Jon Joseph

If you can successful tackle these 2 issues, head for the NFL draft!

WW. Great take. But the NCAA is out of this after losing 9-0 vs Alston. Each conference at the P5 level will have to decide what to do about pay for play and unrestricted free agency. 2 conference's have the ability to compete financially, the B1G and the SEC. I'm hoping the B1G tells the SEC 'to go to Hades, academics matter in the B1G.' If the B1G makes this decision, maybe Ohio State leaves the B1G but I doubt it? I do see the SEC adding Clemson + FSU and maybe a number of B12 schools, to form a super league? Perhaps even approach SC and Oregon to sign up? I can see Nebraska leaving the B1G and most other B1G members saying, 'good riddance.' But I agree with you. Dump the PO, take back the Rose Bowl and bring back The Run For The Roses. Guys want to play CFB pro ball, join the SEC. Academics don't matter? You are not playing college football. STOP scheduling SEC teams! STOP giving the SEC millions and millions of dollars in NY6 bowl money. Or, go somewhere else where Oregon can bring in more money than it will as a member of the Pac-12.

Hint: I think you are most likely find the expert(s) in College Station, Texas.

'Invest' in KT, PK 'gets' this. Pay millions to HS kids who have yet to see the CFB field? I doubt that PK will go for 'this?' "Without cheating?' I'm sorry but I do not view A+M paying $70M for the top 2021 recruiting class as anything but 'cheating.' In this CFB financial race the Pac-12 is bringing a knife to a gun fight. But you are so right my friend, ante-up or fold. IMO, Oregon today has 2 choices: find a better more lucrative place to play; or, say to hell with the SEC and this so-called playoff and take back the Rose Bowl. If it's option 2, what will the B1G do? The B1G has the money to play 'pro ball' with the SEC. But does it want to?

Do 'this' and kiss top drawer recruits good-bye. No way any school in the SEC with the possible exception of Vandy, would consider limiting NIL in any way, shape or form. If you can't 'booster-up' with the $, too damn bad.

Rules? There are no stinkin' rules! Embrace 'it?' Want to pay $70M for the top recruiting class like A+M just did? The Pac-12 is at a huge disadvantage in today's CFB financial 'arms race.'

David, another excellent take, thank you. As you noted this is an easy fix. The NCAA still has the authority, about all it has left when it comes to CFB, to flip the switch and make this happen. My guess, with the NCAA constitution in the process of being re-written and everything having to do with CFB likely being handed over from the NCAA to the P5/G5, ending the early signing period is not likely to go away under today's NCAA? As to the bigger issues of NIL pay for play and open CFB free agency, after spending millions in legal fees to no avail the NCAA is not going to touch these 2 issues with a 100 foot pole.

$100M, that's a lot of money to be about. Apparently OK AD Castilogne did not fill Riley in on the possibility of heading to the SEC. I think Riley has seen enough of the SEC in the playoffs? Why does anyone want to compete in a conference where A+M just paid $70M in NIL deals for its new recruiting class? Sorry, but that is simply cheating. IMO, cancel all OOC games with the SEC. Take back the Rose Bowl. Convince the B1G to do the same. B1G - 1 PO title, OH ST. And with another chance in 2020, the Bucks were smoked by Bama in the title game. MI ST blown out by Bama. Michigan blown out by UGA. Pac-12? OR blown out by Ohio State. UW smothered by Bama. It's AA batters against elite MLB pitching. Harbaugh had a terrific team at Michigan this season. A team that was smothered by Georgia. 1 reason Harbaugh is the odds-on favorite to take the Raiders job is that he knows that he will not win a Natty at Michigan. This and the Raiders just fired the GM. Harbaugh could have a heck of a lot of authority in Las Vegas without the pressure of winning at his alma mater; a school that actually has requirements for admission. He did beat a down Ohio State. He knows he cannot put together a roster at MI to equal the top SEC teams. Riley knows the same. How often to you think OK will make the SEC title game let alone win the SEC? The kids Riley recruited to OK owe nothing to OK. How many player's on the OK roster were asked their opinion of going to the SEC?

This season, a school can have 92 players on scholarship instead of the usual cap of 85. But as Nick Saban among others has suggested, find an NIL funding booster to pay a 4 or 5 star's entire cost of education plus lots of money and a possible NFL draft pick does not count against the scholarship limit. Open free agency with no way to control NIL deals? What's the bidding today for OK QB Caleb Williams' services? How many schools are willing and able to pay $70M for the #1 recruiting class that A+M boosters just paid via NIL deals. CFB needs a salary cap and limits on free agency.

And all the employees are in their late teens and early 20s.

This is the only reason why I understand Robby's choice of Auburn. Along with Auburn commits DJ James and Jayson Jones, Robby is going back to Bama. Auburn's QB room - 2021 starter TJ Finley, 2021 A+M starter Calzada, 4* recruit Holden Geriner + Robby. But if you want to go home to Bama, better chance to start at Auburn than Bama.

BUMMER! Especially with Oregon moving up 28 spots in the NET Rankings from 90 to 62 and well positioned as a possible bubble selection if nothing else.

Is that you Princess Leah? KIDDING! I agree with much that you have to say. Frankly, I'd prefer the playoff end in 2025. You simply cannot balance the talent or the scheduling in CFB unless there is a move to one marquee super league with a single commissioner. Compare Oregon's OOC schedule in 2020 with that of UCLA. Bama plays at Texas next season, a team that wasn't bowl eligible in 2021 and then Bama plays 3 stiffs OOC. Was having co-champions on occasion in CFB that big of a deal? I don't think so. Get your take on Cincy. Michigan wasn't a bad football team and like Bama smothered Cincy, UGA smothered Michigan. Check out the roster rankings. The results should surprise no one. How does expanding to 12 teams help the Pac-12? 1 team Utah, would have qualified and would have been on the road in the first round versus a higher ranked team. Utes take the 1st round L and say goodbye to the Rose Bowl game versus Ohio State. The so-called playoff IMO has helped 'wreck' CFB. It has helped produce a dominating media cartel and resulted, like Roy Kramer planned it back when, with the top talent ending up on 4 to 5 teams in the SEC and Clemson and Ohio State. It turned the game from a regional game with games played in the daylight to a multi-billion dollar out-of-control unregulated monstrosity with games played late at night. I'd be more than happy to take back the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl game this season was the best NY6 game far and away. Happy to see the Pac-12 champ play the B1G champ on 1/1, whether they are the top 2 teams in CFB or not. I'm not certain that the B1G is that enthralled with playoff expansion. I know that at this time the ACC is definitely not in favor of adding extra games. Imbalance is nothing new in CFB. Look at run Oklahoma had. The run Nebraska had. The run Carroll had. The run Saban is having at Bama. CFB has always been dominated by a few teams. Who needs people just telling us it means more when and where they play. Chuck the SEC and the playoff and I'd be more than happy. Is the game worth the candle? I am looking forward to Lanning but to expect him to put together a roster like the one UGA had this season? Sign a class like the one that A+M just paid $70M to sign? Is this what we want? A return to The Run For The Roses would be fine with me. And let's not forget that underdog Pac-12 teams often upset higher ranked B1G teams in the Rose Bowl. Let the $EC play in its own $andbox. Because as currently positioned, the Pac-12 will not win a playoff championship and will likely never have more than 2 teams in a 12 team field.

Mike, what the heck. Don't worry, be happy. The story will end the way it will end whether I fret about it or not.

Hey, there is no one in control that can make it stop. In CFB today we are faced with wide open free agency. Managing a roster in the NFL today is a piece of cake compared to CFB.

Mike, this is spot on my friend. It was very troubling to me that the thought of expansion was not simply dismissed, but dismissed with, "the Pac-12 is an exclusive club." If it is such, it's like a downtrodden old club filled with elderly gentlemen who cannot understand why new and younger members do not want to join and wonder how the furnishings can look so shabby when just 'yesterday' the club was rolling in capital? The fact that this nonsense of a network has been kept on life support; well, that's not simply the lack of the business sense that was evidenced when the network was formed, but gross and on-going business negligence. As was keeping a know-nothing spendthrift of a commissioner on board for a decade plus. As was not increasing market size and moving into the Central time zone including Texas, while closing the doors of a competitor at the same time. Was any thought given to such an expansion possibly saving the network and achieving at least a break even ROI on the capital invested in the network? Moving the conference HQ to San Francisco and operating the network out of San Francisco: 'Let them eat cake.' The club decided not to expand 'at this time.' Where do the learned members think they can expand now that Bob Bowlsby has resurrected the B12. SMU, UTSA, RICE, NORTH DAKOTA STATE? If this enterprise holds together or at least holds together as a P5 entity after the new media negotiations; well, I will be very surprised. Less than a handful of Pac-12 teams have the desire and the money to compete at the highest level of CFB. The UCLA athletic department is $40M in the red. How many folks in the Stanford administration give a whip if the games on The Farm are played in front of empty seats disguised as fans. The majority of professors at CAL would be happy to see CFB disappear. I for one do not want to see Puddles plucked when the club closes its doors. And after SC reawakened and spent @$100M to secure Lincoln Riley's services, I don't see the Trojans hanging around and agreeing to share the same piece of a smaller pie, compared with the pies the B1G and the SEC are both baking, with Washington State, Oregon State and other 'partners' that will never be players on the national stage. "Recruit better and win more." This cannot and will not happen without sufficient and significant investment being made by all members of the 'exclusive club.' Good luck. Go Ivy League? OK, but Autzen along with the already 'empty' stadiums in the conference, will be empty when the games kick off. And BTW, other than Stanford, most Pac-12 members are not endowed like the Ivy League schools. Not only will football fall to a lower level than the top G5 conferences, many sports now played at the varsity level will vanish or be played at the club level.

The cat's name should be: Mark Emmert.

Great post. If expansion happens it does not look like it will happen before 2026. To call this BCS x 2 a 'playoff' is absurd.

There is a ton of competition in the Pac-12 to determine the team that is the worst. If Penix stays healthy at QB I don't think UW will be the worst team in the conference. He played well for DeBoer when DeBoer was the OC at Indiana. I think WA ST will be improved with Cameron Ward (481 yards passing in the UIW bowl game) coming in from Immaculate Word to play QB. Rising being the starting QB from day 1 will help the Utes. Hopefully Nix or Thompson/Butterfield, with Mario's prevent O gone, lift the QB play for the Ducks. It would be nice if Dart stayed in-conference and signed with UCLA. As a matter of fact the QB play in the conference especially if Caleb Williams ends up at SC, will be much improved from a bunch of mediocre at best play in 2021. I certainly hope we see better OOC and bowl results in 2022? Of course, it will be hard not to improve in the bowls; just win one damn game.

OU is going to need 'them' and much, much more when it gets to the SEC. OK's decision to leave the B12 for the SEC is clearly about dollars meaning more than wins. I doubt if OK will be an SEC champ except maybe once every 2 decades? Texas perhaps fewer SEC championships than even this? I hope the whole team leaves Norman behind and the admin guys who stabbed Bob Bowlsby in the back.

17 game regular season and then the playoffs with only 2 teams receiving a 1st round bye. That's a load. Interesting that most of the 'wild card' opening games resembled the blow outs we so often see in the CFB playoff semi-finals. Hats off to the AA and the 49ers. The 49ers came on at the right time in the season. Hats off also to Joe Burrow and the Bengals breaking a long time playoff losing streak. Wouldn't it be nice to have Bama come north for a playoff game and play in the weather former Tide QB played in Friday night in Buffalo? CFB? Looks more and more like 4 more season's with a 4 team playoff field? The ACC best be careful or it could see Notre Dame, UVA, UNC and Miami in the B1G and Clemson and FSU in the SEC.

"XX is divine!" Lots of things were not good about the 60s, but a lot of things were 'righter' than they seem to be today? You could laugh out loud at 'something' without having to first check to see if your sense of humor was going to offend anyone or any group. Great comment.

Thank you for the kind comments. I think most of us are torn on pay-for-play under the guise of NIL transactions and unfettered free agency via the portal. On one hand, I do not believe players have been properly compensated in big time CFB for decades. On the other hand, especially for an old guy such as I, it kind of feels like the inmates have captured the asylum? So much going on including the NCAA re-writing its "constitution" and likely turning CFB rules, regulation and enforcement over to the P5/G5 conferences. I expect this will also be the case for CBB at the P5/G5 level. With the Supreme Court decision in the Alston case there is no way that the NCAA or any other entity other than Congress, can rein in or regulate NIL and the manner in which NIL is being used to pay and recruit players. And this doesn't seem to be front-burner 'stuff' for Congress at the moment. Another thing that can't be controlled, the fact that the B1G and the SEC are further financially distancing both respective conferences from their peers. The BCS and the BCS x 2, the so-called 'playoff,' has enriched the SEC and brought the Pac-12 to the edge if not over the edge of relevancy to irrelevancy, at least when it comes to the money-ball sports, CFB and CBB. Heck of a run in last season's CBB tourney but again, no cigar for The Conference of Champions. It appears that the CFB playoff will not expand in the next 4 seasons. Expect many of the best west coast CFB recruits to continue to head east to play ball. In the next 4 seasons I expect, if granted the time on earth, to see at least 3 more SEC playoff champions. Frankly, I was baffled by the Pac-12's decision not to expand when the time was right for so many reasons. I simply do not see how with the same line-up the Pac-12 has a chance after the next media go-rounds, to close the financial distance with the B1G and the SEC. It's so easy to say 'recruit better and win more,' but how many Pac-12 teams have the interest and the money needed to recruit and play at top level of CFB? What should Oregon do? In theory, convince the B1G to expand west and absorb the Ducks, Trojans and perhaps UW, Stanford, CU and Utah? (All AAU member schools.) I hope at the very least Oregon takes a long look at its options, if they indeed exist, before pledging its media rights to the Pac-12 for the duration of the next media deal. Meanwhile, I will take Mr. FishDuck's advice and follow Oregon and CFB with as much gusto as I can muster.

$. Guys are scoring big NIL deals out of the portal. Playing time; especially, for back up QBs. The grass is always greener theory. But with more players, by far, in the portal than schollies available this is not true for the majority of portal people.

But, did you like Rudy in Lord of the Rings? Great comment.