Jon Joseph

Next season, OBD will see a rebuilt team when it travels to Stillwater, OK, to play OK State. Saturday BlitzPortal Pile-Up: The 5 college football programs losing th...The College Football Transfer Portal will open up in two days, creating a 14 day window of chaos from January 2nd through the 16th. Oftentimes, everyone always

It's Portal Picking time. In the midst of the playoffs? 🤪 https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/football/2026/01/02/oregon-football-2026-transfer-portal-needs/87990127007/?utm_source=smg-duckswire-strada&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SMGbaseline&utm_term

Mike, I so enjoy pouring my first cup of coffee and then finding an article from you up on the Forum. You, Charles, David Marsh, The Coach, and other Forum Friends have an in-depth appreciation of the game I do not have; it's wonderful when you all share your insights. I'm not being critical of either coach, Dan or Will, when I ask if Will has a free hand when it comes to game management. It was apparent early on to this amateur that Texas Tech's offense was outmatched and not a threat to score against the Ducks' defense. Why not dominate time of possession and dominate the game by playing smaller, not small ball? Especially when your QB is under siege, and your O-line is not playing like a Joe Moore finalist. Of course, eight 4th down attempts and a successful fake punt are not in the generally accepted definition of 'small ball.' I'm an amateur armchair analyst, but I can see why experts don't 'get' the seemingly inconsistent game plan. However,15 new starters and the team is 13-1, I am entertained. And, I have to remind myself that it took Kirby Smart and Ryan Day six seasons to win a title. How much do Dan, Will, and Dante himself trust Dante? Against TT, Dante had Sadiq wide open for a TD and missed the opportunity. He had receivers open against Indiana and missed them. He's twenty years old and has nowhere close to the experience of Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel. The game isn't going to slow down when you are on your back. The defense and a very good, not perfect, kicking game won the Orange Bowl game. The defense shut down Penn State, Iowa, and Indiana until late in the games against these three opponents. I don't see OBD versus Indiana, and hopefully, Miami or Ole Miss, winning shootouts. I do see OBD winning if, like against TT, OBD dominates the TO battle and holds the opponents below their season scoring average. I don't expect to breathe easy for sixty-plus minutes. Thanks again, Mike, for another terrific take. PS - My Old Man was one of the farm boys who destroyed the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy. 👌👍😁 There isn't a Cig that cannot be extinguished. HOSE THE WHO, WHO, WHO HOOSIERS!

You need a better OC. (On-Line Coordinator.) 🤪

Not so fast on the SEC's title chances. I wouldn't count out a super-motivated Ole Miss team with a magician playing QB. Trinidad Chambers presents a different challenge for the Miami D than the far less mobile Julian Sayin. Miami is 16-12 in its bowl games and won national titles in 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, and 2001. Miami is 0-4 in the Fiesta Bowl with losses to UCLA, Penn State, Arizona, and Ohio State. The U comes into Thursday night's game with the added pressure of winning and playing for a title on its home field. I expect Ole Miss will have more fans in attendance than Miami, unified by a robust hatred of Lane Kiffin. Miami lost its last bowl game, the Pop-Tarts Bowl, to Matt Campbell and Iowa State, 42-41, with Cam Ward, with Mario's consent, taking a second-half nap. (The folks who wagered on Miami were not happy with Mario's undisclosed bowl game 'strategy.' 🤬) Ole Miss, +3 to +3.5, comes into the Fiesta Bowl 13-1 with rematch wins over Tulane and Georgia, and with the better QB, a guy who can escape pressure. I like Ole Miss to cover and win. The SEC's dominance was more about recruiting local talent and poaching players of need, such as Tua and Brock Bowers. There were few, if any, squeaky clean programs before NIL. Where there is a transactional free market for any endeavor, deep pockets will step up, and talent will be disbursed. HO$E THE HOO$IERS!

And the B12 dropped another one last night. SMU 24 - No. 17 Arizona 19 Prior to the semifinals, here's a detailed breakdown of bowl performance game by game for every conference. https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2025-01-02/track-which-conferences-are-winning-2025-26-college-football-bowl-season Monday, January 5th, our friends and first game foe Montana State play Illinois State in the FCS champ game. 7:30/4:30 ESPN ESPN's Bill Connelly's analysis of this matchup. ESPN.comFCS national championship preview: Illinois State, Montan...Will the Bobcats break through or can the Redbirds cap their amazing run in style?

CBS Sports has an early look at portal winners and losers. EARLY is the word. Makhi may be back in town, but not in Eugene. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-transfer-portal-day-1-winners-losers-2026/

Here's an excellent look at the semifinals from Saturdays Down South, Connor O'Gara. Note- Broyles finalists, Indiana DC Bryant Haines, and Miami DC Corey Heatherman, both worked for Curt Cignetti at JMU. Mario's hire of Hetherman from Minnesota was one of this season's best. I've dumped on Cristobal, whose game management is still suspect, but he has stopped micro-managing and is giving his coordinators more leeway. Somehow, someway, Trinidad Chambliss must be related to Houdini. Saturday Down SouthEarly thoughts on 2 improbable College Football Playoff s...With an extremely unique field left, the College Football Playoff semifinals are loaded with intriguing storylines.

Great comment, DM. I think Dan might also have wanted to make certain that Dante lived to see another day. The D coach in him saw TT's offense being dominated, and he also saw Dante take some vicious hits. Running the ball shortened the game as intended.

The Most Exciting PO to Date? SI guy says, 'Yes.' Oregon Ducks On SIWhy This Year's College Football Playoff Is The Most Exci...After an exciting quarterfinal round filled with upsets and thrilling finishes, the College Football Playoff Semifinals are officially set, and the No. 5 Oregon

I agree with you on Riola, but not on Sam Leavitt. Leavitt is from West Linn, Oregon. When healthy in 2025, Leavitt threw for 319 yards and led a late TD drive in the win over Texas Tech. In last season's PO, if a targeting call that should have been made late in the game against Texas was called, Leavitt would have led ASU back from a big deficit in an upset of the Longhorns and played Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. When healthy, Leavitt played very well for ASU. Dilly thought Leavitt was worthy of the ASU starting spot when he transferred in from Michigan State. Leavitt missed five games this season and also missed ASU's Sun Bowl loss to Duke. In two seasons, he threw for 4,513 yards, 34 TDs, and ran for 10 TDs. He consistently earned high grades from PFF. If Dan pursues Leavitt, it will only be with Dillingham's recommendation. Cincinnati QB Sorsby tailed off significantly late in the season. I think there could be more hype than substance with Sorsby.

The only game scheduled with Northwestern through 2028 is a Wildcats visit to Autzen in 2026.

Good thought. But you can bring in experience, as Oregon did with Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel, Miami did with Cam Ward and Carson Beck, and Indiana did with Kurtis Rourke and Fernando Menzoza. One of the four Final 4 transfer QBs will win a title this season. Transfer Will Howard won a title last season. Tom Brady won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay. Experienced faces in new places is true today for every position. You have to make sure you bring in high-character, coachable guys who love to play football to accompany solid recruiting. I think a playoff-quality O-line is as difficult to develop as any position, including QB. Dan and his assistants did a fantastic job this season of getting many new starters on both sides of the ball to play together. Dante goes pro, and I expect a transfer to start for OBD next season. BTW, the Kentucky starting QB is in the portal. Novo to Lexington?

UCLA to Oregon. Georgia to Miami. Cal to Indiana. Ferris State to Ole Miss. The only surprising 'QB development program' is Georgia, with a mutually agreed-upon change at QB. The free market is going to produce incubator programs and development schools. And how long is a productive OC going to be in the same place to groom a QB? The need to develop your own QB is yesterday's CFB news.

The turmoil is exhausting. However, a wide-open CFB marketplace can lead to Indiana and Oregon in the Final 4 instead of Ohio State and Michigan, Ole Miss instead of Georgia and Alabama, and Miami instead of Notre Dame. 😁 This Final 4 is what an expanded PO was supposed to do, keep the fans of teams outside the traditional blue bloods engaged. Fewer folks watch on TV, that's ESPN's problem. PUT OUT THAT CIG!

The Athletic's ($ wall) Austin Mock's PO Mock predicts the chances of the Final Four winning it all: Indiana - 39% Oregon - 28% Miami - 18% Ole Miss - 15%

I'm somewhat surprised by the love being shown to Miami's defense. In the Big Ten champ game, the Indiana defense shut down the Ohio State offense in the same manner as Miami in the Cotton Bowl. In the Rose Bowl game, Mendoza threw fewer incompletions than he did touchdowns against a Bama defense that carried the Tide all season long. Even with the game in Miami, if Indiana can defeat OBD for a second time this season, I think Indiana, with a defense as good or better than Miami's and with more weapons on offense than Ohio State, including a better O-line, will defeat Miami by two or more scores. It's close in team defense with Indiana, 2nd ranked, and Miami, 4th. Massey SOS has Indiana 11th and Miami 24th, and this is with Miami getting a boost from playing Notre Dame. In Massey's top 25, one ACC team, No. 7 Miami, is ranked. Nine B1G, nine SEC, Notre Dame at No. 6, and five B12 teams are ranked in the top 25. I think Indiana is the better-coached football team. I hope we do not have the opportunity to see if I'm correct. In Miami on 1/19, I want to see OBD playing Ole Miss. If OBD wins it all without a win over an SEC foe, Paul et al will call it an aberration.

Right back at you! 👍👌❤️

The Hits Just Keep On Coming for Lame Kitten - https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sec/2026/01/02/ole-miss-cfp-run-shows-rebels-didnt-need-lane-kiffin-after-all-pete-golding-charlie-weis/87992341007/?utm_source=usat-path-to-playoff-nletter76&utm_

25-2, 1-7, no need to Google him, he wins! The most amazing turnaround in CFB history continued yesterday with Indiana's Rose Bowl pasting of Alabama. Indiana is led by a guy who coached under Nick Saban and knows, as well as anyone, that Nick has left the building. Only one team has been able to overcome the Rip Van Winkle long winter's playoff nap: the Hoosiers. Kirby Smart is 0-2. Ryan Day 0-1. Massey Computer Rankings through 1/1/26 - https://masseyratings.com/cf/fbs/ratings Massey has nine B1G and nine SEC teams in the top 25. 2nd-ranked Oregon's strength of schedule (SOS) is ranked fifth, expected to be the 3rd most difficult SOS after the Peach Bowl game vs. Indiana. 8th-ranked Texas Tech finishes with the nation's 45th most difficult SOS. Massey's rankings are well respected and cannot possibly differ that much from the PO Committee's super-secret, you need a decoder ring to figure them out, computer rankings. Texas Tech's loss came at the end of 31st-ranked ASU's pitchfork. OBD lost to No. 1 Indiana. Why wasn't Oregon wearing the home unis in yesterday's game? The Eye Test. Objectively looking at the competition played, maybe, you know, using metrics at hand, 1-loss Oregon and not 1-loss Texas Tech, should have been the 4th seed. Thank goodness this didn't happen, and the defense that gave up 500 yards against the Sun Belt champion shut out the B12 champion. Mike West called it. Oregon's roster talent advantage showed up. The Red Raiders bought one half of the equation, but even with your defense playing well, you have to score a point or two. Call out Will Stein if you so choose, but Week 6 Dante does not find a way to win yesterday's game. Will the OBD O be ready Friday night, going against the best D in CFB? Going against, arguably, the best coach in CFB? Before the Orange Bowl game, Oregon under Dan Lanning was 25-2 when the Ducks rushed for 100-plus yards. Yesterday, OBD rushed for a net 64 yards and won the ball game. Won with many new starters, including true freshmen. The talent accumulation is beginning to show. Will it manifest for two more games? HOSE THE HOOSIERS!

For those of us who can remember 2002, when OBD was royally screwed, and before, the Canes are blue-blooded. Hats off to the Canes and Mario for being the lowest-seeded team to win a PO game. Can the Canes D shut down a better O than O-H-I-O's in the Fiesta Bowl? The pressure will be on Miami, a team battling to play a champ game on its home field. Ole Miss is playing loose and with LSU's money in the effort to kick the Kiff out of Lane. I feel bad for our Georgia friends, but the love poured out on UGA for beating Bama in a rematch was pure recency and brand bias for anyone who could recall the previous game vs Georgia Tech and/or noted Bama's season-long inability to run the football. Cig just keeps on burying brand-name teams. A team without a Blue Chip Roster is looking to break the Blue Chip ceiling and is odds-on to do so. HOSE THE HOOSIERS!

A Quarter Final Summary from ESPN's Bill Connelly. Nos. 1, 5, 6, and 10 are still standing. Ole Miss and Miami travel to 'Phoenix' to play their semifinal. Indiana only has to go as far as Atlanta. OBD is spending more time in Dixie than Colonel Sanders. 😁 ESPN.comCFP quarterfinal takeaways: Ole Miss' wild upset, Indiana...The semifinals are now set. We going inside every quarterfinal game to see how we got our final four.

Under 100 yards rushing and a win for the first time in two seasons. OBD rushed for a net of 64 yards rushing, with sacks against Dante bringing down the net number.

Indiana vs Oregon: Early odds for Peach Bowl revealed +3.5 after watching the Hoosiers hose Bama is closer than I expected.

23-0/ 38-3 and the 2 B1G teams have to meet in the semis? Don't be sad, 2 out of 3 B1G onto the semis ain't bad. SEC? 1 of 5.