Jon Joseph

An update on the Stewart situation. Oregon Ducks On SIOregon’s Path Forward on Offense Goes Beyond Evan StewartEUGENE - Oregon’s comeback win over Nebraska gave the Ducks something to build on. It showed they can work through adversity and find a way to win, even while t

Monday, Monday, can't trust that day. Thank you for the Tuesday Take. Forum Friends are happy that you can find the time to contribute your thoughts. Your articles are enjoyable and on target. I recall after Spring Ball how many Oregon fans were concerned about the kicking game. And were confident the inexperienced O-line players would come through. Whoops! The Massey Ratings, like the Rivals site, was purchased by On3. Massey strength of schedule (SOS) rankings are used below. Recall that there are 68 Power 4 teams, including Notre Dame. 4-2 Oregon is ranked 27th in the latest AP Poll. Through Week 7, Oregon's SOS is ranked 16th; the remaining schedule is ranked 20th. 6-0 Texas Tech is ranked 8th in the AP Poll. SOS 71. Future SOS 57. 6-0 No. 1 Miami SOS to date is 65. Future SOS 57. Yes, the 2026 schedule has been more difficult than many expected. Human voters and the PO committee continue to pay lip service to SOS. Oregon is ranked 10th by FPI; 11th by SP+; and 17th by Massey. Today, according to the human voters, No. 16 USC and No. 21 Boise State would be included in a 24-team PO field. Oregon and No. 25 5-2 Oklahoma State would be left out. Four two-loss SEC teams would be among the nine SEC teams in the field. Once again in 2026, we see that a loss by an SEC team to another SEC team is forgiven in the AP and Coaches polls. I get it, you have to play the schedule you are dealt. But it is far from a fair fight, especially when the rankings are mostly based on the Eye Test. My preseason concerns about a sneaky difficult schedule and four new O-line starters, with only an FCS athlete brought in from the portal, have unfortunately been met. My concerns about the kicking game? Not warranted. My thinking was that the defense would play from the start, as it has in the last two games. HMMMMMMMM. Thanks again, David, for making the effort to make such a significant contribution to the Forum.

Picking up where Gat's post, immediately above, left off. Five P4 teams are undefeated after Week 7. Three are from the B12, 1 ACC team, and UCLA. UCLA is the only Power 2 team that is undefeated. Using Massey strength of schedule (SOS), current and future. There are 68 Power 4 teams, including Notre Dame. Strength of Record (SOR) rankings use ESPN's FPI rankings. 4-2 Oregon - 16 to date/ 20 remaining - SOR 29 6-0 No. 1 Miami - 65/ 57 - SOR No. 5 The Canes have one Top 25 win vs. 17 Wake Forest. No. 4 Notre Dame is the only ranked team left to play; November 7th in South Bend. 6-0 No. 2 BYU - 22/ 31 - SOR No. 1 BYU has two Top 25 wins: 25 Arizona and No. 4 Notre Dame, both in Provo. A much tougher schedule than Miami's, now and in the remaining six games. 6-0 No. 8 Texas Tech - 71/ 57 - SOR No. 8 One Top 25 win against 14 Houston in Lubbock. No. 25 Arizona is the only remaining Top 25 team on the Red Raiders' schedule; Lubbock on 10/31. 6-0 No. 9 UCLA - 31/ 52 - SOR No. 3 No wins against the Top 25. No. 16 USC in the final game of the season in Pasadena is the only Top 25 team the Bruins have left to play. Bob Chesney coming to UCLA from James Madison and a lightweight schedule is eerily reminiscent of Curt Cignetti's first season at Indiana in 2024. 6-0 No. 10 Utah - 61/ 50 - SOR 13 No Top 25 wins to date. This Saturday, 14 Houston visits with College GameDay going from Provo in Week 7 to Salt Lake City in Week 8. The Utes play No. 2 BYU at home on November 7th and No. 25 Arizona in Tucson the following week. --- Four two-loss teams are ranked in the latest AP Poll: No. 13 5-2 Alabama; No. 18 5-2 LSU; No. 20 5-2 Florida; No. 22 5-2 Missouri. No two-loss team from outside the SEC is ranked. AP Poll rankings are an art and not a science, with many pollsters painting with an SEC-centric brush. Based on its 10-2 out-of-conference record against Power 4 opponents, the SEC does deserve a fair amount of love. However, nine SEC teams ranked in the Top 25 is over the top. 5-2 Oklahoma State was ranked No. 18, lost on the road to No. 14 Houston by three points, and is no longer ranked. This kind of stuff is male bovine excrement, and why Tony Petitti insists on a 16-team playoff with eight play-in games. Blast Bret Bielema. Make his Illini ILL!

Nebraska Game Report Card. https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/football/2026/10/18/oregon-football-week-7-report-card-middling-grades/92312243007/

Winners and Losers from Week 7 - In CFB, it helps to have a dual-threat QB - Ask Kirby Smart and Steve Sarkisian https://www.yardbarker.com/college_football/articles/cfb_week_7_winners_losers_sec_eating_itself_byus_major_statement_and_more/s1_13132_44441362?utm_source=mb&utm_medium=email&mb_edition=20261019&mb_loc=left_

What! Me Worry? 😁'Something' is Missing from Every Team. SIForde-Yard Dash: The College Football Season Is Slipping...The losses and problems are piling up for some preseason title contenders approaching the critical stretch of the season.

Odds for the Illinois Game - Ducks favored by 12.5? OBD has covered twice in six games this season. Oregon Ducks On SIOregon vs. Illinois Betting Odds Come With Warning Sign f...After a narrow 17-14 win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers at home in Autzen Stadium, the Ducks head on the road to start a crucial lineup of games that will determ

Does Kirby Smart have control of his Georgia team?

This wired (un)social media world takes what may be a fact and turns it into a legion of troubles and worries. This is not new for our species; gossip doesn't need an accelerator. It's children playing the game of Telephone. And the media that used to be a guardian of reporting the truth simply wants to be the first to report and damn the consequences. All of the above may be true, but get the facts; facts are inconvenient things.

Missing on the Oregon team? O-line talent and the starting QB. And based on more learned folks than I, problems with the schemes, coaching, and erratic play from backup QBs. And yes, this experienced team on defense in particular came into the season overconfident and without the attitude needed to win football games against top talent. Boise is good. OK State schould be in the top 25 and not 26th. 5-1 Nebraska coming into Autzen should have been ranked. 6-0 UCLA is the last undefeated team in the Big Ten. The only easy game was against Portland State. Oregon has played one of the most difficult schedules in the country. Bama - missing a run D. Georgia was defeated by Auburn because of turnovers. Florida defeated Texas because Archie is overrated; many of the Texas portal pickup players, especially WR Cam Coleman, were overrated, and Sark is not a championship coach. Missouri can't win an SEC game on the road. Which version of the Gators is going to show up? Will Stein is doing a superb job at Kentucky and is missed in Eugene. Nice win by BYU, helped by a fumble at the goal line when ND QB Carr was trying to spike the ball and instead fumbled; interference was not called on BYU on the last play of the game that should have been the penultimate play; ND's best DL player was ejected early for targeting, and ND had played against thin air before this game in the thin air of Provo. A bad holding call against the Seminoles helped Miami defeat FSU in double OT. Miami's only top-25 win was against Wake Forest; Miami's schedule is a joke. Miami is No. 1 in the AP Poll based on the Eye Test. Ohio State defeated Indiana because an experienced WR was not aware of where he was on the field and caught what should have been a walk-off TD pass over the wrong shoulder. NIL and free agency have dispersed the talent in CFB. The NFL's 'Any Given Sunday ' is now CFB 's' 'Any Given Saturday.' Can a Duck's D finally playing up to par carry Oregon to the PO? Is Dante done for the season? Will Oregon get the run game going? A lot of questions for Oregon, and a lot of questions across D1. Oh, and when an SEC team loses to another SEC team, it is not a loss, simply a bump in the gauntlet. Thanks for the post and the interesting question to ponder.

Herbie, I agree. However, you may want to skip the Gameday visit to South Bend for the Miami game. 😁 https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2026/10/16/kirk-herbstreit-notre-dame-schedule-memorandum-understanding-cfp/92286964007/?utm_source=usatoday-sports-strada&utm_medium=em

Dylan Raiola puts up the winning points! https://apnews.com/article/brock-thomas-dylan-raiola-oregon-nebraska-football-47a0ce9eb5a55630baa03f7f39c828ef?user_email=c7d8647c6247db8d08c59fe44bc30380a147aa90b9e33099045cd46ddc6a

Tommy didn't let his grandfathers down. https://apnews.com/article/michigan-penn-state-score-fdd4ace1d1802d686ec198e84f59e12a?user_email=c7d8647c6247db8d08c59fe44bc30380a147aa90b9e33099045cd46ddc6a485b&utm_medium=Sports_wire&utm_source=Sailthru_

Please understand that I mean no offense. 🤪

It took ninety years to break a record set in 1936, the year of the first AP Poll rankings. CFB-HQ On SICollege Football Breaks Longstanding 90-Year Record After...College football’s Associated Press Top 25 broke a 90-year precedent in Week 7 when five of the poll’s top seven teams lost on the same Saturday, something that The Big winner of Week 7 was the B12. Three B12 teams are ranked in the Top-10, five overall, including No. 10 Utah that eked out a three-point win at CU. Morale of the story, as far as Texas Tech and Utah are concerned, you don't get dinged for playing against thin air. And getting a helping hand from the B12 review team also helps the cause. OBD won its game, barely, but lost an important win with OK State, which lost by three points on the road at No. 14 Houston, dropping out of the Top 25 and being ranked 26th. Two-loss ACC, B1G, and B12 teams do not get ranked. Turn those machines back on! What is up with this season and one second left in the game, or added to an already ended game? BYU defeated Notre Dame with one second left on the clock and Notre Dame at the BYU four-yard line. It appears that the Vatican will not file a protest. With a crummy schedule in 2026, the Domers had this coming. Speaking of crummy schedules. It took now No. 1 Miami two overtimes to defeat a beleaguered Mike Norvell and FSU. The Canes' best and only Top-25 win came against No. 17 Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons destroyed Cal on Saturday, 41-7. Tosh has removed the Cal OC from play-calling duties; is the DC next? Texas is the first team in AP Poll history to be ranked No.1 and then lose the next two games to unranked opponents. But No. 19 Texas, of course, remains in the Top 25, joined by No. 20 Florida. The Gators yo-yoed back into the Top 25. Yep, nine of the SEC's 16 teams remain ranked, including two-loss LSU, Texas, Florida, and Missouri. Six Big Ten teams are ranked. Michigan State gave Northwestern Fitz, but NW survived 24-21 and moved up one spot from 25 to 24. Coach Whit finally told Underwood to take a seat on the wood and let Tommy drive the Carr. One Carr brother won on Saturday, not you, CJ, with Michigan scoring 21 points in the second half to defeat Penn State 21-18 and keep Matt Campbell P-4 winless. Indiana was this close to winning its 23rd straight game, but last week's hero, WR Nick Marsh, was just out of bounds on the Hoosiers Hail Mary attempt. With its 17-7 win over Wisconsin, UCLA moved into the Top 10 at No. 9, the last Big Ten team to be undefeated. It would be nice if No. 27 Oregon could borrow a few UCLA O-line guys. UCLA changes O-line players like a hockey team. DEFENSE! It wasn't pretty, but the Ducks D has played the last two games at the level that was expected in the preseason. And Dylan Raiola goes from hero to goat (not GOAT) and back to hero with a late TD drive to defeat his former Nebraska playmates. A 5-1 Nebraska should have been ranked coming into Autzen and, as is the Cornhuskers' fate, has dropped its last two very winnable games. This has been a tough season for B1G QBs. Oregon, Iowa, UCLA, Washington, and Illinois have lost their starting QB. Ohio State's Julian Sayin was injured on Saturday and will miss three to four weeks, and Indiana's Josh Hoover had to leave the game against Ohio State before returning to toss the game-winning Hail Mar ... 3 million-a-year Wolverines QB Bryce Underwood has a reserved seat on the pine. A ticked-off Indiana team visits Ann Arbor in Week 8. Week 8: 4-2 Oregon travels to 3-3 Illinois, with the Illini coming off a bye. Illinois QB Kaden Houser is injured and out. Will Dante be able to play? Illinois will start Freshman Michael Clayton II at QB. Clayton is 6'4", 205 pounds. Clayton was a 3-Star recruit from Orlando, Florida, but played his senior season at Miami Edison High School. Clayton went 30-6 in high school and had more than 30 D1 offers. In 2025, he won the Elite 11 Accuracy Challenge. In his high school career, he passed for 6000 plus yards and threw 72 TDs. DEFENSE travels, right? I sure hope so. On3College Football Rankings: AP Poll Top 25 after Week 7 re...The latest AP Poll Top 25 rankings are here following a wild Week 7 of college football. This wasn’t just any ordinary regular season weekend though

Great win for the Gators! Golden Archie? And the Golden Texas roster. 😁

On the worst day for top-ranked teams since 1936, a win is a good win. Five of the top 10-ranked teams lost. Four ranked teams from the SEC lost: Georgia, Alabama, Texas, and Missouri. We'll find out later today if the losses to other SEC teams will be considered to be losses. The defense could carry OBD to the playoffs. This was a better effort on defense than Indiana played against Nebraska. If Ohio State can keep winning with Julian Sayin out for at least three weeks, and OBD keeps winning, a win in Columbus would put Oregon in the top 12. On3's Ari Wasserman's Top 10 top-10 includes Ohio State, Indiana, and UCLA. It's been a hard day's night! On3Wasserman’s College Football Top 10: New No. 1 after a we...College football season is flying by, as it always does. We’re already into conference play, when opponent quality (for most teams) rises, and the quality

The S(elf) E(limination) C(onference)!😁 No wonder Sankey wants a 24-team playoff! 🤪 AL, UGA, Texas, and Mizzou go down. But A&M did capture The Citadel.🥸

No doubting Thomas 😇

The Beavs are 4-0 in their weight class and have destroyed their G6 opponents, putting up an absurd number of points on offense and playing solid defense. The losses to No. 20 Houston and No. 10 Texas Tech could have gone either way. Oregon State is this season's best G6 story. OSU has a decent shot at winning at Fresno and at Boise, and if this happens, taking the G6 PO spot. A remarkable turnaround under a guy who has never been a head coach, a QB transfer from Mercer, and a 3-star frosh WR who, to date, has put up better stats than Mr. Jeremiah Smith. Wazzu is floundering, but this OSU team would have finished in the top 3rd of the B12. Next season's Civil War game could be very interesting.

Oregon was the last ranked team Nebraska defeated. Since then, Nebraska has lost 32 games against ranked opponents. The game was in Lincoln. Helfrich started going for two early on and never stopped. OBD lost 35-32. IMO, it's not much different than the game of chess. If you don't play for the endgame at the start, if you make risky moves early on, you will lose to any half-decent player. 8-0 vs. 7-0? Big whoop. No metric justified the decision to go for two against UCLA after the first score. If you do not play the odds at the start, it may come back to bite you. Not every time, but often enough not to press your luck. Dan has risked too much this season with a lesser offense than he has coached before, and the rewards have not justified the risk. This team is not going to ipso facto outscore competent opponents; especially behind a backup QB. Sorry to mix metaphors, but you have to know the cards you hold and when to hold them and when to fold them. Neuter Nebraska!

OREGON 24 NEB 18 1 1 160 yds

SP+ and FPI Game Predictions - https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/50189757/connelly-week-7-notre-dame-ohio-state-indiana

USA Today Game Picks - 4 out of the 6 'Experts' Like the Ducks - https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2026/10/15/college-football-picks-week-7-predictions-ohio-state-indiana/92248010007/?utm_source=usat-path-to-playoff-nletter76&utm_medium=email&utm_ca

Meanwhile, just up the road: On3JaMarcus Shephard has brought swagger back to Oregon Stat...JaMarcus Shephard is about to face one of the toughest challenges in the modern era of college football. In less than a season, he's brought some swagger