Jon Joseph

Barrett Sallee over at CBS Sports has the Trojans making the final 4, IN 2022! Williams is the Heisman leader in the club house at -500. 2nd is Stroud at -250. Whole lot of love for QB that did beat an undermanned, disorganized Ducks team but lost to Baylor and OK ST.

LOL! Do you have any of a cat grabbing crab legs? OK Jimbo. Heard the same stuff about play for pay from Hugh Freeze. Freeze was cheating. For you, it's all good. Maybe you just want the world to know what a great recruiter you are? What a schmuck. Jimbo? Who do you think it was that Nick Saban was calling out for abusing the concept of NIL? Nick, if you don't like A+M wait until Texas shows up.

A+M outbid Miami; addition to the #1 play for pay group of recruits.

OT - Caleb Williams is now the front runner at Caesars Sport Book to win the Heisman Trophy. Odds are twice as favorable for a Williams win than for Ohio State's QB Stroud to win the trophy.

Adding the recruits signed by SC to the guys SC has taken from the portal, including Caleb Williams, SC would have the top ranked class in the Pac-12 and the No. 9 class in the nation. Riley has to recruit beef and not just great skill players, but with the guys he signed, including Dye, and a decent group returning on the OL, it likely will take a lot of points on the board to beat SC in 2022. Williams at QB is far more athletic than Dart and has more playing experience than Dart including (sorry) a win over a top 25 team in his team's bowl game.

Now, if we could only convince a TE from Napa, CA., to stay west and play for the Ducks. Guy by the name of Bowers who lit it up at Georgia his frosh season. I wonder how many Pac-12 teams offered this young man? Bowers is a perfect example of a guy the Pac-12 cannot allow to escape the Pac-12 footprint. Tough to do when assuming the young man in HS watched ESPN, the SEC Network, the Paul Finebaum show and the SEC Game of the week kicking off at 3:30 PM on the east coast, compared to a Pac-12 game kicking off at 10:30 on a broke, hard to access network. Thanks again Coach for another very insightful article. Glad you mentioned Malzahn. Scuffling him off to UCF and replacing him with a coach from the Mountain West is not working out all that well. Texas and Auburn, IMO, have the 2 most unrealistic boosters/fan bases in the country; UW folks are not that far behind.

Thank you AMCDAWG. Very interesting take on the workings of the Georgia program under Kirby Smart that I hope Lanning will bring west with him. This and the ability to properly delegate to subordinates including the leaders on the field and in the locker room. Mario Cristobal is a micro-manager who cannot get of his own way let alone out of the way of his assistant coaches. I have never seen a talented group of athletes so often show up flat and unprepared to play ball than I saw with Mario at the wheel. As I have expressed before, I an so happy Georgia crossed the final playoff hurdle this season. BTW, do you think a new head coach has ever been handed an opening game against the national defending champion, OOC. Another OOC game vs BYU that finished in the top 25. An FCS opponent that among others, produced Rams WR Cooper Kupp, E. WA. Plus 5 conference road games. The Pac-12 certainly isn't the toughest conference in the P5 but this a big ask for any coach let alone a new HC with no HC experience. Thanks again for the great post.

Steele was in the running for the Auburn HC. Should have hired him instead of Hartsin and maybe will hire him when Hartsin is fired? 65? Puppy!

What's your deal? One of the all time biggest point spread upsets in the history of CFB. Like KC last Sunday Carroll should have gone for the FG at the end of the 1st half and not the TD.

.659 winning percentage in the NFL. Took the 49ers to a Super Bowl where he lost to his brother. The man can coach and I believe he knows that he took the Wolverines as far as they can CFB go in 2021.

David, I don't know. Intuitively it makes sense to think that handing mucho dinero to untested kids who do not pan out will slow 'this' down? But boosters are not rationale business people. Would any rationale business people hand over close to $100M to Mel Tucker? What would the NFL be like without a salary cap and 'NFL boosters' being allowed to pay free agents above and beyond? CFB is emotion based far more than is the 'regular' market. If A+M spends enough the Aggies will win a title, right? Wrong. But that does not mean that well-heeled A+M grads are going to stop spending. The NFL has a salary cap for a reason. The NFL is run like a one for all, all for one, Business. The guys who own NFL teams understand the value of a dollar. Crazed CFB fans do not. I do not believe that NIL pay-for-play is a marketplace that can or will regulate itself. Remember SMU? What went on at SMU yesterday would be perfectly kosher today. And Reggie Bush?

Florida is a great place live. I hope you will excuse me and I hope it isn't personal, but Miami is far different than living in Gainesville or in the Panhandle. I spent 6 months in Miami once upon a time on a job assignment. Plenty of good people but also plenty the bad vibe amongst the folks who live there. I doubt that the U under Mario will be back. The turnover chain brought plenty of people on board before Miami was waxed by Notre Dame a few seasons back. Kind of like USC. A winner in LA packs the Coli. Back in the days when the U was dominant folks packed the decrepit Orange Bowl. I can see Riley despite the Rams/Chargers competition bringing folks back to the Coli. But Miami? Interesting that the ACC divisions were set up to have FSU and Miami playing for an ACC title every year. Has yet to happen. Dabo is a far better game day coach than is Mario and I do not see Mario eclipsing Dabo when it comes to recruiting. I think the Miami boosters may well have bought the proverbial pig in a poke?

Not sure about the suffering? Guy had a very good record when he was the HC of the 49ers. A heck of a lot better record than did the Chipper. FYI, UCLA last season did not defeat a team that finished with a winning record.

Navy Seals? No Easy Day watching Mario's team play.

The Utes have stepped up their game and opened their wallet. Great to see and great for the Pac-12. And the AD has amazing OOC games lined up including 2023 when Florida (!) comes to Salt Lake City. Whittingham is now 62 and entering his 18th season (hard to believe) as the Utes HC. Beat Florida in 2022 opener and Utah will have a legit shot at the final 4. Will also have to defeat San Diego State OOC, likely QB'd by Braxton Burmeister.

And as the current Champion, why should you give anything away?

It's fine in the winter months but a steam bath the rest of the year.

No QB in the history of college and pro football has won a Heisman Trophy, a College National Championship and a Super Bowl. Joe Burrow will be going for the trifecta this Sunday. Cincinnati +3.5. IMO, the Bengals OL will not be able to hold up versus the excellent Rams DL? However, Joe was sacked 9 times in Nashville and came away with the win. He was down 21 points in Kansas City before coming back for the win. I hope he can pull it off? I don't think, as was the case with Dan Marino, that this will be Joe's one and only shot at a Super Bowl title. He looks like and plays like Tom Brady.

Great take. IMO, the answer to Mario being black balled by the coaching fraternity is 'YES!" Not only did he sit on Moorhead but he drove JM to take a pay cut and drop down as a HC in the MAC. I wonder if it was not stress and anxiety that affected JM's health.

I'd agree but I'm not certain the 'usual' business model applies to Fanatics with lots of dinero?

It is critical that more than 1 school in the Pac-12 finishes in the top 15, at least. Clemson has the benefit of being on the Right Coast. Also the benefit of having the ACC Network owned and operated by ESPN.

Good take Kurt. According to Jon Winer's take on the Pac-12 that he posted today, with Caleb Williams on board adding the transfer and new recruit rankings, SC would rank No. 9 in the country in this recruiting cycle. Well ahead of 15 Stanford and 22 (!) Arizona.

Denial is not a river in Egypt.

He had a very good record in San Francisco and played his bro in a Super Bowl game that bro won. He was a very good NFL coach before he wore out his welcome. Turned Kapernick into a darn good NFL QB.

DUH. My bad and thanks for the clarification.