GatOrlando

That same year Billy Donovan left to be the coach of the Orlando Magic before deciding to reverse course. I think it was also the year Bobby Petrino to quit mid season, leaving the Atlanta Falcons to coach Arkansas. That same year Lane Kiffin was fired by Oakland, and went on to coach Tennessee for one year before leaving in the middle of the night to go to USC. 2007 was an odd year in general. The undefeated Patriots losing on the most improbable pass. Stanford winning as a 42 point underdog. West Virginia choking in their final game vs Pitt. USF getting to number two in the polls before losing it the next week.The smartphone was unveiled. Don't even get me started on the GEICO Cavemen getting their own show.

I think it was clear that Oregon was thinking the rematch would be similar to the original. Unfortunately like most sequels it just really never lived up to that. Ohio State came into that game angry. They felt like October was a huge miss on their part. Add to that the fact they had to hear how horrible they were after losing to Michigan and having to see Oregon win the B1G in their first year. I think they felt like the only way to get their reputation back was by beating the heck out of the new kids.

I hope you're right!! There's been a common theme in three of the losses this year and really the one blowout to Tennessee, but Florida was never in that game. Kentucky, Missouri and Georgia all blitzed out to twenty points leads in the first fifteen minutes. Florida crawled back but ran out of steam. Golden likes to implement a fast pace the first ten minutes of each half and then slow it down to rely on and defense and rebounding. But if the guys aren't making quick and crisp passes and missing on the outside it leaves them open to the other team to push the ball with a man advantage because the forwards are usually in position for rebounds. The problem with missed threes is the ball bounces out further than the forwards are positioned. Florida is built on structure on defense. The wings are long and can switch onto multiple guys. They are sound on positioning for offensive rebounds down low, but the quick pace throws that out of whack with missed jumpers from beyond the arc. Saint Johns worries me because Pitino is the master of the game plan that Golden uses. They have the perfect quick strike runners and are very disciplined on assignments. Florida can't afford two pass possessions against a team like that.

I still can't believe the SEC got 14 teams in. Oklahoma and Texas really got the benefit of the doubt. I guess Finebaum can crow about the SEC bring the best basketball league unless they flame out. Personally I think Duke is the best team right now, but Flagg needs to play for them to win it all. That guy is amazing. As far as the Gators. We have a 7 foot 9 freshman that doesn't need a ladder to cut the nets. Who's the tallest Duck player ever?

One reason I think the B1G will go for FSU is due to the academic coalition that generates a much larger revenue stream than any sporting grouping ever could. Florida State is a huge land grant University that will be AAU in the next year or so. The academic grant money that the B1G generates is why no contraction will take place. It's also why the B1G is the most powerful conference on all sides. The amount of big donors and alumni is far larger than just about every SEC member. Really the only SEC schools that could be invited to the B1G are Texas, Texas A&M, Missouri, Georgia, Florida and Vanderbilt. I try and tell people that Purdue, Northwestern, Minnesota and Indiana are far too valuable to ever allow their football programs be the thing that gets them kicked out. Once you join the league, you become part of something far larger and more important than sports. As far as Clemson and FSU, I can't see Clemson qualifying for B1G membership. But they will add value to the SEC. Florida State has turned down the SEC several times during the Bowden era. The only way I can see the SEC taking them in , is if the SEC doesn't want the B1G to get a footprint in Florida. But eventually the B1G will get North Carolina, Georgia Tech and either FSU or Miami. As a Florida fan I don't want FSU to get an SEC invite and neither does the University. But like Texas A&M and USC, they will be forced to accept it. No one program is bigger than the SEC or B1G.

People ask why there are two conferences that are miles ahead of everybody else and it's stuff like this. The Big 12 catered to and eventually was betrayed by Texas and their Longhorn Network. The PAC 12 was run by two guys who thought having lavish offices and a Network that nobody could actually watch but cost millions to set up and run was the way to go. Still USC and Oregon gave them chance after chance to secure a deal, any deal. But the leadership kept pushing it down the road until the dead end came up and the Road Runner was done playing games. The ACC gave Notre Dame a lifeline in 2020 and got used without any assurances. They even let them play in their conference title game. The league also has some shady rules that are hidden in the back offices in Charlotte and there is a claim that Jim Phillips shipped a television deal to a network run by a son in law or some other family member. Florida State and Clemson claim the league extended the deal with ESPN without telling them and then the lawsuits began. Now FSU and Clemson are being rewarded for suing the league. A league they will likely bolt from in 2030 when the next B1G television deal comes up. North Carolina is the lynchpin of the league and now they are speaking out due to this recent ACC appeasement to the two cry babies. You wouldn't see this in the B1G or SEC. Just go back to when it was announced Texas and Oklahoma were joining. Every school approved it despite reports of Texas A&M being opposed for obvious reasons. The Aggies were told to fall in line because Texas added value and they did just that. There were rumors that USC didn't want the B1G to add Oregon, but it didn't matter. Oregon added value and USC was forced to accept that. Their only comfort was the fact Oregon wasn't getting full shares for the first few years, but you can bet that deep down they were still miffed. Too bad. That's what leadership is.

I've come to the conclusion that the B1G has a much better system of scheduling year to year than the SEC. Sankey could learn a lesson or two.

Back in the day I bet NFL owners or fans never thought the AFL would ever rival them, but they did and eventually they merged to give us a better league. Same thing with the NBA and ABA. How many people thought the BCS was going to destroy college football? Many more thought a four team playoff was the absolute end and it was in a way to the meaning of games like the Rose Bowl or Orange Bowl. But what's hurt college football more than having real games determine matters in late January is the loss of playing for ones team. The transfer portal, coach sniping and now revenue distribution is making us pay attention to the economics of what was once something designed to give us a distraction from the real world. We don't want to hear about spread sheets or taxes. We don't want to hear about grown men lying to young men involving NIL deals or two guys in their 60's having soap opera drama during the season. I learned more about Jim Knowles personal life involving his girlfriend wanting him to go to Oklahoma because she lives there and then about his Pennsylvania roots and always wanting to coach or play there....blah blah blah. It's a 60 year old man that wanted a pay raise, plain and simple. But that's what the media gives us. We can't have spring games anymore because coaches are afraid of having to put their talent on display so another team doesn't tamper and steal them away. It's not the playoffs or "super leagues" that are the threat. We already have super leagues. The SEC and B1G have so many members that they can't even allow all of them to compete in their basketball tournaments. The ACC has two programs that play in California. What's hurting the sport is the fake enforcement committee that has lined their pockets for years off the lies of amateur sports. Now that cat is out of the bag and there are no rules. There's no way to get what's lost back. The only thing to do is adjust and put real guidelines in place. If some sort of power vacuum is filled with an SEC and B1G autonomy than so be it. The ACC and Big 12 don't have the power to say no. But they can negotiate for their inclusion and keep seats at the table. Who knows, maybe all four conferences can maintain some sort of permanent separation that allows a true Cinderella like an ASU to make a real run. They should also realize as a whole how great it was to have people tuning into the Boise vs Wyoming game in November because of the playoff indications . Keep a seat or two open for that to happen again.

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.