NCAA Football 2023

[Hyena]

Farewell Pac 12.

It is amazing to me how a conference with 100+ years of history can simply evaporate overnight. I know one thing, this final P12 year is going to be a serious dogfight.

I'm relieved Utah ended up with a seat at the table (can't imagine how much it would suck to be an Oregon State or Wazzu fan right now) but every single part of this is simply terrible for the sport.

This is how I felt when the SWC disbanded back in the mid 90's. And the fact that Baylor got taken and my Horned Frogs got left behind really hurt at the time. But in the long run I think that's what made us the team we have been over the past decade. Gary Patterson made us play with a chip on our shoulder and that helped earn our way to the big boy's table.

Either way, I'm excited!

[Skinypupy]

Either way, I'm excited!

Now that the dust has settled, so am I. We owe y'all some payback after the last couple ass whuppings you gave us!

Also, I love this.

[Isgrimnur]

One of the ADs was interviewed after the meeting:

Spoiler:

[Hyena]

Either way, I'm excited!

Now that the dust has settled, so am I. We owe y'all some payback after the last couple ass whuppings you gave us!

Also, I love this.

Bring it on!

I'm very interested to see how the scheduling will work out. It would take two or three years of conference play to get everyone on the schedule, more if you want to consider each team having a turn in every other member's stadium. I wonder if they'll go back to divisions, seeing as every other conference is dropping that concept?

I feel for those outside looking in, but seeing as everyone always said the BIG XII was the weakest conference, especially after OUT declared their departure to the SEC, I'm ecstatic we made it. I'm also going to enjoy the next few years of those two teams getting the piss beat out of them by their new conference mates, especially Texas. They got sick of losing to us, so they'd much rather get paid lose to Alabama and LSU and the like.

[Skinypupy]

Um…wow. What a truly epic fail by the P12.

[JCC]

The schools were probably not going to settle for $30 million per school. (Even though the non-Oregon/Washington ones probably should have.)

[DOS=HIGH]

Hard to blame the PAC for not signing a contract for $30 million per school when the B1G had just signed one for over $60 mil per school that year. There's no way UCLA, USC, Oregon & Washington could have agreed to it.

[Hyena]

Hard to blame the PAC for not signing a contract for $30 million per school when the B1G had just signed one for over $60 mil per school that year. There's no way UCLA, USC, Oregon & Washington could have agreed to it.

I see where you're coming from, but the PAC ain't the B1G in terms of football quality by a long shot.

[Carpet_pissr]

I suspect from ESPN’s perspective it was exactly 0% about football quality and 100% about potential/existing viewership #’s.

[ImLawBoy]

I'm guessing they didn't think the potential viewership numbers justified the asking price.

I'm a bit of a bemused bystander in all of this. I love college football, and while I think this whole realignment into super conferences is stupid, I also realize that I'm fortunate enough to root for a team that will be fine no matter how this all shakes out.

[Skinypupy]

Lots of different numbers being thrown around, but from what I can gather the consensus seems to be:

1. USC/UCLA/WA/OR will make $55-60MM in the B10. OR and WA will take partial shares for the first few years.
2. Utah/AZ/ASU/Colorado will make $30-35MM in the B12. Probably very similar to the deal we now know ESPN offered them in 2022.
3. The P12's proposed Apple deal was $27MM, but had a bunch of subscriber incentives that could get it up near the $40MM range if the thresholds were met. It was reported that those thresholds were around the same number of subscribers as the NFL gets for Sunday Ticket...so, not actually realistic.

I'm glad Utah landed somewhere, but I'm guessing that it will be a temporary spot until the next big shuffle occurs in 6-8 years. I also now have a bunch of teams to actively root against in other conferences, as I hope USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington now lose every B10 game they play from now until the end of eternity (sorry Pyper).

[Pyperkub]

Lots of different numbers being thrown around, but from what I can gather the consensus seems to be:

1. USC/UCLA/WA/OR will make $55-60MM in the B10. OR and WA will take partial shares for the first few years.
2. Utah/AZ/ASU/Colorado will make $30-35MM in the B12. Probably very similar to the deal we now know ESPN offered them in 2022.
3. The P12's proposed Apple deal was $27MM, but had a bunch of subscriber incentives that could get it up near the $40MM range if the thresholds were met. It was reported that those thresholds were around the same number of subscribers as the NFL gets for Sunday Ticket...so, not actually realistic.

I'm glad Utah landed somewhere, but I'm guessing that it will be a temporary spot until the next big shuffle occurs in 6-8 years. I also now have a bunch of teams to actively root against in other conferences, as I hope USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington now lose every B10 game they play from now until the end of eternity (sorry Pyper).

(edit - looks liek this was in the tweet above (i've been swamped), but wilner/canzano are still good:

Oh, and also that the P12 Presidents after USC/UCLA left were a bunch of idiots who were entirely too full of themselves:

Do-overs? Absolutely, Kirk Schulz has a list of decisions he’d like back following the collapse of the Pac-12.

The Washington State president and chair of the Pac-12 board was heavily involved in the media rights saga that spanned 13 months and ended last week in a failed effort to save the conference.

“We should have had a more robust conversations about our value in the marketplace,” Schulz told the Hotline on Friday.

The failure to accept market reality led the Pac-12 presidents last fall to reject an offer of $30 million per year (per school) from ESPN for the entirety of the conference’s football and men’s basketball media inventory, according to JohnCanzano.com.

Instead, the presidents instructed commissioner George Kliavkoff to pursue a deal in the $50 million per-school range.

“Two or three schools were interested in that number,” Schulz said. “The discussions were that we really had to close the gap on the Big Ten. The commissioner went off with those numbers, which were unrealistic for sure.”

A source familiar with the negotiations told the Hotline this week that one president even believed the valuation “should be in the 50s” — meaning, more than $50 million per school. (The source declined to identify the president.)

ESPN declined the Pac-12’s counteroffer.

[Pyperkub]

ONe interesting note from Wilner's mailbag - all the folks out there who laugh about the best deal the Pac12 was with the iPhone?

Yeah, they don't really comprehend the elephant that is Apple:

Nobody is mentioning Apple. Shouldn’t they share some blame? If rumors are correct and their last offer to the Pac-12 for streaming was $25 million per team, what were they thinking? Now, for the next six or seven years, Apple is shut out of streaming college football. — Wayne Niebroski

Simply put, Apple made the most sensible offer for Apple — and that was a risk the Pac-12 took in pursuing a partnership.

Could the company get “shut out” of college football until the next media contract cycle, in the 2030s? Perhaps. Or it could buy a stake in ESPN and secure a distribution deal for the network on Apple TV.

Or it could buy ESPN outright.

Or it could buy ESPN and Fox.

We’re joking about Fox, of course. But Apple could decide to rule the sports media world.

Note that last sentence. Apple *could * decide to be the king of sports streaming, if they so desire, given how much cash and guaranteed revenue streams which won't be gutted by cord cutters.

[Carpet_pissr]

It could buy ESPN assuming Disney wanted to
1. sell it at all and
2. to them specifically (which they may or may not want to do depending on their strategy)

[JCC]

There are rumors/articles that Disney does want to sell off at least a stake in ESPN. ESPN's profits are sinking, and I am guessing long term they will sell ESPN's networks direct to the consumer (at least as an option). If that happens, I forsee the traditional live TV model (finally) imploding and other sports/news entities will follow suit. It's alredy annoying how many news sites/articles are behind a paywall now. On the other hand, I was a lot happier when I didn't follow the news... so bring on the paywall!

[Scuzz]

I suspect from ESPN’s perspective it was exactly 0% about football quality and 100% about potential/existing viewership #’s.

West coast games just come on at a time that reduces their value to networks. Sure they try moving some up but then they compete against eastern and midwestern prime time games.

[Skinypupy]

And Utah is already down to our 3rd string QB for the opener against Florida. Rising’s knee still isn’t ready to go from blowing it out in the Rose Bowl, and the backup broke two ribs and lacerated his liver ( ) trying to jump on a loose ball in practice yesterday.

Awesome.

[Isgrimnur]

You're supposed to grab the ball, not flatten it!

[Pyperkub]

I suspect from ESPN’s perspective it was exactly 0% about football quality and 100% about potential/existing viewership #’s.

West coast games just come on at a time that reduces their value to networks. Sure they try moving some up but then they compete against eastern and midwestern prime time games.

Eh, not really, West Coast games can be at any time after 330pm EST (the only window missing is the noon eastern window), what's really happened (in a broad sense) is that ESPN/CBS/Fox promoted the SEC/B1G games more during the earlier West Coast windows and **demanded ** the West Coast games be played later.

[Pyperkub]

And Utah is already down to our 3rd string QB for the opener against Florida. Rising’s knee still isn’t ready to go from blowing it out in the Rose Bowl, and the backup broke two ribs and lacerated his liver ( ) trying to jump on a loose ball in practice yesterday.

Awesome.

Any chance Rising will get back, or is he already out for the Florida game?

With him healthy, I have Utah and UW as strong contenders for the Playoff. Probably stronger than 'SC, even if they'll need to get past the "nobody but SC matters on the West Coast" bias.

[Skinypupy]

Any chance Rising will get back, or is he already out for the Florida game?

Very, very slim possibility.

[Scuzz]

I suspect from ESPN’s perspective it was exactly 0% about football quality and 100% about potential/existing viewership #’s.

West coast games just come on at a time that reduces their value to networks. Sure they try moving some up but then they compete against eastern and midwestern prime time games.

Eh, not really, West Coast games can be at any time after 330pm EST (the only window missing is the noon eastern window), what's really happened (in a broad sense) is that ESPN/CBS/Fox promoted the SEC/B1G games more during the earlier West Coast windows and **demanded ** the West Coast games be played later.

I know at one time pressure was put on Fresno State to play earlier in the day, and while they may have been on TV the game attendance dropped markedly. A lot of west coast teams preferred night games.

But also, as you said, big SEC games the last few years have had 5:00 starts.

[Skinypupy]

Season gets underway for real in about 7 hours when Utah takes on Florida in Salt Lake. Read yesterday that this is the first time Florida has played a non-conference game outside of Florida in 30 years. That's insane to me.

Really no idea what to expect. I think this Utah team could be good, but it depends entirely on Cam Rising's knee...the one he blew out in the Rose bowl 8 months ago. If Rising is in and effective, then Utah will be right up near the top of a really tough Pac12. If he's not, then things might go south in a hurry. There's a very distinct possibility that we start 0-2 (at Baylor next week) and hope that Rising is back in time for conference play with a few more weeks of recovery.

There hasn't been anything official released, but all indications are that we will be starting our 3rd string QB tonight against the Gators (2nd string had broken ribs and a lacerated liver in practice a couple weeks ago). I don't know that will get us over the hump, but our running game is solid, the OL looks stout, and our defense should be good, so we'll see. I know Florida has lots of question marks as well, so I'm guessing it'll be an ugly, grind-it-out type of game.

On a side note, I used to be SO excited for college football season to start. Was one of the highlights of the year. Felt like Christmas and Birthday all wrapped into one.

I don’t know if it’s just because I’m getting older and my priorities have shifted, or if it’s the chaos of life and kids in general, or if it’s all the NIL/realignment BS surrounding college football, but I really have very little energy about going to the game tonight. I’ll still be there, but honestly would kinda rather watch it at home (probably would If I wasn’t going with a friend).

It’s a very weird feeling.

[Pyperkub]

I have the dvr set for this game already.

Minnesota/Nebraska is an interesting undercard too, tho simultaneous.

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[Pyperkub]

Are you going? I'm flying down to LA for our opener this weekend.

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[Skinypupy]

Are you going?

Yep, headed there right now.

[Pyperkub]

Are you going?

Yep, headed there right now.

I'm expecting it to be as gorgeous as the Wasatch views always are, and I expect the MUSS and other pageantry will assuage some of your College Football angst!

Have fun, and win one for the Pac! This could be an amazing year in the Pac12 - it should be the most exciting conference with as many as 6 different teams having the potential to win the conference as of now, tho the Big 12+ has some fascinating stories too with all their upheaval, and TCU as the defending runner-up. The SEC/B1G/ACC are going to be outright boring compared to everything going on "on the field" with some really, really good teams in the pac12/big 12...

[WYBaugh]

Are you going?

Yep, headed there right now.

Enjoy the game and Go Gators!

[Carpet_pissr]

Heading to the Duke's Mayo (!) Classic on Saturday, which pits North Carolina vs South Carolina in Charlotte, NC. Cheaper, upper level seats (though at least they are near the 50) for the whole fam was around $600, so we better freaking win.
UNC is ranked #21 and has most people picking them to win (almost exclusively due to their apparently great QB).

ESPN Game Day will be there, but my middle daughter has to work until 12:30 so we will be missing that bit of fun I guess.

Surprisingly excited...it's been a while since I have been to a game, and more than 5 years probably since I have been to a non-home game. As a fan, I have gotten SUPER lazy as the years pass...getting tickets, trying to get decent parking, getting in all the traffic, stupid drunk fans, etc etc. Gah, it's just a lot when I can sit at home and watch the game in high def, with much better angles, close ups, etc, than you can in the stadium of course.

[Skinypupy]

Ugly game, but anytime you can come away with a win with your 3rd and 4th string QBs and missing half your offensive and defensive starters is a good day.

Read a stat that Florida has over 40 blue chip athletes on their team…and Utah has 10. Sure am grateful for Coach Whitt being able to maximize talent like he does.

[WYBaugh]

Ugly game, but anytime you can come away with a win with your 3rd and 4th string QBs and missing half your offensive and defensive starters is a good day.

Read a stat that Florida has over 40 blue chip athletes on their team…and Utah has 10. Sure am grateful for Coach Whitt being able to maximize talent like he does.

40 blue chips with a brown chip coach.

[Lassr]

Ugly game, but anytime you can come away with a win with your 3rd and 4th string QBs and missing half your offensive and defensive starters is a good day.

Read a stat that Florida has over 40 blue chip athletes on their team…and Utah has 10. Sure am grateful for Coach Whitt being able to maximize talent like he does.

40 blue chips with a brown chip coach.

I was surprised at how bad the Gators looked in Napier's second year.

[WYBaugh]

Ugly game, but anytime you can come away with a win with your 3rd and 4th string QBs and missing half your offensive and defensive starters is a good day.

Read a stat that Florida has over 40 blue chip athletes on their team…and Utah has 10. Sure am grateful for Coach Whitt being able to maximize talent like he does.

40 blue chips with a brown chip coach.

I was surprised at how bad the Gators looked in Napier's second year.

Unfortunately I'm not. He needed to hire an OC. He's a terrible game day coach.

[Skinypupy]

Ugly game, but anytime you can come away with a win with your 3rd and 4th string QBs and missing half your offensive and defensive starters is a good day.

Read a stat that Florida has over 40 blue chip athletes on their team…and Utah has 10. Sure am grateful for Coach Whitt being able to maximize talent like he does.

40 blue chips with a brown chip coach.

I was surprised at how bad the Gators looked in Napier's second year.

Yeah, he made some truly baffling decisions. The penalty for having two guys on the field wearing the same number (which led to an Utah TD) was one I’d never seen before.

Florida is young, but seems like they have a ton of talent if he can figure out some way to actually get it on the right track. Selfishly, I hope he does so that win looks better for Utah. I was impressed with Mertz, who I expected to be a weak link. He played really well, but needs some help from that o-line.

I’m even more worried about injuries than I was before. We look to be in peak October form right now, injury-wise. Next week could be tough.

[ImLawBoy]

I caught the last quarter of Nebraska-Minnesota. Final score 13-10. Big Ten West Fever - Catch It!

As with Harbaugh and OC Sherrone Moore, I'll be self-imposing a ban (one game for me) for Saturday's Michigan opener. It's not that I'm alleged to have bought any recruits cheeseburgers, but rather I don't feel like subscribing to Peacock to watch the Michigan-Eastern Carolina tilt. If it goes as planned, it'll be a Michigan blow out. If it doesn't go as planned (either close or a massive upset), I'll have paid extra money to torture myself.

PS - Saw a newsflash on my phone that that ACC is adding Cal, Stanford, and SMU. That makes sense for the Atlantic Coast Conference.

[ImLawBoy]

The penalty for having two guys on the field wearing the same number (which led to an Utah TD) was one I’d never seen before.

I've seen that happen in garbage time when the 3rd and 4th string are getting some playing time and the coaches aren't keeping track of numbers.

[Skinypupy]

PS - Saw a newsflash on my phone that that ACC is adding Cal, Stanford, and SMU. That makes sense for the Atlantic Coast Conference.

No, no…it’s the All Coast Conference now.

[Carpet_pissr]

PS - Saw a newsflash on my phone that that ACC is adding Cal, Stanford, and SMU. That makes sense for the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The college football world has gone mad.

Next up: conferences will start looking at Mexican and Canadian teams.

Dibs on "Los Lobos" of ULM from Guanajuato! Andale!

[Pyperkub]

Ugly game, but anytime you can come away with a win with your 3rd and 4th string QBs and missing half your offensive and defensive starters is a good day.

Read a stat that Florida has over 40 blue chip athletes on their team…and Utah has 10. Sure am grateful for Coach Whitt being able to maximize talent like he does.

40 blue chips with a brown chip coach.

I was surprised at how bad the Gators looked in Napier's second year.

Yeah, he made some truly baffling decisions. The penalty for having two guys on the field wearing the same number (which led to an Utah TD) was one I’d never seen before.

Florida is young, but seems like they have a ton of talent if he can figure out some way to actually get it on the right track. Selfishly, I hope he does so that win looks better for Utah. I was impressed with Mertz, who I expected to be a weak link. He played really well, but needs some help from that o-line.

I’m even more worried about injuries than I was before. We look to be in peak October form right now, injury-wise. Next week could be tough.

Florida is young AND hasn't opened on the road against a power 5 team outside of Florida in decades. A lot of those mistakes were because Florida stays in Florida for non conference.

The complete lack of a running game could be an issue tho. Utah's defense was a huge factor there.

On the Utah side, nice win without Rising and others, but Nate Johnson looks like he may have small hands syndrome, he made some nice plays, but also showed some really bad hands. I'd be coaching EVERYONE to go for the strip when he has the ball. He was fortunate not to have a couple of turnovers which could have gave the game to Florida despite the defensive dominance.

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[Pyperkub]

I caught the last quarter of Nebraska-Minnesota. Final score 13-10. Big Ten West Fever - Catch It!

As with Harbaugh and OC Sherrone Moore, I'll be self-imposing a ban (one game for me) for Saturday's Michigan opener. It's not that I'm alleged to have bought any recruits cheeseburgers, but rather I don't feel like subscribing to Peacock to watch the Michigan-Eastern Carolina tilt. If it goes as planned, it'll be a Michigan blow out. If it doesn't go as planned (either close or a massive upset), I'll have paid extra money to torture myself.

PS - Saw a newsflash on my phone that that ACC is adding Cal, Stanford, and SMU. That makes sense for the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Minnesota-Nebraska was fun, if a defensive struggle. Those final 2 turnovers by Nebraska were killers - the fumble and the interception to kill the last 2 drives. Minnesota looked like the better team, especially at home, but Nebraska had the chance to close it out and gave it away.

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