Jon Joseph

Comparing the last media deals the B12 and Pac-12 made is apples to oranges. First, the Pac-18 to 20 would have dropped the big time media rights bidder to 4 and not 5. And with the ACC locked in through 2036 it would really mean dropping 4 to 3. And picking up markets in the central time zone and especially in Texas would have helped the Pac-12 media wise even without OK and TX. And it possibly, perhaps probably, could have saved the Pac-12 network and the money Pac-12 schools invested in the network. Standing pat. AZ, ASU, CU, this version of Stanford, CAL, OR ST and WA St have no chance whatsoever at competing for a playoff spot. Utah is marginal. UCLA is way in the red. UW does not seem to spend the money needed to be big time. For example, hiring DeBeor and not a big name coach or a top assistant from a playoff contending program. Tough for SC and the Ducks to carry the conference; to spend far more on football and get the same ROI as teams that spend far less. To date, no team that played 9 conference games has won the playoff. Yet next season the Ducks will play 5 conference road games. How hard is it to figure this out and make the change?

Dan, this would help immensely. Go to Atlanta and beat the defending champ or runner up and take out BYU in Autzen. These will be nationwide watched football games. And play big ball and not small ball offense. For what my advice is worth. Put more than 4 DL guys on the LOS vs Bama and disguise where the pressure is coming from. This what A+M, LSU and Auburn did vs Bama. Only 1 won but all 3 shut down the Bama O. If you and Smart stay stubborn and play your base D all game long in the champ game, best of luck.

AMEN. This could be a game changer that returns more kids to playing junior and HS football. The military has been working on 'this' for over a decade. This will make the game safer until nano-tech arrives and virtually eliminates all head injuries and CTE.

Where on vacation? Athens, GA, Oxford, MS. or LA?

With so many guys in the portal why would you not add transfers to get to 92?

I have advocated for this. And I would consider including the 'new B12' in the mix. Have the games broadcast by FOX, CBS, NBC, TNT, etc. Unless something like this happens and there are rules regarding NIL pay, the transfer portal free agency, a cap on what can be spent on recruiting, etc., a CFB professional Super League is inevitable. The Pac-12 but for 2 and possibly 3 teams cannot compete today at the highest level of CFB. That's the reality and not the myth of the 'good old days' returning for the Pac-12.

Any player out of the portal that the coaching staff believes is better than any player on the roster must, if a scholly is available, be offered. Even if a scholly is not available the 'inferior' player should be so informed and the staff should find a portal place for the displaced player will he can compete. If need be, spread some sugar to get the new guy on board and the former guy to depart. THIS is the name of today's game. CFB is unregulated. It is pay for play under the ruse of the NIL. It is open free agency via the portal. And no one is in charge but for the NCAA imposing a scholly limit. If you do not want to play hardball drop down to FCS. Where the majority of Pac-12 teams have dropped to whether they realize it or not. CFB is no longer an amateur sport. It is a big time business and those without big time money will not be competitive. I hate to keep sounding like Jeremiah when it comes to the future of the Pac-12, but you are either going to compete like a member of a big time business enterprise or you are not.

And NFL owners do not allow open free agency like the portal and every team gets an equal cut of the media money. When CFB has a super league of 32 teams it will have a draft, someone in charge and open pay for play not hidden under the ruse of NIL. Very few Pac-12 teams will be invited to join the Super League.

CFB will go to a Super League and there will be a draft. Maybe 3 Pac-12 teams will qualify for the Super League? SC, UW and Oregon. We are in a pay for play world and the Pac 12 cannot pay what teams like Bama and UGA can pay. The teams with the best rosters win CFB games. 247 in preseason 2021 ranked the Bama roster #1 and the UGA roster #2.

Great take. Great! Recently it was stated by a number of Ducks fans that the Pac-12 should stay as-is because quality means more than quantity. Really? Baylor won the Sugar Bowl and last season won the NCAA basketball tournament. OK ST defeated Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. Houston beat Auburn. Texas Tech demolished MS ST and a few years back won the CBB title. K State just blew out LSU. Kansas, no bowl but an improving CFB team and always a top CBB team. Bowl eligible Iowa State lost a close bowl game to Clemson. TCU, no bowl in 2021 but a win over CAL and more importantly, the Dallas, TEXAS market.

Please let us all recall that what was once a recruiting violation is allowable today and compared with 2012 , the NCAA is a toothless tiger. Have you been to College Station, TX.? I have. Don't go. How do you think Jimbo rounded up the best recruiting class in the country? A+M last won a title in the 1930's and Jimbo has a title because he recruited Jameis to FSU. A+M is one of the 4 AAU member schools in the SEC, but I doubt these recruits focused on educational opportunities when committing to Aggie land. Every OL guy who now signs and plays with Texas is paid $50,000 a season. Every guy on the roster at Miami is 'paid' $6,000 a year. Every walk-on at BYU has his tuition and cost of attendance paid for. And these are the deals that we know about. I don't think many the fan out west 'gets this?' There are less than a handful, if that, of schools in the Pac-12 that have the money to recruit at championship level. The Pac-12 is not playing playoff quality football and is not sending guys to the pros like the SEC and the B1G. So, if you have offers in a better conference, why play in the Pac-12? SMH that a number of fans think that a new commish playing a dead hand is going to turn things around for the Pac-12 in CFB? USC will be in the playoff in 2024? Media is going to pay big money because SC might come back? I don't see it. And BTW when Pete Carroll was at SC, for the most part he was not competing against the LA Rams and the LA Chargers. And the SEC had yet to cement its spot as the It Conference. Let's compare Pac-12 champion Utah with South Carolina. Utah set a school record with 52,000 fans attending to watch the Utes/Ducks regular season game. As Stewart Mandel recently noted the Utes are generally unknown nationally because of the location in the mountain time zone, bad starting times and having to play on the Pac-12 network. South Carolina, a team that has never won an SEC title routinely draws 85.000+ fans to every home game. Routinely draws more eyeballs to media broadcasts of its game than do 10 of the Pac-12 member schools. For Oregon to have a chance in this recruiting environment it has to play the pay for play game. Has to. Oregon has the money to do so. USC has the money to do so. UW has the money to do so. SC and Oregon spend far more on football than the other Pac-12 teams. Yet SC and Oregon get the same share of the proceeds as their 'partners' investing far less? Why? Why remain in a partnership like this? Remaining would not happen in the 'real world.' Big boy CFB is real world business and should not be treated differently by the top partners in the Pac-12 enterprise. CFB is no longer collegial. No longer regional. It is a big time nationwide big business and the 'leaders' of the Pac-12 not seeing this should not blind Oregon to seeing this.

And I don't know how without a move into the central time zone these late KO times can be fixed. Youngsters not watching and not becoming involved today will most likely not be fans down the road.

ACC's position was confirmed yesterday by Brent McMurphy. Dabo and Mack Brown among other ACC coaches do not want more than an 8 team field. Of course Dabo and Brown have both won NCs.

Yes, teams are allowed 92 scholarship players in 2022.

Great take DM. In 2022 you are allowed to go 7 players over the 85 limit so I hope this experienced crew of assistants will properly pluck from the portal. I think Nix is a pretty good start in this direction.

Thanks Charles. CFB is not about the X's and the O's, it's about the Jimmies and the Joes. Round up the best recruits season after season and artfully pluck the portal and in the vast majority of games the team with the more talented roster will win. I am not a huge fan of the Committee in concert with ESPN, releasing weekly rankings but these do provide fodder for conversation and debate and as noted in the article, for the most part the Committee gets the final rankings right. The Committee does not release an after post season ranking but the final AP vote accurately reflects what I believe the Committee would come up with. One thing for certain if the Pac-12 wants to get back into playoff contention it has to keep the talented west coast high school recruits at home. It will be very interesting to see in 2022 how Bo Nix a talented but somewhat erratic QB in the SEC does in Eugene in 2022. It is unfortunate for the conference that Oklahoma flipped talented QB Dillon Gabriel from UCLA. But with Indiana QB Penix transferring to UW and playing for his former OC DeBoer, Purdue QB Plummer transferring to CAL, the aforementioned Nix to Oregon, Rising back at Utah and Dart playing for Lincoln Riley at SC, the QB play in the conference should improve over the average at best QB play in 2021.

My friend, 4 power league teams competing for media dollars would likely be better than 5 power league teams competing for same? I think if the Pac-12 had added 6 teams, forget Iowa State, FOX to block ESPN would have made a move to control Pac-18 media rights and possibly saved the network and the so far wasted investment Pac-12 teams have in the network? Other than for SC and Oregon, both Baylor, OK ST, TX Tech draw more eyeballs than the rest of the Pac-12. I see no reason why Baylor and OK St should suffer a decline in CFB and CBB with OK and TX leaving for the SEC. BYU went 5-0 against the Pac-12 and lost at Baylor. Baylor and OK State both won NY6 games and scored the $ as a result in playing in these games. Cache? What cache do OR St, WA St, Arizona, add to the Pac-12 in CFB?

To date, Alliance members B1G and Pac-12 conferences have indicated that both would be fine with an 8 or 12 team expanded Playoff field. However, the ACC is insisting on an 8 team field with all P5 champs in, the top G5 team in, with two at large teams completing the field. An 8 team field is a no go for the SEC, Notre Dame and G5. One out of 11 members of the Playoff Committee appears to be vetoing an expanded Playoff field. What would an 8 team field per the ACC formula have looked like in 2021? 1. Alabama - SEC - No. 1 in the Playoff Committee's (PC) final ranking. 2. Michigan - B1G - No. 2 in the PC. 3. Georgia - At Large - No. 3 in the PC 4. Cincinnati - G5 - No. 4 in the PC 5. Notre Dame -At Large - No. 5 in the PC 6. Baylor - B12 - No. 7 in the PC 7. Utah - Pac-12 - No. 11 in the PC 8. Pittsburgh - ACC - No. 12 in the PC Now, let's assume the NY6 bowls were used to host the quarter final and semifinal games. Cotton Bowl - 1. Alabama vs 8. Pittsburgh - Heisman finalist Pitt QB Pickett would likely not have opted out, along with 3 other starters on the Pitt roster. Orange Bowl - 4. Cincinnati vs 5 Notre Dame - The Irish top RB and its best player on D would likely have not opted out. Semifinal - Played in the Sugar Bowl Fiesta Bowl - 2. Michigan vs 7 Utah - Utah did not suffer from drop outs but from injury to DBs. No Michigan player dropped out. Peach Bowl - 3. Georgia vs 6. Baylor - Neither team had a 2021 opt out. Semifinal - Played in the Rose Bowl. To make this work calendar-wise all conferences and Notre Dame begin the season in Week Zero. Quarterfinals are played in December with the semifinal games played on New Year's Day. All NY6 bowls 'matter.' Playoff teams do not sit idle for 30 plus days. So, the ACC proposal at least to me, seems to be reasonable. And no conference needs playoff field expansion more than the Pac-12. But as noted above an 8 team field will not be approved by 8 of the 11 Playoff Committee members. Interestingly, in 2021, using the ACC formula Notre Dame would have been in. Cincinnati would have been in. And the SEC would have comprised 25% of the playoff field. I do not disagree with the ACC's formula but I do disagree with an Alliance member frustrating Playoff expansion before 2026. An Alliance member that thanks mainly to Clemson, has appeared in 7 of 8 Playoff final 4s. The Playoff powers-that-be meet again in March to discuss Playoff expansion. IMO and with ESPN, the exclusive Playoff broadcaster, agreeing to sweeten the pot prior to the existing deal expiring after the 2025 season, I hope expansion will not be stymied by the ACC? Is the ACC 'in' the Alliance or is it not?

I'm very, very interested to see what happens in the Bama/UGA rematch this coming Monday? Bill O'Brien schooled Smart and Lanning in the SEC champ game. Of course Bama did have more to play for but the Bama O exposed the UGA pass D. If UGA cannot get pressure on Young, zero sacks in the SEC champ game and very few hurried passes, Bama wins. I don't believe that Stetson Bennett has the 'moxie' to beat Bama.

But the end game for Utah? How about let Ohio State score without letting the approximately 10 minutes being chewed up before tOSU kicked the close to walk-off winning FG? At least this decision should have been made when Ohio State got into FG territory. The Oregon D was absolutely gassed and the Utes back up QB had put up a TD on an Ohio State D that played better in the 2nd half but was still vulnerable. There is reason why Ryan Day has hired the OK ST DC, who did a great job this season, as the new DC at tOSU.

The Alliance. So far what we have from the Alliance is a home OOC game versus a B1G or ACC team every other year. I don't think that Arizona playing at Duke for example is going to incent the networks to come with more money? Look at the future OOC games and many impactful OOC games vs P5 teams, including the SEC, have already been scheduled. As GK noted the Pac-12 is flexible on playoff expansion. Fine with 8 or 12 teams while the ACC is insisting on 8 teams only. In addition to the points I made earlier regarding B12 expansion, a P5 competitor would have been eliminated and the Network possibly could have moved into the black? With Bob Bowlsby making the astute additions to the B12, where is the Pac-12 going to go in Texas? SMU, Rice, UTSA, UTEP. I respect your POV and others who agree with you, of course. But not striking when the iron was hot IMO was a terrible, extremely short-sighted business decision. We'll see when the new TV deals are negotiated but my guess is that the 'New B12' will score more money than the Pac-12 and the Network is not going to be saved by continuing to serve the exact same market place. The Pac-12 could have expanded at a time when it would have been viewed as 'the good guy' coming to the rescue of remaining B12 teams. The 'New B12' just sent a team to the playoff and Baylor and OK ST both won NY6 bowls. When do you see this happening with the Pac-12 standing pat?

DM, great post. But it begs the question? Should this guy have been Oregon's HC in the Alamo Bowl. Even if he is the only guy to follow Mario to Miami?

With Gabriel Dillon dropping UCLA for Oklahoma I'm pretty sure Williams ends up at Georgia.

I'm shocked! Mullens let THIS GUY be the HC for the Alamo Bowl? I liked the suggestion a poster had to match Bellotti vs Bob Stoops. Letting this guy coach was letting the fox into the hen house. Will Robby Ashford among others follow?

Disagree on B12 expansion or lack thereof. Market share follows market size. Most acquisitions do not immediately add to the acquiring company's bottom line. But over time synergies and new markets add positive results. Baylor just won the Sugar Bowl. OK ST won the Fiesta Bowl. Houston defeated Auburn. Texas Tech destroyed Mississippi State. Kansas State and Iowa State both were bowl eligible. TCU happens to be in the huge Dallas marketplace. In the other money ball sport, CBB, the B12 teams including Kansas are very competitive, including NCAA titles in 2 of the last 3 seasons. THIS would not have given GK more to sell? Quality? In both CFB and CBB adding Baylor, Houston, OK ST, KS, K ST, TX Tech and Iowa State would have added quality and market places where CFB matters. BTW - Dillon Gabriel dropped UCLA in favor of Oklahoma and it's odds on that Williams is headed to Georgia.