B1G/Pac-12 Still On

I missed this last week, but ESPN's Adam Rittenberg posted a blog piece stating that the partnership is still on, despite some scheduling issues.  You can read the full post here. 

"Despite a few speed bumps, the Big Ten/Pac-12 scheduling partnership is 'a go,' Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany told his league's athletic directors this week"

Texas AD Not Happy with Pac-12/B1G Rose Bowl Stance

Texas AD DeLoss Dodds recently stated:

"The only way it's going to get fixed," Dodds says, "is for the rest of the country to have a playoff of some kind and let them do their (own) deal. And then after five years, their coaches would go berserk because they're not in the mix for a national championship. And they'd have to join it."

The obvious problem with that way of thinking is without the Pac-12 and Big Ten, it's not really much a national championship as it is an SEC/Big 12 playoff.  

B1G/Pac-12 Football Scheduling Agreement is Still On

ESPN posted two blog post on Friday. Basically the scheduling agreement is still on, but some schools may have issues with working out schedules and there may be a late start for Ohio State. You can read the posts at the following links:

Big Ten, Pac-12 series still on solid ground?

B1G, Pac-12 pact could start staggered

 

Utah now has a 2014 opening and potential for a B1G game

Utah bought out USU leaving a home opening in 2014. Will the Utes use this to schedule a game with a Big Ten team? Read more here.

U of Georgia President criticizes Pac/B1G

University of Georgia President doesn't want the Pac-12 and B1G to get any special treatment in regard to preserving the Rose Bowl. Click here to read more at the WSJ.

Nebraska AD likes Pac-12 Big 10 Partnership

Adam Rittenberg of ESPN Big 10 Blog interviewed Nebraska's AD and former football coach Tom Osborne. Here's what he had to say on the Pac-12/B1G partnership:

Osborne likes the Big Ten's new partnership with the Pac-12, billed as a brand-strengthening alternative to expansion. He also thinks realignment fever will die down for a bit. "The time where major disruption can occur is when you have television contracts are up for renewal," he said. "That's when people can start looking toward greener pastures sometimes. So we'll see how things turn out over the next two, three, four years."

Are college sports undervalued? Pac-12 commissioner thinks so.

Larry Scott thinks college football is undervalued, and blames the fragmentation of rights. Read more by clicking here.

Oregon and Michigan State Series

Oregon and Michigan State football agreed to a two-game series starting in 2014. Click here to read more about it.

Stanford and Northwestern series

Stanford and Northwestern will begin a series in 2015 and 2016, and then picking back up in 2019-2022. Check out Wednesday's mention of it in ESPN.

SEC Commissioner Slive talks playoffs

SEC Commissioner Slive talks postseason college football and briefly mentions Pac-12/B1G alliance:

"'I still view 14 as an extension of 12,' Slive said. 'Going beyond 14 is no longer an extension of 12. Maybe the Pac-12 and Big Ten scheduling alliance may be their way of answering that question. I can only speak for us...'"

Larry Scott talks post season with NYT

Pac-12 Commissioner, Larry Scott, talked about post season college football with the New York Times on Friday. Some highlights:

"As for the potential playoff format, Scott agreed with the position of the Big Ten, first reported by The Chicago Tribune, which favored home sites for the semifinal games and a neutral site for the championship game."

"As for determining the final four teams, Scott said a notion that Roy Kramer, a former Southeastern Conference commissioner, expressed to CBSSports.com last week “resonated with me.” To keep the integrity of the regular season and the conference championship games, Kramer said, all of the teams in the playoff should be conference champions."

"In terms of the college postseason in general, Scott said that he favored bowl teams having to finish better than 6-6 and perhaps having fewer bowl games"

"Although Scott has made no final decisions, it appears that college football is bracing for a significant change.

“I hope we can come up with a system that turns the bowl model on its head and improves it,” Scott said"

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany Talks Pac-12, BCS, Expansion

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany recently discussed the Pac-12 scheduling agreement, BCS, and expansion.

Here's the highlights:

What exactly does your alliance with the Pac-12 bring to the table?

We wouldn’t have done it unless we felt it had a lot of potential. It's a historic set of academic and athletic relationships that goes back to 1902. We'll have the 100th Rose Bowl in 2014. We really thought that it's important to continue to investigate change and ways to improve. The non-conference football and basketball schedules are often criticized for not being competitive enough and we felt we could extend it. Underlying it is that neither conference overlaps with the other. Between the two conferences we touch 15 states, 45 percent of the country's population and half of the top 50 markets. We've launched [the Big Ten] Network and the [Pac 12] is launching in August, so we thought it was a great way to create competition and serve our fans.

Is it safe to assume you will not be further expanding as a conference?

I think we're very comfortable with where we are. You never say never, but we've been cautious. We were the first conference to experience major expansion from 20 years ago. We looked at configurations, like 16 and 20, and just decided that's not who we wanted to be. That would affect our DNA, our rivalries and how we do things. We like to play each other more, not less, and so I would say there is a high degree of comfort. You don't unnecessarily pin yourself in if you don't have to. [Expansion] is not active and not on the horizon. Our schools are located in roughly 25 or 30 percent of the population. Our media agreements are all national. I don’t think there is a conference that spans more than a couple of time zones. Most conferences are regional. Most rivalries are local.

It sounds like you are opposed to the "Plus-1" BCS format for college football?

We have historically been opposed to it, but we also have a lot of colleagues who are opposed. I think the last time it came up, there were five of the seven founders discussed it, and now most people want to discuss it. We're curious and engaged, but I think what a lot of people don’t understand is underlying any of our positions are university presidents, athletic directed and coaches. I'm engaging with them over the next 60 days.

I would say the No.1 factor for us is: What is the impact on the athlete and then the regular season because that's everything that we've been about for a long time. Three, is what is the impact on the Rose Bowl and the bowl system? Lastly, what is competitively fair? We have strong opinions on it internally, which are not always aligned. [Former Wisconsin football coach and current AD] [Barry] Alvarez has spoken favorably about it and [AD] Dave Brandon of Michigan has spoken strongly against [the BCS]. [Northwestern football coach] Pat Fitzgerald has spoken against it and others are in favor. I would say that for us to move or change it, it needs to work for [all four of those elements] and that the competitive fairness is somehow tied to the regular season because we play that for 13 weeks and average 70,000-plus. That's why I say it's regional; Michigan-Ohio St, Illinois-Michigan State; those games have been meaningful for a long, long time, and we want to make sure they maintain their meaning.

Pac-12 Network Groundbreaking: No Word Yet on Pac's College Football Postseason Plan

The Pac-12 held a groundbreaking ceremony for it new network office headquarters in San Francisco, CA this afternoon.

Commissioner Larry Scott, had a few words to say about the conference, "It's an exciting time for college sports in general and there's no more exciting place to be than the Pac-12. We've got a great dynamic and bold vision for the future of college sports and the future of our conference."

It can definitely be said that Scott has a “bold vision,” with the conference expansion, Pac-12 Network, Pac-12 and B1G partnership, and now talk of expanding the Pac presence (tournaments, summer events…) to Asia.

Larry Scott did not give a Pac-supported plan for postseason football yet, and only briefly talked about the B1G’s playoff plan:

“Scott said he is also talking with conference presidents and athletic directors about making changes to the Bowl Championship Series starting in 2014.

The Big Ten athletic directors recently announced they are comfortable exploring the possibility of a four-team playoff as opposed to the current system that matches the top two teams based on poll and computer rankings.

A four-team playoff was proposed in 2008 by the commissioners of the Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference. It was shot down by the leaders of the Big Ten, Pac-10, Big East, Big 12 and Notre Dame.

NCAA President Mark Emmert has also said he supports a four-team championship playoff and is strongly against a 16-team format.

Scott said the conference could come up with its own plan or latch on to one from another conference before BCS meetings in April. He would not comment specifically on the Big Ten's plan, only saying it was indicative of "an open-mindedness."

"People are trying to think proactively," Scott said. "That's certainly what our approach is going to be. We want to look at it with a fresh set of eyes and be creative like we've done on other topics. There are, we believe, improvements that can be made and need to be made in postseason college football. We're not there with any particular plan or endorsement yet."

Why the Pac-12 should consider an 8-game schedule

Ted Miller from ESPN’s Pac-12 Blog argued yesterday for a switch to an 8-game conference schedule, as he reminded the B1G is keeping it at 8, “The Big Ten approved a nine-game conference schedule, beginning in 2017, but then the Pac-12 partnership was announced. That automatic addition of a challenging game has convinced the Big Ten folks to stick with an eight-game conference schedule.”

Miller goes on to argue that the 8-game schedule has likely helped the SEC, and there are those in the PAC-12 that can see this, “What this means is Pac-12 teams expose themselves more often to a risk of losing. That means more 4-8 and 5-7 teams and therefore fewer bowl teams… Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott, fresh off a contract extension, understands this. So do most of the Pac-12 coaches. They need to figure out a way to get the Pac-12 presidents and athletic directors on board… But the conference [SEC] that has won six consecutive national championships won't. That might not be a coincidence.”

Of course this would depend on whether conferences start playing the same schedule – all AQ conferences playing a 9-game schedule, or whatever. And you can be fairly certain that if a playoff is ever thrown into the mix, conference scheduling will be at the forefront of changes.

Playoffs and keeping the Rose Bowl

Is a football playoff inevitable? If so, what does that mean for the Pac-12 and B1G as far as the Rose Bowl is concerned?

Recent reports suggest the B1G has been discussing a 4 team playoff plan that would keep the Rose Bowl match-up between the B1G and Pac-12:

"There is the matter of protecting the Rose Bowl, which is Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany's No. 1 priority. Delany often has stated that the Rose Bowl is the Big Ten's top external relationship, and he doesn't want to have access compromised.

While a playoff would prevent the Big Ten champion and the Pac-12 champion from meeting in Pasadena every year, we'd still see a lot of entertaining Big Ten-Pac-12 matchups at the Rose Bowl. And while a playoff system would take attention away from the bowl games, the Rose Bowl is the only contest that has prestige even when it doesn't factor in the national title race. If any bowl can maintain its shine in a playoff environment, it's the Rose."

Pac-12 extends Larry Scott's contract

Pac-12 extends commissioner Larry Scott's contract through 2016:

"The Pac-12 Conference’s board of directors unanimously decided to extend the contract of Commissioner Larry Scott on Monday, giving him the opportunity to push forward with his plans to reshape the league through 2016.

All 12 university presidents who make up the board agreed to the extension.

Since taking over on July 1, 2009, Scott has overseen the conference’s expansion to include Utah and Colorado. He also negotiated a landmark 12-year television contract last summer with Fox and ESPN worth about $3 billion and helped created the Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Digital Network."

Could the Pac-12/B1G alliance alter recruiting?

Even though increased alliance game scheduling will not be occurring until 2017, it’s interesting to think about how the PAC-12/B1G alliance may alter the football recruiting landscape for both conferences. The conferences have the two most profitable college TV networks, which will likely only add to their national exposure. But will an increase in games between the B1G and PAC-12 lead to more recruits from say Ohio in the PAC-12, and from California in the B1G? One Forbes writer seems to thinks so, and even beyond the two conference footprints, “the alliance can add exposure to the existing teams and lure talent, both nationally and internationally.”

Aside from a few non-conference games, and the Rose Bowl, the 2012 recruit class will not likely see much game time facing teams in the opposite alliance conference. So it’s a little premature to speculate the ramifications this alliance will have, if any, on recruiting, but let’s take a look at this year's commits anyway.

This year almost 58% of B1G commits came from states within the B1G footprint (PA, IL, OH, MI, IN, NE, IA, WI, MN), while about 8% came from states in the PAC-12 footprint (CA, CO, WA, AZ, OR, UT). Conversely about 67% of recruits in the PAC-12 came from PAC-12 footprint states, while a little less than 3% came from B1G footprint states.

On the regional diversity front Stanford was the winner in the PAC-12 with recruits coming from 14 different states. Stanford also fared well in the overall recruitment rankings with ESPN ranking them at 12th overall, and Rivals placing them at 5^th. Oregon came in a close second in the regional diversity category in the PAC-12 with commits coming from 12 different states.

Kevin Grimmel at ESPN asked Coach Shaw about Stanford’s lack of CA commits (3 this year), who had this to say, “We just can't be bound to a region, even if it is close to home. We've had some years with four guys, others where it's two or three. We have to look at the United States and say 'that's our region.'”

In the B1G, Purdue took the prize for greatest regional diversity with commits coming from 14 different states. Rivals ranked Purdue’s commit class 4^th in the B1G, and 35^th overall.

Minnesota pulled a clean sweep as far as the B1G is concerned in recruiting from within it’s state, getting all 12 MN commits in the B1G this year. Brian Bennett from ESPN talked to Coach Kill about his in-state recruitment efforts, who had this to say, "When I first got here, I picked up an article that said 38 kids from Minnesota were playing in bowl games, but they weren't going to the University of Minnesota. So we needed to do a great job of locking our state down this year, and I think we did a good job of that.”

Will recruitment grow beyond the local pool and conference footprint that made up close to two-thirds of this year's class of commits? Only time will tell.

***Detailed commit information broken down by conference and school below:

PAC-12

Arizona: 24 commits, 13 3-star.

Location: 6 from AZ, 3 from TX, 1 from OK, 6 from CA, 3 from Florida, 3 from PA, 1 from LA, 1 from HI.

Arizona State: 23 commits, 5 4-star, 4-star.

Location: 5 from AZ, 1 from FL, 10 from CA, 3 from TX, 1 from Canada, 1 from CO, 1 from IN, 1 from WA.

California: 17 commits, 7 4-star, 6 3-star.

Location: 13 from CA, 1 from TX, 1 from WA, 1 from FL, 1 from OR.

Colorado: 29 commits, 2 4-star, 20 3-star.

Location: 3 from CO, 1 from NJ, 3 from DC, 1 from AZ, 11 from CA, 1 from MO, 7 from Texas, 1 from LA, 1 from HI.

Oregon: 21 commits. 3 ESPN 150 commits, 8 4-star, 8 3-star.

Location: 3 from OR, 6 from CA, 1 from TX, 1 from OK, 1 from CO, 1 from AZ, 1 from OH, 1 from HI, 3 from TX, 1 from MT, 1 from VA, 1 from ID.

Oregon State: 24 commits, 1 ESPN 150 commit, 2 4-star, 10 3-stars

Location: 2 from OR, 10 from CA, 5 from WA, 1 from OK, 1 from LA, 1 from TX, 2 from Samoana, 1 from UT, 1 from HI.

Stanford: 22 commits, 6 ESPN 150 commits, 1 5-star, 9 4-star, 9 3-star.

Location: 3 from CA, 3 from Az, 2 from FL, 2 from WA, 1 from OK, 1 from VA, 1 from MN, 1 from GA, 1 from TN, 1 from HI, 1 from MO, 1 from UT, 3 from TX, 1 from IL.

UCLA: 27 commits, 4 ESPN 150 commits, 7 4-star, 14 3 star.

Location: 16 from CA, 1 from NJ, 2 from TX, 2 from AZ, 2 from GA, 1 from NY, 1 from DE, 1 from HI, 1 from FL.

USC: 17 commits, 7 ESPN 150 commits, 10 4-stars, 3-stars.

Location: 13 from CA, 2 from Florida, 1 From WA, 1 from PA.

Utah: 28 commits, 1 4 star, 15 3-star.

Location: 10 from UT, 10 from CA, 3 from TX, 1 from NV, 1 from AZ, 2 from LA, 1 from HI.

Washington: 25 commits, 1 ESPN 150 commit, 4 4-star, 15 3-star.

Location: 5 from WA, 15 from CA, 1 from CO, 1 from AZ, 3 from HI.

Washington State: 28 commits, 2 4-star, 8 3-star.

Location: 4 from WA, 14 from CA, 1 from LA, 1 from OR, 1 from CO, 1 from AZ, 1 from FL, 1 from HI, 1 from TX, 2 form Samoana, 1 from DE.

BIG TEN

Illinois: 19 commits, 7 3-star.

Location: 4 from IL, 5 from FL, 1 from PA, 6 from OH, 1 from MI, 1 from NC, 1 from IN.

Indiana: 25 commits, 1 4-star, 11 3-star.

Location: 8 from IN, 2 from CA, 3 from IL, 2 from FL, 3 from OH, 2 from TX, 1 from AZ, 2 from

GA, 1 from MS, 1 from MO.

Iowa: 24 commits, 6 4-star, 10 3-star.

Location: 3 from IA, 1 from PA, 6 form IL, 1 from CO, 2 from OH, 1 from TN, 3 from MI, 1 from TX, 1 from Canada, 2 from FL, 1 from NE, 1 from WV, 1 from AZ.

Michigan: 25 commits, 11 4-star, 12 3-star.

Location: 9 from MI, 9 form OH, 2 from MO, 1 from CA, 1 from TN, 1 from IA, 1 from KY, 1 from UT.

Michigan State: 20 commits, 4 4-star, 13 3-star.

Location: 7 from OH, 2 from PA, 5 from MI, 1 from IN, 2 from FL, 1 from GA, 1 from OR, 1 from WI.

Minnesota: 31 commits, 1 ESPN 150, 3 4-star, 4 3-star.

Location: 12 from MN, 1 from NC, 5 from TX, 1 from AL, 3 from FL, 1 from MO, 2 from OH, 1 from IL, 2 from WI, 1 from LA, 1 from KS, 1 from SC.

Nebraska: 17 commits, 1 ESPN 150, 4 4-star, 8 3-star.

Location: 1 from MO, 1 from CO, 1 from UT, 1 from GA, 2 from IL, 2 from OH, 1 from LA, 2 from TX, 1 from NE, 3 from CA, 1 from AZ, 1 from VA.

Northwestern: 22 commits, 1 ESPN 150 commit, 1 4-star, 9 3-star.

Location: 4 from OH, 5 from PA, 5 from IL, 1 from MI, 1 from MA, 2 from TX, 1 from CA, 1 from FL, 1 from MO, 1 from KY.

Ohio State: 25 commits, 5 ESPN 150, 1 5-star, 11 4-star, 12 3-star.

Location: 16 from OH, 1 from PA, 1 from CO, 1 from IL, 1 from NC, 2 from MA, 1 from FL, 1 from IN, 1 from CA.

Penn State: 19 commits, 2 4-star, 11 3-star.

Location: 4 from PA, 4 from MD, 1 from VA, 2 from NJ, 1 from OH, 2 from NY, 1 from GA, 1 from CT, 1 from NH, 1 from WA.

Purdue: 25 commits, 13 3-star.

Location: 4 from Texas, 1 from MD, 1 from AL, 6 from FL, 1 from NC, 1 from NJ, 1 from AR, 4 from IN, 1 from OH, 1 from KY, 1 from MI, 1 from VA, 1 from AZ, 1 from CA.

Wisconsin: 12 commits, 4 4-star, 5 star.

Location: 3 form WI, 1 from CA, 1 from IL, 1 from NJ, 2 from FL, 1 from IN, 1 from WA, 2 from PA.

7 Wins for Bowl Eligibility a Problem for the B1G/Pac Partnership?

Talk of moving to 7 wins for bowl eligibility seems to be popping up more and more lately. Could this be a problem for teams in the Pac-12 and Big Ten who already have historic rivalries with schools like Notre Dame on the schedule, to then add a Pac/B1G game to that with the new partnership?

Bleacher Report examined this issue:

" Under the new proposed system and agreement with the Pac-12, Big Ten teams will need to win four out of nine tough games just to have a shot at bowl eligibility. While 4-5 is not a great record, it shows a lot more competence than 2-6 and would likely lead to much better bowl matchups.

The story is even better in the Pac-12, where teams will need to achieve a .500 record in ten tough games to make a bowl. For every good story like Indiana a couple years ago or Purdue this year, there are teams like Illinois and Ohio State who finished on long losing streaks and had fired coaches and no fan excitement heading into a 6-6 bowl battle.

I think the Big Ten and the Pac-12 will tolerate this change. Sure, it makes it tougher on the lower tier of the conference, but those bottom bowl games barely paid enough money to cover expenses. Thus, the move to seven win bowl eligibility will likely not jeopardize the new Big Ten Pac-12 agreement."

Navy To Join Big East Football

In the latest news on conference alignments it has been reported that Navy will join Big East Football starting in 2015. Navy’s 2012 schedule has them playing Big Ten schools Penn State and Indiana.

B1G Network's Dave Revsine Interview

Ted Glover of OTE recently talked to Dave Revsine of the Big Ten Network about the Pac-12/B1G partnership.

Here's what he had to say:

First off, thanks for sitting down with us again. Most of what we're going to talk about is on the field stuff, but Commissioner Jim Delany made some news off the field recently. He and Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott announced a sports partnership that has fans from both conferences excited. What's your impression of that deal?

I think it's brilliant. I didn't totally understand what it was going to be until I sat down with Commissioner Delany when he came into the office and explained, in so many words, that it's an alternative to expansion. It's a way to improve the reach of your conference, in terms of the scope of it. You become relevant in another area of the country, you increase the value of your TV package because you have some more appealing games, and you do this without sacrificing who you are. I didn't really get it until I sat down with him and talked about it, and it just reinforced my belief that he's a really brilliant commissioner. He really gets it on a lot of different levels, and this was an example of that.

With the Pac-12 partnership, Commissioner Delany has said that the 9 game conference schedule will be abandoned. Is that a good decision, or bad one?

I think it's a good decision. I always had hesitation with that, because the coaches I talked to were very concerned about the inequities of the years when you had five road games. With the schedules being made so far in advance, let's say you're playing five road games against teams that are better than you thought they'd be--there were worries about having an imbalance there. The football schedule is as much about who you play as who you don't play, and you also had schools that want to try to have seven home games, so it seemed like it was a combination of all these factors.

A guy like me, who's in the television business, would've supported it because we'd have better games. But when you look at it from the coaches perspective, in a system that already you're not going to play everybody, there was a randomness there that everybody accepts (the 8 game schedule) because there's no other way you're going to do it because you have a conference of this size. But to add in this other variable where there can be such a challenge in the differences of the schedules (between the schools) I don't think a lot of people thought it was a great idea.

So to me, (the Pac-12 partnership) is a really great alternative. You know that you're going to have nine really interesting games, and it's a way to accomplish all those other things he was talking about that a ninth conference game wouldn't have achieved.