Completely agree. At least with FSU and Clemson that would give the SEC every National Champion since 2005 except for Ohio State’s single season.
“OSU & KSU to the PAC12”
Geez I hope not.
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Bio-Engineering, Business, Public Health, Infectious Disease, Computer Engineering, Chem-E and more
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Yup. Bio-e is pretty good. A very good friend of mine got his BS from Johns Hopkins and MS from the U. CE is also up there…I actually interned with Evans & Sutherland back in the day when E&S was at the bleeding edge.
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I think this PC yesterday did the opposite of the intended purpose.
Are we wrong to believe that you are happy about this?
I am not. I am tired of inept leadership from Conferences that are supposed to be academically superior. The sport isn’t fun playing Clemson, Ohio State and a random SEC school for the title every year.
I would assume you know I am a Pac 12 fan from our past talks.
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This is actually helpful to know. Sometimes you come across as an SEC homer. Looks like I’ve got you wrong.
Maybe this is not the last we will hear of this nascent effort.
I’ll tell you who is unquestionably a SEC homer: Paul Finebaum. I haven’t listened to him much, I don’t normally don’t watch sports talking heads, I’d rather watch the games, the pennant races, some Xs and Os, etc.
Finebaum repeated the talking points: Nothing signed, no contracts, blah, blah.
Then he let slip the mindset the Alliance is trying to counter: “It’s like the PAC-12, Big 10 and ACC have no idea how businesses operate in 2021”
Well said, Paul. The point of the Allliance, exactly.
Scheduling involves contracts, no question. If this thing works there will be more formalization.
So… how did the Big-10 schools get to the point where they share curricula for many undergrad courses & accept credit for these courses from other member schools?
Don’t they understand business is all about competition, market analysis, ROI, IPOs, etc?
Money, the appetite for more dinero & power is how the NCAA got completely eclipsed, and what drives the SEC & ESPN.
If the Alliance helps balance the pursuit of money by non-student athletes against what college is all about, is a counterweight against the SEC and we get games against B1G and ACC teams, then it’s a win, in my book.
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It’s going to take some heavy lifting to come up with a set of operational rules. I am going to say the announcement of cooperation yesterday was the opening so that more granular work can get done.
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First, Don’t listen to Finebaum. He’s not an SEC fan he’s an opportunist like Cowherd and Skip.
Second, they stated that all current scheduling contracts will stay as is. So, scheduling begins in 2032?
Problem is the first presser came off like an episode of VEEP.
Wilner’s article summary
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every conference would have added OU and Texas if given the opportunity
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there is zero indication that the PAC12 Presidents and chancellors want to expand
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expect the conference to stay at 12
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Context:
- If reported correctly, these 3 conferences weren’t involved in the latest talks about CFB playoffs.
- Texas & OU held secret talks with the SEC, then announced they were leaving the Big-12 after 2025. (Don’t want to break that media contract)
- No surprise that SEC is both dominant and aggressive, and very cozy with ESPN
With rumors swirling that SEC may next try to lure UM, tOSU, FSU, Clemson, USC, Oregon and create a defacto Super Tier of CFB, the 3 conferences, Notre Dame & all associated Presidents & ADs formed the Alliance.
If nothing else, this is “we’re right here SEC & ESPN. We’re not comfortable with establishing the NFL minor league, think athletics need to be re-affirmed to be academically connected”, etc.
It’s also a deterrent & statement of intent for 41 schools to offer a different position on things like the playoffs, to some extent replacing the vacuum the NCAA left when it lost control of CFB.
Depending on what happens next, the Alliance could simply work on its committees to address various issues and work toward a scheduling agreement, in the future.
If conditions change, let’s say Clemson is approached by the SEC about joining & they decide to stick with the Alliance and let it be known within the Alliance, then scheduled games can be bought out, things can be sped up.
For anyone watching, yesterday’s announcement was a lot of fluff, high minded talk about academics and athletics, no substance.
Subliminally, it was a shot across the bow that there are multiple viewpoints on the idea of the SEC expanding to create a Super Tier, with 41 schools that may form a block to oppose some of the ideas floating around.
If the SEC & ESPN are sincere, I’d expect the Alliance conferences to be included in future discussion about CFB playoffs.
I see the strategy as being “minimum force necessary”, as well as the affirmational intent reflected here:
Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith Reacts To ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 Alliance (msn.com)
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I think this is the key takeaway from that presser.
Some relevant snips:
Rising: Alliance magnanimity
Our final comment (for now) on the alliance involves the timing.
We have been asked repeatedly in the past 20 hours about the lack of details and the absence of a binding document.
Those issues are interconnected with the timeline.
Any contractual agreement that would include details requires not only a level of commitment none of the conferences are currently willing to make but also … lawyers.
In other words, it would have taken months, and the commissioners didn’t have months:
They had weeks, because the alliance needed to be solidified before the next College Football Playoff meeting, in late September.
Also, the commissioners appear to have taken the Big 12’s plight into account.
The sooner they could forge an agreement, which presumably removes the possibility of Pac-12 expansion, the sooner the Big 12 would know its fate and plot a path forward.
Had the process involved contracts, and lawyers, the Big 12 might have been left twisting for months.
…
Falling: Chances of Pac-12 expansion
From the point in late July that commissioner George Kliavkoff revealed all options were on the table and inbound interest was significant, the likelihood of Pac-12 expansion was just south of slim.
None of the Big 12 options added media value and fit institutionally.
The Pac-12 is expected to announce later this week whether or not it will pursue expansion. Expect the conference to stand down.
…
In addition to the lack of obvious economic and institutional fits, there is another piece to consider — perhaps the most important piece of all: There is zero indication the Pac-12 presidents and chancellors want to expand.
And if they aren’t interested, the process is effectively dead on arrival.
Recall what Washington State president Kirk Schulz, who was in charge of Kansas State when the Big 12 almost collapsed 10 years ago, told the Hotline after the Texas and Oklahoma news first surfaced:
“A lot of people now are very concerned about the predatory nature of the SEC. More presidents are talking. There’s a lot of back and forth.”
And this:
“What the SEC has done is unify the other conferences in a way that nothing else could have, in terms of working together.” (Prophetic words, indeed.)
You cannot very well accuse another conference of predation … and then do it yourself.
If the conference doesn’t announce by 5 p.m. Friday that it’s sticking with 12, consider us shocked.
…
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Guess the conferences may want to call a lawyer at Ole Miss or Alabama to help them with the anti-trust lawsuit being talked about here. (yes, I am being snarky) I don’t get how this is anti trust since the NCAA is basically an alliance:
So I just looked at your future schedule. First off, that LSU game in Baton Rouge!!! That’s going to be fun. Second, Y’all have a bunch of open dates so this can be good. Third, what level is Dixie State and how is it in Utah?
Dixie is a 1AA program slated to join the Big Sky Conference last I heard. It used to be a JUCO, and that football program was a perennial Top 5 in the country.
If the alliance is going to be a thing, Utah ought to use it to fill their open dates in the future schedules. It may also be worth dropping Wyoming and TDS for better competition.
Cool. Yeah, I guess the WAC is joining FCS this year. I didn’t hear of that jump till just now.
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