GP1

The current playoff games are horrible entertainment. Why do you want more crap shoveled into your living room through your television.

I was in Akron a couple of weeks ago and went by the stadium. There were giant bags full of sand in the corner of one of the parking lots. Did they have a "Giant Bags Full Of Sand Cam"?

I think it is becoming most like the NFL in that television ratings are driving decisions. The networks aren't asking, "How do we get the die hard fan to watch more NFL?". They are asking, "How do we get the fans of football who see the NFL as their favorite television show to watch more games?". We all know someone who is a die hard fan of NFL Team X and really doesn't watch NFL beyond that team. The NFL is less concerned about this fan and more concerned about attracting a person who will watch any NFL game for 9 hours on Sunday. The Red Zone Network attracts this fan. All of the games attract degenerate gamblers. A lot of these fans just like hanging out with friends in a bar on Sundays watching football and having some beers. OSU vs USC attracts more of this type of fan than OSU vs Indiana or OSU vs Toledo. The television networks know this and since they are running college football (If the networks aren't running college football, who is?), we get the results we are seeing today.

I can't think of a more difficult season to guesstimate an upcoming record. I'm guessing a 4 win season with a team that actually looks like it knows what it is doing. In 2023 I fully expect a bowl season with 2024 competing for the league championship with the final four games being meaningful.

If you aren't listening to Rick Neuheisel on ESPNU the past few days, you are missing out. He looks at the recent developments from every angle including Fox owning 60% of BTN and the influence that has over the recent decisions. He also discusses how college football wants to become as close to the NFL model as possible including attracting degenerate gamblers and not caring if anyone actually attends games or not because it's all in TV money. He's really a smart guy.

When Maryland bolted for the Big 10, the remaining members of the ACC signed a contract that protected the league against poachers and made any team leaving extremely expensive. It's unlikely, but not impossible. Three of these four teams are average acc football schools. Imagine how bad they would be in the sec.

You must not be old enough to remember the Southwest Conference.

Can the pAC Whatever still call itself "The Conference of Champions"?

Left behind what?

The west coast Big Ten alumni can watch all conference games on a variety of nationally televised sports channels including ABC/ESPN, Fox/Fox Sports and the Big Ten Network. I get where USC is coming from but confused about UCLA. I think PAC 10 football, as a whole, has become very average and continues to fall behind the leaders. Because of this, I think USC probably is impacted in their recruiting in a negative way. There is no reason for them to not be as good as the top 5 schools. This move will help their football program. It will be interesting to see how USC and UCLA handle late season road games in places like Wisconsin and Minnesota. UCLA has a problem because it hasn't been relevant in football for a long time and I think this move will only make things worse. UCLA does have a good chance of taking a good basketball program and becoming even better.

I wish I could get a job being as intellectually lazy as this guy. First things first, college football is not in crisis. Why blow up something that is working?College football is more competitive than it has been in years due to offensive creativity and the free movement of labor through the transfer portal. Sure, there are 3-4 teams that dominate the top, but the rest of college football is doing great and if you can enjoy the hundreds of things that make college football great, it's easy to ignore what's going on at the very top. Today, the Zips are in a great position to be successful in the short term because of coaching creativity and the transfer portal. No more 5 year building process that ends in disaster. Look, I'm not sure why so many think the solution to all the problems in college football is an expanded playoff system. This stupid and lazy idea assumes everyone in college football either is capable or has the desire to win a national championship in football. There are less than 5 schools capable of winning a championship and an expanded playoff is only going to shovel more crap through your television in their pursuit of the championship for the small number of schools who could actually win. The current playoff games are trash and more trash isn't what we need. The only way for G5 schools to escape this level of stupidity is to divorce themselves from P5 conferences and create a system focused on making their athletic programs benefit the athletes, students, alumni, fans and general communities. The insanity has to stop.

Conference leaders function in a herd. See my tag line below.

I hope not. The league is already too big. They should look to reduce the size of the league by 1-2 teams. League expansion should not be the strategy of G5 conferences. The strategy should be to carve a place out for themselves in the changing landscape of college athletics where those schools use athletics to benefit the athletes, students, alumni, fans and general communities around them.

If we go to the PAC Whatever, it will blow our chances for the Big East.

Joining the PAC 10 doesn't make sense for us right now, but with the right "building process".......

Fans for these two schools must be excited about the 9am starts against Indiana and Maryland.

I had heard once that an stadium owner has to store an old field for legal reasons for a certain number of years regardless of the length of service or size of the material. For example, a stadium like where the cowboys play has to save the end zones they use just for one game for a certain number of years. If Akron has to store the old field, where will it be?

Maybe they don't want their field to look like it belongs in a high school stadium.

As last they start early to mid July there is plenty of time.

Your post got me thinking and I don't know the answers. How many mac schools have a coach hired away and bring in someone better? Who are they?

Mostly good. College football should be played when the sun is up and this schedule mostly allows for that.

Boo f-ing hoo Nick. These players are adults. There are NHL and NBA players making millions at the ages of 18 and 19 and nobody says poo. If college players make stupid decisions with their money, they should be free to do so. It's a free country. College football isn't being destroyed by nil and the transfer portal. In fact one could easily argue college football had one of the best seasons if not the best season ever last year. More teams are better and games are more exciting. Blue bloods worry about non blue bloods showing up to their country club in a pair of cargo shorts and a $10 golf shirt from Target, and winning the club championship. That's what Nick is whining about.

I thought the "Fighting Lutherans" were defeated in 1945.

I'd like to answer this. Matthew point is making the football program benefit the athletes, students, alumni, fans and general ne Ohio community. That's good enough for me.

Link Smart guys like Gene Smith don't just say things like this to the media on a whim. The idea has been pushed around behind the scenes for years and it's going to happen. If you are thinking the G5 schools are in the FBS so these changes won't impact them, think again. The P5 schools aren't going to drag us along and drain their revenue stream. G5 schools need to prepare for the inevitable.