Jon Joseph

It's still about the Jimmies and the Joes. Gattis had the top OL at Michigan last season that he won't find at Miami. He had a QB who was steady and did not make mistakes. Who replaces QB King at Miami? How did Gattis' O look versus UGA? And Steele? I would judge his career as inconsistent at best. At Auburn, he had better players on the D side of the ball than he will have at Miami. One of the top Miami DL guys portaled to ASU. I don't get all the love being thrown at 62-60 Mario and at the Miami program in general.

Great post. With next season's schedule, we'll see early on how Dillingham fits at Oregon. 1st game out of the box 'at' the defending champ and the 3rd game vs a ranked and experienced BYU.

Great take Darren. Clemson is in a 'weaker conference' that plays its games on the east coast when folks are still awake. It is also a conference with a network owned and operated by ESPN that runs 2 daily shows dedicated to Clemson and CFB in season. And Clemson is in far better recruiting ground than is Oregon. Also, when Clemson has QBs like Watson and Lawrence it uses them and does not bury them like Mario buried Justin Herbert. And Clemson in the last few seasons has sent a number of stud DL guys to the pros. Clemson was down last season but played great D, finished 10-3 and ranked in the AP Final top 25. How 'down' is the ACC compared to the Pac-12? The ACC had 4 teams ranked at the end of the 2021 season; the Pac-12, 2. And although they have not played like it as of late, in people's minds FSU and Miami are still blue bloods. When it comes to blue bloods in the Pac-12, folks east of the Rockies think USC, and that's it. Where do Pac-12 fans think Clemson, Pitt, Wake and NC State would have finished in 'the Pac-16' last season? IMO, none of these teams would have finished in the bottom half of the conference.

Agree totally, 30, Cincy at Ark was a very strange choice IMO. Cincy coach, Luke Fickell, just got a nice pay bump to $5M a season but Houston is the favorite in the AAC coming into 2022. Both should be playing in the B12 as early as next season.

No way. Thanks for stringing the thread along.

According to ESPN+ (pay wall) CFB Playoff guru, Heather Dinich - the below listed games will impact the 2022 playoff. 1. 11/26 - Michigan at Ohio State - Will Harbaugh go back to back vs the Buckeyes? 2. 9/3 - Notre Dame at Ohio State - Kelly's gone. Can Freeman find the luck of the Irish? He lost the Shamrock in the 2nd half of the Fiesta Bowl. 3. 9/3 - OREGON (Let's Hear It!) 'at' Georgia - Dawg gone tough game for Danno's opening act. [Not on the list but 9/3 - Utah at Florida - Can Utes swamp the Gators? ] 4. 10/3 -Texas AtM at Alabama - With the amount of $ spent on buying the all time best recruiting class, Aggies may have to take the bus to Tuscaloosa? 5. 10/1 - North Carolina State at Clemson - Big game on the Dabo rebound tour. But a big game overall? Oh well, ESPN does own the ACC Network. 6. 10/15 - USC at Utah - This game could be a shoot out ala the Rose Bowl. Both teams have a decent chance to come into this game without a loss. Game Day in SLC? 7. 10/29 - Michigan State at Michigan - Can Mel Tucker portal his way to another top 10 finish? At 2 games over .500 and making $9M a year, Mel is already a big winner. Right, Jimmy? 8. 9/17 - The Fighting Mario's at AtM. Believe it or not, Miami is the 'toughest game' on the Aggies 2022 OOC schedule. 9. 10/9 - Oklahoma State at Baylor. - Two Pac-20 teams battle it out ... What's that? These are still 2 B12 teams? OK, I guess? 10. 9/3 - Cincinnati at Arkansas - Me thinks that Heather started hitting the Bloody Mary's well before posting THIS? Interesting: No Oklahoma vs Texas; Utah at Oregon; Penn St vs Ohio State/ Michigan; Florida vs Georgia; Bama at Ole Miss; Iowa vs Wisconsin; UW vs Anyone? Sorry, but as Charles noted this is a SLOW CFB news day. And more to follow before spring ball.

Mario's signal: PUNT!

How Swede it is!

Great take. I think SC has a very good chance of being 6-0 heading into Utah and that the Utes if Utah can start fast out of the box, can take down Florida in the Swamp. Bot 9/3 in the Swamp? It will feel like being in a Swamp.

Good take. But I see SC battling Utah for the South? I don't see many Pac-12 teams scoring at the pace of SC in 2022? Maybe Utah can hold down the SC O in SLC but Stroud and the Buckeyes lit up the Utah D and Utah AA LB Lloyd is off to the NFL.

I'm glad you missed it because I was WRONG! Peach and Fiesta Bowls are next seasons semifinal sites. Pac-12 champ will be playing on 1/2/23 in the Rose Bowl.

And when he matriculated at Pitt he was around 250 pounds and thus, a 3* recruit.

WRONG! RB is NOT a semifinal site next season. Peach and Fiesta Bowls are the semi sites.

I do think Nix gets the start at QB and he has played under Dillingham before. Under DL, I think Dillingham will be more than an ornament on the sideline. I don't see and hope we won't see, DL micro-managing during the week and on game day.

Great take. They also smothered a very good Michigan team. SEC champ game was the first time UGA was punched in the mouth. Bama had to win this game to make the final 4 and UGA did not. But the Dawgs mad one heck of a 2 game comeback after the loss.

Mr. Home Alone? LOL!

Fun Take. But Chase worked out pretty well for the Bengals.

The ACC is hobbled by its agreement with ESPN through 2036. I think the B12 by adding the Houston, Cincinnati and Orlando markets and the national following that BYU has, may well eclipse the Pac-12 in its new media deal? The B12 is now far more of a presence, with W VA, Cincy and UCF, in the eastern time zone. We'll know in a few years? But as of now we do know the Pac-12 as currently constituted will fall financially farther being the B1G and the SEC and IMO, will not be able to continue to prop-up a financially insolvent network.

Playoff - 12/31 - PEACH - 1. Alabama vs 4. Clemson 12/31 -FIESTA - 2. Ohio State vs 3. Georgia 1/9 - CHAMP GAME - Los Angeles - 1. Alabama vs 2. Ohio State 12/30 - ORANGE - Wake Forest vs Wisconsin 1/2 - COTTON - NC ST vs Houston (G5) ROSE - UTAH vs Michigan SUGAR - Oklahoma State vs Texas A+M 3 ACC teams in NY6 Bowls? Sorry Brett, I don't see this happening. IMO, it is far more likely that 2 B12 teams will be in the NY6. 1 of NC ST/Wake will not be in the NY6. SUN - UCLA vs VA Tech LAS VEGAS - Washington vs Ole Miss ALAMO - USC vs Oklahoma (Think OK fans would like to see this match-up?) HOLIDAY - OREGON vs FSU ( Brett has Miami vs Baylor in the Cheez-it Bowl; RATS!) LOS ANGELES - ASU vs Air Force Academy NEW MEXICO - Oregon State vs San Diego State RED BOX - If this bowl is not played ESPN is likely to find a replacement sponsor for a game in San Francisco which could include a Pac-12 school) So, Brett has 7 Pac-12 schools going bowling. I think Washington State is more likely to make a bowl than is UW. I can see CAL +/or Stanford getting to 6 wins in 2022? I don't know if he has Oregon going to the Holiday Bowl because it played in the Alamo Bowl in 2021; or, if he believes USC will finish with one fewer loss than the North champ Ducks? WHO CARES? This is a way too early prediction that I would not post except in the CFB 'dead season.'

MY BAD! The Playoff semi-final sites for the 2022 are the Fiesta and Peach Bowls. The Pac-12 champion will play in the Rose Bowl that will be played on January 2nd (the 1st falls on a Sunday) 2023.

MY BAD! The Pac-12 Champ does play in the Rose Bowl this season. Peach and Fiesta Bowls are the semi-final sites. The Rose Bowl will be played on Monday January 2, 2023; the 1st falls on a Sunday.

FWIW (very little to nothing) Latest AP Top 25 BBall Poll 3 Arizona 6 Kansas 7 Baylor 11 Texas Tech 13 UCLA 14 Houston 17 USC 25% of Pac-12 ranked. 40% of Pac-20 ranked.

Great take. At 5-2, the B12 had the best bowl record of the P5 conferences. Baylor and Oklahoma State won NY6 bowl games over respectively, Ole Miss and Notre Dame. The B12 in 2021 was a far better and deeper conference than was the Pac 12. I don't disagree with the ACC take but the ACC finished with 4 teams ranked in the top 25.; the Pac-12 finished with 2 ranked teams and went 0-5 in its bowl games.

Sorry, that's all-in revenue. You can't be suggesting that the money distributed to Pac-12 teams comes close to the money distributed to B1G and SEC teams? The numbers you show are base madia deal numbers that do not include for instance the money the B1G and SEC networks bring in. I'm very happy to compare all-in numbers but I assure you the the B1G and the SEC are way ahead of the 3 other P5 conferences and I also assure you that 'as is' the Pac-12 new media deal will bring in more money but will not close the gap on the wealthier conferences. Not once since its creation has the Pac-12 Network brought in the the lowest projected income. As I so noted, the numbers I used come from Jon Wilner of the Mercury News, who does an excellent job of tracking conference finances. The SEC is trading its $55M a year media rights deal with CBS for a $300M+ media rights deal with ESPN. You see this kind of deal coming for the Pac-12? The Pac-12 is being left in the financial dust. The new Pac-12 commissioner would be the first to agree.

I think the portal makes a lot of sense for many the 2nd string QB with the talent to start at another school. With Caleb Williams coming on board at USC it makes perfect sense for Dart to transfer to Ole Miss and for Slovis to transfer to Pitt. I think it also makes sense for a Bo Nix who is fed up with the dysfunction at the school where he is starting. Also makes sense for a guy who is a very good player at Duke, for instance, to go somewhere where he can compete for a title. It also makes sense for overlooked guys who ball out in FCS. Like Cameron Wars from Immaculate Word transferring to WA ST and getting paid via NIL in the process. It also makes sense for guys being 'recruited' to go elsewhere (and this is happening all over the place) for a nice slice of NIL $. (Our friend Dye?) 3,000 guys are in the portal but more than half are FCS guys and walk-ons. It's open 'free agency' in CFB and smartly or stupidly, players raised in a "ME" generation are taking advantage.