Kickoff Zone College Football Blog

With Boise State’s victory over Virginia Tech Monday night, numerous sportswriters, including ones at the NY Times, are contemplating what effect it may have on the BCS championship.  Berry Tramel writes:

Only this time, Boise State might sail right into the national championship game. Which has everyone all atwitter, claiming that Boise State’s schedule isn’t worthy of championship consideration.

To which there’s an easy solution. Schedule the Broncos.

OU and Texas and Alabama and Florida and Ohio State and every other perennial title contender realizes that the two spots available could shrink to one if Boise State runs the table. In years past, Boise State has had to scratch and claw just to get into the top 10; had to scratch and claw just to get BCS-eligible and play in a non-title major bowl…

Boise State will play teams. Boise State will play USC or Texas or Georgia or Iowa or anyone else home and home. They’d love to come to your place, so long as you go to theirs.

Nobody much is interested, of course, because teams want to manufacture national titles these days. They don’t want to earn them.

Sure, Boise State plays in a lousy conference, the WAC. And Boise State is doing something about that. Like leave. Boise State will join the Mountain West Conference next season. Of course, the Mountain West is losing Utah and BYU, which is a shame, because the Mountain West with Boise State, the Utah schools and TCU would be a heck of a conference.

But Boise State is doing what it can. Boise State would join the Pac-10, with an invite. Same with the Big 12.

This caste system — your schedule stinks so you’re forever banished to second-class status — is unAmerican.

I tend to agree with him.  I don’t necessarily think that Boise State is one of the top 2 teams in the country, but BCS schools shy away from playing them. 

Jim Mashek, of the Miami Sun Herald, opines that Boise State going undefeated could possibly lead to a situation where an SEC team is left out of the title game.

While it would be a crime for a team from the SEC to be left out of the NC equation, if Boise State goes undefeated again, it would also be a crime to leave any team with a two year winning streak out of the picture.

Tags: Boise State, College Football Picks, College Football Power Rankings, Conference realignment, Florida Gators, NCAA, News, Ohio State University, Oklahoma University, Schedule, Southeastern Conference, Top 25, University of Alabama, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Miami, University of Oregon, University of Southern California, University of Texas, Virginia Tech, bcs, expansion, pac 10, recap by Tommy
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I’d been looking for a way to summarize my feelings about all this madness, and shut the door on it for the time being so that we (the people who follow college football) can focus on the upcoming season. 

So what to make of this?  Andy Staples sums it up nicely:

How does anyone know whether a league that almost fell apart because Texas has too much power and came back together because Texas has too much power won’t simply fall apart again — probably because Texas has too much power? No one knows, just as no one knows when some conference will next try to radically realign college sports.

“If we live long enough,” Dodds said, “it’s going to happen all over again.”

Every year in college football is supposed to be a new year.  No one is naive enough to truly believe that every school has an equal opportunity to become a champion each season.  Programs reload while the cellar dwellars continue their losing ways.  Some of the powerful occasionally come on hard times, and have to rebuild so that they may reclaim their once mighty status.  No program deserves special treatment.  If Texas is not careful, they could find themselves in the same shoes as Notre Dame, independent and struggling to regain their footing.  People may laugh at this notion right now, since the Longhorns are at the peak of their powers, but all programs have tough years, and you can be sure that they will be kicked from every direction when they are down.

Tags: Big 10 Conference, Big XII Conference, College Football Power Rankings, Conference realignment, NCAA, Schedule, Southeastern Conference, University of Texas, pac 10, recap, rumor mill by Tommy
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Andy Staples, of Sports Illustrated, highlighted that college football is ultimately ruled by the “golden rule,” but not the one that your parents taught you as a child.  According to Staples, “… conference realignments have always been governed by the Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules.”

Hopefully, we can put rest to all this talk of conference expansion shortly and focus on the upcoming football season, but I gotta tell ya, this soap opera has been so entertaining that it’s hard not to write about it.  It’s the worst kind of politics played out in the college arena, complete with shady backroom deals, intimidation, strong arms, arrogant administrators, “the little guys” standing up to “big brother,” lying, backstabing, and everything else usually reserved for sleazy politicos and bad daytime television.  At the same time, it puts a whole new spin on the term “power rankings” when it comes to college football.  In other words, this type of power ranking has nothing to do with on the field play.

In a sense, being ranked in the top 25 of a preseason poll has little bearing on who really is in the top 25 of a true “power ranking.”  Think about it… as we head into the 2010 college football season, some teams that will be nowhere near the top of the preseason polls undoubtedly rank near the top of this power ranking system.  This isn’t about sportsmanship, but about which programs wield the most power to force the men in charge into swift action.  Jeff Jacobs (of the Hartford Courant) shares a similar viewpoint as I do, stating that, “Armageddon is avoided and Texas bullets to No. 1 in the real college power ratings.”

It’s  likely for the best that this came to a standstill with minimal disturbance for the time being (Nebraska’s move not withstanding).  From the LA Times:

The Pac-10’s failure to execute, in a fallout twist, may have been the best thing that could have happened.

Not for the Pac-10, maybe, but for college football.

Imagine if Scott had succeeded. The creation of the Pac-16 would have triggered a chain reaction that probably would have caused conferences to crumble.

The Southeastern Conference was not going to idly watch a super conference rise in the West. The SEC made that clear by making a late play for Texas A&M, a move that may have spike-stripped Texas’ package deal plans to join the Pac-10.

To get even with the Pac-16, the SEC might have raided the Atlantic Coast, possibly of Florida State and Miami, Georgia Tech and Clemson. And the ACC might have countered by raiding the Big East.

The Big Ten might not have stopped not at Nebraska and moved to pick off three or four Big East schools.

The result could have been four 16-team conferences and tombstones for the Big 12 and the Big East. The gap between the haves and have-nots would have been greater than it is today.

But it didn’t happen.

Incredibly, though, once it was safe to uncover your eyes, there was remarkably little blood spilled.

Dan Wetzel, who last week wrote what may be the definitive piece regarding college football expansion, has published a follow up that sheds more light on why the Pac 10 ultimately failed in its quest to expand to 16 teams.

With Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe in charge, a furious weekend of phone calls, planning sessions and analysis reports allowed the league to secure a potential television deal, a revenue sharing plan and new sales pitch that proved tempting enough to stop lynchpin Texas from jumping to the Pac-10.

The TV contract, which like some other details hasn’t been formalized, promises Texas and Oklahoma an oversized share of revenue that could reach over $20 million per year, on pace with the industry-best Big Ten. League schools are also free to start their own cable networks which could prove worth up to another $5 million annually for UT and OU, the league’s two most popular teams.

Armed with a strong position in the Big 12, Texas returned to the Pac-10 and asked for a similar deal – the right to its own network (not just part of a Pac-16 channel) and an oversized revenue share, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. Larry Scott turned it down.

In the end, Pac 10 czar Larry Scott actually comes out looking better than I thought he would because of his refusal to cave in to the University of Texas’ demands of special treatment.  Texas, on the other hand, will be seen as saviors of a dying league by their fans, but will likely have a rather large target on their backs for the rest of the country.  They are now likely to be viewed in similar fashion to USC and Notre Dame- loved by their fans, but reviled by the rest of the nation.

Hopefully in the next few days, the media will be able to put this topic to bed, for the time being, and shift its focus to what really matters, the upcoming season that will be played on the field.

Tags: Big 10 Conference, Big XII Conference, College Football, College Football Power Rankings, Conference realignment, Hot Seat, NCAA, Notre Dame University, Oklahoma University, Schedule, Southeastern Conference, Texas A & M University, Texas Tech University, Top 25, University of Texas, bcs, coaching carousel, pac 10, recap, rumor mill by Tommy
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While the fans of the Big XII and tradition in college football are breathing a huge sigh of relief today, it does not mean that things are going to be any easier for the struggling league nor the ten programs that make up its roster.

The problem for the University of Texas now is that it has effectively ticked off the rest of the country (in college football terms) with their actions of the last month, and are behaving as though they deserve preferential treatment.

It’s understandable.  I mean, they are a financial bohemoth, but they are behaving in a way not that different from USC, and look where that got them. 

Although I don’t agree with him a lot of the time on many issues, Mike Hamilton (the University of Tennessee AD) got it right in his assessment of the situation, and why you won’t likely see a school such as Texas joining the top conference in the nation anytime soon:

Hamilton quickly nixed the notion that the SEC should offer financial concessions to any school – namely Texas – to join what most believe is the strongest football conference in the nation.

“I believe with all my heart that this is a great league and we don’t need to be a concessionist to anybody to have them be a member of our league,” Hamilton said Monday on the News Sentinel’s radio show, The Sports Page. ” I believe that firmly. And if you look at some of the schools that have been referred to and you compare them up against the success of the other schools in our league, why should they be?”

In the end, those points may very well be what caused the proposed plan with the Pac 10 to ultimately fail.  According to the Denver Post:

A source close to the Pac-10’s expansion negotiations told The Denver Post that Texas insisted on better revenue sharing and its own network, which essentially killed the deal.

“In the 11th hour, after months of telling us they understand the TV rights, they’re trying to pull a fast one on the verge of sealing the deal in the regents meeting,” the source said. “They want a better revenue sharing deal and their own network. Those were points of principle. (The Pac-10) wants to treat everyone fairly. It’s been that way for months of discussions.”

So… the proposed “Pac 16″ was not so much a failure because of the Longhorns’ loyalty to the Big XII, but because the Pac 10 refused to meet their greedy demands.  The University of Texas is one of the wealthiest and most dominant programs in the land, but their inflated self worth seems to lead them to believe that they deserve preferential treatment over the likes of USC (even with the sanctions)?  Go figure…

The sports editor of the Sacramento Bee believes that both league commissioners were played by the Longhorsn, and I tend to agree with them:

I wonder if Beebe and Scott were used by the University of Texas, which announced Monday it would not join the Pac-10 and instead would stay in the Big 12, which seemed all but doomed days ago.

The Associated Press reported that Texas will soon be able to make its own TV network deal and keep all proceeds just for staying in the Big 12.

Was it ever Texas’ intent to leave the Big 12 for the Pac-10? Were the Longhorns just forcing Beebe to take action at the expense of Scott and the Pac-10 (Pac-12 once Utah joins the fold)?

It seems that Texas called a misdirection play that caught Beebe and Scott off guard.

To keep the Big 12 intact after Nebraska (Big Ten) and Colorado (Pac-10) left, Beebe had to give in to Texas’ demand while Scott’s quest for a Pac-16 crumbled.

Kirk Bohls of The Statesman sums  the mistrust between the Big XII schools up best:

What the events of the last two weeks revealed was the irrelevance of college basketball (read: Kansas), the magnitude of Texas’ desire for a Longhorn Network (millions of dollars) and the sensitivity of dealings with so many disparate schools with century-old rivalries, and particularly those in a politically charged state like Texas.

In the end, did the University of Texas, likeminded special interest groups, or anyone else save the Big XII?  Ask the fellows at the Coaches Hot Seat for the correct assessment:

Again, if you believe in of this Heroes “Saving The Day Nonsense”…..YOU ARE A MORON!

It’s time to call it what it is:

Eliminate Nebraska: Check.

Eliminate Colorado: Check.

Eliminate Big 12 Championship Game, a game in which we came within an eyelash of losing last year: Check.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present you the University of Texas Conference.

When the Big 12 lost Colorado and Nebraska last week, the conference was on life support. Apparently that’s right where Texas wanted it to be. UT manipulated this entire realignment situation to get more money while playing weaker competition.

Mission accomplished.

The resurrection of the Big 12 is nothing more than a stay of execution for the embattled conference. Sure, the conference higher-ups will tell you that it’s in the best interest of the league to continue on as a 10-team conference. They’d be wrong. The shift of power to the south — which is what ultimately sent Colorado and Nebraska packing — only becomes amplified with this 11th hour deal. In this new look Big 12, the winner of the Red River shootout between Texas and Oklahoma will essentially have a cake walk to the BCS Championship Game. Something tells me that’s not going to go over well in the long run.

 

Tags: Big XII Conference, College Football, College Football Power Rankings, Conference realignment, NCAA, Schedule, Southeastern Conference, University of Texas, bcs, pac 10, recap, rumor mill by Tommy
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These rumors are getting out of hand.  Now, ESPN is reporting that Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech will join the Pac 10.

The departure of Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State to the Pac-10 is imminent, four sources within the Big 12 Conference said Monday.

One source said Dan Beebe’s last-minute plan to save the conference has “zero” chance to succeed. Another source said it is “very unlikely” to succeed.

Noticably absent from this list of teams is Texas A & M, which means they will stay in whatever is left of the Big XII, or join the SEC.

Tags: Big XII Conference, College Football, Conference realignment, NCAA, Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma University, Schedule, Southeastern Conference, Texas A & M University, Texas Tech University, University of Texas, bcs, pac 10, rumor mill by Tommy
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Big news that could cause a seismic shift in all the rumors about proposed expansion- Rivals’ owned Orangebloods.com is reporting that sources are stating that Texas will commit to a 10 team Big XII.

In a bombshell development that could bring a halt to seismic changes in college realignment, sources tell Orangebloods.com Texas has been convinced by a plan presented by commissioner Dan Beebe to stay in a 10-member Big 12.

UT officials are expected to announce their decision to remain in the Big 12 as early as Monday.

Such a move would appear to end a courtship between Texas and the Pac-10, which all but seemed solidified as of Friday when Nebraska announced it was heading to the Big Ten and Colorado had a press conference with its new commissioner – Larry Scott of the Pac-10.

But as it became clear over the weekend that Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State appeared ready join the Pac-10 and Texas A&M appeared ready to join the SEC, Beebe was able to obtain assurances that a TV deal could be reached paying each of the 10 remaining members of the Big 12 between $14 million and $17 million.

Under Beebe’s plan, schools would also be able to explore their own distribution platforms, including networks.

Texas would not be able to pursue those options in the Pac-10, which is planning to launch a conference network in 2012 and would require schools to turn over all of their inventory.

Tags: Big XII Conference, College Football, Conference realignment, NCAA, Schedule, University of Texas, bcs, pac 10, rumor mill by Tommy
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It seems as though all the recent conversations about college football in the media have revolved around the rumors of expansion.  In fact, there have been some outright nutty ideas being thrown out there.  In some instances, I can understand that a little expansion may be beneficial to college football, at least in it’s current FCS set up, but some of the talk right now coming from a few conferences appears to be based out of greed, and not what would be beneficial to the game itself.

From the Seattle Times:

In a move that could herald a historic change in the makeup of the Pac-10, conference commissioner Larry Scott was given approval Sunday to pursue expansion.

The approval, given by conference presidents and chancellors on the final day of Pac-10 meetings in San Francisco, means Scott can proceed with expansion plans without returning to the board for further consent.

“It’s exciting that we are being very proactive,” Washington athletic director Scott Woodward said Sunday night. “And Larry can continue to do his due diligence and look at various scenarios. It could be status quo or it could be a super-conference — you just don’t know what could happen. But everyone’s feeling is very good.”

And while, as Woodward notes, there are many options that expansion could take, most of the speculation has centered on the possibility of the conference inviting six Big 12 teams — Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado — to join the Pac-10. That would create two eight-team divisions: Washington and Washington State in what would essentially be the old Pac-8, along with USC, UCLA, Oregon, Oregon State, California and Stanford; and the six Big 12 teams with Arizona and Arizona State in the other division. That would set up a potentially lucrative football conference title game, the site of which potentially could alternate between the Rose Bowl and the new Cowboys Stadium in Dallas.

With rumors swirling about both the Pac 10 and the Big 10 expanding to a possible 16 teams, one has to consider the fact that it would not be good for college football.  First of all, it would effectively be the end of the Big 12 as a major conference.  Regionally, it doesn’t mesh.  Why would anyone place a football team from Norman, Oklahoma in a league called the Pacific 10?  What’s next: Michigan joining the Southeastern Conference? 

Traditionally, each of the major conferences were formed based on regional locations.  The Big 10 was based in the NE/Rustbelt, the Pac 10 on the west coast, the SEC in the southeast, the Big 12 in the Tri-state area, while the ACC and Big East are eastern region hybrids.  Taking one school and just adding it to a conference because it is a traditional power puts too much on the fans of those teams. 

What these proposed expansion ideas will undoubtedly do is put a lot more of the burden onto the shoulders of the fans of these prospective schools.  In today’s economy, it is difficult enough for the dedicated fan to travel within their school’s region to attend a couple of away games.  If that fan is lucky, he might be able to scrape together enough cash to be able to attend a bowl game at a far off location.  With this idea, many fans just won’t be able to afford the costs of travel to follow their teams as closely, were a school from Missouri, Nebraska, or Oklahoma to join the Pac 10.  If  a team currently from the Big 12  joined the Pac 10, these schools would have away games at schools such as Oregon State, UCLA, USC, Oregon, Stanford, or even Washington, possibly in the same season.  Unless you can afford your own private jet, it’s a ridiculous proposition.

College football is a game that finds much of its popularity through its traditions and regional rivalries.  It’s no coincidence that some of the most heated and passionate rivalries are either instate or a border war. 

Florida/Florida State, Alabama/Auburn, Georgia/Georgia Tech, Tennessee/Alabama, Georgia/Florida, Texas/Oklahoma, Oklahoma/Nebraska, USC/UCLA, Texas/Texas A & M, Ole Miss/Mississippi State, Clemson/South Carolina, UNC/Duke, Louisville/Kentucky… These are some of the biggest rivalries in college sports, and are all either border wars or two teams from the same state.  While a yearly USC/Oklahoma matchup would garner national attention because of the tradition of both programs, the level of intensity and passion would not be the same from a fan’s perspective.

Some expansion does make sense.  For example, were two teams, such as Notre Dame and Pittsburgh to join the Big 10, you would have enough teams to go to a two division format, with a conference championship game in December, or if BYU and Utah joined the Pac 10.  Expansion should logistically (as well as economically) make sense, but some of these scenarios being tossed around do neither.

Dan Wetzel sums it up best:

Conference expansion is about to forever alter college athletics: destroying traditions, hammering taxpayers and increasing competition. It will leave once-major programs out of the loop, consolidate power and extend the gap between haves and have nots – even within leagues such as the Big Ten.

Tags: Big 10 Conference, Big XII Conference, College Football, College Football Power Rankings, NCAA, Oklahoma University, Schedule, Southeastern Conference, Top 25, University of Colorado, University of Nebraska, University of Texas, bcs, pac 10, recap, rumor mill by Tommy
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For the last few weeks, it seems that the college football world has been consumed with talks of league expansion, specifically in reference to the Big 10 conference.  What interests us here at the Kickoffzone blog is how that will affect the movers and shakers, in terms of how it could affect their power rankings, or in other words, whether it will have a positive or negative affect on their chances to play in a BCS bowl game or the National Championship Game. 

The Sporting News is taking a specific look at how the movements could affect each specific conference, in regards to their BCS bidding power and their attraction to the game representatives.  Concerning the Big XII, they have this to say:

The only scenario that could severely damage the Big 12: The Big Ten takes any combination of Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri, and the Pac 10 takes Colorado. At that point, Texas would be forced to look at other options despite its long-term goal of a healthy, prosperous Big 12.

Concerning the Pac-10:

Count the Pac-10 as proactive in the search for more dollars. In February, less than seven months after taking charge, new commissioner Larry Scott said the league would “very seriously” consider adding two schools.

Colorado has emerged as the most popular candidate, but the Pac-10’s biggest jackpot would come from adding Texas and Texas A&M. No other set of potential television markets, including Denver, Salt Lake City (with Utah and BYU) and Las Vegas (UNLV) would carry the Lone Star State’s economic sway.

Even if the Pac-10 doesn’t expand, it could instigate a significant college football change. Scott has said the league will consider proposing NCAA legislation that would allow for a conference championship game in a 10-team league. Current legislation mandates that leagues include at least 12 teams, split into two divisions, to host a title game.

If one were to break down the conferences by tradition, they would have to rank the Pac 10, the Big 10, and the SEC as the standard bearers.  They’ve been around much longer than the Big XII, and have generally produced the most revenue in television deals (with the exception of independent Notre Dame).  Considering how two are now apparently considering expansion, how would the SEC, generally considered the most dominant conference in the country, respond?  Tony Barnhart writes that the SEC can not ignore what goes on in these other conferences:

So why mess with a great thing? Why not let the Big Ten do its thing while the SEC keeps doing what has made it so successful?

Here’s why: “If you are a commissioner your No. 1 job is not to take care of today,” said former SEC commissioner Roy Kramer. “Your No. 1 job is to look at least 10 years down the road to where your conference is going to be and where the competition is going to be.”

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive told me recently that the his conference will have a plan in place should the Big Ten expand to 16 teams, which could totally change the landscape of college athletics as we know it in just a few years. The SEC may never execute the plan, but there will be a plan.

That’s right, folks.  If you thought the current BCS system wasn’t complicated enough, well, think again…  College football is big business.  In the end, the powers that be will always want to have the top two teams playing for the title, whether it be through a playoff or a power ranking system.  However, for that to ever work, there will be a whole lot of red tape that will need to be cut through to ever make that dream a reality.

Tags: Big 10 Conference, Big XII Conference, College Football, College Football Power Rankings, NCAA, Oklahoma University, Preseason Prognostications, Schedule, Southeastern Conference, University of Colorado, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska, University of Texas, bcs, rumor mill by Tommy
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More and more rumblings are coming out about the possible addition of new teams to the Big 10.  Herb Gold, of the Chicago Sun-Times, believes that the conference will add as many as three teams:

My best guess? The Big Ten will add three teams. That will allow it to keep a slot open in case Notre Dame, which will continue to remain independent, changes its mind down the road.

The leading candidates? Missouri, Nebraska and Colorado to the west and Rutgers, Syracuse and UConn to the east.

What will this mean? Think about Big East basketball. More teams mean more good teams, but it also means that more programs will become irrelevant and that fans will have to understand fifth place is a really good thing. Rivalries will be watered down as Illinois and Northwestern play more games against Nebraska and Rutgers and fewer against Michigan and Ohio State.

The Orlando Sentinel speculates that Texas is the school that Big 10 officials have their sights set on:

Speculation has focused on a whole host of teams, including Texas — the biggest fish in all of the superconference expansion talk. It’s no coincidence the school is working on a contract extension for athletic director DeLoss Dodds. But why would Texas join a league without its biggest rivals? See above: M-O-N-E-Y.

Keith Fleicher, of Fox Sports Southwest, reports that his sources indicate Missouri will undoubtedly make the move from the Big 12:

            “If it were just about the money or athletics alone it wouldn’t be worth it; and a lot of our coaches recognize that, cutting recruiting ties to Texas, and so forth,” one of my more trusted and well-connected people in Missouri athletics administration told me. “But it’s hard to ignore the academic thing and it’s academic people who eventually make the call on this thing.”

            Missouri is one of the 63 members of the American Association of Universities, as are the existing 11 members of the Big 10 Conference. From the Big 12, only Texas A&M, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa State and Texas have met the AAU’s academic standards to join the likes of Harvard, Yale, MIT and Cornell in its club.

            The money issue is still out there. Missouri people will quickly tell you that last year the chunk of money it received from the Big 12 Conference was about $12 million less than what it would have received as a member of the Big 10. But, more and more people who believe that it is academics that will ultimately tilt the scales.

            “I’d be beyond shocked if we didn’t make the move to the Big 10 Conference,” my source said.  .

While dollars are obviously the major factor in expansion, Tracee Hamilton, of the Washington Post, points out the logistical nightmares that would be created for certain teams were they to join:

Ah, yes, driving to the game. Regional proximity used to matter. In the Big Eight, when I was in school, you could drive to any other campus in the Big Eight in eight to nine hours, max. Most were much closer. And people did. Nebraska and Oklahoma fans in particular would load up their RVs and come to town early on game days. They’d drive through campus, past the dorms, the scholarship halls, the frats and sororities and dive apartments, blowing their horns, which happened to play their fight songs. Fun.

Who in his right mind would drive from Lincoln, Neb., to Piscataway, N.J.? Even the most crazed Huskers fans would think twice. And how are schools supposed to get their bands, cheerleaders and — more important — mascots to the far-away games? And yes, that matters. Those are the ingredients that go into a great college football experience.

I happen to agree with Ms. Hamilton on this issue.  The proposed mergers could easily create more problems than it will solve, and will hurt attendence.  The television deals that come with it may offset the financial dent caused by hazardous travel plans, but what these schools must focus on is that this could create a lag in enthusiasm by long time local supporters.  Considering the shape that the economy is in, it wouldn’t make much sense to ask your faithful to dole out more dollars to follow their favored teams half way across the United States.

Tags: Big 10 Conference, Big XII Conference, College Football, College Football Power Rankings, NCAA, Ohio State University, Preseason Prognostications, Schedule, Top 25, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska, University of Texas, rumor mill by Tommy
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It’s already time for the annual Will Muschamp Sweepstakes.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with this yearly tradition, Tony Barnhart will fill you in:

But the dynamic changed at Texas this week as word came that DeLoss Dodds, one of the best athletics directors in the country, was negotiating an extension to his contract, which previously ran through 2011. There has been talk for several years that when Dodds, 72, retired head football coach Mack Brown would slide into that chair and Muschamp would become the Longhorns’ head coach. But if Dodds remains in place so does Brown, who is only 58 and whose contract runs through 2016 at $5 million per year.

Don’t look now, but Will Muschamp could be available for the 2011 season. Muschamp, the former Georgia Bulldog and current defensive coordinator at Texas, has one of the great deals in college football. He is the coach in waiting to Mack Brown and Texas continues to pay Muschamp handsomely to remain in that spot. Tennessee came calling last January when Lane Kiffin bolted for USC and Muschamp told AD Mike Hamilton that he was staying put in Austin.

This has really become a yearly thing.  Every year, whenever a job comes open, Muschamp is usually the first name that pops up.  And every year, Muschamp turns down whatever job is offered to him.  I don’t think he is leaving Texas anytime soon unless he’s offered at a school like Florida or Alabama (which isn’t going to happen), but I guess the rumors won’t die until Mack Brown hangs it up.

Tags: College Football, NCAA, University of Texas, coaching carousel, rumor mill by Tommy
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