Jon Joseph

Florida, the beneficiary of the SEC-bump, is in many of the preseason top 25 rankings. Florida has not bowled since 2024, and Coach Sumrall has never coached in the P4. QB Aaron Philo and his OC Buster Faulkner are coming to Florida from Georgia Tech, but ... In 2025, Philo was the backup QB at GT. Georgia Tech, behind guts ball QB Haynes King, did finish 17th in 2025 Total Offense. But this was against ACC defenses, not what Philo and Faulkner will see in the SEC. CFB guru Phil Steele ranks Florida's 2026 schedule the 10th most difficult in the nation. Sumrall was hired after Florida failed to win the Lane Kiffin sweepstakes. The 7.5 2026 win total for Florida is a good number; I think the Gators will win 7 or 8 games. For Forum friend Gat's sake, I hope the Gators win at least nine games.

Can Dan get this young man's commitment when he lives 'next door' to a Notre Dame team with deep NIL pockets? Choosing Oregon will be an upset.

1st round 2025 16-team field games: 1. Indiana vs. 16 Tulane 8. Oklahoma vs. 9. Alabama 4. Texas Tech vs. 13. Texas 5. Oregon vs. 12. BYU 2. Ohio State vs. 15. Utah 7. Texas A+M vs. 10. Miami 3. Georgia vs. 14. Vanderbilt 6. Mississippi vs. 11. Notre Dame Georgia had a bye and lost to Mississippi in the Sugar Bowl; Oklahoma and Texas A+M lost home games. Texas did defeat a dysfunctional Michigan team in its bowl game; Vanderbilt lost its bowl game to 4-loss Iowa. And as a side note, 3-loss Illinois defeated 3-loss Tennessee in Nashville. Five SEC teams in the 12-team field; none played for a championship. The PO committee thinks the SEC is the top football conference; Tony Petitti, speaking softly and carrying a B1G stick, disagrees. Bill Parcells: "Your record says what you are".

Thank you, Charles, for these great posts. There is humidity where the SEC is meeting in Tampa, but no humility. Perhaps when it doesn't Just Mean More on the field, you might want to zip it? When Big Ten media days open on Tuesday, July 28th, in Chicago, I expect Tony Petitti to reiterate the facts about the conference's athletic success in 2025 and 2026 to date, and then rest his case. I expect to hear nothing about the difficulty of schedules versus 'The Other Guys' or anything about breaking away and going intramural except in response to questions from the media. It will be interesting if we hear from Tony and the coaches about the preference for a 24-team playoff field. The PO committee's final ranking on 12/7/25 would have given us a 16-team PO field with 7 SEC, 3 Big Ten, 3 B12, 1 ACC, 1 G5 team that would have knocked out 16 USC and Notre Dame. Four of the eight first-round games would have been hosted by SEC teams. A 2025 24-team field: 7 SEC, 6 Big Ten, 5 B12, 3 ACC, 2 G5, and Notre Dame. Tony is a businessman well aware that the PO committee's process is opaque and the results are SEC-centric. Tony will not agree to a 16-team PO without automatic qualifiers, which are not included in Tony's 24-team proposal. From having the bully playoff pulpit a few seasons back, Greg Sankey is now on a playoff island of his own. BTW, what do you think ESPN would pay to broadcast intramural SEC sports with the playoffs only involving SEC teams?

Aesthetics-wise, T. Boone Pickens Stadium ranks No. 4 in this B12 stadium ranking, but it is the loudest stadium in the conference and No. 1 in open amateur fans' voting. Perhaps a Week 2 11 AM local kickoff time is a blessing in disguise? At least a few of the Paddle people could be sober? https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/big12/2026/07/23/big-12-college-football-stadium-rankings/90950547007/?utm_source=usatoday-sports-strada&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=usatbaseline&utm_term=Conten

No offense, but down Tampa-way, the SEC seems to be getting B1G-time defensive. https://athlonsports.com/college-football/sec-big-ten-conference-supremacy?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=athlon_thearena&utm_content=&hashed_email=ddb10cec1ab03a At next week's Big Ten media days, July 28th through July 30th, I expect Commissioner Tony will simply state the facts before taking a seat. And there will be no talk of breaking away from the rest of college sports and going intramural.

Malik speaks - (No insight into the gentlemen's tailors. Any ties on today's sideline?) Oregon Ducks On SIMalik Benson Offers Rare Insight Into Dan Lanning And Nic...Oregon Ducks coach Dan Lanning and former Alabama Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban are two of the most respected minds in college football. Former Ducks receiver M

Scoreboard? We don't care about no stinkin' scoreboard. Every loss could have gone the other way! After all, Bama's 38-3 Rose Bowl loss to Indiana was oh so close, right? How can any respectable SEC team win in the land of fruits and nuts? If we'd had a well-deserved seven SEC teams in the field, we could have made it to the finals! Mizzou Coach Eli (I've had too much to) Drinkwitz: the SEC schedules, especially with a 10th P4 opponent out of conference, are so much harder than Big Ten schedules. OK, Eli, in 2025, your team did not defeat a team that finished with more than six wins, and you scored seven points and lost against ACC conference UVA in your bowl game. When the facts are not on your side, obfuscate. Texas A&M did not defeat an SEC team that won more than 6 games and lost at home in the PO 1st round. Vandy went 10-2 and lost to 8-4 Iowa in the postseason. Illinois defeated Tennessee, another SEC behemoth, in Nashville, Tennessee. But, by all means, Greg Stankey, break away from the rest of the national riffraff with a conference that extends east-west from Columbia, South Carolina all the way to Norman, Oklahoma, and north-south from Lexington, Kentucky to Gainesville, Florida. I hope the SEC is enjoying its media days in Tampa(ering), Florida, where there is humidity but no humility.

Hats off to Dante Moore! But 5 stars do not ipso facto = CFB success. On what planet has Golden Archie met expectations? https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/five-star-prospects-2023-college-football-recruiting-class/?eid=c7d8647c6247db8d08c59fe44bc30380a147aa90b9e33099045cd46ddc6a485b&ftag=SNL-04-10aaa0b&ET_CID=5660

College Football News predicts 10-2 for OBD. https://collegefootballnews.com/college-football/oregon-football-preview-2026 Ohio State predicted to go 11-1 https://collegefootballnews.com/college-football/ohio-state-football-preview-2026 10-2 puts Oregon in the PO, likely with a 1st round home game. Let Ohio State play a 13th conference champ game.

CBS Sports' Brad Crawford lifts his stein to Will - https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/kentucky-2026-outlook-will-stein-sec-media-days-kenny-michey/

Man, that practice was a son of a beach! 🤪 https://trojanswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/trojans/football/2026/07/20/usc-football-announces-beach-day-wednesday/90990604007/

Bill Connelly - Questions for 18 title-contending teams - https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/49412015/2026-college-football-ifs-national-title-contenders-georgia-texas-alabama-ohio-state-michigan-lsu The three "ifs" for the Ducks are: The O-line holding up; the D finds negative plays; correct playoffs losses.

Lou, is that you? I thought you left the building? YardbarkerOhio State HC Ryan Day cautioned after team was 'beaten u...After Ohio State took a fast and hard fall in the postseason last season, there were a lot of angry voices who were vocal toward Ryan Day.

You can expand to 20 teams; however, except for Notre Dame and UConn, any new member has to play as an independent for five seasons before joining the new conference. Are you spitting me? Why would any conference, especially the Power 2, support this D(isturbed) C(ognitive) nonsense? https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/protect-college-sports-act-proposal-conference-expansion/?ftag=SNL-04-10aaa0b&ET_CID=565739&ET_RID=52482716

ND, UGA insiders were prescient, no surprise. October 17, 2025, Minnesota upsets Nebraska 24 to 6. Dylan Riola is sacked 9 times (!) in the game, a Golden Gophers record. Better players and coaches in Eugene surround Dylan. Matt Ruhle is 19-19 at Nebraska, 10-17 in the Big Ten, 2-23 all-time versus ranked teams, 0-8 with the Cornhuskers. But how much difference will it make when Dylan is under pressure? James Franklin is fired, and Cornhusker paranoia results in Ruhle being rewarded with an extension and a pay raise. Nebraska should not have fired Frank Solich, and he is a flake, but the same for Bo Pelini.

SI to Sankey and the SEC - "Scoreboard." Again, I caution against recency bias, and again, I prefer Tony P speaking softly and carrying a B1G stick. SIThe SEC Is Losing the Battle for College Football SupremacyPlayoff disappointments, coaching turnover and the Big Ten’s rise have put unprecedented pressure on the SEC to prove it still leads college football.

Athlon's Steve Lasson predicts the biggest B1G game of the week - https://athlonsports.com/college-football/big-ten-football-predicting-best-game-every-week-in-2026-season

In how many seasons? He had a decent haul from the portal, especially on the O-line. Projected starter at QB, Kenny Minchey Jr, couldn't win the QB job at Notre Dame, but he pushed CJ Carr for the starting job. 2026 Wins - Youngstown State and South Alabama. Kentucky plays Bama, LSU, Vanderbilt, Florida, and Louisville at home. South Carolina, Tennessee, and Missouri could be winnable road games.

Highlights and lowlights from On3's Chris Low's look at College Football (CFB) 2026 schedules. Chris Low's introductory sentence to this article is spot on: "We all know that schedules aren't created equal, even within the same [mega] conference." Toughest Schedule - Ohio State - Six teams in every P4 conference in 2025 finished with five or fewer wins. Only one of the Big Ten's six 2025 basement dwellers, Maryland, is on the schedule. The Week 2 game at Texas, with a 7:30 PM Eastern kickoff, is on paper 2026's premiere out-of-conference (OOC) game. Oklahoma is at Michigan in Week 2 with a Noon Eastern (🤬) kickoff. Easiest Schedule - Texas Tech - Tech does not play BYU or Utah. Houston, Arizona, ASU, and TCU visit Lubbock. The Red Raiders 'toughest" OOC game is a Week 2 matchup against New World Oregon State, not in San Salvador, Greenland, or Plymouth, Massachusetts, but in Corvallis. Penn State is the easiest schedule runner-up. PSU does not play Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio State, or Oregon, and plays USC in Happy Valley. 2025 B1G basement dwellers Wisconsin, Purdue, Rutgers, and Maryland are on the schedule. Georgia, and it's about time, has the easiest SEC schedule. But nine SEC games and a season-ender vs. Georgia Tech is far from easy. Easiest Out of Conference Schedule - Nebraska - Ohio University, Bowling Green, and FCS North Dakota visit Lincoln. Good for Matt Ruhle, who is 0-8 at Nebraska against ranked teams. Indiana is a close OOC no sweat schedule runner-up - North Texas with zero starters back, Howie, er, Howard, and Western Kentucky all visit Bloomington. Indiana's next OOC game vs. a P4 opponent is Notre Dame in 2030; however, both teams are considering canceling the home-and-home series. Hardest Out of Conference - Georgia Tech - Colorado, Tennessee, and at Georgia. Thank you, Mr. AD. Boise State at Oregon in Week 1 is on the 'Better Watch Out' list. I'd add OBD's game at Oklahoma State in Week 2 to this list. All of the starters not returning for North Texas are suiting up for the Cowboys, with the game kicking off at 9 AM Pacific. Toughest Home Slate - USC has OBD, UW, and Ohio State coming to LA. LSU is second with home games vs. Clemson, Texas A&M, Alabama, and Texas. Toughest Away Schedule - Texas plays Tennessee, Missouri, LSU, and Alabama on the road and Oklahoma in Dallas. Easiest Away Schedule - Notre Dame. And this is with an October 17th game at BYU, the only P4 road opponent with more than five wins in 2025. Somehow, Notre Dame managed to schedule three Big Ten 2025 basement dwellers, Wisconsin in Green Bay, at Purdue, and Michigan State in South Bend. Give Me a Break! - BYU plays nine straight P4 opponents without an Off Week, and Oregon, Oklahoma, and Texas play eight straight P4 games. Toughest Close - Texas A+M is at Alabama, Off Week, at South Carolina, Tennessee, at Oklahoma, Texas. With a week off after the visit to Bama, why is this included in the Aggies' stretch run? Sorry, but factoring in the travel, I'll go with Oregon at Ohio State, Michigan in Eugene, at Michigan State with a Friday 8 PM Eastern kickoff on November 20th, then home against Washington on November 28th. Then a possible conference championship game on December 5th in Indianapolis, the 3rd trip to the East Coast in five weeks. Mercy! Play Ball! On3College football schedule superlatives for 2026: Easiest,...The first thing to remember when doing a deep dive on college football schedules is that “ain’t nobody played nobody.” It’s the official slogan, albeit with a Southern touch, of any debate regarding a

"Because of me." Will's exactly where he belongs. I Just Mean More! 🫤 Hopefully Willie's 1st play call will turn out better than the call in Atlanta. Unless Will is trampled on the sideline, how could it turn out any worse? 🤬

They're piling on Manny more than when he played DT for Bo. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/michigan-built-champions-warde-manuel-ad-now-it-needs-adult/

ESPN and SP+ Bill Connelly's 2026 Preview of the SEC - https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/49143990/2026-sec-college-football-preview-predictions-top-transfers-more

"Manny, don't let the door connect with your posterior on the way out." Maize n BrewLack of proper oversight has allowed Michigan’s controver...Michigan’s lack of administrative stability has allowed the issues within its athletic department to persist despite the on-field success:

Thanks, David, for another terrific article. Akili at TE? Yes, if and as you noted, he is prepared to block LBs on the run and DBs downfield, and to help against DEs. For the obvious reason, I do not want to see Akili start any game this season. Mop-up duty would be fine. I want all Ducks on deck for the PO. A dinged-up Dante would be no fine. 🤬