Jon Joseph

"Not exactly unprofessional?" How about Rude, Arrogant, Entitled, and a product of today's (un)Social media and Don't You Dare Tread on My Self-Esteem? As to another's self-esteem? Who cares? Good riddance to this kid and his Old Man, too. SMH. Another example of why I'm happy to be on the back nine. There used to be a thing called manners, civility, and respect for your elders. OK. I hope the waving cane didn't hit you.😒

Great Scot! OBD's Wyndham Clark is in the Hunt for a Scottish Open Title. YardbarkerRory McIlroy pulls into tie for lead at Scottish OpenNorthern Ireland's Rory McIlroy shot 4-under-par 66 in the third round of the Genesis Scottish Open, pulling into a share of the lead Saturday at North Berwick, Scotland.

Don't horse around, place your bets on Odysseus. How about Fight On for the USC Pari's? We don't have an Achilles heel! (Except at head coach?) 🤪

Nebraska's Matt Ruhle's record in big and B1G games is right there with James Franklin's. With one of the easiest schedules in and out of the conference in 2025, he'd best win now. YardbarkerWill third-year magic translate to Nebraska for Matt Rhule?Matt Rhule is entering his third season as Nebraska football head coach, and with his track record at Baylor and Temple, expectations are high.

A Deep Dive Into SC in 2025. If you take the time to read this in-depth article, you have to ask yourself, "Why is Riley still the head coach at SC?" His play calling in 2024 went against SC's strength, rushing the football. Had John McKay been calling plays, SC would have won at least three of the one-score games it lost in 2024. Riley's recruiting was so bad that recruiting was taken over by AD Jen Cohen, who agreed to pay $1 million per annum to a 'General Manager' brought in from Notre Dame. The only thing Chad Bowden is managing is recruiting, where he is doing a stellar job to date. Much of Bowden's success is due to Cohen getting SC's NIL collectives organized and stepping up with NIL money, although it seems that SC is overpaying for untested talent. I think Cohen and SC would be better served by spending the money to bid Riley goodbye. I don't believe Riley has the play-calling chops to hang around as the OC. Riley finally let go of the Grinch who stole defense, and DC Lynn improved the D. But not much returns on the D side of the ball, and the O-line coming into 2025 is a mess. Many players on the 2024 team are no longer balling in South Central. I think this Giant will remain somnambulent for as long as Riley's at the helm. Addicted To QuackDuck Dive: USC Football 2025 PreviewGoing deep with the Trojans’ scheme, returning personnel, and unknowns

Some new faces are making their first appearance in Eugene. Along with OBD's 'Beaver Buddies' and Trojans who Honor a Horse. 🤪Of course! Addicted To QuackAutzen Home Game HistoriesHow have the Ducks performed against the teams that they’re hosting this season?

SEC media days begin on Monday. Perfect chance for Sark to tell Pawalll to STFU! 🤬 FanSidedPaul Finebaum puts ridiculous pressure on Arch Manning as...Paul Finebaum is making a lofty prediction ahead of the Week 1 heavyweight bout between Texas and Ohio State.

Jimmy, the Heat is ON! 😡 Victory Bell RingsPressure's piling up on Penn State, but can James Frankli...Penn State football has high expectations to meet in 2025-26. A Big Ten championship and College Football Playoffs titles are well within reach for the Nittany

Hats Off to Thibs! Matayo's new position coach. 😁 https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/football/2025/07/13/oregon-ducks-football-ranking-25-since-2000-kayvon-thibodeaux/84526253007/?utm_source=smg-duckswire-strada&utm_medium

Wager on where the Duck will splash in Las Vegas, beginning on July 22nd. My money's on the pool in front of the Bellagio. 😍 Someone please inform B1G HQ that Indy in late July is better for the B1G media days. Vegas in December is better than Indy for the B1G champ game. 🥵

Thanks, Steven. The highlights for me. SEC teams with 10 games versus the Power 4, 3. B1G teams with 10 games versus the Power 4, 12. 15 straight home wins for OBD and counting. 😍

Has Texas Tech, with zero conference titles to date, and Chairman of the TT Board of Regents, oilman Cody Campbell, replaced OBD and Uncle Phil as the front runner trying to buy a championship? Probably everywhere except in Corvallis, Oregon, and the mind of John Canzano. 😁 https://sports.yahoo.com/article/unofficial-big-12-media-poll-153702238.html

Based on starts against Mississippi State and two G5 teams? 😵‍💫 An 'SEC guy' who played QB in the conference and won a Heisman trophy, Steve Spurrier, begs to differ. But what does Steve know, right? 🙃

Make Way for Makhi! Dan Lanning’s newest Oregon foot...Dan Lanning’s newest Oregon football 15-TD RB1 given disr...Dan Lanning’s latest Oregon running back scored 15 touchdowns last season but is already being undervalued. Despite top-tier production, Pro Football Focus ranks him just 37th overall and fourth am...

Every Commissioner Wants What's Best for Their Conference, But Let's Kick the B1G to the Curb. Why should anyone have any faith in a committee that last season ranked a team with a SOS in the 80s as the ninth best team in the nation? Will the committee adopt and publicly disclose the metrics it uses, and state the reason(s) why it ignored the metrics when this is the case? This ranking screwed over ASU, but the B12 commish is just fine with the committee, if, which is rarely pointed out in the articles, demeaning Tony Petitti, the ACC, and the SEC play nine conference games. That's a B1G caveat. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2025/07/09/college-football-playoff-format-big-ten-plan/84493690007/

Further proof that it is a LOOOOOOOOOONG off season. ☹️ https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/football/2025/07/12/oregon-ducks-football-2025-schedule-academic-rankings/84514440007/?utm_source=smg-duckswire-strada&utm_medium=email

Steven A., I'm with you, my friend. However, in the capitalist system we have in the USA, very few items are price-fixed, and very few salaries and other payments, are fixed except as agreed to pursuant to collective bargaining. Athletes had a chance to file complaints against the House settlement being approved, but other than roster-size issues, Judge Wilkins ignored these challenges. I don't see such complaints being ignored in a court, state or federal, considering an antitrust claim(s). To date, in college athletics, the folks receiving revenue-sharing payments are not 'employees' according to the NCAA and the people writing the checks. Therefore, there is no group with management to bargain with. Why should the folks writing the checks have any right to decide that 'market value' is less than some entity is willing to pay for an individual's NIL? Public corporations, if not found to be a 'booster' of a program, can pay whatever they so choose for a player's NIL. Is NIKE a booster of OBD? How can this be the case when NIKE has deals with NCAA members from coast to coast? If public corporation payments, no matter the amount, are fine, then what right does the NCAA have to restrict payments from any source? What right, without the payees' approval, does any entity have to restrict an athlete's right to earn all of the money he or she can? If a group is stupid enough to overpay for an untested athlete's NIL based on potential performance, why isn't this the 'market value' an athlete and his agent have been able to bargin for? The decision to crater an athlete's NIL deal based on a 3rd party's decision of what defines 'reasonable market value' is on its face, reasonable. But said decision will not withstand an anti-trust challenge, and not withstand a challenge based on collusion and price-fixing, and will not withstand state laws prohibiting enforcement of the House settlement. Many of the institutions that 'supported' the terms of the settlement were ready to keep NIL deals confidential based on FERPA, fears of the loss of federal dollars, and because they can. Why these entities supported the settlement in the first instance is baffling. When the challenges come, I want to be sitting at the plaintiff's table.

Good take, thank you. I think you may be giving too much credit to a James Franklin-coached team in a big-time B1G game. Perhaps too much credit to QB Drew Allar, who has yet to win a significant game. Playoff wins against SMU and Boise were nice, but Franklin and Allar gave up a lead when playing against an equally talented roster in Notre Dame. Allar threw 2 picks versus OBD last season, and I believe he is capable of doing the same this season. I like the timing of this game and the lead-ins to the game. Penn State will have played three glorified scrimmages against teams not close to the talent of Oregon. Then, PSU has an off week before OBD comes to town with a roster equal to or better than the PSU roster. Oregon will have played two P4 opponents and traveled two time zones to play one of them. OK State and Northwestern aren't all that, but they are far better than the dreck PSU plays OOC. Drew Allar and his all-new WR corps will not have played against the talent of the back 7 Oregon will have on the field. The newbies may shine against Nevada, FIU, and Villanova, but it's a whole new ball game versus Oregon. I hear you on the D-line concerns, but I believe Matayo U. and friends will pressure Allar. Now we will see if Dan's interior D-line recruiting pays off. None of Oregon's IDL players were walk-ons; all were highly coveted recruits, and Bear Alexander in Eugene may be a mauler and a baller. This is an NFL prove-it season for Alexander. I'm looking forward to the chess game. Knowles knows that Dan knows what Ohio State ran on defense when the Buckeyes D embarrassed Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Will he run the same 'stuff?' Caleb Downs is not suiting up for Penn State. OBD went 1-1 against Knowles last season. How much will Knowles be able to improve the PSU D above the excellent defenses Tom Allen delivered in 2023 and 2024? 14 starters are back for Penn State, but Edge Abdul Carter is not one of them. This is a huge game for the Oregon coaching staff, who I'm certain want to pay back Knowles. I expect OBD's O to play it close to the vest before this game. And then throw everything it can at PSU. The Oregon D played and won a game against Penn State, even though it surrendered a 100-plus yards to RBs Singleton and Allen. Will OC Andy Kotelnicki have anything new to throw at the Ducks? His jack-of-all-positions, TE Tyler Warren, is in the NFL. Again, will the WRs Penn State brought in from Troy, USC, and Syracuse pan out? There is far more pressure on Penn State playing at home in a White Out, and in front of fans who expect a Natty. And do not overlook the impact of Forum Fanatics being on site. 😡

Good thoughts, by all. I think Bama's unexpected losses were the result of inconsistent play from the QB and others, and wholesale changes in the coaching staff. Will Ryan Grub's joining the Tide as OC make a difference? The Bama roster is absolutely stacked, but for questions at QB. Alabama returns 14 players who started in 2024. Far more returning production than OBD, Texas, Georgia, and Ohio State, all of whom have to replace their starting QB. Bama hosts Vandy, Tennessee, LSU, and Oklahoma. Possible 'trap games' are road games at Mizzou and South Carolina. Bama visits Auburn, but the Iron Bowl is never a trap game for either team. The critical game for Bama will be at Georgia in Week 4. Even with a loss in Athens, I think Bama will play Georgia in the SEC champ game. BTW, if you know it's a trap, are you trapped? Or is the effort simply not there on a given day?

Feed Me! I'm Wide Open! https://sports.yahoo.com/article/ranking-18-big-ten-wide-162628453.html Lots of love for a Nits receiving corps yet to catch a pass in a PSU uni.

Expect no help from Congress - AP NewsDemocrats criticize latest effort by Congress to regulate...The latest effort by Congress to regulate college sports is generating predictable partisan outrage.

"They" are trying to enforce the settlement - AP NewsThe new college sports agency is rejecting some athlete N...A new college sports agency has rejected certain NIL deals involving donor-backed collectives. These collectives, formed to funnel money to athletes or schools, fail to meet NCAA rules requiring de...

My opinion. They're withholding information not because they're concerned about losing federal funding or being sued under FERPA, but because they can. The 'we can't comply lightbulb' did not suddenly turn on after the settlement was approved. Adherence to the terms of this so-called settlement, before and after the settlement was approved, was lip service only. Why the college sports powers-that-be, especially the Power 2 conferences, agreed to this fiasco to keep the NCAA afloat is well beyond me. There were other remedies available. There was no reason to make more plaintiff attorneys rich and drop a few crumbs to those 'student-athletes' who were not allowed to be paid without being ruled to be ineligible. Tennessee has passed a law that prevents the enforcement of the settlement in the Volunteer State. Other states will follow suit. Here's one solution. Big-time athletic programs establish a regulatory system of their own. Athletes being paid by a university are employees. Employees who can collectively bargain with the folks paying them. Of course, there is no reason for any party to negotiate anything when it holds all of the cards, as do college athletes, so Congress will have to act in one fashion or another. Or, big-time schools will have to play the, 'We're going Ivy League/ D-3. Here's your bill for tuition, room and board, and your school books. Tutors are available at $100 an hour.' Before this fiasco was approved, where in Hades were the attorneys for OBD and other big-time programs? The same attorneys who now 'suddenly' find many loopholes that prevent having to follow the terms of the settlement. If the NCAA pre-settlement obtained an opinion from a reputable law firm that the terms of the settlement are enforceable in every state in the Union, every attorney in the firm should be disbarred.

I like Mighty RJ Young's OBD Prediction! There is a vote for Not-A-Lot's Clemson and one for Penn State. https://www.foxsports.com/stories/college-football/college-football-playoff-predictions-which-team-has-clearest-path-cfp Note. Both Oregon and Indiana have week 6 off before the Hoosiers visit Eugene. Oregon's game versus Indiana is not the week after the PSU game.

All want the 11-5 except the BIG, but the B12's approval is conditioned on all P4 conferences playing 9 conference games. The B1G has indicated it could go with 11-5, but only under the same conditions. No wonder the B12 and the ACC want the 5-11 format, the in-conference games' SOS for the Lesser 2 lag far behind the B1G and the SEC. In 2025, three SEC teams, Alabama, Florida, and South Carolina, play 10 P4 opponents. 13 B1G teams play 10 P4 opponents. Sankey can use all of the ESPN-generated stats he likes, but this is not an even path to the PO. SEC Snake Sankey wants it both ways. 8 conference games and 5-11. It Just Means More, right? There is no way Tony Petitti should allow this. If the SEC and ACC don't go to 9 conference games, then stay with a field of 12 teams. When it comes to the bottom line, SEC is 2nd to the B1G and will stay there with 8 conference games and a 12-team field. BTW, as long as college championship games are played, Notre Dame should be required to play 10 P4 opponents.