Jon Joseph

Notre Dame is going to go the way of its Independent Life Support System ACC. When the ACC craters, ND's independence hopefully goes along with it. By the way, Coach, how did playing 4 G5 opponents work out for you in 2024? That Northern Illinois team was a real witch, right?

Son, didn't I already recruit you? AP NewsCoaches race to master art of retention amid NIL, revenue...College coaches are racing to master retention as revenue sharing and NIL opportunities steer athletes toward the transfer portal.

The Gators have a brutal schedule, once again. I noted going into last season that the SEC could be PO way laid by the schedules handed to the top teams. Compared to Florida, Oklahoma, and Georgia, the SEC welcomed Texas with open arms, and the Horns, Tennessee, and Mizzou had relatively easy slates compared to Florida. And we're doing this again? What in the world is the AD who arranged the Gators' schedule trying to prove? Being the King of Florida, don't forget a win over South Florida might help a high school recruit choose Florida over FSU and Miami, but how much so in today's world of pay-for-play? In a CFB world where a team has to play 16 or 17 games to play for a championship, what sense does it make to load up OOC? Especially with a selection committee that seems to count Ws and Ls, and that's it. Florida would be better off playing Vandy in a ninth conference game than playing at Miami. But schedule disparity is not unique to the SEC. There are sites that rank Wisconsin with the toughest schedule in 2025. Conversely, there's Michigan with a tough road game at Oklahoma, but with a conference schedule against opponents that went 27-54 in 2024. The in-conference SOS disparity is the reason why I think Petitti's AQ formula makes sense. At the end of the regular season slate, the first and second teams in the standings are going to the PO, notwithstanding the winner of the championship game. How do you parse teams three through six when No. 3 had an easy conference schedule and the No. 6 team's schedule was brutal? Settle it on the field. More fans would have skin in the game late into the season, the play-in games, and the champ game would be the 12th conference game, ending the season a week earlier, and the PO could end a week earlier. And at a time when athletic departments need the money, there would be more media money paid for three meaningful end-of-the-regular-season games. I don't understand why Sankey moved away from the AQ PO Model, which is leaving money off the SEC table? An extra at-large PO spot or two is two birds in the bush. A 9th conference game, and a model that includes PO play-in games, is a bird with benefits in the hand. Plus, with the AQ model, you are not trusting a committee that does its business in the dark with deciding on the top 4 teams from the conference. Was Tennessee the third-best team in the SEC last season, or a team that benefited from a by comparison easy schedule? I know I would have tuned in to watch Tennessee versus Ole Miss and South Carolina versus Bama. Good luck to the Gators in 2025. I'm hoping we'll see payback when Texas visits The Swamp.

Will Michigan and others break on through to the other side in 2025? Will ASU and others maintain excellence? In the conference, Michigan has one of the easier schedules. In 2024, the B1G teams the Wolverines play this season went 27 and 54. 🤣 No less, no (Sherrone) Moore. ESPN.comWhich teams take the next step in 2025? We have 11 candid...FSU has nowhere to go but up, Michigan can get way better, and Arizona State is building on its CFP berth. Which other teams are primed for bigger things in 2025?

Terrific take. In 2025-26, I want the Ducks to play 16 or 17 games. Whatever it takes to get to the champ game.

CBS ranks the 2025 SEC SOS - https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/sec-strength-of-schedule-rankings-2025-georgia-catches-favorable-draw-oklahoma-staring-down-rough-road/ SEC teams predicted 1st loss - Saturday Down SouthPredicting every SEC team’s first loss in 2025No one made it through the SEC unscathed during the 2024 season. Here’s where each program will stumble first in 2025.

Luke Altmyer deserved a higher ranking. He won 10 games last season. to date, Sayin has won Zip. Writing IlliniLuke Altmyer keeps building his Illinois football legendHonestly, you can count the number of legendary Illinois football quarterbacks on one hand, that is how few and far between they have been. As the Illini enter

Look at the SEC OOC slates. Cig was spot on. Indiana plays 3 cupcakes OOC, but the majority of SEC teams do the same. Unless you count Washington State as a P4 team, Ole Miss plays four non-conference games, all at home. 3 SEC teams play 10 P4 games in 2025. 13 B1G teams play 10. No doubt Georgia, Oklahoma, and Florida have brutal in-conference schedules. Not so with Tennessee, Ole Miss, and M1zzou. The tough schedules do not translate up and down the entire SEC conference. The point Cignetti tried, and IMO did make to anyone who passed math in elementary school, is that with nine conference games, half of the conference cannot schedule its way out of an additional loss. Petitti's point, with a committee that conducts its business in the dark and seemingly focuses on losses rather than the quality of teams you lost to, is one reason we need AQs. Greg Sankey wants to remain at eight conference games, but in the process of promoting the 5-11 format and staying at eight, he also noted the SEC wants to see significant changes to the selection process. I guess Rhett Lashlee didn't like Pawalll taking him behind the woodshed, even though he was correct: Since 1964, six SEC programs have won football championships. In this period, Bama won fifteen. Facts are stubborn things. John Adams

Sweet Home Autzen, Where the Skies are Always Blue. CFB-HQ On SICollege football's best home teams the last 3 years, rankedHome field advantage has been just that, an advantage, for teams in just about any sport, but when looking over how college football teams perform at home vs. o

A few 'First Loss' nuggets. In 2025, no B1G team will go undefeated. The author has the B1G going 0-3 versus the SEC. 🤬 Ohio State is 8-0 in its last eight games versus Penn State. Ohio State hands Minnesota, Penn State, and UW their 1st loss of the season. OBD hands Indiana its first loss of the season. 😎 The CFB world is well aware of James Franklin's little-game record versus top teams, but Matt Ruhle's 0-16 in his last 16 games against ranked teams is also noteworthy. Indiana defeats Illinois in a B1G 'PO Play-in game.' Let's Play Ball!

Saturday Tradition likes the Illini's PO chances. Saturday TraditionIllinois football: Will Illini make College Football Play...Illinois has reloaded with a mass of returning production and is hoping it helps pay off in a trip to the College Football Playoff.

There's No Question About It. B1G coaches ticked off SEC folks B1G Time. 😁 Saturday Down SouthThe SEC's top 5 enemies for 2025Who are the people/teams/conferences that the SEC is in battle with in 2025? These 5 fit that description.

Michigan is knocking on wood, hoping that Underwood has 'IT.' https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/freshman-phenom-bryce-underwood-already-has-all-the-tools-but-michigan-qb-battle-wont-be-won-on-paper/

SI is top 25 high on the Trojans. SISports Illustrated’s College Football Preseason Top 25: N...The first foray into the Big Ten did not go as planned, but the Trojans are hoping a ton of off-field changes will help get the program back on track.

This ranking includes out-of-conference (OOC) games. Penn State has its starting QB and many other starters back, a joke of an OOC schedule, and one of the easiest in-conference schedules. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/big-ten-strength-of-schedule-rankings-2025-favorite-ohio-state-faces-tough-climb-purdue-cant-catch-a-break/ OBD loses at Penn State! I pity this fool 🤬 who does not know that the Power of the Forum Fanatics will Black-Out the White Out. 😎 https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/2025-big-ten-football-schedule-breakdown-predicting-the-first-loss-for-all-16-conference-teams/

ND, spot on. This could be called the Season of the Roster Turnover in an era where more players graduated from college last season than ever before—one benefit of the players being paid. In 2025, Georgia has a schedule that supports Sankey's argument that 8 is enough. Home against Alabama, Ole Miss, and Texas. Road games at Tennessee, Auburn, and Georgia Tech, and the Cocktail Party versus what should be an improved Gators team. Mercy! Gunner Stockton, like Dante Moore, Julian Sayin, Bryce Underwood, Ty Simpson, Austin Simmons, and yes, even Archie, will be one of the new starters under the spotlight. No pressure, right? All the best to Kirby and the Dawgs in 2025.

Don't Hit the Road Jack! Illinois has the fewest B1G miles to travel in 2025. The Illini's 2025 season success will be decided early on. Week 2 at Duke, Week 4 at Indiana. Week 5 against USC. Win these games, and 11-1 is doable. Writing IlliniNew metric will have Illinois fresh for a run at the Coll...In a recent episode of The Big Ten Huddle, I released the 2025 Big Ten football travel rankings, which revealed a golden opportunity for the Illinois football p

It's so good to see Pawalll staying in his own lane (not Kiffin).😁 Did Linc steal his lunch money? https://trojanswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/trojans/football/2025/07/27/paul-finebaum-rips-usc-football-lincoln-riley/85333794007/?utm_source=smg-trojanswire-strada&utm_medium=email&utm_campaig

According to Canzano, the B1G Media Days statements from the coaches and the ADs were all 'scripted.' Of course, this wasn't the case in the ACC, B12, and the SEC, where everyone supported a 5-11 format on their own volition, right? As to 8 versus 9 conference games, before the SEC get together, Brian Kelly spoke out in favor of nine games and a B1G/SEC football challenge. You did not hear this from Brian in Atlanta. The reporting on a new PO format, including Canzano's takes, has been big-time biased and not in favor of the B1G. Sankey and other SEC honks, complaining about not wanting the SEC to be limited to 4 PO spots, is horse hockey! Look at the top 16 in the committee's 2024 final and decisive poll, the SEC would have had 4 AQs and 2 at-large teams in a B1G-format 16-team PO field. The B12's Brett Yormark wants a 5-11 format if the ACC and the SEC play nine conference games. How often have you seen this reported? Petitti has said that the B1G will seriously consider the 5-11 format if everyone plays nine conference games and the committee process is changed to be far more objective. Tony Petitti will not be humiliated and hounded into changing the B1G's preferred PO format. Hats off to Tony! Terrific comments from Rob, who has been in the arena. Franklin was spot on, including calling out Notre Dame. Every PO contender should be in a conference, playing the same number of conference games, and either all contenders play a conference champ game if they so qualify, or no one plays a conference champ game. Coming into the semifinal game against Notre Dame, Penn State had played 15 games, 12 versus P4 opponents, 13 if PO contender Boise State counts as a quality opponent. Notre Dame had played 14 games, 10 against P4 opponents. Unlike Notre Dame, in 2024 Penn State could not schedule four G5 opponents. Having everyone play the same number of conference games is not radical; it's the norm.

Thanks for the post, Smitty. I read this and LOL'd. These rankings make as much sense as having Arch Manning, with wins over Mississippi State and two G5 teams, leading the Heisman Trophy pack. Julian Sayin 2nd? Why? Because he signed with Bama before transferring to Ohio State. Because he looked good, not great, in the spring game, while missing throws to outstanding WRs. The player with the most B1G success on the list is Luke Altmyer, a 5th-year senior who led the Illini to 10 wins in 2024-25, including a win against 'they should have made the PO!' South Carolina. Nico I-Man led Tennessee to the playoffs last season. Riola won 7 games, including a bowl win. Ditto the 'Greek Rifle' at Rutgers. Mendoza has a lot of experience, and pro scouts love his potential, but there's no way he should be ahead of Altmyer. Underwood is 17 years old and, like Sayin, he has yet to start a college game. Dante Moore has 4x the starting experience of these two. I grew up in Massachusetts, but in this case, I could have come from Missouri: Show Me!

Terrific topic to ponder. I'll Duck out and go with what Dan Lanning would likely say: One game at a time, and they are all tough games.

Indiana is a home game coming off a bye after playing at Penn State. Were you thinking of the away game at Iowa? It's easy to confuse teams in a conference with 4 Ms, 3 Is, 2 Ns, Os, Ps. Us, Ws, and an R.😁

Lincoln, you're No. 1 on the list, buddy. IMO, Michigan, with its schedule in 2025, should not be on this list. Saturday BlitzThese 3 Big Ten teams will be the biggest disappointments...During the Summer months, hope springs for College Football programs as almost every fan base can talk themselves into the chance that they can go on a run for

SHOUT! Saturday BlitzThese are the most electric crowd hype songs in college f...Few things in sports match the energy of a packed college football stadium when the right song hits. While fight songs are the most traditional, some of the in-

The Schedule's So Bright I Just Gotta Wear 😍 Saturday BlitzOregon’s path to the College Football Playoff looks wide...Moving to a new Conference with tougher opponents, which requires you to play half of the season in a different time zone and climate, is a massive hurdle to ov