PAC-12

Appears that the PAC-12 is starting to understand that one of their issues (other than a lack of good teams) is their game times are at odds with most of the country. The discussion right now is moving some kickoffs back to 9 (Pacific Time) in order to conform to the accepted noon Eastern/11 Central starts. ( Pac-12 coaches give thumbs up to 9 a.m. PT kickoff idea ) One would assume that eventually, they will move the evening games back to 8'ish Eastern/7 Central.

Of course, the group Scott has to convince is the college presidents which will be a tall order for that group. Scott is being held responsible for the disappointing acceptance of the PAC-12 networks.

Could this be the first move to entice Texas and ou to move to the PAC?

 

Having lived in Seattle for quite some time and having to get up quite early for some 9 am kickoffs to watch Texas play, I can tell you that it kinda-sorta sucks. And that was just me watching on TV. Having to get up at 7 am or earlier to be at the stadium to tailgate and catch the kickoff on a regular basis would not be a ton of fun for me as a fan.

The PAC-12 is stuck in a tough spot. Do they risk alienating their teams' fan bases by these constant early kickoffs or do they go for the households and media coverage in areas where they don't really have a solid footprint?

But if it ends up helping the conference and aids in making them relevant again then the fans will swallow the pill of early kickoffs and make it work.

A personal aside: As much as those 9 am kickoffs sucked, being able to see every single game and not have to stay up until midnight to do it was pretty awesome.

Also, I got to watch 60 minutes at its regularly scheduled time.

 

1230 and 5pm kickoffs Cali time should be the standard for them on Saturdays. Throw in a few Thursday and Friday games and see if that helps if not, that ship will continue to sink.

 

So it will be omelets and Bloody Marys for tailgate parties out West...

 

Just my humble opinion but I’d like to see us entice Colorado and Nebraska back in to the Conference!!

 

Colorado would probably rather shut down football than go back to the Big 12. UC had been talking about making the move the Pac since the early 90's. Their alumni have always felt they had more in common with the schools of the pacific coast than the Big 8 or the Big 12. I believe that outside of Colorado their biggest alumni base is in SoCal.

Nebraska I'm not sure. They do seem to miss the traditional rivalries like KU and Oklahoma, but they still pretty much hate Texas and it's not just about our record against them. They have a bit of aggy in them. everything is Texas fault. They were winning titles before we came along. I think we would have an easier time getting Arkansas to jump from the SEC to the Big 12.

 

As a Dallas guy who sees the Metroplex as the "center" of the conference , I'd prefer Nebraska, Missouri, and Arkansas, and cut WVU.

But it's just personal preference, and doesn't reflect Business or scorched earth considerations

 

I wonder how Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri, and aggy would have fared if they'd have remained in the Big 12?

aggy has probably fared the best since the move. They had two good years with Manziel. Their recruiting has greatly improved.

Missouri has probably fared second best. They made it to the sec championship game and got slaughtered a couple of times.

Colorado had one decent season two years ago.

Nebraska is just a doormat in the Big Ten.

 

The law of averages, you hate to see Nebraska leave the Big before they revert to the mean....
Still think College football is worse off without Nebraska and Oklahoma, Texas and ATm, and Pitt v Penn State every year.

 

I agree.

 

A couple of things to ponder:

While the PAC region has a huge population, it also has a much higher % of people who don’t give a f%#£ about college football when compared to the South or the Midwest. The Northeast = same thing. I think this is a bigger factor in their ratings problem.

Re: Big 12 schools considering moving to the PAC— back when the SWC was breaking up and the Big 12 being formed, this topic came up a lot. My recollection from radio sports talk shows (equivalent to the internet boards of that era) was that Stanford was having none of the likes of Tech or Baylor in their conference. We were politically tied to those two with Bullock, Richards, Hance, etc in high places in the State government.

Also, Stanford and Cal were apparently opposed to any religious school in their conference. This later came into play with BYU—imho a natural fit for the PAC with their millions (and rapidly growing) of fanatic fans, and their exceedingly healthy and wholesome tailgate parties .

I think they all wanted UT but not our tagalong baggage.

 

Chop's recall is more or less the same as mine. I would only add that the PAC wanted Texas and ou and no one else. Texas was screwed by politicians and their buddies and OSU was tied to ou by statute.

 

I like where we are now because IMHO it positions us the best for making the playoffs.

If, however, we want to move to the PAC, the big question now is whether Baylor and Tech are still latched to us by powerful political forces. I would think Baylor is now so noxiously toxic that they have little weight to throw around. Not sure about Tech.

On a related note, Stanford should get over itself. It’s not like Washington State, Arizona, and Oregon State are academic powerhouses compared to Tech. Tech is also bigger than the aforementioned schools and rapidly growing.

 

I think once the aggy broke away from us, the idea that anyone is tied to Texas has gone out the door. Why would the aggys be allowed to go off on their own and not Texas?

I'm for a move to the Pac because of the improvement in recruiting, but due to their really bad financial status, I actually think we can steal some of them to the Big 12. Or an even better solution is creating a new conference with about the best 6 teams from the big 12 and 6 teams from the PAC. I would love to be in the same conference as USC UCLA Arizona, ASU Utah and BYU. Don't want Colorado back, they are flakes.

 

Chop,

Colorado begged to join the PAC, but the PAC told Deloss that they wanted Texas and Utah, the latter to pacify UCLA for basketball.

NOBODY wants BYU. Stanford & Berzerkley would take a Christian school with a historical athletic and academic background, which means ND. BYU meets neither of those criteria,

 

A ‘Best of the West’ super-conference, with two divisions, would be very intriguing indeed.

I’m ok with our current situation for now though.
Pros: it gives us our best chance to make the playoffs annually.
Cons: there’s an awful lot of mediocre completion and boring teams and places on the schedule. Also, the TV sets and revenue generation is clearly centered in Texas. Places like Kansas and Iowa give little and take much on the revenue side.

On a related note, while we certainly owe them nothing, I’d like to see TCU land with the big boys during the next shake up. IMHO, they’ve earned it on the field over a few decades by playing into the big leagues.

 

Arkansas has fallen off a cliff after their departure from the SWC. They can’t recruit well in Texas anymore (although a&m seems to be doing everything they can to open the door to Texas recruiting wider for the swine).

 

Stanford and Berzerkley are like the nerdy kid with a big mouth that would run to the teacher if you ever touch them. It's funny how they black balled both Baylor and BYU when both schools have more athletic skins on their walls than either of those schools. BYU especially. I actually like BYU, beautiful campus, great fans and good stadium to watch a football game. Yes, they are a bit weird, but still they are very competitive. Think TCU with a better stadium.

If you took the top 7 schools from each conference (politics included) and made one 14 team conference.

USC, UCLA, Arizona, ASU, Utah, Colorado, and Oregon.
Texas, blOwU, Okie Lite, Tech, TCU and KU.

Not a bad conference and every bit as good as B1G or SEC. Also not to mention This would be a really good basketball conference. 3 legit Blue blood schools and a few 2nd tier schools. It would be wonderful to play colorado again I just want to torture them like a kid with an ant mound and a magnifying glass. Lets not forget that we would be the only conference with ties to Texas and California recruiting.

 

UW probably deserves a seat at the table (maybe a 14 team 7/7 league, or ditch Colorado?), but other than that I like this idea. It would only be a matter of time before one of these schools hires the pirate as a coach from WSU.

 

Except TCU is Christian.

Again, the original plan was Texas and Utah to the PAC. A&M to the SEC, and Tech to the WAC.

Later, USC, UCLA, Arizona, ASU, Texas, OU, oSu, aTm, Nebraska, CU, & maybe Arkansas would for the new SWC with 28% of the television market in America.

 

Hardly, I lived near that school, it's about as Christian as Baylor. Or maybe I should say it's about as Christian as SMU.

There is nothing religious about any of those schools.

 

You missed the point.

 

Is this still the case though? Maybe with the fan base but it’s been a while and I wonder if this could be a good series again. I still like to think of the Huskers as one of the good old traditional college football programs.

 

Well, since the opening salvo in the holy wars has been fired...

TCU = Technically Christian University.
(All in jest of course )
.
Of course, it’s not the theology of the divinity department that we’re looking at for sports conference affiliation. It’s the relative ranking of their football (and secondarily basketball) program in recent years, and the size of their fan base and ability to drive tv markets. BYU has a big fan base (that expands exponentially each generation), and good success on the football field, that includes a football national title more recent than all but a few PAC teams. TCU has certainly earned their place at the table with the big boys on the field (although their fan base extends little outside the Ft Worth city limits). I think both of these programs would be a solid addition to any conference. The long term question is: where will TCU be after Patterson is gone?

As for religious affiliation and the PAC, BYU earned a special place as the most hated academic institution among the Stanford and Cal crowd when the LDS church lobbied against (and won) on that California voters proposition re: gay unions.

 

I remember that. But I also remember that the biggest reason that this proposition went the way it did was because of Latino and Black voters, not really the religious right. But, if you have to blame someone, might as well blame your enemy.

After living in Utah for 3 years, I can tell you that Mormons are great neighbors and friendly people. Salt Lake City is one of the nicest cities you can visit and I went to a few BYU football games, including when they played TCU. Their fans remind me a lot of Nebraska fans before we beat them 10 times in a row.

Jazz fans are a different story, I would wear my Spurs gear and get more than a few negative comments.

 

Right. I’m not a Mormon, but I’ve had many good work and professional experiences with BYU alums. From what I’ve seen, they’re generally very solid folks.