Solar

The NCAA is really an interesting story. The Sherman Anti Trust act was passed in 1890 The NCAA was founded 16 years later when President Roosevelt was concerned with 18 players dying the year before and got the Ivy League to form a regulatory body, but they also opportunistically required student athletes to be uncompensated as part of the governing rules. 115 years later the Supreme Court finally realized that it is a big racket violating the Sherman Anti Trust act in 2021's Alston vs. NCAA. IT TOOK 115 YEARS TO FIGURE THAT OUT!? Here is the final paragraph of the ruling (including a shout-out to Eugene!): To be sure, the NCAA and its member colleges maintain important traditions that have become part of the fabric of America—game days in Tuscaloosa and South Bend; the packed gyms in Storrs and Durham; the women’s and men’s lacrosse championships on Memorial Day weekend; track and field meets in Eugene; the spring softball and baseball World Series in Oklahoma City and Omaha; the list goes on. But those traditions alone cannot justify the NCAA’s decision to build a massive money-raising enterprise on the backs of student athletes who are not fairly compensated. Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate. And under ordinary principles of antitrust law, it is not evident why college sports should be any different. The NCAA is not above the law. Here we are 3 years later and the NCAA suffering from memory loss despite a precedence setting ruling by the Supreme Court is at it again.

Does anybody in the two deep play in the SEC and B1G championship games in this new envisioned format where the conference championship teams get an autobid? I don't think they do. Heck, the coaches themselves won't let them on the field. Need them fresh for the playoffs. Worthless game=worthless effort. I don't think Petit thought this one through, or maybe he is just trying to keep his media overlords happy. "See I tried!" Or may e this is the whole point. Contractual requirements to play the conference championships are met, but the games impact is neutralized. Still not good for any sport to play exhibition games during the season and act like they matter.

I sure hope B1G and SEC's guidance includes recognition that there is more value in the top two teams playing separate playoff games than having a conference championship. It's in the SEC and B1G's interest to have the teams in their conference do the least damage to themselves prior to playoff seeding. The only thing a conference championship does for them is lower the quality of opponent for the loser of the conference championship game. And audience fatigue has to be a thing. Who wants to see the same teams play each other 3 times, especially if one team won the first two?

Mario's fatal flaw has always been his inability to constructively process constructive criticism. He preaches tough love. He can dish it out, but can't take it himself. In addition to his lack of change over the years in coaching approach, he also doesn't have an inner circle (He admitted when he left he doesn't have one which made the decision to leave Oregon for Miami tougher). Those things are proof he just can't see any way that is not his way and anyone that doesn't see it his way will be pushed away. It brings up a saying I have. "If someone really wanted to change, then they would already have done it." Mario is the ultimate example.

I think the order of the top few teams in the B1G is: OSU UO USC Penn State Michigan That does not take into account strength of schedule though which is what hurts USC and to a lesser extent UO. But Michigan is a rebuild on the coaching side and with the loss of 17 starters to the draft at combine level ability. USC will be much improved, but are still a great OL and DL away from being a team nobody wants to play. Penn State always seems to lack the baller mentality and don't have the talent to overcome that against really good teams. I do see the B12 taking the baton from the PAC12 as the conference of parity going forward. Any given Saturday half the teams can beat the other half.

I was wondering how they would try balance fairness since women's ball's are smaller/lighter and their three point line is closer to the basket. But then I dug around for stats. NBA average 3pt % is currently 36.7 for the league. There was no equivalent roll up for the WNBA, but the average seemed to be in the low 30's with the New York Liberty being a massive outlier at 42%. Not coincidentally, that is Sabrina's team. So even though the ball is smaller and the 3 point line is closer the women do shoot worse than the men from their respective 3 point range. So statistically Sabrina was actually at a disadvantage to Steph if she shot the women's ball from the women's line. BUT she decided to shoot the women's ball from the men's distance! That's not something she has repped in practice for a decade like Steph, yet she barely lost! I'm going to go out on a strong limb here and say Sabrina's shooting accuracy is the best in the history of the sport, mens or women's. She is a way bigger statistical outlier than Steph who is a shooting legends in his own right. The respect she is getting from Steph and the NBA players is real. They know greatness when they see it.

I'll be happy to move on from the Mario Cristobal era block font. It's tough to make a uni pop without getting too busy. I wonder if going to the B1G will make them try to look more conservative/historical, or just focus on us and do something innovative? I hope it is the latter.. That being said, Im all for throwback uniforms we wore when we beat Ohio State and Michigan in the past, hehe. Just a friendly reminder to the B1G, "We're here to destroy you."

In like a lion out like a...turd.

Definitely not coincidence. B1G and SEC probably looking for more runway on conference realignment anyways. Lots left to settle. But this is big news, because it definitely increases the odds to stick with the 12 team format until 2031.

Do you really think Idaho can make their mark in this brave new world? Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Maybe they hired internally quickly because all of the feelers they put out told them they weren't going to get any known quantity coach to take the position, so might as well take the loyal guy that actually wants the job.

https://www.si.com/college/usc/football/usc-football-danton-lynn-appears-high-on-odds-list-to-become-ucla-head-coach-jb13 Bwahaha! Who needs soaps or WWE? This is better drama.

Latu played in the senior bowl and is going 1st round in mock NFL drafts right now.

Regardless of speculation, Chip interviewed for NFL OC positions first and then picked Ohio State. Logic dictates the NFL was not interested.

Josh Pate commented after Saban quit that there were many more high profiles coaches that want out due to NIL/Portal. Maybe Chip was one of them, but he likely won't be the last. My bet would be on Swinney. Clemson will probably fire him for staying old school after next year and Swinney will be done as a HC.

The live in LA part is interesting. UCLA is literally across the street from the Bell Aire Country Club, but a measley 4 million a year gross would still leave you looking for a shack in Santa Monica. Chip on the other hand had enough money coming to UCLA to live the above Sunset Boulevard lifestyle, which is probably why he did get Bruin Fever in the first place. But the fake superficial personalities and struggles of the job others are mentioning here made the lifestyle a been there, done that proposition. Just speculation of course.

This is like trying to raid UW after DeBoer left. It's slim pickings, due to poor recruiting, but their could be a few diamonds looking for a contender like Oregon.

JH^2 Let's hope the synergy between the two works out that way.

Part of the confusion is continued accidental use of the word "ranked" for the 12 teams that make the playoffs. Teams 1-4 in the playoffs could conceivably be ranked 1st, 3rd, 5th, & 15th. The playoff order for teams will always be "seeding" not "ranking". So seeds 1-4 get a bye, seeds 5-8 play at home and seeds 9-12 play away. Determination of seeding is a function of regular season ranking and conference championship outcomes.

The most overlooked improvement that occurred with bring in Dan Lanning, was him convincing the program and boosters for $ and going and getting Marshall Malchow from A&M when they were putting together the top recruiting classes in the country. What a coup that was. This top 3 class is no anomaly with Malchow as chief of staff.

This is a pretty big deal. It would be everything if CBS and NBC (peacock) were included. We'll see if this has enough of a monopoly of viewership for CBS and NBC to feel obligated to come along after a year or so, or maybe just drop sports programming entirely. It's a huge deal for determining what the market is willing to bear for streamed sports, and advertising content and related revenue.

I'm sure G5 would also approve 6-6 if PAC2 is not recognized as a conference by the CFP. HaHa.

It is tough to get the stars right. Sometimes the tape is really telling, sometimes the camp is really telling and sometimes the production is really telling. Bair has the measurables and performance numbers at 10 out of 10. He produced well in high school, and has performed well in the camp settings against equal talent. I feel confident he will be very good. I don't care too much for Rivals at times, as the camps can be way too small of a sample size, and camps aren't football games when real ballers can show up. I think the most underrated recruit of this cycle is Jericho Johnson. Watch his tape and look at his measurables. His tape reminds me of Brandon Dolorus, but he's waay bigger and possibly even faster. He's gonna be the best tackle in the country at some point in his Oregon career.

Interesting points. Basketball has 3rd party media multiple conferences and still has an NCAA championship. Does that mean it breaks the Sherman act, and nobody challenges it court because the status quo is fine to the schools, media and basketball players don't lose sleep over one unpaid season before going pro? MAYBE THE SIMPLEST SOLUTION IS TO HAVE THE NFL STOP REQUIRING 3 YEARS IN COLLEGE FIRST...haha. I will note there is no mathematical requirement in your hypothetical scenario for a conference to have 10 teams. Teams per conference is another variable we have to work with. It doesn't have to be 10, 20, 40, 80... The simplest is to just round preference to the nearest base 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128. Then you could put the entire division into a bracket and knock yourself out any which way. Relegation is too complicated for Americans to latch onto, which makes it hard to draw a line on any number of teams though. Using money as the threshold is tough too. A school may have the money one year and not the next when recession hits and funding gets cut. This is a situation where the benevolent dictator wins because there is no obvious situation that makes everyone happy, but a dictator runs afoul of the Sherman act. And how long before the SEC and B1G run afoul of anti-collusion laws that could be seen as anticompetitive to players opportunities? Around and around we go for eternity. There is no destination, just a journey, so we best all enjoy the ride.

I wonder if the NFL has collectives to help draw in free agents? If not, then why not?