Jon Joseph Moderator No. 1 Share Posted yesterday at 06:15 PM O'Gara's No. 1 seed? LSU, Florida, Vandy, Oklahoma, Mississippi State? Predicting the 2025 Playoff: No. 2 Oregon - Saturday Down South WWW.SATURDAYDOWNSOUTH.COM Oregon's 2024 Playoff experience ended on the worst possible note, so is redemption in store in 2025? You bet. I'm going with the Bayou Bengals. However, and FWIW, I like those Hairy Dawgs. (The Georgia, not the Mississippi State, breed. ) Will Brian Kelly finally win an opening game? Opening in the 'Other Death Valley' versus Clemson will not be easy. I'll post Saturday Down South's O'Gara's final pick tomorrow. O'Gara believes we will see Playoff seeding matching the rankings in 2025-26. This would mean OBD, with a 1st round bye, playing the winner of No. 11 Louisville at No. 6 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. Hmmmm. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Administrator No. 2 Share Posted yesterday at 06:32 PM I love it...between mid-February and the end of August...we get HUNDREDS of predictions, or I should say "opinions" about where Our Beloved Ducks end up. I like what he has to say, but damn...I hate this Playoff format, and yeah...we have beaten it to death. This is a very, very good team returning, but like everyone says, it all comes down to QB play. It should NOT come down to that! Why? Because Oregon is one of the few teams in the nation that could bring in an experienced, talented QB as a portal transfer every year as we have done with Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel. In my biased view, we should ALWAYS have an experienced QB every year...always. Why? Because we CAN, and it will make the difference in the high-leverage/profile games. Oregon should not be crossing their fingers that things work out at QB, and yes...I think Moore is talented, and I believe Novosad is talented as well. But they have very little college experience--especially in the big games, and Oregon should not be rolling the dice when a hundred players, a ton of coaches, their families, and staff rely on the success of the football team. And that success can be assured with a talented AND experienced quarterback from the portal. 1 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JabbaNoBargain No. 3 Share Posted yesterday at 07:02 PM (edited) Spot on article. It seems like there will be years when what you have on the roster at QB will be better than what’s out there in the portal market, and I think this was one of those years. We’ve had a history of great and not so great transfers at QB. IMO this is the beauty of the college game, no one knows for sure. Edited yesterday at 07:03 PM by JabbaNoBargain 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanLduck No. 4 Share Posted yesterday at 08:22 PM How do you get experienced qb's? They need to play. I like our qb room. Alot. Moore and Novosad are team leaders. They have rapport. They understand the offense. They are both ready to show out what they're capable of. Behind them Moga and freshman Akili Smith are very talented. This is the year we show what's been developed, not use a hired gun approach. We need to continue to attract stud qb's out of high school. This is the way. I'm counting on our O-line to give the boys time to see the plays and develop game experience. Our defense will give the ball back to the offense regularly, this is the year for young qb's. Bo and Dillon were awesome for us. As players and as team leaders. That's not always the case with portal players. Were we lucky, or the coaches that good? If this proves to not be QB-U, then I'm all in with Mr. Fishduck to portal pick more often. But to me, this is the year to see. Dante has had a full off-season to improve, he has some experience from ucla and our d-line and O-line are ready. Is it almost August yet? 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Author Moderator No. 5 Share Posted 4 hours ago Yep, it's LSU No. 1 for Connor O'Gara. And Bill Connolly's Post-Spring SP+ is Out. I'm with Charles, thousands, if not tens of thousands, of playoff field predictions will be released before the PO Committee speaks on December 7, 2025. (Hopefully, not a B1G Day of Infamy?) I posted the Saturday Down South projection to see how one of the key writers for the SEC's Saturday site sees the field post-spring practice and post-spring transfer portal roster moves. Predicting the Playoff: No. 1 LSU - Saturday Down South WWW.SATURDAYDOWNSOUTH.COM Can LSU get to the Playoff for the first time in the 2020s? Not only can Brian Kelly's squad do that, but it can claim the No. 1 seed. I am not surprised that author Connor O'Gara predicts four B1G and four SEC teams will be in the PO field, along with two teams from the ACC, and one Independent, B12, and G6 team. Here's one more prediction before the 2025 preseason AP poll is released, using the widely used Bill Connolly SP+ post-spring rankings of the 136 teams theoretically in the hunt for a spot in the 2025-26 PO field. Spring update of 2025 college football SP+ rankings for every FBS team - ESPN WWW.ESPN.COM How the spring portal and other changes have impacted the numbers for the coming season. As usual, SP+ is SEC friendly with 12 SEC teams ranked in the top 25, along with six B1G teams, four ACC teams, two B12 teams, and one Independent. Despite the top 25 love for the SEC, Connolly's projected PO field would feature four B1G teams. No. 1 Ohio State, No. 3 Penn State, No. 7 OREGON, and surprise, No. 10 Michigan. Greg Sankey would not be happy about No. 11 Ole Miss being knocked out by No. 18 Kansas State. Ditto ACC commissioner, Jim Phillips, with No. 12 Miami () being knocked out by No. 33 Boise State. With a 4-4-2-2-1-3 16-team field, both Ole Miss and Miami would be in. A reason why a 16-team field is favored to be adopted for 2026-27 and thereafter. Of course, no preseason prediction is likely to be spot on. But both the Saturday Down South site and SP+, among every other metric, support the above referenced PO format. Come On 8/30! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
30Duck Moderator No. 6 Share Posted 3 hours ago Michigan does have 13 starters returning, ranking 10th in that category. For comparison, OBD has 10. Last season, after the Natty, they returned 5. so, there is reason for optimism. Oregon however is not returning its QB, leading receiver, leading running back, the O & D lines, along with the secondary will be new for the Ducks. Let's see if Oregon reloads or has to rebuild. Sadiq is not regarded as a returning starter, so there's that. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Author Moderator No. 7 Share Posted 3 hours ago Lots of Questions for Bill Connolly. Fans Confused Over Updated ESPN SP+ College Football Rankings - Athlon Sports Disagreement over rankings? I'm shocked! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
