B1G and other football musings. I mostly asked questions and listened, never mentioned my BYU status. I found his insights interesting in terms of Utah's chances this year and the possibility that we don't play Hoke next year:

1. This is Hoke's last chance season. He needs to get the team to a competitive state with Michigan State and Ohio State this year or he's gone. If Nebraska and Wisconsin were dominating the league, it would be different. You can't be playing catchup with MSU and OSU if you're Michigan.

2. "If we win @ Notre Dame, we'll go 6-0 to start the season. They're the only ones with a chance for the first half of the season. Our schedule is ridiculously easy this year"

3. "I give us three realistic possible losses, all on the road: @ Notre Dame, @ Michigan State, @ Ohio State. All of these I'd pick the home team to win right now"

4. Big 12 is likely the conference "left out" of the playoff because of the weight placed on recent games played in the polls. Only exception is if an undefeated conference leader loses to a cross-division foe that is poorly ranked in their CCG. His example: an undefeated Florida State loses to an 8-4 North Carolina Coastal Division champ.

5. "If I have to guess, Hoke is gone. Even if he goes 10-2 and loses to Notre Dame and Ohio State, that just isn't good enough. He needs to beat the three big rivals, or at least a majority of them, to keep his job."

Can't really disagree with his analysis. I think the B1G will have a tough job keeping conference slates weighted similarly for teams. As the conference size grows, they seem to be having a more difficult time working that out. This season seems to be a good deal for Michigan, as they avoid Iowa (Herbstreit picked to win West Division), Nebraska, and Wisconsin.