David Marsh

Oregon doesn't need the PAC the same way the PAC needs Oregon at this point. Oregon is interested in access to the CFP and they can have that in a slightly smaller conference. Oregon also has some of the deepest doners in the country and can easily make up the revenue difference. That is in part also why the ducks aren't pushing for the B1G (it also doesn't pencil). Another thing for Oregon is that they were the school in the PAC (at least public school) that brought in the most athletic revenue and MADE money for the year. Oregon doesn't need conference expansion to get what they want. Now as a greater fan of the PAC, I would like to see a little expansion and keep this conference healthy. But Oregon's needs aren't the same as the rest of the conference. They may be opposed but it probably won't matter for conference expansion because there will be enough to push expansion forward.

If they want to make this move by 2024 they need to act fast because scheduling an additional OCC game is going to be tough and no one is going to schedule anything too interesting because of it being so late in the cycle. Well unlikely to schedule anything interesting. And it wouldn't just be fire 2024 but probably through 2026 the PAC additional OCC games would also be pretty underwhelming. And that's not even getting into the potential chaos of looking at rescheduling a bunch of Ooc games with SDSU if they become a member of the pac-12. Yes, I'm aware that those games could still just be non-conference games of neither party could schedule a true OOC opponent but still. I also think the SEC is slowly being nudged towards a 9 game conference schedule. But the SEC has been able to really get away with their 8 game conference schedule and then add an extra FCS opponent at the end of the season thing because they have done a great job saying they are the toughest conference and that makes things "fair" for them. I'm not sure the PAC can get away with reducing their number of conference games. Especially if they replace those conference games with lesser completion.

Defense needed a bit of an overhaul for Oregon after last year's problems. It looks like that has and is being addressed. But I'm going out on a rather strong limb here and say if Nix was healthy Oregon wins both those games against Washington and Oregon State. This person makes it sound like Oregon got smashed both of those games but both of those games were lost by less than a touchdown. A healthy Nix puts Oregon over the top. It's also why I HATE the empty set! Never ever ever ever ever ever run the quarterback from the empty set! It's too easy to diagnose and stop!

If there wasn't anit-pac bias... Yes.

It will be interesting to see if Oregon's narrative changes when the LA teams are out of the conference. I feel it's USC bias and hate for Oregon that is leaning through.

I think he handled the questions about it well enough. Nothing spectacular... But also nothing that is going to draw any controversy. It was pretty bland though informative.

Really for a coast to coast conference to work would be to have really two 8-10 team conferences (or divisions I suppose) on both coasts. That way they can play the majority of their games on their coast. That would keep travel expenses reasonable. Then you could reasonably have 2 cross over games a year... One home and one away and the travel expenses would still be good. Winner of each division plays for the championship... Or you go real crazy and turn it into a mini playoff. Atlantic Division Championship game and a Pacific Division Championship game. Then you get the Coastal Championship Game. One of the things I kinda linked for the mess that was the 2020 season was how at the end of the year there were cross division games between teams that had similar records but didn't play each other in the shortened season. I would like this to be built into a coastal conference to get another interesting cross division game in place as well. But to make a coastal conference work it would really need to be two conferences that meet up for some regular events but it can't be too frequent because of the cost.

And UCLA has one of the biggest fan bases??? Then why can't they fill the rose bowl every Saturday? Or even just some Saturdays. The cameras work very hard to not show how many empty seats but you can still tell the thing is maybe only half full. No idea how they did that study ...

Both have to take out Utah and UW. Oregon has to take out USC and OSU UCLA. Then Oregon will beat OSU in the rivalry game. So... Oregon goes undefeated and OSU has 1 loss to Oregon. I can get behind that. That's the cleanest way it can go down.

I think I called it in another forum thread... So I'm all for it. Granted for that to happen it will require some craziness to happen.

Has Lanning Fixed the Duck Defense's Soft Underbelly? FISHDUCK.COM The Oregon Ducks' defense has maintained one major problem for the last three years. Simply put, it has a... I feel that the defense will take a major leep. It already looks like some of the major improvements already took hold during the spring game.

I feel confident we will probably have a top 30 defense this year. The way they played in the spring game with mixed squads showed some massive potential. They did better in their assignments... That is one thing that will carry over into actual play.

SILENTLY SURGING! Let them put Oregon back there... all the better when Oregon kicks all their butts and takes the conference! USC is a hype machine and always has been. They are almost always picked to win the conference and since the conference went to 12 teams they have only manged to do it ONCE. Oregon is coming for them but let those USC fans relish the idea of being conference champions because it isn't going to happen. Washington is certainly not going to be the No. 2 team. Can't wait for the season to start so we can see these Ducks prove just how good they are. It's also a pretty trendy pick to not pick Oregon as well based off a lot of these media polls.

I'd say this isn't something that should be done in front of the team. It actually makes it super awkward for everyone even whitnessing it. There could be a brief team meeting after the player is removed from the team where the coach goes over why this had to happen and explains why the rules are important so it turns into a learning opportunity rather than something dramatic and scandalous. I would also like to know what rules this kid broke and how did Sanders address those incidents? Did he call him out and punish him in front of the team or sit him down and talk about it? Also was there a team meeting going over team rules at the start of the season? Did Sanders explain the rational behind the team rules? My teacher side just crindges at this sort of thing. I leady schools Constitutional Law Team (there is a whole competition and complex questions and it's a cool thing) and every year I seem to have one student who never participates in team meetings (it's a class but also an after school program). So I have to have conversations with students about being present and basically team rules or expectations. I've had to kick a few kids off the team, I'd never do it in public. It's always a private conversation after a series of conversations.

That would be the worst thing for the conference. Right now I'm hoping for Oregon v Utah or perhaps even Oregon State (wouldn't that be something).or Washington (vomit). Utah has Oregon, Washington, OSU, USC and UCLA on the schedule. The California focuses scheduling is going to end because that is ridiculous how this currently protects those LA teams. Utah, Oregon, UW and OSU all get to run a real gau tlet right now with Utah getting it a bit worse because they have to play both LA teams. Everyone else on this list has to go through each other. USC gets to skip OSU this year and UCLA gets to skip Oregon and UW. Talk about convienant. Yes, I know scheduling is done often years in advance but I'll be happy to see this end. Especially since the championship game isn't bound to divisions anymore. But I'll throw out a bit of a long shot prediction... Oregon v Oregon state in the conference championship game. Oregon wins back to back against the beaves in the same season too. But for that to happen some crazy things will need to happen.

Utah has been a power in the Pac-12 no denying that... however, Utah hasn't been able to break through and win a NY6 game though they have been to the last two Rose Bowls. UW hasn't been any better with their NY6 trips (back when Petersen was there) and they came away with a couple losses. You know which team in the Pac that actually won a Rose Bowl recently? Oregon!

ESPN now has a report up... Source - Pac-12 media rights deal expected in 'near future' - ESPN WWW.ESPN.COM The Pac-12 will not announce a new media rights deal Friday, a source told ESPN, but the conference's patience "is about to pay... Nothing really in it that hasn't been said... but its another source.

Probably not... Oregon had had 4 presidents (including intern presidents) all be in office for the deal. I'm sure whoever takes over will be briefed and given marching orders.

I had a good laugh at some of the comments from that tweet. Some trolls think the deal is going to be worth 26 mil or less per school. That doesn't seem like a deal that would be accepted and does not match all the reporting from the more credible sources.

Streaming isn't new... But the players in streaming are opening up new opportunities. I've streamed games since roughly 2012 on a regular basis but typically I'm using Xfinity to do so. So it's using a streaming component to the cable I already have... Basically an alternative way to watch cable. Now watching through ESPN or FOX's apps instead of say the Xfinity app really wasn't any different because I still needed to log in using my Xfinity account (or any other providers account). What I find exciting personally about streaming (as I don't have cable) is there can be alternative ways for me to get games without having to pay for cable or narrowing someone's cable or dish account. I know you can use sling or FUBO but both of those piggyback off existing traditional media streams that are repackaged. The other thing is that I think part of why there is fear around going to streaming is if anyone has worked with these apps out there they can be a real pain in the butt to deal with. So having a streaming platform who is focused on streaming would be a better service. Outside of those convenance reasons, only speaking for myself here, streaming opens up new possibilities in terms of partnerships for the conference which can lead to more money and better start times. Getting in the door first can help build these relationships for the next contract (one after this one) when everyone is probably going to have something streaming. More and more people are moving away from trational media and making the move at the right time can capture a younger audience who makes the transition faster.

Great point how even though we get annoyed about those pac-12 after dark games constantly and how the east coast doesn't watch them which hurts our national perception. But... Those games are still watched by a lot of people on the west coast. A 7pm start time is kinda nice for home viewing... I've had a whole day to do things and then end my day with the ducks. Also... My one year old goes to bed around 7 so that is free time and time I can pay full attention.

And wasn't BYU added as part of the previous commissioner's tenture?

My thing is not that media deals aren't important, they are, but until this last cycle of media deals fans just didn't care about them. They were there but no one noticed. Now we are all obsessed with them.

You can actually make an argument that it was for less money. Sure the payout per school is about the same as it is now EXCEPT the Big-12 added a net of +2 schools to the conference. They lost their two big money makers and to make up the difference they went quantity to try and create additional content and, though they will resent this comment, filler programing. Cincinnati v UCF probably won't be a bad game to watch, but it isn't going to draw anywhere near the eyeballs that Oklahoma or Texas v anyone (let alone the Red River Shootout itself). Will some of those programs grow and develop fanbases? Yes, of course they will but let's get real here. Cincinnati will always be in Ohio State's shadow and there is nothing that will ever change that. UCF has had a run of success in the G5 level of play but they are never going to break into Florida's top programs of Florida, Florida State and Miami. Same goes for Houston in Texas. BYU also has a ceiling as it is a private school. BYU probably helped move the needle a bit for the Big-12 but BYU's fan base probably isn't going to grow leaps and bounds from what it is now and it is a far cry from what the Big-12 lost in Texas and Oklahoma. They are a band-aid for what they lost. Now, I'm also under no illusions that if the Pac-12 does add SMU and SDSU that that is also a band aid because those programs won't make up for what was lost with the LA Schools. Though I do feel SDSU could probably grow a fan base better than the rest of the schools listed. They are not in LA but southern California and San Diego is a market that college football could really grow into. SMU has a good donor fan-base that will ensure they grow though I don't expect them to ever be as big of a brand as Texas or Texas A&M in the Texas market.

Yeah this wasn't surprising to anyone who seems to be in the loop. The media deal is fascinating aspect of sports fandom these days. I mean honestly... Did anyone care about what happened a decade ago with these media deals? No. But now fans are clamoring to know what's in the pac-12 media deal. How much will it be? Does it come with expansion? And everything we have discussed to no end. But from a business standpoint... They are on their own time table, one not dictated by what the fans want. There will be a deal. We'll find out at some point before the current one expires. I know I say all of this knowing full well I have participated in countless conversations about this topic. More than anything else I just want to point out this strange obession we have right now with the back room dealings of something as mundane as determining what channel or service games will play on. This is something just so strange.