Just another game

You take for granted that television has a special place for traditional neutral site games like Georgia-Florida, Army-Navy and the Red River Shootout Showdown… er, what’s that, you say?

A start time for the Oct. 8 Red River Showdown between OU and Texas in Dallas has not been announced, but the game will be televised by FS1.

Damn, Texas-Oklahoma relegated to cable.  Is nothing sacred anymore?

As a sidenote, here’s the current list of college football TV offerings for the coming season.

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It’s not exactly the death penalty.

Ooh, look what might happen to Ole Miss.

.@ClowESPN says Ole Miss could be on the threshold of receiving a postseason ban from the NCAA pic.twitter.com/8tDmGLsxUB

— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) June 1, 2016

Eh, if that happens, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see ole Hugh suddenly schedule a regular season game with Hawaii to close out a year.  He’s all about doing it for the kids.  Meanwhile, SEC, you know where to keep sending those sweet checks.

Straight outta Mean Girls

This is supposed to be a serious question?

So here’s the question: Is Smart okay going to a camp with a guy (Harbaugh) who just took a shot at his old boss (Nick Saban)?

“I gotta do what I’ve gotta do,” Smart said.

Next thing you know, they’ll be asking who Kirby’s taking to the prom.

Leaving money on the table

If this is true, I have no idea what the Big 12 is doing.

Big 12 administrators will be presented with information this week at the league’s spring meetings that expansion could earn the conference at least an additional $1 billion over the length of its remaining TV rights contract, CBS Sports has learned.

If the league expands by four teams, provisions in its contracts with ESPN and Fox provide money for that benchmark. If the expansion is by two teams, the increase would be $500 million.

There is a catch, but it’s not much of one.

Those rightsholders are contractually bound to provide “pro rata” for any new Big 12 members. That is, any new members would be paid an equal share of the current Big 12 members — approximately $23 million per year.

While on its face that doesn’t necessarily help the 10 current members of the Big 12, opening the existing contract would allow for a negotiation beyond that $1 billion figure.

I guess you can see why every mid-major program in the country is falling all over itself to get the Big 12 to notice it.

Example #14765 of how the NLI is the best deal in sports

To some extent, this…

Starr's PR people, Spaeth Communications, is the same firm that Craig James used.

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) June 1, 2016

… explains this.

A chaotic week that saw Baylor not only lose coach Art Briles, but also its AD and president in the wake of a sexual assault scandal, has decimated the Bears’ 2017 recruiting class, and seven freshmen from Baylor’s 2016 class have asked, or plan to ask, for releases from their scholarships, according to an ESPN report.

On Wednesday night FOX Sports spoke to Collis Cobb, the father of one of those seven players, Parrish Cobb, a highly regarded cornerback. The elder Cobb told FOX that they filed to get his son’s release from his LOI on Saturday, two days after Briles was let go, and someone in Baylor’s compliance office told him they weren’t willing to do it. Baylor has a 30-day deadline to respond to each recruit’s request for a release and without that release, the recruit is not allowed to have any contact with another school.  [Emphasis added.]

Could you possibly be more tone deaf if you tried?

On Wednesday Collis Cobb said he got a visit from Jim Grobe, Baylor’s new acting head coach, and three other staffers who visited his home in Waco to try to convince them to stick with Baylor. The elder Cobb said it was a “good visit, but we let them know my son wants to pursue other options. His mind is made up.”

The Cobbs’ biggest concern is the uncertainty around Baylor. “Right now, we don’t know the status of Baylor’s football program,” Collis Cobb said. “We don’t know if (the current coaching staff) is going be there through 2017 or 2018. No one can give us that information.”

Gee, I wonder why.

“All I can say is, it’s in Baylor’s hands now,” Collis Cobb said. “I’m hoping they want to do right by these kids.”

That’s been Baylor’s mantra all along, so I’m sure this will work out well.

Meanwhile, upon hearing the news, Roquan Smith nods his head sagely and mutters, “could have told you so…”