I’m a bit surprised by NC State, the others much less so. But hey, we live in a Chinese curse now, interesting times indeed.
It is easy to see why teams on the east coast would not want to have away games in California. There would have to be substantial upside to make it something other than a big turn for the worse. I doubt Stanford and Cal bring enough to the table to make a difference for every school in the ACC.
Despite being sad about P12 demise, and not being wanted by the B10, am really glad the Utes landed in the B12.
So, this week a bunch of players from school X are betting on their own team to win, but win by how much, to cover the spread, not cover. The following week nobody from school X is betting on their own team, will they be less motivated than the prior week, will word get out about the players betting status which thereby influences bettors outside the program. This is why Pete Rose was permanently disqualified from the baseball hall of fame for occasionally placing bets on his own team.
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For integrity reasons, most major professional sports leagues prohibit players, coaches, and team personnel from betting on league games. I don’t think ESPN covering it will make it become more of a thing.
In case you missed the press conference.
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The best part of Drew’s article is talking about cutting staff. I’m more concerned about Stephen A. Smith and that knucklehead they added to College Gameday being the thing that ruins ESPN more than it already was prior to Covid.
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Many members of the Oregon legislature are upset. I doubt they can do anything about the change, but it’s interesting to see what they are saying. I think they are raising very fair questions. I wonder if they will require the University of Oregon to submit to a state legislative audit?
I thought it was a good press conference. They didn’t throw GK under the bus, which is a class move IMO. They stated that they wanted the PAC to stay together and worked hard to make a deal that would do that. They are looking forward, not back. I have no doubt the U will put the same effort they put into the PAC into the 12.
After reading some comments from leaders at other schools, it appears that most were of the opinion that the schools would go with the $25 million deal from Apple until Oregon and Washington didn’t appear at the Friday morning meeting and informed them they were headed to BigFox.
Oregon and Washington did what every other school in the conference would have done if offered the opportunity. USC and UCLA as well. I can’t fault them for that. I do believe that USC worked against the interests of the PAC while involved in serious discussions with BigFox. But, F#$% them. I never liked them before and other than piss away talent for the past 12 years, they haven’t done anything noteworthy but lose to Tulane in a bowl game.
Personally, I have been losing interest in CFB over the past years. Interestingly, I have a good friend in Texas who has been an Oklahoma guy since he was a kid growing up there. He has been a board member of the Oklahoma equivalent of the Crimson Club. He told me that he probably would not be buying season tickets moving forward.
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If this were an illness, I would describe it as “going around.”
In my case, I still enjoy it very much, but other priorities win my time and devotion a lot more than they used to. Also, like so many of us here, my disappointment with what television and money have done, and continue to do, have become a serious turn off for me.
Of course, maybe I’m just getting older.
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I find myself as interested as ever as Utah continues to build not just teams, but a national program, although I admit between football, basketball, women’s basketball, softball, baseball and other university events I may spend entirely too much time and money on this stuff. However, it provides lots of date nights and brings the family together so it’s worth it for us for now.
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I’ve been seeing quite a few comments like this online. I wonder why. The loss of regional rivalries and conferences could surely play a part. The feeling that more teams might be getting shut out of the “big leagues” is also in play.
I personally am just as interested in Utah football as ever. How many millions of dollars the school gets from a TV deal means very little to my interest in Utah football, as long as the games are still on TV.
The loss of some great opponents in the Pac-12 is very disappointing, but I still watch Utah football when we play Weber State (not as exciting, but still). I am intrigued by some of the new matchups in the Big12. I would still have watched Utah football if we somehow wound up stuck in the Pac-12/MWC like Standford and Cal currently seem to be.
It seems like college football has been in a constant state of change for decades. I don’t think this latest round will sink the ship.
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I think I can partially answer your question about why folks are losing interest in CFB. At least I can from a personal view. We moved from Salt Lake in 2012, to east of Raleigh. Our interest in Univ of Utah sports remained high, high enough to deal with 10pm Eastern start times. On the other hand we had, and continue to have, zero ties to any of the local schools (WF, NCSU, UNC, Duke, ECU). With the lack of ties to these schools we generally don’t pay much attention to them.
Yeah I know UNC has Drake Maye at QB, and he’s supposed to be some superstar. I’ve now told you most of what I know of UNC. I have even less info on the other schools.
Others probably have different reasons for losing interest in CFB, but for us it’s lack of ties to local schools. Now if Utah were to come and play at one of them, I’d learn more about said school’s football or BBall program and try to go.
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For me, I think I am losing some steam for a major reason.
I used to go to a lot of the spring and fall practices. I knew the players, I knew the young guys, you could see flashes. I would then go and post on here or 247 and chat with everyone about it. Whitt has locked down practices to everyone. So I’ve lost that aspect of my fandom. It’s gotten bad enough on 247 that I didn’t see any reason to keep the subscription. While I know the 247 guys work hard and know the recruiting side of it, until a kid steps on campus I don’t want to put the energy into them. And once they step on practice, we don’t see or hear about them until they show up on the field.
With practices being shut down, it takes away a lot of what we have to talk about. I don’t listen to the radio anymore to get practice updates. I don’t go on message boards as much to chat about players. And with a lot of schools closing practices down, I can’t go on other team’s message boards and read what is happening to “scout” other teams.
We know nothing about this Utah team this fall. We have no idea how the QB’s look. We have no idea how Jackson looks or any RB behind him. Nothing about the WR’s. Is there a CB who looks great? What about the DE’s and Safeties? What do I have about this Utah team to get excited about? I logically know that they have talent, but I haven’t seen anything about this team, other then Big 12 stuff, since the bowl game.
Shutting down practices is one of the biggest reasons I’ve lost steam.
I don’t think realignment has hurt my fandom. In fact, it may have sparked it up a little again. I know I haven’t been on a message board consistently for a long time, like I have the last week.
I’m excited about the Big 12. I will definitely miss the PAC-12 and the schools we were aligned with, but in the PAC-12 Oregon, USC, UCLA, UW, Stanford all recruited better than us. ASU could, if they ever pulled their heads out of their butts. I knew we would compete, but you also knew that once USC got their crap together, they would just be better. And that kind of sucks. Knowing you’ll never be seen as the “top dog”.
But in the Big 12. We come in one of the, if not the most talented team. We recruit better than anyone. We can be the top dog. We can take that next step as a program…in recruiting and in national prestige (playoffs). That is very exciting.
Also, like CCU said, I know these teams. I don’t like ASU, Arizona, Colorado, BYU and TCU. I look forward to beating their ■■■■■ down. I live in Washington State, my kids will probably go to UW and WSU…I didn’t “hate” them. I kind of like those schools. Same with the Oregon schools. It was never the same excitement to beat them down like it was in the MWC.
But in the Big 12? I ■■■■■■■ can’t stand BYU. ■■■■ them. I’m pumped to beat their ■■■■■ down again, especially after the last few months. I LOVED those TCU games. Those games were for everything. And ■■■■ ASU and Arizona. Desert zoobs. And Sanders and Colorado…what they hell have you ever done to be talking so much? Can’t wait to shut them up as well and Prime Time go back to Division III where he can run his mouth with no accountability.
And for the rest of the Big 12? I actually like their fans. They have fans, unlike a lot of PAC-12 teams. Should be fun to talk to them and enjoy some football.
I’m excited. Now, if only Whitt would open practices back up. Come on Whitt. We are big time now. Let’s act like it. We don’t need to hide anything. We are to the point if we show up and execute, we will win. So let the fans back in. Let us enjoy these kids and these teams. Let us build up excitement.
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Being a Ute fan since I was kid, around 1972, I learned at an early age to enjoy the wins and don’t let the losses hurt too much.
70s & 80s we were more similar to New Mexico than anyone else. A money game against a serious team - OU, Houston, Florida (in 1978), USC, etc - then fight it out in the WAC, never quite getting the title. Playing BYU was the bowl game.
Ronnie Mac started to bring sustained success, then Urban and now Whitt, but I’ve never lost that foundation of not letting the losses hurt too much.
I have to admit, the dissolution of the PAC is going to sting for a while. I had just as good a time in Pullman as playing UCLA in the Rose Bowl. There was a brotherhood in being in the West, whether it was the big cities LA, Bay Area & Seattle or the medium size college towns of Eugene, Tucson or Boulder. The PAC was great, with legitimate academic respect & collaboration - going all the way back to the original Internet in the late 60s, and seeing the direction signs for the PAC-12 Deans retreat in Research Park.
This last year will be bittersweet, and I think Utah’s poised to do well in the Big-12. After this year, turn the page.
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It’s hard to comprehend how the west won’t have a P5 conference. That PAC was wonderful, it’s so strange that the world of college sports will never have that again.
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The apathy from the fanbases in comparison to those in the psychotic SEC and Big 1G it really isn’t. The west has so much going on for entertainment in comparison that it does make sense.
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I’m going to miss a lot about the Pac-12, including the fact that Utah was considered to be a brother or sister to the big-name schools here in California. Now, Utah will be the western outpost of the Big 12 along with those morons down south.
As an academic, however, what I’m going to miss is being a part of a league that included some of the top academic schools in the USA. Now we’re going to be in a league that does not have that academic prowess. BYU? TCU? WVU? Those aren’t top research and academic schools.
I wish the Big 10 had taken Utah, it’s a better academic fit. I’m pretty certain the only AAU schools in the Big 12 will be the four former Pac-12 schools plus Kansas. Ugh.
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Wait until the B1G has a team travel to the Rose Bowl for a conference game…the Mausoleum…it might be their traveling fans end up outnumbering what shows up for those two schools…combined.
Then again, if it’s a 7:30pm or 8:00pm kickoff, nobody will see how empty those stadiums are. With October being owned by the Dodgers almost every year, it’s hard to compete with playoff baseball, the surf is always up, and there is always something else to do. The B1G will find this out really fast - we did.
Oregon and Washington will present much better; but just like SoCal, the travel will be a huge grind. It’s why Hawaii used to work their schedule to create 8 home games a season. It’s harder for them to do that now- and it’s costing them dearly. Again, the Olympic and non revenue sports that play more games will be worse.
Being offered the $30 million per team, and demanding $50 million per team…SMDH. It’s like the whole world done lost its mind.
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I agree with all your points, which is why I wouldn’t be shocked if USC and Texas and UCLA and Oklahoma and maybe some others bail in 5 years and form new conferences.
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