207 Comments

As a UW fan who wants the best for WSU, this is a great strategic move for both them and OSU. Best of luck to OSU this weekend though. :) Also John’s Substack is providing the best coverage of what’s going on inside the new Pac 12 and it’s the main reason why I continue to subscribe.

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Thanks Ed. Appreciate you.

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There’s definitely ugly parts of any CFB fan base and there’s a lot of emotionally driven clickbait out there. But there’s also a lot of UW fans who have close friends and family on the other side of realignment and are frustrated by the entire situation and think WSU and OSU were treated very unfairly.

Personally I was happy that they got the Pac 12 financial war chest once everyone came to an agreement. And it now appears it’s being put to good use, which includes the hiring of the right consultants as Conzano points out.

I think if the real story about the demise of the Pac 12 ever comes out, one of the pivotal decisions was George Kliavkoff hiring his lightweight buddy Doug Perlman and Sports Media Advisors, while Bret Yormark brought in the real big guns with WME and IMG, two of the biggest sports agencies in the world.

The net effect is that one group miscalculated the media rights value of their conference and the actual state of the media markets while the other nailed it. It’s not hard to figure out who did their job correctly.

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The 247 Sports Husky fan site was full of ugly posts by members and staff yesterday. I hope the Huskies get their ass*s hand to them Saturday. Kicking your former partners when they are trying to get up, after your school screwed them, shows what pieces of cra* you are as a fan and person.

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This is a lie

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I read the posts and saw what Fetters posted from Twitter. It is what it is.

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You made it sound like the fanbase. There are without a doubt a h*les in every fanbase. Fetters doesn’t speak for me or anyone I know. Living in Oregon with friends in Seattle and the Willamette Valley, most UW fans I know are sympathetic to the Beavs plight and support them in recovery. If it were O instead of the Beavs, well, different story. Anyway, looking forward to the Civil War

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What a refreshing departure from the two previous leaders of the Pac.

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More authentic... cares deeply... but that's a big job and it gobbled up the last two leaders. Let's see how she does over a larger sample size.

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Ask her how she worked under the last two "Leaders" and maintained her standards,

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Great point, said this Duck. The new conference proceeded with alacrity and paid for advice from experts, unlike the previous regime, which hired a buddy of the commissioner with no real experience in media negotiations to conduct those negotiations. Stanford and Cal would be terrific additions but I worry they have their academic heads too far in the clouds to join a conference with two Cal State University schools.

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I am so impressed with this lady! What a breath of fresh air!

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Indeed! And I watched the press conference of SDSU and Boise St. I notice a reoccurring theme that all the schools are committed to putting the student-athlete first. The SDSU President contrasted how decisions in PAC-12 planning and maneuvering for the future are NOT being made out of fear and by snap decisions. I suspect this may be a “branding” thing attempting differentiate this conference from B1G, SEC, and the likes of USC, UW, AND Oregon who all jumped for the money without real and sincere consideration for athletes. Will it work? Will it be a positive thing for recruiting?We shall see.

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How are the athletes hurt? They have free agency. Many got a second life for their college careers. The schools traded $20M and the responsibility to sell for the network, for a $31M half share and the chance to play in one of the top two conferences in all of football. And a future.

I’m happy for WSU and OSU, but let’s not pretend that this move puts them on equal footing. They are a tweener conference, and u less they pull in the likes of Florida St, Clemson, PLUS Cal & Stanford (which they obviously won’t), they will always need second tier.

It’s a dog eat dog world. WSU/OSU crimes are akin to the four “defectors,” as it’s every man for himself. Crap rolls downhill. Face it

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Actually, I think this is the exact point being made. Athletes in non-money sports (football and to a lesser degree men's basketball although men's basketball in some schools is coming on strong) absolutely got screwed. You can't tell me the women's rowing team from Washington is better going to Rutgers to compete than to Corvallis (I admit I don't know if UW or Rutgers has rowing - but it is symbolic, substitute volleyball of you wish). I think the point of the comment is whether some non-money sports athletes will decide that traveling less would be better for them personally and professionally. The big ten and SEC are all about football. They always have been. Basketball and baseball are the second tier. Everything else is an also ran sport. Everyone is focused on the football. But, not the rest of the athletes. I think THAT was the messaging. The new and improved PAC-12 (6?) cares about athletes as much as money.

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When you look at the so-called minor sports, most don't have much of an in-conference schedule. Especially in the former Pac12. Wrestling, golf, track and field, tennis, etc. either play in tournaments or have sport affiliations with non-Pac12 teams. The whole travel thing really only applies to few sports. Doesn't mean that it has no impact on sports like volleyball, but there are really fewer sports affected than apparently many people believe.

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Something else that Cal and Stanford get out of their move to ACC is zero shot at the CFB in perpetuity.

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One pundit had a good analogy. He said Cal/Stanford look at the Pac12 like a divorced spouse. Wish the spouse well, but no chance there is a reconciliation particularly if the spouse got a lot of assets in the divorce. She/he may have to live in a duplex for awhile until they find a sugar daddy or sugar momma (i.e. find their way into the Big12).

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Except the B12 doesn’t need both Cal and Stanford. It’s duplicity in market for them. They would consider Stanford I think. But honestly, with the expectation of reduced media rights for at least a decade plus travel, the smarter move for the smart people of Cal and Stanford would indeed be a return to a west coast centric league such as the PAC12. Only ego will prevent it.

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Pardon typos (eye roll)

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As a Stanford grad I hope they and Cal have horrible buyers remorse as they travel through 4 time zones all year.

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Stanford's Olympic sports are going to hate that part. Football will be fine. But you're right.

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That's what made the ACC decision so puzzling to me. Stanford and its alums take a lot of pride in our Olympic athletes. Stanford has more of them than any other college. Football is still #1 at Stanford but less so than many schools. I hope the athlete alums and some boosters are making their voices heard with the AD. Stanford may have more trouble recruiting the Olympic sports too. Maybe that's what will make the athletic department wake up to reality.

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One pundit had a good analogy. He said Cal/Stanford look at the Pac12 like a divorced spouse. Wish the former spouse well, but no chance there is a reconciliation particularly if the spouse got a lot of assets in the divorce. She/he may have to live in a duplex for awhile until they find a sugar daddy or sugar momma (i.e. find their way into the Big12).

How many of those Olympic sports actually had Pac12 schedules, or were affiliation type "conferences?" Some sports were conducted tournament style with participation from across the country.

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this Stanford grad grad shares your hope!

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I may be optimistic, but I do believe the Stanford/Cal move is what Theresa & the PAC6 are working for. The kicker is if they can work out a deal with the Big10 to allow the non revenue sports of their 4 PAC schools to compete in the new PAC12 conference. Stanford & Cal would come running back if they got to be in a conference with the original PAC8 and these 4 MWC adds for all their other sports. Calimony goes away as 4 UC and California State schools are in this conference and the nonrevenue sports are respected. We have the Conference of Champions once again.

The Big10 could allow basketball as well but that may be in their TV revenue plans for Fox/Comcast/CBS, but if they also deal for the media rights for the new PAC12 it may not matter to allow basketball to go as well. If basketball was included I also think they could add 1 or two more non football schools from the WCC starting with Gonzaga but any other WCC school (maybe SMC or UP) that wants to upgrade their conference with their athletics.

I hope this is what Theresa & the PAC 6 Powers that be have for their next move and the Big10 Powers that be and their TV partners see the wisdom of reestablishing much of the PAC12 in this new way. Lots of possibilities to recreate the best west coast college sports conference AGAIN! Bill Walton would be smiling up there in heaven.

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Cal and Stanford would have to get over their academic snobbery first. Their lack of willingness to be associated with the Fresno States and San Jose States of the world are no small part of what caused them to make their silly jump to the ACC. I wouldn't count on those two schools admitting to anything that looks like buyer's remorse anytime soon. Old habits -- and engrained perceptions -- die hard.

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Why would Cal ever want Calimony to go away?

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UCLA wants Calimony to go away. Cal and UCLA shouldn't want all their college athletes to have to travel on roundtrip 3000 mile trips at least 3 times a season. It shouldn't be all about money for all sports, even if it is for football.

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As a person who has dined at Stanford's in the past, I hope for the same.

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Sadly, in recent years the Stanford football program has followed the same decline as the restaurant chain.

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You are correct, quality of both have gone South, but the price at the restaurant has risen !!!!

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Yes, the historical parallels are uncanny. Are you sure the hedge fund that owns Landry's Restaurants didn't buy part ownership in the Stanford football team a few years ago? They seem to ruin everything they touch.

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Let's agree to just call the conference

The PAC.

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You do you.

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It feels like the Rebel Alliance taking on the Empire. At least they’ll have a seat in the playoff. Good for them. But like Stewart Mandel of The Athletic mentioned yesterday, it won’t measure up to the Power conferences. Shrewd moves on Gould’s part though. Makes you wonder why her predecessors failed so miserably?

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Will be interesting to see what happens next... if there are super conferences... and most think so... how will the members be selected? Four divisions? If so, are they four conferences? Or ?

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The Pac does not have a seat in the Playoff. If the conference champ is ranked among the top 5 conferences they do. Last year Liberty was No. 23 in the final CFP rankings, but as Conf USA champion they were the 5th best conference and got in. SMU was No. 24 and American Conf was No. 6 so SMU didn't.

Liberty took the slot of the No. 12 CFP ranked team. Oregon State was No. 19 with 3 Pac members in front of them. The ranking was not strong enough for an at-large at No. 19.

Who knows whether they would still have been No. 19 (and the 5th conference champ if there schedule wasn't boosted by association with UW, UO, UA.

I believe Cincinnati, then in The American Conference, was the last "sure thing" for a Playoff slot.

It is unlikely the Pac will have more than a conference champion invited either as a No. 5 conference champ or at-large. But, to improve their odds, that's why the Pac only picked the top 4 Mt. West teams and why they will likely only have 9 members so they can schedule as many Power 4 teams for non-conference games as possible to improve their image.

The Pac will be competing with all the so-called Group of 5 champs for a CFP slot.

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What happens when the B1G and SEC Elite programs get sick of subsidizing their conference mate also rans?

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The only way the Pac-however-many will get a guaranteed spot in the CFP playoff is by having its teams go out and consistently win their share of games against the now-P4 teams, including wins against the top teams in those conferences. That will take at least several years.

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Bruce, I think it's why the next 2 in PAC (to make 8 and qualify for CFP) will be lightweights that the 'big 6' now in the PAC can regularly notch W's against. I think this rebuild is less about holding PAC together for long term and more about allowing some of the PAC to become TV $ valuable enough to jump to B12 (or even B1G).

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Perhaps they failed on purpose...as in an "INSIDE JOB," The narrative still isn't changing, USA Today and NY TImes (part of the Southern Tory-Brit Alliance) continues to bash the PAC...gee that's odd, it's only been going on since 2001.

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This statement stood out to me:

"She worked under the two prior commissioners, Larry Scott and George Kliavkoff. She watched as the conference splintered in the last couple of years."

I want to salute Teresa Gould for having the utmost patience to work under these two incompetent people for such a long time. Clearly, she is a very driven person and to have to suffer with all the BS -- especially under Scott -- shows me that she had visions of taking over the position as commissioner before it became reality.

Thank you, Teresa, for leading the Pac-12 to a more prosperous future!!

GO BEAVS!!!!

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Taking this another step...does this open the door for the Montana and Dakota schools to jump up to the MW? That would be a good story JC!

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Feels like a possible move.

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UC Davis is promoting themselves as a Mt. West addition this morning.

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About 10-15 years ago, Montana did a comprehensive study on their program and concluded that it did NOT make financial sense for them to jump to FBS. Don’t know if that is still the case but it was nice to see an academic institution take a rational approach. Perhaps we get jaded by the small Southern and Texas FCS programs that plunge head first into the FBS waters. But in this crazy world of FBS sports, the FCS world seems to align itself with values truer to the original intent of collegiate athletics.

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It would be a great story.

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Aren't these the same schools the PAC12 deemed insufficient when it considered expansion just a few years ago? Let's be honest about this.

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The Pac-12... with USC, Stanford, etc... was a different Pac-12.

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Yes, they were a P5 conference and determined those schools were insufficient for expansion.

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Enjoy your suffering. No doubt, you've earned it.

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San Diego State has long been targeted by the PAC. But yes, in the past all would have been considered sub standard. But the landscape has shifted dramatically. I mean, if we look at Boise State, Fresno State, SDSU, or Colorado State vs some of the recently added B12 schools…e.g, Cincinnati or BYU as examples…are they any less qualified than that?

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Or Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, Illinois, Northwestern, etc., etc., etc.

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Exactly. The trash football schools in the BIG and SEC don’t get discussed enough. And there are far more of them than the 2 good BIG schools and the 2 good- Georgia and Alabama- SEC

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Great point! Or Rutgers, Maryland in the B10...

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Or the WHOLE big 10 besides OSU UM and PSU. They’re all trash at football but don’t say the quiet part outloud

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Yes, the multiple etc's, and et als, ad nauseum, too numerous to mention. In fact the majority of BCS/CFP whatever they want to call it lately, programs.

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Or SMU!

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Well Said!

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Times do change ones perspective

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Boise State, “insufficient”? Really?!!

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All four schools - except maybe CSU - have had strong football programs along the way. BSU is the best of the MWC and fun to watch (minus the horrendous blue turf)

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Oregon is 1-3 vs Boise State, and the one win was extremely fortunate.

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A win’s a win. Ask OSU.

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Not sure if you are directing response to me, but I said considered substandard, not insufficient. And this isn’t my opinion, I am stating that the PAC12 in its previous incarnation felt that way. But now, the calculus is different. The college football world has been turned upside down since 2023. Also, it seems you were way ahead of the curve on Boise and SDSU joining. Kudos..

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That was one of the problems with having the conference based in the SF bay area. Anything not on the coast is irrelevant. The arrogance was overwhelming. One of the reasons I wa sa bit skeptical about Ms Gould.

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No. In Aig., 2023, SDSU was going to be asked to join the Pac-12 to replace Colorado as soon as the new rights fee was signed. And the others were all vetted by the Pac-12 as possible expansion candidates, but the league blew up, making expansion a moot point.

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…and to the rest of the College Football universe.

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Says the guy with the best team that money can buy almost beat at home by one of them.....

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Maybe the 4th best...Texas, Georgia and Ohio State spend as much or more...but that's the game now. Adapt or be left behind. And hey, I'm just glad we beat Boise...whatever the reason, they've had our number. Go Ducks!

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Us Cougs are never going to get the opportunity to buy a team. Don't blame Oregon and Nike a bit for doing what they can. At the same time while money helps it is not the end all when it comes to winning and there is a lot of talent out there if your willing to work hard and develop it. That's our chance. Maybe not nearly as easy a road, but it deserves respect. Just like you're giving Boise the respect they deserve. My response to Todd H was essentially a reminder of that. He obviously doesn't get it.

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Nothing but respect for the Cougs..and begrudgingly...the Beavs. Washington State looks like they have a pretty good team this year...

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Thanks! This week and the game in Boise in a couple weeks will tell a lot. Not sure Texas Tech was the test we thought they'd be. I think Oregon is still meshing all the pieces, but that will happen soon....hope you have a good year even if I'm as jealous as heck.

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On target....Built not bought.

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Washington State always seems to have a good program, in particular when they land a good coach. Between Mike Price, Mike Leach and your current coach (can't think of his name), your program is often one of the better ones.

Just recently, I think they knocked off Oregon 4 years in a row and it took a late field goal by UO to avoid a 5 year streak.

As for Boise, I would never take that team for granted and I doubt UO did.

Everybody loses games- no matter how good they are. Michigan has lost 25% of its games over the last 3 decades, for example.

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All that money helped UO get into the Big 10 and that admission alone is going to generate $800 million over the next decade, at a minimum.

That money will allow UO, with or without donor support, to fund an internal soon to be approved $20 million NIL program that only 40 or so schools will be able to afford.

You do realize Oregon is the 7th winningest program over the last 30 years thanks in no small part to Phil Knights generosity- they aren't going to win every game- even the Michigans and Penn States of the world lose to so called lesser teams from time to time.

Phil Knight's investment has more than paid off in terms of putting UO in a position which would otherwise have been unimaginable without his efforts.

I don't know how UO is necessarily going to do this year- given some obvious issues, but I am pretty confident that more often than not, they are going to be able to compete.

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L-O-V-E this BVB!!!!!

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He's gonna need some aloe for the burn.

BSU is 3-1 overall against Knight School and, as you indicated, damned lucky to have beaten them by a FG margin at home.

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Enjoy not having an automatic bid…. lol

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No conference has an automatic bid. Why don't people understand this? The CFP gives automatic bids to the five highest ranked conference champions. If the Pac-12 champ is among the five highest ranked conference champs, it gets in. Same for the SEC. Same for the Big Ten.

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Thanks John. Todd is a bit daft, and you’ve helped him avoid further ridicule.

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Wanna bet?

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My mistake

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Wasn't aimed at you alone. I spent all day yesterday trying to tell people and realized that there's a lot of confusion, even among media. Appreciate that you post here.

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That is true, but the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big-12 have DeFacto automatic bids because of the way the system is set up.

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Until they kick out the Pacific State Conference

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Thanks for clarifying JC!

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Good on WSU & OSU to chart their survival. I think the medium term endgame is for WSU/OSU/Boise St./San Diego St. to have shot at 12 team CFP, and one or more of these gain exposure and gravitas so they can eventually be invited to the B12. That’s where the real $ money awaits. To allow this, PAC need to add 2 more teams that these 4 can consistently beat. So I’d say North Texas and UNLV are likely targets to reach 8. It’s all about the money now and teams will leave their conferences in the dust chasing it.

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Enjoy another dissapointing, underachieving year, you're well on your way.

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Oh. we have the bid....you don't read very well.

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Just not an auto bid

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And wrong again....top five conferences. Just need to be in the top five. That will happen.

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Todd, me thinks if the re-constructed PAC at 8 teams has enough 'weak teams' then the OSU/WSU/Boise State's of the PAC have better opportunity to make the playoffs where the bigger $ awaits

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A backyard home orchard and quietly and efficiently doing her job. I am liking Teresa more every day. Thanks for the inside scoop John.

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Here we are with another chapter of that favorite American tale “Eat ‘em and Smile”

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