Jon Joseph

I AM PUMPED! Living in Aiken, SC, the Falcons and Charlotte are the 'home team' games. Charlotte I watched before McCaffery went down. Now if Marcus can win the starting nod I will have a reason to watch the Flameouts, er, the Falcons. 2 games a season vs Jameis would be nice.

I finished well above the Mendoza Line in last season's CFB bets. These I am not so sure of but my Las Vegas betting bro and I have the following Sweet 16 bets: Providence +7.5 vs Kansas UNC +2 vs UCLA Arkansas +8.5 vs Gonzaga Purdue -2.5 vs St. Pete Iowa State PK vs Miami Houston +2 vs Arizona Have fun. Bets are lost, and on occasion won.

I am looking forward to your take.

Phil has gone gaga with facilities. God bless him. Unlike what we have seen for a decade on sports blogs, Phil Knight is not buying individual players to lead to titles.

It's fairly and with no disrespect, obvious. Guys in the money ball sports will be paid and wither women and Olympic sports? NIL will render Olympic sports, including women's sports obsolete. It will lead to players in the money ball sports being 'employees' and being paid. It will also lead to a number of universities dropping athletic schollies and going D3. It will lead to a small group of schools playing 'big time' CFB and CBB.

But my friend, until the Transition Committee is finished and their recommendations are received in whole or in part, there is no collective ready to control NIL in whole or in part. You take a 9-0 whipping from the Supreme Court and any challenge to NIL without negotiation with the players is a waste of time. Spot on regarding 'corruption now being above board. But 'cheating' being authorized at least gets deals out in the open. Anyone remember 'Scam' Newton and his Dad shopping his services that he knew nothing about?

But No.1 is 'No Time.' (Sigh) I need to remember my age. No Time is my favorite tune by The Guess Who.

The Pac-12 deserved 4 invites. Higher ranked USC having to play Miami in the south and UCLA having to play in Philadelphia this weekend were both seeding hose jobs. This is the 2nd tourney in a row where the B1G has flamed out. And 1 of 6 SEC seeds advanced to the final 4. But until the Pac-12 wins a tourney this 'stuff' will not stop. It also doesn't help that the Pac-12 plays so many games on a joke of a network.

Thank you for this great detailed post. May Nico be all-DGU at Tennessee. The portal has reduced any concern I may have had in regards to recruiting the QB position. It would be nice to land Eli, no doubt. But a better than decent 4 or 5* QB with game experience will be available from the portal.

Please allow me to add: In peacetime, please give me the culture of Athens. In wartime, I'll go with the culture of Sparta.

Not just Brutus. The B1G received 9 invites to the tourney, 2 teams made it to the sweet 16. This represents back-to-back tourney flame outs for the B1G. The SEC received 6 invites, 1 team made it to the sweet 16. 2 out of 3 Pac-12 invitees made it to the sweet 16. The ACC with 3 in the sweet 16 has the most of any P5 conference.

Charles makes great points. Almost every NBA player makes more $ than the HC, but at least 1 team every season is coherent enough to win a championship. The same is true in the NFL, MLB and MLS. NIL is the world in which we live today. Coaches will adopt and adapt or they will be canned. Coaches are being paid millions and millions of dollars in 'market value.' IMO, the athletes these multi-millionaire's coach have every right to earn their individual market value. Pandora has left the box and is not going to return.

IMO 'culture' = W's compared to L's. Someone please direct me to a program that recruits well, graduates its players, has a losing record year after year; yet, the program and its coach are lauded for having a great culture? Maybe somewhere in D3? I agree that there may have been a better manner in which to raise this issue, but I also agree that 'culture' is entirely nebulous. You can define culture anyway you like, but if a team's 'culture' does not equate to far more wins than losses. the culture is bogus. P5 CFB coaches are being paid multi-millions of dollars not to teach table manners, but to win games. Mario's 'great team culture' led to no Final 4 appearances, a 1-1 record in NY 6 bowls; one being a one point Rose Bowl win and the other a Fiesta Bowl beat down. The rest of the bowl record: a bowl loss to a MW team, a 1 point win over a mediocre MI ST team and a blow out L vs Oklahoma. Heck of a culture. Two Pac-12 titles. Two titles in a conference that during 'Mario's tenure' had a terrible out-of-conference record and bowl record. You Are what your record says You Are.

The answer is: Pac-20 - 6 ACC - 3 B1G - 2 SEC - 1 This is Pac-20 CBB dominance in the No. 2 money-ball sport.

I'm sorry, how can any of the above be blamed on Phil Knight? PK has built exceptional facilities in a medium sized city in the NW. CFB this season and IMO, the prior 3 seasons +, can be blamed if blame is due, on the AD and not Phil Knight. CFB under Mario was a gut wrench experience. He brought in great players recruiting ranking wise and on very rare occasions had his team prepared to play to the standard of its talent. The basketball team under Dana Altman has for the most part come through, in conference and in NCAA Tournaments. Oregon is not a sure thing in any season in CFB or in CBB. Compared to back in the day Oregon is now a BRAND. Without Phil and Penny Knight, Oregon would still be a school that on very rare occasions played for a Rose Bowl and not a BCS/Playoff Champ game berth. A school that would be happy with an NIT bid and not sweet 16 plus opportunities. PK has not bought players. He has paid for facilities over and beyond most of those in the nation. If there is blame you know who I blame? Those who believed that Mario was a great coach with a great 'culture' when the high water mark was a 1 point win over a 3L B1G team in the Rose Bowl. This with the NFL Rookie of the Year and all pro playing QB. If I have a beef it is with Mullens who reached out for the Georgia and A+M AD jobs; most certainly not with Phil and Penny Knight. Without Phil Knight and the NIKE branding, Oregon would be an off-the-radar team in CFB and CBB.

If so, he ought to be resident in Las Vegas?

GREAT TAKE! This was the year to play tOSU and its historically bad D. Moorhead had a perfect game plan for the Buckeyes. THEN?

History tells us that Brutus was a back-stabber.

Great LOL take. A+M fans are as delusional as are Texas fans. Yet, A+M sells out a huge stadium for all CFB games and sells out its BBall arena for all CBB games. In fairness, A+M is one of the 4 SEC teams that is a member AAU University. When OK and UT come aboard, it will be 5 AAU members out of the 16 schools. It Just Means More! Except, when it comes to academics, it doesn't. Also in fairness to my fellow and sister Ducks fans, I've been to College Station, Texas; Do Not Go There! UT does have a significant 'home town' advantage over A+M.

Great take. But follow the $ and CFB power is and will continue be in the hands of the B1G and the SEC.

But did help when the Bears defeated Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl.

OT - Florida QB Emory Jones, who started 12 games for the Gators in 2021, has entered the transfer portal. UF went 6-7 in 2021 so it will be very interesting to see what kind of NIL deal this young man will command? Utah opens the 2022 season in The Swamp; I doubt that Coach Whit was troubled by this news?

The NCAA has 'washed it hands' of having anything to do with P5/G5 CFB. Soon, conferences in the G5/P5 will CFB-wise, be operating under their own rules and regulations.

9 teams, almost half of the conference, were invited to this year's NCAA CBB Tournament. More invitations than received by any other conference. 8 teams won their 1st round game - Arizona, Kansas, Baylor, TX Tech, UCLA, Houston, TCU and Iowa State. USC lost by 2 points to Miami. But showing the Committee's continuing disrespect to the Pac-20, the higher seeded Trojans was the highest seed in the Tourney to be sent farthest from home, having to play its first round game far closer to Miami than LA. (And about what should have been a no-call instead of the late, late game foul call that decided the game?) 9 teams in and 8 having won to date means big time payouts down the road for the Pac-20 conference. Payouts that will exceed those of any other conference, including the B1G and the SEC. This kind of success should also help the cause of the Pac-20 in the upcoming media contract negotiations. Before today's and Sunday's games, the Pac-20, in theory, has a shot to take all of the spots in the Final 4.

Charles, great take and great question. In answer to your inquiry, I believe Oregon will survive NIL. But what CFB will look like after the new round of media negotiations, transitioning the regulation of G5/P5 football away from the NCAA, playoff restructuring, inability to regulate NIL without a players union, inability to regulate 'free agency' without a players union, players becoming 'employees,' if a players union comes about, normal 'market corrections' not happening in regard to 'fanatic-driven' NIL deals, additional conference expansion/contraction, etc., ad nauseum? I have NO IDEA? NONE! Except, I do know with certainty that financially the B1G and the SEC are in the process of becoming the P2. But, what can you do? Other than the foregoing financial fact, I can hazard 'educated' guesses as to where CFB is going and Oregon along with it, but my crystal ball is far from flawless. So, I plan to follow the sage advice of Charles,' enjoy Ducks football today as it is today; whatever may be will be. As to Texas ATM, Tennessee, Auburn, Ole Miss, LSU, etc., SEC teams have been cheating for decades and taking pride in it: 'If you ain't cheatin' you ain't tryin!' At least now most of the chicanery [feel free to insert your choice of word(s) in place of 'chicanery] in the SEC is above the table. I say to Hades with the SEC! With this additional admonition: Stop scheduling 1- off games vs SEC teams in Dixie. STOP! Schedule no OOC games against teams unwilling to play in Autzen. GO DUCKS!