Jon Joseph

Although FCS games in the B1G are going by the boards, I expect that the B1G will go to 10 conference games before 2030.

Looks like he would be a perfect fit at SC.

I agree but this not happening tells you what Fox and friends think about the SFO market. I think that Fox is keeping its powder dry in the hope of the B1G adding Notre Dame, UNC, UVA, Georgia Tech, or Stanford. Maybe all 5 with Duke or Cal thrown in.

Null and it is void of good games.

$15M? I think for this lineup that would be a stretch. Cal may agree to 'lower' itself but Stanford will not do so. Stanford has the endowment to, if not invited by the ACC, go independent and wait on the next round of B1G expansion. I see no reason why the conference you propose, and it's a good thought no doubt, would bring in 3x the amount of money the MW and AAC are bringing in. If Fox valued the SFO market, Cal and Stanford would be headed for the B1G in 2024. Fox is well aware that the Bay Area is pro-sports-oriented. Fox also knows that to date, the Cal and Stanford administrations have shown little interest in promoting football. Cal has an inducement if not invited by the ACC, to join the MW or the AAC. A Calimony payment from UCLA that will be closer to $10M per annum than $2M per annum. You can bet that the folks in Westwood are hoping that Cal is asked to join the ACC. If the Calimony payment is $10M. it would be a step down out of a Power conference but if Cal joins the MW it would bring in $15M a year and perhaps, could negotiate, like Boise, a bigger piece of the MW pie.

Charles, good thoughts but anything cobbled together will be the 6th G6 conference. At least if OSU and WSU join the MW or the AAC, they will not have to deal with scheduling issues and will have a media deal, even though not that lucrative, in place. What network(s) would line up to broadcast OSU, WSU, SDSU, San Jose St, Fresno, Boise St, CO. St, and UNLV? Would this alignment draw more money than the MW and AAC? Join the MW and compete for conference championships against 8 other conferences. Win the MW football title and if the current 2024 playoff format holds you are in the playoff field.

David, great take. With the playoff expanding in 2024 to 12 teams, CFB should begin the season for all conferences and teams on Week 0. This would allow the 1st round of the playoffs to begin a week earlier and for the champ game not to drift so far into January and go up against the NFL playoffs. The #6 team in the nation is playing on a network few people can and do watch. (Brilliant scheduling move by SC that results in SC having the week off before the conference champ game, thanks Pac-12 HQ,) Meanwhile, the New Mexico State vs. UMass game is on ESPN. As Saturday Out West's Jon Gold noted the other day, this is a shining example of why SC (and UCLA, Oregon, and UW) are going B1G. It's certainly not a huge game but far more football fans could and would have tuned into the Ducks vs. Vikings game if it was on FS1 or BTN, instead of being broadcast on the Pac-12 Network. Playing on the Pac-12 network has a negative recruiting ripple effect. Larry's Loser Network has slightly over 13M subscribers and still is not available and never will be available on DirecTV. The B1G Network (BTN) is closing in on 60M subscribers and is available on every major cable channel. On the BTN, far more people would have watched Caleb Williams's first effort in his pursuit of a second Heisman Trophy and also have been able to watch far more extensive and better, pre-game and post-game coverage. Thank goodness Puddles is flying to a B1Gger nest.

But you can't fix stupid. Why would ESPN up the ACC ante when it has a deal through 2036? 2036! Why did the ACC enable Notre Dame to stay independent with a football scheduling agreement and not insist that the Irish come all in and bring the football $ along with it? After the B1G's goofy Legends and Leaders Divisions mercifully went away, why continue with Atlantic and Coastal Divisions (thankfully now gone,) when most CFB fans hadn't a clue about which teams were in which divisions? These are all Larry-Like moves. This is a conference that swapped national contenders. First FSU and then Clemson with no other teams able to step up. A lot of little fish are being carried by one big fish. Clemson and FSU have broken the code and want out. ACC football viewership rankings in 2022: 10. Clemson/ 15. FSU/ 43. NC State (by comparison, Wazzu came in at 41.) / 46. UNC/ 48. Syracuse/ 49. Georgia Tech/ 56. Pitt/ 59. Miami/ 60. Wake Forest/ 62. Louisville/ 68. BC/ 75. Va Tech/ 78. UVA. Where's the media value here? ESPN and Fox are not charitable organizations. Why step up with more money to save the ACC and pay more for BC vs. UVA games? Like the Pac-12, the ACC is reaping what it sowed. Even with all of this the ACC, because of the network owned and operated by ESPN, finished 3rd in 2022 conference per member revenue distributions. CFB and Men's CBB are big businesses. Decades ago the leaders of the respective conferences could have shunned the money in favor of academics and student welfare. Could have continued to play 10 football games a year. Could have passed on the need for a CFB One True Champion. Could have stopped the expansion of the CBB and other post-season tournaments. The Ivy League passed on the money. The other powers-that-be went all-in for the money. When you sell your soul ...?

CBS Sports review of the final Pac-12 season. BTW; If the football gods have a morbid sense of humor - Pac-12 Champ Game - Oregon State vs. Washington State B12 Champ Game - Oklahoma vs. Texas B1G Champ Game - Northwestern vs. Maryland ACC Champ Game - BC vs. Wake Forest SEC Champ Game - South Carolina vs. Texas A+M Let the Games Begin! Pac-12 expert picks 2023: Most overrated and underrated teams, projected order of finish, bold predictions - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM Taking a close, detailed and opinionated look at the Pac-12 ahead of the 2023 college football season

Wazzu? WOW! Had not heard this but WA ST had 900K average football viewers in 2022. Better than Cal, Stanford, SMU, and Oregon State.

Thank you, Annie, for the great but gloomy post. The author is in error. The Playoff in 2024/25 already has a media deal with ESPN. ESPN agreed to the field going to 12 and is accordingly, coming with more money although not close to what the 2026 playoff will earn when media rights come up for open bidding. The platform will be different with linear broadcasts replaced by streaming broadcasts but why the fear of transitioning from linear to streaming? The same type of fears were expressed when TV took over from radio. From games shown on black and white TV and the constant fiddling with rabbit ears on TV tops, today we have games broadcast in HD, more than one guy in the booth, between game coverage that once only existed in local newspapers, a bevy of games throughout the week and not simply one college and one pro game, broadcast on the weekend. The money will not be going away, it will increase but it will be parsed differently. The existential threat to a number of programs giving up football comes not from media converting to streaming and the search for more media dollars but from the federal government, state governments, and plaintiffs in courts of law doing all in their power to have student-athletes deemed to be athlete-employees. When, not if this happens, many universities will consider, like the Ivy League and D3, not awarding athletic scholarships. Many schools will find that the game and the expense associated with fielding teams, will not be worth the candle. Cassandra was not afraid to view the future, she was afraid of people, including fellow citizens of Troy, ignoring her foresight and warnings. IMO, the author's angst is way over the top. It's a view from the past that millions of young people cannot reference. Sports will consolidate because, in every business, size goes to size. Thus be it ever. Or at least as far as a mere mortal such as I can understand 'ever.'

KK gets it, if possible always go with KISS.

As of this date, the B1G requires OOC games, except for a few scheduled conference games to be played early in the season. Ohio State opens with Indiana this season which is why the Buckeyes' game at Notre Dame comes in week 4. IMO, there is no way that the B1G and its broadcast partners will allow the Civil War and Apple Cup games to be the final game of the regular season. I expect that The Border War (sorry, already taken by Kansas-Missiouri and Wyoming vs. Colorado State) Oregon vs. UW, and USC vs. UCLA will be scheduled to be the final games of the regular season. Fox et al are not paying B1G money to show a game versus a Mountain West team as the regular season's concluding games.

Back in the day, 1936, it took 3 days by train for the Minnesota Gophers and their fans to reach Seattle to play Washington to open the season. And it was an eventful journey. Going West: The Great Gopher Hotel Fire Story #TBT WWW.THEDAILYGOPHER.COM Sometimes the journey is harder than the game. That's a six-day round trip for the student-athletes, plus a day to play the game. The was very little, if any concern over the on-campus school days missed and whether or not the athletes would be traumatized by all of this travel. These were tough people who had grown up in tough times. No one expected that anything would be easy. During its championship run, the Gophers traveled everywhere by train, including a round trip to New Orleans to play Tulane. Amtrack estimates today's train trip from Minneapolis to Columbus, Ohio, takes 28 hours and 24 minutes. The trip was undoubtedly longer back in the day but I guess that the trains were a lot cleaner and the onboard service was better, including the food. Six days round trip plus game day was also the time it took for USC to travel to and from South Bend. Indiana and for the Irish to travel to Los Angeles. The Irish travel party, with 36 players, a Doctor, a trainer, and three coaches, was accompanied by not fewer than 500 Irish fans following along on three or more trains. The trip, as did Minnesota's trip to the West Coast to play Washington, required changing trains three times as no single carrier offered a direct route. It was not just the football teams that had to make long trips. 78 years ago, the Oregon Webfoots, 'The Tall Firs,' won the first NCAA basketball title. Oregon traveled from Eugene to Chicago by train and defeated Ohio State 46-33 on the home court of Northwestern University located in Evanston, Illinois. Today, men's and women's basketball players travel hither and yon for regular season and tournament games. The College World Series (CWS) was first contested in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In 1950, the CWS moved to its permanent home in Omaha, Nebraska. The 64-team CWS field has teams playing all across the country before the final eight move on to Omaha. This is when school is in session for the majority of the athletes. The same type of travel is required for the majority of NCAA championship events. From track and field to field hockey. No student-athletes have endured travel more than have Pac-12 student-athletes during the 109 years of the Pac-12's existence. The distance from Seattle to Tucson is 1,526 miles. The distance from Boston to Miami is 1,497 miles. And Oregon and Washington joining the B1G along with UCLA and USC will cut down on travel for all sports for every B1G team. And the B1G powers-that-be will do everything they can to limit travel, especially for the West Coast and East Coast schools. There is a tendency in today's wired world to ignore history. There is a tendency in today's world for people to believe that in this day and age of Airplane Conferences, "kids" are being asked to experience travel that no student-athletes have ever faced and endured. Rubbish. And unlike the 'good old days,' student-athletes laptops allow young men and women to take school on the road. And travel via air is a heck of a lot easier than taking the train or the bus. [Hypocrite Alert! I cop to being one of the many who chortled over the UCLA and USC travel demands. As much out of envy as anything. Puddles will be flying more B1G miles but a school that aspires to championships in all sports has to have the money to compete. Come 2031, Puddles will be rolling in dough.]

Tan, and UGA will certainly be playing a highly ranked and motivated team in the conference champ game. Extra motivated if they can stop a 3-peat. And there's a chance that South Carolina and Kentucky could be in the Top 25 when they play Georgia.

You know I'm KIDDING, Coach. I love these illuminating takes. Thank you, Sir.

Um, Empty Diamond, ah Coach, what was that 3rd thing?

That would be one heck of an upset. Troy is - 30.5. A much bigger spread than Troy had vs. Achilles and the Greeks. I have a modest bet down on the game going over 66 points (-110.) But in the words of Kurt Vonnegut, 'You never know.' I recall Stanford once upon a time covering a bigger spread than this in the Coliseum. 'What's your deal?'

LOL! ESPN Week Zero Game of the Week - New Mexico State vs. UMass. And the #6 team in the country is playing on the Pac-12 Network. How can anyone with a scintilla of business sense complain about USC and UCLA, Oregon and UW, for getting the heck out of here? It's not easy to repeat as a Heisman winner when no one can watch your games.

Yet, no team has won 3 in a row since Minnesota in the 1930s and other schools have claims to the 3 titles won by the Gophers. There are many quality scholarship athletes in the SEC. UGA struggled last season against Kent State (!) and Mizzou. Tough to bring your A-game every week when you are a young man and everyone is telling you that all you have to do is roll the ball out on the field to win the game. I think Beck will be very good but he does not have Bennett's wheels. Bennett's ability to run the ball was the difference, along with a key OH ST injury, to UGA's close semifinal win over Ohio State. And does Mike Bobo have the moxie to successfully replace Todd Monken at OC? I also believe that LSU will be much improved this season and will most likely, give UGA a better battle in the SEC champ game.

How will average B1G QBs do in the SEC? Mertz at UF, Milton at TN, and Thorne at Auburn. B1G question coming into 2023. Beck at UGA is homegrown. This is becoming the exception and not the rule in CFB. In the Pac12, OREGON, UW, OR St, WA St, Cal, Utah, CU, AZ, USC, and UCLA all have transfers starting at QB in 2023. In addition to the 3 B1G to SEC starters mentioned above, the SEC has transfers starting in 2023 at So Car, KY, Mizzou, Ole Miss, and LSU. With Bama TBD.

And no one should have paid the B1G refs who were on the field and in the review booth for this game.

Brilliant! On the way out the door breach a contract and pay an 'exit fee' instead of leaving without paying the same.

Absolutely. As always, the proof will be in the pudding.

The 2023 season kicks off Saturday on Week Zero. The premier game is Notre Dame versus Navy in Dublin. Sorry Leprechauns, but I am rooting for the Midshipman to sink the Irish. Here's yet another reason to be happy about Puddles going B1G. The 'feature game' on ESPN brings us New Mexico State versus UMass. Meanwhile, AP Poll #6 USC will be playing San Jose State on Larry's Loser Network. The Pac-12 strikes again! The Athletic's (paywall) Stewart Mandel in today's Mailbag pondered what scheduling will look like in the 18-team B1G in 2024 and IMO, came up with an excellent flex scheduling idea. Q. 'At 18 teams, how is the B1G going to avoid the possibility of three 9-0 teams?' Mandel - 'How about three six-team division champs and one wild card? Everyone plays five inter-division games and three cross-division games. The ninth [game] is flex scheduled, with cross-division matchups for 14 of the 18 plus two semifinal matchups, culminating in the league title game.' This would make travel planning more difficult but I have to believe that the networks would love this model that would conclude with three 'playoff' games. Stewart provided no more detail but if this was to be the format I believe the divisions would look like the following. (Team 2023 AP Poll preseason Top 25 rankings are shown as applicable.) West - Oregon - 15, Minnesota (closer than Iowa to Seattle by a couple of hundred miles,) Nebraska, UCLA, USC - 6, UW - 10. Central - Illinois, Iowa - 25, Michigan - 2, Michigan State, Northwestern, Wisconsin - 19. East - Indiana, Maryland, Ohio State - 3, Penn State - 7, Purdue, Rutgers [Michigan vs. Ohio State would be a protected cross-division game.) The above format would consist of three fairly balanced divisions. The rub, of course, would be the teams you draw cross-division. For example, this season Minnesota plays #2 Michigan in Minneapolis and #3 Ohio State in Columbus. Brutal! But before any of this happens I am excited to watch the Ducks outperform the pollsters in 2023.