What’s going on in the Big 12 and beyond? I expand and explain every Sunday in Postscripts at Heartland College Sports, your home for independent Big 12 coverage.
Five Stories I Thought About This Week
I went through our site and found five stories that I thought were interesting this week and wanted to redirect readers to those and provide my thoughts.
(I’m done writing about the Protect College Sports Act — for now. I still say we need the Protect Texas-Based Collegiate Sports Teams from Ted Cruz Attending Their Games Act, but that’s just me).
The Big 12 is Not Safe
Our Conner Becker wrote a piece this week titled “Is the Big 12 Truly Safe From Realignment?”
Uh, no. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
His piece was written off the amendment to the PCSA (yeah I know what I just wrote, stop looking at me like that) that would allow power conference teams to change conferences within 180 days of the law going into effect.
Frankly, I don’t think it matters. The bill is never going to get passed because these conferences don’t want to be dictated to when it comes to what conference they’re affiliated with. They want autonomy in that department. That’s why the amendment was offered. In fact, don’t be surprised if other amendments are offered when Congress gets back in session in September.
If you really want the bill to pass, take the language about conference expansion out of it. You’ll get a much more receptive audience. You’ll also get more realignment. But you’re going to get it anyway.
Let’s just say this bill passes and Texas Tech wants to go to the SEC and, by some miracle, the SEC says yes. They’re just going to go to court to waive that five-year independent rule to get into the SEC. Considering the NCAA is involved, the Red Raiders will probably win because the NCAA can’t win a meaningful case in court. And I’m not even sure anti-trust exemptions will help the entity that much.
So, no, the Big 12 is not safe. Neither is the ACC. Neither is any conference these days. And it has little to do with that amendment. It’s business. It’s making money. And if the Big Ten and the SEC want to make more money by expanding, they’re going to do it, and you can see them in court.
Matt Entz is Drinking That Pac-12 Punch
North Dakota State is one of the best programs in college football, regardless of division. Each of its last four head coaches has won at least one national championship — Craig Bohl, Chris Klieman, Matt Entz and current coach Tim Polasek. And Alabama is a dynasty? Please. That’s 10 national titles in a 13-year span.
Bohl ended up at Wyoming. Klieman ended up at Kansas State. Entz is at Fresno State, where he is entering his second year. The Bulldogs went 9-4 a year ago and won the Arizona Bowl. Now, they’re migrating over to the Pac-12 Conference.
I guess he got the Pac-12 memo about taking shots at the Big 12. He talked openly about developing his Fresno State players for the next step and dissed the Big 12 in the process.
“With this five-year rule, what we’ve started to do with this five-year eligibility piece is say, ‘Hey, three years at Fresno State can set you up for the next opportunity,’” Entz said. “And then you still have two years to go to Alabama or Texas. But going to the Big 12 isn’t a big enough jump. You have to go to the Big Ten, SEC or NFL.”
Well, Matt — may I call you Matt? — if they “have to” go to the SEC, the Big Ten or the NFL, well that eliminates most of your roster, bud. Also, let me know how that intentional feeder team strategy works out for you long-term?
I was curious. On3 keeps a log of transfers out and transfers in. Fourteen Bulldogs transferred out. One landed at an SEC school, Texas A&M. The majority that signed ended up at Sacramento State. So, maybe build your program up a little more, first?
The Pac-12 is now made up of Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Oregon State, San Diego State, Texas state, Utah State and Washington State for football, with Gonzaga thrown in for basketball. I feel bad for true Pac-12 fans. George Klivakoff did y’all wrong.
The Monster-Big 12 NASCAR Hookup
Many are going to look at the Monster-Big 12 jersey patch deal as lacking value for some time. It takes time to change narratives — or prove them right. Earlier this week, the Big 12 got the first tertiary benefit of their deal with Monster.
This weekend Riley Herbst’s No. 35 car debuted a Big 12-Monster Energy skin on his car during the Hyvee Perks 250, which is part of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, which is a step below the NASCAR Cup Series.
The kicker is that the car is owned by Michael Jordan’s racing team. Yep, the NBA G.O.A.T. has a NASCAR team these days. It’s not a big surprise that Monster and the Big 12 went this direction. Brett Yormark cut his business teeth with NASCAR.
What this does for the league is unclear. At minimum it’s free media. It’s the exposure the league and Monster was touting at Big 12 Media Days last month. I still believe the trip to England for the Arizona State-Kansas game will tell us all something about how the deal can be truly leveraged because it’s an event the Big 12 will control in every aspect.
Tommy McClelland Did WHAT?
It’s hard being a new athletic director. That introductory press conference must strike the right tone. You must make sure you throw your donors and your fan base the right red meat.
Tommy McClelland landed the Purdue job earlier this week. The former Rice athletic director will have the same role with the Boilermakers. I’ve been on campus. I’ve been to Ross-Ade Stadium. I’ve been to West Lafayette. Good folks and a great time.
So, I guess they don’t get college football news in Houston (cheap shot, but I need to set this up — I know y’all get the news) because, well, this comment landed with a thud.
“We are here to win championships. If you don’t want to win championships, go to Indiana,” he said.
Uhh….
There’s bad timing and then there’s that. Yikes.
Realignment is Still Messing with My Head
Texas Tech and USC canceled a potential neutral site football series earlier this week which was billed as a “Big 12-Big Ten football series.” And my head just went fuzzy for a second.
USC is in Year 3 in the Big Ten and I can’t get used to it. I double-checked. That’s right. Third year.
Anyway, I wrote a piece off the cancellation saying we need a new way to schedule non-conference games among power conference teams. We need to eliminate the long-term, way-off deals and go to a model that gets us great games each year — and not by luck. But by planning for it. What a concept, right?
