Jon Joseph

Thank you, Jordan, for another great package to open on Christmas Morning! Did Santa leave us some great games or what!🤩 Beat the Bobcats! B1G - 6-0 is a great B1G start! 😋

It's obvious that you have never been Cow-Tipping in Omaha. 😁

2026 OBD opens against Boise in Autzen. (Rob needs to read the: You never ever never schedule Boise State! memo.) Next week, off to Stillwater. I still can't figure out why? One thing I noticed last night was the Florida heat and humidity wearing down the Broncos. It was hot in Boise during August, but without the strength-sapping humidity.

I see OBD as a Dark Duck contender. 😁 Yardbarker3 Reasons Why Oregon Ducks are Dark Horse National Title...The No. 7 Oregon Ducks team have a lot of expectations coming into the season, but the Ducks have also been excluded from preseason conversations surrounding the national title race.

Never discount the Shucking Power beaming from a Hope Diamond-sized engagement ring. Rumor has it that Swifty left early to beat the traffic, leading to a late miracle INT. 😁 Cincinnati will not be a B12 bottom feeder in 2025. Especially, with Don Corleone on the Bearcats defense. Cincy makes the list of CFB guru Phil Steele's 2025 (pleasant) Surprise Teams. CFB fans overreacting to an opening game? Never happens, right 🤪? However, until proven otherwise, all of the above questions and criticisms of Nebraska should be The Rhule. AP NewsTravis Kelce and Taylor Swift attend Nebraska-Cincinnati...Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift have made their first public appearance since announcing their engagement.

Ducks - 38-13 Bobcats - 2 TOs Sacks - 4 Pass Yds - 250

Thanks, Darren, terrific article on the cusp of the 2025 kickoff. Dan's three-year record in Eugene is not dissimilar to Kirby Smart's at Georgia. It took Kirby six seasons and top recruiting classes season after season, and a couple of heartbreaking PO losses before UGA captured in 1st title in over 40 years. Oregon set NFL draft records for the number of players drafted in 2024; from 2021 through 2025, thirty Georgia Dawg D-players were drafted. The Jimmies and Joes have and always will matter. Dan's opening game spanking at the hands of Kirby and the first game of 2025 hurt, no doubt. But so did some guy named Tua coming off the bench for Bama, and after taking a sack, making a terrific throw into the end zone for a walk-off Natty and depression for the Dawgs. As Kirby said after the opening Ducks dusting, 'Dan knows we have better players.' You also need luck on the way to a title. Dyer's knee was down. The PO seeding last season was so egregious, even conferences that benefited, like the Mountain West and B12, voted to go to straight seeding in 2025-26. You lose a conference champ game and benefit from the loss? That's some bad ju-ju. Before UGA blew out TCU on the way to a title, Ohio State, behind the receiving wizardry of Marv Harrison, was lighting up the Georgia D. Marv went down on a play where the Georgia DB could have been called for targeting, and Georgia gutted out a close win, leaving Ryan Day to be criticized for not winning the big games. Dan's winning percentage of 81.5% has him in fifth place behind the '4-losses to Michigan - Fire the Guy!, No. 1 winner at 87.5%, Ryan Day. All good points made regarding Dan and the Ducks in the article, no doubt. Perhaps with the easiest schedule the Ducks have from 2024 through 2028, Oregon, with four returning starters, will win it all? If so, it would be a Herculean accomplishment. Thanks again for another terrific article. Let's start 1-0 with a bagging of Bobcats!

Four B1G games to date, two one-score games. If you are going to schedule an opening victory, be certain to bake enough cups into the cake. Ohio U - 2024 MAC Champ. Miami-Ohio 2024 MAC runner-up. Buffalo Bulls - MAC 3rd place, 9-4 in 2024. Cincinnati, a Phil Steele surprise contender for the B12 title this season. Hats off to the MAC teams. With NIL, largely unregulated 'college free agency,' and little or no control over tampering, it's a credit to these G5 teams and their coaches to go down swinging, if they go down. A long way to go in a too-short season, but I think Wisconsin and Minnesota, even though both looked to be improved on defense, will have a tough time winning in Autzen, and the same for Rutgers on the road. Rutgers went 5 for 5 on 4th down tries. Good news for Schiano's O but the D was swiss cheese in the 2nd half. Bob the Cats!

3-0 versus the MAC, but close to a couple of B1G heart attacks. Rutgers 34 - Ohio 31 - After Rutgers led 31-17. Minnesota 23 - Buffalo - 10 - Good first start for Gophers QB Drake Lindsey Wisconsin 17 - Miami (Ohio) - 0 - Transfer starting QB Billy Edwards injured, leaves game in 2nd quarter. The Badgers lost starter Tyler VanDyke in the first quarter of the opening game last season.😧 1-0 vs the P4 - B12 Nebraska 20 - Cincinnati 17 - In FG range with an excellent chance to send the game into OT, Cincy QB takes a shot at a TD, and the pass is intercepted in the end zone to give the Huskers a win. Wins are Wins, but Thursday night was a very shaky opening for the Big Ten. It could have been worse, ask the No. 25 G5 PO favorite, Boise. The Broncos traveled to Tampa and walked the plank in Buccaneers Stadium. South Florida 34 - Boise State 7 I'm pretty sure Boise will not be in the next AP Poll Top 25. Week 3, USF travels to Miami to play the Canes. Hmmm?

A Southeast-centric 2026 mock draft that has Matayo U, Kenyon Sadiq, and Isiah World going in the 1st round. Clemson - weren't the 3 projected 1st-rounders on a defense last season that SMU and Texas torched? Miami - with all of this 1st round talent (?) Mari-oh-oh is running out of excuses? Ditto for Auburn's Hugh Freeze. 😁 Indiana QB Mendoza going No. 1, well above the Mendoza Line, may not pan out, but he is one of the reasons I think this season's Indiana could be ... Indiana? Likely Ls in Autzen and at Penn State, but 10-2 is doable. But will the more than manageable OOC schedule derail this season's Hoosiers? https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/news/2026-nfl-mock-draft-preseason-edition-includes-5-qbs-taken-in-first-round-including-a-big-surprise-at-no-1/?ftag=SNL-04-10aaa0b&ET_CID=470217&ET_RID=52482716

DUH! One more SEC conference game = one more loss I can't schedule my way out of. I wonder if Arkansas coach Sam Pittman teaches math on the side? 😁 Thanks, coach, for an insight into the obvious. There goes the Bowl Bonus 🤑 On3Sam Pittman blasts SEC over changing to nine-game confere....

On the mike in Autzen for the Big Ten Network - Announcer - Jeff Levering - Graduate of Chapman College, where he played baseball for four seasons. Lead announcer for Bally Sports coverage of the Milwaukee Brewers. Worked with the famous Bob Uecker on Brewers radio broadcasts. (Other than this, I know nothing of Jeff.) Analyst - Michigan AA TE Jake Butt, whose NFL career did not go as expected due to multiple ACL tears. Announcers for Week One's Slate of B1G games: (Gus, please leave on the next bus out of town, hopefully replaced by someone who is not a screaming clown. 🤪) On3Week 1 Announcer Schedule: Broadcasters for Texas vs. Ohi....

I don't want to upset Nevada Dawg, but could Kenyon Sadiq be another Brock Bowers? And will the O-line be prepared to play together from the get-go, ready to keep Dante upright and to open holes for the RBs? Let's get it on!

The Maryland (!) AD with inside information? If this were coming out of Columbus or Ann Arbor, I'd have more buy-in. How about 24, all Newbies are AAU members - Notre Dame, only when the ACC implodes and ND loses the ACC scheduling agreement, ASU, Kansas, UVA, UNC, and Duke. Eat What You Kill. Winners keep the Moneyball postseason money that they win. Eyes on the Prize. Revenue is distributed based on the number of folks tuning in to watch your games, including postseason games. Four 6-team divisions. West - OBD, UW, UCLA, USC, ASU, and the farthest west Central time zone team, Kansas. Central - Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Northwestern. Mid-East - Indiana, Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Rutgers. East - Penn State, Notre Dame, Duke, UNC, Maryland, and UVA. Rutgers fits in the East, but is placed in the Mid-East, and ND in the East for competitive balance. WAG ALERT! Swallow this along with a B1G serving of crab cakes.

I don't know, I've yet to see Bill starring in an ad for Viagra. 😁 If it is true, I'd advise Billy Bob to insist on a paternity test. 🙃

Josh Pate's B1G Shot has OBD winning 11 games and going over 9.5 wins. PSU, also with 11 wins, and 10-win Ohio State and Nebraska (?), joins OBD in the PO. Pate has SC going 9-3, 8-4 for Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and UW. 13 B1G teams finish bowl eligible. No bowl for Wisconsin, Maryland, UCLA, NW, and Purdue. On3Predicting the record for every Big Ten team in 2025.

The year of my birth in February. Why can't I remeber this game 🤬!

Thanks, NJ. Tears are going to flow in Columbus as a nonagenarian CFB institution hangs it up. In 1962, Maryland HC Lee Corso convinced Darryl Hill to transfer from the Naval Academy and play for the Terps. Hill was the first Black athlete to play at Maryland and in the Atlantic Coast Conference. A shining and underappreciated act by Coach Corso. On the other hand, when Lee, 'The Sunshine Scooter,' and Bert Reynolds were teammates at Florida State, Reynolds was injured, and in Bert's downtime, he took acting lessons. Corso was the first of many teammates to tell Reynolds not to waste his time trying to make it as an actor. Far from $age $tage advice.😁 The one college football guy who made me feel like a pup is exiting Stage Columbus, where the Hat Dance started in 1996. One of the best guys who ever suited up for ESPN. On Saturday, I hope he doesn't go Headdress Horny, Just Sayin. 😊

Thank you, Mike West! Fortunately, Adventure Gamers didn't rock your pods beyond your skilled ability to discuss loopholes in Lupio's schemes. The Ohio State O plodded along against Michigan, and a reliable FG kicker missing two attempts he usually made, sealed the Buckeyes' 4th loss in a row to TSUN. The players had a meeting, including Ryan Day and no other coaches, to air things out. As Tennessee and, sigh, OBD can attest, it looked like the message sent to Ryan and Chip was, Get the Playmakers the Damn Ball in Space! Open it up! No more 'typical Big Ten, Nebraska, and Michigan-like games.' I think the same plan was in place against Texas in the Cotton Bowl, but DC Pete Kwiatkowski, after his D was lit up at home by Cade Klubnik and Clemson, was prepared and shut down Jeremy Smith and the Ohio O for most of the game, aided and abetted by TOSU's 9 penalties on offense. Saturday's match-up between DC Pete K and OC Brian Hartline should be fascinating. The above is my too-long way of saying that even with all the talent brought in by Day and friends to Columbus, it wasn't until Day's 6th season and DC Jim Knowles' 3rd season that the talent was assembled to overcome an embarrassing loss and win a national championship. It was not only Chip who learned during the 2024 season; in the Rose Bowl, Knowles shut down Stein's O until the game was out of reach. A healthy Evan Stewart would have helped OBD's cause, but it's not often a tree can stop a buzz saw. I am thankful that other Forum members and I have X&O gurus like you and Charles to see and describe details that I cannot. But one thing was painfully obvious in the postseason: the Texas D-backs were superior to Lupoi's D-backs in size and skill. Oregon's guys played hard on both sides of the ball and never quit, but Ohio State clearly had the deeper, more talented roster. Coaching matters, but over a three or four-game postseason, the best football coaches need the best football players to win the ultimate prize. One upset? Doable. But three or four in a row? I hope Tosh 'gets it' this season. The talent is there, but it is inexperienced and hopefully will gel in the first four games of the season when OBD will have a clear roster advantage before matching up with Penn State. Thanks again, Mike, and Tosh, please start the season off by caroling a bunch of Cats!

When you are lying down, can you take a knee?

Give Mario a break. What other coach could have kept Stony Brook in a game vs. OBD? 😀

Why be on the sideline for a loss to the Domers? It wasn't my fault! 😒I was stuck in traffic! When the Gators come calling, be prepared for a Mario Amber Alert.

Fired? No way. Despite the yo-yo travel schedule the B1G handed UW in 2025, UW does have seven home games. UW has won 20 consecutive home games, the longest streak in UW history. Considering the attrition from the coaching staff on down, getting UW to bowl eligibility last season was a great coaching effort. Now, he has his QB, Demond Williams, who was tough as nails when under siege by the OBD's D last season, ready to play ball from the start. I think UW will win one of its home games against No. 3 Ohio State, No. 12 Illinois, and No. 7 OBD. UW is a PO sleeper. Road games at Wazzu, Maryland, Wisconsin, UCLA, and even in Ann Arbor vs. Michigan are winnable. UW, on paper, has the starting QB advantage in all of these road games. Jedd Fisch is a quality coach hired late and dealt a hand that had two starters from 2023's champ runner-up team returning. The 7.5 win over/under, except for one sportsbook, is a minus bet, meaning the wise guys expect UW to cover. Do not sell this guy and UW at home short. This is likely to be one of OBD's toughest games on this season's schedule, coming off an emotional home game against USC.

Great take. What's the Over/Under on the Pre-Nup from Swifty's side being longer than War & Peace? Next up, Billy Belichick. No babies, but a Bigicheck for the Chick. Fortunately, North Carolina allows its citizens to marry teenagers. What's that, she's 24? My bad, I thought Billy Bob was robbing the cradle? 67-year-old Madonna is a slacker; her guy is 29! It's Only a Movie! 🤑🤪

College Football News predicts will cover Bob's Cats, 44-13. https://collegefootballnews.com/college-football/oregon-vs-montana-state-prediction-game-preview-betting-lines-2025