I know preseason rankings are a crapshoot and right now there isn't a consensus top team unlike the past few years. There isn't an Alabama, Georgia, Clemson or Ohio State that is returning most of their roster from a championship squad. How many of us would've predicted Oregon would hang onto the number one ranking most of last year and be the only undefeated team heading into the playoff? They had to go to Wisconsin and Michigan, they also hosted Ohio State. This was their welcome to the B1G.

 

So since we are are still a little over three months to go before the season starts and it's kind of the dead season for sports unless you're a baseball fan(I'm not). I would like to see what most would predict are going to be the top 10 teams exiting spring practice. We can always laugh about these after the season starts. Here's mine.

 

1.) Ohio State

2.) Texas

3.) Oregon

4.) Penn State

5.) Georgia

6.) Notre Dame

7.) Clemson

8.) Alabama

9.) South Carolina

10.) LSU

 

I know Oregon, Texas, Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama and Notre Dame are all breaking in new QBs and a good amount of their rosters. But I believe in the abilities of those head coaches and the systems they run. Ohio State is coming off a title run and despite losing 14 guys to the draft, I gotta give them the nod. Ryan Day has never lost more than two games as a head coach.

 

As far as Clemson, LSU and South Carolina. I believe in their returning QBs to carry them despite what most see as questions scattered about the rest of their rosters. I do believe you can carry momentum from one season to the next.

 

Last, I can't imagine James Franklin winning a title even with all their returning talent, including Allar. I see them as a playoff team. But I just don't have any faith in their ability to win three or four straight times against elite competition. They got an absolute gift of a road to the championship game last year and they still blew it. That won't happen again. I believe the selection committee will do a better job balancing out the bracket.

On 5/6/2025 at 2:54 AM, Charles Fischer said:

I LOVE that idea!  And yes...we have a ton of black uniforms....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure if I like the matte helmets better than the traditional. Chrome looks good with your all white unis imo. I'm just trying to picture the tunnel run out in a sea of all white under the lights with the all black Duck unis. Kind of makes me mad knowing it's going to be at Noon. This could be a top five matchup with major conference and playoff implications.

Michigan people have the nerve to say they are continuously being targeted. Remember that they haven't had any of their wins taken away, no scholarships or show clauses either. Michigan should've just hired Belichick. They both cheated numerous times and never got the punishment they deserved. New England did lose a first round pick, but it was pick number 32.

 

What has Harbaugh lost in all this? He got a pay raise and another NFL gig. Remember he was on the verge of being fired and he even pulled out of an incoming beat down by Ohio State in 2020 because of "health concerns". Then in less than one year he figured it all out after 7 years and Michigan went on their run.

Why in the name of golden moments would the B1G not have a clause in the television contract saying there were five games a year that the conference could put in primetime? Happy Valley under the lights in a whiteout vs Oregon for the Ducks first ever visit is a missed opportunity. You know Oregon would have some cool all black look to offset the white out. They would be like Darth Vader or Batman coming in.

On 5/4/2025 at 1:12 PM, Jon Joseph said:

 

I too like the idea, but ... The other day with a come hither look, my spouse asked if I'd like to walk upstairs and make a little love?

 

I replied: 'I think I can do one, but not the other.' 😁

Ahh just like the scene from the infamous movie "The Room". "I didn't do it, it's not true!! It's bull crap!! Hi Jon"

On 4/26/2025 at 11:48 AM, Charles Fischer said:

 

We had a great day today!  

 

"I want my picks back!! All of them!!"

 

That movie was actually probably more realistic than how the Browns in reality run things. Their owner said in '14 that a guy on the street told him to draft Johnny Manziel and he forced his team to do it.

On 4/26/2025 at 11:17 AM, Jon Joseph said:

 

Wow! I did not know, as reported by ESPN today, that 63% of the NFL starters in 2024 were selected in rounds 4 through 7 or signed as free agents. 

 

Considering the number of teams and players, this makes sense. I need to pay more attention to the later rounds.

Well Jon, Jeeves told me five 

 

Also what the heck are the Browns doing exactly? Confucious says never throw a heavy boulder upstream or swim against the current. Rodney Dangerfield says I get no respect. Mel Kiper says to never try to apply logic to what the Browns brass does.

On 4/26/2025 at 8:27 AM, Jon Joseph said:

 

I'm not certain, Gat. But I believe the answer is, FOUR?

I tried to ask Zoltar that question Jon. But I kept getting vague answers like "If that's what I want". Like I have any say whatsoever. I think I'm going to ask Siri or Jeeves.

On 4/25/2025 at 8:20 PM, TheRunningDuck said:

Problem with Sanders is the little league dad intruding.

Makes you wonder if this is a message to any guy in the future who might try to pull an Eli Manning. There were rumors Deion might try that with his son, but I think the media made that up. Deion is brash, but he seems like a rational business man. I hope that Arch Manning gets sent the same message if his gramps tries to pull the same thing he did in '04. College football just sent a  similar message with the whole Imaleava ordeal.

On 4/25/2025 at 10:16 PM, Jon Joseph said:

 

Shedeur should take a lesson from Rodney and go Back to School! But what number would he be allowed to wear? 😁

Hmm... Maybe 26. I wonder if Carson Beck wasn't smarter than we gave him credit for. His injury concern would've probably cost him a first round spot. So he went to dummy U and made four million with a chance to do what Cam Ward just did and cement a much better draft spot. Makes you wonder if Quinn Ewers shouldn't have done the same. Mr. Ewers could've probably gotten close to what Mr. Beck got from a Michigan, Notre Dame or Texas Tech.

 

 

Congrats to Dillon Gabriel. Third round is probably higher than most projected. Before Shedaur Sanders? I would've liked to see that betting line. 

Did the Giants reach for Dart? After the run on first round QBs last year I think this class could definitely be seen as much weaker, at least in scouts minds. You have Sanders as the Aaron Rogers/Johnny Manziel/Brady Quinn of this years draft. You have super fast and rocket armed Jaylon Milroe. You have the grown 25 year old man with 4.63 speed and a rocket in Tyler Shough and you have National Championship QB Will Howard still available. Oh and you have Quinn Ewers who likely hurt his stock by playing injured as his mobility and arm strength didn't look like the five star coming out of college.

 

Will the Saints, Browns, Jets, Steelers or Raiders overpay to get a guy this year? Will they just wait till the third round and take a waiver? Next years class looks to be much stronger this far, so maybe they just roll out wait.

First round kicks off tonight. I think Cam Ward is the consensus to go number one. It gets interesting after that. Both Cleveland and New York(Giants) are shopping picks 2 and 3. If they stay the predictions have them taking the two top overall players Travis Hunter and Abdul Carter.

 

Then it goes like this to round out the top 10.

4.) New England-Will Campbell LSU OT

5.) Jacksonville- Ashton Jeanty Boise State RB

6.)Las Vegas- Kelvin Banks Texas OT

7.) New York Jets- Tyler Warren Penn State TE

8.)Carolina- Jason Walker Edge/LB Georgia

9.) Indianapolis - Colton Loveland Michigan TE

10.)Chicago- Omarion Hampton North Carolina RB

 

Derrick Harmon and Josh Cornerly Jr. are the two projected Ducks to get picked tonight.

On 4/21/2025 at 8:35 PM, SoGaDawg said:

Looks like Nico’s brother Madden is hitting the portal and will also be a Bruin, at least for a time

Geez, I thought the Ball family had a bad patriarch. At least Lavar had played as a reserve in the NBA and created a crappy shoe company. UCLA got burned by this family before. I can't see this ending well for that team. 

On 4/20/2025 at 7:24 PM, Dave23 said:

Many of those coaches got absolutely rotated by their former team, just read all the post about Cristobal on this forum. How many of these coaches sat out the first spring practice?

 

I think there's a line that he crossed and he is feeling the brunt of being the first high profile college player to do it. The team had already said no and he made a big public show of it by holding out of the spring game and their are consequences in college and the NFL when you try the hold out move.

 

Had he just said I guess it's not going to work out and declared that he was opting out before the first practice his image would have been in much better shape on par with the coaches that are hated by their former team. Making it extremely public made it so the national media picked it up and there's little sympathy for the 20-year-old making 2.4 million a year that really hasn't proved anything yet. This generally works the same way in the NFL and his agents should have known this.

I don't buy the "he's a kid"' line myself. He's twenty years old. I and many others have not had the luxury of making five million dollars and getting a free education at a top University to play a game. Wish we had the amazing talent of this guy and yeah we'd surely take the money if offered. But we weren't bestowed with those gifts.

 

I don't trash on a guy for taking advantage of the gifts he was blessed with. I do however agree with people who call him out for his stupidity in handling his business. At some point you have to stand up to even your own father when he's clearly letting his ego ruin your future earnings. The guy wants to be called "Big Nick" and he acted like a petulant child by publicly calling a reporter a liar and an expletive that no mature businessman and father ever should despite proving the reporter 100 percent right less than a day later.

 

This is also a grown man and father who doesn't have a job. His wife is battling a major disease and he's putting the entire families economic future on the backs of his two sons playing careers. He already made his youngest son destroy any future bridge with UCLA, now he's burned many bridges with the elder son that had already brought the family five million and was guaranteed close to another five even if there wasn't an NFL contract at the end.

 

The taxes and price of living in California are much higher in Tennessee and that's no small family that "Big Nick" has his sons providing for.

Nico threw for 19 touchdowns btw. He didn't even throw for 2,500 yards in a Josh Heupel offense. One in which he was given a year to sit and learn. Tennessee had brought in two five star tackles and two high four stars at receiver. Heupel had Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton both playing well enough that they both threw well over 2,500 yards in their first season in his system.

 

I hope this is a learning moment for any young man that the leverage they think they have goes only so far. Especially if your numbers don't bare out what your potential numbers project to be. Maybe it's the only thing that average people and these super talented players have in common. You gotta show up to work everyday. Yeah you have a few million more in the bank but many athletes and celebrities blow through that money because of the people they trust to handle their off the field business.

 

Guys like "Big Nick" and LaVell Anders couldn't handle your finances properly in Monopoly. Just look at what they've done to their reputations and financial portfolio based off their skills and talents alone.

UCLA had thought Nico's younger brother Madden was in the fold. In an instant without a single visit or ties to Arkansas Madden signed on with Arkansas. Deal with this family at your own risk. One of the guys guiding the young man is a guy named Lavell Anders. A former Gator staffer who was let go for "reasons".

 

Joel Klatt actually made a really good point in saying this is ultimately the NCAAs fault. For years now we saw coaches salaries going from 2 million a year to now over ten. Coaches have been playing this game for years and gotten away with it. Now that it's the kids it's deemed out of control.

 

Let's be honest about the fact that guys like Mel Tucker, Jimbo Fisher, Willie Taggart, Lane Kiffin and Brian Kelly have been mercenaries that have no loyalty to anything but their bank account. As a fan of the free market I applaud them. You're worth as much as somebody will pay you. But don't act like it's any better for a coach to do this than a player. Contracts are pointless.

 

I think Dan has a stronger word he'd like to use. I'd like to hear it one day. I also think there was a stronger feeling toward seeing the path Penn State and Texas were given over the only undefeated team in the field. They couldn't have adjusted the seeding so Oregon could've gotten SMU, Clemson, or Indiana? People were saying Tennessee was potentially the second best at large team.

 

So you're giving the only undefeated team and B1G champion the toughest team coming out of the first round guaranteed? Seems kind of dumb to me. We all know college football is now NFL Lite. But that doesn't mean you have to have such an amateur way of seeding the tournament. 

 

It was dumb. You all should turn in your cards right now and go work as Minions at Universal. You can't think clearly, you can't put together a competent reason for giving us Oregon vs Ohio State  2 any earlier than the Championship. Go!!! Get out now!!! You are fired!!!!! Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars!! 

 

What, I said go now. It's over.

Imagine him having to take a pay cut or thinking a guy like Bill Belichick will treat him with the same kid gloves as Heupel. Tennessee fans are notoriously pretty rough on struggling players. Not Nico though.

 

I feel bad that his mom is sick and he's the provider for his family. But his family couldn't get by off two million a year? Why isn't his father working? Michael Jordan's father worked well after his son became a NBA superstar.

After recent post spring practice, Dan Lanning talked about the upcoming season and reflected upon what was almost a perfect first season in the B1G. Winning the league and making history as the first B1G program to beat Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State in the same season. Yet it wasn't enough. 

 

He didn't answer when asked if he was the one who informed Tennessee of their starting QB eyeing a bigger bag. Smart man in both ways.

 

Oregon's Dan Lanning admits waking up every day haunted by embarrassing Rose Bowl blowout

WWW.SPORTINGNEWS.COM

---

Dan Lanning and Oregon had high expectations in the playoffs, but just flatlined. Lanning hasn't forgotten...

 

On 4/13/2025 at 7:13 PM, 30Duck said:

Back in the good ole days, we had Todd Marinovich's dad, then more recently, LaVar Ball & his sons and basketball. But this leaves those in the dust.

Didn't LaVar launch a shoe company? Big Balling or something like that I think. I read a review that they really had no arch support and ultimately fell apart under pressure. Phil Knight and Nike have no cause for concern.

On 4/13/2025 at 11:23 AM, Dave23 said:

Michigan? They're one of the few with the money and the need.

They just gave Underwood 10 million guaranteed to spurn LSU. They also brought in a fifth year guy out of Fresno who will likely be in a mentor role. Michigan is projected to be in a build it this year to compete for it all next year mode. Underwood has more gifts than Nico. I can't imagine them wanting to pay ten million this year on three QBs in a rebuilding year. Underwood is the phenom their boosters want to play.

 

I only see one place and that's UCLA, but do they have the money to give a middling QB 4 million a year? Also remember 4 million in California is likely worth only three million. Now if it was Texas Tech or UCF it would be 4 due to no State taxes.

Didn't the father use some expletive towards a onOne writer that reported on this? Nothing like having your father act like a petulant child and say a report is unfounded only to basically confirm the opposite less than 24 hours. That's the kind of thing that ruins kids futures.

 

He's your son, not a lottery ticket sir. Geesh I thought Universities treated these guys like disposable pieces. I can't imagine acting so selfish as to use my own son like this. I can't publicly take the side of Tennessee on anything. But they aren't the bad guys in this story. I hope the fools in Miami don't validate this clown father, but their credo and history never fails to make me laugh. There's no such thing as substance in Coral Gables. It's all about the facade.

On 4/12/2025 at 9:17 AM, JabbaNoBargain said:

UT has reportedly let him go, and Oregon is mentioned as a school his agent reached out to…and we said hard pass. 😂 
 

Sources - Tennessee moving on from starting QB Nico Iamaleava - ESPN

WWW.ESPN.COM

---

Tennessee is moving on from starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava, sources told ESPN, in the wake of his decision to not attend practice Friday amid NIL contract discussions with the school.

 

You notice that Oregon is always tossed out as a possible suitor? I guess people think they just throw money around like beads on Bourbon Street.

Contracts don't mean anything in college. There is no limit on the amount of times a guy could transfer and he could let it be known at any point that he will be transferring. The players should make money off their likeness. But a guy should honor the agreement he made because that's the only way to do business. Of course both parties can come to the table to renegotiate if one side is outperforming their expected output. But you don't just stop working and demand a raise because somebody on the outside told you they'd give you more.

 

Imagine Charles having an agreement with Jon to write up a team preview in August. Now imagine if Jon told Charles the day before his article was supposed to be written that he requires a press box at Autzen to get the article done. That would damage any future trust and put any future agreements at risk.

 

Jon would never do such a thing because he had an agreement. Charles provides a great website and Jon provides first class articles. Better than Canzano imo. To any Canzano fans I apologize if that offends you, but I find him to be very biased and he pretends to not favor any program in the state. But Beavis is going to Beavis.