Canzano: Night games, negotiating games... expansion games
Oregon's Big Ten kickoff, WSU-Boise State clash... Gonzaga and Pac-12...
My friend Jeff is 76, retired, and in relatively good health. He wakes before 5 a.m. each morning. He’d love to sleep in but can’t help it as he ages. He tries to keep his eyes closed, but eventually, Jeff gets up, reads the news, and sends emails to friends.
Jeff informed me on Wednesday that he’s started a new training regime.
He said: “I want to be awake and alert for 8 p.m. on Saturday.”
Jeff roots for the Oregon Ducks. They kick off the Big Ten opener against UCLA on Saturday night. The game is on FOX. He would prefer not to fall asleep in his chair early in the second quarter.
I don’t like late kickoffs. You don’t like them either. We all have our reasons. Mine include being on the freeway at 1:30 a.m. after filing a column and leaving an empty stadium. But we sort of understand that when FOX took four teams in the Pacific Time Zone, they weren’t going to have them kick off at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday every week. They had to think they’d show up on Fridays, too.
Oregon, Washington, and UCLA play two Friday night games each this season. Meanwhile, Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State avoid playing on Friday nights.
Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel caused a stir among other conference ADs a couple of weeks ago when he said on a school-sponsored podcast: “We are not having a Friday night game. I’ll just leave it at that.”
Manuel also has been adamant that Michigan never play more than two Saturday night home games in a season. The conference and its TV networks honored that request.
“Our fanbase travels far and wide,” the AD said in the podcast.
Meanwhile, Jeff is training for Saturday. He has a memorial service to attend that morning. A friend died. It feels like that happens more and more in his world. When he told me about the service, I thought of my grandfather, who lived to be 94.
My grandad used to show us photographs of himself and his friends when we visited his house. He’d hold up the photo, assess who was in it, and eventually announce: “They’re all dead now.”
Jeff is very much alive and would like to stay awake to see how Dan Lanning’s football team does against long-time Big Ten foe UCLA. As part of the training, Jeff watched one of the Monday Night Football games, noting that the Jaguars-Bills kicked off at 8:15 p.m. ET in front of a packed stadium.
“What in the world did those people in Buffalo do?” he said.
Jeff’s training plan is to stay up just a little later each night this week, conditioning his body clock. His normal bedtime is 9 p.m. He’ll push that limit much later on Saturday. He plans to take an afternoon nap but is doubtful he’ll be awake in the fourth quarter.
It’s like Jeff told me: “I’ll probably fall asleep listening to Jerry Allen do play-by-play on the radio and just be surprised when I wake up.”
Some other thoughts:
• Did you hear what UNLV’s quarterback is doing? Matthew Sluka says he’s redshirting after NIL “commitments” promised to him went unfulfilled, he said. The Rebels are undefeated, and the school is in the middle of the Pac-12’s expansion push. Sluka has some leverage and is using it.
• Is Sluka negotiating or willing to sit out? We’ll find out. NCAA rules allow a player to retain eligibility if they play four or fewer games in a season. Players are not allowed to play for two schools in the same season. (Can you imagine?) I think we’re going to see more and more of this, though.
• The maneuver reminds me of when Miami quarterback Cam Ward announced he was “planning to declare” for the NFL Draft last offseason. It was a very careful and intentional choice of words. Ward quickly landed a better offer from Miami’s NIL entity and never officially entered the draft.
• Also, remember at the start of the regular season when Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy told his players to stop asking for money? Said Gundy: “I told the players there’s no negotiating now. Portal’s over. All negotiation’s history. Now we’re playing football. Just coaching and playing football.” I’ll bet Gundy saw this trend coming.
• UNLV remains a Pac-12 expansion target. It has an offer from the conference. It also could decide to return to the Mountain West or go to the American Athletic Conference. I was told by a MW source on Tuesday night that the Rebels are “being smart and weighing their options.” Among the work being done is an analysis of the potential new-world Pac-12’s media value using third-party consultants.
• I posted a column about the bad feelings and fighting between the Mountain West and Pac-12. If you haven’t read it, give it a look. The MW discussed a strategy that involved trying to divide the Pac-12 and offer Washington State a spot. I doubt the Cougars would have listened, but it’s a reminder that all is fair in love… and realignment.
• The Pac-12 officially added Utah State as a member. The tweets and news releases went out on Tuesday evening. The Aggies have three 10-win football seasons in the last 12 seasons and rank No. 5 among Mountain West football viewership during the CFP era. The top four in those rankings had already joined the Pac-12.
• The proximity of Logan, Utah, to the other ‘new-world’ Pac-12 campuses likely helped make the case, too. The distance from Utah State to…
Boise — 291 miles away
Fort Collins — 448 miles
Pullman — 614 miles
Corvallis — 733 miles
San Diego — 830 miles
Fresno — 850 miles
… and in case you’re wondering, Spokane is less than 675 miles away from Utah State’s campus.
• Gonzaga remains in discussions with the Pac-12 about potentially joining the conference. Nothing is done. Nothing official yet. A trusted source in Spokane told me: “We are talking, but it’s going to take some time.”
• USC-Michigan won the Week 4 TV ratings in college football. That game drew 6.32 million viewers on CBS, edging Tennessee-Oklahoma, which had 6.27 million on ABC. Great matchups + big brands + major TV networks = big win.
• FOX landed three football games in the top five of the ratings. Those included Illinois-Nebraska (4.21 million), Marshall-Ohio State (3.96 million), and Baylor-Colorado (3.64 million). That also qualifies as a big win.
• I’ve been tracking the ratings of early-season college football games on The CW and comparing them to numbers on the Big Ten Network and FS1. These are smaller-scale TV battles but worth noting.
• In Week 4, Washington State-San Jose State drew 542,000 viewers on The CW on Friday night in a double-overtime game. Oregon State-Purdue garnered an audience of 452,000 on The CW on Saturday night. I have to think The CW viewed it as a solid weekend.
• Meanwhile, Penn State-Kent State drew 434,000 viewers as the top-rated game on Big Ten Network. Northwestern-Washington captured 378,000 on FS1, and Boise State-Portland State got 248,000 (FS1).
• I was surprised the UW numbers weren’t a little better, but you have to factor in the Big Ten Network blackouts on Comcast and the 24-5 final score. Huskies fans are probably delighted that they’ll get to see their team play Friday at 5 p.m. PT on FOX against Rutgers. Tim Brando will handle the play-by-play along with analyst Devin Gardner and sideline reporter Josh Sims.
• The CW carried 13 ACC football games last season. The audience for those games averaged 487,000 viewers, spiking with the Florida State-North Alabama game (1.3 million). If you remove the Florida State game, the other 12 games on The CW averaged 417,000. That provides valuable context.
• Portland State played both Boise State and Washington State this season. The Vikings lost 70-30 at WSU and lost 56-14 at Boise State. I talked with PSU coach Bruce Barnum on Tuesday and asked what he made of this week’s matchup between those two teams. Barnum said: “It’s going to be a close one.”
• Barnum also said he thought Boise State was bigger and more disciplined than Washington State on the offensive and defensive lines. Said Barnum: “Wazzu is going to have to cause some chaos up front.”
• Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty is a terrific running back and emerging Heisman candidate. He gained 126 yards on 11 carries against Portland State. He ran for 192 yards on 25 carries against Oregon. Said Barnum: “He doesn’t need a window or his lane. You just have to give him a little bit of light, and he’s through it.”
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I like the night kickoffs and ending my Saturday watching a good game. In fact, over the years I’ve liked it more and more. My Saturday afternoon is full of life activities .. kids, responsibilities, etc. kicking back and watching a game with teams I care about after all of that is my ideal ending to a Saturday in the Fall.
Maybe it’s just me
I wonder how the 4 former Pac-12 schools will like being viewed as the Big 10's Friday night or late night squads. Breaking up the Pac 12 continues to be one of the dumbest things to ever happen to college football.