GatOrlando

That was the year they lost to Pittsburgh by multiple scores before they took off. I think the reasoning was Ohio State ended their season by beating top five Michigan and they only had that one road loss on a blocked kick six at Penn State while Penn State had lost by multiple scores to Pittsburgh and Michigan. Clemson rocked Ohio State and Penn State lost a thriller to USC in the Rose Bowl. I remember people saying USC was back with Sam Darnold and Clay Helton leading the charge.

They've had talent for years. Maybe not Oregon or Ohio State talent, but equivocal to Michigan . They likely have two of the best coordinators in the game today with the addition of Knowles. But they have a coach and a QB who just crumble in big moments. I see all the tools in place to build the house, it's just the contractor and lead foreman I don't trust. But people evolve and Jim Harbaugh had a stigma around him as did Ryan Day before they broke through. They just so happened to have won conference titles and big bowl games at least before their crowning moment. Franklin has won one conference title ten years ago. Since then he hasn't beaten Ohio State once. Imagine Oregon not beating USC or Washington in ten years.

People are applying the factors that led to the last two National Champions to crowning Penn State. Problem is Jim Harbaugh and Ryan Day have historically done better on the big stage than James Franklin. People call last year a breakthrough but Penn State didn't beat anybody last year to change that. They lost to Ohio State and Oregon. They got to host SMU and play Boise State in the playoffs. To me that's not breaking through. So to me it's Ohio State, Oregon and then Penn State.

Dan Campbell had a great quote when he said " I don't coach guys that look like the guys from the 300 movie. I coach guys that wear their armor and perform well in it against the enemy trying to take his head off". So it's great to look like a Greek sculpture and stride like a gazelle unopposed. But how do you look with about twenty five pounds of gear on and a guy actively trying to impede you?

This QB class is really interesting in the fact that the QBs all have major questions regarding their ceilings/floors. Ward, Sanders and Dart are all seasoned guys that either have physical limitations or turnover issues. Then you have guys like Ewers, Howard and Gabriel who could go anywhere from the third round to undrafted from what I've heard. Ewers is seen as a second round to fourth round guy. Howard is seen as a third to fifth rounder and Gabriel is a late round to UDFA. Tez Johnson has game tape that tells you he can play. Hopefully his pro day is better.

I heard a rumor and it's just that as it came from a beatwriter from Kansas City, that the Chiefs expect Kelce to retire in the next three years . They have issues on the offensive line and really not a great WR room, but they might be a team to watch late in the first. The Raiders and Bengals are also possible although I doubt the Raiders would spend a top pick on another TE after drafting Bauer last year. Unless they are trying to copy the Patriots model with Gronkowski and _____ in the 2010's. As far as Tez Johnson, he didn't really impress in the 40. I wonder if that's going to hurt his stock.

What's his draft projection Jon? I know it says he wants to go to Denver and with the way Sean Peyton utilized Jimmy Graham back in the day it might be a pretty good fit.

I think Ohio State made a lot of silly mistakes in the first game as did Oregon. What I said before the Rose Bowl was that Oregon could win a close one but Ohio State could blow Oregon out, although I didn't see that happening. Ohio State has a ceiling that nobody could match. Their floor was losing by three to an underwhelming but talented Michigan in a rivalry game and really weird things happen in emotional rivalries. Ohio State was better off when they ran the Ryan Day offense instead of the Chip Kelly heavy rushing attack. Oregon benefited from Ohio State being well dumb in the way they played defense. But Oregon made them look dumb because they exploited Ohio State in the passing game because Jim Knowles never brought pressure and Gabriel was able to have a clean pocket with time to make reads and run for yards if needed. Will Stein didn't make the proper adjustments when Gabriel was getting crunched. By the time the coaching staff made adjustments with quick hitters and putting a back to pick up the free man the game was over. Ohio State did that to everyone outside of Texas. They trailed for a total of seven minutes the entire playoff and won every game by double digits. Ohio State has the talent advantage and it is amazing they lost two games. Not amazing in a good way, but they got it done when it mattered. Oregon just got the wrong opponent at the wrong time. Lanning is a man and never blamed the seeding but I will. Oregon should've been playing in a rematch, but it should've been Boise State.

Some Duck news from the combine. Oregon Wide Receiver Tez Johnson Thought Ducks Were Better Than Ohio State “Skill for Skill” Despite Rose Bowl Loss WWW.ELEVENWARRIORS.COM Oregon WR Tez Johnson thought Ohio State “wanted to see who can win skill for skill” in the first matchup while OSU...

Automatically if you lose your QB, RB and top WR as Oregon does that is already about 80 percent of most teams production according to Connelly. The man should've consulted with somebody from each team to do a better researched write-up. I mean he is a paid journalist. But for all we know AI could be writing these articles or editing them from ESPN.

I think this is going to be the new way of doing business until there is some way of really rewarding teams that play a tough out of conference schedule. Maybe guaranteed slots are a way but even then there are teams like Indiana or South Carolina that just won't see the advantage of losing a home game vs a cupcake. I don't know how the conferences can incentivize programs outside of the big boys that already do it every year. Nebraska used to be one of those big boys.

Just came across one of those silly rankings done to do something during football dead season. This is a ranking of B1G programs based on returning production. Oregon is rated 16th with a 41 percent clip. Ohio State is 15th btw with 43 percent. The grading is based on percentage of teams offensive stats and defensive stats. The article does say Oregon recruits very well and develops players at a very high clip but that this upcoming season may be a letdown year much like Michigan this past season. One big difference is Oregon retained it's coach and that's huge. Ranking all 18 Big Ten football teams by returning production entering 2025 season BADGERSWIRE.USATODAY.COM ESPN's Bill Connelly released his annual returning production rankings on Monday

Yeah the regular season needs to matter. The only thing that would make it an issue is if there is a tie between two teams that haven't played. I like that there aren't anymore divisions since we've got some really inferior teams playing in weaker divisions like the B1G West or the SEC East. Do we eliminate the whole process or do we tweak it? I don't know. Seems like the more they make adjustments the more fans dislike it. I was one who thought the playoffs should've been eight teams from the start. In an alternate universe this would've helped keep the PAC 12 together and likely helped the Big 12 and ACC stay closer to the pack. But ironically it was the SEC that wanted a larger playoff but they were denied and it made them stronger. But we definitely need to find a way to reward a team like Oregon that did everything right but somehow got a much tougher road despite getting the bye.

Miami has never won a single ACC Title. Twenty years in and they have won nothing. But" Duh U" will be over hyped and will underperform once again.

Greg Sankey has tried for the last five years to get the SEC to go to nine conference games but the coaches and athletic directors have said no. So for this reason Sankey has decided to do static two or three year schedules where it doesn't matter who was the best or worst team the prior year. Mississippi State has (by some standards) the toughest conference slate in 2025. It remains to be seen if/when the SEC will eliminate Sun Belt November weekend but the commissioner of the league is in league with the B1G commissioner in wanting a 9 game SEC conference slate. When the big two gain control of the playoff in 2026 there have been some whacky propositions like four play in games on championship Saturday which would replace the Conference Title game. That's a terrible idea imo. An undefeated or one loss SEC team shouldn't have their playoff fate decided against a three loss program in any scenario.

Following Nebraska announcing their decision to cancel their spring game because of fears of showcasing guys to transfer portal hawks despite having 60,000 people attend last year. USC, Texas and Ohio State have followed suit. Oregon has yet to come out on the issue publicly, but rumor has it that most college coaches don't enjoy spring games but none wanted to be the first to cancel. I think it's fair to say spring games are going out of style. But wait!!! Nebraska has also been in the news for cancelling a two game series that was meant to be played in 2025 and 2026 because of loss of revenue due to Memorial Stadium getting renovations and having a reduced capacity. Which means they won't have as many paying fans. They informed Tennessee last week which has infuriated their AD Danny White. To me thats a little suspicious and I suspect Nebraska is looking to schedule as many easy wins as possible. I have no problem with that but doing it with just seven months before the first game was to be played is a little dirty. Is this possibly a memo from the B1G to the SEC to go to 9 conference games? How would you feel if Oregon did this or had it done to them in the timeframe Nebraska did it? I don't buy the revenue loss because they have to pay Tennessee a substantial fee to break the agreement and now pay Bowling Green and Miami Ohio to come to Lincoln to replace the Tennessee games.

The NCAA is a complete joke. They want to enforce certain rules and claim it's for the "student athletes" when it's really just about keeping a cushy job for themselves. Either commit to revenue sharing or don't. You can't let football programs like Oregon or Ohio State operate with a hundred million dollar revenue gain but then have the entire Athletic Department be thirty million in the red because there are too many non revenue generating projects. College used to be the final stage for a young adult to launch into being successful and productive members of society. But when administrators can't even balance a checkbook to save their lives but insist it's the right thing. It doesn't make any cents.

Until they fix and are able to enforce any sort of commitment at all, there is no such thing.

Great write up Jon. I only wish those in charge of schedules would do the research you did. The whole antiquated cross division rivalry was always stupid and nonsensical. Florida draws LSU every year and while it's a fun game to watch there aren't any Gator or Tiger fans that need that game. I would like an Arkansas or Mississippi State in between the Georgia and FSU games some years. I'm sure LSU wouldn't mind Vanderbilt or South Carolina once in a while over coming to the Swamp. The different ways Texas and Oklahoma have been treated is also mind boggling as you pointed out the programs first two years in the SEC. Yes Texas played at Michigan last year and will be at Ohio State this upcoming season, but they'll be given a mulligan if they lose at Ohio State. Not sure if Georgia or Florida will if they lose to Clemson and Miami respectively. Texas got their way in the Big 12, they helped destroy that league by chasing away Nebraska, A&M, Missouri and Colorado with their Longhorn Network. Imagine the PAC Twelve having such a vanity project like the Trojan Network or some really ill conceived and poorly ran PAC 12 Network with a commissioner using major funds to build lavish offices in expensive San Francisco.... Scratch that last part.

Running a website is hard. It's not cheap either and to juggle with any sort of ad revenue to clean format ratio is a full time job. Wait until AI interface begins getting even more complex. Charles does a great job running and operating this site.

I didn't get to watch this game and watching it back as I record most live events is impossible since inevitably someone or something spoiled the result for me. Funny how nobody talks about something until you don't want them to. Congrats to Canada. We'll get you in the Olympics next year(fingers crossed).

What's the definition or amount you call heavy and is it still a transfer if say a recruit signs up but never really goes to the school? Florida took a five star receiver from Oregon after he signed with Oregon but he is still in high school or was an early graduate that will be a true freshman this year. I don't consider him a transfer. But as to the question of what is considered a heavy transfer class. I think you can look at Indiana and Florida State as truly heavy transfer classes with about twenty guys or so that saw time. Ole Miss was a heavy transfer class and most of their NIL went to getting guys like former Gator Princely who was a heavy contributor in 2023 with over 80 tackles and nearly 10 sacks. Ohio State has their well known twenty million dollar roster. But a lot of that went to keeping guys like Ebeka, Henderson, Burke, Sawyer and JT. Yeah Will Howard, Judkins and the "Eraser" Caleb Downs played big roles, but most of their leadership was recruited and coached up for years. Oregon brought in Dillon and Bo Nix before him. But Nix was developed during his time and is more Duck than Tiger. Dillon was a journeyman brought in so he could lead an already deep and talented squad into unknown waters and he did just that. I don't think you'd want a second or first year guy leading you into games at Wisconsin or Michigan and hosting Ohio State or playing against Abdul Carter and that ferocious Penn State line in Indy. Oregon won't have to be dependent on the portal because you recruit at such a high level already. Indiana and Ole Miss will need to hit it yearly because their classes are in the twenties and forties respectively. Remember when Lane Kiffin was considered a great recruiter?

Congrats to Sweden. They lost two heartbreaker's in overtime but end up getting a victory heading into the Olympics next year. To anybody of Swedish ancestry SKOL or SKAL!!!!

Sweden leads 2-1 heading into the third. Fast pace but not as hard hitting. Both Tkachucks are out for the remainder of game.

Snoopy or Odie from Peanuts and Garfield respectively.