Jon Joseph

Thank you, Steven, Eh? Sorry, I still have Lord Stanley's Cup on (what's left of) my mind. RIVALS 2026 current rankings - 2026 all-teams football recruiting team rankings N.RIVALS.COM 2026 all-teams football recruiting team rankings by Rivals.com Rivals has OBD with 10 'commits' ranked 26th with an average recruit ranking of 3.9. The B1G, with five teams in the top 10 and nine in the top 25, is a good sign. I'll bet dollars to donuts Oregon will finish not just in the top 25, but in the top 10. All of the other ranked B1G teams have at least 15 'commitments.' USC has 30. Only Ohio State, with 17 'commits' and a 4.06 average, has a better B1G average than OBD's 3.9. The only other team with a better average is LSU at 4.02. TOSU has the best average ranking of the top 25 teams. How about Illinois and UCLA in the top 10? Looks like UCLA's Foster is not a Chip off the old Bruins recruiting block. 😁 To date, SC wins the quantity but not the quality battle. What we don't know are a program's total and average per player, revenue-sharing, and NIL deal expenditures. 🤑 Stay Frosty. Miles to go before 2026 recruiting sleeps.

Penn State's Take on the B1G's Biggest 10 Games in 2023. (Hint, PSU has lots of B1G hits: Ducks 2nd, at TOSU 1st.) Ranking the Big Ten's top 10 conference games in 2025 NITTANYLIONSWIRE.USATODAY.COM Ranking the top 10 Big Ten conference games of the 2025 season.

The SEC's three PO teams went 2-3 in the PO. The three three-loss screwed over SEC teams. Loss to Illinois, loss to Michigan, but Ole Miss managed to defeat Duke with Duke QB sitting the game out on his way to the Beavers (Beavers?) and 1st first-round pick QB Jaxson Dart, suiting up for The Portal King. 🤔 'Facts are stubborn things.' John Adams

The Horns could be looking at 3 Ls? On the road at Ohio State, Florida, hopefully with a healthy QB this time, and Georgia, where the dawgs don't lose. And Oklahoma and A&M will be looking for rivalry game revenge. And the Hogs don't go belly-up when they play the Longhorns. Will Manning with a new receiving corps and one OL guy returning, be an improvement over Ewers, who took Texas to two PO semifinals, where he went down B1G. 😁

A Fansided Look at PO Contenders SOS Ranks OBD's at 12 of 12. The Most Difficult of the 12 ranked teams. 12 College Football Playoff contenders with the softest strength of schedule in 2025 FANSIDED.COM If these 12 teams want to make the College Football Playoff, they must navigate softer schedules. Note that the teams with the easiest SOS are from the B12, ACC, including Mario's MIA schedule, and the G6. These odds of making the PO and the SOS Rankings are based on the FPI-biased, SEC-loving rankings. FPI ranks only 13 SEC teams in its top 25. 😩 Everything spit out by ESecPN computers is rated A+++++ + by Greg Sankey. 🤓 On the other hand, Bret Bielema rates the FPI - 🦨 + Buhler? Buhler!

"It's better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and leave no doubt." Mark Twain 🤓 Thomas Castellanos is talking recklessly for a player with his stats SATURDAYBLITZ.COM Heading into the 2025 College Football season, one of the most interesting storylines to follow is how the Florida State Seminoles bounce back. After being left Speak softly if you don't carry bigger stats. 😜

Outrage! The U didn't make the list? Oregon Ducks' Autzen Stadium Snubbed? Toughest College Football Stadiums To Play WWW.SI.COM The Oregon Ducks' Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon is shockingly not included in the top-five 'toughest places to play' on EA Sports' new college football video PSU? Danno is entering the Lion's Den. 😇

Thanks again, Mister Editor! Thank you, Playoff Poobahs, for having the 2025-26 PO seeding match the PO committee's final ranking that will be proclaimed from the Grapevine on December 7, 2025. Speaking of December 7th, and in deference to, not praise of, Admiral Yamamoto, last season Michigan awoke a sleeping giant and filled it with terrible resolve, a resolve OBD experienced All Day in the Rose Bowl. (Yamamoto's 7th? The USA lost a battle, and had to wait a few years, but Dad and his friends won the war!) You need at least some serendipity to win a college football national championship. Before last season, a 4th-place finisher in the Big Ten, like the Luckeyes, would have been playing for the Mayo, not the Roses, on the way to a National Championship. Circumstances allowed 2-loss TOSU to capitalize on its investment in veteran players, keeping numerous NFL draft picks in Columbus for another season. 13-0 was not rewarded last season, with the No. 1-seeded Ducks playing behind a veteran team led by a Heisman Trophy finalist QB, meeting the Committee's 6th-ranked team in a quarterfinal game, instead of a 9-seed Boise State or an 8-seed Indiana. I get it. In 1967, Dad and I were blessed to watch the BoSox go from worst to first, watch Yaz win the Triple Crown, and we were also there in Fenway to watch Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson mow down The Olde Towne Team for the 3rd time in Game 7 of the World Series. Like the year-too-late change in the 2025-26 playoff seeding, in 1968, in part due to Bob Gibson's three complete game victories in the Series while posting a 1.12 ERA, 268 Ks, and 13 shutouts, MLB lowered the pitching mound. SIGH. OBD's 2025 schedule is set up perfectly for another run at a title. But with only five starters returning, will the Ducks be able to take advantage of a season with only two games against preseason-ranked top 25 teams, with one of the games in the 'friendly confines' of Autzen Stadium? Blue Chip Roster USC also visits Eugene. Next season, Oregon plays Michigan in Autzen and is on the road against Illinois, USC, and Ohio State. The 2027 schedule is more difficult. Ducks football fans have been waiting for a championship, patiently and with not so much patience, since 1894. If Methuselah is a Ducks fan, that's 130 seasons of 'Next Year.' Enough already! On paper, the talent is there for the 2025 team to return to the playoffs, starting by bagging Bob's Cats! I'm a Believer! This, no doubt, is The Season OBD Nabs the Natty! (Right?)

Before Buying the Hype, Steve Spurrier Wants Archie to Prove It Steve Spurrier offered the most HBC take possible about Arch Manning and Texas COLLEGESPORTSWIRE.USATODAY.COM Steve Spurrier knows a thing or two about quarterback competitions, and he recently questioned why Arch Manning couldn't surpass Quinn Ewers in 2024.

Pawalll - Not so fast, my young friend. Paul Finebaum puts Thomas Castellanos on blast for shot at Alabama - On3 WWW.ON3.COM Paul Finebaum blasted FSU QB Tommy Castellanos' bold comments Monday to On3's Pete Nakos calling out Alabama ahead of their 2025 opener.

Leave It to Beaver? 😁 What’s next for Oregon Football at QB position after 5-star Ryder Lyons’ announcement? SPORTS.YAHOO.COM After missing out on 5-star QB Ryder Lyons, the Oregon Ducks have a few recruiting options available to them going forward.

B(ring) Y(our) U(nlimited) NIL 🤑. Nothing like getting rich shortly before leaving on a mission. 😇 Give everything away and follow me. 🥲

Meh! Next case. 😴

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. B1G win or B1G fail in 2025? Note - Ohio State defeating Texas will not be an upset. 8 out of 8 of the gaming sites on Vegas Insiders have the Buckeyes favored. Every Big Ten team's best, worst case scenario in 2025: USC plays for league title? A three-loss Penn State? - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM Exploring the range of success (and failure) for each Big Ten football team this season

OT OBD, but the Michigan fan pain level descriptions? Priceless. 😩 Ranking the Top 5 most painful Michigan Football moments since 2015 WWW.MAIZENBREW.COM A deep dive into the most painful Michigan football losses of the modern era: from heartbreak in Columbus to the chaos against TCU, ranked with humor, trauma, and just enough hope to keep...

Some Wolverines Love for Kenyon - 😎 1 player from every Big Ten team we’d like to add to Michigan Football WWW.MAIZENBREW.COM Michigan’s roster is pretty much set, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a wish list from other Big Ten teams. Here’s who we’d pick if the Wolverines could add one player from each roster in the Big...

ESecPN is Biased? I'm Shocked! ESPN's SEC bias is officially out of control after insane Arch Manning ranking FANSIDED.COM ESPN will always have SEC bias and now they're using it to put one SEC quarterback on a pedestal ahead of the 2025 season. Rece Davis, one of the faces of Colle However, the 'Arch Madness' is not limited to the folks in Bristol, Athlon just named Archie its 1st team preseason AA QB. Ahead of veteran starters Klubnick at Clemson and Nussmeier at LSU. No pressure, right? Archie, my friend, you best Manning Up!

What Do You Do with a Drunken Sailor? 🍻 The Irish and The Buckeyes? 🙃 Ohio State Buckeyes, Navy football agree to future season-opener in Columbus COLLEGESPORTSWIRE.USATODAY.COM Ohio State and Navy have locked in a future non-conference date in 2029, which brings the Midshipmen to Columbus to kick off the season.

"We need to turn over every available stone ..." I disagree, I do not want to see college sports sold to private equity firms. Firms that will not invest money without having a voice in the sports going forward. The media already has far too much influence on college athletics. There is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or under any stone. Athletic scholarships cost schools money, either directly or indirectly. There is no return on investment by schools adding field hockey or men's gymnastics to their sports menu. Most athletes participating in these two sports, as well as many other non-revenue sports, do not come from financial situations where an athletic scholarship is required or higher education is unavailable. There is nothing wrong with club sports, sports that can be coached by player-coaches. I don't believe that hockey players at Oregon receive athletic scholarships. Yet they're on the ice and having fun. There are all kinds of ideas that require the expenditure of OPM. In the case of more spending by athletic departments, the majority are bleeding red ink. Many of the states that support public schools are running deficits. Given a choice, should states provide money for additional sports for student-athletes or additional aid for financially disadvantaged students? I also note that most of the students at IMG Academy board at the school and are not on athletic scholarship. The tuition for boarding students is $93,900.00 a year. People who live in glass houses ...

A Trio of B1G Sleepers 😴 Three Big Ten College Football Playoff sleepers in 2025 COLLEGESPORTSWIRE.USATODAY.COM The Big Ten sent four teams to the College Football Playoff last year with Indiana as a surprise. Who figures to be the sleeper team this season?

I hope he cannonballs directly onto and is impaled by Bevo's rack. 💩 🤓

This Castellanos cat is DJU in waiting. 🦨 He was last seen being benched by Bill O'Brien at BC. This is a massize revenge game for FSU, 'screwed out' of the last 4-team PO by Bama, Greg Sankey's 'one of these things is not like the other', Sesame Street charade, a whinny group of ESPN talking heads, and a 'corrupt' PO committee. I always want to see the SEC team go belly up OOC, but it isn't going to happen on 8/30 in Tallahassee.

The player is not a defendant. I do not know if his agreement with Wisconsin had a liquidated damages clause, but I very much doubt it, as the intent for both parties when the contract was executed was for the player to stay and play for Wisconsin for the next two seasons. Miami was not a party to the contract. Wisconsin has sued for 'Interference With a Contract.' Damages, if Wisconsin prevails, have not been specifically asked for; the pleading simply asks for damages over $10,000, which is typical in litigation of this nature. I imagine if allowed in Wisconsin, where I am not admitted to practice, the plaintiff will ask for punitive damages that could exceed the value of the player's services by millions of dollars. How do you prove the damages suffered? I don't have any idea. 'We would have defeated Alabama if this guy were on the defense?' Hmmmm. Miami, under NFL rules, paid a $1.5 million penalty for interfering with Tom Brady when Brady was under contract. How the NFL arrived at this dollar amount, I do not know. This suit is an attempt to enforce rules against tampering that the NCAA is unwilling and in some cases, unable, under state law, to enforce. We know tampering is ongoing in CFB, but to date, no injured party, recall Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi beefing about USC 'stealing' WR Jordan Addison, has pursued a remedy. There's been lots of tampering smoke, but this suit is the first 'fire.'

No doubt litigation is likely to follow further consolidation of college athletics. However, Hertz is not required to subsidize Avis, and Oregon is not required to subsidize Oregon State. The ACC, B12, and the Pac-7, pending 8, did not hesitate in putting the final nails in the Real Pac-12's coffin, or in looting the Mountain West. This will not go unnoticed in court. Likely, the entire G6 and the majority of the ACC and B12 members will not be able to meet the Super Conference's annual minimum dollars required to be spent on football. Same for some of the teams in today's Power 2. The ACC has internally separated the wheat from the chaff in artful fashion. Without prejudice, the most watched ACC teams will receive more media money. ACC teams that make money in the postseason will keep the money. BC and Wake Forest did not sue to keep an equal disbursement of revenues and postseason money. The ACC model is coming to the B1G and the SEC. A merger of the B1G and SEC's top teams could cause market share issues, but I imagine the structure of such a 'merger' would be designed to withstand antitrust challenges, and/or the Power 2 could simply pay off the remainder of the ACC and the B12 and the G6. This is happening today with the B1G and the SEC receiving the lion's share of the football PO proceeds. Despite the whining about 'fairness,' the market will, as always, separate the winners from the losers.

Thank you, Steven A. I note that the 1st team Clemson DL guys were on last season's team that lost 4 games. Archie Manning has started two games vs. G6 opponents. PFF may like the Vandy TE, but where, except for 23andMe, is the supporting data for Archie being 1st team? The 2nd team and 3rd team QBs match up in the opening game, which sees LSU playing Clemson. Maytayo should have been All-B1G last season and is underrated here. I think OL Isiah World could have joined transfers Thieneman and Hughes. Nice to see Poncho on the list.