Jon Joseph

The components are at hand. The Alliance can end the arms race simply by going their own way. Putting the brakes on unfettered CFB free agency. Making APR count. Telling other conferences devoid of AAU members that we care more about CFB than we do about semipro football. That we care more about guys graduating than we do about the minority who will play in the NFL. That we can still make plenty of money without you; especially, if we combine our media rights in a fair way that gives the achievers more money than others not as successful. And we can have a great postseason without you and your cartel buddy ESPN. Take all the 4 and 5 star guys? Who cares. We will be collegial. We will care about academics. You make more alone than without us, so be it. But we refuse to play semi-pro football disguised as an amateur sport. It is either this or The Super League as you so properly address, with the ESPN/SEC hegemony controlling CFB and treating us as an after thought.

Bo Nix. The competition faced by each respective QB is not anywhere close. What #s would Nix have put up running the WAZZU O vs Pac-12 Ds? Comparing the Ds Nix and Jayden have faced, the quality of games each has played in, the number of fans in the stands going nuts each guy has played in; well, its. rotten apples compared to Oranges. Show Jayden the money whatever the team it was that tampered with the WA ST roster and has this kid entering the portal. What Ds in the Pac-12 are equivalent to the majority of Ds Nix faced in the SEC? Has Jaydon ever come near playing Alabama in front of 100,000 SEC fans? Nix like Jaydon, has 2 seasons of CFB left to play.

Perhaps in Nirvana or in an alternate universe, but it is not happening here. Even though the media money is evenly split, QBs in the NFL make more money than do the guards blocking for them.

James played Tennessee in Eugene and in Knoxville. There is a reason a lion tamer puts his head into the mouth of the lion, the lion has been trained not to bite. BTW, how did a one off game out west in Glendale vs LSU help the Ducks or improve the integrity of CFB?

FYI. Athens, Georgia is one of the great college football towns in the USA. If you ever get a chance to visit Athens, please do so. To me, it is unfortunate that on 9/3/22 the Ducks is playing UGA in Atlanta and not Between the Hedges in Athens and with a return game scheduled in Eugene. Please with Wisconsin playing a H+H with WA ST, Auburn playing a H+H with CAL, A+M playing a H+H with CU, etc., do not give me the old canard that there is no reason for UGA to visit Eugene. Tennessee visited Eugen and not that long ago.

Respect your opinion of course. "Integrity of the game? Then why do not all P5 conferences play 9 conference games. Alabama playing New Mexico State at home in the penultimate regular season game = integrity? There is zero parity and integrity in CFB scheduling. The only thing the PC looks at is the number of Ls a team has. How much integrity was afforded Oregon in 2001 and USC numerous times by the BCS?

OK. But with BYU on the schedule in 3020, why in 2029 schedule a game 'at' Georgia. If an SEC team will not give Oregon a H+H to heck with them. Want to play UGA? Make the final4 and play the Dawgs in the playoff.

Absolutely Annie. BTW, Alabama has a H+H scheduled with Arizona.

One answer to the question: The Alliance, including Notre Dame, holding its own Run For The Roses post season without SEC/ESPN? Brought to you by FOX, CBS, NBC, TNT, etc. Champ game played 1/1 at 5PM in the Rose Bowl.

Regarding the Pac-12's performance in 2021 OOC games, nothing to see here, move right along. 2022 again brings 36 OOC games. Of course, the conference continues to play 9 conference games so that 6 Pac-12 teams, including Oregon, will play five conference road games. No team that played 9 conference games has won a Playoff Championship. Yet, the conference continues to ruminate on 8 versus 9 conference games. Further evidence of the 'leadership' in the Conference of (Olympic Sports) Champions. The Pac-12 will play 13 Power 5 opponents OOC and 12 teams that were ranked in the top 25 in the Playoff Committee's (PC) 2021 final ranking. Here is one man's ranking on the 2022 OOC degree of difficulty. 1. OREGON - The Ducks open the 2022 season playing national champion or runner-up, Georgia, in Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Athens, Georgia, home of the Dawgs is 72 miles from Atlanta. Eugene is 2,712 miles from Atlanta. Rumor has it that there are more Georgia grads resident in Atlanta than there are Ducks grads? This contest is 'neutral' in name only. Oregon's QB will get his first start for the Ducks in this game. Fortunately, Oregon HC Dan Lanning is very familiar with the Dawgs roster and style of play, and has been involved in many games played in this stadium. Eastern Washington. An FCS team but a darn good one. Doesn't Portland State need a pay check? BYU - The Cougars went 5-0 vs the Pac-12 last season and finished ranked No. 13 by the PC. With all due respect to Rob Mullens, this is moronic Playoff scheduling. 2. ARIZONA - At San Diego State - The Aztecs were ranked No. 24 by the PC and defeated Pac-12 2021 champion Utah. Mississippi State - first of a home and home series vs The Pirate's SEC team. North Dakota State - An FCS school playing Montana State for the 2021 FCS championship. 3. COLORADO - TCU - a B12 team that was not bowl eligible in 2021 but defeated CAL in 2020 and in 2021. At Air Force Academy - AFA went 10-3 in 2021. At Minnesota - Minnesota blew out CU in Boulder in 2021 and is the second Power 5 team on the Buffs OOC schedule. 4,. UTAH - At Florida in the first game of a home and home series. Southern Utah. PC No. 24 San Diego State in a rematch of the 2021 game the Utes lost to the Aztecs. (Likely the only game in the nation featuring opponents with Native American nicknames?) 5, STANFORD - Colgate (the school, not the tooth paste,) at PC No. 5 Notre Dame, PC No. 13 BYU 6. ASU - Northern Arizona, at PC No. 9 Oklahoma State, Eastern Michigan 7, OREGON STATE - Boise State, at Fresno State, Montana State - MT ST is an FCS school playing ND ST in the FCS Champ game. 7. WASHINGTON STATE - Idaho, at Wisconsin, Colorado State 9. CAL - UC Davis, UNLV, at Notre Dame 9. USC - Rice, Fresno State, at Notre Dame. 11. WASHINGTON - Kent State, Portland State, PC No. 10 Michigan State - There's no place like home. 12. UCLA - Bowling Green State University, Alabama State, Southern Alabama. Bruins, go to your room! This is perhaps a new low in Pac 8, 10, 12 OOC scheduling? Play an HBCU school, I'm all for it. But doesn't that mean you have to play someone the quality of say, Purdue? This schedule is pathetic but guess what? A 3-0 UCLA will likely be ranked in the AP Top 25. All in all playing 36% of your OOC schedule vs Power 5 teams and one-third of your schedule against teams ranked in the PCs Top 25, is as tough as it gets in Power 5 OOC scheduling. Than as noted above, add on 9 conference games. Does this make sense for a conference that is 2 for a Playoff 8?

George has some juice. He is a member of the Playoff Committee and well thought of nationally. Clearly there is a lot of 'roster tampering' going on with NIL pay for play being promised the transferring athlete. Is case folks haven't noticed, Bama has signed this season's #1 RB out of the portal. None of the free agent rules, rules against tampering, an overall salary cap and an equal share of the media proceeds to all teams, that we see in the NFL exists today in CFB. Limiting the time in which a player can portal out would help with roster management. But on its own will not do much to fix what ails CFB.

How do we know that Freeze didn't pay someone else for 'his' fish?

Leadership? I think the discussions on whether to expand or stay as is would have been fascinating to listen in to and I'd love to know the research that was used to reach this conclusion? Was it simply immediate financial impact that was looked at or were there longer range projections that were considered? The short turn around between GK saying AAU membership would not be a requirement to join the conference (good thing for ASU, OR ST and WA ST) was to me, extremely puzzling. It almost seemed the rug was pulled out from under the guy before there was time for a complete evaluation to be made? And the 'reference to the conference being an 'exclusive club' turned me off just as, 'it just means more' turns me off.

Enjoyed the take DM and I certainly am enjoying the attitude of the new coaching staff on the way in the door. Thanks again Mario for going MIA.

GK is correct regarding the state of the conference in CFB. Easier to point fingers at COVID than prior leadership or rather, the lack thereof. Do all of his bosses 'get it?' Do many of them care? GK has one very tough row to hoe.

Did you notice that DGU disappeared from the Dr, Pepper adds this early season. ROI will cool the jets on a lot of these deals.

Next up? Does Caleb Williams and a number of other OK players transfer to SC? Riley never had great defenses at OK. Can he bring in the big body OL and DL players that Lanning will bring in?

CFB wise the Supreme Court decision in the Alston case did CFB wise neuter the NCAA, Now will the respective conferences attempt to control NIL and attempt to control open free agency vis the portal. Can they if they even desire to do so, put rules into place that will withstand legal review?

That's what the Zen Master said. Good advice.

Very good news! Show Sammy the $? In the SEC, Lanning has seen any and all kinds of games that can and will roster-wise be played. That's the conditioning you need in today's world of big time CFB.

This is the "now" of CFB, not the future. Spot on as to how many institutions of higher learning will want to play this kind of big, big money game? And a large number of schools that would be OK playing this kind of CFB cannot afford to do so including the majority of the Pac-12.

Definitely the old school methodology but I think we will see, at least at big time programs, as many starting QBs coming out of the portal than being recruited and developed. And let's not kid ourselves. In this day and age of wide open CFB 'free agency' there is a lot of roster tampering going on.

You could see this coming from thousands of miles away. This is likely the minimum the kid is being offered. I ask this in no demeaning manner whatsoever but, why is anyone at all surprised by this? THIS is today's big time CFB. Pay enough to play or go away to the G5, FCS or D3. The decision in the Alston case led naturally to 'this' and at the same time neutered the NCAA. No one is in charge. There is wise open 'free agency' in CFB that you do not see in the NFL. There is no spending cap in CFB like there is in the NFL. And who or what is taking a look at roster tampering in CFB? Goes may stay longer in CFB because going to the NFL will mean taking a pay cut.

NIL has turned out to be a ruse for pay to play. NIL allows each Texas OL guy the be paid $50,000 a year and that is just the 'base salary.' I imagine a guy like Banks is being paid more than 50K a year to play for Texas? The transfer portal means unrestricted one time free agency for every player. None of this is regulated. Based on the Alston decision the NCAA cannot do anything about players being paid for their name, image and likeness. So, this means one of four things, IMO, for the Ducks. 1. Join a Super League only loosely affiliated with the school. There will be outright pay for play, a player's union, no academic requirements and a high school draft. Envision 32 big time CFB schools each licensing all football facilities and all other rights to one of the 32 NFL teams. 2. Find partners willing and able to pay the freight to compete in big time CFB. Such partners are not except for SC and maybe UW, in the Pac-12. Find partners whose collective media rights can at least approach those of the SEC and B1G. Or for Oregon and SC, do all that is possible to be asked to join the B1G. (See further on this move below.) 3. The Alliance and Notre Dame under a single umbrella, market their collective media rights and conduct their own postseason play without any other conferences being involved. This includes taking back the Rose Bowl. The Alliance regulates the portal. Number of players that can be signed, notice needed to be given by a departing player, etc. The Alliance agrees to an orderly admissions process and required academic progress. Minimum grade point averages and SAT/ACT scores to qualify for matriculation. The Alliance caps the all-in money that can be budgeted for football including a cap on 3rd party donations. The Alliance establishes a minimum that has to be spent on football for a school to get an equal revenue cut. Basically, the Alliance drops out of the arms race. The SEC can do whatever it wants and the football product will likely be superior in the SEC but regardless, the Alliance focuses more on academics with all players being given 5 seasons to play 4. 4. The Pac-12 becomes the Ivy League west. No athletic scholarships, only Pell Grants and other similar type grants allowed to pay a student-athlete's cost of education . An athlete as is the case in the Ivy League can market his/her NIL. The Pac-12 participates in no post season football and plays 10 games a season. OK, some of the above can be mixed and matched. But if Oregon wants to be truly big time in CFB it has to be willing to spend on the level of the top B1G and SEC teams and has to find a way to close the income gap between it and the B1G and SEC schools. Standing pat as a conference was a terrible business decision on the part of the Pac-12 conference and terrible in the manner in which it negatively affects Oregon's long term future. IMO, to heck with the Pac-12. AAU members UW, Oregon, Stanford, USC, Utah and CU should collectively ask to join the B1G with the understanding that revenues would be phased in and adjusted if the new members do not expend enough on CFB and CBB. And also adjusted for stadium size. (Leaving CAL and UCLA out of the mix leaves the CA legislature out of the mix.) These 6 write off their investment in the Pac-12 Network and are covered by the B1G Network. The 20 team B1G has four 5 team pods and not divisions. CFB as we knew for decades is gone. Now are you willing and able to ante-up to play in the new game?

Great take. My only true concern regarding the conference is having to play 5 conference road games instead of playing say, New Mexico State at home? But that is more of a Final 4 concern than it is a conference title concern. UCLA? Lame duck coach and the Bruins just lost Gabriel Dillon to Oklahoma. Utah should be very good especially with the quality transfer LB from Florida coming to Utah, but at Autzen should be a win. If healthy, Oregon will have a QB who has started and won big time games against better talent than what the Utes will bring. I don't think this new group of coaches is anywhere near done with the portal and in 2022 you can have 85 on scholly plus an additional 7 transfers. Even if Caleb Williams signs with SC, the Trojans are behind the curve on both the D and O lines.