Jon Joseph

I don't know. 7 SEC teams are playing in the 8 highest ranked out-of-conference games in 2024. This includes Georgia vs Clemson, Bama at Wisconsin, LSU vs both SC and UCLA, and Texas at Michigan. This is because they know that SOS will finally matter, we all hope at least, come 2024 and a 12-team playoff field. I don't see a buyout of what is likely to be a better program under Dilly but IMO will not challenge for a Pac-10 title any time soon.

No sport in the world limits its playoff field to 3% of the contenders based on regular season results. How often do number one pro and college seeds win titles? The Bruins set a record for regular season points and lost in the first round of the Stanley Cup. Oregon as a big-time underdog just traveled to Nashville and won the regional over highly ranked home team Vanderbilt. Oregon would not have been in the mix in a four-team field. Come 2024 we will see 1st round upsets of teams ranked 5-8 and playing at home. And we certainly will see 2nd round upsets in round 2 when the highest-seeded 4 conference champions are likely to be dogs against lower-seeded but better teams. If I have a beef with the 2024/25 playoff model it is with the top 4 ranked conference champs receiving 1st round byes instead of the top 4 seeded teams. The second beef is Notre Dame being playoff qualified with only playing 12 regular season games. The expanded playoff will IMO, certainly be more fun than the one-off BCS and the BCS x 2. And will draw far more eyeballs.

Great and spot-on take but the old bowl days were gone when the BCS showed up. More money for athletic departments that spent it on facilities and coaching salaries with the players' now getting a piece of the pie. A 12-team field will dwarf the number of relatively few who watched UGA destroy TCU last season. In my mind, the question for the B1G and the SEC come 2026 is whether we would make more money expanding to 20 to 24 teams each and conducting our own playoff shown only on our respective networks or pay for view streamed.

Why the field is now at 12 and may well go to 16 come 2026? The powers that be even in the SEC know that the playoff has to draw far more national interest. Especially with the playoff media deal with ESPN coming to an end after the 2025 season.

Tradition? Spot on regarding the stadium itself but people watching the game under a snowbank only see the sunshine and the Sun Gabriel Mountains.

Why not give the cash to Portland State?

Terrific thoughts but I note that Florida is and will be the dog when it visits Salt Lake City. The last two games Cal played against the SEC were victories over Ole Miss. Personally, I feel that Georgia has eclipsed Bama as the IT program in the SEC. And I also think that LSU is closing in on The Tide. Below are the top out-of-conference games in 2024. Clemson vs Georgia/ Miami at Florida/ Notre Dame at A+M/ USC vs LSU in Las Vegas/ Texas at Michigan/ Alabama at Wisconsin/ UCLA at LSU and a kind of OOC game will see FSU at Notre Dame in November. Meanwhile, Oregon plays Texas Tech. An upcoming B12 program but the game will draw nowhere close to the eyeballs the games listed above will draw. And a win over TT in Autzen will not help Oregon's SOS when it comes to a 12-team playoff. I expect, finally, that SOS will matter to the playoff committee when it comes to seeding the 12-team field and determining the at-large teams. The Ducks in-conference schedule is already taking an SOS hit with the LA schools going away. And I think we will all be shocked if the committee does not favor B1G and SEC teams. I find it interesting that in 2024 both LA schools are playing LSU. Look at the above list. 7 of the 8 games involve SEC teams that certainly run the risk of taking a loss from every opponent on the above list. The SEC is scheduling like this not because it will perhaps stay with 8 conference games in 2024 but because they know that SOS will matter come 2024. A close loss to a highly ranked opponent out-of-conference is likely to matter more than a win against a team that is an underdog. Charles has correctly pointed out that viewer numbers should trump media market numbers when it comes to valuing Oregon. Oregon was the 7th most-watched team in the nation in 2022 because it played Georgia in Atlanta. Even with the beat down in Georgia, Oregon was in the Final 4 mix with a suspect D before losing close and winnable games to UW and Oregon State. Oregon also had terrific viewer numbers in 2021 when it played Ohio State in Columbus. Texas Tech? Baylor? Oklahoma State? I could not come close to doing the job that Rob is doing in Eugene including making a great baseball coach hire but I think the next 6 seasons are predicted on yesterday's 4 team playoff field and not the expanded playoff field. The art of the deal is important when it comes to scheduling and I think Rob settled for the next 6 OOC games rather than trying to sell Oregon. Oregon has a great brand but it will not sell itself.

The answer is likely Commissioner George Kliavkoff but the post below has nothing to do with the new media deal that has been kicked to death, resurrected who knows how many times, and kicked to death again. You know that Prime and Bo are on the list. https://athlonsports.com/college-football/who-is-facing-the-most-pressure-in-the-pac-12#gid=ci02c1b9fa20002707&pid=deion-sanders-colorado

Amazing when you compare the Autzen seating capacity to others in the top 10. UCLA at 10? The Rose Bowl is 1 on January 1st but not when the Bruins play there. Autzen Stadium ranks as one of the top atmospheres in college football DUCKSWIRE.USATODAY.COM Autzen has had the reputation of being one of the toughest places to play for opponents, but how does it rank with other stadiums?

The B1G schedule and its travel demands will be hard enough on the Bruins in 2024 but UCLA also opens at Hawaii and then plays LSU in Baton Rogue.

E WA, Utah St, and a visit to Waco? I understand the thought process that made sense when the playoff had 4 teams but with 12 teams starting in 2024, I'm not sure that this scheduling model makes sense. Not one of these games will come close to the magic 4M viewer number. BTW, does anyone know what it will cost Ohio State to buy out of the return game owed Oregon? With the LA schools coming on board tOSU didn't wait long to pay UW $500K to buy out of the 2024/25 home-and-home series. Just like the Buckeyes to wait a year prior before giving Oregon the scheduling shaft.

Good take but I do not see FSU anywhere in the B1G mix. Ditto Clemson. All B1G schools other than Nebraska are AAU members and Nebraska was a member when it joined the B1G. I think school size will have far less impact on the decision to expand than will viewership numbers. Obviously, the B1G will not bend over like the ACC and take in Notre Dame unless Notre Dame brings football with it. The bad blood between ND and the B1G goes back to the 1930s when ND was dumped on by the Big 10 for being a Jesuit institution and ND's academics were suspect which is not the case today. ND is one school that FOX would open the wallet for and is not a fit in the SEC.

Thanks, H. All are AAU member schools which matters to the B1G. Not being AAU members is why I think Clemson and FSU are correctly excluded from your list. Viewer-wise, Oregon laps Cal and Stanford but the academics could be enticing to the B1G prex and the LA schools would prefer these two over OR and UW. Lesser competition and UCLA would escape the Cal tax. Of course, no expansion decision will be made without the approval of FOX. And I doubt that any of the 4 Pac schools you cited would be offered a full media share. If the ACC goes away before its media deal ends in 2036 the Domers will have a dilemma. Unless ND is willing to join as a full member the B1G will not add ND. And ND would have no place for its other sports program including its Lax ream that just won the Lax NCAA title. If ESPN/SEC makes an expansion move or B1G goes first the other conference will follow suit. But in today's media world, I don't think the money is there for further expansion in the near future. I see the Pac as the next P5 conference to expand adding SDSU and SMU. Notre Dame ice hockey does currently play in the B1G. Georgia Tech is an AAU member and the B1G might want to tweak the SEC with a team in Atlanta. Miami is a relatively small private school with good academics but plays football in an NFL stadium and Miami is a smaller media market than Orlando,

That would mean in a day and age when you cannot lop heads off a heck of a lot in alimony payments.

And Seattle does not appear to be the place to be for recruits. Heartbreaking, right? Washington loses commitment from QB recruit in class of 2024 SATURDAYOUTWEST.COM Washington is losing a key recruit.

Stanford receives a gift from the Longhorns. At least 1 Pac team is headed to Omaha. Unbelievable! Lost fly ball sends Stanford past Texas and back to the College World Series SATURDAYOUTWEST.COM Stanford outlasted Texas 7-6 in Game 3, reaching Omaha on one of the wildest endings in NCAA Tournament history.

Yes, the Ducks made the list coming in at #5. Michigan, Ohio State headline five best college football running back rooms entering 2023 season - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM There are some loaded backfields in college football waiting to terrorize defenses this season

Jon, love you man but why enable anyone who has stabbed you in the back? If UCLA wants to come all the way back-Pac fine. But other than that why would the Pac help out UCLA non-football sports and why would the B1G retain UCLA as a football member only when the value rests in Bruins basketball? UCLA is only in the B1G because SC got the invite and because of basketball and not football. And so FOX could keep ESPN out of the LA market. UCLA basketball is the straw that stirs the Bruins drink. The B1G/FOX for $60 to $65M a year will not allow UCLA CBB to escape the media rights deal it has signed on for.

If Texas has Blue Blood based on results since the beginning of the BCS and BCS X 2, then so do many of the teams with similar results. Oregon and UW have made the 4 team playoff field. Texas? Texas is Blue Blood only in the mind of UT boosters and fans.

And roster strength at year-end does not matter at all compared to a team's record.

I am so sick of SEC teams that lose bowl games blaming the loss on the SEC team not caring about the result because the game was meaningless. Horse manure!

I do love you even though there will never be another ewe.

Perhaps? However, first Oregon has to receive a B1G offer with the media money not being as big as the 16 B1G members in 2024 will receive. As noted above, if given the choice and both will have a vote, both SC and UCLA for competitive reasons and UCLA to eliminate the Cal tax will prefer Cal and Stanford to be added and not Oregon and UW. Will B1G leaders if they look west look more at viewership numbers or academics? Easy answer when it comes to the SEC and not so easy an answer with the B1G. One thing for certain, I do not think Oregon will be playing UCLA in the football playoff even with a 12-team field. UCLA will not win a B1G football title or finish in the top 3 of the B1G.

Great take, But when you bring in better talent development is less important. On your list, I give J Smith the #1 ranking as being the best at coaching guys up. Then, I'd have Whit #2. Sark? When has Sark ever coached guys up? UT's performance season after season despite its roster ranking is embarrassing. The 2022 UT team was more up and down than a yo-yo and lost to many teams with a far lesser roster ranking. Recruiting is a big part of the game, from both high school and the portal but one of the hardest words in the dictionary to live up to is 'potential.'

Yes, the bugaboo of preseason polls but unfortunately the pesky 1st Amendment and $ means said polls will not go away. Last season the Pac finished with the same # of top 25 regular season ranked by the playoff committee as did the SEC with 6. This season at least 5 and perhaps 6 Pac-12 teams will be ranked in the AP preseason Top 25 and will play 1 more conference game than the SEC. The Pac has more of a chance to cannibalize itself in 2023 than does the SEC. Georgia doesn't play a team with a chance to beat it before tripping to TN in November. It will be different in the SEC W no doubt, with Bama and LSU and the other 5 SEC W teams are not layups. I expect UGA will go 12-0 and LSU and Bama 11-1 in the regular season with LSU winning in Tuscaloosa to rematch against UGA in the title game where UGA will prevail. Unfortunately, FWIW, I do not see any Pac-12 team finishing with fewer than 2 losses.