College Football - Week 1 (Sept. 4th)

[Jon]

Still too long. I've got the Northwestern Meet the Team night to look forward to a week from Friday, but I really wish the Big Ten would finalize and announce the divisions and 2011 schedules to help hold me over.

 

Thank goodness for the Big Ten Network, at least. Tweets all day tomorrow from practice and then the 1-hour practice program airs a week later.

[dew1679666265]

Tennessee is trying to call off the UT-UNC home and home series. I don't like that at all, I was really looking forward to that series.

 

With an already demanding schedule in 2011, Tennessee had requested that the North Carolina series be pushed back until later this decade, according to Hamilton. But the Tar Heels weren't interested in moving the series, leading to the current talks centered around Tennessee paying a penalty to get out of the series and nixing it all together.

[Banedon]

The Boise State national championship season is about to begin.

[Jon]

A few notes from a Nebraska broadcaster who spoke to Jim Delany:

 

-A 9 game schedule likely won't be implemented until 2015 rather than the 2012-2014 timeframe he mentioned at media day. That has big OOC scheduling implications.

-It's "hard to see" a geographic split at this point.

-The TV contract for the championship game is still up for grabs.

[hawkeyecub]

-It's "hard to see" a geographic split at this point.

 

Boo!

 

I have a feeling they're going to do the geographic thing with the exception of a PSU and Wisconsin swap as has been speculated. Then they'll try to create a rivalry between PSU and Nebraska, having them play on the final Saturday before or after UM/OSU. The geographic split works so well on all levels, don't overthink this.

[E.J.]

Any of you want to play starting CB for Michigan this season? They just lost another starter to a broken and dislocated ankle. That makes one lost to the NFL (junior who didn't even get drafted by the way), one to injury, one came into camp 15 lbs overweight and has decided to transfer, 2 couldn't make it to campus because of grades, and one was kicked off the team for disciplinary reasons. I thought the 2009 Michigan defense was bad. This season is going to be brutal.

[Tracer Bullet]

Rich Rod hasn't had enough time yet. I hope he gets a long extension so he can get all his guys and fully implement his system.

 

[i don't wish injuries on anyone, btw, and I hope Woolfolk fully recovers.]

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Any of you want to play starting CB for Michigan this season? They just lost another starter to a broken and dislocated ankle. That makes one lost to the NFL (junior who didn't even get drafted by the way), one to injury, one came into camp 15 lbs overweight and has decided to transfer, 2 couldn't make it to campus because of grades, and one was kicked off the team for disciplinary reasons. I thought the 2009 Michigan defense was bad. This season is going to be brutal.

It depends on how much they pay. I might be interested.

[Jon]

Yeah, Michigan's secondary is in really rough shape.

 

 

The rumors this morning are that BYU is looking to go independent in football and join the WAC for other sports.

[Jon]

-It's "hard to see" a geographic split at this point.

 

Boo!

 

I have a feeling they're going to do the geographic thing with the exception of a PSU and Wisconsin swap as has been speculated. Then they'll try to create a rivalry between PSU and Nebraska, having them play on the final Saturday before or after UM/OSU. The geographic split works so well on all levels, don't overthink this.

No matter which way I look at it, a geographic split makes the most sense.

 

And not just because Northwestern has a winning record over the last 15 years against every team that would be in the west except Nebraska.

[SouthSideRyan]

Yeah, Michigan's secondary is in really rough shape.

 

 

The rumors this morning are that BYU is looking to go independent in football and join the WAC for other sports.

 

Boise State cannot be happy

[Jon]

Yeah, Michigan's secondary is in really rough shape.

 

 

The rumors this morning are that BYU is looking to go independent in football and join the WAC for other sports.

 

Boise State cannot be happy

Hard to tell just how legit the rumors are right now. The news reports all say that it's based on several sources, but they also reference the Colorado State twitter feed for breaking the news. Bruce Feldman at ESPN just reported that it appears the Colorado State twitter account was hacked and they can't log in.

[Guest]

Yeah, Michigan's secondary is in really rough shape.

 

 

The rumors this morning are that BYU is looking to go independent in football and join the WAC for other sports.

 

Boise State cannot be happy

 

That depends on if anyone has told them about it yet.

[Jon]

Looks to be official. Ballsy move.

 

Salt Lake Tribune[/url]"]Brigham Young University will leave the Mountain West Conference, go independent in football and rejoin the Western Athletic Conference in all non-football sports beginning in the fall of 2011, The Salt Lake Tribune confirmed Wednesday morning.

 

According to a source in the WAC office, BYU will seek final approval for the moves from its owner, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, either today or Thursday. Pending approval, a press conference is planned for early next week. But because of media reports that broke late Tuesday night, that timetable may change.

..........

BYU has repeatedly expressed unhappiness with its paltry television revenue take from the Mountain West Conference. Member schools netted less than $2 million per team in football television money last year from the MWC’s television network.

..........

BYU already has its own television network in place and now has a broadcast center to go with it.

 

According to an espn.com report, the Cougars will play four WAC teams per year in football, presumably including Utah State. The school will also now be free to cut its own television deals with networks like ESPN, and perhaps agreements with bowl games. Football independence could also make it easier to schedule the yearly rivalry game with Utah, given BYU’s increased schedule flexibility.

..........

The loss of Utah and BYU, combined with the pending arrival of Boise State next year, leaves the MWC with eight teams. The espn.com report indicated that the Mountain West approached both Fresno State and Nevada about leaving the WAC and joining the MWC. But such a move could be tricky: the remaining WAC schools last week signed a five-year agreement that requires a $5 million buyout for any school seeking to leave the WAC during that span.

Who'd have thought a few years ago that the BYU network would be instrumental in all of this. Or that it would be going HD.

[Banedon]

A source told Schad that Houston and UTEP also have been studied as possible additions to the MWC.

[Banedon]

I wonder if Boise St would back out of the move to the MWC?

[Guest]

I wonder if Boise St would back out of the move to the MWC?

 

Since no one let me set my "Boise St can't read" joke on a tee, I'm going to use it here.

[ConstableRabbit]

Is it really that ballsy by BYU? Am I missing something?

 

The MWC wasn't going to get a BCS auto-bid with Utah getting replaced by Boise St., and they were sharing their bowl revenue with the rest of the conference (when few teams make bowls). At the very least, they get to keep the money from the bowl they will inevitably make. Their TV network is a sunk cost, as they've already invested in it. A large amount of Mormon households nationwide will no subscribe to it, and any additional BYU network revenue generated as a result of this transition is icing on the cake. They can still work out deals with ESPN that will be lucrative.

 

I think they're going to have to make their schedule more difficult than "4 WAC teams" to get legit BCS attention, but I don't think the move was a bad one.

[SouthSideRyan]

I'd imagine BYU will start playing ND semi-regularly.

[Jon]

Is it really that ballsy by BYU? Am I missing something?

 

The MWC wasn't going to get a BCS auto-bid with Utah getting replaced by Boise St., and they were sharing their bowl revenue with the rest of the conference (when few teams make bowls). At the very least, they get to keep the money from the bowl they will inevitably make. Their TV network is a sunk cost, as they've already invested in it. A large amount of Mormon households nationwide will no subscribe to it, and any additional BYU network revenue generated as a result of this transition is icing on the cake. They can still work out deals with ESPN that will be lucrative.

 

I think they're going to have to make their schedule more difficult than "4 WAC teams" to get legit BCS attention, but I don't think the move was a bad one.

The bowl situation is an uphill battle, of sorts. They're also going into a situation where not getting a bowl invitation means no bowl money.

 

Nevada and Fresno State were just officially extended invitations to the MWC.

[Jon]

Aaaaaaaand Fresno State is headed to the MWC.

[Flames24Rulz]

I wonder if Boise St would back out of the move to the MWC?

 

I think the whole reason they joined the MWC was to play TCU every year. Obviously losing Utah and BYU hurt the top part of the conference, but gaining Fresno State and Nevada will still make it a pretty good non-BCS conference. The new MWC is still going to end up being better than the old WAC. The MWC just won't be as strong as Boise State initially thought.

[Andy]

Just when we thought the realignment was taking a break for a little bit...

[Guest]

Aaaaaaaand Fresno State is headed to the MWC.

 

Nevada also.

 

So what happens to the rest of the WAC for football? They've only got six teams left.

[Sosa21MVP]

Any of you want to play starting CB for Michigan this season? They just lost another starter to a broken and dislocated ankle. That makes one lost to the NFL (junior who didn't even get drafted by the way), one to injury, one came into camp 15 lbs overweight and has decided to transfer, 2 couldn't make it to campus because of grades, and one was kicked off the team for disciplinary reasons. I thought the 2009 Michigan defense was bad. This season is going to be brutal.

 

Maybe Indiana can finally beat Michigan for the first time since 1987! \:D/