While college football provides year-round entertainment and grist for gossip among many fans, the month of June really kicks off the countdown to the coming season.That's because the always popular preseason publications are available at your favorite magazine stand.If you are one of those fans that grew up enjoying the pocket sized Peek's Guide or waiting for the slick and shiny new Street and Smith's every summer, you know the great fun yearbooks provide.A relative newcomer to the field arrives this week from the The Kickoff, a venerable weekly publication covering college football from the Chattanooga area since 1951. Owner/publisher Bill Hope and editor Jim Gumm just wrapped up their second preseason annual. It's an attractive and informative yearbook (for which I was proud to contribute the SEC preview section) and I encourage you to find a copy at your local news stand or order online by clicking on the link above or picture below.As your budget allows, please support college football publishers by purhasing the preseason annuals.
A Wild, Wild Whisper
by Bob Epling
The Campus Game
June 12, 2010
There's a wild, wild whisper blowing in the wind ...
(Lady Antebellum - American Honey)
This is the second of a series of columns on the current state of big-time college football. Part Two examines potential conference expansion and realignment, and the factors driving these significant changes. Part One provided an introduction to and explanation of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS).
Those wild, wild whispers about conference expansion and realignment in college athletics have now become a roaring reality.
The Big Ten, accelerating an expansion schedule first publicized by conference commissioner Jim Delany in December, will soon formally accept Nebraska's application to join.
The Pac-10 yesterday announced the admission of Colorado into the league.
The reeling Big 12 Conference, jilted league to both the Cornhuskers and the Buffaloes, will in all likelihood soon lose four or five other members to the plunderers from the Pacific Coast.
The institutions left behind and those conferences not yet directly involved in the tumult warily wait and watch, some seeking to strengthen their current circumstances, others simply hoping for a safe, soft landing spot.
The topic of conference expansion has dominated newspapers and online publications for the past couple of weeks. This article seeks to summarize the current status of conference realignment, and identify the main reasons for these changes. A future column will take up the mostly unexplored question of what impact these seismic realignments will have on college football bowls.
Here is a recap of the current realignment status.
The Big Ten may or may not stop with the addition of Nebraska (it seems likely the conference will add two to four more members). Among the schools considered to be primary Delany targets are Notre Dame, Maryland, Rutgers, Syracuse, and possibly Pitt and Missouri.
Out West, Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott seems intent on expanding to sixteen teams by adding nearly the entire Big 12 South to the league rolls. Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, and Texas Tech reportedly favor accepting invitations, while Texas A&M seems to be wavering slightly between joining them or trekking east to the Southeastern Conference. I expect the Aggies to stick with their conference colleagues and flee west.
The Big 12 might not be dead, but life support may be in order and the electricity plug could be pulled next week should the exodus to the Pac-10 occur. Remaining members Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, and Missouri could be scrambling to find a new home or might be part of an effort to keep the league together by luring new schools. Should the latter happen, expect schools such as TCU, SMU, Louisville, Memphis, and others to be mentioned.
Notre Dame, probably the Big Ten's top target, is clinging to its long-held football independence but the Irish have to be sweating on behalf of all the other sports on campus. Those teams need the structure of a league to thrive ... should the Big Ten pillage the Big East, ND could be forced into accepting an invitation to protect all the sports other than football. Ironic and unenviable.
The SEC, typically a proactive bunch, had been on the sidelines until reports this week that Texas A&M might be open to an invitation (Texas obviously would be accepted with open arms but the Longhorns are apparently averse to the idea). Should the Aggies shun their Big 12 South brethren and move to the SEC, the conference would likely look to the ACC to even out its membership (Virginia Tech?). If the Aggies do the expected and go west, I believe the SEC will wait before making major moves ... unless these new super-conferences are granted two automatic BCS bowl bids (a topic to be addressed in the next article in this series).
What is driving this expansion and realignment?
1) Finances: Unsurprisingly, money plays the predominant role. Only two sports generate money in most college athletic programs - football and men's basketball, with football far and away the primary breadwinner. College presidents and athletic directors are constantly seeking new revenue streams; if a super-sized conference increases the budget significantly expect them to join. Similarly, institutions must weigh the financial boon versus potential new costs. Texas A&M is not awash in money like the University of Texas, so a trip for the women's volleyball team to Pullman, Washington, probably seems mighty costly to the Aggies.
2) Academics: I had a coversation today with Bob Epling (no relation but a great guy with a heckuva name). Mr. Epling is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame, and former President of the Orange Bowl Committee. He addressed many of the factors I am listing here, and emphasized that too often fans overlook the academic influence in this process (especially considering that college presidents are the main decision makers - not athletic directors). For example, the Big Ten already had twelve member schools even before admitting Nebraska ... the University of Chicago is also a Big Ten member, even though the former school of Amos Alonzo Stagg does not compete in athletics. Similary, the Big Ten seeks new members that share commonalities in academic pursuits (all schools in the league are members of the Association of American Universities - AAU). One reason Texas seems intent on going to the Pac-10 instead of the SEC is because the Longhorn administration probably sees broader benefits from being associated with Stanford, Cal, USC, etc.
3) Personality Dynamics: Every one of these conference moves includes its own dynamics. One reason the Big 12 appears to have disintegrated so quickly is because of internal tension between the Texas teams (specifically Texas) and the Big 12 North schools (especially Nebraska). Tom Osborne, Cornhusker AD, is about as steady a guy as you'll find in college sports, but even he has occasionally expressed frustration at the southern slant of the league. Remember the Big 12 is (was?) less than two decades old, and it is a somewhat unwieldy alliance of the old Southwest Conference and the Big Eight. It was never a good fit. Another example - former Alabama coach Gene Stallings is a trustee at his alma mater Texas A&M, and some media reports indicated he is one of the biggest advocates of exploring options with the SEC before jumping into the Pac-10.
4)Television Contracts: This could just as easily be cited as part of #1, but the huge television contracts garnered by the Big Ten (through subscription fees paid to the Big Ten Network), the SEC (through recent 15 year deals with CBS and ESPN), and even the ACC (through recent contracts with ABC and ESPN) have helped move the expansion train. The Pac-10 and the Big 12 would be negotiating new contracts soon and want to leverage their assets as much as possible to gain maximum dollars.
5) Marketing Footprint: Fans think about expansion differently than college presidents, athletic directors, and league commissioners. While the SEC might be even stronger from a competitive standpoint by inviting Florida State, Miami, or Clemson into the fold, what do those teams do to drive revenue? The University of Florida already provides an entry into the lucrative and populous Sunshine State, and the U of South Carolina does the same for the Palmetto State. Other than making the football divisions even stronger, what else would those schools add to the league's footprint? That's why Texas A&M and Virginia Tech make more sense. Each brings a new territory ... more viewers, more recruits, new markets. The Big Ten does not care near so much about geography as about a marketing footprint. Thus, Rutgers and Maryland are popular expansion targets (to bring New York City and Washington DC into the league's footprint).
Finally, what impact will all these moves have on bowls?
As a traditonalist, an historian, and a lover of college football bowl games large and small, that is a question on my mind.
Please visit again for Part Three of this series to read about the anticipated effects of college conference realignment on the grand old bowl games.
The National Football Foundation announced the 2010 class today.
The most prominent name on the list is the late Pat Tillman, former linebacker at Arizona State and defensive back in the NFL, who enlisted in the military in the aftermath of 9/11 and was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan.
Two SEC schools had players earn Hall honors.
Former Arkansas center Ronnie Caveness played for Frank Broyles from 1962-1964 when the Razorbacks were part of the old Southwest Conference.
Jerry Stovall was an All-American halfback at LSU, where he succeeded legendary Heisman winner Billy Cannon. Stovall finished second in Heisman voting in 1962 (to Terry Baker of Oregon State), and later coached the Bengal Tigers.
Two coaches were elected.
Gene Stallings won the 1992 national championship at Alabama, and was a member of Bear Bryant's famed "Junction Boys" as a player at Texas A&M.
Current Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez won back-to-back Rose Bowls as head coach of the Badgers, the only Big Ten coach to accomplish that feat. He and Woody Hayes are the only Big Ten coaches to win three Rose Bowls.
The complete list of inductees is below.
Players
•DENNIS BYRD - DT, North Carolina State (1964-67)
•RONNIE CAVENESS - C, Arkansas (1962-64)
•RAY CHILDRESS - DL, Texas A&M (1981-84)
•RANDY CROSS - OG, UCLA (1973-75)
•SAM CUNNINGHAM - RB, Southern California (1970-72)
•MARK HERRMANN - QB, Purdue (1977-80)
•CLARKSTON HINES - WR, Duke (1986-89)
•DESMOND HOWARD - WR, Michigan (1989-91)
•CHET MOELLER - DB, Navy (1973-75)
•JERRY STOVALL - HB, LSU (1960-62)
•PAT TILLMAN* - LB, Arizona State (1994-97)
•ALFRED WILLIAMS - LB, Colorado (1987-90)
Coaches
•BARRY ALVAREZ - 118-73-4 Wisconsin (1990-2005)
•GENE STALLINGS - 89-70-1 Texas A&M (1965-71) Alabama (1990-96)
BCS 101:An Introduction to Big Time College Football
by Bob Epling
The Campus Game
May 7, 2010
This is the first of a two-part series on big-time college football. This article provides an introduction to and explanation of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). Part Two examines potential conference expansion scenarios ... something college football fans should expect to happen over the summer.
The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) is a set of five post-season college football games.
The primary purpose of the BCS is to match the nation's two top-rated teams against each other in a championship game. A second (self-proclaimed) goal is to provide compelling pairings in the other four BCS bowl games.
The five games that comprise the BCS are:
* BCS Championship Game
(site rotates among four cities below)
* Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona
* Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida
* Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California
* Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana
The selection process for placing ten teams into those five bowls can cause controversy, though the BCS is not always at fault (conference tie-ins to specific bowls and the tie-breaking methods conferences use to determine champions are bigger problems). The champions from six big-time college football leagues, dubbed the "BCS" conferences, automatically qualify for the five bowls.
The BCS Conferences are:
* Atlantic Coast (ACC)
* Big 12
* Big East
* Big Ten
* Pacific 10 (PAC-10)
* Southeastern (SEC)
Several of those conferences have affiliations with the BCS bowls (meaning the conference champion goes to the affiliated bowl unless that champion earns a berth in the BCS championship game). The conference bowl affiliations are:
* ACC - Orange
* Big 12 - Fiesta
* Big East - No Tie-in
* Big Ten - Rose
* PAC-10 - Rose
* SEC - Sugar
After those six teams are determined, the other four slots go to "at large selections" ... either a second team from the BCS conferences or teams from outside those leagues (no conference can send more than two teams to the BCS bowls). The pool of teams to fill the at-large spots include:
* Notre Dame and other Independents
* Non-Champions from the six BCS conferences
* Teams from the five other major college football conferences: Conference-USA (CUSA), Mid-America (MAC), Mountain West, Sun Belt, Western Athletic (WAC)
Teams from outside the BCS conferences can guarantee entry to the BCS bowls by meeting certain criteria. The BCS released a memo last month explaining the new guidelines ... greater access to BCS bowl bids means greater access to the huge financial payouts that accompany such bids.
The top two teams in the final BCS standings each season meet in the BCS Championship Game.
Those BCS rankings are calculated by averaging a team's standings in three categories: the Harris Poll, the USA Today Coaches Poll, and a composite computer ranking based on six computer rating systems.
The Harris Poll is comprised of 114 panelists drawn at random each season from a list of 300 names provided by the 11 major football conferences and independents. The panel includes former coaches, players, administrators, and current and former media members. To view the 2009 panel (and their votes) click here.
The USA Today Coaches Poll is a weekly vote from 59 members of the USA Today Board of Coaches (who are members of the American Football Coaches Association). You can see the list and their final 2010 votes by clicking here.
The six computer polls vary in methodology and a full explanation is outside the scope of this article, but a list of the polls and links to their sites are available by clicking here.
The BCS is a favorite punching bag among many college football fans and media, and occasionally from coaches, administrators, and politicians (although typically only when their favorite teams have been left out of a preferred bowl).
On the flip side, the BCS provides a financial windfall to all eleven of the major college football conferences. It also supports a bowl system that has benefitted college football since the first Rose Bowl in 1901.
As a traditionalist and a college football historian, I strongly prefer the BCS to a playoff.
Coming Soon in Part Two: Conference Expansion ... Welcome to the Big Sixteen?
Like the azaleas at Augusta this week, sport across America is in full bloom.Every college football team remains undefeated as the squads grind through spring practices. Soon spring games conclude, and the annual preseason publications will hit the newstands (more on those in a future post).April and May are such great months in American sport.The Final Four just concluded with record-setting victories for Duke and Connecticut. Coach K of the Blue Devils tied legendary Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp with his 4th NCAA championship (trailing only John Wooden of UCLA). The Duke win over Butler was a classic.Geno Auriemma of the Huskies won his 7th NCAA crown, moving him one behind Tennessee's Pat Summitt. His team has also won 78 straight games, going undefeated in back-to-back seasons.As the Final Four wrapped up, Major League Baseball started.Here in Atlanta, 20-year old rightfield phenom Jason Heyward smacked a homerun on his first major league swing for the Braves in front of a sold-out crowd on a postcard perfect afternoon.About the time Heyward cracked a fastball into the rightfield seats, Tiger Woods made his return to competitive golf a couple hours east at The Masters. The event itself teed off Thursday with a stellar leaderboard featuring Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson, Tom Watson, and Woods.The NFL draft will grab attention next weekend when our favorite college football stars learn their professional destinations.The month of May will soon bring us those iconic American sports events: the Kentucky Derby and the Indianapolis 500. Throw in the NBA and NHL playoffs and sports fans could not ask for more.Enjoy!
According to reports from the Panama City News Herald (and various online sources), Notre Dame football recruit Matt James died Friday night after falling from a hotel balcony in the Florida vacation beach town. James was 17 years old.
Considered the top signee in new Irish coach Brian Kelly's first recruiting class, James was expected to contend for playing time at tackle in the fall. High school teammate and fellow Irish recruit Luke Massa was reportedly with James when the accident occurred.
Courtesy of the SEC Offices, here are the spring football dates for conference members:
Spring Practice Dates (Start / Finish)
Alabama - March 12 / April 17
Arkansas - March 30 / April 24
Auburn - March 24 / April 19 (Spring Game – April 17)
Florida - March 17 / April 10
Georgia - March 4 / April 10
Kentucky - March 31 / April 24
LSU - Feb. 26 / March 27
Ole Miss - March 27 / April 17
Mississippi State - March 23 / April 17
South Carolina - March 16 / April 10
Tennessee - March 18 / April 17
Vanderbilt - March 17 / April 10
