Jon Joseph

After Portal Picking and Portal Tampering are done, CBS Sports projects the 2026-27 college football (CFB) playoff (PO) field as follows: ... December 30, 2026 - Fiesta Bowl - 2 Notre Dame vs. the winner of 10 Texas A+M at 7 Oregon ... January 1, 2027 - Peach Bowl - 1 Miami vs. the winner of 9 LSU at 8 Ohio State Rose Bowl - 4 Indiana vs. the winner of 12 Michigan vs. 5 Texas Tech Sugar Bowl - 3 Texas vs. the winner of 11 Memphis at 6 Georgia .... Looks like the experts are giving us back-to-back preseason wagering gold mines. The AP Poll 2025 expert pollsters' top 4 ... Texas No. 1 - In 2025, my betting buddies and I questioned whether Archie was the 3rd coming of the Manning family. Good question. Penn State No. 2. - Did anyone else notice that James Franklin's record against top competition matched this ranking? We did. Ohio State No. 3 - One of the B1G's three PO teams in 2025-26. TOSU went 0-1, OBD 2-1, and Indiana 3-0. We wondered why the Buckeyes, after a long layoff was favored over Miami, and put our money where our wondering was. Clemson No. 4 - This ranking matched the number of losses Clemson suffered in 2024, and the same guys who lost four were coming back. $$$ ... With the above in mind. No. 1 Miami and No. 2 Notre Dame - Yes, Notre Dame has to weather the Hurricanes blowing into South Bend and the trip West to Provo, not LA, but when the next toughest challenge is Navy in Gillette Stadium or SMU at home? ... Before the visit to Notre Dame, Miami has a brutal opening. On the road at Stanford, Florida (A&M), at Wake Forest, and Central Michigan, before traveling to Clemson, South Carolina. ... Really? A roll of Charmin is tougher than the spit these two are playing. ... No. 3 Texas - Sark's still The Man on the Forty Acres, right? Frankly, this reminds us of James. Texas is -2.5 when the Buckeyes arrive. We expect No. 8 Ohio State to Buck(eyes) the Longhorns and bring home the Money Line +108. No. 8? Brutal schedule, but this is Ohio State, a team that filled holes out of the portal. No. 8 in the nation has CBSSN behind the prediction 8-Ball. ... No. 4 Indiana - Yes, Indiana has to host Ohio State and USC, and travels to Michigan and UW, but the B1G champ being ranked 4th? Cig will probably smoke us again, but over 10.5 was right on our Mendoza line, but we went Over. No. 11 Memphis ranked ahead of 12 Michigan? If only we could find a line to bet against this? ... No. 6 Georgia? Six? As it so deserves, even with nine conference games, the Dawgs have an easier slate then it played the last two seasons. And Georgia still has the best coach in the SEC, Kirby (He So) Smart. Over 9.5 is a lay-up. ... No. 7 OREGON - We're down with the over 10.5, but with the schedule, it's Moore of a Danno dare; however, Bring It On! ... No. 5 Texas Tech has addressed both sides of the ball in this season's spending spree, and there isn't a B12 roster that comes close, by golly, in the home of Buddy Holly. 8.5 wins? Come On In! ... No. 10 A+M? In 2026, the Aggies will play SEC teams other than Texas that will finish with a winning record. But an Over/Under 7.5? We're down. ... No. 9 LSU? The Bengal Bayous will likely cover 8.5. How about 9-3? Up to you. We want nothing to do with Lame Kitten. ... Money is not evil; the love of money is evil. Not comfortable putting hard-earned dollars down, a gaming fantasy league with the earnings having a bought-for-winner dinner is a lot of fun

And when it comes to The Strength of Schedule, the B1G isn't backing down. Example: Compare Georgia's 2026 conference schedule with Ohio State's. The SEC is a Gauntlet Like No Other, right? https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2026/02/03/big-ten-2026-schedule-must-see-games-sec-college-football-tv-ratings-war/88480976007/?utm_source=usatoday-sports-strada&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=usatbaseline&utm_t

Greta comment, Gat. But if the goal is to send the most teams to the postseason, and it is, why can't Sankey look at the final PO Committee rankings and see that under Tony Petitti's 16-team AQ PO format, the SEC would have had more teams in the mix? Sankey's OK with Notre Dame in if ranked No. 12 or higher, but not with Vanderbilt, and possibly Texas, being in the 2025-26 PO field? Ditto for the ACC's Jim Phillips and the B12's Brett Yormark. The ACC and the B12 would have had two, not one, teams in the field. Sankey, Phillips, and Yormark allowed two G6 programs to be in the field. Sense, meet Less.

At Kentucky (???), Will's off to a good start, filling the Stein with a fine brew of portal players. Notre Dame QB, CJ Carr, was in a tough battle for the starting job with Kenny Minchey, who flipped his 'commitment' from Nebraska to Kentucky. No dummy is Will. Without an adequate War Chest, Will wasn't leaving OBD. Bear Bryant won an SEC championship at Kentucky, so ...

Thank you, Charles, for another fantastic editing job. 👍👌❤️ No surprise with Smitty's comment being spot on. The B1G is no longer content with being No. 2 in football. In today's college football world, you can break the bank trying to win a title, but a group of people, starting with the head coach, have to meld the new players with the old and have them play as a cohesive unit. Have them play as a team and for one another, not just for the money. Mike Norvell has assembled terrific talent at FSU. In year one, the Seminoles went 13-0 before being scalped by the PO Committee. But the last two seasons? LSU was one of the biggest spenders in 2025, and things started so well with a win at Clemson's Death Valley. Coach Brian Kelly was fired before the end of the season. Under Lane Kiffin, LSU is spending more dough this season than any other program, and breaking its academic rules in the process. Jordan Seaton was allowed to enroll two weeks after the enrollment period ended. It's all good. Jordan's studying will occur in the football facilities, not in the classrooms. Kiffin, in job number three in the SEC, has a Natty grace period about as long as a gnat's life cycle. Everyone on the Bayou is hoping Lane wins it all. Everyone else, especially folks next door in Mississippi, is hoping Kiffen comes up lame. Saint Nick's coaching rehabilitation facility is no longer open. After rebounding at FAU, Lane may have to try his luck at FIU. Please! And Texas Tech is doing it again, with the understanding that both sides of the ball matter 😁. And there's a Hurricanes warning in Miami: Rules, we don't need no stinkin' rules. Don't try to Duke it out with us! Campbell, Chesney, Fitzgerald, and Whittingham are now on a B1Gger stage with a B1Gger bankroll; watch out!

Things are never dull in Dixie - "If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin". Other than the traffic court revolving door, I ain't includin' UGA. SISEC’s Latest Scandals Ask an Uncomfortable Question: Wher...The league’s commissioner has been notably absent during Ole Miss’s alleged tampering with a Clemson LB and Alabama pushing for eligibility for Charles Bediako.

BB led the Senior Bowl with ten tackles; the next closest player had five, and he broke up a pass attempt. He also proved that Tennessee players don't receive a terrific education, and/or they don't like helmets with feathers. The Vols player that BB ticked off pregame punched him three times squarely in the helmet. Brilliant! 🤪

WOW! So much for the attempt at Animal House humor. Perhaps you have to be 70+ long in the tooth to have watched the movie and get it? Or, perhaps, I'm long on age and short on Humor? 😁 Mea Culpa. OK, Forum Friends, I love Dylan flaunting today's fashionista flavor. I forgive the Cornhusker crud, and I hope his style of shades will be handed out before the Autzen crowd Shouts. But this doesn't mean you don't have to do your assigment people; this is my job!

CBS Sports B1G CFB Power Rankings. We're No. 3, and Poor Due is 18 - https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/big-ten-football-power-rankings-2026-indiana-ohio-state-oregon-transfer-portal/

Don't overlook Week 2 opponent Oklahoma State. There's a new sheriff in Stillwater with a new posse, including 17 North Texas Mean Greenies morphing into Cowboys. On3Transfer Portal: Most portal departures by schoolWith the transfer portal window officially closed, On3 is breaking down the most college football portal departures by school.

Top 25 teams top portal pick - Perich the thought of passing against the Ducks - On3Top impact transfer portal addition for each Way-Too-Earl...Rosters are set for the 2026 season. On3 is breaking down the top transfer portal addition for every Way-Too-Early top-25 program.

What's the timeline for losing The Valley Girl look? 🤮 You're a GD disgrace! What kind of team would recruit a man like you? Straighten those curls, lose those shades, and for OBD's sake, take off that GD Cornhusker crap!

Foxy Joel Klatt with a look at B1G mega-conference 2026 schedules. Thanks, Joel, for the insight into the obvious: the ACC, Big Ten, B12, and the SEC all have in-conference schedules with significant differences in degree of difficulty. This is one B1G reason the Power 4 should support Tony Petitti's 16-team, automatic-qualifier PO format. Ohio State, Michigan, and Northwestern have difficult schedules. Your friends at CBS Sports have OBD with the 3rd most difficult schedule - QUACK! CFB-HQ On SIJoel Klatt calls Big Ten’s 2026 college football schedule...Following the release of the Big Ten's 2026 college football schedules, Fox analyst Joel Klatt called the results "wildly imbalanced."

Thank you, Charles, for the in-depth look at OBD's new OC and DC. In Dan (except, perhaps, for the final game of the season plan 🤔), we trust. Two interesting hires. Other coaches Dan has hired have gone elsewhere for bigger jobs: Dilly, Will Stein, and Tosh. Why not move on up from within? Especially when both are excellent recruiters. The grass is damn green in Eugene. It will be interesting to compare these two promotions with Matt Campbell bringing in Penn State alum D'Anton Lynn as his DC and Riley's hiring of College Hall of Fame coach Gary Patterson to replace Lynn. I hope the promotions are validated and that Dan, Drew, Chris, and tens of thousands of Ducks fans will flock to Las Vegas for the title game on January 25, 2027.

CFN looks at the (was 'The' after 2024-25, but not in 2026 😁) Ohio State schedule - Many Vegas sportsbooks have tOSU odds-on to win the 2026-27 championship - https://collegefootballnews.com/college-football/ohio-state-football-2026-schedule-breakdown

The program with an entirely new roster, including a QB who led the nation in passing last season, that I am concerned about is Oklahoma State. North Texas played for an American Conference title last season, and 17 players, including 2025's leading passer with 4,379 yards passing, QB Mestermaker and his top receivers, are following coach Eric Morris to OK State. RB Caleb Hawkins led the nation last season with 25 rushing TDs. In Week 2 in Stillwater, OK., in front of a boisterous crowd, OBD will face a different team than last season's Gundy-led Cowboys team. OBD opens with Boise State, last season's MW champ. QB Madsen is back for another season, and Boise has been ranked in a few preseason polls. OBD's Week 3 game is against Portland State. I wish the Vikings were coming to Autzen for a Week 1 scrimmage. I'll take this opening threesome over Kiffin's triumvirate of Clemson, La Tech, and on the road at Ole Miss.

An Arctic Blast from the Past. When the puck was dropped in Beaver Stadium at 1 ET, with the wind chill factor, it was 8 degrees. 🤢 The HS where I played hockey now has a beautiful indoor rink. When I played, the rink was outdoors. It was a quarter-mile-plus walk back to the locker room. I learned that you should take a cold shower before a hot shower. The cold removed the icicles from your face without the stinging pain from a hot shower. Rookies had to learn this on their own, to the laughter of the older guys. 🤬 BTW, as is often said in Boston, "I've been married 20 years, but it feels like 30 with the wind chill factor." 😁 On Netflix tonight, you can catch the movie Miracle on Ice. A great take on the USA hockey team upsetting the Russians on the way to a Gold Medal in Lake Placid, NY, in 1980. Also, wax your boards. The lifts in South Carolina will be opening soon. 😶‍🌫️ It's a winter wonderland in Dixie.

Vegas Insider 2026 CFB Win Totals - Vegas takes everything into account with the focus on a team's schedule, home and away games, when games will be played, and the strength of the roster. At 10.5 wins, OBD, Ohio State, and Penn State tie for the Big Ten lead. At 9.5 wins, Georgia, LSU, and Texas top the SEC. ACC - Clemson and Miami (not Duke) are on top at 9.5. B12 - K State, ASU, and Texas Tech lead the conference at 8.5. (My betting group has placed a bet on Texas Tech going Over 8.5.) Be prudent. Never Bet the Rent! https://www.vegasinsider.com/college-football/odds/win-totals/

Make No Misstate - The Big Ten welcomes Matt Campbell to Penn State, not with a bowl of gumbo soup but with a bowl of cherries. https://collegefootballnews.com/college-football/penn-state-football-2026-schedule-breakdown This is a friendly welcome, better than the one Cig received at Indiana.

FWIW, CFN's take on OBD's schedule - https://collegefootballnews.com/college-football/oregon-football-2026-schedule-breakdown

Same SEC Stuff, Different Day - When AP Poll Pavlov's Dog Pollsters again have more than half of the SEC in their preseason top 25, what do you expect to happen? SEC sycophants will use the poll to promote the idea that SEC teams have to play a gauntlet like no other. 🤪 The B1G could win ten titles in a row and dominate the SEC in the bowl games, and it won't matter. And people wonder why Tony Petitti wants a PO with automatic qualifiers? SMH. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/big-tens-top-teams-tougher-2026-schedules-gauntlet/

A CBS Sports ranking of the 2026 Big Ten football schedules. Wisconsin at No. 1 (the easiest) flips from last season's most difficult schedule. Mega-conference schedules can and do vary significantly from season to season. Penn State has the 2nd-easiest schedule. I don't know if PSU's roster is still Blue Chip. I do know that PSU coach Matt Campbell has a nice, B1G welcome. In this ranking, No. 18 Ohio State has the most difficult slate of games. OBD is ranked 16th, the third most difficult schedule. The top 25 games are those against the CBS too-early ranking of the top 25. All preseason schedule rankings are a guesstimate. But any 'expert' who thinks OBD has it easy in 2026 is way off the mark. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/2026-big-ten-football-schedule-rankings-easiest-toughest/

CBS Sports ranks the schedules from No. 1 Wisconsin (easiest) to No. 18 Ohio State (most difficult). OBD at No. 16 has the 3rd toughest schedule. The Wisconsin flip from the most difficult last season to the easiest is an example of how mega-conference schedules can vary one season to the next. Games against top 25 opponents are games against the CBSS preseason top 25. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/2026-big-ten-football-schedule-rankings-easiest-toughest/

For pity's sake, PLEASE focus on the results and not on the source of the information. DO NOT SHOOT THE MESSENGER. 😇 Using the 2025-26 final SP+, some dawg from the Other School Up North has done a thorough job of calculating B1G schedule strength and prospective win totals. The use of quadrants to determine the quality of the opposition follows the quadrant method used by the CBB committee. Of course, we have no idea how the SP+ final rankings will transfer from 2025-26 to 2026-27. In 2026, Oklahoma State could go from two to eight or more wins. Quadrant 1 - 2026 games against 2025-26 SP+ Top 25, validates your take, iouhounds, on Penn State's weak 2026 schedule. 7 Games - Ohio State 6 Games - Michigan, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue, USC 5 Games - Indiana, Michigan State, Minnesota, Oregon, UW 4 Games - Iowa, Maryland, Rutgers, UCLA, Wisconsin 3 Games - Illinois, Penn State Penn State - Marshall (with this kind of schedule, a Marshall should be called in 🤬) Temple, Buffalo (Bulls, not Bills.) Illinois does play a P4 team OOC, Duke. The Miami Hurricanes just blew away the Duke QB and the Blue Devils best WR. Illinois has a bye week the week before Oregon plays the Fighting Illini in Champaign-Urbana. Iowa State East, er, Penn State, does not play Indiana, Ohio State, Oregon, and Iowa. PSU hosts USC in a likely White Out game. The Nittany Lions' toughest games are on the road vs. Michigan and UW. UW Dawg PoundA Closer Look At The Big Ten’s 2026 ScheduleThe Big Ten released the football schedule for 2026. Who has an easy schedule, and who has a difficult schedule?

Most difficult schedules in 2026? Across all conferences, SI ranks Ohio State and Texas tied at No.1, OBD 2nd, and Indiana 4th. It also has two teams' schedules ranked in the top 10: Notre Dame and Texas Tech. Other 'experts' cite these two teams as having Charmin soft schedules in 2026. Pick your ranking poison. We'll see where things lie(s), kind of sorta, when the PO Committee releases its final ranking on December 6, 2026. 🤪 Oregon Ducks On SIBig Ten’s Toughest and Easiest Schedules RankedOn Tuesday, the Oregon Ducks released their official schedule for the 2026 football season. Though there's several points to focus on in this schedule, like the