Georgia will always have an advantage because it is the 4th best state for football talent [behind TX, FL & CA]. Look at their current roster: the majority of their kids are GA kids.
But expanding the CFP will help to keep some of the fleeing blue chip west coast players home. Brock Bowers, DJU & Bryce Young are all CA kids who chased the playoff with blue bloods. Ohio State pulled Embuka, Tuimalou, & G. Scott out of WA. That sucking sound you have heard for the last 10+ years is the whoosh of blue chip west coast talent rushing out of our footprint.
If blue chip kids think Oregon, Washington or Utah can make it to the CFP, they might stay & play in conference [especially if NIL is used right]. This will marginally weaken the blue Bloods & strengthen the next tier teams.
Also, 9-game conference schedules are tactically stupid. They give half of the conference up to an extra loss that could have been a win against an OOC team. This drops them in the polls & weakens every other conference team's strength of schedule PLUS it adds a more difficult, physical game beating to each conference team's players [vs playing a "cupcake"].
There are practical & functional reasons why the SEC is better positioned in the polls and for the post-season. And it's much more than football "just means more". Mike Slive and Greg Sankey made chess moves while Larry Scott struggled with checkers. Hopefully George Kliavkoff has the capability to recover, but Scott left him a bad board.
GA has significantly more talent than CA anymore. 50% more blue chips in 2023 class according to 247. Their next door neighbor, FL, has 150% more blue chips than CA. Demographic and participation rate shifts have been huge.
Putting TCU 2 Was ridiculous, Ohio State was the 2nd best team overall this season. , after all, Georgia bt Oregon, and that dropped them from 11 to out, tcu gets destroyed and moves 3 up to 2
i get your point but Oregon lost three games and barely beat a two TD under dog in their bowl game. I would have rated The Beavs slightly higher and the Dux lower, but these are polls are the result of many voters. Oregon is kind of Michigan light. They always seem to be ranked higher. Look at the pre season polls, Michigan and Oregon are always top 10. Paying attention to polls is a real time waster.
That Gators team didn't deserve to be in a bowl game. Nothing against the Beavers, they did exactly what they should have done. Just saying you shouldn't float bowl game results as the deciding factor. Just like john suggests, since when does the AP get things right? It is nothing more than a collection of opinions.
I was at the game (In my OREGON DUCKS gear) - sitting smack dab in the Georgia territory on the 40 yard line. Couldn't have asked for a better view of what ANNHIALATED the Ducks in September - Just left of the 50 yard line camera crew... The coaches were faster, the players were faster, even the TCU fans were faster to the exit. Back to that Oregon gear I was wearing... It made for some fun conversations on the way for a beer and hot dog and the obligatory stop to the can to hang with a bunch of savage and honestly almost bored Dawgs... The conversation went like this "Hey Oregon guy - you made it to the wrong game!" My response after the half "yah - just came for part two of what y'allz did to the Ducks!" Back to the speed of everything going on in the stadium. I didn't know Saban could move so quickly in that fancy on camera suit of his. When he was being escorted out of the ESPN booth it was almost a sprint as he was being taunted by Georgia fan about definitively giving up the crown to the powerhouse status in the SEC. Congrats to the Bulldogs for their win. As for the Duck fan in me?? I claimed to my friends that I brought a November Oregon rain - It was cold and wet but no umbrella would be used the whole night (try their bus/rail line for fun on a rainy night through Norwalk). Nothing like last night will likely ever happen again if we extend our playoff to more teams. And it shouldn't... Ohio is a clear #2 in my book after taking that game to a face in hand missed opportunity to win. I'm sure there were more Duck fan but in my THOUSANDS of steps throughout the stadium I only saw one other dude sporting the colors - it was fun to see 2 of 70 some thousand... For this game I say GoDawgs... Remember that bus ride I mentioned? Father son duo was teaching the overcrowded full of Dawgs their cheer. Georgia fans on this bus showed up and learned it with them and it seemed like they genually cared about these two lone TCU fan and the one Duck onloooker. Super awesome experience to see this whole night happen. - Brian Perkins - Salem Oregon
I guess having not even turned the game on I have to wonder about a couple of things:
1. Would Oregon or any Pac-12 team, including USC even have had a chance?
2. Sonny Dykes couldn't win at Cal but managed to get this far at TCU pretty much says it all as far as Cal's ability to win, and in a way could Harbaugh have ever gotten that far at Stanfurd?
3. What does this say about Oregon?
4. Will the Pac-12 even be competitive in this environment against semi-pro football?
5. Will the 'hail mary" they threw us to be in the mix when it goes to 12 teams even matter or will it just be sending off the Pac-12 team as the #12 seed to play Georgia down south.. Think basketball seeding and you have a pretty good idea of how this will work.
6. Will the Rose Bowl be a big nothing taking the Rose Parade along with it? pr will it try for some Jan/1 game besides being a big nothing except a venue...and in fact wouldn't anyone coming to LA rather play at SoFi than that trash heap in Pasadena?
7. After watching FresNose State and San Diego State in bowls...I'll take FressBurg.
I think getting to the playoff requires immense investment. There are about 8 programs that can afford that kind of buy in. So right now it feels like there are 8-10 teams that could conceivably get there.
A little turned off by Kirby Smart's crazy exuberance after that beat down....might have shown a little more decorum and respect for TCU. Their players were eating wings on the side lines in the fourth quarter and what's with one of their players smoking a victory cigar. Until the rest of the conferences are able to spend the money the SEC does and has been for many years this will continue.
So with the SEC schedule of 3- cupcakes a year to start out and then including the 7th game usually played against the Sisters of the Poor, they only play about 6-7 games of any consequence.
Alabama rarely leaves the state. It is still tough for me to accept how good the conference is. I know that all the pundits love the SEC and with some strong reasoning but until the mega conferences get their "stuff" together and run on the same type schedule, this will never change.
The teams are built to win. But the schedule is built to assist. Eight conference games gives them all an extra home, non-conference game. They fill with a payday game and make money on the deal. Georgia will start 3-0 without breaking a sweat. The hard work comes later.
PAC programs and fans are NOT similar in any way to SEC fans'
-Fans do NOT sell out stadiums at $74-+ a ticket for Portland State . Asking semi intelligent fans to sit through another louosy game drives season tickets DOWN.
-some are on quarters with students not even starting classes until the 4th week of the season
The soft schedule also allows the teams to protect their player health and give 2nd and 3rd team players more experience. The tough games are where you get more top players hurt due to hard hitting and physical size, strength and speed
A number of SEC teams are traveling to play better OOC opponents including Bama that played Texas in Austin last season and plays Texas at home this season.
Florida opens its 2023 season at Utah. Mississippi State played the first of a H+H series with Arizona last season. CAL recently played a H+H with Ole Miss and has a H+H scheduled with Auburn in the near future. 2 seasons back UCLA defeated LSU in LA.
I expect that when OK/TX come on board the SEC will drop divisions and play 9 conference games.
8 games gets the weak sisters to a bowl but there will be far bigger fish to fry when the PO goes to 12 teams and I think it likely the PO will go to 16 teams in 2026. And when you can play body bag games and sell out 100K seating capacity stadiums why not do so?
As Smart noted after wiping out the Ducks: "Dan will be fine. He won't say it but he knows we have better players."
The recruiting rankings and the number of players picked in the draft speak for the quality of the SEC Conference.
Exactly.... recruiting sites make their money by their accuracy. 247 has 6 of the 10 top recruiting classes in the SEC for 2023 including Georgia, Alabama and Texas, 1, 2 & 3. Alabama got (7) 5-stars and (20) 4-stars. Georgia got "only" (2) 5-stars and (20) 4-stars. Compare this to Oregon, the top Pac-12 recruiting class at #12 with 2-16-10 and Oregon State at #50 with 0-2-16. Are the SEC schools that much better to attend? Or is the money that much better to play? Do we want competitive football, or do we want a clown show? For the Oregon fans....Phil Knight will never be able to outspend the SEC programs or he already would be doing it. This donor money war is just a race to the bottom.
SEC teams are located in far richer recruiting environments and can now, with the BCS and PO, cherry pick players from across the country. Also, having so many players go in the draft every season draws players from across the nation to the SEC.
CFB is a 'religion' down south and every SEC school administration with the possible exception of Vandy, supports and funds CFB to an extent not seen elsewhere; certainly not in the Pac-12.
Oregon is in a tough recruiting location and many of its conference 'partners' administrators could care less about sports including CFB and CBB.
BTW, if the Pac-12 had made the right call and expanded to the Pac-20 it would be the preeminent CBB conference.
Here is the Georgia recruiting class for 2023. Most players are from Florida, not Georgia. Some are from the Carolinas. There are players from MA, PA and NV. Georgia recruits the country, not just their home turf. There just aren't that many 5 and 4 stars in Georgia. They do this because they have the most money. Georgia was not always this dominant. They have become dominant with more resources and zero regulation. https://247sports.com/college/georgia/Season/2023-Football/Commits/
That entire region is dripping with talent. Look at 247's Player Rankings per state. CA, TX, and FL used to be the big 3 recruiting states, all with approximately same # of blue chips (4/5*). 2023: FL- 78, TX- 70, GA- 45, CA- 30. AL and LA may even catch CA at some point. That's not much talent to divvy up in the west. Particularly when the SEC schools, tOSU, OU, UM, and ND poach half the west's blue chips. And the southeast is a much smaller region than the west. You can drive from New Orleans to Atlanta in 7 hours. So committing to college in another southern state is not a big deal geographically.
The other big factor is coaching and staff quality to develop whatever talent is on roster. SEC and Big 10 schools have so much more media and booster money they will always have the advantage in attracting upper tier coaches.
I don't see how a west school, even USC, is ever going to catch the SEC or top 3 Big 10 programs at this point. The demographic shift in the US, high school football participation rate differences, and media and booster money disparity is making CFB a regional sport. And I can't imagine those schools being willing to cap their advantages to let others catch up for parity. Folks in other regions will tune out more and more in my opinion.
Jon, I think you nailed it when you said "every SEC school administration... supports and funds CFB" and "many of its conference 'partners' administrators could care less about sports including CFB and CBB". Exactly. West Coast schools have a "holier than thou" attitude towards college sports coming from the state regents and governors offices. The admins feel they are just too good for athletics. When I was in Minnesota, they had the same problem with a couple U of MN Presidents in the 80s and 90s who deliberately crippled their sports programs (and then got fired; Gophers have been trying to build back ever since). It think the PAC-12 was worse in the 70s and 80s but it is no where as pro-sports as SEC schools. I really think location is much less important. Dennis Erickson was able to get Florida kids to Oregon State based on the pipeline he developed when at U of Miami. You need to have good recruiters close to the kids (Florida, Texas, Ohio). That is a budget issue. John posted the budget for Georgia recruiting is $3.7M. What is it for average Pac-12 schools. Should that budget be regulated by the FBS so it is equal footing? Should coach salary pools be regulated as well as NIL budgets and Media money to create a more competitive sport? That is my question.
CFB is an unregulated mess. There will not be enforceable regulation created until such time as a CFB Players Union is formed and reaches agreement with 'management.'
The rub? Who or what will constitute 'management?' It will not be the NCAA.
IMO, 'management' will be made up by far less than the number of P5/G5 schools playing ball in 2023.
I do not see the UGA's of the CFB world cutting their athletic budgets so CAL, for example, can equally compete.
I am sure it will take a lot of work by people much more important to administering college sports than you and me. But even George Steinbrenner saw that for the health of his league, MLB, he had to take less in the short run so his sport was competitive and healthy in the long run. If you are an owner or school President who happens to be blessed with natural advantages, like the largest media market in the country, you need to share those riches in order to have competition. If the Yankees win 90% of their games and the World Series every year, by outbidding all other teams for every top player, there will not be a league before long. Same in college football or basketball. The allure of college sports is the chance for many different teams to win. Basketball, with smaller teams and budgets, has many more surprises than football. Isn't that what makes college sports exciting and includes the largest audience possible?
It's not the schedule, it's the teams. It's proven time and time again, so what if they only play 8 conference games. The 12 team format will give everyone a chance to beat them...and they won't.
This is why the PAC or others REDUCING the number of conference games is as stupid as cn be. even watching games on TV is a loser when it is Portland State. And for ticket buyers those lousy games should be free. Doing what the SEC does os NOT a reason for others to follow.
John did it bother you that Georgia ran up the score? I thought it was classless. The game was over before halftime. I didn’t see anyone comment on it.
Georgia played a lot of backups throughout 4th. Oregon has done same and hit 60+ points many times. What Urban Meyer did against Oregon in the 2015 Natty--that was running up the score. Instead of taking knee inside the 5 with time running out, they punched it in for a meaningless touchdown. What a putz. GA took a knee to run out the clock.
Oregon lost to TCU with a same point difference at the half a few years back. TCU was down by 31 against the Ducks and took us to 3OT and they won. Georgia could have run this into the 90's if they tried... Maybe even 100+ if they really tried.
If you think a 20 team group of three time zones is even an actual conference you dont get west coast sports. West coast fans care about Kansas, Texas Tech, etc as much as the midwest cares about the west coast. Throwing unrelated teams together that never play each other and have no geographic relationship doesn't help sell anything.
Everybody outside of Athens is jealous. This kind of success is exactly what CFB fans crave. Oregon fans wants to know what it feels like, Miami fans desperately want it back and Alabama fans are feeling it slip away.
Still one thing that is fun. It is pretty impressive that they are doing this throughout all of the new changes to our beloved sport.
It's impressive for sure. But the UGA HC job may be the best and easiest in country. That state is dripping with talent and they are the only P5 school in the state, sorry Ga Tech. And they compete in the worse SEC division.
Georgia is certainly number one But the TCU game had more to do with TCU than Georgia being untouchable. Georgia beat Mizzu 26-22, Kentucky 16-6, Kent State 39-22, Ohio State 42-41. GA is still the best but they did NOT score 49 (Ore game) or 60+ (TCU) every game, or even half their games.
And I have ALWAYS felt the only reason for expanding the "playoffs" is simply additional TV money.
It will be interesting to see what viewership the early rounds of an expanded playoff field will generate vs. the current top NY day bowl games. The playoff has already neutered The Rose Bowl and other majors. It will further render other bowls less attractive nationally. I feel that will be the same fate for the first, second rounds of the playoffs.
High quality star players already blow off bowl games for safety. Imagine the reaction to a potential THREE game post season, college players facing 16 or 17 game seasons. expansion will grow as long as:
-TV remains satisfied with profitable revenue generated from playoff rights AND
-As long as universities / programs continue to demand increased income to perpetuate uncontrolled
ever growing spending.
Fans of non elite 7-9 win type programs already hate the way all this is going. I run a test with my die hard CFB pals: Name the programs that will be members of the Big 12. (rarely get much over half correct)
The Pac-20 that was voted down 9-3 - The Pac 12 +Kansas, K ST, OK ST, IA ST, TX Tech, Baylor, TCU and Houston. FWIW, Kansas and IA ST are AAU members and Houston is a tier 1 research institution.
The add-on teams would have come in for a lesser share of revenue, improved inventory in CFB and CBB, probably would have allowed for the functionally insolvent Pac-12 Network to become solvent.
Different revenue sharing may have allowed the Pac-20 to retain the LA schools? Could keep OR + UW looking for a new home?
I worked on a lot of M+A deals in my career. It is the rare M+A deal that is immediately 'accretive.' The acquior expects to pay some kind of premium over 'book value' with the ROI to improve down the road after operating costs are paired and new markets bring in greater value.
Much of this media math is voodoo math as far as I am concerned; far too short sighted instead of looking down the road.
Formation of the Pac-20 would have resulted in 4 instead of 5 Power conferences.
Now? IMO the Pac-10 should add SDS, Fresno, UNLV, SMU, UTSA and Tulane.
But when has the conference ever shown foresight when it comes to the business of sports?
Yeah, it was arrogant and short-sighted. I think the most important thing for Pac to do is get a solid foothold in Texas. This is the one state with plentiful recruits west of the Mississippi. Plus major media markets. The Pac 20 would have solved both these, and like you say may have been just enough to keep the LA schools around, particularly if next rights agreement offers unequal payouts tied to post-season performance.
Again, I will make the comparison with NASCAR or the Indy 500 series cars and college football. Racecars in the major circuits are strictly controlled in their design and horsepower so that what is on the track is actual competition between drivers / crews and not the wallets of team owners. The NCAA and FBS are allowing this inequality on the field and they need to answer for it. What is the admins' purpose and reason for existence if it is not to balance competition by controlling the money machine, which is ALWAYS unequal if left to its own direction. Where are the Refs? Or maybe the NCAA / FBS leadership are also getting kickbacks from generous donors to leave college football as is
"It was so lopsided I’ll bet you flipped the game off and organized your sock drawer." Close...I folded a bunch of clothes that I had in a laundry hamper.
I didn't organize my sock drawer, but I left the game on and made ginger cookies.
Love this!
Georgia will always have an advantage because it is the 4th best state for football talent [behind TX, FL & CA]. Look at their current roster: the majority of their kids are GA kids.
But expanding the CFP will help to keep some of the fleeing blue chip west coast players home. Brock Bowers, DJU & Bryce Young are all CA kids who chased the playoff with blue bloods. Ohio State pulled Embuka, Tuimalou, & G. Scott out of WA. That sucking sound you have heard for the last 10+ years is the whoosh of blue chip west coast talent rushing out of our footprint.
If blue chip kids think Oregon, Washington or Utah can make it to the CFP, they might stay & play in conference [especially if NIL is used right]. This will marginally weaken the blue Bloods & strengthen the next tier teams.
Also, 9-game conference schedules are tactically stupid. They give half of the conference up to an extra loss that could have been a win against an OOC team. This drops them in the polls & weakens every other conference team's strength of schedule PLUS it adds a more difficult, physical game beating to each conference team's players [vs playing a "cupcake"].
There are practical & functional reasons why the SEC is better positioned in the polls and for the post-season. And it's much more than football "just means more". Mike Slive and Greg Sankey made chess moves while Larry Scott struggled with checkers. Hopefully George Kliavkoff has the capability to recover, but Scott left him a bad board.
There are so many little things the SEC has done to position itself better. Pac-12 needs to pay attention.
GA has significantly more talent than CA anymore. 50% more blue chips in 2023 class according to 247. Their next door neighbor, FL, has 150% more blue chips than CA. Demographic and participation rate shifts have been huge.
the Heavyweight fight was a Knockout 3 mins into Rd 1
My take was Ohio St. beat Georgia, just shanked the winning Field goal
How does AP rank Oregon 15 and OSU 17???
AP poll is often wrong.
John, are you an AP voter?
I am not. I have a Heisman vote and a BBWAA HOF vote. But not an AP vote.
AP poll is a bunch of local yokles east of the Mississippi. They constantly have west coast stuff wrong.
I saw a final poll on The Athletic that ranked Oregon State one place above Oregon. I’m an Oregon fan who thinks The Athletic got it right.
Final playoff committee poll had OR ST at 14. OSU blows out Florida in its bowl game and finishes 17 in the final AP Poll? No comprende.
voters asleep.
Putting TCU 2 Was ridiculous, Ohio State was the 2nd best team overall this season. , after all, Georgia bt Oregon, and that dropped them from 11 to out, tcu gets destroyed and moves 3 up to 2
exactly!
i get your point but Oregon lost three games and barely beat a two TD under dog in their bowl game. I would have rated The Beavs slightly higher and the Dux lower, but these are polls are the result of many voters. Oregon is kind of Michigan light. They always seem to be ranked higher. Look at the pre season polls, Michigan and Oregon are always top 10. Paying attention to polls is a real time waster.
That Gators team didn't deserve to be in a bowl game. Nothing against the Beavers, they did exactly what they should have done. Just saying you shouldn't float bowl game results as the deciding factor. Just like john suggests, since when does the AP get things right? It is nothing more than a collection of opinions.
The poll has so much influence. Wish it were a little more transparent and accurate.
I was at the game (In my OREGON DUCKS gear) - sitting smack dab in the Georgia territory on the 40 yard line. Couldn't have asked for a better view of what ANNHIALATED the Ducks in September - Just left of the 50 yard line camera crew... The coaches were faster, the players were faster, even the TCU fans were faster to the exit. Back to that Oregon gear I was wearing... It made for some fun conversations on the way for a beer and hot dog and the obligatory stop to the can to hang with a bunch of savage and honestly almost bored Dawgs... The conversation went like this "Hey Oregon guy - you made it to the wrong game!" My response after the half "yah - just came for part two of what y'allz did to the Ducks!" Back to the speed of everything going on in the stadium. I didn't know Saban could move so quickly in that fancy on camera suit of his. When he was being escorted out of the ESPN booth it was almost a sprint as he was being taunted by Georgia fan about definitively giving up the crown to the powerhouse status in the SEC. Congrats to the Bulldogs for their win. As for the Duck fan in me?? I claimed to my friends that I brought a November Oregon rain - It was cold and wet but no umbrella would be used the whole night (try their bus/rail line for fun on a rainy night through Norwalk). Nothing like last night will likely ever happen again if we extend our playoff to more teams. And it shouldn't... Ohio is a clear #2 in my book after taking that game to a face in hand missed opportunity to win. I'm sure there were more Duck fan but in my THOUSANDS of steps throughout the stadium I only saw one other dude sporting the colors - it was fun to see 2 of 70 some thousand... For this game I say GoDawgs... Remember that bus ride I mentioned? Father son duo was teaching the overcrowded full of Dawgs their cheer. Georgia fans on this bus showed up and learned it with them and it seemed like they genually cared about these two lone TCU fan and the one Duck onloooker. Super awesome experience to see this whole night happen. - Brian Perkins - Salem Oregon
I guess having not even turned the game on I have to wonder about a couple of things:
1. Would Oregon or any Pac-12 team, including USC even have had a chance?
2. Sonny Dykes couldn't win at Cal but managed to get this far at TCU pretty much says it all as far as Cal's ability to win, and in a way could Harbaugh have ever gotten that far at Stanfurd?
3. What does this say about Oregon?
4. Will the Pac-12 even be competitive in this environment against semi-pro football?
5. Will the 'hail mary" they threw us to be in the mix when it goes to 12 teams even matter or will it just be sending off the Pac-12 team as the #12 seed to play Georgia down south.. Think basketball seeding and you have a pretty good idea of how this will work.
6. Will the Rose Bowl be a big nothing taking the Rose Parade along with it? pr will it try for some Jan/1 game besides being a big nothing except a venue...and in fact wouldn't anyone coming to LA rather play at SoFi than that trash heap in Pasadena?
7. After watching FresNose State and San Diego State in bowls...I'll take FressBurg.
I think getting to the playoff requires immense investment. There are about 8 programs that can afford that kind of buy in. So right now it feels like there are 8-10 teams that could conceivably get there.
no, no, on a tier below SEC with TCU and about 100 others, no, no, yes, no :)
All terrific points and questions. The Utah/PSU Rose Bowl game produced the all time lowest viewership.
I turned it off at half and started watching 1923. Watched all three episodes available. I don’t think Georgia could beat the Duttons in a range war.
Going into next year, the question is can Georgia can sustain. As much as it pains me to say this, I admire the juggernaut they’ve put together.
Irregardless of cupcakes, media bias, “overated”, poll inconsistencies, NIL, conference scheduling, etc., gotta give the Bulldogs massive respect.
They came
They saw
They kicked *ss
hmm…Huskies ended up #10 😎 Can’t wait for the season to commence.
GO DAWGS
A lot of fun to see a team that is that good.
A little turned off by Kirby Smart's crazy exuberance after that beat down....might have shown a little more decorum and respect for TCU. Their players were eating wings on the side lines in the fourth quarter and what's with one of their players smoking a victory cigar. Until the rest of the conferences are able to spend the money the SEC does and has been for many years this will continue.
The B1G has the same amount of money as the SEC.
SEC W champ LSU put the same kind of beat down on B1G W champ Purdue as UGA put on TCU.
So with the SEC schedule of 3- cupcakes a year to start out and then including the 7th game usually played against the Sisters of the Poor, they only play about 6-7 games of any consequence.
Alabama rarely leaves the state. It is still tough for me to accept how good the conference is. I know that all the pundits love the SEC and with some strong reasoning but until the mega conferences get their "stuff" together and run on the same type schedule, this will never change.
The 12 team play off will be very interesting.
The teams are built to win. But the schedule is built to assist. Eight conference games gives them all an extra home, non-conference game. They fill with a payday game and make money on the deal. Georgia will start 3-0 without breaking a sweat. The hard work comes later.
PAC programs and fans are NOT similar in any way to SEC fans'
-Fans do NOT sell out stadiums at $74-+ a ticket for Portland State . Asking semi intelligent fans to sit through another louosy game drives season tickets DOWN.
-some are on quarters with students not even starting classes until the 4th week of the season
The soft schedule also allows the teams to protect their player health and give 2nd and 3rd team players more experience. The tough games are where you get more top players hurt due to hard hitting and physical size, strength and speed
A number of SEC teams are traveling to play better OOC opponents including Bama that played Texas in Austin last season and plays Texas at home this season.
Florida opens its 2023 season at Utah. Mississippi State played the first of a H+H series with Arizona last season. CAL recently played a H+H with Ole Miss and has a H+H scheduled with Auburn in the near future. 2 seasons back UCLA defeated LSU in LA.
I expect that when OK/TX come on board the SEC will drop divisions and play 9 conference games.
8 games gets the weak sisters to a bowl but there will be far bigger fish to fry when the PO goes to 12 teams and I think it likely the PO will go to 16 teams in 2026. And when you can play body bag games and sell out 100K seating capacity stadiums why not do so?
As Smart noted after wiping out the Ducks: "Dan will be fine. He won't say it but he knows we have better players."
The recruiting rankings and the number of players picked in the draft speak for the quality of the SEC Conference.
Exactly.... recruiting sites make their money by their accuracy. 247 has 6 of the 10 top recruiting classes in the SEC for 2023 including Georgia, Alabama and Texas, 1, 2 & 3. Alabama got (7) 5-stars and (20) 4-stars. Georgia got "only" (2) 5-stars and (20) 4-stars. Compare this to Oregon, the top Pac-12 recruiting class at #12 with 2-16-10 and Oregon State at #50 with 0-2-16. Are the SEC schools that much better to attend? Or is the money that much better to play? Do we want competitive football, or do we want a clown show? For the Oregon fans....Phil Knight will never be able to outspend the SEC programs or he already would be doing it. This donor money war is just a race to the bottom.
SEC teams are located in far richer recruiting environments and can now, with the BCS and PO, cherry pick players from across the country. Also, having so many players go in the draft every season draws players from across the nation to the SEC.
CFB is a 'religion' down south and every SEC school administration with the possible exception of Vandy, supports and funds CFB to an extent not seen elsewhere; certainly not in the Pac-12.
Oregon is in a tough recruiting location and many of its conference 'partners' administrators could care less about sports including CFB and CBB.
BTW, if the Pac-12 had made the right call and expanded to the Pac-20 it would be the preeminent CBB conference.
Here is the Georgia recruiting class for 2023. Most players are from Florida, not Georgia. Some are from the Carolinas. There are players from MA, PA and NV. Georgia recruits the country, not just their home turf. There just aren't that many 5 and 4 stars in Georgia. They do this because they have the most money. Georgia was not always this dominant. They have become dominant with more resources and zero regulation. https://247sports.com/college/georgia/Season/2023-Football/Commits/
That entire region is dripping with talent. Look at 247's Player Rankings per state. CA, TX, and FL used to be the big 3 recruiting states, all with approximately same # of blue chips (4/5*). 2023: FL- 78, TX- 70, GA- 45, CA- 30. AL and LA may even catch CA at some point. That's not much talent to divvy up in the west. Particularly when the SEC schools, tOSU, OU, UM, and ND poach half the west's blue chips. And the southeast is a much smaller region than the west. You can drive from New Orleans to Atlanta in 7 hours. So committing to college in another southern state is not a big deal geographically.
The other big factor is coaching and staff quality to develop whatever talent is on roster. SEC and Big 10 schools have so much more media and booster money they will always have the advantage in attracting upper tier coaches.
I don't see how a west school, even USC, is ever going to catch the SEC or top 3 Big 10 programs at this point. The demographic shift in the US, high school football participation rate differences, and media and booster money disparity is making CFB a regional sport. And I can't imagine those schools being willing to cap their advantages to let others catch up for parity. Folks in other regions will tune out more and more in my opinion.
Jon, I think you nailed it when you said "every SEC school administration... supports and funds CFB" and "many of its conference 'partners' administrators could care less about sports including CFB and CBB". Exactly. West Coast schools have a "holier than thou" attitude towards college sports coming from the state regents and governors offices. The admins feel they are just too good for athletics. When I was in Minnesota, they had the same problem with a couple U of MN Presidents in the 80s and 90s who deliberately crippled their sports programs (and then got fired; Gophers have been trying to build back ever since). It think the PAC-12 was worse in the 70s and 80s but it is no where as pro-sports as SEC schools. I really think location is much less important. Dennis Erickson was able to get Florida kids to Oregon State based on the pipeline he developed when at U of Miami. You need to have good recruiters close to the kids (Florida, Texas, Ohio). That is a budget issue. John posted the budget for Georgia recruiting is $3.7M. What is it for average Pac-12 schools. Should that budget be regulated by the FBS so it is equal footing? Should coach salary pools be regulated as well as NIL budgets and Media money to create a more competitive sport? That is my question.
CFB is an unregulated mess. There will not be enforceable regulation created until such time as a CFB Players Union is formed and reaches agreement with 'management.'
The rub? Who or what will constitute 'management?' It will not be the NCAA.
IMO, 'management' will be made up by far less than the number of P5/G5 schools playing ball in 2023.
I do not see the UGA's of the CFB world cutting their athletic budgets so CAL, for example, can equally compete.
I am sure it will take a lot of work by people much more important to administering college sports than you and me. But even George Steinbrenner saw that for the health of his league, MLB, he had to take less in the short run so his sport was competitive and healthy in the long run. If you are an owner or school President who happens to be blessed with natural advantages, like the largest media market in the country, you need to share those riches in order to have competition. If the Yankees win 90% of their games and the World Series every year, by outbidding all other teams for every top player, there will not be a league before long. Same in college football or basketball. The allure of college sports is the chance for many different teams to win. Basketball, with smaller teams and budgets, has many more surprises than football. Isn't that what makes college sports exciting and includes the largest audience possible?
It's not the schedule, it's the teams. It's proven time and time again, so what if they only play 8 conference games. The 12 team format will give everyone a chance to beat them...and they won't.
This is why the PAC or others REDUCING the number of conference games is as stupid as cn be. even watching games on TV is a loser when it is Portland State. And for ticket buyers those lousy games should be free. Doing what the SEC does os NOT a reason for others to follow.
John did it bother you that Georgia ran up the score? I thought it was classless. The game was over before halftime. I didn’t see anyone comment on it.
Georgia played a lot of backups throughout 4th. Oregon has done same and hit 60+ points many times. What Urban Meyer did against Oregon in the 2015 Natty--that was running up the score. Instead of taking knee inside the 5 with time running out, they punched it in for a meaningless touchdown. What a putz. GA took a knee to run out the clock.
Oregon lost to TCU with a same point difference at the half a few years back. TCU was down by 31 against the Ducks and took us to 3OT and they won. Georgia could have run this into the 90's if they tried... Maybe even 100+ if they really tried.
I agree with Mr. Anderson the game was well in hand and Georgia kept throwing the ball late into the 3rd quarter into the 4th.
If you think a 20 team group of three time zones is even an actual conference you dont get west coast sports. West coast fans care about Kansas, Texas Tech, etc as much as the midwest cares about the west coast. Throwing unrelated teams together that never play each other and have no geographic relationship doesn't help sell anything.
At least it shut BYU up about Big XII superiority.
Everybody outside of Athens is jealous. This kind of success is exactly what CFB fans crave. Oregon fans wants to know what it feels like, Miami fans desperately want it back and Alabama fans are feeling it slip away.
Still one thing that is fun. It is pretty impressive that they are doing this throughout all of the new changes to our beloved sport.
It's impressive for sure. But the UGA HC job may be the best and easiest in country. That state is dripping with talent and they are the only P5 school in the state, sorry Ga Tech. And they compete in the worse SEC division.
Georgia is certainly number one But the TCU game had more to do with TCU than Georgia being untouchable. Georgia beat Mizzu 26-22, Kentucky 16-6, Kent State 39-22, Ohio State 42-41. GA is still the best but they did NOT score 49 (Ore game) or 60+ (TCU) every game, or even half their games.
And I have ALWAYS felt the only reason for expanding the "playoffs" is simply additional TV money.
It will be interesting to see what viewership the early rounds of an expanded playoff field will generate vs. the current top NY day bowl games. The playoff has already neutered The Rose Bowl and other majors. It will further render other bowls less attractive nationally. I feel that will be the same fate for the first, second rounds of the playoffs.
High quality star players already blow off bowl games for safety. Imagine the reaction to a potential THREE game post season, college players facing 16 or 17 game seasons. expansion will grow as long as:
-TV remains satisfied with profitable revenue generated from playoff rights AND
-As long as universities / programs continue to demand increased income to perpetuate uncontrolled
ever growing spending.
Fans of non elite 7-9 win type programs already hate the way all this is going. I run a test with my die hard CFB pals: Name the programs that will be members of the Big 12. (rarely get much over half correct)
The B12 - OK/TX +BYU, Cincy, Houston and UCF.
The Pac-20 that was voted down 9-3 - The Pac 12 +Kansas, K ST, OK ST, IA ST, TX Tech, Baylor, TCU and Houston. FWIW, Kansas and IA ST are AAU members and Houston is a tier 1 research institution.
The add-on teams would have come in for a lesser share of revenue, improved inventory in CFB and CBB, probably would have allowed for the functionally insolvent Pac-12 Network to become solvent.
Different revenue sharing may have allowed the Pac-20 to retain the LA schools? Could keep OR + UW looking for a new home?
I worked on a lot of M+A deals in my career. It is the rare M+A deal that is immediately 'accretive.' The acquior expects to pay some kind of premium over 'book value' with the ROI to improve down the road after operating costs are paired and new markets bring in greater value.
Much of this media math is voodoo math as far as I am concerned; far too short sighted instead of looking down the road.
Formation of the Pac-20 would have resulted in 4 instead of 5 Power conferences.
Now? IMO the Pac-10 should add SDS, Fresno, UNLV, SMU, UTSA and Tulane.
But when has the conference ever shown foresight when it comes to the business of sports?
Yeah, it was arrogant and short-sighted. I think the most important thing for Pac to do is get a solid foothold in Texas. This is the one state with plentiful recruits west of the Mississippi. Plus major media markets. The Pac 20 would have solved both these, and like you say may have been just enough to keep the LA schools around, particularly if next rights agreement offers unequal payouts tied to post-season performance.
Again, I will make the comparison with NASCAR or the Indy 500 series cars and college football. Racecars in the major circuits are strictly controlled in their design and horsepower so that what is on the track is actual competition between drivers / crews and not the wallets of team owners. The NCAA and FBS are allowing this inequality on the field and they need to answer for it. What is the admins' purpose and reason for existence if it is not to balance competition by controlling the money machine, which is ALWAYS unequal if left to its own direction. Where are the Refs? Or maybe the NCAA / FBS leadership are also getting kickbacks from generous donors to leave college football as is
"It was so lopsided I’ll bet you flipped the game off and organized your sock drawer." Close...I folded a bunch of clothes that I had in a laundry hamper.