Jon Joseph

What is the ROI for the folks paying the freight? How many more eyeballs tune into the Alamo Bowl because KT decides to play for pay? KT is about to make millions of dollars. I do not see the financial incentive for the highest quality players and for the investor. CFB desperately needs an expanded playoff with the bowls not necessarily relevant in the process. CFB is 'half-pregnant.' It is at the top levels, P5 at least, a professional sport continuing to pretend it is an amateur sport. And it also needs a demarcation, regardless of conference, between the schools willing and able to pay to compete at the highest level and those that will not or simply cannot compete at the highest levels. Why should the soon to be millionaires play in any bowl game that simply does not matter. Why play in an exhibition game. 5 years from now people will recall the Playoff Champion, but the winner of the Peach Bowl when it it is not a semi-final site? This patient needs surgery, not a crutch.

Chip is now in coaching limbo. 1 year left on his contract and his buyout disappears the middle of next month. Chip's agent is the hard-bargaining Jimmy Sexton. The UCLA athletic department has a $40M deficit. This will be a tough call for new AD. No one wants to play for a lame duck (forgive me Puddles) and with no contract extension and the portal, will UCLA have team left. What will UCLA be able to pay a new coach?

I was so disappointed when Oregon did not do what was the business-like obvious. Add OK, ST, Baylor, TX Tech, TCU, Houston, Iowa St, Kansas and K ST. Add CU and Utah to form the Pac-20 East division. Establish the P4 while eliminating a competitor. That ship has sailed. However, before Oregon commits its media rights beyond the current agreement I hope the Ducks will investigate other opportunities? Find partners that are willing and able to open up the wallet instead of carrying WA ST, etc.

Terrific comment. Hopefully we will turn from small ball to attack football? Lanning, I more than hope, saw how UGA improved when Todd Monken was hired as OC. The UGA D this season was fantastic but UGA also put up impressive numbers on O. The UGA O moved into the 21st century. Smart got smarter and followed his old boss Saint Nick and opened up the O. AB was/is right in Mario's play not to take the L wheelhouse. Don't push the envelop and win many the 1 score game because you punched the other guy in the mouth. Lanning watched Dillingham when both were coaching at Memphis. I'm hoping that Lanning will run an O that will not further tarnish the Oregon brand and make the opposition do more than load up to stop the run game. Shough retrogressed at Oregon. AB's high water mark came in the 2nd game of the season when he started against and defeated a top 25 opponent for the first and only time. I agree, if players want to follow 62-60 Mario to MIA; well, best of luck.

I was fortunate enough to belong to the same golf club Madden belonged to in California. Played with him 4 or 5 times and he could not have been a more down to earth, better guy. Like he said: "You never 'get' golf." A truly impactful yet very humble man. RIP.

I'm worried that a few of the guys MIA from practice might be joining Mario in MIA?

What side is Caleb Williams playing on? Seriously with 4 of the front 7 on D out for OK, I hope the Ducks can run the ball and drain the clock? And I hope Sewell can track down Mr. Williams. If it were I, I would definitely have a spy on this guy. How delicious would it be to send Bob Stoops out with an L.

I guess the coach didn't know what was Bruin?

Colonel Travis and Davey Crockett are not going to let the Alamo fall without a fight! Right?

Well Coach, I hope you the boys got some nice sea food and maybe were able to watch Shamoo surface? What else can one expect from a Darn Yankee from New Hampshire!

Come On Man! I'm having trouble picking my wife up off the floor. She watched the video and went nuts!

SEC, The Gordan Gecko Conference?

LOL! But Houston did defeat an SEC team today. And the Cougars CBB team is ranked No. 12 in the latest AP Poll.

But, It Just Means More! Right, Florida, MIZZOU and Auburn?

SEC to date in its bowl games. A+M, scratch. L Florida, Mizzou and Auburn, with UF and Auburn falling to G5 opponents and Independent Army taking down MIZZOU with a walk off FG. Wish it could be Pac-20 member Houston? Dana Holgerson really turned the Cougars around in his 3rd season as HC. BTW, in CBB, Houston is ranked 12. Would Auburn have won with Nix at QB?

Great take DM but consider the opposition? Average at best when considering the state of the conference. I admire Brown for having the guts to overcome 2 serious knee injuries. A gutty, gritty competitor who played at his talent level. It would be very interesting to learn how Mario and Joe meshed or did not mesh in 2021? Coming into 2021, 247 Sports ranked Oregon 12th in its Team Talent Rankings. This is likely why the Ducks won all but 1 of the 1 score games it played in?

If wishes were horses ... Totally agree. The rosters of both rosters ranked at 9 Oklahoma, and 12 Oregon, by 247 Sports Team Talent Rankings, are depleted due to injury and opt outs. So many Ducks who are a part of this talent ranking are out tomorrow. But Oklahoma has its top 3 guys on D out and the starting TE out. The X factor in this game IMO is OK QB Caleb Williams. Without KT in the line up will the D be able to hold Williams down? OK clearly has the edge at QB. The all important position. Compare UGA's D to what it did all season long and how it played versus the Heisman Trophy winner, Bryce Young, playing QB for Bama. I NEVER bet against the Ducks. But if I did I'd go large with the Sooners -4.5. Brown will have to play the game of his life to come close to Williams talent. I only hope that post-game Williams does not enter the portal and follow Riley to USC? He would be a game changer for the Trojans in 2022 and 2023. He would be by far the best QB in the Pac-12.

Team talent as shown on 247 Sports Team Talent Rankings. 1 Georgia 2. Bama 3. Ohio State - no surprise here. But Texas is ranked 5! OKLAHOMA - 9 OREGON - 12 However , these rankings evaluate a roster as if everyone was healthy and good to play. Also it does not take into account opt outs.

Great take, thank you. The conference decided NOT to expand after GK said AAU membership would not be a condition of joining the Pac-12. BYU is a 'religious' school. Baylor, TCU and SMU for that matter are far more secular than BYU. I don't think that 1 extra OOC game a year against an Alliance team is going to have a major media impact. Arizona at Duke, IMO, does not move the CFB needle. CBB yes. CFB, no. The conference can and likely should go to 8 conference games. But will this ipso facto put 2 more teams into the top 25? Not unless recruiting picks up. Why should it pick up in a conference that was 0-5 vs BYU and 5-6 vs the Mountain West. I think the 'leadership' of this conference has been vapid for a decade plus and continues to be so. I believe the best thing for Oregon's future would be for Puddles to fly to a more feathered nest. Can't make chicken salad out of chicken stuff.

Good take. 1-2 vs the top 25. Failed to win a conference with but 6 bowl eligible teams. Failed to win a conference that had only two Blue Chip roster teams. I shudder to think where these Ducks under (way down under) Mario would have finished in the B1G E or in the SEC W? For that matter, how about the B12? Could Mario have had the team ready to play a down Clemson and very good and also ranked Pitt, Wake and NC ST teams? IMO, the team played up to its talent level in 1 game this season. The standard: Did the QB lead his team to the playoff? Mariota did so and Herbert could have done so if he had been surrounded by better coaches. Brown against a weak SOS played to his talent level. Against the 'competition' in the Pac-12, the Ducks should win at least 10 games every season. And should not get blown out twice by a 3L Pac-12 team. 'Honest effort and development?' You are what your record says you are. I too would love to see the Ducks win tomorrow. But of equal importance to me; I want the team to show up, compete and not give up.

I also think Coach Pete recruiting OKGs (our kind of guys) and not going after more highly ranked players, helped lead to this decline. And UW could not keep its top players at home. Lake like Helfrich, at least after Helf's first season, was the easy and the wrong hire. Some assistants make great HCs, others do not. The way of this world in every endeavor.

Is this game The Battle of the Headless Coachmen? Oregon will be fielding a beat-up football team. Oklahoma? It's 3 best players and starting TE among others, have opted out.

ROI?

I agree 100% as to critical analysis and reasoned criticism. I think Moorhead, perhaps weighed down by Mario, hardly 'did a lot with what they had.' No criticism of you but a far more talented roster was in 1 score games vs many the stiff and failed to show up ready to play in 2 of its last 3 games. This, despite having quality young athletes in the QB room and a group of quality WRs and TEs. Starting AB at QB was simply emblematic of Mario's conservative, risk adverse approach. I think poor Moorhead came close to cashing it in as the result of an anxiety attack?

Mario and friends were schooled by Matt Campbell and the other Cyclones coaches. But what do you expect from a team that lost to CAL and OR ST? BTW: Darren my brother, you even up in Spokane I imagine you can hear all of the 'AMEN's?'