Jon Joseph

I believe the B12 teams you mentioned are locked into the B12 media deal and will not be able to leave without paying a significant exit fee. I entirely agree that academic snobbery has to face financial reality. The conference cannot double down on once rejecting B12 orphans over the issue of academics.

I do think the playoff will go to 16 teams in 2016 with no first-round byes and the seeding based on Committee rankings without giving preference to conference champions. And I see the B1G and SEC routinely sending 3 teams to the playoff. But the playoff will not shut out the other 3 P5 champions and because of politics will reserve a spot for a G5 team. The bigger issue, in my opinion, is how piggish will the B1G and SEC be when it comes to splitting what should be a huge amount of money with 16 teams in the field and with ESPN losing its exclusive broadcast rights Of course, the B1G/SEC could try to go it alone and play a 2 conference championship but if they decide to do this a legion of anti-trust lawyers will be headed their way.

Weaken the perception? Yes. And it may hurt seeding in the 12-team playoff field but will not prevent the conference champion from making the field. Perception will mean far less in a real playoff that is replacing the BCS x 2. Terrific take.

Jon Wilner has posted his post-spring revised Top 25. Here are his Top 10 plus other Pac-12 schools ranked in the Top 25. 1. Georgia - DUH! 2. Michigan - A cupcake out-of-conference schedule helps to justify this ranking. 3. LSU - Daniels will be the best QB in the SEC but will LSU be able to win at Bama? 4. Washington - Huh? How about this scheduling trifecta - Utah, at USC, at Oregon State. Both Oregon schools but for coaching gaffs had UW beat last season. And can UW win a shootout at USC? 5. Alabama- When Saint Nick is dissed he usually wins championships. 6. FSU - Tallahassee is getting more love since the days of Freddy 'Boom Boom' Cannon. Sorry for the old-timer throwback. One that goes way back. 7. Ohio State - Mock drafts have Ohio State with 6 players being drafted in the 1st round of the 2024 NFL draft. Win at Notre Dame and it's a two-game schedule. Penn State and at Michigan. I would have ranked tOSU in UW's spot. 8. Notre Dame - A school that lost to a G5 opponent and Stanford in South Bend last season and has to play Ohio State and at Clemson? 9. USC - The schedule ramps up with having to play UW and Oregon and at Notre Dame. I'll believe that Troy fields a decent D only when I see it. 10.. Clemson - I like Clemson playing FSU at home to win the ACC and also to win the game in Clemson versus Notre Dame. At USC(e) could be tricky. 14 - Utah - Will Rising be able to compete at a championship level coming off of a bad knee injury? Tripping to USC and UW will not be easy and with a suspect defense Oregon shut down the Utes O in 2022. IMO opinion Utah should not be ranked ahead of Oregon and Oregon State. 15. Oregon - As I have expressed directly to Mr. Wilner I have no idea why Oregon dropped from 9 to 15 or why he has Oregon ranked the 4th best team in the Pac-12. I hope this will help motivate the Ducks. It motivates me in the direction of ticked-off! 18. Oregon State - The Beavers had UW beat in Seattle last season if it only kicked 2 FG instead of going for it twice on 4th and goal and being held short of the goal line twice. Troy is not on the schedule, the Beavers play no Power 5 opponent out-of-conference and play UW in Corvallis with UW coming off games against Utan and playing at USC. In summary, Oregon State should be ranked higher than 18. 22. UCLA - The Bruins with a Charmin soft out-of-conference schedule, will start 3 and O and have the easiest Pac-12 conference schedule. Still, I see UCLA's ceiling at 9 wins. 25. Texas Tech - Oregon will be tested in Lubbock.

Check out the number of Oregon transfers still in the portal and the number of players that have dropped to the G5 or lower in the case of Jackson State. Landing spots of former Ducks that entered the transfer portal DUCKSWIRE.USATODAY.COM There have been over 30 former Ducks that have entered the transfer portal since the 2022 season. Here’s where they ended up. Yes, some of these lads were likely encouraged to enter the portal but many IMO are simply getting bad advice. Beam me up Scotty, or beam me sideways or down.

Spot on but the B1G will not have these 4 playing every season. I think it will be a B1G time scheduling outlier when this happens if it happens. I think the B1G will have SC and UCLA playing what are now B1G West teams for the most to cut down on travel. Under the new scheduling format, I expect that Michigan and Ohio State will continue to play one another every season but I do not expect to often see Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State playing one another every year as is the case today.

At least the conference does play 9 conference games and I expect the SEC will follow suit next season when OK/TX come on board. The ACC dropped divisions but stayed at 8 games. This is what happens when you bend over and enable Notre Dame to stay independent in football. With a 12-team playoff coming I hope this will bite the ACC in the rear end.

Washington State president and Pac-12 executive committee member, Kirk (Sergeant) Schulz (sorry for the dose of Chris Berman) has come up (in an interview on UTube) with a very logical take on why the Pac-10 new media deal negotiations drag on. First, he points out that the last 5 months have likely been the worst time to negotiate a new media deal in the last 6 years. (Good call but why did the conference let the B12 jump ahead?) Second, ESPN and Amazon, having recently gone through a series of employee layoffs do not want to rush to the market with news of a new multi-millions of dollars media deal. (Apple has laid no employees off.) Schulz is on the front line and a most reliable source who is in frequent contact with the commissioner, George Kliavkoff. Schulz also says that he knows of no Pac-10 team ready to jump ship. Nice to have a ray of sunshine instead of a bunch of unsourced rumors. Unlike the good Sergeant, this Schulz knows something and not nothing.

'Educated leanings' have opinions? Who knew?

That would be great for frequent flyer miles.

This is a WAG and of course, assumes that the Pac-10 conference holds together. The media market size follows the name of each putative Pac-16 member. If this or something like this were to come to fruition I see 4 pods, 4 teams each, structure NW - Oregon (Portland #22;) Oregon State (Portland #22;) Washington (Seattle #11;) Washington State (Spokane #67.) West - CAL (SFO #10;) Stanford (SFO #10;) Fresno State (Fresno #53;) San Diego State (San Diego #30) Central - Arizona (Tucson #65;) ASU (Phoenix #10;) UNLV (LAS #40;) Utah (SLC #29) Salt Lake coming in ahead of San Diego surprised me. East - CU (Denver #16;) SMU (Dallas #5;) Tulane (New Orleans #50;) UTSA ( San Antonio #31.) Note, if it was Rice instead of UTSA, the Houston market is the nation's 7th largest media market. But do we want a 2nd Stanford in the conference? Having done this exercise, I think the media market size produces voodoo numbers compared to the actual eyeballs tuning in to watch the games. I just hope the Pac-10 holds together to allow expansion to happen. As Mr. FishDuck recently expressed, it is a good thing that George Kliavkoff is in Las Vegas because it looks like he is going to have to pull a media deal rabbit out of his hat. I realize that a number of proposed newbies do not fit the academic bill. But I am afraid that ship has sailed leaving behind AAU members Iowa State and Kansas and Tier 1 Research University Houston. And a number of schools with better academic rankings than existing Pac-10 members. (SIGH.)

Can you say 'chicken spit?' Ohio State has already paid UW $500K to back out of a 2024/25 home and home series. Michigan's Out-of-conference schedule in 2024 is as pitiful as it was in 2023. This is due to Michigan canceling a home and home with UCLA and scheduling nothing-burgers as replacements. But do not expect this chicken spit scheduling to have any effect on the Wolverines' path to the final, Final 4. B1G reportedly mulling major change to scheduling requirements SATURDAYTRADITION.COM B1G rule change could be coming soon, per a report.

A solid, objective look at Oregon's 2023 schedule. BTW, USC does play 9 games in a row but Oregon finishes with 7 games in a row and plays Oregon State while SC plays Nemo (Nobody) the week before the conference champ game. Oregon draws Utah and nemesis ASU from the former South Division. https://collegefootballnews.com/schedules/oregon-football-schedule-2023-analysis-breakdown-3-things-to-know

THIS, plus garnishing NIL money, no doubt.

EXACTLY! Does Uncle Phil own Rivals, 247, etc.? Come On Dawgs!

Didn't this guy go on to own and coach a pro basketball team in Flint, Michigan? Where he traded a washing machine for Woody Harrelson. What's the safe word? Spumoni. Spumoni!

Thank you, Rufus. I get that a Minnie Ha Ha guy would have an in with B1G sources but B12 and Pac-12 sources? I'm seeing this as more unfounded rumor-mongering and I will apologize if wrong. The Pac-12 is facing more incoming than the Marines at Khe Sanh. The Marines fought back.

Man, -30,000, -15,000, -6,000. These odds are crying out for a $10 bet plus the $1 vig. But Caesar's and the other LV books know what they are doing.

I'm shocked! The sugar is being poured on Troy. Lots of good portal pick-ups but does Grinch have the chops to improve the D? As I have noted before, playing Utah and UW in LA helps SC's cause. As does playing AZ, ASU, CU, Stanford, and missing Oregon State.

However, Whatever Network likely has more than 13M subscribers/viewers.

Rufus, Charles someone, who is this guy, and has he been a reliable source in the past?

Yes, Tulane meets the required academic bona fides to join the 'Elite Club.' And last seen beating SC; THIS is in the Green Wave's favor. Roll Waves!

I don't know but if CU leaves I'm going to Ralph(ie.)

Would the Pac-6, CAL, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, and Washington State be considered a member of the Power 5 (in reality today it is a Power 2) by adding - Colorado State, San Diego State, Fresno State, UNLV, Boise State, SMU, UT San Antonio, and Tulane? And possibly Tulsa and Memphis? If it comes to pass that only 6 Pac teams remain I believe the above-listed newbies would make sense. But would the Power 4 and Notre Dame buy off on this?

Great take. So how about waking someone up in the Pac-12 office to get working on better bowl arrangements? Or, as I noted, have the conference send a lesser team to the Alamo Bowl. Having bowl agreements with 2 bowls in Texas, Alamo, and Sun. to me makes no sense. My guess? You'd have an easier task trying to wake Rip van Winkle. Spot on. Bowls for many mediocre teams exist to give ESPN inventory. The stands are usually devoid of fans and the match-ups do not move the needle except for CFB junkies.