Jon Joseph

THE Conference of Champions! Make no mistake.

Of course, the Ducks won last night in one at least one verse of the multiverse. Hugh Everett III. One day he will be recognized for his brilliant math that 'proves up' the multiverse. Great take, thanks.

Great take. This most understandable attitude regarding your son playing football is one of the reasons participation in HS football is declining in CA and throughout the west. Parents are rightly concerned about their sons being 'dinged.' Meanwhile, down south, in addition to the regular season, many the HS holds spring practice. The recruiting pool out west gets thinner all the time and the Pac-12 footprint is not producing guys like those who play DL in the SEC.

He has already succeeded, he was ACC Frosh of the Year on O last season. But it is long way from this award to the Heisman award.

$? If playing in the NIT delivers net dollars to Oregon I say go for it. Otherwise, pass.

I believe the falling out was real. Otherwise, why tape Mario in the locker room and release the tape?

Irony? Ducks have back-to-back games versus Cougars this season. BYU followed by a road game at WA ST.

Great comment. I 'get it.' I want so badly for CFB to return to a regional sport played by student-athletes. However, this will not, based on legislative action and court decisions, happen. The long term health of the game has been buried under piles of money. It's every conference for itself and today the Pac-12 is falling way behind the B1G and the SEC. No 'minor league' so-called Alliance can fix 'THIS.' Especially when the B1G has decided not to drop to 8 conference games and the ACC in CFB, sans Clemson, is a non-entity. Far more eyeballs were on the 2021 Pac-12 champ game than on the ACC champ game. One more OOC game vs an ACC team brings WHAT to the bottom line.? Next season, the Oregon guys going pro will play 17 conference games and if their team advances, another 3 to 4 games. You want to limit contact? I'm all in. Look at the recommendations to shorten the time of CFB games and this can happen now. As I have noted before. we spent decades playing regular season games that ended in ties and we did not stop the clock on 1st downs. There is no reason to stop the clock , except perhaps in the last 2 minutes of a half, after an incompletion. Start the clock when the ball is ready for play. And lots more ideas are out there to shorten the game and the number of hits. One, simply adopt the NFL timing rules. Far fewer plays for the most part, are run in an NFL game than in a CFB game. And NFL games for the most part fit into their allotted broadcast window. I for one enjoyed the heck out of this season's NFL payoff games; with the exception that due to a terrible coaching decision we did not get to watch Justin Herbert in the post season. Instead, we watched him win MVP in the Pro Bowl. Thanks again for the comment and again, I wish we could go back but it isn't happening.

The Mario stomp?

Thank you my friend. But in terms of 'leadership' the Pac-12 'leaders' have left the building.

Hello Jack? Love the comment and I do not want to go too far afield; BUT. Coast to Coast Conference Pacific 8 Division - CAL, Oregon, OR ST, Stanford, UCLA, USC, UW, WA ST Big 8 West Division - Arizona, ASU, BYU, CU, Kansas, K ST. OK ST, Utah Big 8 East Division - Baylor, Cincinnati, Houston, Iowa ST, TCU, Texas Tech, UCF, West Virginia. Would this structure bring in more media money than the Pac-12 standing alone? I do not know. But I sure as heck hope that somewhere, somehow, an Investment Banker is analyzing THIS? Common sense (assuming I have same?) tells me that this kind of structure is the only way the Pac-12 will not be a far distant media 3rd behind the B1G and the SEC. Frankly, if GK and friends are not investigating this, IMO, it borders on gross business negligence.

We have met the enemy and they are us.

Great post thanks. Puddles is so great, but I also love Ralphie.

Spot on regarding he and Dillingham reuniting. Under Harsin he was playing very good ball before he hurt his ankle. Would Bama have escaped Auburn with an as close as you can get W if Nix had been healthy?

Very good take. Gattis 'fell' to Mario after Michigan 'disrespected him' by not giving him a big enough raise. Michigan was a run oriented team in 2021, running behind an OL that won the best in the nation award. In the playoff semi-final UGA mugged the Wolverines OL. Gattis had no answer. (Like many CFB awards, the Broyles Award, IMO, should not be handed out until after the champ game. Ditto the top OL award. But ESPN's broadcast windows decides when the big awards, including the Heisman, will be presented.) Kevin Steele? Kevin certainly did not light it up as the DC coaching for Gus Malzahn at Auburn. Another award winner who, IMO, is not all that. One wonders how long these guys will hang in at Miami? Mario is in rich recruiting ground but he has lots of recruiting competition close by. First, he has to catch Clemson, a team that had the No. 4 ranked roster in 2021, and recruited a top 10 class in 2022. He has a long way to go to catch up with Bama and UGA. And Billy Napier at Florida is a far better recruiter than was Dan Mullen. As us Ducks fans are painfully aware, rarely did Mario's recruits play up to their billing. I agree 100% with your take on Mario and the QB situation when playing for Mario.

Didn't happen today. Missed the record (64) it by a mere 24 strokes! So close, right?

Where is Tiro when DeBoer really needs him? Guess he prefers Roma to Seattle? Very smart man. I know it is hard to believe, but the food in Roma is even better than dining at Shlabotnik's.

No? But a W in Atlanta would be great!

I like Wilner's overall coverage of the Pac-12. but I cannot possibly disagree more regarding this take and also Wilner's support of the Pac-12 not expanding. (I have expressed my POV on these 2 key issues directly to Jon and have 'discussed' these points, via email, with Jon.) Losing @ $15 to $20M in additional post-expansion playoff dollars in 2023, 2024 and 2025 makes sense? UCLA's athletic department is $60M in the red! How does not expanding the playoff before 2026 make any sense at all for the Pac-12? The B1G is not going to drop to 8 regular season games to help with OOC scheduling. The ACC? How will a game every season vs an ACC team drop dough to the Pac-12's bottom line? In 2021, ACC football drew the fewest eyeballs of any Pac-5 conference. I get GK balking at expansion beyond 2025 without knowing all of the financial details; this makes perfect business sense. But go to a 12 team field and table post-2025 revenue distribution? Table it to a time when a unanimous vote is not required to make any playoff changes. As GK has expressed, the Rose Bowl issue is a 'minor item' that could have been resolved. The ACC cratered expansion because it is stuck with a crummy media deal through 2036, if Notre Dame doesn't join the ACC as a full time football member. With a 12 team playoff there is no reason for ND to join any conference. No P5 conference needs an expanded playoff field more than the Pac-12. IMO, this is another instance where GK says 1 thing in public and then the conference goes in the other direction. Who are the people running the conference today? I thought Oregon president Schill moving up to a key conference management position would result in a change in the conference's direction? I haven't seen it. And what has GK actually accomplished or changed since he took over from Scott? CFB? You can't stand still and not go backward.

Great observation. I see the BYU game as a big time swing game for the entire 2022 season. Lose at home vs the BYU Cougars and drop to 1-2, will the attitude be there to ball out the rest of the season? The week after the BYU game the Ducks have to trip to Washington State. WAZZU, with transfer Cam Ward at QB and Ward's Immaculate Word U head coach as OC is going to put up a lot of points. Ward threw for close to 5000 yards last season. 2 Ducks CBs have transferred out. What will Oregon's pass D look like in 2022? Interesting, 2 back to back games vs Cougars; IMO, both will be important games in 2022.

Great take. Take a 9-0 L vs the Supremes? That is some kind of stare decisis.

Thanks for the take. BTW, when I tee off later today in theory I will have a chance to break the course record. RIGHT? This is directed at ESPN and most certainly not you Tandaian, but this is the kind of 'stuff' that proves up CFB having the longest off-season of any big time sport. How about Miami for the Final 4 and Mario for COY? OOOPS! The U has to play at Clemson and OOC, at A+M.

Holy Toledo. I was born in Toledo, in the same hospital where Urban Meyer and Jim Harbough were born. I arrived quite a bit sooner than these two gentlemen. One of the great sports names, the AAA ball Toledo Mud Hens. Mom was a Toledo University Rocket-Woman before earning a Masters Degree in Social Work from Ohio State. She watched the Rockets play in the Glass Bowl. Nick Saban's initial head coaching gig was at Toledo. However, Nick played at Kent State, along with Steelers LB Jack Lambright and another future CFB coach, Gary Pinkle. The team coached by Don James. In his football journey. Nick served as an assistant coach for James at Kent State and then at (BOO!) UW. Lou Holtz also played his CFB ball at Kent State. That Shlabotnik makes one mean Polish sausage. The secret? Tabasco sauce and fried rutabaga. I've been told that the Fighting Harriet's get a lot of clipping penalties?

And I just can't hide it! I'm about to lose control and I think I like it! I've seen the Icky Shuffle but never before have I seen the Duck Shuffle.

May the best man win but no one in the QB room has anywhere close to the experience Nix brings from starting for 3 years in the best conference in CFB. If he wins the job this will be Nix 4th start versus Georgia.