Jon Joseph

Only 8 SEC teams in the top 15? The conference only plays 8 conference games but the top-ranked teams occasionally play one another. I think Texas and Bama are overrated. With an easy OOC and conference schedule Mizzou will likely be in the playoff field. Based on the schedule, Ohio State should get the nod over UGA. Penn State defeats W VA in Week 1 and it should finish no worse than 10-2. Michigan at No. 7 with Texas, Oregon, USC, and a game at UW on the schedule and with a total rebuild on O? Oregon has an unfavorable schedule that could hold the Ducks back. I think USC is underrated. The SC D in the spring looked more improved than the LSU D. October 12, 2024, will not just be B1G, it will be HUGE!

Too late to save the Pac-12 Network and possibly the Pac-12 but the Heisman Trust finally ignored the NCAA, did the right thing, and gave his Heisman Trophy back to Reggie. Reggie Bush gets Heisman Trophy back 14 years after forfeiting - ESPN WWW.ESPN.COM The Heisman Trust is returning the Heisman Trophy to Reggie Bush and a replica to USC after the former running back had forfeited the award in 2010.

Spot On takes Charles exemplified by the number of draft-eligible players staying in college for another season. Michigan opened the NIL wallet in 2023 for draft-eligible, experienced players and it paid off with a title. I just reviewed Mel Kiper's final 2024 Mock Draft. Looking ahead to October 12, 2024, I'm not happy regarding Ohio State having only one player, WR Marvin Harrison, projected to be drafted in the first two rounds. Ohio State is this season's Michigan (sans the title I hope Oregon will win) with only one draft-eligible player with eligibility left, Harrison, leaving for the NFL. tOSU's D was 2nd in the nation last season in points allowed and 3rd in the nation in yards allowed and returns almost all of the 2023 starters plus All-SEC and SEC Freshman-of-the-Year, CB Caleb Downs. With Nine Returning Starters From An Already Elite Group, Ohio State's 2024 Defense Has Generational Potential WWW.ELEVENWARRIORS.COM With nine returning starters including some of the brightest stars from a top-three unit in 2023, Ohio State's 2024 defense has generational potential.

Here's one decision that makes sense. Reggie Bush has Heisman Trophy reinstated, ending nearly 2-decade saga THEATHLETIC.COM Bush forfeited his Heisman in 2010 after an NCAA investigation found he took extra benefits while he was a student at USC.

A second CFP for G5 schools pitched due to inevitable SEC and Big Ten split from NCAA FLYWAREAGLE.COM The SEC and Big Ten splitting from the NCAA has Group of Five schools aiming to form a second College Football Playoff for the NCAA Division I FBS' lower tier; IMO, a split from the G5 and the ACC and B12 while not 'inevitable' is likely, at least for football. I do think a central body of some sort, NCAA or otherwise, will continue to manage post-season championships with the majority of the post-season open to schools outside of the Power 2 conferences. Why would anyone want to alter March Madness and the money it brings in? Football produces 80% of athletic department revenue. ESPN and Fox are paying large sums of money to conferences for football inventory. Football leaving will of course affect all other sports in some fashion. I have believed from the start that the G5 should have its own playoff. In the next 2 seasons, I expect that the 12-seed G5 team will be blown out on the road playing the 5-seed. A lot like what we saw last season in the Fiesta Bowl. Thanks for the post.

Good luck when the 1st grad transfer with a chance to make bigger NIL cash is not allowed to transfer due to a ruling by the NCAA. I've seen this movie before. The NCAA is like a punching bag in the YMCA. It takes massive punishment but never moves from the same place and continues to be punished. Oregon should go on record as refusing to pay anything toward legal fees when this nonsense is inevitably challenged. NCAA, the war is over, raise the white flag.

I think Williams is the No.1 no-brainer pick. His college stats are the closest to what Mahomes put up at Texas Tech. He has a terrific arm and he can extend plays and throw accurately while on the run. In 2023 he had nowhere close to the supporting cast that Daniels had at LSU, Penix at UW, and McCarthy at Michigan. He tried to win too many games on his own last season but what choice did he have? USC but for a putrid D could and should have had three more regular season wins. Without Daniels in 2023, SC may have been on the cusp of not being bowl-eligible. According to his peers, he is an excellent teammate. The pantry is far from bare in Chicago for a team that had a good finish to 2023 after a terrible start. The Bears have quality receivers and will likely pick up another quality WR, Odunze perhaps, with the No. 9 pick. He will not be surrounded by junk as is often the case with 1st round QBs. Draft 'gurus' with excess time on their hands often manage to stare at an orange for so long that it turns into a grapefruit. The Bears traded the starting QB to Pitt and need a QB and Williams is the best of a quality QB draft.

Hoping the draft winds Bo in the right direction. Denver?

A second CFP for G5 schools pitched due to inevitable SEC and Big Ten split from NCAA FLYWAREAGLE.COM The SEC and Big Ten splitting from the NCAA has Group of Five schools aiming to form a second College Football Playoff for the NCAA Division I FBS' lower tier; IMO, a split from the G5 and the ACC and B12 while not 'inevitable' is likely, at least for football. I do think a central body of some sort, NCAA or otherwise, will continue to manage post-season championships with the majority of the post-season open to schools outside of the Power 2 conferences. Why would anyone want to alter March Madness and the money it brings in? Football produces 80% of athletic department revenue. ESPN and Fox are paying large sums of money to conferences for football inventory. Football leaving will of course affect all other sports in some fashion. I have believed from the start that the G5 should have its own playoff. In the next 2 seasons, I expect that the 12-seed G5 team will be blown out on the road playing the 5-seed. A lot like what we saw last season in the Fiesta Bowl. Thanks for the post.

I'm reasonably certain that replacing 21 of 22 of the players who started in the 2023-24 champ game meets the definition of: "Rebuild."

We'll find out on Thursday evening. Until then, rumor, innuendo, gossip, and head fakes are the name of the draft game. I continue to believe that Bo is a great fit for the Broncos at 12, with McCarthy going at 11 to the Vikings. I don't see the Vikings trading up with the Chargers for a QB at No. 5 who is likely to be on the board at 11. There is a lot of mock draft late-in-the-game love for Penix.

The ACC and the B12 will get their champion in and the champion will have a bye. But I don't think these 2 are certain of placing two teams in the field. The B12 does not have a team with a Blue Chip Roster and appears to have parity through the top half dozen or so. The ACC? NC State plays Tennessee in Week 2 which should be a good indication of the ACC's depth. FSU and Louisville play Notre Dame in South Bend. Clemson opens against UGA in Atlanta and will be on the road against FSU. Miami opens at Florida and I think the Gators will win this game. I think the SEC in particular and perhaps the B1G have a shot to place 4 teams in the field; especially the SEC playing 8 conference games this season and next. With its schedule, Missouri will likely finish 10-2 if not better. UGA, Bama, Ole Miss, Texas, Tennessee, and LSU all have a shot of being in the playoff hunt. In the B1G, Ohio State, Oregon, and Penn State have a good chance of being in the Delightful Dozen with Michigan, USC, and Iowa TBD. I do not believe the committee will in any respect try to 'balance the field' among the Power 4. If the SEC and/or the B1G see any kind of manipulation to limit the number of Power 2 teams there will not be a committee come 2026.

EXACTLY! The Beavers play Purdue, Oregon (SIGH), and Cal from the Power 4. All other games are against G5 opponents and the Pac-2 cannot play for a MW conference title. The Beavers could go 11-1, OSU will not defeat Oregon, run the MW table, and will not be valued above a 9-3 B1G or SEC team. Unless John Canzano is on the committee, OSU and WSU have ZERO chances of making the playoff. They chose this path to steal money from morons for the next two years.

Instead, they are paying millions (of 'Our Money') to the MW for game inventory and have agreed to pay the MW $10M for every team they poach from the MW. “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people (except for Pac-10 presidents) all of the time.” ― Abraham Lincoln

Thanks for all you do to provide a great site for OBD members.

I think we will see NFL-Lite. An NFC = SEC and ESPN, and the AFC, = the B1G, and Fox. Power 2 member universities will be the employer and 'management' for negotiating purposes with the players' union that will be associated with the NFL union. There will be restrictions on total salaries, but not NIL, restrictions on transfers, and quite possibly a high school draft with a wage scale of some form. Without having to recruit and without having the roster headaches we see in CFB today, CFB coaches' salaries will deflate. With this structure, the Power 2 conferences will have a chance for Congress to provide the same antitrust protection and protection against other differing state legislation and state and federal regulators. Federal legislation will also provide the approach the Power 2 will have to take regarding Title XI. Will Men's basketball be NBA lite? The NCAA puts on one heck of a CBB tournament every season that is a money maker. But what union will CBB players/employees have available to them if not the NBA union? Dartmouth men's basketball players voted to join the Service Employees Union (SEU). The majority of SEU members do not play college basketball. Whether the athletes will have to be student-athletes I haven't a clue. However, I am certain that Oregon will not be left behind no matter how these issues are decided.

Good take. I do think that Freeze at Auburn will improve the Tigers's play. He is doing a good job of recruiting and picking from the transfer portal. But QB in 2024 will again be an issue. I'm a bit confused (no surprise.) If you are referring to Georgia, Georgia does not play LSU and Missouri in 2024-25. Preseason top 25 teams on the Dawgs' schedule are Clemson in Atlanta, Tennessee at home. Bama, Ole Miss, Texas, and possibly Kentucky on the road. Bama will be preseason ranked in the top 10. Bama plays UGA and Missouri at home, Tennessee, LSU, and Oklahoma. on the road. Auburn in 2024 is a home game. I think that both Tennessee and Alabama will contend for a playoff berth. Especially, playing only eight conference games. Tennessee's 'B12 offense' is no longer an anomaly in an SEC that these days features many a shootout. Heupel is another coach who is recruiting very well and looks to have a very good QB in Nico Iamaleva, from Long Beach, CA, for the next two seasons. The Vols miss Texas, LSU, and Missouri in the next two seasons. Texas? Loses a lot of talent. Will young players and transfers come through at DL, WR, and RB? Will last year's close wins in the B12 be losses in the SEC? I'm very interested to see how Texas plays on the road at Michigan, Arkansas, and A+M and in Austin vs. Georgia and in Dallas vs Oklahoma. I'm not sold on Sark having the chops to win a Natty at Texas. IMO he abandoned the run game far too soon vs UW in the semifinal. Mizzou due to a lightweight OOC schedule and the easiest conference schedule does have a shot at making the playoffs.

The favorites for his services are Memphis, USF, and UCF. I don't believe Oregon is in the mix. Fine with me. McClain was a flake in high school and at CU.

The NCAA is a non-profit organization with a membership of 1,118 schools. 363 D1, 313 D2, and 442 D3. None of the D3 programs provide athletic scholarships and do not send athletes, except on very rare occasions, into professional sports. The NCAA as constituted is not capable of managing a pay-for-play system and I do not believe its charter and federal tax status would allow the NCAA to form a union. The B1G and the SEC, the Power 2, are the most likely conferences to control the money ball sports, litigation, etc. Follow the money. To bargain 'management' must be defined. Oregon will be part of management; Linfield College will not. Other than for eligibility standards and the approval of post-season events the NCAA has been neutered when it comes to regulating the money ball and other sports.

A lengthy but thorough article tapping into the state of the college football (CFB) game regarding the playoff, litigation, and where the money is going. The B1G and the SEC continue to distance themselves from the rest of CFB. With the Power 2 conferences bringing the majority of the playoff money the gap will widen. Want to keep up to date in the world of college sports? This article is a must-read! The proposed Super League has no appeal whatsoever for the B1G, SEC, ESPN, and Fox and was dead on arrival. The B1G and the SEC are a Super League, with each conference expected to expand to 20 to 24 teams without an equal distribution among conference members. Teams will 'eat what they kill.' Teams with more invested in the Money Ball sports will see a bigger return on the investment than teams that are unwilling or unable to invest the same amounts. Teams most likely will agree to employer status which will winnow out more of the lesser programs. In other words, the business of CFB will be run like a business and not a collective. How the new College Football Playoff format came to be and what it means for the sport's future SPORTS.YAHOO.COM "The rich are getting richer, and the poor get poorer." A look inside the heated negotiations over the latest CFP deal, and the unstable landscape that lies ahead. The rich are getting richer. It is so nice to be B1G.

2024 NFL Draft: Our favorite NFL Draft odds for the first round SATURDAYTRADITION.COM 2024 NFL Draft action is right around the corner with the first round set for Thursday night!

A private equity firm has signed an NIL agreement with FSU. https://athlonsports.com/college/florida-state-seminoles/nole-gameday/football/florida-state-and-the-brandr-group-launch-group-licensing-for-student-athletes-

Others are noticing Prime Time's lack of concern over the transfers out of Boulder; me thinks he doth protest too much. Yesterday, he did sign a quality edge rusher from Pitt. https://athlonsports.com/college-football/deion-sanders-has-classless-message-for-colorado-players-leaving-program https://athlonsports.com/college-football/deion-sanders-takes-shot-at-cfb-coach-who-criticized-him-last-season

College Football News has Bo going 11 to the Vikings. https://collegefootballnews.com/news/nfl-mock-draft-2024-first-round-where-will-the-quarterbacks-go

2024 NFL Draft: Top 32 prospects overall based on their college football careers - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM These players shined on the college gridiron prior to going through the NFL Draft process Nice photo of our good buddy, right? What's the Over/Under on Penix preceding Bo in the draft?