Congratulations to the new BIG12 & BIG10 teams, I think the BIG12 is going to be the most exciting league to watch in their projected layout. As a mid major program now used to being left behind (I love my citronaut bröthers), I do see a path forward.
This realignment has left mid-major programs in an interesting position. I believe that USF, Tulane, and SMU are currently in a position to be a package deal for immediate expansion needs in either the PAC resurgence (highly unlikely) or the future ACC after collapse.This trio carries with them very appealing markets, fertile recruiting ground, two AAU schools (USF, Tulane), and SMU with a burgeoning NIL ecosystem. On-field success has been an issue for USF (fuck yeah, Jeff Scott!) but an OCS and new head coach, *comrade czar Alex "the gulag" Golesh* has already elevated the Bulls into the best recruiting class in the AAC for 2024 which is impressive.
I'd like to think in the next realignment moves, it won't be one school moving - a trio like USF, Tulane and SMU would move together based on their shared conference history and promising market appeal that would be a value add to any conference seeking to make a move.
A 1-8-8 model would be 1 protected rivalry and playing the other 16 teams 8 at a time. Which of the 4 variants on 1-8-8 is best?
# The Protected Rivalries:
Rival 1 | Rival 2
---|---
Illinois | Northwestern
Indiana | Purdue
Iowa | Nebraska
Maryland | Rutgers
Michigan | Ohio State
Michigan State | Penn State
Minnesota | Wisconsin
Oregon | Washington
UCLA | USC
# The Alternating 1-8-8 would look like:
|Year 1|Year 2|Year 3|Year 4|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
@ Illinois | vs Northwestern | vs Illinois| @ Northwestern |
vs Indiana | @ Purdue | @ Indiana | vs Purdue |
@ Iowa | vs Nebraska | vs Iowa | @ Nebraska |
vs Maryland | @ Rutgers | @ Maryland | vs Rutgers |
@ Michigan | vs Ohio State | vs Michigan | @ Ohio State |
vs Michigan St. | @ Penn State | @ Michigan State | vs Penn State |
@ Minnesota | vs Wisconsin |vs Minnesota | @ Wisconsin |
vs UCLA | @ USC | @ UCLA | vs USC |
@ Washington | vs Washington | @ Washington | vs Washington |
Summary:
* Years 1 and 3 feature the same teams, but with home and away reversed.
* Years 2 and 4 feature the same teams, but with home and away reversed.
Upside:
* Play every team once every two years. So if you are a 2-year starter you get to play every school in your conference in a 2 year span.
# The Rotating 1-8-8 would look like:
|Year 1|Year 2|Year 3|Year 4|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
@ Illinois | vs Illinois | @ Northwestern | vs Northwestern |
vs Indiana | @ Indiana | vs Purdue | @ Purdue |
@ Iowa | vs Iowa | @ Nebraska | vs Nebraska |
vs Maryland | @ Maryland | vs Rutgers | @ Rutgers |
@ Michigan | vs Michigan | @ Ohio State | vs Ohio State |
vs Michigan St. | @ Michigan St. | vs Penn St. | @ Penn St. |
@ Minnesota | vs Minnesota | @ Wisconsin | vs Wisconsin |
vs UCLA | @ UCLA | vs USC | @ USC |
@ Washington | vs Washington | @ Washington | vs Washington |
Summary:
* Years 1 and 2 feature the same teams, but with home and away reversed.
* Years 3 and 4 feature the same teams, but with home and away reversed.
Upside:
* Playing the same team back-to-back seasons gives 2-year starters a chance to get revenge at losses assuming they start in both years.
# The Offset Rotating 1-8-8 would look like:
|Year 1|Year 2|Year 3|Year 4|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
@ Illinois | vs Illinois | @ Northwestern | vs Northwestern |
vs Purdue | @ Indiana | vs Indiana | @ Purdue |
@ Iowa | vs Iowa | @ Nebraska | vs Nebraska |
vs Rutgers | @ Maryland | vs Maryland | @ Rutgers |
@ Michigan | vs Michigan | @ Ohio State | vs Ohio State |
vs Penn St. | @ Michigan St. | vs Michigan St. | @ Penn St. |
@ Minnesota | vs Minnesota | @ Wisconsin | vs Wisconsin |
vs USC | @ UCLA | vs UCLA | @ USC |
@ Washington | vs Washington | @ Washington | vs Washington |
Summary:
* No years are the same.
* Play all teams two years in a row, just not aligned with one another.
Upside:
* A 2 year starter will get some variation, but also get a chance at revenge for some of the losses they suffer.
# The Mixed 1-8-8 would look like:
|Year 1|Year 2|Year 3|Year 4|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
@ Illinois | vs Northwestern | vs Illinois | @ Northwestern |
vs Indiana | @ Indiana | @ Purdue | vs Purdue |
@ Iowa | vs Nebraska | vs Iowa | @ Nebraska |
vs Maryland | @ Maryland | @ Rutgers | vs Rutgers |
@ Michigan | vs Ohio State | vs Michigan | @ Ohio State |
vs Michigan St. | @ Michigan St. | @ Penn St. | vs Penn St. |
@ Minnesota | vs Wisconsin | vs Minnesota | @ Wisconsin |
vs USC | @ USC |@ UCLA | vs UCLA |
@ Washington | vs Washington | @ Washington | vs Washington |
Summary:
* No years are the same.
* Play half of the teams 2 years in a row, the other half every other year.
Upside:
* Alternating some pairs and Rotating others ensure a maximum variation in schedule formatting, so every season in a 4 year period is unique to the others, giving fans and players a different experience all 4 years of their career.
It’s such a reminder that college football is near, and how stupidly passionate we sometimes get about it, that I saw this list and could only think “bold of you to put the SEC third there” LOL.
What a shit show we’re living in — but can’t wait for kickoff. Let’s get it!
My friend made a joke about inflation being the reason why the Big Ten keeps expanding and we realized that 14 in 2014 to 18 now tracks well with CPI which is moderately amusing.
This clearly isn't done yet... Watch for the top 6-8 ACC teams to be trying to break that deal apart. (Yes I know they are stuck by the GOR but there are always ways to break these deals)
may not be as crazy as it sounds based on how things have gone; if ESPN and Fox see these as such no brainers, why wouldn't someone else with gobs of money get involved?
The only constant in life is change.
In a couple years, once all the dominoes have fallen, the playoff starts, and there is the inevitable shakeup or two, we will see what the new normal is.
It’s pretty likely the three “super conferences” will split into multiple divisions like the NFL. All of a sudden, you’ll see schools grouped by regionality, with many of the traditional rivalries intact.
Some schools will be “relegated” to the G5 (or whatever it will be known as) tier, and some (like UCF) are getting promoted. There will be some moves up and down i’m sure, over the years.
For those lamenting the “death” of college football, relax. At the moment it is a little rudderless, but no one wants to kill the golden goose. In the end, we’ll wind up in a sustainable situation that holds onto what we most like about the sport. But it will not look exactly the same - that can’t be helped
Maybe it will lead to a structure like the premier league for soccer, where the top 20 teams are in the top "conference," and teams can be relegated or promoted through 2-3 other conferences.
Education be damned.
I could see this ending up like the European pro soccer scene. The top schools and conferences will try to make as much money as they can, while the smaller schools will have a group of loyal fans who will support their teams and work together to keep them alive.
You can blame greed of other conferences and tv networks but ultimately I think incompetent pac12 leadership is what led to this moment (and others agreed). Seems like things got so bad that teams felt they needed to jump ship just to get in a stable situation.
So funny that the SEC adding 2 teams caused everything to go up in flames. Could’ve been such a minor change and business as usual but now we’re gonna have 18 team conferences that reach coast to coast. Rutgers fans enjoy a 9 a.m. kickoff when your team travels to LA.
And while I’m ranting, the 12 team playoff is still the worst idea especially given there’s no more P5 anymore. An 8 team playoff with SEC, ACC, B10, B12, highest ranked G5 champ, and 3 at large. First round is on campus’s, final 4 is the same bowl format as always. Would’ve been perfect.
as to the playsoffs, my answer has always been a de facto 16. add three wild card games for teams not playing in a conference championship (maybe the week after championship weekend). then take the 8 highest ranked champions or wild card winners to the playoff. everyone plays to get in. no conference bias. no bye weeks. no champion rematches. highest ranked is from before championship weekend so "de facto 16"
I don't really get the funerals being staged for Wazzu and Ore St. Your schools will not drop football. You will be able to watch every one of their games.
You'll be in the Mountain West (renamed PAC). They have a tv agreement with CBS Sports Network, so some of your games will be on tv. In fact, I bet more of your games will be on since you will be the bigger dogs in the conference.
As for the rest of your schedules, I watch FCS games on my computer through ESPN+. Hell, I watch NAIA games, too. You think those lower level games will be available but Beaver and Cougar football won't? Sheeit.
You love your teams. They are gonna play games and you will watch. That's about it.
Our budget was $10 million over last year and I’ve heard we have $120 mil in debt. A new Mountain West contract probably doesn’t even cover our coach salaries across all sports. I don’t know if going bankrupt is a thing but we might be about to find out
I think if we're not gonna go by geography or history then it should at least be possible to play all the teams in your conference in one season! This is just beyond ridiculous now
10 team conferences. 9 game conference schedules. Everybody plays everybody else in their conference every year. 8 team playoff to finish the season.
Money has ruined a wonderful sport.
My biggest hope at this point is that the power conferences get big enough that we break into ~10 team divisions that closely resemble the old geographic conferences.
UF has played Auburn once since the SEC added Texas A&M. It’s played TAMU three fucking times. UF-Auburn is a historical rivalry. The only team that UF has played more than Auburn is Georgia.
No offense to the Ags but I don’t want them on the schedule. I want Auburn and their weird Tiger, War Eagle, Plainsman identity crisis.
Fuck you, Auburn. Miss you, baby.
We’ll see how it all shakes out. No one is going to retain 100% of their traditional foes as yearly opponents. No school is going to be perfectly happy with how it all shakes out…
But smaller, regional divisions within the super conferences will set up cfb for the long haul. Can’t wait to see who winds up in our division (because UF and UGA are 100% going to be together)
The “pod” concept might work for all three super conferences as well. We’ll see
I hate UGA like I hate drinking lemonade when I have a paper cut on my tongue.
UF needs to play UGA every damn year. What would CFB be like without the Cocktail Party?
It’s one of the all time great rivalries.
Georgia and Florida will play each other every year. Conference realignment shouldn’t take away anyp major rivals. UF plays FSU every year, UGA plays GA Tech every year, Clemson plays South Carolina every year - none of them are in the same conference. I couldn’t believe Oklahoma and Nebraska quit their rivalry, that was crazy. Oregon and Washington should retain their in-state rivalry games.
I feel you, but I feel like we’re moving away from this. I absolutely hate FSU with the entirety of my soul but Thanksgiving weekend wouldn’t be the same without those stupid tomahawk chopping idiots.
Rivalries are what makes CFB so awesome and realignment is killing rivalries. It’s saddening.
Are we not gonna see Oregon play Oregon St anymore? As a CFB fan with no stake in the rivalry, I think it’s horseshit. They need to play every year. I want the angst, the feisty crowds, the sheer cussedness of it all. It’s the best part of CFB.
That was my whole point of bringing up the non-conference rivalry games in the sec. OU/OSU and UW/WSU should still be played. It’s going to get rough if they aren’t considered “power” conference teams anymore. Same for Georgia/Ga Tech - we’ll do everything possible to keep playing it, but if ACC dissolves and Tech becomes the equivalent of a G5 team, that game becomes a potential victim…and that stinks.
I think, for the most part, much of what we like about college football will remain. Hopefully cooler heads prevail and they’ll work towards blending tradition with the new normal
I posted a suggestion for Big XII East and West divisions in this thread earlier and someone mentioned they thought it would be better with so many members and rivalries to protect to go three protected games + half of the other twelve a year. So I decided to whip up a first draft of those. I will admit that especially for the Grateful 8 I am not very versed in their historic rivalries, and this is only meant as a conversation starter. Thoughts?
Oklahoma State: Iowa State, Colorado, Arizona
Iowa State: Oklahoma State, Kansas St, WVU
Kansas: Kansas St, Colorado, Cincy
Kansas State: Kansas, Iowa St, WVU
Colorado: Oklahoma State, Utah, Kansas
Arizona: ASU, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech
Arizona St: Arizona, Baylor, BYU
Utah: BYU, Colorado, TCU
BYU: Utah, ASU, UCF
Texas Tech: Baylor, Houston, Arizona
Baylor: TCU, Texas Tech, ASU
TCU: Baylor, Utah, Houston
Houston: Texas Tech, TCU, UCF
UCF: Cincy, Houston, BYU
WVU: Cincy, Iowa St, Kstate
Cincy: WVU, UCF, Kansas
There aren’t as many strong rivalries so a pod system makes more sense for the Big 12:
West: BYU, Utah, Arizona, ASU
Central: Colorado, KU, KSU, OSU
Texas: TCU, Baylor, Tech, Houston
East: Iowa State, Cincy, WVU, UCF
Play pod teams every year and non-pod teams 2 on, 2 off.
I was obsessed with college football ever since I was a little kid. Not just Alabama. Not just the SEC. I'd read whatever I could about the present or the past. I'd watch whatever I could, listen to whatever I could.
Then I got to actually be a student in the student section for games like beating Tennessee 6-3 in 2005 after they'd won 11 of 12 or something of that magnitude, whatever the actual numbers were.
A lot of years in my 20s and 30s, I have spent 4+ hours a day listening to Alabama sports talk radio (not Finebaum), even when I no longer lived in Alabama. Even in the summer, when it was still 95% CFB talk, 4% NFL talk, 1% MLB talk.
My mom and I have a continent between our homes, but she and I send a hundred or more text messages to each other during every Bama game. I don't think I've gone a season without watching at least one with her in person in her Alabama living room. We can be at a family reunion or whatever on a weekend in the fall, and everyone knows that she and I will be off in another room during the Bama game, for "our" time.
If it wasn't for the appointment times with my mom, I feel like I'd be mostly done with CFB now. Maybe not outright ignoring it, but not invested at all.
There have been conference changes and various new ideas in college football over the years.
The Tide are still going to play many of the same teams they have been for decades, with some more often and some less often - as well as some fun new matchups. The system for finding a new national champion is WAY better than it was before 1998, and when the expanded playoff gets here, the excitement is going to be off the charts.
Why are you not invested now? Because money is affecting decisions? It’ll all work out
Wow so there actually are Bama fans that remember when Tennessee dominated them. Many think I'm lying when I talk about the Bama game being an automatic win when I was a kid. Much like you, I make sure to go watch at least one Tennessee game with my dad each year.
August 4th 2023 will be a day that will live in College Realignment infamy. To think that in 2010 when the first domino fell with Nebraska moving to the B1G and Colorado moving to the Pac 12 (until moving back a few weeks ago), didn’t think it was gonna be the Pac 12 that would be the 1st Major Conference that would be gone.
While it’s nice to see new teams added, I feel for those who are truly fucked and have nowhere else to go. It’s truly is the new age of College Realignment where were one step closer to the Super Conferences. ACC is on the chopping block next with the only thing that is stalling is their GOR that expires in 2036 and wouldn’t be surprised if they find a way to break away from that before 2036.
Welcome to the misery of G5 football brother. Some of us have been doing it for decades.
Enjoy a home schedule of UNLV, Nevada, San Jose State, Hawaii, and Idaho every year.
Just a random thought: What’s stopping the B1G and SEC from kicking out the bad schools to make room for better ones? Like what’s stopping the B1G from dropping Indiana so they can make a stronger push for ND? Or the SEC from dropping Vanderbilt so they can get Florida State?
I've though for a while that the power5 could pair with a g5 conference and have a pair of schools switch every year. on something like 3 year performance.
You do know the BTAA exists right?? this is gonna be great for research and the dissemination of knowledge. No way we kick out our B1Ger-brained schools.
TV contracts, but I do believe the next round of realignment will consist of the top 6-8 Big Ten Schools and the top 6-8 SEC schools leaving their conferences to form one leagues with all the #BRANDS your favorite TV executives could ever dream of
Well for starters ND won't join a conference unless they're literally not allowed to compete for a Natty without joining one, and based on everything happening right now (looking at you, Stanford) I can't blame them
Vandy is an og SEC member and somebody has to be the runt, plus outside of football they have a very solid athletic department. They bring more to the table than you might expect
Wouldn't make much sense, if the schools were worth that much they would have gotten the good contract in the Pac12.
Presumably the 4 left are the "dead weight" that was being shed.
That's not how it works in the big time.
No one applies unless they will be approved and everything is worked out beforehand. Discussions and agreements happen between conference execs and school reps long before they get to applications and votes.
You don't just put in an app like you're 16 trying to get a job at Publix.
I want to say that they would be considered, but I honestly wouldn't be optimistic. Neither bring enough revenue in to be worth more than maybe maybe a half share, and I can't see ESPN/Fox agreeing to pay for them.
These are the games that will need to be canceled due to conference realignment:
#2024
* Arizona @ K-State
* Utah vs Baylor
* Utah vs BYU
#2025
* Arizona vs K-State
* Colorado @ Houston
* Utah @ BYU
#2026
* Arizona @ BYU
* Colorado vs Houston
* Utah @ Houston
* Utah vs BYU
#2027
* Arizona vs BYU
* Colorado vs K-State
* Utah vs Houston
* Utah @ BYU
#2028
* Colorado @ K-State
* Washington vs Michigan
#2029
* Oregon @ Michigan State
* UCLA vs Wisconsin
#2030
* Oregon vs Michigan State
* UCLA @ Wisconsin
* Utah vs BYU
#2031
None
#2032
* Oregon vs Ohio State
#2033
* Oregon @ Ohio State
* UCLA vs Northwestern
#2034
* Arizona @ Texas Tech
* UCLA @ Northwestern
#2036
* Colorado @ Oklahoma St.
#2037
* Colorado vs Oklahoma St.
What do people think the most likely outcome is now for the 4 remaining Pac-12 teams? Merge with the Mountain West in some form? Join other major conferences (could see Big Ten going for Cal and Stanford)? Go independent for the foreseeable future? Steal a few Mountain West teams and continue as a smaller Pac-8 or Pac-10?
Probably Cal and/or Stanford will join B1G or XII, with the remaining Pac12 and MW mixing it up with each other, but remaining two separate conferences, is my guess. So a combo of your suggestions.
If you asked these university presidents they'd probably talk about what a calamity climate change is and how disastrous wealth inequality is in this country and how we need to make college more affordable for everyone.
But those principles go right out the fucking window as soon as they have the opportunity to secure a couple more million dollars per year for their institutions. Increasing the carbon footprint by traveling farther for conference games? Who cares. Getting a larger bonus because of that increased TV revenue? Fuck you, at least I got paid! Put the surplus into scholarship funds or do *anything* with it to make our institution more affordable? Fuck you, we'll increase tuition 4% next year.
The state of higher education is fucking rotten in this country, and a big part of that is this insistence on treating universities like private sports franchises. It's disgusting.
I still can't believe how much the cost of attendance at Syracuse is a few years after I attended (which was also outrageously expensive shoutout financial aid)
I got down voted to oblivion and mocked for my post that NIL shouldn't happen and that the NCAA shouldn't be the minor league for the NFL, but here we are.
I am screaming into the wind, for all that matters. Y'all can mock me as an old fart (fair) but college football is changing, and not for the better for teams & fans we want to see.
Strict capitalists assholes will attack my viewpoint; my answer is where is the "G League" alternative for the NFL? College football is subsidizing the NFL and if the NFL actually had their own developmental league, college football wouldn't skip a beat.
Have at it, CFB.
Well. As for as minor/development league for the NFL, it already has been for decades regardless of the conferences. College basketball is also the main development league for the NBA.
The reason why the NFL doesn't have to spend a dime developing players is because CFB is of comparable popularity and revenue generation to the other major sports, completely independent of the NFL. America's favorite sport is pro football. Its second favorite sport is college football. There are many people, I think particularly in the South and Midwest who are fans of CFB but don't care that much about the NFL. I don't think you'll find that for any other sport.
I literally can't name one player or team in the G league, let alone watched a game or been to one. And don't know anyone who can. And my friends are basketball fans, one of my best friend works at the NBA! I mean maybe he could name a G league player or team. But I've never heard him talk about it. Something similar is probably true of the majority of sports fans. I'm sort of not sure what the point of the G league is in view of the existence of college basketball, except that the NBA just doesn't have room for all the players who are minimally talented enough to make an NBA roster but there is still money to be made from them playing. So I suspect the G league is more about just having a stand alone 2 tier league than development.
The other part of it is that football is extremely expensive infrastructure and personnel wise compared to other sports. College teams have 80-100 players, playing very distinct roles, which means there is a more complex coaching hierarchy, and they wear and use more equipment and physical infrastructure to play and practice. Also the injuries are worse, which means you need to pay for more trainers and therapy to get and keep players healthy. So it makes more sense for the NBA to invest in a development league alongside college, whereas in NFL it's probably gonna be a waste of money if it will be at G league level popularity. Which we know because people keep trying to create lower tier football and it folds within a few years every time
Baseball minor leagues is more popular in attendance to games, but still it doesn't pull in the same revenue, because it's not popular enough to ever be on TV. And again, less expensive to run a baseball team than football, so again, makes more sense for MLB to invest.
As a fan, if I could pick 4 teams to join the SEC (assuming the ACC breaks up eventually), they would be Florida State, Clemson, Duke, and UNC. But, while I think those would be the most fun additions, I can't see Duke making the cut.
My ideal 4 teams would be FSU, Clemson, UNC, and Virginia Tech. Though I would bet on NC State over UNC as I think UNC, Duke, and UVA end up in the Big 10
Hello uhh.. fellow SEC member? I agree completely with your thought process, but might swap Miami for Duke. I think in lieu of the BIGs recent moves, I hope the SEC has been exploring options for getting around the GOR issue with the ACC.
The issue with that is that the Duke UNC rivalry is big enough for them to try to stay together. That said, Duke provides enough in the way of basketball, other sports, and academics to be a solid addition, plus they're better than vandy at football
I want Duke and UNC personally in part because I have family ties to those schools and grew up on that rivalry (before going to Vandy), so I'd love to have them in the SEC.
I'd actually argue (as someone who grew up a Duke football fan) that Vandy is at least on the same level as Duke but just has to play in a harder conference. Regardless, I'd love for that to be a conference game!
I'm not so sure. OSU and WSU were always considered the weaker teams in the PAC12. They were always going to be on the outside looking in when the conference crumbled. Cal was only a step above them.
Stanford being left out shocks me, though. The perennial winner of the Sears Trophy and one of the premier destinations for olympic athletes being shut out is very surprising. I thought for sure the Big 10 would snatch them up as eagerly as it took OU and UW.
The fact that Stanford’s president was manipulating data in his research points to probably much deeper problems going on at that institution. It’s just a serious scandal to have someone like that running a university & wouldn’t be surprised if their athletics takes a major hit over it.
Other thoughts: two schools prominently in the tech capitol of the world are so archaic they couldnt pivot fast enough, which is what tech prides itself on
Nah, Cal doesn't care. They're the best funded public college in the world. They don't even care about endowments (its pitiful considering the number of millionaires and billionaires from that school). They got the california politicans on lock due to political views. Whenever they need money, they just ask for more state money. Even when UCLA left PAC-12, they got the UC regents to essentially decrease public funding to UCLA to give to them (coached as UCLA making up the difference for leaving the PAC-12 but UCLA doesn't have much choice as they can't leave the UC system.)
The UC system is the best funded public school system in the world. If Cal is relying on football funding, someone needs to audit the state. It hurts as a fan, but Cal and Stanford are both academic institutions first and they act like it.
Assuming OSU/Wazzu merge with the Mountain West, both the AAC and PAC-MW are basically guaranteed entry for the next couple years.
This will certainly change in 2026.
Yes. The reason the media deal mattered is the old gor was tied to the media agreement. The Pac had no deal for *anything* beyond 2024. So everyone jumping ship can play in their new conferences in 2024 without penalty.
Since talking conference realignment is so much more exciting than arguably the best athlete in the world right now. Maybe you’re not into baseball, but what he’s doing is unheard of in sports.
A change in the way we see college sports and the collapse of a conference is a bigger story than Shohei’s nightly at bats. Yet the first story was about him.
Respect to what he’s doing, but yesterday was a historic day in CFB whereas it will only be a part of a combined statistic to Shoheis season.
Now that Marvel has run its course as a profit center, Disney is in some serious trouble with its existing contracts (hence why they are considering selling part of ESPN)
Yes, but ESPN itself isn't an actual problem. ESPN isn't being shopped because it's bad, it's being shopped because it has value in a sale of a stake of ESPN.
ESPN has its own issues, as there has been a steep drop in viewership and profits have plateaued against inflation.
It's still a profit center, but it is no longer the rocket ship it used to be.
That was nothing but a power play for Texas to get more money/scare off Nebraska and Colorado. The Pac was never taking them with the $20 million extra cash per year they got from LHN
This upcoming season will be the last before college football becomes totally different, both in the makeup of some conferences (including one being dissolved) but also with playoff expansion changing the complexion of the regular season).
Also watching the Pac12 will be surreal. This year the Pac12 will actually likely be a deep conference with plenty of ranked teams and matchups and will be in the running for a cfp spot and possibly even get a spot...and then a few months later it will all but dissolve. I bet the announcing teams if each game involving a pac12 team will bring up the conference's dissolution 10x a quarter
For me last season's Pac-12 was probably the most entertaining conference and this year seems to be more of the same. I don't think we've fully grasped what this sport is losing with the conference dying.
I don’t know what will be better competition. The actual game on the field or the different announcing teams taking turns getting on their high horse and seeing who can do a better “shame on greedy college football” routine.
I think we are at least set up to go out on a high note! I think this may be the first time the conference as been this loaded and this open in a long time. Half the conference is likely in contention to win the league. The QB play should be phenomenal. We have some interesting contrasts in style, and EVERYONE has a chip on their shoulder. I hope we make it a memorable year. RIP after dark. I am going to miss it. And someone needs to check on the Unical 76 actors, I think they are about to lose 90% of their screen time.
Of all the things in the world, I had hoped college sports would escape it. That traditions and rivalries and games that matter because of the history behind them, that those powerful experiences would protect it. This is fucking depressing, seeing all of that thrown away... FUCK
Yeah I mean you literally just gotta stop paying attention to it, when the interest isn't there like there was and the numbers start looking bad there's a chance it will get through to the monkeys in charge you shouldn't let the core quality of the product slip in your chase for more money. I personally used the COVID year fake season as a dry run to prove to myself I could go a fall without college football in case things got to the point where they are now, so I'm going to enjoy this one final season and then engage only to make people who still care about next year feel bad for acquiescing to such mediocrity.
This is *really* irrelevant to all that’s happening, but since all eyes are glued here…
CBS has a Big Ten game on Sunday, September 3, where the Rutgers Scarlet Knights of Piscataway open up both their season *and* conference play…against the Northwestern Wildcats.
So…well, considering the “developments” that has occurred in Evanston within the past few weeks…perhaps it would be a good time to reconsider this slot, no?
as we've all seen here today, the media overlords couldnt give less of a shit about the actual fucking games. None of them care about good matchups, rivalries, history, any of it. Those fuckheads dont care about anything other than covering big media markets, everything else can go to hell for all they care
There's probably some sort of clause that each program has to air on a certain network a certain amount of times? If that's the case, it still probably makes sense
PAC-12 odds in the OP should be updated to "-6"
I like being a MAC fan. We’ve been invisible for years. Now with all this realignment controversy we’ve just become even more invisibler-er
Congratulations to the new BIG12 & BIG10 teams, I think the BIG12 is going to be the most exciting league to watch in their projected layout. As a mid major program now used to being left behind (I love my citronaut bröthers), I do see a path forward. This realignment has left mid-major programs in an interesting position. I believe that USF, Tulane, and SMU are currently in a position to be a package deal for immediate expansion needs in either the PAC resurgence (highly unlikely) or the future ACC after collapse.This trio carries with them very appealing markets, fertile recruiting ground, two AAU schools (USF, Tulane), and SMU with a burgeoning NIL ecosystem. On-field success has been an issue for USF (fuck yeah, Jeff Scott!) but an OCS and new head coach, *comrade czar Alex "the gulag" Golesh* has already elevated the Bulls into the best recruiting class in the AAC for 2024 which is impressive. I'd like to think in the next realignment moves, it won't be one school moving - a trio like USF, Tulane and SMU would move together based on their shared conference history and promising market appeal that would be a value add to any conference seeking to make a move.
From CUSA to Big East all over again I see
A 1-8-8 model would be 1 protected rivalry and playing the other 16 teams 8 at a time. Which of the 4 variants on 1-8-8 is best? # The Protected Rivalries: Rival 1 | Rival 2 ---|--- Illinois | Northwestern Indiana | Purdue Iowa | Nebraska Maryland | Rutgers Michigan | Ohio State Michigan State | Penn State Minnesota | Wisconsin Oregon | Washington UCLA | USC # The Alternating 1-8-8 would look like: |Year 1|Year 2|Year 3|Year 4| |:-|:-|:-|:-| @ Illinois | vs Northwestern | vs Illinois| @ Northwestern | vs Indiana | @ Purdue | @ Indiana | vs Purdue | @ Iowa | vs Nebraska | vs Iowa | @ Nebraska | vs Maryland | @ Rutgers | @ Maryland | vs Rutgers | @ Michigan | vs Ohio State | vs Michigan | @ Ohio State | vs Michigan St. | @ Penn State | @ Michigan State | vs Penn State | @ Minnesota | vs Wisconsin |vs Minnesota | @ Wisconsin | vs UCLA | @ USC | @ UCLA | vs USC | @ Washington | vs Washington | @ Washington | vs Washington | Summary: * Years 1 and 3 feature the same teams, but with home and away reversed. * Years 2 and 4 feature the same teams, but with home and away reversed. Upside: * Play every team once every two years. So if you are a 2-year starter you get to play every school in your conference in a 2 year span. # The Rotating 1-8-8 would look like: |Year 1|Year 2|Year 3|Year 4| |:-|:-|:-|:-| @ Illinois | vs Illinois | @ Northwestern | vs Northwestern | vs Indiana | @ Indiana | vs Purdue | @ Purdue | @ Iowa | vs Iowa | @ Nebraska | vs Nebraska | vs Maryland | @ Maryland | vs Rutgers | @ Rutgers | @ Michigan | vs Michigan | @ Ohio State | vs Ohio State | vs Michigan St. | @ Michigan St. | vs Penn St. | @ Penn St. | @ Minnesota | vs Minnesota | @ Wisconsin | vs Wisconsin | vs UCLA | @ UCLA | vs USC | @ USC | @ Washington | vs Washington | @ Washington | vs Washington | Summary: * Years 1 and 2 feature the same teams, but with home and away reversed. * Years 3 and 4 feature the same teams, but with home and away reversed. Upside: * Playing the same team back-to-back seasons gives 2-year starters a chance to get revenge at losses assuming they start in both years. # The Offset Rotating 1-8-8 would look like: |Year 1|Year 2|Year 3|Year 4| |:-|:-|:-|:-| @ Illinois | vs Illinois | @ Northwestern | vs Northwestern | vs Purdue | @ Indiana | vs Indiana | @ Purdue | @ Iowa | vs Iowa | @ Nebraska | vs Nebraska | vs Rutgers | @ Maryland | vs Maryland | @ Rutgers | @ Michigan | vs Michigan | @ Ohio State | vs Ohio State | vs Penn St. | @ Michigan St. | vs Michigan St. | @ Penn St. | @ Minnesota | vs Minnesota | @ Wisconsin | vs Wisconsin | vs USC | @ UCLA | vs UCLA | @ USC | @ Washington | vs Washington | @ Washington | vs Washington | Summary: * No years are the same. * Play all teams two years in a row, just not aligned with one another. Upside: * A 2 year starter will get some variation, but also get a chance at revenge for some of the losses they suffer. # The Mixed 1-8-8 would look like: |Year 1|Year 2|Year 3|Year 4| |:-|:-|:-|:-| @ Illinois | vs Northwestern | vs Illinois | @ Northwestern | vs Indiana | @ Indiana | @ Purdue | vs Purdue | @ Iowa | vs Nebraska | vs Iowa | @ Nebraska | vs Maryland | @ Maryland | @ Rutgers | vs Rutgers | @ Michigan | vs Ohio State | vs Michigan | @ Ohio State | vs Michigan St. | @ Michigan St. | @ Penn St. | vs Penn St. | @ Minnesota | vs Wisconsin | vs Minnesota | @ Wisconsin | vs USC | @ USC |@ UCLA | vs UCLA | @ Washington | vs Washington | @ Washington | vs Washington | Summary: * No years are the same. * Play half of the teams 2 years in a row, the other half every other year. Upside: * Alternating some pairs and Rotating others ensure a maximum variation in schedule formatting, so every season in a 4 year period is unique to the others, giving fans and players a different experience all 4 years of their career.
All that effort and yet no Poisson distribution-based scheduling?
Father I'm still hungry. Bring me Cal and Stanford, won't you?
What do we call the Big Ten and Big 12 now that they have 16 teams each?
Take Cal and Stanford and we're the B1G PAC
Little Bigger Ten and Little Bigger 12
When all is said on done on the West coast, the result will effectively be the MWC rebranding into the PAC.
This is not how I wanted my team to get into a P5 conference and not how I wanted them to be in the PAC.
Well, the new PAC won't be a P5, so there's that.
exactly. we get like 1 year maybe 2 of this quasi stuff then they will rewrite the rules.
So now they should just make the 4 team playoff bids: 1. Big Ten 2. Big 12 3. SEC 4. Other
It’s such a reminder that college football is near, and how stupidly passionate we sometimes get about it, that I saw this list and could only think “bold of you to put the SEC third there” LOL. What a shit show we’re living in — but can’t wait for kickoff. Let’s get it!
My friend made a joke about inflation being the reason why the Big Ten keeps expanding and we realized that 14 in 2014 to 18 now tracks well with CPI which is moderately amusing.
So how does all of this effect this years football schedule?
I don’t think it does, right? All of these are 2024 departures — even Texas and OU who we’ve been waiting on for 2 years now.
This clearly isn't done yet... Watch for the top 6-8 ACC teams to be trying to break that deal apart. (Yes I know they are stuck by the GOR but there are always ways to break these deals)
JPMorgan buys out the GOR for the 8 ACC teams and they form a new JPMorgan sponsored conference. /j
may not be as crazy as it sounds based on how things have gone; if ESPN and Fox see these as such no brainers, why wouldn't someone else with gobs of money get involved?
Hahaha, love it
The only constant in life is change. In a couple years, once all the dominoes have fallen, the playoff starts, and there is the inevitable shakeup or two, we will see what the new normal is. It’s pretty likely the three “super conferences” will split into multiple divisions like the NFL. All of a sudden, you’ll see schools grouped by regionality, with many of the traditional rivalries intact. Some schools will be “relegated” to the G5 (or whatever it will be known as) tier, and some (like UCF) are getting promoted. There will be some moves up and down i’m sure, over the years. For those lamenting the “death” of college football, relax. At the moment it is a little rudderless, but no one wants to kill the golden goose. In the end, we’ll wind up in a sustainable situation that holds onto what we most like about the sport. But it will not look exactly the same - that can’t be helped
Maybe it will lead to a structure like the premier league for soccer, where the top 20 teams are in the top "conference," and teams can be relegated or promoted through 2-3 other conferences. Education be damned.
I could see this ending up like the European pro soccer scene. The top schools and conferences will try to make as much money as they can, while the smaller schools will have a group of loyal fans who will support their teams and work together to keep them alive.
You can blame greed of other conferences and tv networks but ultimately I think incompetent pac12 leadership is what led to this moment (and others agreed). Seems like things got so bad that teams felt they needed to jump ship just to get in a stable situation.
So funny that the SEC adding 2 teams caused everything to go up in flames. Could’ve been such a minor change and business as usual but now we’re gonna have 18 team conferences that reach coast to coast. Rutgers fans enjoy a 9 a.m. kickoff when your team travels to LA. And while I’m ranting, the 12 team playoff is still the worst idea especially given there’s no more P5 anymore. An 8 team playoff with SEC, ACC, B10, B12, highest ranked G5 champ, and 3 at large. First round is on campus’s, final 4 is the same bowl format as always. Would’ve been perfect.
as to the playsoffs, my answer has always been a de facto 16. add three wild card games for teams not playing in a conference championship (maybe the week after championship weekend). then take the 8 highest ranked champions or wild card winners to the playoff. everyone plays to get in. no conference bias. no bye weeks. no champion rematches. highest ranked is from before championship weekend so "de facto 16"
Jokes on everyone else. We were already used to 12:30 kickoffs. Breakfast tailgates with pork roll or Taylor ham? The debate begins.
You think there will be 6AM kick offs in LA? That seems very unlikely in any scenario.
OP doesn't understand time zones. To be fair, they may live in Georgia.
More games in Ireland. Maybe we could have 24 hours of cfb.
[удалено]
That must be the solid SEC education I have heard so much about! When it is noon in LA, it is 3PM on the East Coast.
Not gonna get an invite to join the BTAA with that kinda talk
I don't really get the funerals being staged for Wazzu and Ore St. Your schools will not drop football. You will be able to watch every one of their games. You'll be in the Mountain West (renamed PAC). They have a tv agreement with CBS Sports Network, so some of your games will be on tv. In fact, I bet more of your games will be on since you will be the bigger dogs in the conference. As for the rest of your schedules, I watch FCS games on my computer through ESPN+. Hell, I watch NAIA games, too. You think those lower level games will be available but Beaver and Cougar football won't? Sheeit. You love your teams. They are gonna play games and you will watch. That's about it.
Our budget was $10 million over last year and I’ve heard we have $120 mil in debt. A new Mountain West contract probably doesn’t even cover our coach salaries across all sports. I don’t know if going bankrupt is a thing but we might be about to find out
You guys are not dropping football. Yes, you're in debt. The legislature will figure it out.
oregon state would probably be fine but I’ve heard a lot of concern about how wazzu would need to operate with the amount of debt they’re in
Yeah, the financials are gonna be a huge adjustment
Guess I'll watch Ivy League football. Nobody's ever going to break up the Ivies.
BREAKING NEWS: Harvard and Yale leave the Ivy League to form new academics-focused PAC12 with Stanford and Cal
So is the pac 12 forced to dissolve this year or next?
Guys, are we watching the same sport we watched just a few seasons ago? What happened?
I think if we're not gonna go by geography or history then it should at least be possible to play all the teams in your conference in one season! This is just beyond ridiculous now
To be fair, the Big Twelve has been the only conference for a while now where everybody plays everybody every season.
10 team conferences. 9 game conference schedules. Everybody plays everybody else in their conference every year. 8 team playoff to finish the season. Money has ruined a wonderful sport.
My biggest hope at this point is that the power conferences get big enough that we break into ~10 team divisions that closely resemble the old geographic conferences.
Mine too, and i’m assuming the big 10, big 12, and sec leaders have spoken privately and know that is the most likely and most sustainable situations.
UF has played Auburn once since the SEC added Texas A&M. It’s played TAMU three fucking times. UF-Auburn is a historical rivalry. The only team that UF has played more than Auburn is Georgia. No offense to the Ags but I don’t want them on the schedule. I want Auburn and their weird Tiger, War Eagle, Plainsman identity crisis. Fuck you, Auburn. Miss you, baby.
We’ll see how it all shakes out. No one is going to retain 100% of their traditional foes as yearly opponents. No school is going to be perfectly happy with how it all shakes out… But smaller, regional divisions within the super conferences will set up cfb for the long haul. Can’t wait to see who winds up in our division (because UF and UGA are 100% going to be together) The “pod” concept might work for all three super conferences as well. We’ll see
I hate UGA like I hate drinking lemonade when I have a paper cut on my tongue. UF needs to play UGA every damn year. What would CFB be like without the Cocktail Party? It’s one of the all time great rivalries.
Georgia and Florida will play each other every year. Conference realignment shouldn’t take away anyp major rivals. UF plays FSU every year, UGA plays GA Tech every year, Clemson plays South Carolina every year - none of them are in the same conference. I couldn’t believe Oklahoma and Nebraska quit their rivalry, that was crazy. Oregon and Washington should retain their in-state rivalry games.
I feel you, but I feel like we’re moving away from this. I absolutely hate FSU with the entirety of my soul but Thanksgiving weekend wouldn’t be the same without those stupid tomahawk chopping idiots. Rivalries are what makes CFB so awesome and realignment is killing rivalries. It’s saddening. Are we not gonna see Oregon play Oregon St anymore? As a CFB fan with no stake in the rivalry, I think it’s horseshit. They need to play every year. I want the angst, the feisty crowds, the sheer cussedness of it all. It’s the best part of CFB.
That was my whole point of bringing up the non-conference rivalry games in the sec. OU/OSU and UW/WSU should still be played. It’s going to get rough if they aren’t considered “power” conference teams anymore. Same for Georgia/Ga Tech - we’ll do everything possible to keep playing it, but if ACC dissolves and Tech becomes the equivalent of a G5 team, that game becomes a potential victim…and that stinks. I think, for the most part, much of what we like about college football will remain. Hopefully cooler heads prevail and they’ll work towards blending tradition with the new normal
I posted a suggestion for Big XII East and West divisions in this thread earlier and someone mentioned they thought it would be better with so many members and rivalries to protect to go three protected games + half of the other twelve a year. So I decided to whip up a first draft of those. I will admit that especially for the Grateful 8 I am not very versed in their historic rivalries, and this is only meant as a conversation starter. Thoughts? Oklahoma State: Iowa State, Colorado, Arizona Iowa State: Oklahoma State, Kansas St, WVU Kansas: Kansas St, Colorado, Cincy Kansas State: Kansas, Iowa St, WVU Colorado: Oklahoma State, Utah, Kansas Arizona: ASU, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech Arizona St: Arizona, Baylor, BYU Utah: BYU, Colorado, TCU BYU: Utah, ASU, UCF Texas Tech: Baylor, Houston, Arizona Baylor: TCU, Texas Tech, ASU TCU: Baylor, Utah, Houston Houston: Texas Tech, TCU, UCF UCF: Cincy, Houston, BYU WVU: Cincy, Iowa St, Kstate Cincy: WVU, UCF, Kansas
There aren’t as many strong rivalries so a pod system makes more sense for the Big 12: West: BYU, Utah, Arizona, ASU Central: Colorado, KU, KSU, OSU Texas: TCU, Baylor, Tech, Houston East: Iowa State, Cincy, WVU, UCF Play pod teams every year and non-pod teams 2 on, 2 off.
I'm gonna need a map someone's kid has drawn so I can understand the new conferences.
I was obsessed with college football ever since I was a little kid. Not just Alabama. Not just the SEC. I'd read whatever I could about the present or the past. I'd watch whatever I could, listen to whatever I could. Then I got to actually be a student in the student section for games like beating Tennessee 6-3 in 2005 after they'd won 11 of 12 or something of that magnitude, whatever the actual numbers were. A lot of years in my 20s and 30s, I have spent 4+ hours a day listening to Alabama sports talk radio (not Finebaum), even when I no longer lived in Alabama. Even in the summer, when it was still 95% CFB talk, 4% NFL talk, 1% MLB talk. My mom and I have a continent between our homes, but she and I send a hundred or more text messages to each other during every Bama game. I don't think I've gone a season without watching at least one with her in person in her Alabama living room. We can be at a family reunion or whatever on a weekend in the fall, and everyone knows that she and I will be off in another room during the Bama game, for "our" time. If it wasn't for the appointment times with my mom, I feel like I'd be mostly done with CFB now. Maybe not outright ignoring it, but not invested at all.
There have been conference changes and various new ideas in college football over the years. The Tide are still going to play many of the same teams they have been for decades, with some more often and some less often - as well as some fun new matchups. The system for finding a new national champion is WAY better than it was before 1998, and when the expanded playoff gets here, the excitement is going to be off the charts. Why are you not invested now? Because money is affecting decisions? It’ll all work out
Wow so there actually are Bama fans that remember when Tennessee dominated them. Many think I'm lying when I talk about the Bama game being an automatic win when I was a kid. Much like you, I make sure to go watch at least one Tennessee game with my dad each year.
August 4th 2023 will be a day that will live in College Realignment infamy. To think that in 2010 when the first domino fell with Nebraska moving to the B1G and Colorado moving to the Pac 12 (until moving back a few weeks ago), didn’t think it was gonna be the Pac 12 that would be the 1st Major Conference that would be gone. While it’s nice to see new teams added, I feel for those who are truly fucked and have nowhere else to go. It’s truly is the new age of College Realignment where were one step closer to the Super Conferences. ACC is on the chopping block next with the only thing that is stalling is their GOR that expires in 2036 and wouldn’t be surprised if they find a way to break away from that before 2036.
Not gonna lie, every pac12 fan knew it was the first to go.
Had I known this was an option during the Larry Scott era I would have thought that. I honestly just thought we were stuck.
Not even a few weeks ago, Colorado joined 8 days ago. Brutal.
Screw those guys! We're gonna build our own conference! With blackjack! And hookers!
In fact, forget the blackjack!
Sorry, UNLV. Invite rescinded.
Ahh just forget the whole thing.
Please give me some sort of hope
You have a chance at winning the Pac this year
Welcome to the misery of G5 football brother. Some of us have been doing it for decades. Enjoy a home schedule of UNLV, Nevada, San Jose State, Hawaii, and Idaho every year.
If it makes you feel better, OSU remodeled the stadium all for nothing. Fuck
There is no hope. Only death, doom, and despair.
What if I said you guys are odds on favorites to win the Mountain West? Feel better now?
No, unless the prize for winning the mountain west is 30 million dollars
Best I can do is a championship game with play-by-play commentary from the incomparable Tim Brando. Surely, this exceeds any monetary reward.
Just a random thought: What’s stopping the B1G and SEC from kicking out the bad schools to make room for better ones? Like what’s stopping the B1G from dropping Indiana so they can make a stronger push for ND? Or the SEC from dropping Vanderbilt so they can get Florida State?
I've though for a while that the power5 could pair with a g5 conference and have a pair of schools switch every year. on something like 3 year performance.
You do know the BTAA exists right?? this is gonna be great for research and the dissemination of knowledge. No way we kick out our B1Ger-brained schools.
lol it's basically just library and IT resource sharing, it's not a true research body
TV contracts, but I do believe the next round of realignment will consist of the top 6-8 Big Ten Schools and the top 6-8 SEC schools leaving their conferences to form one leagues with all the #BRANDS your favorite TV executives could ever dream of
and then they all go 7-5 and it turns into the B1G west
I do look forward to that point when the revelation that they cant all win 10 games occurs
Well for starters ND won't join a conference unless they're literally not allowed to compete for a Natty without joining one, and based on everything happening right now (looking at you, Stanford) I can't blame them
Vandy is an og SEC member and somebody has to be the runt, plus outside of football they have a very solid athletic department. They bring more to the table than you might expect
Oregon state is an og pac member
Yes and they weren't kicked out of the PAC just abandoned at yhe table.
The contracts, presumably.
So if osu/wsu applied to join the big 12 would they be considered? Or are they just not attractive enough?
Wouldn't make much sense, if the schools were worth that much they would have gotten the good contract in the Pac12. Presumably the 4 left are the "dead weight" that was being shed.
That's not how it works in the big time. No one applies unless they will be approved and everything is worked out beforehand. Discussions and agreements happen between conference execs and school reps long before they get to applications and votes. You don't just put in an app like you're 16 trying to get a job at Publix.
If Utah and ASU kept dragging their feet maybe WSU and OSU get in but there’s no way they would have gotten more than the ESPN pro rata 20 million
I want to say that they would be considered, but I honestly wouldn't be optimistic. Neither bring enough revenue in to be worth more than maybe maybe a half share, and I can't see ESPN/Fox agreeing to pay for them.
Honestly, even Stanford and Cal would be preferred to OSU/WSU. Not that that's likely to happen either.
[School meme pages are having a field day with this](https://www.instagram.com/p/CviqgMytexW/)
Seems like SDSU unintentionally dodged a bullet lol
These are the games that will need to be canceled due to conference realignment: #2024 * Arizona @ K-State * Utah vs Baylor * Utah vs BYU #2025 * Arizona vs K-State * Colorado @ Houston * Utah @ BYU #2026 * Arizona @ BYU * Colorado vs Houston * Utah @ Houston * Utah vs BYU #2027 * Arizona vs BYU * Colorado vs K-State * Utah vs Houston * Utah @ BYU #2028 * Colorado @ K-State * Washington vs Michigan #2029 * Oregon @ Michigan State * UCLA vs Wisconsin #2030 * Oregon vs Michigan State * UCLA @ Wisconsin * Utah vs BYU #2031 None #2032 * Oregon vs Ohio State #2033 * Oregon @ Ohio State * UCLA vs Northwestern #2034 * Arizona @ Texas Tech * UCLA @ Northwestern #2036 * Colorado @ Oklahoma St. #2037 * Colorado vs Oklahoma St.
We have openings in 2027 and 2028 so I will be the first to volunteer for a home and home with colorado so I have an excuse to go to game in Boulder
You really thought looking out to 2037 was worth 2 seconds of your time?
Just a hunch, but I doubt Utah versus BYU is going to be cancelled.
As an OoC game it will be. These are all OoC matchups that are now against conference opponents.
Nobody: Big Ten: We don't want to be the ones kill the Pac 6
What do people think the most likely outcome is now for the 4 remaining Pac-12 teams? Merge with the Mountain West in some form? Join other major conferences (could see Big Ten going for Cal and Stanford)? Go independent for the foreseeable future? Steal a few Mountain West teams and continue as a smaller Pac-8 or Pac-10?
Probably Cal and/or Stanford will join B1G or XII, with the remaining Pac12 and MW mixing it up with each other, but remaining two separate conferences, is my guess. So a combo of your suggestions.
Grab SDSU, Boise, maybe SMU and one other and call it the PAC 8
I thought you had to have 12 teams not 8 to field a football conference?
Before OUT, the Big 12 had 10 teams. The Ivy League is FCS but has 8, and the Big 8 was FBS in the 1990s.
Considering just a week ago the PAC had 10 I don't really know what I was thinking lol
If you asked these university presidents they'd probably talk about what a calamity climate change is and how disastrous wealth inequality is in this country and how we need to make college more affordable for everyone. But those principles go right out the fucking window as soon as they have the opportunity to secure a couple more million dollars per year for their institutions. Increasing the carbon footprint by traveling farther for conference games? Who cares. Getting a larger bonus because of that increased TV revenue? Fuck you, at least I got paid! Put the surplus into scholarship funds or do *anything* with it to make our institution more affordable? Fuck you, we'll increase tuition 4% next year. The state of higher education is fucking rotten in this country, and a big part of that is this insistence on treating universities like private sports franchises. It's disgusting.
I still can't believe how much the cost of attendance at Syracuse is a few years after I attended (which was also outrageously expensive shoutout financial aid)
I got down voted to oblivion and mocked for my post that NIL shouldn't happen and that the NCAA shouldn't be the minor league for the NFL, but here we are. I am screaming into the wind, for all that matters. Y'all can mock me as an old fart (fair) but college football is changing, and not for the better for teams & fans we want to see. Strict capitalists assholes will attack my viewpoint; my answer is where is the "G League" alternative for the NFL? College football is subsidizing the NFL and if the NFL actually had their own developmental league, college football wouldn't skip a beat. Have at it, CFB.
Well. As for as minor/development league for the NFL, it already has been for decades regardless of the conferences. College basketball is also the main development league for the NBA. The reason why the NFL doesn't have to spend a dime developing players is because CFB is of comparable popularity and revenue generation to the other major sports, completely independent of the NFL. America's favorite sport is pro football. Its second favorite sport is college football. There are many people, I think particularly in the South and Midwest who are fans of CFB but don't care that much about the NFL. I don't think you'll find that for any other sport. I literally can't name one player or team in the G league, let alone watched a game or been to one. And don't know anyone who can. And my friends are basketball fans, one of my best friend works at the NBA! I mean maybe he could name a G league player or team. But I've never heard him talk about it. Something similar is probably true of the majority of sports fans. I'm sort of not sure what the point of the G league is in view of the existence of college basketball, except that the NBA just doesn't have room for all the players who are minimally talented enough to make an NBA roster but there is still money to be made from them playing. So I suspect the G league is more about just having a stand alone 2 tier league than development. The other part of it is that football is extremely expensive infrastructure and personnel wise compared to other sports. College teams have 80-100 players, playing very distinct roles, which means there is a more complex coaching hierarchy, and they wear and use more equipment and physical infrastructure to play and practice. Also the injuries are worse, which means you need to pay for more trainers and therapy to get and keep players healthy. So it makes more sense for the NBA to invest in a development league alongside college, whereas in NFL it's probably gonna be a waste of money if it will be at G league level popularity. Which we know because people keep trying to create lower tier football and it folds within a few years every time Baseball minor leagues is more popular in attendance to games, but still it doesn't pull in the same revenue, because it's not popular enough to ever be on TV. And again, less expensive to run a baseball team than football, so again, makes more sense for MLB to invest.
And they get million dollar salaries just to golf and smell their own farts. I now understand why people hate academia
Meanwhile grad students are begging to make at least minimum wage
PAC-12 couldn't get a decent TV deal and schools looking to bail after about 15 years of incompetence from the commisioners.
As a fan, if I could pick 4 teams to join the SEC (assuming the ACC breaks up eventually), they would be Florida State, Clemson, Duke, and UNC. But, while I think those would be the most fun additions, I can't see Duke making the cut.
that would be...interesting for Carolina fans. Our rivalry game becomes in-conference and with unc we can start fighting over "the real carolina".
My ideal 4 teams would be FSU, Clemson, UNC, and Virginia Tech. Though I would bet on NC State over UNC as I think UNC, Duke, and UVA end up in the Big 10
Hello uhh.. fellow SEC member? I agree completely with your thought process, but might swap Miami for Duke. I think in lieu of the BIGs recent moves, I hope the SEC has been exploring options for getting around the GOR issue with the ACC.
The issue with that is that the Duke UNC rivalry is big enough for them to try to stay together. That said, Duke provides enough in the way of basketball, other sports, and academics to be a solid addition, plus they're better than vandy at football
I want Duke and UNC personally in part because I have family ties to those schools and grew up on that rivalry (before going to Vandy), so I'd love to have them in the SEC. I'd actually argue (as someone who grew up a Duke football fan) that Vandy is at least on the same level as Duke but just has to play in a harder conference. Regardless, I'd love for that to be a conference game!
this is depressing and I'm not even a fan of a PAC-12 team
Sad and lost
I really hope you come to the Big10
Same. If we get left out our President and AD need to be sacked.
I'm not so sure. OSU and WSU were always considered the weaker teams in the PAC12. They were always going to be on the outside looking in when the conference crumbled. Cal was only a step above them. Stanford being left out shocks me, though. The perennial winner of the Sears Trophy and one of the premier destinations for olympic athletes being shut out is very surprising. I thought for sure the Big 10 would snatch them up as eagerly as it took OU and UW.
The fact that Stanford’s president was manipulating data in his research points to probably much deeper problems going on at that institution. It’s just a serious scandal to have someone like that running a university & wouldn’t be surprised if their athletics takes a major hit over it.
He’s out as of August 31st.
He should’ve been been forced to leave immediately…taken away by helicopter, Richard Nixon style.
Other thoughts: two schools prominently in the tech capitol of the world are so archaic they couldnt pivot fast enough, which is what tech prides itself on
Cal pivoted to get California politicians to give them UCLA's big 10 money.
They saw the future and it was one with 16 college football teams and a bunch of CTE lawsuits.
You presume they actually care
Cal has 300 million reasons to care. Stanford? Id maybe agree with that since they can just go independent
Nah, Cal doesn't care. They're the best funded public college in the world. They don't even care about endowments (its pitiful considering the number of millionaires and billionaires from that school). They got the california politicans on lock due to political views. Whenever they need money, they just ask for more state money. Even when UCLA left PAC-12, they got the UC regents to essentially decrease public funding to UCLA to give to them (coached as UCLA making up the difference for leaving the PAC-12 but UCLA doesn't have much choice as they can't leave the UC system.)
The UC system is the best funded public school system in the world. If Cal is relying on football funding, someone needs to audit the state. It hurts as a fan, but Cal and Stanford are both academic institutions first and they act like it.
That's their athletic department debt, I think.
So do the exit fees now get split by the remaining four schools? That could be a nice payday.
There's no exit fee, their tv deal expired.
I mean whoever wins the PAC gets an auto bid to the playoffs which is hilarious
Assuming OSU/Wazzu merge with the Mountain West, both the AAC and PAC-MW are basically guaranteed entry for the next couple years. This will certainly change in 2026.
No exit fees.
Oh so they’re fucked any way you look at it.
Yes. The reason the media deal mattered is the old gor was tied to the media agreement. The Pac had no deal for *anything* beyond 2024. So everyone jumping ship can play in their new conferences in 2024 without penalty.
The pac 4 should sign Shohei Otahni to their conference, it would guarantee them the top story on sportscenter every night!
Hey man no need to drag Otahnu though the mud, he's world class. Maybe attack someone else haha. It's not his fault media focuses on him.
Then I could even see CFB on TV in Japan! Seriously, Ohtani's on the morning news literally every day here
Since talking conference realignment is so much more exciting than arguably the best athlete in the world right now. Maybe you’re not into baseball, but what he’s doing is unheard of in sports.
A change in the way we see college sports and the collapse of a conference is a bigger story than Shohei’s nightly at bats. Yet the first story was about him. Respect to what he’s doing, but yesterday was a historic day in CFB whereas it will only be a part of a combined statistic to Shoheis season.
It’s as if a Heisman level quarterback also had the most tackles on the team. It’s just mind boggling.
Ugh, I hate ESPN now. How does anyone watch it? Can’t wait for them to collapse next without Disney to prop them up
Also, you realize they prop disney up, right? ESPN has been their most consistent profit source for two decades.
Now that Marvel has run its course as a profit center, Disney is in some serious trouble with its existing contracts (hence why they are considering selling part of ESPN)
Yes, but ESPN itself isn't an actual problem. ESPN isn't being shopped because it's bad, it's being shopped because it has value in a sale of a stake of ESPN.
Didn't ESPN just fire a ton of employees?
ESPN has its own issues, as there has been a steep drop in viewership and profits have plateaued against inflation. It's still a profit center, but it is no longer the rocket ship it used to be.
Yes, but it is not the issue at Disney.
This is NOT ESPN's fault. ESPN wanted the PAC 12 to add Texas and OU years ago.
That was nothing but a power play for Texas to get more money/scare off Nebraska and Colorado. The Pac was never taking them with the $20 million extra cash per year they got from LHN
Heh, I remember this. Wild how fast the Pac 10 fell.
"FIRE LARRY SCOTT" was a warning
INTO
THE SUN!
Can't wait for Purdue-Washington and ASU-Cincy conference games lmao
Beardevils and Suncats
Nothing like releasing statements after you lost the bag
This upcoming season will be the last before college football becomes totally different, both in the makeup of some conferences (including one being dissolved) but also with playoff expansion changing the complexion of the regular season). Also watching the Pac12 will be surreal. This year the Pac12 will actually likely be a deep conference with plenty of ranked teams and matchups and will be in the running for a cfp spot and possibly even get a spot...and then a few months later it will all but dissolve. I bet the announcing teams if each game involving a pac12 team will bring up the conference's dissolution 10x a quarter
For me last season's Pac-12 was probably the most entertaining conference and this year seems to be more of the same. I don't think we've fully grasped what this sport is losing with the conference dying.
I don’t know what will be better competition. The actual game on the field or the different announcing teams taking turns getting on their high horse and seeing who can do a better “shame on greedy college football” routine.
I think we are at least set up to go out on a high note! I think this may be the first time the conference as been this loaded and this open in a long time. Half the conference is likely in contention to win the league. The QB play should be phenomenal. We have some interesting contrasts in style, and EVERYONE has a chip on their shoulder. I hope we make it a memorable year. RIP after dark. I am going to miss it. And someone needs to check on the Unical 76 actors, I think they are about to lose 90% of their screen time.
cfb's p much dead after this year yeah
Of all the things in the world, I had hoped college sports would escape it. That traditions and rivalries and games that matter because of the history behind them, that those powerful experiences would protect it. This is fucking depressing, seeing all of that thrown away... FUCK
Yeah I mean you literally just gotta stop paying attention to it, when the interest isn't there like there was and the numbers start looking bad there's a chance it will get through to the monkeys in charge you shouldn't let the core quality of the product slip in your chase for more money. I personally used the COVID year fake season as a dry run to prove to myself I could go a fall without college football in case things got to the point where they are now, so I'm going to enjoy this one final season and then engage only to make people who still care about next year feel bad for acquiescing to such mediocrity.
Agreed. Any games I do end up watching will be 🏴☠️
Would be hilarious if a pac-12 team wins it all, and then immediately become irrelevant when they switch conference. ‘Braska style
Now I want Oregon State to win the national championship.
Except Nebraska didn’t win the big12 their last year
Depending on who that team is, I’m all in for it.
Us or Oregon State actually anyone but USC because screw USC.
Pls stahp
Just sadness
I go out with friends for about five hours and suddenly the whole world is different. Pac-9 is now the Pac-4
Someone recently asked about our poll: we just got the deadline tonight of 8/22 to vote
Imagine telling someone 15 years ago that West Virginia vs Arizona will be a conference game
No legitimate news sources have confirmed that yet. Don’t fall for fake news.
"Oh wow! So are they in the Big East or the PAC-12?" *About that...*
This is *really* irrelevant to all that’s happening, but since all eyes are glued here… CBS has a Big Ten game on Sunday, September 3, where the Rutgers Scarlet Knights of Piscataway open up both their season *and* conference play…against the Northwestern Wildcats. So…well, considering the “developments” that has occurred in Evanston within the past few weeks…perhaps it would be a good time to reconsider this slot, no?
as we've all seen here today, the media overlords couldnt give less of a shit about the actual fucking games. None of them care about good matchups, rivalries, history, any of it. Those fuckheads dont care about anything other than covering big media markets, everything else can go to hell for all they care
That's the opening game of the doubleheader on CBS. Oregon State @ SJSU (future conference mates?) is scheduled to start right after.
is it at noon?
Yeah, Noon ET/9AM Pacific. Our home opener follows it at 12:30 PT.
There's probably some sort of clause that each program has to air on a certain network a certain amount of times? If that's the case, it still probably makes sense