55M a year media rights deal with CBS for a $300M+ media rights deal with ESPN. You see this kind of deal coming for the Pac-12? The Pac-12 is being left in the financial dust. The new Pac-12 commissioner would be the first to agree.

I think the portal makes a lot of sense for many the 2nd string QB with the talent to start at another school. With Caleb Williams coming on board at USC it makes perfect sense for Dart to transfer to Ole Miss and for Slovis to transfer to Pitt. I think it also makes sense for a Bo Nix who is fed up with the dysfunction at the school where he is starting. Also makes sense for a guy who is a very good player at Duke, for instance, to go somewhere where he can compete for a title. It also makes sense for overlooked guys who ball out in FCS. Like Cameron Wars from Immaculate Word transferring to WA ST and getting paid via NIL in the process. It also makes sense for guys being 'recruited' to go elsewhere (and this is happening all over the place) for a nice slice of NIL $. (Our friend Dye?) 3,000 guys are in the portal but more than half are FCS guys and walk-ons. It's open 'free agency' in CFB and smartly or stupidly, players raised in a "ME" generation are taking advantage.

In theory, these are the games The Alliance wants to see scheduled between the Pac-12, B1G and ACC. But this scheduling format means the Pac-12 and B1G going to 8 conference games, long agreed to future schedules playing out, or games being dropped. It also requires a playoff format that makes sense for a team to play 2 P5 teams in its 4 OOC games. Counting BYU as a P5 opponent, as BYU should be so accounted for, Oregon is one of the few schools with 9 conference games playing 2 P5 opponents OOC in 2022. With a 4 team playoff field this type of aggressive scheduling makes no sense. Miami does not have an SEC tie-in game, but Clemson, FSU, Georgia Tech and Louisville play an SEC OOC game every season. This makes adding a B1G/Pac-12 opponent for these schools senseless for these 4 schools; unless, all P5 champs are in an expanded playoff field. Oregon already has H+H OOC games scheduled with Texas Tech and Baylor. Many the Pac-12 schools have upcoming games with BYU and H+H games vs SEC teams. Add a B1G or ACC opponent to this? The Alliance scheduling agreement sounds good but is a long way from fruition. And this scheduling agreement is a handshake agreement. Oregon at Miami and vs Miami in Autzen sounds good and likely moves the money meter. But Oregon State at Duke? Not so much. I expect more in the way of conference expansion/contraction before this scheduling agreement ever becomes a reality. I believe the SEC will add Clemson and FSU and accordingly, the B1G will also expand. Will the B1G go east or west? And will the B12 that is adding a national brand in BYU, the huge Houston market and the Orlando market that has surpassed Miami in size, stay pat at 12? But to answer the question: Heck yes, I'd love to see a H+H with Miami.

Great take. Thank you. You raised a big question: Will Flowe stay healthy? If so, Oregon has perhaps the best 2022 LB corps in the country. It will take time for Lanning to bring in a group of DL guys anywhere close to what UGA put on the field last season. We aren't growing many of these guys in the Pac-12 footprint. And we now have a stronger competitor for the services of DL guys in LA. I'm sure Lanning will be keeping an eye on the portal and hopefully he can convince guys from Clemson and SEC territory to come west. 8 playoffs to date with 7 won by teams in the SE. Liked the take on the DBs but DBs need help from the front 7 getting pressure on the opponent's QB. 3* guys will have to be coached up at Oregon like 3* recruit Aaron Donald was coached up at Pitt. I'm very interested to see how a recruit like Sir Mells progresses in Eugene.

The Rose Bowl is a playoff semifinal site next season. 2Ls in 2022 will likely get the Ducks to the Fiesta Bowl, but not the Rose Bowl.

Are you predicting a back-to-back Champ game Ducks/Utes match up? A Ducks win in the regular season could send USC to the Champ game?

There are 18 Pac-12 guys on the Super Bowl rosters. 10 on the Rams. 8 on the Bengals. As Mister FishDuck has pointed out, 2 Ducks play for the Rams. About to have some folks over for a SB party. One of the guests went to Pitt. 2 Pitt guys in the game; 1 star, Aaron Donald. A 3* who was offered late by Pitt. You never know who will rise to the top of the NFL. In addition to Donald, how about Cooper Kupp?

A little lower than I think the Ducks will finish. I see 10-2/9-3? To me, the swing games are BYU, at WAZZU and Utah. UCLA? Chip has yet to hire a replacement DC and the Bruins lost a lot of punch at the WR and TE position. Bruins had 8 wins last season but defeated no team that finished with a winning record. I do share the concern about any game played in Arizona, a no win Zona for the Ducks as of late, will be a test. 23-13? I'd take that in a heartbeat vs UGA in the ATL. The Ducks has the LBs to man up with UGA, but the DL and DBs? The UGA QB isn't 'fancy,' all he does is win games. Including a Natty. Oregon's roster is equal to SC and superior to every team in the Pac-12; but it isn't close to the UGA roster. The only good news? UGA has a bad record in Mercedes Benz. A Peach Bowl win over Cincinnati but lots of Ls. Of course, those L's came against 'pretty good' Bama teams and versus Joe Burrow's Tigers. WAZZU? I think Cameron Ward who won the 'little Heisman' last season, the Walter Peyton Award for the best player in FCS, will be a handful. His HC at Immaculate Word follows Cam to Pullman where he will be the Cougars OC. This young man threw for close to 5,000 yards last season; he put up close to 500 yards in IM's losing bowl game effort. Except in a disappointing bowl loss, WSU had a 4th Q lead against all but 1 team it lost to. Strange things happen in Pullman.

A 2 star recruit. You never know?

Trying to get her phone # and address?

Love the take, although Nix after 3 seasons in the SEC at Auburn is more of an 'old gun?'

If you are a football player, it's good to be in NYC after the regular season. But for a basketball player, not so much. Never know when this yo-yo will be on the down or up swing. This has to driving Altman nuts. Usually under Dana we see a steady trajectory of improvement from the beginning of the season on. Not this year.

Everyone, including Lincoln Riley, agrees that SC has to vastly improve on D. Bringing in 2 LBs off the portal from the SEC is likely a step in the right direction. But SC still has a long way to go to shore up the D side of the ball. But the Trojans OL in 2021 was not all that bad. The OL gave up 18 sacks in 12 games in 2021. Caleb Williams is excellent at avoiding the rush and making big plays out of broken plays. What were sacks in 2021 may not be sacks in 2022. Yards per rush at 4.4 in 2021, was the Trojans best in the last 4 seasons. 5 guys who made starts on the OL in 2021 are back including Pac-12 honorable mention center Neilon and G/T Vorhees. Picking up 2nd team All ACC tackle Bobby Haskins from UVA is a good addition. Add in Dye (sigh) and Jones from Stanford at RB and 3 good WRs from the portal. The Trojans in 2021 might have a suspect D but will likely put up a lot of points on every Pac-12 opponent with the exception perhaps, coming in the game at Utah. But recall that the Utah D was lit up by Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. I see a lot of the 2021 Buckeyes in the SC team in 2022. The Trojans is likely to have the best O in the conference but will it be able to win enough shoot outs to capture the South Division? As Ducks fans are well aware, SC for the 2nd year in a row does not play the Ducks in the regular season. Couple this with Utah having to play at Autzen and I will be far from surprised if SC is not playing for a Pac-12 title in 2022.

Why not a win over UGA? UGA returns its starting QB who won a Natty in 2021. The stadium is 70 miles from UGA's campus and it will be 8-2 to 9-1 UGA fans in attendance. UGA has a lot of experience playing in this stadium. UGA has a better, deeper roster and better DL guys. UGA has a Natty winning HC. UGA competes and wins in a far better conference than the Pac-12. A few years back with the NFL rookie of the year at QB at a site far more neutral than the site for the UGA game, Oregon could not defeat the SEC's 5th or 6th best team. Nix would have to play the game of his career, he's 0-3 vs UGA and UGA would have to play a bad game on both sides of the ball. 1st game of the season as defending champs. I don't think UGA will show up ready to play this game. An Oregon win would be a Miracle on Turf. I think beating BYU will be difficult. Beating UGA would be a huge upset.

The Ducks effort resembled the number of hairs on Jay Bilas' dome.

Great take! Walter Payton, trash talk? The FCS Heisman is named after Walter for a reason. Like Jim Brown, he got up and made his way back to the huddle. If Barry Sanders talked trash I did not see it. Basically, it's a waste of energy. Under Saban and under Smart, I don't see trash talking coming from the Bama and UGA players. I don't see it from Ohio State players. Celebrate a TD, yes. Trash talk, no.

Have mercy, no Mercy Rule? You go girls!

And as you know LH, Fan is short for FANATIC! All I am saying. is give Dan a chance.

And this will add how much to the bottom line? I like the idea of 8 but to have an annual game vs the B1G and the ACC will require the B1G to go to 8 conference games and take years for already agreed to schedules to play out. THIS all sounds good Darren but how will this close the financial gap with the other conferences? How much interest and additional income will OR ST at Duke and Rutgers at OR ST generate? The conference failed to increase market size and with this the chance to increase market share. For certain, an OOC game vs the B1G and ACC every year will not save the network even if you put these games on the network.

David, this issue is handled via negotiation. Maryland, Rutgers and Nebraska agreed to a phased in full cut when they joined the B1G. Adding the 8 teams I mentioned would have been throwing them a lifeline. I have no doubt GK could have negotiated a revenue disbursement that made sense for the existing Pac-12 teams. BTW, does it make sense for Oregon to get the same share of proceeds as a WA ST that spends no where near what the Ducks spend on football? First you increase your market size; market share with the right management in place will follow. Love you, your articles and takes but this point is a red herring.

11-2? I think this is hugely optimistic; glass filled all the way to the top. My high water mark is 11-3. My low water mark is 8-5. What I hope to see, is 10-4. I see at least 1L Ls vs Utah. Covey was the Utes most exciting player but not the Utes best player. The Utes return a lot. Got a stud LB from Florida to replace Lloyd and Rising is the undisputed starting QB from day 1. I think if Utah wins at Florida, a final 4 run is in play for Utah. BYU is not on Utah's schedule and Utah gets San Diego State and a cupcake in SLC to round out its OOC schedule. I hope the author is correct but in general, I find his takes to be hugely optimistic. I think Oregon finishes in top 25 and not at the SP+ projected 32, but there are tons of questions regarding the 2022 Ducks and if asked, I'm the guy who says there will be no win in Atlanta, and that vs BYU will be far closer than the author predicts. I do not see the Ducks going 5-0 in conference road games. I think that the game at WSU will be far closer than the author predicts. How you predict final scores without knowing who the starting QB will be, among many other questions, is beyond me.

Thank you Charles. "Dear Zachary, forgive me if I question whether under coach Mirabel the Ducks OL 'was in good hands?' If in 'good hands,' shouldn't these highly ranked OL guys have road graded Stanford? Thank you and all the best." Culture and recruiting rankings? The only thing that matters is Ws. Lots of good men who had 'character guys' in the locker room and achieved excellent team APRs have been fired because they didn't win enough games.

"Dynasty?" I love the author's enthusiasm but ...? Perhaps a 'dynasty' in the Pac-12; this I can see. But nationally? Top 10 Heisman finishers 2018 - 2021 - SEC - 13; B1G - 10; B12 - 6; ACC - 5; G5 - 4; Pac-12 1 - Gardiner Minshew. 0 - number of Pac-12 players on offense expected to go in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft. 0 - Pac-12 QBs invited to the NFL Combine. Again, I love the post and the positive thinking but if a dynasty is to be born in Eugene it likely will not begin before 2023, if then. Nix is a very good QB but I think Dan Lanning would tell us in all honesty that 2022 with games OOC 'at' UGA and versus BYU and 5 road games is not conducive to making this season's final 4. Maybe in 2023 when at Texas Tech replaces 'at' UGA? Michigan and Cincinnati were both darn good football teams in 2021. Georgia and Alabama smothered these 2, like Ohio State smothered Oregon in the 1st playoff champ game. 84 SEC guys have been invited to the 2022 NFL combine; more than twice the number invited from the Pac-12. I have high expectations for Lanning and his staff but I believe some level of patience will be required and I hate to see unrealistic expectations placed on Lanning. Making the Fiesta Bowl in 2021, or playing in another NY6 Bowl would be one heck of an accomplishment for the 2022 Ducks.

I've watched every Super Bowl game, went to 7, including the games these Ducks played in. So, am I happy now? NO!