Luke Schuermann often gets “the look” whenever he mentions his last football stop. It can be a quizzical expression or a blank stare based on the level of knowledge of the words just spoken.

Johns Hopkins? Wait, give me a second. Oh, you mean the school known for producing renowned journalists, doctors and scientists?

That’s right. That one. Among its most famous alumni are CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, former President Woodrow Wilson and film director Wes Craven.

Something the Baltimore-based private research institution is not known for is its football program. Its first team, in 1882, had to play as the Clifton Athletic Club because of the school’s contempt for the emerging sport. For its first 13 seasons, students served as coaches.

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The first availability report of the Oregon Ducks football in the Big Ten Conference era is here.

For those unaware, the Big Ten began requiring availability reports for all sports last year. The report is due two hours before the start of the contest.

The two categories are “out” and “questionable”.

The Ducks have six players that are officially out for the season opener against Idaho: defensive back Jahlil Florence, defensive back Dakoda Fields, defensive back Ify Obidegwu, offensive lineman Dave Iuli, tight end Travis Brashear, and defensive lineman My’Keil Gardner.

Three players are questionable, meaning they could play but it is likely they don’t. Those Ducks that are questionable are wide receiver Gary Bryant Jr., offensive lineman Matthew Bedford, and kicker Andrew Boyle.

Oregon opens the season against the Idaho Vandals at 4:30 p.m. PDT. The game is set to be televised on Big Ten Network.

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JetBlue thinks there might be some skiers who are willing to splurge on its top-notch Mint business-class experience.

The New York-based carrier announced this week that it would start flying its Mint-equipped Airbus A321 to Bozeman, Montana, on a limited run from Feb. 14, 2025, to March 30, 2025.

The airline will offer its business-class cabin on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays on flights to and from Boston and New York during the peak Montana ski season.

Flights will operate with a daytime schedule, departing the Northeast midmorning and arriving in Bozeman in the early afternoon. The plane will then return to the East Coast later in the afternoon and arrive around 9 p.m. back in Boston and New York.

In addition to the special Mint service, the airline will fly its regular all-economy jets from Boston and New York to Bozeman during this period. All-economy service from Boston will operate on Mondays and Wednesdays, while economy flights from New York will operate on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Mint tickets are already available for purchase, and one-way fares start at around $900.

JetBlue says that it’s adding Mint service to Bozeman to “meet the evolving needs of its customers by offering superior travel options with an elevated in-flight experience.”

Back when Mint was introduced in 2014, JetBlue kept its business-class experience limited to a few key bread-and-butter routes. It was originally designed for premium transcontinental flights from New York and Boston to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

But as the airline has added more Mint-equipped jets to its fleet over the years, the carrier has also deployed Mint service to a few other premium-heavy transcontinental markets, such as Seatte and San Diego. JetBlue also flies Mint planes to select Caribbean destinations during peak holiday periods and on weekends when it doesn’t need to operate as many frequencies on transcon routes. (Business travel usually slows down during these periods.)

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Mint is also the premium cabin that JetBlue offers on its transatlantic flights to Europe that debuted in 2021. The airline has two Mint products: the original one that launched in 2014 and primarily flies on domestic and short-haul routes, and a newer product that debuted in 2021 for its European expansion.

These days, however, JetBlue has been scaling back its European expansion — at least, during the winter season, when transatlantic demand typically falls — to refocus its network on profitable routes.

During this time, JetBlue could send some of its business-class-equipped planes to the hangar on less profitable routes, or it could look for other routes with enough premium demand to fill a 16-seat cabin.

JetBlue seems to think it’s found one of the latter with Bozeman, the gateway to the famed Big Sky ski resort and the nearby luxe private Yellowstone Club for deep-pocketed skiers. Bozeman is also the gateway to Yellowstone National Park, but the national park doesn’t get too crowded during the winter.

Bozeman joins other new Mint cities announced recently, including Phoenix; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Vancouver, British Columbia.

All these moves come as JetBlue doubles down on its JetForward strategy to return to profitability. The airline is tweaking its network to focus on leisure and VFR (visiting friends and relatives) traffic from its Northeast focus cities.

JetBlue’s original Mint product (the one flying to Bozeman) is arranged in an alternating 2-2, 1-1 configuration. Travelers enjoy lie-flat beds, a restaurant-quality dining experience, amenities from Tuft and Needle and much more.

Mint has historically been considered the best domestic business-class product, but the seats are definitely starting to show their age. The airline hasn’t yet announced a retrofit program for these 10-year-old cabins, but one might be coming soon as the airline gears up to possibly launch a more extensive premium cabin experience.

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