College Football 2021: Cash is King

[French Rage]

I wonder if this is all just setting the stage for the power teams to tell the NC$$ to DIAF.

It is obviously just about money.

Yeah at some point this just becomes the power-16 forming their own premiere league, and the rest of us can go back to our lives.

 

[The Sicatoka]

I wonder if this is all just setting the stage for the power teams to tell the NC$$ to DIAF.

It is obviously just about money.

DIAF seems a tad harsh. Maybe just FOAD?

 

[The Sicatoka]

And now some media sources claiming UU/CU/Az/ASU are to meet with the Big XII on 07/05/22.

Given UW/UO admitted to reaching out to the B1G they'd be foolish not to start looking for a soft landing.

 

[mookie1995]

Yeah at some point this just becomes the power-16 forming their own premiere league, and the rest of us can go back to our lives.

Do they foozballers have to leave everything?

why would the ncaa let them stay in basketball or hockey or baseball or crew if they wish to go off on their own in football only?

fuck em

 

[The Sicatoka]

why would the ncaa let them stay in basketball or hockey or baseball or crew if they wish to go off on their own in football only?

The answer to your question is: Money.

But your question is not correct. The question is ...

Would the football group continue to associate with the NCAA at all or break everything away and form their own new (semi-pro) league.

 

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Why bother with the term 'conference' at this rate? To me a conference is a grouping in which you more often play the other teams within, with some more than others. At 32 teams there are opponents you might see every 8 years or so. That doesn't make for rivalries.

Now I'm not naive and I understand this is all about $$ but 32 teams would be absurd. 18-20 would be only mildly absurd.

I largely agree (although, I would classify 18-20 team conferences as more than mildly absurd).

My post was largely tongue-in-cheek that we will wind up with two "super-conferences," but the "divisions" will essentially be the conferences from 40 years ago (e.g., the SEC "Atlantic Division" is essentially the old ACC, while the B1G's "East Division" is essentially the old Big East).

 

[MichVandal]

I largely agree (although, I would classify 18-20 team conferences as more than mildly absurd).

My post was largely tongue-in-cheek that we will wind up with two "super-conferences," but the "divisions" will essentially be the conferences from 40 years ago (e.g., the SEC "Atlantic Division" is essentially the old ACC, while the B1G's "East Division" is essentially the old Big East).

So the conference championships can be the old bowl games. Rose Bowl becomes the B1G overall champ between the east and west.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

Why bother with the term 'conference' at this rate? To me a conference is a grouping in which you more often play the other teams within, with some more than others. At 32 teams there are opponents you might see every 8 years or so. That doesn't make for rivalries.

Now I'm not naive and I understand this is all about $$ but 32 teams would be absurd. 18-20 would be only mildly absurd.

Like I said in an earlier post, it essentially becomes two semi-pro leagues (not conferences), like the old AFL and NFL. And the champions of each will meet for the College Super Bowl.

 

[Kepler]

Like I said in an earlier post, it essentially becomes two semi-pro leagues (not conferences), like the old AFL and NFL. And the champions of each will meet for the College Super Bowl.

I mean it's not a shock, The Ivies said this was the inevitable future when they peaced out in the 60s. The invention of television decreed this.

 

[Kepler]

Brian Kelly never signed more than 4 Top 100 prospects in any season in 12 seasons at Notre Dame.

In his first recruiting class, Marcus Freeman has signed 6. Notre Dame is ranked #1 recruiting class by Rivals for the first time. IINM they were never in the top 10 previously.

 

[J.D.]

The Big Ten and SEC both have 16 teams now, just like an AFC/NFC in the NFL. I don't really understand expanding beyond that simply because as of right now you're playing a 12 game regular season schedule. Seems like a scheduling nightmare where you won't be able to please everyone. But hey, with NIL and networks wanting the inventory from the super conferences, I am sure we are headed to a longer regular season. Now, what if these conferences decided on a 15 game regular season where you play only conference games and play each opponent once...and eventually a super bowl type deal between the Big Ten champs and SEC champs.

But there are still big fish out there like Notre Dame, Clemson, Florida State. To me there is room for a 3rd and possibly a 4th conference but it all depends on how far the Big Ten and SEC want to take things. How many teams is too many in a conference where you can still make a regular season schedule work? I would think at the very least a 3rd conference made up of the best of the rest would work. This would require the Big Ten and SEC throwing a bone to any additional conference in terms of an auto bid into the CFP. That's what I don't have a grasp on. The Big Ten and SEC will dominate the TV deals but are they willing to play nice with other conferences in terms of the CFP. Or do they simply want to kill off any lesser programs? As a fan of a small fish team I am hoping there's still a path for those programs even if not in the SEC/Big Ten.

 

[J.D.]

Oh and just for fun, if the SEC/Big Ten went full NFL 32 team model:

Big Ten

West:

USC
UCLA
Nebraska
Iowa

Midwest:

Minnesota
Wisconsin
Illinois
Northwestern

Central:

Michigan
Michigan St
Purdue
Indiana

East:

Ohio State
Penn State
Maryland
Rutgers

SEC

West:

Texas
Texas A&M
Oklahoma
LSU

Midwest:

Missouri
Arkansas
Kentucky
Vanderbilt

Central:

Alabama
Auburn
Ole Miss
Miss State

East:

Florida
Georgia
Tennessee
South Carolina

 

[Jimjamesak]

I will say the one thing that makes me chuckle about USC and UCLA in the B1G is the impact on other sports. Like USC in Track or UCLA in Women’s Soccer or the Midwest schools absolutely murdering them in Volleyball.

 

[French Rage]

I will say the one thing that makes me chuckle about USC and UCLA in the B1G is the impact on other sports. Like USC in Track or UCLA in Women’s Soccer or the Midwest schools absolutely murdering them in Volleyball.

Another reason to bring Stanford in; you'll have the WVB super-conference.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Sounds like the Big 12 is in discussions with Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. I'm honestly surprised at this list. I'm surprised Colorado, Oregon, Utah, and especially Washington didn't want to try to get into the Big Ten. I'm wondering if ASU and Arizona were a package deal and ASU was never getting in. Ditto with UW and Oregon without Oregon State. Colorado and Utah would both be good fits but didn't really have an obvious dance partner unless it was both.

Anywas, the Big 12 without Texas and OU is... a bold choice.

Also noteworthy is that Cal and Stanford are both left out of this. Which makes me wonder if the Big Ten is already in advanced discussions with them. Because both would be killer adds academically. Stanford being an obvious very good add for athletics as well. TV Markets, both are big adds to grab the SFO-SJ market.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Another reason to bring Stanford in; you'll have the WVB super-conference.

LOL, 4 of the top 7, 6 of the top 13, 8 of the top 17, 9 of the top 21 if Stanford comes along.

29 of 41 titles. 55 of 82 title game teams. 93 of 164 final four teams. Insane.

 

[French Rage]

Sounds like the Big 12 is in discussions with Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. I'm honestly surprised at this list. I'm surprised Colorado, Oregon, Utah, and especially Washington didn't want to try to get into the Big Ten. I'm wondering if ASU and Arizona were a package deal and ASU was never getting in. Ditto with UW and Oregon without Oregon State. Colorado and Utah would both be good fits but didn't really have an obvious dance partner unless it was both.

Anywas, the Big 12 without Texas and OU is... a bold choice.

Also noteworthy is that Cal and Stanford are both left out of this. Which makes me wonder if the Big Ten is already in advanced discussions with them. Because both would be killer adds academically. Stanford being an obvious very good add for athletics as well. TV Markets, both are big adds to grab the SFO-SJ market.

Surprised B1G didn't move on UW.

This video actually does a good job of laying out a lot of the facts of the remaining Pac12 teams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U8Rommye18

UW seems like a good fit for B1G. Both its size and research focus, along with decent athletic history, would make them a no brainer. And of course Stanford for the ND connection and its academics/athletics. The remaining toss-up is UO versus Cal, I would think UO for the additional market, but he thinks Cal.

 

[dxmnkd316]

OMG. I just found out Iowa claims football titles that rankings systems or ratings voters retroactively assigned them after the polling era started. Including 1956 when something called CFRA rated #1 compared to the 13 systems - including the "Consensus" AP, FWAA, and UP - gave it to Oklahoma; 1958 when only FWAA (one of the three) gave them #1 but every other source says LSU; 1960 when a few ratings systems gave it to them while Ole Miss and Minnesota were the consensus champions (along with a few ratings agencies).

I'm a big believer in ratings systems, I really am. But claiming a title that one agency gave you when 90% of the rest gave it to one other team? Yeesh.


Looks like the goofs did something like that for 1904, pre-poll era, when Billingsley gave it to them (retroactively) but doesn't claim titles in 1911 or 1915 when the same thing happened.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Surprised B1G didn't move on UW.

This video actually does a good job of laying out a lot of the facts of the remaining Pac12 teams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U8Rommye18

UW seems like a good fit for B1G. Both its size and research focus, along with decent athletic history, would make them a no brainer. And of course Stanford for the ND connection and its academics/athletics. The remaining toss-up is UO versus Cal, I would think UO for the additional market, but he thinks Cal.

I completely agree. UW is one of the best fits of any current non-Big-Ten team. It just... fits. Stanford and Notre Dame are also no-brainers for the reasons you listed. Notre Dame doesn't exactly fit academically since it's not a major player in research (though 2x Oregon, fwiw). But they fit the classic big ten team otherwise and I don't think any chancellor would vote against them in virtually any reasonable circumstance. I wouldn't be surprised if Notre Dame is contingent on Stanford and vice versa. They might be the odd couple of dance partners of the remaining teams out there.

I had edited a previous post about UO. I just don't think they fit because of the R&D money. They're so low on the research expenditures that you start to see schools like Minnesota Duluth and other small hockey schools start to appear in the rankings near them. Which is massively problematic for the Big Ten IMO. But, I wouldn't be surprised if UW said they were a package deal with Wazzou or UO because of travel. Or, in that circumstance, without some critical mass of Pac-12 schools making the move. Which is hard to fault.

Cal and Stanford would lock in the #6 TV market in the nation, joining the #1-#4 markets already in the Big Ten. Notre Dame is also interesting in that they don't have a market in a traditional sense, they are a market in and of themselves. (Note, the SEC just doesn't come close. #5, 7, 8, 13.) Oregon would only bring the #21 market. Couple that with mediocre academic numbers and I agree with the video, Cal is a better fit.

 

[Jimjamesak]

Surprised B1G didn't move on UW.

This video actually does a good job of laying out a lot of the facts of the remaining Pac12 teams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U8Rommye18

UW seems like a good fit for B1G. Both its size and research focus, along with decent athletic history, would make them a no brainer. And of course Stanford for the ND connection and its academics/athletics. The remaining toss-up is UO versus Cal, I would think UO for the additional market, but he thinks Cal.

Oregon has Nike money. Like, a lot of Nike money. Leaving Oregon twisting in the wind probably isn't a good financial decision.