A little of this, a little of that…
- One thing you can say about Brandon Boykin, he doesn’t set his sights low.
- After reading this flight of fantasy, I only have one question: has anybody ever seen OrangeBloods.com’s Chip Brown and Jerry Jones together? Just sayin’.
- And Jones says oh, no, he di’int.
- The Mountain West decides to stand pat at nine. Bad move, fellas, at least in terms of chasing that BCS AQ slot. You’ve swapped Utah for Boise State, which is okay from a competitive standpoint, but a disaster from a media market one. And the bottom of your conference is a serious drag.
- In the wake of Utah’s move into the arms of the Pac-10, Matt Hayes goes looking for Orrin Hatch’s take… and hears crickets. [UPDATE: Orrin speaks!]
- Patrick Garbin takes a look at the early spreads on some of Georgia’s games this year.
- According to Ivan Maisel, the rush to conference expansion really was about whose is bigger: … as a senior official in another FBS conference said Tuesday, “If the Pac-10 had gone to 16, personalities and egos would force other conferences to do that.”
- Oregon State’s take on Pac-10 expansion is an interesting one.
- I have a rule that I don’t mention players running afoul of the law once they leave college, but if the guys at Barrel of Rum want me to make an exception in Derrick Morgan’s case, well, who am I to argue?
- Texas A & M’s president: “We had no written offer from the SEC. What I knew was that if I wanted one, it was a phone call away.”
Get The Picture 
“it was a phone call away.”
Mike . . . Mike . . . please pick up Mike . . . MIKE
LikeLike
The MWC’s problem, at least as far as chasing AQ status, is that there aren’t many good teams left to poach. If they’d lured Boise, Fresno State, and Nevada from the WAC, while holding on to Utah, they could’ve drawn up divisions, started a conference title game, and the BCS would’ve been a slam-dunk. Losing Utah, though, means that the best they can do is break even. Other than BSU, there just aren’t any sexy mid-majors out there at the moment.
If Fresno, Nevada, or some upstart like SMU or Houston starts flirting with BCS-buster status over the next few seasons, of course, then the MWC has options. Otherwise, though, I think they’re going to be kicking themselves for not having been more proactive at the start of this whole process.
LikeLike
The MWC is badly structured right now.
From a competition standpoint, it’s all top and bottom. There’s nothing in the middle. And from a media market standpoint, it’s taking a big hit in losing the SLC market and replacing it with Boise.
Were I running the show, I’d grab SMU and Houston. Both are better programs than the bottom half of the conference, they give TCU some natural rivalries in the conference and they open up another big TV market. Then find a twelfth school (Fresno State or Tulsa?) and add a conference championship game to get a few more bucks in the door.
It’s a better setup than what they’ve got.
LikeLike
I can’t be the only one here that takes some sick pleasure in seeing guys like Hatch and the Utah AG lose the only bargaining chip they had in their asinine crusades against the BCS, am I?
LikeLike
It’s not sick. 😉
LikeLike
“has anybody ever seen OrangeBloods.com’s Chip Brown and Jerry Jones together?”
No confirmed sightings yet but the composite photo looks something like this:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/scavenger/detail?blogid=111&entry_id=65578
LikeLike
Or this composite taken just before the bursting of the bubble causing a pulled hamstring and a trip to the DL…
LikeLike
There is no doubt that Texas is the hottest girl that many conferences have not slept with yet, which makes her VERY exciting to every one with average testosterone, but that doesn’t necessarily make her the best lay. Those schools in the mid-continent area may be willing to give Texas an unequal split of monies, but it has to be noted, none of the other suitors were willing to do so: not the PAC 10/12, or the Big 10/11/12, and certainly not the SEC.
So while the Texas market is attractive to everyone, so would any populous state be with a rabid fanbase be that is not currently included in a conference’s viewing market. Texas shouldn’t get too full of themselves over this, there are other “deep throats” out there…..they just aren’t all whoring themselves out.
LikeLike