Jon Joseph

Four B1G Quotes of Note. Saturday BlitzBreaking down the 4 Quotes Everyone’s Talking About from...The Big Ten just had its media days in sunny Las Vegas. It was a spirited showing from Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti and Big Ten Coaches. Most of the media

Thanks for the post, DM. There is nothing like getting whipped by a homeboy reporter. 😁 Ole Miss and SC canceled a H+H series scheduled to be the Trojans' opening game of the 2025 season in LA. Why Troy canceled out on a team from a conference that Riley can occasionally defeat was surprising. USC will likely be 4-0, MO. State, Georgia State (the return of Feet of Clay), at Purdue, and Michigan State, headed into Week 5. In a CFB-loaded Week 5 that sees Forum Fanatics in Beaver (!) Stadium, SC trips to Illinois, that, if it wins on the road against Duke and Indiana, will also be 4-0. (It likely won't happen, but a loss to the Georgia State Fighting Heltons🙃 could see a firing not at the airport but in the Coli parking lot.) Weeks 6 through 10 are a bit more problematic for Riley and Company - Bye, Michigan, at Notre Dame (for the last time?), Bye, at Nebraska before a Week 11 visit from Northwestern, which could see many fans in the Coli disguised as empty seats. Weeks 12 through 14 see Troy closing in the Pacific time zone, with Iowa, at Oregon, and UCLA. The O/U for SC in 2025 is 7.5 wins. Will SC go 4-4 in its last 8 games and cover? I think it will be a struggle. I'd bet the Under if I had to; however, and despite the LA Times take, SC does have a Blue Chip Roster and will have a 'roster advantage' against every opponent but Michigan, Notre Dame, and OBD. I'm looking at 11/22/25 being a rowdy and fun night in Autzen Stadium. 😀

I wonder how 'nice' those guys were after the 4th loss in a row to That School Up North? 😁 A 12-team PO fulfilled Fontella Bass's plea on behalf of Ryan Day: "Rescue Me!" 🥶

Jonas Williams, long-time QB commit to OBD, woke up one morning and had an epiphany: I need to play ball at USC.🤔 No one affiliated with the folks in South Central contacted Jonas, right? 🤬 This is simply more proof that SC is No. 1 in something; No. 1 out of 17 teams PO'd that a Duck is nesting in B1G territory. 😎

Heard today on B1G Media day 2 interview with Commissioner Petitti. There were 11 Playoff games contested in 2024-25. B1G teams participated in 9 of the 11 games. SEC teams participated in 4 of the games. Pawalll, how do you like them apples? 💩

Mack Brown believes MIA may have to pay twice for handing $2M a year to OT Cantwell. This Can't (end) Well, can it? 😁 EssentiallySportsJackson Cantwell’s $2M Miami Luxury Triggers Mack Brown’s...Former UNC head coach Mack Brown warns tough times for GMs and coaches as critical decision lay in store amid new changes in CFB

Half of the questions are B1G questions. However, No. 1 is asking whether Arch Manning will justify Arch Madness and lead Texas to a title. I wish OBD and the B1G would get the same attention from their broadcast partners; something akin to ESPN pouring sugar on the SEC. Compared to the SEC, Fox hides its CFB coverage under a bushel. This is also the case when trumpeting upcoming broadcasts and broadcasting many B1G games at High Noon and not Prime Time. The Big Ten Network did an excellent job of covering B1G Media Days, but ESPN has many more subscribers who watched SEC Media Days. https://www.foxsports.com/stories/college-football/what-10-biggest-on-field-questions-2025-college-football-season

Saturday Tradition takes a B1G Look at Penn State, including a more nuanced take on Franklin's abysmal record against highly ranked teams. The author likes PSU to make but not win the PO, and to split the OBD and Ohio State games. Saturday TraditionPredicting Penn State: Can James Franklin, Drew Allar bre...Hopes couldn't be higher for Penn State entering 2025, but are the Nittany Lions equipped to handle the weight of those expectations?

I think that Bill Connelly's 'If List' for 14 PO contenders is an excellent take. ESPN.com14 teams and loads of questions they must answer to win t...The fewer things that must go right, the better a team's chances. Here's what has to fall each contender's way.

Upon further review, here's the summary of this piece ... Bill Connolly: "Yes, I work for ESPN, but I only have 12 SEC teams ranked in the top 25, so unlike the FPI, which has 13 teams in the top 25, my projections are not biased. The SEC going 1-5 against the B1G in the postseason simply shows the Superior Everywhere Conference could not get fired up for games against lesser competition." 😜 With all due respect, Bill, superior roster rankings do not ipso facto equate to wins. ASU gets a well-deserved targeting call against Texas, and it's ASU versus Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. It's nice that Sankey, after his use of the FPI poll to justify playing 8 conference games, can fall back on Billy's SP+. 😴 However, an SEC team winning it all in 2025-26 will, for me at least, be no surprise. It's fun to jest with our Advisory Committee buddies, but the SEC should never be overlooked. Like the B1G champ this season in the Rose Bowl, the SEC champ will have an easier opening game in the Sugar Bowl and hopefully, have a healthy 1st string QB playing ball.

Know Thy Enemy - Sun Tzu The guy in the Bama cap is (De)Bo(e)ring. 😁Another 4-loss season could see Kalen boring his way back to South Dakota. Bill Connelly's SP+ rankings closed with a whimper after last season's bowl games. Bama, after a loss to 5-loss Michigan, was ranked 4th. Ole Miss, with a first-round draft choice at QB, defeated a Duke team without its starting QB. This lifted Ole Miss to a 10-3 record and SP+ 2nd place. Texas, which I thought lost to Ohio State last season, finished No. 1 in the ESP+N rankings. So, take the below with more than a single grain of salt. 😜 ESPN.comSEC preview: Alabama, Georgia, Texas, LSU ... this confer...The SEC never lacks for talent or storylines -- and there's no reason to think 2025 will be any different.

Thanks for the post, Charles. It's simple: the ACC and the SEC play nine conference games, and the football committee is structured like the basketball committee, using publicly disclosed metrics and adhering to the metrics for selection and seeding, and the B1G will back a 5-11 format. An inconvenient fact for the folks backing the populist 5-11 format and calling the B1G greedy for backing a format with automatic qualifiers is that B12 commissioner, Brett Yormark, has also conditioned the B12's approval of the 5-11 format on all Power 4 conferences playing nine conference games. As noted by Charles, like every other conference commissioner Tony Petitti is looking out first and foremost for his conference. Greg Sankey is not backing the 5-11 format for the good of the game. Wanting to have the same folks competing for the same prize playing the same number of conference games is far from 'radical.' This is the norm across every sport with postseason competition for championships. Having a conference schedule that gives half of the conference teams one fewer loss is not equitable, especially in a sport that subjectively decides the teams that will compete in the postseason. Meanwhile, Petitti holds the financial high ground, and Sankey and others' breast-beating will not change the B1G's bottom-line lead.

The Yahoo Sports site's take on the Executive Order is very much the same as David Marsh's succinct, spot-on post. The Order is a good attempt at trying to fix what ails college sports, but will it have any real effect? The SCORE Act has made it out of committee. If passed, which is doubtful, it would have the full force of law behind it. https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football/breaking-news/article/president-trumps-executive-order-on-college-sports-heres-what-it-actually-means-001007183.html

The Executive Order has been issued. To what effect remains to be seen. On3President Donald Trump signs executive order relating to...President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday related to NIL and college sports, the White House announced.%

Dan wants a New Year's Day PO Championship game. Oregon's Dan Lanning seeks College Football Playoff schedule changes, favors Jan. 1 national championship - CBSSports.com

Number 1 on this list of the best college mascots. ESPN.comMcGee's Mascot Power Rankings: The best of the fun and fu...From giant red blobs and 1,700-pound steer to coonskin caps and bears riding Harleys, these are the sport's top merrymakers.

Drew Allar knows that Penn State needs to get over the loss to quality teams' hump. OK, Drew, but not in Week 5 por favor. 😁 YardbarkerPenn State QB Drew Allar gets candid about team's struggl...It is no secret that Penn State has struggled to win big games under head coach James Franklin.

Welcome to the Mighty Ducks! On3QUAAACK: Top-50 WR Kesean Bowman Commits to Oregon2027 Nashville (Tenn.) Brentwood Academy wide receiver Kesean Bowman has committed to Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks.

OD, thanks for your thoughts. I see the three B1G 10.5 win teams, OBD, Ohio State, and Penn State, finishing no worse than 10-2. Penn State plays both OBD and Ohio State. TOSU and OBD miss one another. These three teams have a Blue Chip Roster advantage (along with SC and Michigan) and the schedules to advance to the PO. Wisconsin, Purdue, Northwestern, and Rutgers have more difficult schedules than the B1G 3. In addition to the B1G 3, I see one of Illinois, Indiana, or Michigan advancing to the PO. All three of these teams have favorable schedules. If the B1G only sends its champion to the PO, what other teams do you see making the 12-team field? Again, thanks for the comment. Minnesota, being a Friday night game after OBD plays at Iowa the week before, and the Gophers being off the week before, is a potential trap game.

Thank you for the post and thanks to all of the terrific comments. 30 Duck has posted the learned SEC 'journalists' not-surprising knee-jerk reaction to Rhett Lashlee's comments about the SEC being top-heavy. Rhett is an SEC homeboy. Before he took the head coaching job at SMU, he played QB at Arkansas and coached in the SEC. Of course, Paul et al went ballistic over Rhett's comments. But facts are stubborn things. Paul, what pray tell does SMU getting the NCAA death penalty way back when have to do with college football in 2025? I guess Tennessee recently being sanctioned for running a pre-NIL pay-for-play program just means less? Lashlee correctly noted that six SEC teams have won titles since 1964. One heck of an achievement. Bama captured 15 of the championships. Paul guessed Bama had won 11 since 1964. Before Paul attacked Lashlee, he might have done a brief amount of research on the issue. Bama has won 15 titles since 1964. Lashlee's statement is factual. As others have noted on the Forum, many SEC fans ride the success of Bama and other SEC football champs, which is fine. There's nothing wrong with evidencing regional pride in the SEC, especially in a region with more college fans than pro sports fans. But the numbers don't lie; like the B1G and the majority of conferences, the SEC is top-heavy. Not every SEC team plays a gauntlet like no other. In 2025, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Purdue, and Rutgers have more difficult conference schedules than Missouri, Tennessee, and Ole Miss. If you use the FPI preseason ranking that has 13 of the 16 SEC teams ranked in the top 25, every conference game will be a top 25 versus top 25 contest except when Arkansas, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt play one another. The majority of 'sports journalists' don't question Sankey's use of the biased FPI to justify the eight-game schedule. Sankey is a hero for supporting a 5-11 format, and Petitti is a greedy SOB for wanting a format with automatic qualifiers, a format that reflects the state of today's game, and a format that limits the power of a committee that does its business in the dark. A committee that SEC folks and ESPN talking heads vilified in 2024 for excluding 3-loss SEC teams. With a 5-11 format, the committee would be deciding on 11 and not seven at large participants. Is the committee roasted by Sankey roasted in 2024 now trustworthy? Why? The attacks on Tony Petitti are vile and viral. No other conference commissioner has Petitti's educational and business background. Tony and the B12's Brett Yormark (another inconvenient fact that is rarely reported) want teams competing for the same prize to play the same number of conference games. This is 'radical?' This is 'unfair?' When it comes to the bottom line, as it does in every business, the B1G is in the lead. Despite all of the populist support for the 5-11 format, the 'little guy' will never win a title. Despite the pounding Petitti is taking, the B1G is in the financial driver's seat. The SEC's deal with ESPN runs through the 2033-34 season. The B1G will have negotiated a new media deal in 2030, which will only increase the B1G's bottom-line advantage. If Sankey wants to stay with an 8-game conference schedule and a 12-team playoff, that's just fine. 🤑

Give Me a B1G 5+ 😎 Of course, OBD at Penn State made the list. YardbarkerFive Big Ten games that will shape the CFPThe Big Ten is the big dog in college football right now, boasting the last two national champions and eight playoff teams in the last three seasons.

CBS examines Tony Petitti's ideas for a revised PO format. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/8-4-teams-in-the-cfp-big-ten-commissioner-tony-petitti-explains-vision-for-college-football-postseason/

ESPN sees the OBD at Penn State White Out game being the swing game (no, it's not about golf) for both teams in 2025. ESPN.comRed River, Farmageddon and more: Swing games for every To...We look at the key game that could determine whether each team's season is a success or a dud.

SMU Coach Lashes Out at the SEC. 😁 Where's the depth? On3Rhett Lashlee takes shot at SEC in defense of strength of...SMU head football coach Rhett Lashlee took a direct shot at the SEC's depth as a conference during the 2025 ACC Media Days in Charlotte.

When You Have It Coming - 😁 - Don't Whine. Cig said it, you can Google it! On3Curt Cignetti takes massive shot at SEC in defense of can...Curt Cignetti took a shot at the SEC while defending Indiana's decision to cancel its home-and-home series with Virginia.