Jon Joseph

Wow, the NFL just delivered 6 one score football playoff games. 5 not decided before the final play of the game and the Rams/49ers game could well have been a 'last play' finish. Of course every NFL playoff season does not conclude like this, but it has the potential to do so. Why? 1. Only 32 teams play NFL football. 2. The NFL, unlike college football (CFB) has far more than 3% of its teams competing for a playoff spot. Far more than 3% of the competitors make the playoff field. 3. There are no games against 'FCS schools.' Strength of schedule is far more equal in the NFL than it is in CFB, where playoff contenders do not even play the same number of conference games. 4. The NFL realizes it is a business. Media revenue is equally shared between the big and smaller media market teams. Bowl games are not an issue. Games are played on the home field of the higher seeded teams. The weather conditions for these games are what they are. 5. The NFL has restrictions on free agency, restrictions against roster tampering and a salary cap; a cap that is allowed because the players have a union that negotiates with management. 6. While the 32 NFL team owners have power, this power for the most part is delegated to a single commissioner. 7. The NFL conducts a player draft that prevents a handful of teams from assembling the best talent. Roster equality equals better games during the regular season and in the post season. The draft and roster equality allow a team like the Bengals, that won 2 games in 2019, to be playing in the Super Bowl in 2021. 8. The playoff is objectively determined by results on the field and not subjectively by a playoff committee that 'negotiates in the dark.' 9. NFL players are in the league to play football and not to 'play school.' 10. The NFL plays far more games than CFB, but the timing rules in the NFL mean far fewer plays are run than are run in the average CFB game. Thus, while the contact in the NFL is more violent it is less frequent per game than in CFB. So CFB, what do you want to be in this day and age of CFB's regulator, the NCAA, handing over football 'management' to the conferences that do not participate in the CFB playoffs conducted by the NCAA. In this day and age of 'NIL pay-for-play' and 'transfer portal free agency.' (ESPN reports that there are over 3,000 football players in the transfer portal.) The 5 P5 commissioners, 5 G5 commissioners and the Notre Dame athletic director are not close to reaching agreement on CFB Playoff expansion. This inability to reach a decision on playoff expansion is costing every P5 school $20-30M+ a season at a time when the money (post-COVID 2020) is most needed. The ACC wants a 'holistic' review of a sport that is no longer holistic; a sport that is not after school recreation but a huge and growing business. A sport that is 'half-pregnant' between finding a way to please its member institutions playoff-wise, while at the same time attempting to please the bowl games. A sport where revenue differences are rapidly separating two P5 conferences, the B1G and the SEC, from their 'peers.' Is today's CFB 'game' worth the candle for the Pac-12? Worth the candle for some but not all Pac-12 schools? Worth the candle for a conference with a functionally insolvent network? Worth the candle when many the game is played in front of half filled, or less, stadiums? Worth the candle for a conference that that has been a CFB playoff 'rumor,' deciding not to expand 'at this time?' For the Ducks, IMO, it is time to go big (and joining the B1G would be awesome) or go home. 'Home' being a regional Pac-12 conference member, no playoff affiliation with perhaps the money to convince the Rose Bowl to stick with it and not the playoff. CFB is a 'mess.' The Pac-12 is a CFB 'mess.' What in your opinion should the Ducks and the conference do before the new media rights deal comes up for bid in two years? My thinking, that others have on this board have suggested, is a merger between the Pac-12 and the B12? Failing that, some manner in which the Ducks can find a home where Oregon will not be left in the financial dust by the B1G and the SEC.

Good comment on a terrific take by Charles. Georgia recruits and signs plenty of kids who grew up in tough neighborhoods and under difficult financial circumstances. So does the Marine Corps. Appears that both at UGA and in the Corps you shape up or ship out. I do note that it is easier to discipline 4 and 5* recruits when you have a roster full of these guys. Under Mario, Oregon's roster was 'Blue Chip' in name only. One reason for this is that Mario kept much of the Blue Chip talent on the bench. In Lanning, Oregon is getting a 'grandson' off of the Saban coaching tree. This brings hope and enthusiasm. De-recruiting, I get it. But a closer to home example I also get; Whittingham coaching guys up in Salt Lake City. Playing as a team and playing with 'controlled ferocity.' Lanning is going to have to do both at Oregon. I hope and think Lanning will bring in ballers. However, playing in the Pac-12 I doubt that he will ever be able to duplicate the talent level on the 2021 Georgia roster. Michigan in 2021 was a very good football team. Georgia smothered Michigan. What I most want to see in 2022. The players fired up to play and ready to play against every level of opponent. THIS you can do no matter the number of 'studs' on a given roster.

He could have a bigger impact in the Pac-12 than in the B1G?

Darn it! I'm out of eligibility!

SEC + Clemson, FSU, VA Tech, NC ST, Louisville, Miami/ B1G + Duke, UNC, Georgia Tech, UVA, PITT, Kansas, all AAU member schools. 22 for the SEC/ 20 for the B1G. (Please, add Oregon and USC and not Notre Dame + Syracuse?) To stay alive, the B12 and Pac-12 would have to 'merge' in some fashion; of course, this could have already happened if the Pac-12 had not decided to 'stand still.' Stand still in today's CFB? You are falling behind.

Did you watch the Cincy OL last week? If the Titans had a half decent QB? Like, Mahomes? Love your take and Charles' putting up the contest.

According to U fans, that team lost to the refs. Kind of like the end of this season's game on The Farm.

I understand your comment Darren, and it makes me feel sad. When I was in HS most of the juniors and seniors were articulate. I also understand Happy to be a Duck's comments, but so long as I remain within the bounds of decorum, I am not going to regulate my speech to conform to what happens to be OK, as of this moment, on social media. IMO, our society keeps lowering the river instead of raising the bridge.

Repeat: Manny Diaz was doing a good job and the program was improving. The Miami players played hard for Manny even in defeat. Did the U boosters watch the Ducks in 2020 and 2021 other than catching the Ohio State game? Dorsey may well have been the better choice to replace Diaz but I don't think Diaz deserved to be fired in the first place.

It's "Georgia's" year : Rams and Stafford 38 - 17 KC 35 Cincy 31

Your approach is better than mine. I SMH and head for the liquor cabinet while being thankful that I am on the back 9.

At this point I don't care where goes. Please, just go away. Pick a school already will you? If the money is not on the table now it isn't going to show up and trump the deals you already have been offered. I think Dart at Ole Miss could well have a bigger impact than this kid wherever he goes. Ditto JT Daniels.

Good thoughts. But the money an under-league will get will be nowhere what the Super League receives in media income. Kind of like the G5 today compared with the P5. And you are going to be watching a lot of 0 to 2* playing ball. Will fans show up to watch this when there are bigger games to watch on the tube? For sure you are not going to have head coaches making multi-millions or rich NIL deals for the players. It will be AA ball compared to The Show.

He retired. His body should be preserved for science. And his brain? What a competitor.

Ed Reed indeed. Those kind of players are now in the SEC and not playing at Miami when there was NIL money flowing before the approval of NIL.

Those were the days my friend but it started to erode when Pac-12 commissioner Tom Hansen threw the Rose Bowl into the BCS mix in return for trinkets. Then, Larry BCS doubled down. Now, the Pac-12 is left with a broke network and piling up sandbags against the flood of money flowing into the B1G and the SEC.

HUH? If it does work out it will be at least a small miracle.

That's always been a problem with CFB. Every conference for itself and no Commissioner like the NFL has. Plus, 32 NFL business-people owners who are always looking out for the collective bottom line. All for one in CFB? Forget about it. Parochialism worked for CFB back in the days prior to the BCS, but not now. And the Alliance sounds good but what will it drop to the bottom line?

As GK has pointed out, being obstructionist now is silly when considering that come 2026, an expanded playoff field will only need a majority vote of commissioners and also a majority vote of the P5. All things being equal, there are 3 P5 votes in favor as of a 12 team field as of now; the B12, the Pac-12 and the SEC. Notre Dame and the G5 will also be in favor of expansion to 12 teams. Let's say these 3 P5 go for 12 in one form or another. Is Ohio State going to agree with the B1G sitting out the playoff. Is Clemson going to do so. THIS is what is so frustrating. Lots of things in life are frustrating but the frustration does not lead to the loss of multi-millions of dollars. The ACC cannot afford to opt out of the CFB playoff. Ditto the B1G. So why the hold up now? 1 more expansion discussion is on the calendar. I hope that there is a lot of conversation going on under the radar that can lead to a solution, a sooner path to playoff expansion and the much needed dollars. I know that on this Forum I harp on dollars. But if you do not understand that P5 CFB is big business you are missing the big (B1G?) picture. Without more revenue the Pac-12 will not be able to afford to keep its successful coaches in CFB and every other sport. It's a lot more 'fun' to consider how the 2022 schedule will play out for the Ducks but in the long run this is far less important than the question of from where is increased revenue is going to come? This revenue shortfall is IMO, the principal reason why Oregon is playing a 1 off game in the SE versus Georgia.

Talk about IN YOUR FACE! WOW!

The ACC's (our Alliance "partner") veto of playoff expansion is costing Oregon and every P5 school, assuming the field would have expanded in 2023, and the using estimated additional playoff media money, somewhere between $20 and 40M+ in additional revenue prior to 2026. The ACC is thwarting this potential income from being realized when many the athletic department is in the red. UCLA's athletic department, for one, is $60M plus underwater. The Pac-12 and the B1G's insistence on all P5 champs being in a 12 team field would likely have been agreed to. All P5 champs in the field would still leave plenty of at large spots open for Notre Dame and the SEC. Yesterday, Stewart Mandel posted an article on The Athletic in which he agreed with the B1G and the Pac-12 that the Rose Bowl should be a permanent semifinal playoff site with the game broadcast on 1/1 at 5 PM eastern. The other semi-final site would rotate among the other NY6 bowls and also be played on 1/1. I believe the SEC, B12 and Notre Dame would have been OK with this protection of the Rose Bowl. The rest of the P5 is paying for the ACC's lousy media deal with ESPN that runs through 2036 and pays each ACC member $17M a year. The ACC is only able to renegotiate this deal if Notre Dame (ND) joins the ACC as a full time football member. If the field expanded to 12, Notre Dame could stay independent. The ACC can bloviate all it wants about player health, conference alignment being in flux, the uncertainty that the portal and NIL have brought to CFB, but this is nothing but cover for the ACC's pathetic media deal. As well as it's deal with ND to play 4 or 5 football games a year while allowing ND as a full time member in all other sports. The ACC was happy to get the money that came with the ND deal and is now screwing over its 'partners' because it made this deal. What does the Pac-12 get out of the 'hand shake' Alliance deal with the ACC. Perhaps an OOC game with Oregon State playing Duke? The so-called 'scheduling agreement' with the B1G and the ACC is not going to come close to the revenue Oregon and the other Pac-12 schools are losing with the playoff field remaining as-is through 2025. $17M a year? If I were Clemson, NC State, Va Tech, Miami, Louisville and FSU, I am reaching out for SEC membership. If I were AAU member institution UVA, Pitt, Georgia Tech and UNC, I am reaching out for B1G membership. I think this financially unsound decision by the ACC could well come back to hoist the conference, deservedly so IMO, on its own petard. With a "partner" like this?

NIL $?

Holy Smoke! Is that the Ken Dorsey who played at Miami? Mario cannot out-run what smart football folks watched on TV (and Joe Moorhead's health being negatively affected?)

I think a 'reasonable' time period in which to give notice of transfer will be OK if this is the case with sports that have allowed transfers without loss of eligibility, tennis, golf, etc., for years. I have no idea what kind of notice a woman on the soccer team has to give, if any, prior to transferring? But again, a reasonable notice period might be sustained? What will not hold up is a limit on the number of transfer players allowed on a roster. IMO, that will be viewed as a restraint on trade. And you cannot restrict the movement of coaches; especially, coaches with liquidated damages (buy out) clauses in their contracts. Indentured servitude is not allowed in the USA. I get the longing for the 'good old days.' I share the same longing. But those days are gone. I think the CFB marketplace will 'regulate' itself with the coming of the Super League modeled on the NFL, with the player's having a union to negotiate with management, pay-for-play, contractual restrictions on free agency, rules against tampering, a salary cap and a high school draft. The surrender of the idea that big time CFB is 'amateur athletics.'

GREAT STUFF. Thank you OR. 2002 - the worst BCS hosing of all time. Sending Nebraska and its fraud Heisman winning QB to the Rose Bowl BCS champ game and not Oregon? Nebraska was blown out and Oregon blew out CU, the team that destroyed Nebraska in the last game of the regular season. Then again, that was when the The U was The U. I'm not sure any school in the country could have defeated that Miami team in the 2002 Rose Bowl. 1999 - Peter Sirmon - His son is transferring from UW to play for his Dad at CAL. CAL lost a lot of 1 score games last season and if the transfer QB from Purdue is any good could be a tough out this season.