Rejoice Zona Horn! It appears we're PAC bound!

Discussion in 'On The Field' started by kujotx, Sep 18, 2011.

  1. kujotx

    kujotx 500+ Posts

    @ranriggs tweets:

     
  2. XOVER

    XOVER 500+ Posts

    The Midnight League it is, huh? I bailed on Stanford/AZ last night around 11:30 pm.

    Not surprising, really. The PAC has run in first place since the SWC broke up back around '92.

    You've set forth the negatives thoroughly and clearly. I can't believe a university filled with incredibly smart people can miss on such a obvious decision. I guess it's just another case where emotions check logic.

    Oh, well. Onward through the fog.
     
  3. HornSwoggler

    HornSwoggler Horn Fan

    NEVER NEVER NEVER forget that this decision will not be made in the interest of the average fan, academics, tradition or the good of collegiate sports . It is the aggregate $$ from various TV contracts that will be the deciding factor. Even if the LHN has to be diluted, if the combined TV $$ share is good enough, a deal will be struck.

    Personally, I don't like the late games but that may be a small inconvenience depending on how the conference is structured and if the conference is willing to schedule more day games.
     
  4. XOVER

    XOVER 500+ Posts

    It's not about being "willing" to schedule more "day games." It's not about the PAC being "willing" to accommodate the CTZ schools' fanbase. You're missing the point.

    It's about TV saying, "Oh, you've got a day game? Too bad, we're moving it to 9:30 pm because, see, you're the PAC and most of you're fanbase is on the West Coast, and we think your game fits at 9:30 pm." Why can't Texas people "get" this?

    We're also going to play more Thursday and Friday games, too, due to the PAC TV contracts.
     
  5. Mesohorny

    Mesohorny 1,000+ Posts

    I take anything Bohls says with pound of salt.
     
  6. jlslayt

    jlslayt 100+ Posts

    The more I read about the PAC 16 and the jacked up revenue sharing, along with the potential to be in an eastern conference or a pod that consist of OU, TX, TTch, and OSU, makes me want to say screw it, join the SEC. If you take Tech at least the 3 texas schools can help keep the SEC from raping our state for talent. The PAC is not stupid, they don't wan't Tx or OU to have any additional exposure to south cali.
     
  7. BevoNation

    BevoNation 500+ Posts

    Wow! Arizona, Colorado and Utah schools! Woo! I'm so pumped!

    [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  8. XOVER

    XOVER 500+ Posts

    The SEC is superior to the PAC, quite frankly. Truth is, there's rogue programs in every conference. Every single one.
     
  9. Pentaconta

    Pentaconta 1,000+ Posts

    I hear this argument about scheduling all the time. First of all, the Pac does not play all of their games at night. Looking at next week as a sample, there are only two games that start at 9:15 PM CDT: Oregon at Arizona, and USC at ASU. Furthermore, do some of you really enjoy those 11:00 AM CST football games? Really? I always thought that was a crappy time for a football game.

    Let's stop and look at this logically a minute:

    Scheduling will depend on how a hypothetical Pac 16 will be set up: will there be two divisions or four pods? Considering both scenarios:

    1. With two divisions, Texas would likely be placed in the eastern division with Arizona, ASU, Colorado, Oklahoma, Okla. St., Texas Tech/Kansas, and Utah. That means Texas would play 7 divisional games, 2 games with western teams (rotating through them sort of like the old Big Ten schedule) and 3 non-conference games. Furthermore, we can assume half of those will be home games at DKR. So, we have:

    - Arizona - 2 hours behind Texas in Sept./Oct., 1 hour behind in Nov.
    - ASU - 2 hours behind Texas in Sept./Oct., 1 hour behind in Nov.
    - Colorado - 1 hour behind Texas
    - Oklahoma - same time as Texas
    - Okla St. - same time as Texas
    - Texas Tech/Kansas - same time as Texas
    - Utah - 1 hour behind Texas

    Plus 2 western teams, which are all 2 hours behind Texas.

    At most, with conference play, we will play a maximum of 2 teams in a time zone that is 2 hours behind Texas. ESPN and the conference aren't stupid; they know that in order to get good ratings, they will need to schedule those games for the afternoon to maximize viewership.

    2. With 4 pods, Texas would likely be placed in a "Plains" pod, consisting of Texas, Oklahoma, Okla, St,, and Texas Tech/Kansas. Texas would likely play all 3 teams in its pod, plus 2 teams from each of the other pods. Assuming the other pods would like something like this: a "mountain" pod consisting of Arizona, ASU, Colorado, and Utah; a "California" pod consisting of the California schools; and a "Northwest" pod consisting of Oregon, Oregon St., Washington, and WSU. The scheduling would look something like this:

    - Oklahoma - same time as Texas
    - Okla. St. - same time as Texas
    - Texas Tech/Kansas - same time as Texas

    Plus 2 "Mountain" teams - 1 hour behind Texas (2 if playing in Arizona in Sept./Oct.)
    Plus 2 "California" teams - 2 hours behind Texas
    Plus 2 "Northwest" teams - 2 hours behind Texas

    Assuming once again that we play half of our conference games at home, it would mean a maximum 2-3 games played at a time 2 hours behind Texas. And again, I would think the conference and ESPN would be smart enough to schedule those to maximize viewership.

    So the bottom line is that, logically, the time zone argument doesn't really wash. It's not as huge of a factor as you would think, as there are ways to minimize the effect.

    However, as someone astutely pointed out, most decisions like conference affiliation are made strictly on an emotional basis. I realize some people don't like the idea of joining the Pac for purely emotional reasons, and that is fine. If the era of superconferences is indeed upon us, I personally would be fine with either joining the Pac or the B1G, as these are conferences where Texas would mesh the best culturally.
     
  10. Pentaconta

    Pentaconta 1,000+ Posts


     
  11. OrangeChipper

    OrangeChipper 1,000+ Posts

    You guys are missing the point about the west coast time zone issue.

    A). Yes its only 1-2 football games a year. That's still too much. But what about other sports??? That's about 10-15 BasketBall games a year. That's about 10-15 baseball games a year.

    B) What about the student athlete? They get on a plane home and LOSE two hours on their flight. I'm heading to vegas this week. I leave @ 6:45 and arrive @ 7:30. Heading home will leaving around 7pm and arriving at 11pm. I wouldn't want to be a student who gets home from his Stanford basketball game at 3-4 in the morning and then prepare for my 11am quiz.

    C) Exposure. Yes occasionally you have a 2004-2005 USC, but by and large you don't see the same hype for a west coast team as you do for an east coast team. New york anyone?? The game day crew made this point about Boise State. Now that they are in the MWC their games will be on later than in previous years and they will rarely be seen due to the late games.

    So please. Stop with the straw man that the west coast is JUST 1-2 football games a year. That's just ONE of the many problems of the west coast, not all of it.
     
  12. 2222Horn

    2222Horn 100+ Posts

    The flip side of the coin is how much all of our sports recruit out West. Women's volleyball goes to San Diego for elite talent. Softball and soccer team go to California as well. The Canadian connections for men's bball went through Nevada. Football team recruits in Arizona this cycle. If half the teams are in Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona and Colorado that's ruins part of your argument (especially if over 2/3rds of the ACC teams sit on the eastern coastal states). Basketball can compensate by having more OOC games local. Baseball doesn't have make its annual OOC trip out to Cali anymore.
     
  13. kujotx

    kujotx 500+ Posts

    Penta - I get it: you love this idea. We don't.

    OK, the PAC 12 will bend over backwards to accomodate our schedule, much like they will bend over backwards to change their revenue schedule? Right?

    Utah and Arizona schools in our pod SUCKS. We want to play USC every year. Shoot, we'd settle for CAL, Ucla or Stanford. But ASU? U of A? Meh.

    We're not convinced. What's worse is that the reason this all happened (SUPPOSEBLY[sic]) is that our mighty DEATH STAR was going to televise high schools games. That's gone.

    Looks like the photon torpedo down the ventilation shaft by Red 5 pilot, Bill "Skywalker" Byrne hit its mark. I just hope we took out Red Leader.

    A&M wins this round. We win when the aggies wake up in 2014 and that they've become SEC's gimp.
     
  14. little12fan

    little12fan 25+ Posts

    PAC football is a joke. Always has been. Always will be. Sure you get a USC or an Oregon from time to time (if the boosters spread enough cash around), but the depth in the PAC 12 is no better if not worse than the Big 12. So looking forward to Cal and Wash St and a Zona school . . . or what about Stanford for 80% fo their history? At least we may get to run into a band member to close out the game.

    Seriously, this may be a great business deal, I don't know. But for football, it is much like OU . . . it sucks.
     
  15. Pentaconta

    Pentaconta 1,000+ Posts


     
  16. Third Coast

    Third Coast 10,000+ Posts

    Some won't be happy regardless of where we end up, but this is pretty much what I had been hoping for.
     
  17. kujotx

    kujotx 500+ Posts

    I was originally against the PAC-12 idea when we were being force-fed Tech into a regional network, coupled with getting a share of third tier revenue.

    That was a bad deal.

    The scheduling is still a challenge, but isn't something I am too worried about with the LHN restriction lifted. Now, that we have the LHN and the PAC-12, I like it.

    This also increases the likelihood of us seeing the Kansas game on the LHN. Once the conference picture comes into focus this week, look to ESPN stepping up pressure on the service providers.

    There... we can all be friends again.
     
  18. bishophorn

    bishophorn 500+ Posts

    I am glad the horror of going to the ACC is over. This appears to be the best option behind what I wanted (SEC).
     
  19. ptownhorn

    ptownhorn 1,000+ Posts

    what do we care about the student athletes. just hired guns anyways. :)
     
  20. horn123

    horn123 500+ Posts

    Get the games on at 5:00 pm not 7
     
  21. wadster

    wadster 5,000+ Posts


     
  22. Zona Horn

    Zona Horn 500+ Posts

    Of all the options on the table after aTm and OU effectively killed the Big 12, this seems like the best one to me (yes, I'm biased).

    Keep the RRS and conference game with OU? Check.
    Keep at least two other games against traditional rivals nearby for our fans and recruits? Check.
    Keep the LHN in some fashion, albeit with some Pac 16 programming and some sort of revenue sharing? Check (credit to Dodds on this one).
    Join one the two elite academic conferences, which means tripling our research dollars and moving up in the AAU and USNWR rankings? Check.
    Getting a pod system so we have 1 game each year against Zona schools, mountain schools, socal schools, nocal schools, oregon schools and washington schools? Check.
    No more trips to Aimes, Waco, Manhattan, etc? Check.

    All in all, not a bad result, and far preferable to staying in a watered down Big 12 or going Indy. Its too bad the Big 12 came undone, but credit to Dodds and Powers on getting most of what we wanted and salvaging a bad situation.
     
  23. coolhorn

    coolhorn 2,500+ Posts

    If you believe the Big 12 is just waiting for the life support plug to be pulled, and I do, and if you seriously survey the conference options out there for UT, then going west is best.

    There's prestige playing in the B1G, and a bunch of schools that have some things in common with UT, but they have virtually no history in common with us, and might as well be on the dark side of the moon for travel purposes. There's also no indication that there'd be any give on the LHN.

    The SEC? No. Enough said?

    The ACC? Interesting, but not that interesting, and UT would fit that conference like peanut butter and barbeque sauce. That's not to mention that they haven't seemed all that interested in us either.

    The PAC? We keep three close rivals, make fewer long distance trips west than previously predicted, add some attractive teams to our schedule, keep the shootout, and largely keep the LHN.

    That's as close to a win-win situation as you're gonna get in the new reality of super conferences. It's not gonna satisfy everybody, but it satisfies me quite nicely, guaranteeing the Horns an attractive landing spot, despite the most desperate wishes of the agriculturally-inclined.
     

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