Seattle game: when/if we have a home game, weekend before Thanksgiving
- Thread starter ttowncoug
- Start date
I think it's a bit ridiculous to say that we need to average any number for home games. We've seen demonstrated clearly and repeatedly that stadium attendance is virtually irrelevant anymore, it's TV that matters. A million people tuning into the Pac-12 network, and paying their Dish Network premium, trump the 30K that bought a ticket and sat in Martin. Besides, if the requirement is 40K we're in serious trouble - Martin only holds 32,952, and has 40K+ in it exactly six times in its history.
WSU or OSU getting dropped due to realignment is not a significant concern. P5 conferences aren't interested in getting smaller, they're only looking at getting bigger. And, considering the lack of options for getting bigger, getting replaced by someone better also isn't a real concern.
The only concern that schools like WSU or OSU have when it comes to realignment is if there ever comes a day when the Power 5 gets blown up and consolidated into four conferences with twelve or sixteen teams each. If that day never happens, WSU has nothing to be concerned about. If it does happen, hold onto your shorts because that could get crazy. Good news is that I don't think anything like that is eminent.
I still don't see an issue. There just aren't enough teams in the west to require anyone to get bumped.
If it's consolidated into 16-team conferences, there's no problem. That means 64 teams, which is exactly the number that are currently in the P-5, so that scenario means re-shuffling of existing teams, not a replacement. It means the Pac-12 adds 4 teams.
Consolidating into 4 12-team conferences seems so highly unlikely it's barely even worth discussing. Nobody's going to demote 16 teams, and even if they did, we're somewhat geographically protected - there just aren't that many teams out here that we could be replaced by.
In my mind, the most likely scenario is the collapse of the Big 12, and the surviving conferences cannibalize the members. The Pac-12 has an advantage in that it's the only conference that can add 4 teams, so we can better accommodate regional rivalries, and we can pretty easily make geographical divisions, especially in the lower Midwest.
Agree that the collapse of the Big 12 is the most likely scenario with West Virginia going to the ACC, Iowa State going to the B1G with Notre Dame, and two teams going to the SEC. The Pac-12 would take the best four that are left. The only thing that muddies the water, and I already mentioned it, is that ND, BYU, Army, Navy and Air Force would all make plays to get into the mix. UConn would be a great choice to fill out the ACC if one of those others isn't included. If there was a complete reshuffling, there are probably 75 teams that would have legitimate claims for inclusion. Would the Pac-12 leave WSU and OSU out to dry? Probably not, but we did get booted in 1959 and the four members that did so were happy to abandon everyone else for a national power conference that never happened. So we can never say never. I agree with you that I'm not worried about it though.
I don't see ND joining the Big Ten, or BYU making much effort to get into a conference, or any of the academies trying to get promoted. Notre Dame gains little or no benefit from joining any conference. BYU is possibly a bit more likely than the Irish to gain some benefit, but they'd probably have to occasionally play on Sundays, and they'd probably lose a lot more games. Based on their limited recruiting pool, none of the academies are likely to be competitive in a major conference (they're barely competitive as mid-majors and independents), they know it, and they see to be OK with it. And, under your scenario, I think if Notre Dame joined a conference, there's a fair chance that Iowa State would be left without a seat when the music stopped.
On the flip side, Notre Dame is a huge get for any conference, and all of the P5 would fall all over themselves to land the Irish if there was any indication they wanted to join. But there isn't. BYU has an automatic audience, but it's not Notre Dame, it's not as rabid, and they come with too many strings. None of the academies bring much to the table at all.
With the collapse of the Big 12, I see an SEC/Pac-12 fight over Texas, which the SEC would likely win because the Pac-12 wouldn't go along with Texas' revenue sharing ideas. The Big Ten would probably show interest in Texas too, but would be more interested in Oklahoma. Maybe they could get the Sooners, but I think the Pac-12 would get the edge by also inviting Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.
I just don't see UT giving up the Longhorn Network or its desire to keep its own revenue, and I don't see the Pac-12 agreeing to that model. The SEC would, which would make them a better choice for UT. For the Pac-12, I don't really see much incentive to expand if it doesn't include at least one of Texas or Oklahoma. Even if the other conferences went to 16 teams, the Pac doesn't gain much by adding Texas Tech, Baylor, Kansas, and Kansas State.
There are a ton of variables, because really I don't have much trouble imagining the SEC dropping 2 members if it thought it could add Texas and Oklahoma by also adding Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.
I don't think there is any way that those types of schools agree to allow us to host the first game.
Just look at our series with BSU too. They get the first game. I assume they will come to Pullman as they are playing a Pac-12 school, but still they got the first game.
Even in our series with Central Michigan, guess where the first game will be played?
Finally, do you think BYU will ever come to Pullman for the second game of our series with them?
Neither BSU or Central freakin Michigan are backing out of their game in Pullman.
The BYU game could get cancelled, but as an independent, they need that game to fill out their schedule.
FWIW, Oklahoma State played in Seattle two years before we played them at Stillwater, so there is at least one instance where we didn't make the first trip. I agree that most schools will want to have the chance to screw us over. Who knows about BYU. As mentioned above, they need to fill out a schedule so that probably helps the odds.
Scheduling...... ggggrrrrrrr
Play other P5 schools only. No more FCS. No more non P5 schools. Write the contract so there's a return trip or a $5M dollar buyout. End of story.
One day, when I'm in charge, there will be a season opening series between conferences. P5 versus P5, draw opponents out of a hat, flip for home or away. The following year whoever played away is now at home, draw a new name out of a hat.
How'd you like to see Alabama in Martin Stadium? Or go watch WSU play at Florida? No other way to get it done...
Play other P5 schools only. No more FCS. No more non P5 schools. Write the contract so there's a return trip or a $5M dollar buyout. End of story.
One day, when I'm in charge, there will be a season opening series between conferences. P5 versus P5, draw opponents out of a hat, flip for home or away. The following year whoever played away is now at home, draw a new name out of a hat.
How'd you like to see Alabama in Martin Stadium? Or go watch WSU play at Florida? No other way to get it done...
I'm actually OK with getting rid of FCS. I was on the fence, I wanted the smaller schools to have the opportunity to show their worth but with time, I'm just tired of seeing other programs take on the Appalachian States of the world, 2 or 3 times a year. We schedule 1. They schedule 2 or 3. And it's as if no one notices when it comes to the rankings. Lame
I wish that we could get everyone to do that as well. Last year showed the worthlessness of making the choice to play an FCS school.
I'll make two exceptions:
- If you're a perennial cellar dweller - haven't been to a bowl or been above .500 in at least 4 seasons - you can schedule an FCS team in the 5th season.
- Emergency exemption - if you lost an opponent less than a full season before the date of the game AND there's no FBS team available to play on that date, you can schedule an FBS team (this would cover the 9/11 scenario - when our Colorado game was cancelled, and we couldn't get anyone but MOntana State as a replacement)
Other than that, I agree, and will add a few criteria to the scheduling:
- All teams play 8 conference games, regardless of the size of the conference. For conferences that have divisions, at least 2 games for each team must be outside of their division.
- Each team may schedule 1 home non-conference game and 1 away non-conference game each year. Both must be against P-5 opponents.
- Each team will be assigned an opponent for their remaining 2 non-conference games. Games will be assigned randomly, no appeals or objections are allowed. One of these may be against a non-P-5 opponent.
- Exception to the random assignment of opponents: Minimum travel distances - each team must travel a minimum of 6 time zones for non-conference games in each 2 year cycle. Travel to Hawaii counts as no more than 3 time zones for any team.
Limiting to 1 conference game would be a mistake.
- No team would get more than regional exposure. For most teams, this likely impacts recruiting.
- Destroys historical rivalries
- Doesn't allow much of a comparison of how good teams really are. Maybe the Pac-12 is a strong conference, and the champ is 10-2. But, even though the Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and SEC aren't as strong, their champs are 11-1 or 12-0, so the team that is actually the best gets left out of the playoff. You need more play between conferences to get a measure of who's as good as advertised.
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