GatOrlando

I agree with the list. Those games against Wisconsin were great in the 2000's, and you guys split with the Spartans in the 2010's. Plus the former Bevis coach being there like you said. I think Ohio State will have to respect Oregon as a major threat to their B1G recruiting crown going forward, as well as on the field. Michigan is one of the most arrogant fan bases I've ever had the honor of coming across. They think their majestic blue is above reproach, and take dogs at any program for taking shortcuts, but you must not question the integrity of their Michigan men like John Harbaugh. The guy who got several suspensions for recruiting violations, including a big one during the pandemic. Let's not even begin to talk about Stallions. Penn State and Ohio State have their fair share of arrogance as well. But they will be more open to calling Oregon a rival. Michigan will only accept Oregon after the Ducks beat them several more times and win a couple National Titles. They view USC as the only true program from the PAC Four additions that merit their attention as a potential new rival.

I thought Maryland would be an interesting choice for cultural reasons. Nike vs Under Armour. Pacific Coast vs Atlantic Coast. Uniforms galore. But Maryland really is more of a basketball school. Mike Locksley is likely on the hot seat this season, so it will be interesting to see if the Terrapins decide to invest in their football program with a guy that can build that place up if Mike is let go after this year. My other interesting choices would be Nebraska or Iowa. Both have pretty strong football history and strong fanbases. I know they aren't as exciting picks as the big three, but both have potential to be ten win teams if everything goes right. Do you believe in Rhule as the guy to finally fix Nebraska? He broke the decade plus stretch of not winning a bowl game just this past season. Dylan Raiola is a potential dark horse to become a Heisman contender. With Iowa it's more about having just a pulse on offense. They got the transfer QB from North Dakota State, and apparently he has impressed in Spring and Summer camp. If he can just get them to average twenty points they could be a threat with Phil Parker's defense.

Imagine the NFL playoffs being seeded off a committee. "Hmmmm..... I think 12-5 Kansas City should be the one seed based off playing in a harder division.". Despite the fact Baltimore, Buffalo and Houston, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati have better records. But Denver LA Chargers and Vegas all went 9-8. Meanwhile the Jets, Browns, and Titans all were so terrible that they dragged their division sos down. Beano Cook once said there would never a playoff because college football would always need the bowls. We need to cut this antiquated way of thinking.

I don't think Stefanski is a bad coach. I think he was sabotaged by the Deshaun Watson deal. Why go out of house and pay the amount they did in salary and draft picks for a guy that had such concerns and was injury prone? Imagine if they kept Baker and used those three first rounders on players that could help them. I know a few receivers they could have had to go with Chubb, Cooper,Njoku and what a pretty strong offensive line. The problem for DG going anywhere else is I don't think anybody else would've drafted him above the sixth round. The one place that will give you the chance is also the one place that has a history of making bad decisions. If DG is going to make it, he's going to have to be that good. The added pressure is now the fan support Sheduer is going to get. Those fans are desperate for a savior, they loved Baker. I think they see Sheduer as a guy with charisma and the ability to lift up the play and confidence of his teammates, much like Baker. I don't know if DG has that in him.

I've heard it said that if he was four inches taller than he would've been a first round pick. I've seen his tape and heard the comps to Drew Brees. But Brees had a very unique launch point from a QB. Drew would take the two or three step drop and from the pocket he would arch his ball at a 35 degree angle with his head tilted upward. How he saw the field like that? I don't know, but he was a 70 percent passer. DG doesn't have the arm of Russel Wilson, Kyler Murray or Baker Mayfield. He doesn't have the precision to do what Drew could do in the pocket imo. I would comp DG to Doug Flutie. Many think Doug had a cannon for some reason, but I think he was most dangerous due to his wheels and ability to escape the pocket without top flight speed. If DG is to last in the NFL that is his path imo. I saw way too many batted balls when DG was with UCF, Oklahoma and Oregon when he went against NFL dlineman like Abdul Carter or Jack Sawyer. There are 6'5 dudes littered up and down those rosters.

Marcus Mariota went second in 2015, he didn't become what many thought. But he's a reliable backup. Justin Herbert went fifth in 2020, he's been an incredible regular season QB. Still looking for his first playoff win, but he's a top 10 QB. Bo Nix went in the bottom of the first last year. He started of slowly the first six game, but took off after that. Finishing in the top 4 of the OPOTY. He is the unquestioned future in Denver. Dillion Gabriel shockingly went in the third round this past draft. Now he is going to the place where QBs go to perish, and he is competing against many narratives. But the coaches in Cleveland seem to love him. He is currently hurt and it's looking like Flacco will be their QB. Can Dillon stick and be a starting QB? Is he destined to be a backup?

Blueblood, ha!! A meaningless term to me. I guess it's a way to make Nebraska feel good about itself. But realistically Oregon is, has, and will be a better program than Nebraska for twenty plus years now. You've been better than Texas, USC, Notre Dame, Florida, Penn State, Miami, Florida State, Texas A&M, LSU,Tennessee, and yes even Michigan as well. Yes I realize 6 of those have won National titles in that time period. But Oregon has performed at a higher level consistently and lost two title game appearances.

Many Seminole fans wish everyone could forget that hire too. But as long as they sit on that old horse and laugh at others without realizing they're in quicksand, I'm gonna remind them it's been a decade plus since they've won anything.

What's ironic is many Gator boosters were willing to pay the Napier buyout and go after Lane. I think Lane is just a more loud mouth version of Dan Mullen. Dan couldn't or wouldn't put in the effort to recruit, and Lane would prefer to recruit out of the transfer portal because he doesn't really want to put in the time to get high school kids and mold them. It would be a massive mistake to give that guy 10 million a year. I want an offensive guy that will bring back the fun and gun system Steve made famous. I would like a guy like Dillingham if that were possible. But I think it's only fair that Billy get a full year to show what he can do. Lane Kiffin can play his little games in Oxford, let Auburn or LSU hire him. I don't think Lane will pull a Malzahn, Fisher, or Orgeron and win a random title with one freaky QB run. I think he's a 7-10 win guy at best.

Lane also left in the middle of the night. Willie has turned out to be a one hit wonder while Lane later turned his career around at FAU and Ole Miss. I'll ask this. Are Oregon fans angrier at Willie or Mario? I know you got an upgrade with Lanning, but he wasn't a sure thing coming in as an unknown from Georgia. Oregon seems to just be a program that gets a better coach each time one leaves. Take Helfrich out of there and you have Chip Kelly, Mario Christobal and now Dan Lanning. I don't think you'll have an issue of having Dan leave for a better college job. Oregon is at that level where you can't move upward anymore. Alabama, Michigan, Texas, Georgia, LSU, Penn State,Ohio State, Notre Dame, Clemson, USC, and hopefully Florida very soon are all tier one. But it's a lateral move from Oregon at this point imo.

Do Oregon fans dislike Willie as much as Tennessee fans do Lane? Both left after one season to coach at their "dream" jobs. Both got fired.

Basic rules of the South. Love your parents. Love your country. Provide for your family. Honor your beliefs. Honor your SEC football program. You had an Alabama fan poison an over 100 year old tree on the Auburn campus during Iron Bowl week back in 2012. The genius called up Pawl and bragged about it. He got in trouble over that and didn't regret a thing.

I normally don't like UGA because of obvious reasons( mostly because Georgia has been the class of the SEC while Florida has flunked out) but I love BullDogs. They have a unique beauty to them.. I can see UGA attracting the ladies, but he's no Odin😂

That monstrosity of a mascot at Stanford is iconic for reasons. For me they make the trees from Wizard of Oz look good. You are called the Stanford Cardinal. Just become the fifth best Cardinal in sports. Being that this is Lee Corso's retirement year, I wish he could've done an Oregon game and an Ohio State game. Those are his two favorite mascots.

I love our armed forces. My grandfather served in the second world war. My father served in Vietnam. I went against their Army roots and joined the Air Force, or Chair Force as many Marines called us 😅. I've got some stories about meeting those guys. The technology we have that most don't even know about would shock your most ardent gear head. I won't get into even the little bit that I know about. But it's amazing stuff. I have a buddy who is looking to go back, but he wants to go into the Space Force. I can't even imagine the stuff he might see if that happens.

There was a time when pilots had to shoot at their enemies through their propellers. We went from there to the ENIGMA machine where the British decided the German's UBOAT transmissions. Fast forward to the 60's and we had BlackHawk copters that could navigate in dense rainforests. Fast forward to the 90's and we had Hummers that could traverse the dryest deserts or the muddiest swamps. Fast forward ten more years and we had stealth bombers that were almost invisible to radar. Now we have bunker busters, and apparently drones that will fight for us. The next step is obvious and scary, if you believe the Terminator or Matrix movies. Maybe one day we could stop building things to destroy ourselves. Imagine if we used all those resources to build something like a space station, or a moon base. Heck maybe find Atlantis. If you believe it existed.

Strength of schedule is amusing to me in many ways. I know it's a metric that SEC people use quite often. But here's the problem. Let's say Texas, LSU, Texas A&M, Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, Alabama, and Ole Miss all start in the top 20. All of those teams automatically are given a boost when they play each other. Missouri can lose to Texas and they won't drop far. Texas will gain the boost from playing Missouri and it's labeled a top 15 win. Missouri can lose four games to top 15 teams and they won't drop. They will be given the benefit of the doubt because they lost to four top 15 teams. But Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, Washington, Maryland, and Michigan State will all start out the season with the same record as those in the SEC. They will not get the benefit of the doubt, and losses accrued will be punished far more severely. Oregon can beat Illinois before Illinois has a chance to prove they were a ten win team, and Oregon will not get the initial bump for beating Illinois, Nebraska, or Maryland. So each loss will lower their perceived ranking and the wins will give them less padding. After all losing to an unranked Illinois is far worse than a top 15 Missouri. But why did Missouri get the benefit of the doubt when the season started? Because they won ten games the season prior and won a Cotton Bowl over a less than motivated Ohio State squad. I don't know why this is hard to understand. I'm not jealous of other SEC squads and defecting my loyalties. First of all I am a fan of one team and will never cheer for Georgia or Tennessee in the playoff. If that makes me some kind of turncoat or Benedict Arnold, so be it. But we all know if you start on third base because of your brand or conference affiliation, you have a major headstart over those that have to win big from the start, and you better not lose even after you start off with a bang. A two loss Texas will always be given the benefit over a a one loss Indiana. If you don't take my word for it, look at this preseason SOS list. Go look at the last five years, look at the end season loss columns. Then look where those teams started the next year. Look where the benefit is given. https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/ranking/schedule-strength-by-other?date=2025-01-21

Napier said it's nothing that will go past next week. More precautionary.....I hope. Our season rests on that young man's arm.

I love and respect many things about Notre Dame. I love the history. I love Rudy. I love the fact Notre Dame not only has great football players, but great young men with high academic achievements. I love the song "Here Come The Irish". I love coach Holtz, even if he's a bit over the top. I love the sign "Play Like a Champion. I love Touchdown Gosh. I love the uniforms. But it's time for Notre Dame to join a conference. Actually it's time for college football to let Notre Dame know it's time to join a conference. Nobody has gotten more favorable positions than Notre Dame. They didn't have to split any of their playoff run revenue. They get that massive NBC deal, and they get their own special seat with the CFP committee. Time to save the ACC and join up Notre Dame.

When Foley was our AD he had a strict no leaving Florida for any OOC game. Florida would play FSU but the schedule would fill out with FIU, Citadel, and Bishop Sycamore. When Stricklin got hired he got us involved with an opening week game in Dallas vs Michigan. There was an outcry from Miami and UCF fans that Florida was dodging them. Yes that's for real, UCF fans are much like Oregon State without the heritage of at least ever being a conference mate. But Stricklin thought it would help recruiting by playing games in Miami and Orlando. Why he didn't see the two year slate coming after Texas and Oklahoma were announced as joining us beyond me. Everybody knew Florida was going to draw Texas. As far as beating Texas this year, it all depends on keeping Lagway healthy and BN not calling the same predictable and boring offense he has the first three years. Matter of fact Napier just needs to give up play calling like Ryan Day did, and Day is much better at it btw. Many SEC fans get mad when I say the league needs to go to nine conference games. Like you said, that would actually make Florida's schedule easier. It's the Ole Miss, MSU, Vandy, South Carolina, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Missouri like schools that protest the loudest. The same schools that spout off about the strength of the league top to bottom. Rhett Lashlee made a very valiant point in saying the SEC has six schools that have carried the league. I look at the B1G and see Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State. Now you have Oregon, USC, and maybe Washington.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25230453-notre-dame-ad-opposes-big-tens-cfp-bracket-model-you-have-earn-it-field "I happen to think that there should be automatic qualifiers for the Power 4 conference champions, and there should an automatic qualifier for the highest-rated G5 champion," he told Pete Sampson of The Athletic. "But then, whether it's 12, 14, or 16 (teams), I think you have to earn it on the field. And those should be at-large berths. I think that's the best way, the most repeatable way, to get the very best teams to compete for a national championship year-in and year-out. And I think most people agree with that. Both the decision makers, the general public, football fans, I think that's what people want to see."

Vanderbilt doesn't have a tough ooc conference game ever. FSU may be garbage, but they are still capable with transfer Cosstellanos(still a fool for calling out Bama). Plus top 15 Miami, top ten Georgia, Texas, and LSU, and potential top 20 Tennessee, and Texas A&M. I may be somewhat biased Jon, but is there a tougher set of games on paper? You know I don't buy the whole SEC can't play nine conference games because of some sos metric SEC coaches use as a crutch, but the Gators play two in State rivals that are P4 programs. Last year we had 3 ooc games vs P4 opponents. UCF was Big 12, even if they may still have had an American Conference roster as they've only been there two years, their third coming this year.

Pettiti needs to be loud and clear like Sankey is in getting his point across . Nine conference games across the board. An in season cross conference slate every year, that way the depth of the conferences can show out. No the ACC and Big 12 aren't on the same level. But the B1G wasn't near that level before they became ruthless and closed the gap. The SEC never missed the 4 team playoff, sending two teams multiple times. The B1G champion missed out a couple times, heck an undefeated ACC champion missed out in favor of a one loss SEC team. You gotta earn your respect in this game, the Big 12 has one playoff win in their entire history. The ACC had one program win the whole thing twice, but no other member even came close to making it in( outside of FSU getting blown out in '14 and being passed over in '23).

Good on Deion, I hope he is feeling better. Battling that can be debilitating, kudos for him to not only beat it, but also continue to work hard and lead Colorado to ten wins while doing so.

What are the ratings really worth? They give five star kids and five star programs the benefit of the doubt. Dante Moore is a more well known commodity, but there's something wild and exciting about the unknown behind door number three. Arch Manning is being hyped like he's going to win the Heisman and lead Texas back to the promised land. Why? Because of what he did vs Mississippi State? Quinn Ewers was once the highest rated recruit ever at Ohio State. The guy became a 7th round pick. Hype and branding are what these rankings are all about. Drew Allar is number one because Penn State is going to do what Michigan and Ohio State did, we all have to believe that. Super Sayin is going to be great because Nick Saban thought so, and now he's with Ohio State and the QB guru Ryan Day. Major Underwood is the ten million dollar man. Best talent money could buy, he's got to be awesome because look at all those attributes.