Jon Joseph

I do know that Nebraska set a dubious record in 2021 by losing 9 games by 1 score! Mario had all the 1 score game good fortune in 2021.

What 'boundaries' are left to be pushed? Via NIL 'deals, you can recruit today by offering pay-for-play? Seems to me the only boundary left is how much you are willing to pay for a given "student-athlete?"

AMEN. And for some silly reason back then you had to be far better than 6-6 to go to a bowl game. Not only did the best players not opt out. But the top NFL picks played in the All-American Game vs the defending NFL champ. I cop to being angry over the way money has so altered CFB and how badly the Pac-12 has been managed.

Great take. With the decision in the Alston case I expect that very shortly the P5 conferences at least, will break away entirely from the NCAA when it comes to football and establish their own rules, regulations and general governance of the sport.

Charles, great questions and ponder points. Your article asking whether 'us fans' matter anymore was very much on my mind when composing this article. Clearly, my idea of a Super League may never come to fruition? But CFB is in an arm's race. How many institutions will be willing to spend the money to be able to compete at the highest level of CFB? 2 of our Pac-12 'brothers' have already answered this question. CU lost its coach to the B1G and WA ST lost its HC to the SEC.

I think the 'portal' for the Super League will disappear. The player's will be employees of the Licensee and will sign, or their parents/guardians will sign, if they are under age to commit to a contract, a contract limiting a player's option to leave for another team. One point of a Super League will be to cement rosters.

Thanks Logger. I played D3 football and hockey. We played for the love of the game and for the love of one another. I do expect that with the coming of a Super League, many the school may go the Ivy League/D3 route and have a football team but with very limited recruiting and no scholarships.

So sorry to have kept you up my friend. Great walk through the past with the Rooney, Rozelle and MNF back in the early days of Monday Night. Of course, back then, many of us received 1 CFB broadcast and 1 NFL broadcast on a given weekend. I know this hard for younger readers to fathom. So, MNF was much watch TV. Today, with TV saturated with games, I only watch if I have an interest in one or both teams playing ball. Spot on. It is about the MONEY. CFB was headed for consolidation, pay-for-play, etc., when the commissioners of the various conferences agreed with SEC Commissioner, Ray Kramer, that we need settle the championship on the field. Thus the BCS and now this BCS x 2. The rise of the SEC. The decline of the Pac-12. I'm closing in on 75 and I'm sorry, I just do not love the game as I once did.

When you consider that CFB has been played for well over 100 years the changes in the last few seasons are to say the least, dramatic. Spot on. A Super League will be a 'professional' league. Seems to me to only be the end of hypocrisy around CFB that we see today. Hypocrisy? Mike Leach calling out players for opting out of bowl games when many coaches, Riley, Kelly, Cristobal are doing the same. One difference, these coaches have already 'been paid.'

It will be interesting to see how many ASU and Wisconsin fans will show up for the Las Vegas Bowl. Phoenix to LV is a pretty easy drive but do ASU fans care enough to show up? With the 'Vegas Package' being pitched to Wisky fans and the game being played the evening before New Year's Eve, I think many Badgers fans will attend this game? Las Vegas and not San Antonio is where the Pac-12 should be sending its 2nd best team.

62-60 is Mario Cristobal.

Thanks for the post. Lanning and Dillingham signing Nix was a heads up move. I hope they continue to pay attention to the portal. In 2021 Michigan State and Baylor turned things around with finding guys in the portal. And Baylor hiring the BYU OC was also a great move.

HOW ABOUT - Drop Divisions, go to 8 conference games, BK the network or find a media partner that will get the network up on all major cable carriers,, do not schedule 1 off games as does the likes of New Mexico State, get out of the Alamo Bowl and make Vegas the site of where to Pac-12 runner-up plays, adjust conference revenue distribution according to the amount a given school invests in football, play games in the daylight and stream the games for the rest of the day. As for the Ducks in particular. Consider moving to the "new B12.' Why stay 'as-is' with partners who spend no where near what you do in recruiting and general football operations.

Great take. The Forbes list I cite below is as of 2019.

Few Pac-12 schools have the money and/or the will to compete at the highest level of P5 football. WAZZU made no effort to retain Leach. Ditto CU and Mel Tucker. USC, Oregon and UW are the 3 Pac-12 schools in Forbes list of the top 25 CFB teams by all-in revenue. The vast majority on the list are SEC and B1G schools. OK and TX, both on the list are of course headed to the SEC. I see no way that GK will pull a media deal rabbit out of his hat. The conference is getting left behind the B1G and the SEC; much farther behind. No way is CAL going to pay Wilcox' buy out. Wilcox not taking the job does not give CAL a reason to fire him with cause. Oregon, USC, UW and Utah where fans care and CU where fans kind of care, are in a bad, bad spot. What is going to incent CAL, Stanford, Arizona fans, etc. to turn out for home games?

Very good point. Discussed earlier in the season Verdell went down; perfect timing to ask the question again. In the champ game Sewell looked to be one of the few guys who didn't quit. He balled out from start to finish.

Very good take Darren, thank you. BTW, I resemble those old guys chugging them down on the 19th hole. Looks like Portal QBs are trending up in the Pac-12? Slovis is out. Will Caleb Williams follow Riley to USC? I hope not. UW - QB Michael Penix coming from Indiana to play for DeBoer. DeBoer was Indiana's OC and Penix' position coach when he had his best season. Pittman should be a big upgrade at QB for UW? QB Dillon Gabriel to UCLA - This says to me that DTR is not coming back for another season? If Chip brings in other guys from the portal to replace a lot of departing starters the 2021 schedule sets up well for the Bruins to have another good season. Only 4 conference road games and UCLA gets Utah in LA. QB Jack Plummer from Purdue to CAL. A spotty career at Purdue. Some great games. Some terrible games. QB Bo NIx from Auburn to Oregon - well discussed on this board. Nix is an example of how recruiting rankings do not tell the entire story in the day and age of the portal. Nix was a 5* recruit and on occasion, played like it at Auburn. Will not count as any kind of * on the Oregon roster. So, experienced players don't count but kids straight out of HS do count? Oregon as mentioned by others above, is likely to have growing pains next season in the face of an extremely difficult schedule. Playing UGA in Atlanta (possibly the defending national champ?) and BYU, 5-0 vs the conference in 2021, OOC is far from strategic playoff scheduling. Then, Oregon has 5 conference road games. Look at the ACC and SEC schedules. 8 conference games and almost all member schools play at least 7 and often 8, home games. And if WAZZU can get a H+H with Wisconsin, Utah with Florida, Arizona with Miss St and Alabama, CAL with Auburn, what in the heck is the Ducks doing playing a one off game in Atlanta vs Georgia. BTW, this game was scheduled by Rob Mullens in 2019. Mullens? SMH. The 1 Pac-12 team favored in its bowl game, Oregon State, lost to a MW team and looked BAD in the process. The conference is 5-6 vs the MW in 2021. Any conference bowl win from here on out will be an upset. Thanks again Darren. Always enjoy your takes. Hopefully the new, young Oregon coaching staff will be up for the job.

But, again, I remind everyone of the Blue Chip ratio. No team without a majority of 4 + 5* on its roster won the BCS or won a Playoff title. Miss on some ? Of course. But for the most part recruiting rankings get it right. The quibble I have today is that 4 and 5* guys coming out of the portal are not included in recruiting calculations. Bama's top tackler and top receiver this season came from the portal. Came from Tennessee and Ohio State. Oregon with Nix, just signed a 5* recruit and will get no recruiting bump for Nix and his rating. You are not going to recruit a bunch of 3 star guys and coach them up to be champions. I know WR Metchie is missing from the roster and 2 Cincy guys are All American. Anyone think that Saban will take an L vs Cincy?

However, and BDF and your point is well made, welcome to QB recruiting in this day and age of CFB 'free agency.' Many the HS QB coaching guru is complaining about CFB coaches ignoring HS recruits in favor of 'portal guys.' After one miss-fire in 2021, the portal for the QB position worked out just fine for Utah, with Rising, a transfer from TX, taking over for Brewer, a transfer from Baylor. The portal also worked well for Utah at RB just like it worked well for Chip at UCLA. And Chip just signed QB Dillon Gabriel out of the portal and DeBoer at UW signed QB Michael Penix out of the portal. A coach has seen many the 'portal' QB play against college competition. And the free transfer in CFB is a 1 time deal. You sign a guy out of the portal and he is not, if he plays 4 or more games, leaving your QB room without sitting out a year. It's a new day in CFB. Guys signed out of the portal are likely to give you more productivity than a guy signed out of HS.

OK, I'm unapologetically dumping on Mullens. OK, I am upset with the manner in which Mullens is 'managing' the Oregon football program in a day and age when 4 teams make the CFB Playoff. This 'neutral site game' vs UGA is using the Oregon football team to help fund the athletic department and non-revenue sports. This is giving away a home game, say vs San Jose State, when the team is already playing 5 conference road games. IMO, 'this' is an in-your-face to Ducks fans. Can't make it to Atlanta, can't afford to trip to Atlanta? Tough spit! The Mercedes Benz Stadium is less than an hour's drive from the Georgia campus in Athens. How many Ducks graduates live in Atlanta versus Dawgs fans? This is a 'neutral site' game? Compared to this game, Oregon vs Auburn in Dallas was a 'home' game for Oregon. Again, I am not 'afraid' of UGA. Unlike Ohio State, UGA is unwilling to play a H+H with Oregon. Many the SEC teams have scheduled H+H games with Pac-12 teams, including A+M, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Mississippi, Mississippi State, LSU and Vandy. The idea that SEC teams will not come west to play OOC vs the Pac-12 is simply bogus. On the same day Oregon plays UGA in Atlanta, Utah is playing at Florida. But in 2023 Florida is playing at Utah. How in any way is Florida's recruiting improved by playing in Salt Lake City? This game is treating Oregon like a New Mexico State team when it plays back-to-back games at Alabama and then Tennessee, for a pay check. But 'this' is right in Rob's wheelhouse. After all, he has a future Miami Hurricanes coach, coaching Oregon vs Oklahoma.

I'd like to make 1 thing clear. In 2019 Rob Mullens scheduled the game vs Georgia to be played 9/3 in Atlanta. This was not a game that had been scheduled 'for a long time' before Mullens arrived. This game was scheduled knowing that BYU was already on the 2022 schedule. This game was scheduled for the Chik-A-Fil money. You do not play 9 conference games and schedule a game like this. If a team is not willing to give Oregon a H+H, a 1 off in said team's territory should never be agreed to. Want to play UGA 1 time? Play the Dawgs in the Playoff.

This game was scheduled in 2019 by Rob Mullens.

General attitude in the conference 'where it just means more.' However, playoff 2 for 8. 1-2 record in the playoff. 0-1 so far in 2021 bowl games with a legit shot to go 0-6? What has the Pac-12 done to make the conference matter? W over OH ST was flushed by the L at Stanford. W over LSU was flushed by an L to Fresno and LSU going 6-6. W over Vandy by Stanford? 9/3/22 - Oregon plays UGA and Utah plays at Florida. Later, AZ plays Miss St. The conference has to win these games and not melt down thereafter. (And GK has to get off his ass and tell Hanks to go with an 8 game conference schedule.)

A punt that with better clock management (I think we have all seen this movie?) never should have occurred because the half would have been over.

It is very simple - Mario's record is 62-60. Mario is a recruiting champ and coaching chump. The Miami kids played hard for Manny. Do not expect the same with Mario whose team often shows up completely unprepared for the game. Bowl wins? Include a 1 point win over a multi loss MI ST team, a 1 point win over 3L Wisconsin and a complete no show L vs Iowa State in the Fiesta Bowl.