Jon Joseph

Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables is on the hot seat and has to play this competition. Wow. Michigan, Auburn (hasn't done much of late but does have a Blue Chip roster,) Texas (Dallas,) at South Carolina, Ole Miss, at Tennessee, at Alabama, Missouri, and LSU. How about Coach Luke Fickell's toasty seat at Wisconsin? Miami (Ohio) a team predicted to win the MAC and contend for the G5 playoff spot, followed by a game at Alabama. Then, how's this for four Saturdays in a row? At Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State, at Oregon. After a well-deserved week off, Wisconsin plays UW, at Indiana, Illinois, and at Minnesota. 😁 No ACC, B12, or G5 schedules come close to these two gauntlets which is why the B1G and the SEC want four assured playoff spots for each conference. Scheduling in these mega-conferences matters more than ever and I respect the B1G for trying to balance the schedules out from 2024 through 2028. In 2027, OBD plays at Michigan and entertains Ohio State and Penn State.😉

Bummed that I missed the banter. Wi-Fi picked a great time to go down. Hats off to Canada. Talk about even. Two games, and four goals for both teams. Hats off to the NHL. This was much better than an 11-10 All-Star game that looks like a skate in the park. Hopefully, Wait Until Next Year! Something Red Sox fans said for decades. 😁

Yahoo! A B1G QB Update. Big Ten Spotlight: Quarterback storylines to follow this spring SPORTS.YAHOO.COM Four-star quarterback Jonas Williams committed to Oregon in August.

Et tu, Texas. Texas to eliminate spring game, joining growing list of college football teams opting for NFL-style OTAs - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian is the latest coach to do away with the traditional format Texas is another team that played 16 games in 2024-25.

Commissioners Petitti and Sankey Speak and Show Respect for Other Less Successful Conferences. SEC and Big Ten are prepared to push for changes to CFP seeding in 2025 APNEWS.COM The Big Ten and Southeastern Conference will push for changes in the way College Football Playoff teams are seeded next season to coincide more with how teams are ranked by the CFP selection... The coverage of playoff expansion from Stewart Mandel, Dennis Dood, and other well-known college football journalists has been way over the top. A 14-team or a 16-team playoff with guaranteed spots for the B1G, SEC, ACC, B12, G5, and Notre Dame, if ranked high enough, will not kill the sport any more than expanding to 12 teams killed the sport. If all conferences had rosters equivalent to Power 2 rosters, played the same number of games, and had similar strength of schedules, four spots for the B1G and the SEC would not be necessary but this, of course, is not what we have in college football.

More on tonight's game from the AP. U.S. and Canada want to put the new Cold War on ice and play a 4 Nations hockey final for the ages APNEWS.COM The U.S. and Canadian hockey teams are trying to skate back the geopolitical tension that has infiltrated the 4 Nations Face-Off as they looked ahead to the championship game Thursday night for...

It's unfortunate that Boston Bruin defenseman McAvoy is out. He is a body-bruising tone-setter and a Bean Town favorite. Tonight's ticket price is higher than a Game 7 Stanley Cup ticket. The Bossten Gahdan will be rockin'! USA! USA! USA!

Let's Hear It For: OBD Man David Marsh Up on Yardbarker! Is 2025 The End of Lanning’s Mercenary Teams? | FishDuck FISHDUCK.COM Dan Lanning came to Oregon when the transfer portal was in full swing and NIL was in its early years. Unlike many other coaches, he opted to retain most of the…

An Update on Yesterday's Power 2 Meeting. Big Ten, SEC leaders discuss College Football Playoff changes with seeding, auto bids among pressing topics - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM A nine-game SEC schedule could also be on the horizon with an expanded playoff format

On Wisconsin! Or, should it be, Oh No Wisconsin? Luke Fickell contract: One-year extension pushes Wisconsin coach's deal through 2031 on heels of 5-7 campaign - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM The Badgers historically hand out one-year extensions at the conclusion of each season Good luck Coach. Fickell at Wisconsin is 0-5 vs. the top 25. 2025 schedule - Miami (Ohio,) a contender for the G5 PO spot, at Alabama, at Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State, at Oregon, UW, at Indiana, Illinois, at Minnesota. 😁 The most difficult 2025 schedule in the B1G.

ND, after the champ game Day said the team was exhausted having played 16 games and four in a row against quality competition. He pushed the start of spring practice back two weeks. I think health issues have more to do with canceling spring games than does portal picking. Quality Georgia, Nebraska, TOSU, OBD, etc., players are on the radar whether or not they play in a spring scrimmage. If the House settlement is approved and rosters are cut how much contact will we see in the spring? It's a new paradigm and it's another reason why I'd like to see OBD open at home vs Portland State every season.

Thank you, Charles. We used to have the hypocrisy of the student-athlete. Now, we have the hypocrisy of scribes Stewart Mandel, Dennis Dodd, and others who are making far more bank covering CFB than they could have imagined beefing about the two most successful 'companies' in a big business being at the forefront of the business. Mandel's, The Athletic is owned by the New York Times. When the Times bought The Athletic, Mandel scored. If 134 teams were on an equal competitive CFB footing and the NCAA had a broadcast monopoly, Mandel would be shuffling to make a dime as a beat writer. Dodd's CBS is part of a consortium led by Fox, that pays B1G money to the B1G conference. Does Dodd want the Pac-2, 7, whatever, to have veto power over how the CFB postseason is managed? Last season, 48 of the 50 most-watched CFB games involved a B1G and, or, an SEC team. From the inception of the BCS in 1998, through 2026, the Power 2 would have had four teams in an expanded PO field far more often than not. But, the PO is better because 13 people who refuse to disclose how they choose to pick and seed the PO field decide that a G5 team, Boise, should be arbitrarily seeded ahead of B12 champ ASU, thus sending ASU to play in Atlanta instead of playing in Phoenix. Horse Hockey! A 16-team field with eight automatic Power 2 qualifiers and a 14-team field with the same qualifiers, 4-4-2-2-1-1, gives millions of dollars to the B12 it did not earn in 2024-25 and assures the ACC of two participants without Clemson coming in through the back door. How is 'THIS' injurious to the long-term health of college football? Injurious to the ACC, B12, and G5? In a capitalistic system, two competitors have separated themselves from the field. What's new?

Will 2025 see champagne in Champaign? The Illini return 18 starters from a 10-win football team. Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt predicts non-CFP 10-win ranked Big Ten team to shock the college football world in 2025 WWW.SPORTINGNEWS.COM Which team is poised for a breakout season this fall? Joel Klatt weighs in. TOSU and USC play at Illinois and OBD, PSU, and Michigan are not on the schedule. There are tricky road games at Indiana, UW, and Wisconsin.

Thanks, DM. In 2025, Dan Lanning has his Oregon team ranked in the Top 5 in recruiting and portal picking, the only team to be in the top 5 in both rankings. This is the way championship teams are built today. No matter how efficient your recruiting is, there will be holes to be filled every season. I have a problem with the term, 'mercenary', to wit, were draft-eligible guys on the Ohio State roster who were paid to play one more season in Columbus, Jack Sawyer, Emeka Egbuka, Trevon Henderson, etc., any less 'mercenary' than QB Howard, DB Downs, and Center McLaughlin? Same question for the draft-eligible returning players on the Michigan team that won the 2023-24 championship. Top players including top recruits signed out of high school are going to be paid. There are millions of reasons why Arch Manning has waited his turn at Texas. Would Evan Stewart return without appropriate NIL money? As you so noted in your excellent article, the number of transfers signed by Dan is decreasing. This is not the case with Kiffin at Ole Miss and Prime at CU. Why Dan has OBD headed for a title and the other two do not. To your list of OBD impact transfer players, I'd add Gabe, Harmon, Cornelius, Muhammad, and others who started elsewhere, transferred to Oregon, and will play in the NFL. Until college football transfers are regulated, portal picking and successfully integrating transfers onto the team will be essential for success. I do agree with the excellent point you made. As evidenced by the last two champions, developing your recruits is the best way to go. But like transfers, those who stay will also be paid. Thanks again.

Bo, Bucky, and J-P-J Make the List of Impact NFL Rookies Ranking every NFL team's 2024 rookie class after Year 1: NFC East with three teams sitting atop list - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM Let's take a look at every rookie class after Year 1

The expansion of the basketball tournament has brought in more revenue every time the field expanded. College football playing 12 and not 10 regular season games brought in more revenue. Expanding the BCS to a 4-team playoff and to a 12-team playoff brought in significantly more money on both occasions. Expanding further to 14 or 16 teams will bring in more money. In the Money Ball sports, chasing money via postseason expansion has worked.

Based on Preseason Rankings, a Projection of a 14-team and 16-team Field in 2025-26. Both projections have a 1st-round game of Ducks versus USC(E) Gamecocks in Autzen. Projecting the College Football Playoff field if Big Ten-SEC plan comes to fruition FANSIDED.COM More College Football Playoff expansion could be on the horizon, thanks to the Big Ten and SEC.

Today, do you have to be on-site to attend class? This travel is sustainable compared to the revenue Beavis, Wazzu, Cal, Stanford, and the four teams that migrated to the B12 are bringing in. In the P4 and G6, there are at least three tiers of teams and BiG and SEC teams sit alone in the top tier with the financial ability to consistently compete for championships. I used to travel frequently and I was able to get a whole lot of work done on an airplane. Do you think this travel is tough? Check out the train trips teams used to take and the time required to get 'there and back.' And in the days of train travel, no one was being paid over the table. A lot more eyeballs are on the athletes in the B1G than in the Pac-12 days which means better marketing opportunities for the athletes. To everything, there is a Yin and a Yang.

Dabo is bringing in three transfers in 2025 to a team with many returning starters.

CBS Sports review of transfer portal heavy teams and the difficulty these teams have winning a championship. Kudos to Dan for developing a roster that can win it all. Ceiling for portal-heavy teams in expanded CFP era: Why traditional roster building is necessary to win title - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM How far can a portal-heavy roster go in the expanded playoff era?

Here's an interesting take on how far in the playoffs a portal-heavy team can go. Ceiling for portal-heavy teams in expanded CFP era: Why traditional roster building is necessary to win title - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM How far can a portal-heavy roster go in the expanded playoff era?

Great points. Conference champ games are factored into media contracts. Flex scheduled to have one play two in the last game of the regular season IMO makes sense. All of these other machinations? Play nine conference games and the log jam at the No.4 spot in the SEC last season could still happen but with fewer logs. LOL at the ACC Commish managing a 17-team conference that plays eight conference games and wants to jury rig the champ game so the top team does not have to chance losing to a lesser team. In 2025 we are likely to see the same screwed-up seeding system that had No.1 Oregon playing No. 6 Ohio State in the 1st round. This will disappear in 2026. Automatic bids will not mean that the B1G and SEC teams with the bids will be seeded higher than ACC, B12, G5, and higher-ranked Notre Dame teams. Come the new media deals beginning in 2030 and with the House settlement on the horizon who knows what college football will look like just a few years down the road?

Five Thoughts on the Hockey Played to Date. Five takeaways from conclusion of 4 Nations Face-Off round robin WWW.YARDBARKER.COM Team Sweden (1-0-2-0, 5 points) defeated Team USA (2-0-0-1, 6 points) 2-1 in the final game of the NHL's inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off round robin. Note that 5 million viewers is a large number for ice hockey. The NFL and CFB are far more popular. It will be a great atmosphere in Boston on Thursday night. Holy Molson's! Good luck scoring a ticket you hosers, eh? Ticket prices are out of control for Canada-USA 4 Nations championship game | Sports DAILYHIVE.COM Hype is out of control for Thursday night's 4 Nations championship game between Canada and the United States. USA! USA! USA!

Great post, Thank You! Some good home games in 2025, no doubt. How about 2027 when Autzen will host Iowa, Ohio State, and Penn State?

Won't B12 fans be more interested in watching post-season ball with two teams and not one in the field? I respect your POV, of course, but I could not disagree more. All the worries about NIL, the open transfer portal, and money flowing to the Power 2 killing CFB have been unfounded. Viewership was up again in 2024. That the champ game did not draw better is a format problem that can be corrected IF the two most successful conferences lead the way in making the corrections. Positive change is coming, IMO, with tomorrow's second meeting of the B1G and SEC commissioners and athletic directors. The B1G and the SEC dwarf every other conference in viewership. Going back to the 1998 advent of the BCS and projecting a 14 to 16-team field based on final rankings through 2024-25, four B1G and four SEC teams would be the norm. Why leave this up to chance with a Committee that refuses to disclose its selection methodology? A Committee that in 2024-25 seeded a G5 team ahead of the B12 champ without the support of Boise having the superior strength of schedule or any other justification. As I have noted before, Alabama at Penn State would have drawn far more eyeballs than SMU at Penn State last season and every season. Assuring the ACC and B12 of two PO participants and the G5 of one PO participant based on postseason history and viewership numbers is generous. Arena League and Canadian League teams do not participate in the NFL playoffs. Sankey and Petitti allowing a conference with no Blue Chip Rosters teams, the B12, and the ACC with two such teams, Clemson and Miami, two playoff spots, and the millions of dollars this will earn for the two conferences is, IMO, far from greedy. Again. I respect your comment. I think a Super League is coming, NFL-Lite, and I do not think this will kill college football. I believe it will be a recognition of the new college football paradigm and Oregon presented by NIKE will still draw millions of viewers.