There will not be a Week 0 college football game between Colorado and Arizona State to open the 2023 season, an administrative source involved in the process confirmed to The Athletic on Wednesday. The news comes two days after ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit suggested during the broadcast of the national championship game that the Week 0 game would take place.
“(Deion Sanders) was on GameDay with us and he actually gave us some news … breaking news, from Prime,” Herbstreit said on Monday night’s broadcast, according to 247Sports. “They’re actually not going to be opening up with (TCU). Colorado’s going to open up with Arizona State in their first game, and then they’re going to play TCU in their second game. Looks like they’re sneaking around there a little bit, but that was just told to me from Coach Prime tonight.”
Those comments turned out to be a bit premature. The Pac-12 had requested a waiver for the teams to play in Week 0 in order to avoid a team or teams having to play nine consecutive weeks in the regular season, the source said. NCAA staff made the decision to deny the waiver with input from the Football Oversight Committee (FOC). The FOC pointed out that several teams play nine consecutive weeks in the regular season and that the Pac-12’s case did not warrant special consideration. Typically, teams that play in Week 0 have extenuating circumstances. For example, anyone who plays Hawaii is able to play in Week 0 to help space out their schedule with an extra idle week.
More waivers for Week 0 are denied than are granted, the source also pointed out.
Wednesday’s news comes amid a broader conversation around college football’s calendar. The FOC and a specially formed 365-day working group have been looking at how to best structure the sport’s season and offseason. It is very possible that college football’s leaders decide to move the start of the season up to the current Week 0 for all teams to alleviate the stress on the back end of the calendar, especially with additional games in a 12-team College Football Playoff. But for now, teams still need waivers to play the weekend before Labor Day weekend.
Ryan Staub had visited Colorado three times before Deion Sanders took over as head coach.
Outside of the red, shiny new McLaren parked on Folsom Field, everything else on campus looked pretty much the same to Staub two weekends ago.
“(Deion Sanders) was coaching at Jackson State so I don’t know if he had enough time to make that many arrangements,” said Staub, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound three-star quarterback from Stevenson Ranch, Calif. Staub committed to Colorado last January and was one of seven holdover recruits from Karl Dorrell’s staff who signed with the program Wednesday.
“It definitely looked the exact same, but it didn’t feel the exact same,” he said. “There’s a new energy and a new message in town. That’s obviously Coach Prime and what he’s kind of conveying to the whole world. What he’s going to do here, he’s just gonna bring change. And he’s gonna win.”
Sanders, who stands out much like a $400,000 sports car on a football field, has a long road ahead of him in trying to turn around Colorado’s downtrodden football program.
The Buffaloes were 1-11 in 2022 and ranked 63rd nationally in the 247Sports Team Talent Composite — only four spots better than Sanders’ former team, Jackson State.
The recruiting class Sanders signed Wednesday featured 14 high school recruits and 10 transfers. Only five of the 24 signees were blue-chip prospects coming out of high school, but it’s also been only two weeks since Sanders was hired. Late Wednesday night, Jackson State corner Travis Hunter, the No. 1 player in the Class of 2022, announced his decision to transfer to Colorado, and several of his former JSU teammates should soon be joining him in the Rockies.
Colorado’s recruiting class currently ranks No. 53 nationally, but its overall rank — which includes transfers — is No. 29. The Buffs’ overall rank was No. 58 in 2022 and No. 65 in 2021.
So, what was it like for the first batch of recruits to get wooed to Colorado by Coach Prime?
“Really, we were just kind of getting to know each other,” said Staub, who spent about 20 minutes with Sanders during his official visit weekend. “It basically got to the point where Coach Prime told me, ‘Get on Twitter and start recruiting your future teammates.’ That’s what I’ve been trying to do.”
Since Sanders was hired on Dec. 3, the Buffaloes have hosted two recruiting weekends: one from Dec. 9-11 and another from Dec. 16-18 before Monday’s dead period began.
Sanders was back and forth from Mississippi to Colorado as he split time with his Jackson State team ahead of the Tigers’ Celebration Bowl appearance. But after the game ended Saturday afternoon, Sanders flew back to Boulder, where he caught the last 90 minutes of a three-hour dinner at the Colorado team facility, complete with macaroni and cheese, green beans, blackened shrimp, fried chicken and dinner rolls, according to three-star cornerback signee Carter Stoutmire. A DJ was on hand, which prompted a few of the more gregarious recruits to start dancing.
But despite Coach Prime’s flashy personality, Saturday night felt more like a “cookout” than a “party,” said former Western Michigan defensive end Marshawn Kneeland, who is now considering Colorado as a transfer destination. Save for the McLaren and Aston Martin luxury cars on the field for the ever-anticipated photo shoot, there was a relaxing vibe to the visit.
Had a great time visiting Colorado this weekend. The staff is Legit!🙏🏽💪🏾 Really appreciate @DeionSanders @CoachNickWill @CoachCGrundy ✊🏾🐃🔥 @CoachKimble_ @AllenTrieu pic.twitter.com/EeRVrU5VcO
— Marshawn Kneeland (@MarshawnKneela1) December 18, 2022
Even Sanders’ entrance was understated.
“(He) just walked in,” said Kneeland. “Don’t get me wrong: There’re cameras on him at all times. (But) he just walked in: ‘What’s up?’ It didn’t feel like a head coach, if that makes sense. It felt like a father or an uncle. You know what I mean? It wasn’t like, ‘Oh I’ve got to be pressured to not say the wrong thing.’ It’s just like, ‘This is my peoples.’”
Kneeland, who has since visited UCLA, said he spent about 30 minutes with Sanders in his office as Sanders made his rounds with recruits. When the two of them sat down, Sanders had a series of cards that contained Kneeland’s information, including his stats.
“The first thing he said was, ‘I need you.’ And after that, it was like, I don’t know what else anybody can say to make you feel more at home, to make you feel more wanted,” Kneeland said. “It’s definitely a feeling that can’t be reciprocated anywhere else.”
Kneeland said he got the sense that Sanders is more humble now than he was as a player when he was making his name high-stepping up and down the field. His personality can be hard to explain, though, other than, “You just have to see it.”
“His personality is just different from most coaches. I can’t say all (coaches) because I haven’t met all of them,” Kneeland said. “It’s like when he talks, it’s similar to, I want to say how everybody looks at how Jay-Z talks in the rap industry. He knows what he’s talking about. He knows what he’s doing. He’s been there, done that. He was the greatest. So it’s like, he has that extra pizazz, if you will.”
Indeed, Sanders’ resume seems to be striking a chord with recruits who say there’s something different about the potential of playing for the only active college football head coach who is in the Hall of Fame as a player.
Stoutmire, whose father, Omar, played with Sanders and Colorado cornerbacks coach Kevin Mathis for the Dallas Cowboys in 1997, said his future coach — once the top prospect in the state of Florida — has a unique ability to relate to current recruits.
Perhaps three-star wide receiver signee Asaad Waseem summed it up best: “He’s Coach Prime. He played under a legendary coach in Bobby Bowden. He has a gold jacket, College Football Hall of Fame. It’s just different knowing you’re going to play for somebody who did it, got to where you want to go.”
Sanders may not have had much time with the most recent group of visitors, but the rest of the Buffaloes’ staffers made sure recruits had a memorable experience.
Stoutmire, who played at Prestonwood (Texas) Christian, said he and fellow recruits arrived around 3 p.m. on Friday. Stoutmire and his family first drove around campus to catch a view of the mountains. Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at local Italian restaurant Pasta Jay’s.
Saturday brought a facility tour, a photo shoot with the luxury cars and lunch at the facility. Because the photo shoot took about an hour-and-a-half, Colorado split recruits into two groups so that one could tour campus while the other posed for photos.
Stoutmire said he had never seen a McLaren, let alone sat inside of one, and wasn’t sure if the Buffaloes acquired the cars via an assist from boosters or a local dealership. Regardless, they were a nice touch. “I mean, athletes care a lot about cars. Athletes are all about style,” he said. “So I’d say that helps out a lot with getting athletes there because they know that the program has money and (that the school) would be able to help them get to the next level.”
Kneeland added: “The photos definitely came out great, which is lovely. I know I only posted a couple of them, but there were a lot.”
Saturday afternoon, both groups went to Colorado’s football cafeteria for lunch, where several televisions were tuned into the Jackson State game as Stoutmire munched on lemon pepper wings, barbecue chicken, brisket and cornbread. Each time Jackson State scored or made a big play, the room erupted with cheers.
And by Saturday night, Sanders was in town and making his rounds. That’s when Deuce Roberson, a Colorado Springs native and junior college transfer from Snow (Utah) College, informed the coaches that he was ready to commit. Roberson took an unofficial visit with fellow Snow College teammate Isaiah Jatta, a three-star offensive tackle who is the No. 19 juco prospect in the 247Sports Composite.
Jatta, who had already used all five of his official visits and therefore also visited unofficially, stayed with Roberson as the two commuted back and forth to campus. He, too, committed and signed Wednesday.
For all of the flash Sanders brings to Colorado football, the recruiting operation felt rather low key, according to several of the recruits. Kneeland said he even took an Uber from the airport to the school after he landed in Denver, about 30 miles from Boulder. That doesn’t mean Colorado didn’t impress, though.
“I’d say a lot of us were actually a little bit starstruck of like, how nice everything was, because we had an idea of what I was gonna expect, but it was honestly more than what I expected,” Stoutmire said. “Everything that I saw out there — just the campus and stuff and how nice everything was.”
And of course, Sander’s personality came out in full force.
“Deion’s dope. Deion’s a very personable guy,” said Cal transfer tight end Champion Johnson, who committed along with his younger brother Victory Johnson. “Everyone loves to talk to him. I don’t think I’ve seen him not smile yet. Honestly, I like to match people’s energy, and his energy was an energy I really enjoyed to match.”
Sanders has already flipped four-star running back Dylan Edwards thanks to their long-standing relationship, giving him a top-200 national prospect at the running back position. His quarterback position is in good shape as well, with the arrival of his son Shedeur from Jackson State. There’s also Staub, who committed to Colorado over SMU.
Now it’s time for Sanders to turn his attention to the February signing period, which gives him more time to establish relationships with high school coaches and unsigned prospects. On Wednesday, 247Sports reported five-star cornerback Cormani McClain, the nation’s No. 2 prospect out of Lakeland (Fla.) High, had been in contact with Sanders and Colorado.
Flipping a prospect of McClain’s caliber would send shockwaves through the recruiting world — just like last year when Sanders flipped Hunter from his longtime commitment to Florida State.
Carter Whitson, who coached Colorado edge signee Taje McCoy at Putnam City (Okla.) High, believes Sanders will engineer a quick turnaround and will get “more than people would think that he could bargain for” out of his players. He commended Sanders for hiring a quality staff that will take care of the X’s and O’s so that Sanders can presumably play the CEO role.
Over the last 10 years, Whitson said, Colorado has been “Rutgers or Kansas,” in terms of routinely producing teams that struggled.
Now?
“Name somebody that’s done it better on social media. And what do these kids do?” Whitson said. “If I asked Taje, (if) I’d say, ‘Hey, have you watched any Deion Sanders film?’, his answer would be, ‘Yes, I’ve seen him on TikTok.’ It wouldn’t be, ‘Oh yeah, we saw his highlights on SportsCenter, we watched it over and over again.’ That’s what my generation would say.
“Those guys, I think they’ll do it right. They’ll do it fast. And we’ll see what happens after that.”
Paul Chryst’s ouster from Wisconsin Sunday was a surprise. But Karl Dorrell? Not at all.
Colorado is 0-5 and 4-13 in the past two seasons. The roster is dreadful by Power 5 standards. This is going to be a really tough job. It doesn’t have a great recruiting base, and it’s got a pretty shaky positioning regarding conference stability. Colorado also hasn’t had back-to-back winning seasons in almost 20 years, dating back to 2004-05. There’s been just one Top 25 season in the past 20 years, a No. 17 finish in 2016 under Mike MacIntyre.
How can Colorado fix this? Who wants to try? The latter is just as important a question.
We think Colorado will try and keep the search focused on candidates with head coaching experience, but there are a couple of men without that experience we think the Buffaloes may consider.
Candidates with head coaching experience
Bronco Mendenhall: Former BYU and Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall is available. He’s a defensive-minded coach who had a solid run at Virginia after going 99-43 at BYU. He knows this region well and would feel like a pretty safe hire. Would he fire up the fan base? Probably not, but could he develop the Buffaloes into a bowl team? Probably.
Kalani Sitake: The guy who followed Mendenhall at BYU, Sitake would also make some sense. His teams are always very physical and play hard.
Colorado fired coach Karl Dorrell on Sunday in the wake of the Buffaloes’ 0-5 start to the 2022 season, the university announced Sunday.
The school also dismissed defensive coordinator Chris Wilson.
Offensive coordinator Mike Sanford will serve as interim coach, the school announced. Sanford is the former head coach at Western Kentucky, where he went 9-16 in two seasons (2017-18).
Defensive line coach Gerald Chatman was named the interim defensive coordinator.
“I want to thank Karl for his hard work in leading our program since 2020,” athletic director Rick George said in a statement. “Ultimately, however, the results on the field just did not measure up to our expectations and standards, which made it necessary for us to make this change at this time. It was an extremely difficult decision and I wish Karl all of the best in his future endeavors.”
Colorado’s latest loss was a 43-20 defeat to Arizona on Saturday. The 23-point loss was the closest game Colorado has played this season. TCU trounced Colorado 38-13 in the opener, and the Buffaloes haven’t really been competitive in any games.
Dorrell was in his third season at Colorado. He went 4-8 last year after a solid debut (3-1) during the COVID-19 season of 2020. Colorado suffered significant losses before this season to the transfer portal.
Dorrell finishes his time in Boulder with an 8-15 record in 23 games.
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg contributed to this report.
The move heard ’round the college football world last week inspired more than 200 questions for this week’s Dear Andy mailbag. But in trying to answer two in particular, I had a thought that I’d be fascinated to see put into action.
With USC and UCLA gone from the Pac-12 and headed to the Big Ten, Oregon and Washington are in peril and empowered at the same time. They don’t want to lose their stature, so naturally, they’d love to go to the Big Ten. But what if that’s not an option? They become some of the best options remaining on the board, and what they do could determine the futures of the Pac-12 and the Big 12. Joe and Jesse each came at their questions from a different direction, but they both lead to a potentially cutthroat scenario depending on how the dominoes fall.
Should Oregon pursue independence if Big Ten membership is off the table? — Joe in Albany, Ore.
One thing I’ve found interesting this past week has been the idea that the Pac-12 will try and steal from the Big 12. At this point, what Big 12 team would want to leave? Especially without USC and UCLA, is the Pac-12 really a more enviable destination? — Jesse
Notre Dame may hold the keys for everyone, but it feels as if Oregon and Washington hold the keys in the Big 12/Pac-12 situation. Obviously, Oregon and Washington would like to join USC and UCLA in the Big Ten. They would make sense in that league, too. They are big brands with passionate fan bases, and the schools are members of the prestigious Association of American Universities. They also would provide some travel partners for their fellow Pac-12 defectors.
But they clearly haven’t gotten an answer as to whether joining the Big Ten is a possibility. How do we know this? Because as soon as the Big Ten said it wanted them, Oregon and Washington would be gone. And if the Big Ten offered a definitive no, then Oregon and Washington would be moving to lock down their respective futures.
Presumably, the Big Ten’s next move depends on Notre Dame’s choice. If the Fighting Irish want to join, they’re in and the rest of the league decides if it wants to admit anyone else. But if Notre Dame isn’t ready to make that decision, it doesn’t have to. It is the one school that has an open invitation from every league whenever it wants. And the Big Ten could just hang out at 16 schools while it waits for the puff of white smoke or whatever signal the Domers choose to announce their choice.
If Notre Dame doesn’t choose soon, it could put Oregon and Washington in an awkward position. If the Big Ten isn’t sure it’s done expanding, the Ducks and Huskies shouldn’t lock themselves into any long-term deal. But the remaining Pac-12 members might be keen on making a long-term pact that ensures no one else leaves.
Sorry, Joe, but I don’t think independence is a viable option. I’m one of the people who always said Notre Dame should never join a conference in football if it didn’t want to, and after last week I think Notre Dame may have no choice but to join a conference in football. If Notre Dame can’t be independent anymore, there is no way Oregon could pull it off. But that doesn’t mean the Ducks don’t wield any power. Quite the contrary. If the Big Ten doesn’t shut the door, they and the Huskies have some options.
They could hold the Pac-12 together, providing two tentpole programs for that league — which presumably would expand. Jesse asks which Big 12 schools would leave for the Pac-12. All of them would as long as Oregon and Washington are still there. So the Pac-12 schools could select which ones they feel fit best.
There also is the possibility that the Pac-12 and ACC could come to some sort of rights-pooling agreement that could provide the remaining Pac-12 schools with some stability and the ACC schools with a few new revenue streams that might help soothe the members who feel they carry all the weight and deserve an unequal share of the pie. But that feels highly theoretical, and it also feels a little like a more fleshed-out version of The Alliance, the partnership formed last year by the ACC, the Big Ten and the Pac-12. “It’s about trust,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said at the time. “We’ve looked each other in the eye. We’ve made an agreement.” The Alliance essentially imploded last week when one of the leagues gutted another like a fish. And that tends to happen with these things. In 2010, the Pac-10 held informal meetings with the Big 12 about pooling television rights. A few months later, the Pac-10 tried to steal half the Big 12’s members.
Realignment is a dirty business, so perhaps it’s time the Big 12 tried to fight to win instead of merely to survive. What if the Big 12 could get Oregon and Washington? That may sound silly on its face, but we’re talking about a league with a new commissioner (former Roc Nation COO Brett Yormark) who doesn’t come from the college sports industry. Unlike a former athletic director, he doesn’t have to worry about shanking his friends to keep his conference ahead. He didn’t know these people before, so he can shank away.
Here’s the pitch. Tell Oregon and Washington they can join the Big 12, but just as a coach might get an out clause for his alma mater in his contract, let them have a clause that says they can leave with no financial penalty if the Big Ten wants them. (Maybe protect the league a little by forcing them to give something reasonable like 18 months notice.) Then use their defection to also grab Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State. If you must take Oregon State and Washington State to get Oregon and Washington because of political pressure in those states, take them and either just get really big or lop off two from the rest of the incoming group. Since the Pac-12’s media rights deal ends in 2024, go to partners Fox and ESPN and ask to begin negotiating a new deal that would begin in 2024 instead of 2025, when the next Big 12 deal is supposed to start. Write in the contract that you understand the payout will go down if Oregon and Washington leave.
If Oregon and Washington wind up staying, that 18-team league probably would be No. 3 behind the Big Ten and SEC in per-school revenue. The Big 12’s current deal (which includes Oklahoma and Texas) already pays more than the ACC and Pac-12’s deals. Oklahoma and Texas will be gone — and in this scenario, they’d be in the SEC in 2024 — but that lineup would be every bit as strong as the ACC’s. More importantly, that lineup can be on the market now.
Every league wants conference affiliation to be a 100-year decision, but if the last 100 years have taught us anything, it just isn’t. If anyone should understand that, it’s the presidents and athletic directors of the Big 12. Their league has been through every conceivable realignment scenario.
It has been clinically dead for a few minutes (2010). It has been minutes from implosion (2011). It has held a dog-and-pony show for potential members that resulted in nothing (2016). It has taken an epic gut punch and then grabbed four new members (2021). So while the presidents of the Pac-12 schools — who are new at this sort of thing — ask for blood oaths to ensure no one ever leaves their league again, the Big 12 should try to offer some flexibility to create the strongest lineup it can right now.
If that lineup stays together, great. If it doesn’t, well, the Big 12 has been through this sort of thing before.
But the conference that always seems to find a way to survive might soon have an opening to buy itself a little more time.
(Photo: Jacob Snow / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The reverberations from USC and UCLA exiting the Pac-12 for the Big Ten continue. The Big 12 intends to position itself to scoop up the most desirable remaining Pac-12 members, turning the tables on how things stood a year ago. The Pac-12 will enact its own plan, but, perhaps most importantly, can it hold on to Oregon and Washington? Meanwhile, questions loom at the national level. While all eyes are on what Notre Dame will do, what’s there to make of North Carolina? The Athletic staff dives into the latest realignment developments.
The Big 12 on the offensive?
The Big 12 has been given an unexpected opportunity to strengthen its position among the Power 5 conferences. Its new commissioner doesn’t want to waste it.
The league is having “serious” talks with six Pac-12 schools — Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Oregon, Utah and Washington — and is determined to move quickly, sources told The Athletic. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, hired just last week, has been described as “super aggressive” by one source and has the backing of the Big 12 presidents and chancellors to pursue the addition of Pac-12 members.
It’s unclear just how quickly the Big 12 could get a deal done on its expansion efforts, but those sources expressed optimism that Yormark can pull it off. CBS Sports first reported the Big 12 was in discussions about adding multiple Pac-12 schools.
Arizona and Arizona State have long been considered logical fits for the Big 12 if those schools ever had interest in exiting the Pac-12. But USC and UCLA bolting to the Big Ten has the Big 12 dreaming bigger. It’s also eyeing Utah, the Pac-12’s football champion in 2021, and Colorado, a Big Eight and Big 12 member until 2011.
The aspirations of Oregon and Washington are more difficult to predict right now. For both, it likely makes sense to keep their options open and hold out for the possibility of joining the Big Ten or SEC. The Big 12 would take those first four, but an effort to bring in all six is certainly worth attempting.
“(Yormark has) talked about making sure we’re going to be aggressive, we’re not going to sit on our hands,” one Big 12 athletic director told The Athletic. “I’ve talked to some ADs, and we think we’re in a position of strength.”
Yormark first met his ADs last Friday in a Zoom meeting, and several said he was impressive in his debut. He was strong in his conviction that the Big 12 can thrive in this changing climate and appears to have the right connections to help it happen. He wasn’t supposed to officially get to work until Aug. 1, but Yormark is embracing this opportunity to disrupt and knows the Big 12 can’t afford to sit back and watch this latest realignment saga unfold. — Max Olson and Chris Vannini
What the Big 12 could gain from adding these particular Pac-12 programs
When any league has a chance to be an aggressor in a round of conference realignment, it usually takes it. Beyond the obvious draw of Oregon and Washington, the Arizona schools would bring the Phoenix media market, the 11th-largest in the country. Colorado would bring Denver (No. 16), and Utah would solidify Salt Lake City (No. 30) alongside incoming Big 12 member BYU.
It also makes sense from a scheduling and travel perspective, especially with BYU already in the fold starting in 2023. It would preserve the Holy War, and while keeping or reigniting rivalries isn’t typically a major driving factor in any move like this, it would be a great byproduct.
A source at one of the target schools noted that many Pac-12 fans don’t travel well, and the strong fan bases in the Big 12 are another factor that make the conference intriguing. The idea of having Iowa State, BYU or Kansas State fans visit more regularly than several current Pac-12 schools could be appealing.
One Big 12 source noted that Colorado was “very skittish” back in 2010 when it fled the Big 12 for the Pac-12, seeking stability as well as the potential exposure/enrollment of the West Coast. Perhaps that calculation looks a little different in the current college athletic landscape — and a Pac-12 that doesn’t include the L.A. schools.
“I think a lot of things are possible,” the Big 12 source said. — Nicole Auerbach and Vannini
How is the Pac-12 responding?
Less than a week after the league lost its flagship schools, a Pac-12 source said that the conference is operating with a sense of urgency but is “not panicked.” If one of the remaining Pac-12 schools suddenly got a call from the Big Ten or the SEC, the source said it would be reason enough for the rest to press a panic button. But the Big 12? The source said that the current iteration of the Big 12 isn’t an obvious yes. It might make more sense for the Arizonas/Colorado/Utah contingent to wait a bit and consider all options, including whatever the Pac-12 is able to cobble together as a counteroffer.
One option that is worth exploring, the source said, is some sort of partnership between the Pac-12 and the ACC. (Just don’t call it an “alliance,” please.) Both leagues need a boost, because they’re both about to fall way behind the SEC and Big Ten in terms of annual revenue. The ACC is stuck in a media rights deal that essentially depreciates in value and doesn’t expire until 2036 — would a deal with the Pac-12 allow the ACC to renegotiate such a (bad) deal? It’s a question that administrators across the country are asking. — Auerbach
Could the Pac-12 end up regretting its 2021 inaction?
Less than a year ago, the Pac-12 could’ve made a move. New commissioner George Kliavkoff received plenty of interest from leaders at Big 12 schools who were looking to jump ship. It would’ve been way too easy to poach its most attractive members, plant a flag in the state of Texas and potentially bring an end to the Big 12.
But to the Pac-12, those schools just weren’t attractive enough.
Kliavkoff instead pursued the option that his conference believed added more value at the time, partnering with the ACC and Big Ten for their ill-fated Alliance. ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said at the time that they hoped the pact would “allow a conference like the Big 12 to figure out their path forward.” Calling that merciful seems a bit generous, but inaction on expansion by the Pac-12 did aid the Big 12 in coming together and agreeing to bring in four new members.
The Big 12 survived because no Power 5 league wanted its eight remaining schools. The Pac-12 might not be so fortunate.
“Shame on the Big 12 if they don’t do what the Pac-12 was unwilling to do last year,” one Group of 5 AD told The Athletic.
That’s not to say the Pac-12 would’ve avoided its present-day problems by raiding the Big 12. Even if USC and UCLA had been supportive of expansion (and sources believe they were not), such a move wouldn’t have prevented them from bolting for a better deal in the Big Ten.
But it was a moment in time in which the Pac-12 could’ve knocked a competitor out of the market and established a Power 4.
The Big 12 can do the same right now, though it won’t be quite as easy to pull off. Nobody is questioning whether Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah add enough value to the Big 12 to be worthwhile. Its leaders want to be aggressive. They’ve lived through this exact cycle of panic, fear and uncertainty, so they know how vulnerable the Pac-12 presidents are right now and how amenable they should be to the offer of a good solution.
The wild card, of course, is Yormark. He has plenty to learn about this landscape, and he’s having to do so as fast as possible. Yormark brings 30-plus years of experience in pro sports, not college. He doesn’t have longtime relationships with these commissioners. Maybe that helps. He doesn’t owe it to them to be collegial. The Big 12 has been through enough to know doing nothing can prove costly. — Olson
Why is the Pac-12 opening its media rights negotiations now?
The Pac-12 announced on Tuesday that its Board of Directors had “authorized the conference to immediately begin negotiations for its next media rights agreements.” The timing grabbed attention, but sources inside and out of the Pac-12 seemed to think it made sense. The Pac-12, with its current agreement up in 2024, needs to do anything and everything it can to preserve its existence, and it believes that going to media partners and getting their valuation will help.
Or maybe you can game out a merger or partnership.
If you’re Arizona or Colorado, wouldn’t you want all the facts and figures before deciding to jump to some other league? It’s useful info that perhaps will lead to the current Pac-12 members recommitting to one another. At least, that’s the optimistic view of the situation.
A more pessimistic view: Getting the numbers does not change the numbers. The Pac-12’s value to potential media partners has taken a significant hit, whether it can put a specific dollar figure on that or not. — Auerbach
So, what about the best of the rest?
A former Pac-12 administrator put it in simple terms Tuesday: Oregon and Washington trump anything that the Big 12 can offer.
That’s worth remembering in all of this, as the Big 12 and its new, uninhibited commissioner look to punch first and annex a portion of what’s left of the Pac-12. While it’s unclear what the Ducks and Huskies may do — and what real options they have at the moment — it is safe to say that those two programs, more than anyone else, have control over the fate of the Pac-12 right now.
The Pac-12 is no doubt trying to get ahead of matters itself — why else would it put out a statement saying it will immediately begin its media rights negotiations? — but that statement likely does little to actually affect the current situation.
It also distracts from the bigger questions at play on a national level.
What will Notre Dame do?
And, perhaps as importantly, what will North Carolina do?
Don’t underestimate the power of the Tar Heels in all of this. While things have been relatively quiet in ACC country since the UCLA and USC news last week, UNC remains the biggest prize not named Notre Dame. It is a national brand — what other school has a shade of blue named after it? — with a sterling academic reputation. And it is the flagship school of the nation’s 10th-biggest state in terms of population — one that happens to be the biggest remaining state that is not currently in the Big Ten or SEC footprint.
Either of the “Power Two” conferences can make legitimate cases for why it should add UNC. Its former chancellor (Carol Folt) is now the president of USC, the newest member of the Big Ten, which used to be run by a former Tar Heels point guard named Jim Delany. The SEC, meanwhile, could view the potential addition of the school as the perfect response to the Big Ten’s move last week, while also doing little to upset the current league membership.
The assumption has long been that if schools were able to leave the ACC — that conference’s grant of rights remains a thorny issue — and the SEC was interested in further expansion, the obvious candidates would be Clemson and Florida State, which have combined to win six football national titles since 1981 and three since 2013. But North Carolina is held in high regard in certain quarters of the SEC. So is Virginia, which on its face would seem a better fit for the Big Ten. UVA is the flagship university in the next-largest state that contains neither a Big Ten nor SEC school. And that could make it valuable to both leagues.
If a package deal were required to convince North Carolina to spurn the Big Ten (where it would fit quite well), then perhaps the SEC could try to add a mix of brand power, football success and academic prestige while also filling in its region’s map. Adding all four would bring the SEC’s future membership to 20, which would have sounded absurd a year ago. But nothing seems absurd now. — Matt Fortuna and Andy Staples
(Photo: Matthew Pearce / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The Pac-12 originally chose to be patient with expansion. It figured it could wait and find the perfect fit or hold steady. In the wake of USC and UCLA’s departure to the Big Ten, the conference has lost that luxury.
The Pac-12 Board of Directors met Friday morning and authorized the conference to explore expansion. The future of the conference is at stake. Said a former conference administrator to The Athletic, “I don’t know if they recover from this.”
The obvious hurdle: The Pac-12’s expansion options are not great. Despite its lack of football success and substandard media payouts, the conference always has offered some level of stability. That is no longer the case. USC and UCLA’s exits have cracked the foundation.
Commissioner George Kliavkoff’s first task is to keep Washington and Oregon in place. Without the Trojans and Bruins, the Pacific Northwest schools are holding the conference together. This won’t be easy. The second is to find the right schools that not only fit the Pac-12’s profile but also help the conference in its upcoming media rights negotiations. Let’s take a look.
The first calls
San Diego State: The Athletic asked a couple of industry sources about Pac-12 expansion candidates, and each one started here. The Pac-12 has never seemed to take San Diego State seriously, mostly because it operates in the California State University system, but it’s time to give the Mountain West school a strong look. San Diego has the 28th largest television market, which is not ideal, but adding the Aztecs would give the Pac-12 a presence in some part of Southern California. This cannot be ignored. Athletically, San Diego State recently has outperformed many Pac-12 schools in football and men’s basketball, so that’s not an issue. The football program has posted five seasons of 10-plus wins over the past seven years. The men’s basketball team has made the NCAA Tournament nine times since the 2009-10 season. Most important, the Aztecs have showed a commitment to taking the next step. This fall, they are scheduled to open $310 million Snapdragon Stadium as their next football home. There’s some momentum here.
Boise State: Another Mountain West program, Boise State has always been a popular expansion candidate simply because of its football success. It’s a nice starting point. The Broncos would compete in the Pac-12. In addition, the men’s basketball team just won the Mountain West title and played in the NCAA Tournament. Geographically, Boise also fits with the Pac-12 footprint. (Not that geography matters anymore.) The biggest drawback: The Boise market doesn’t add much media value.
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Houston and TCU: Nine months ago, with the sport still in shock after Texas and Oklahoma announced their SEC intentions, the Pac-12 considered expansion. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that Houston and TCU were the conference’s top targets. Ultimately, the Pac-12 stuck with 12, Houston settled into the Big 12 and everything looked fine. Until Thursday. Location-wise, this works. Dallas-Fort Worth is the nation’s fifth-largest media market. Houston is eighth. This would also put the Pac-12 into the heart of talent-rich Texas, which would help with recruiting.
Houston makes sense. TCU brings one issue in that the Pac-12 typically has had little interest in schools with religious affiliations. But over the past several years, TCU has distanced itself from those ties. The Pac-12 is also in no position to be picky.
Texas Tech: When it comes to the Big 12 schools — and you can add Baylor and Oklahoma State here as well — it ultimately comes down to this: With the Big 12 fairly stable, how much interest do they have in rescuing a staggered Pac-12? Per industry sources, Texas Tech long has fancied a move west, but that might recently have changed. Like Houston and TCU, this would get the Pac-12 into Texas, but that’s probably the biggest upside.
Worth checking out
SMU: If the Big 12 schools are not an option, SMU is worth a look. The American Athletic Conference school lacks the football punch that San Diego State and Boise State could provide, but SMU brings media value in Dallas. Like Houston and TCU, adding the Mustangs also would help with recruiting.
UNLV: Another Mountain West school, UNLV would offer little to enhance the Pac-12 in terms of competitive balance, but the Las Vegas market is attractive. In addition, the conference already has a presence in Sin City, holding its football championship and postseason basketball tournaments there.
— Max Olson, Christian Caple and Chris Vannini contributed reporting.
This week’s slate of games will be the final opportunity teams have to make an impression on the College Football Playoff committee before the first set of rankings come out.
A number of teams are still in the hunt for those top four spots, but no game this weekend has bigger consequences than the Michigan-Michigan State game. With the Wolverines ranked No. 6 and the Spartans at No. 8, it’s only the fifth time these two teams will play with both teams ranked in the AP top 10 and the first since 1964.
The game itself is big enough for both programs, but adding in potential playoff implications magnifies the meaning of the result.
“It’s one of those, it’s elimination mindset, playoff mindset at this point,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said. “You win this game, it’ll help your chances.”
This is only the sixth Big Ten conference game in the poll era where both teams are 7-0, and the players and coaches aren’t pretending that this is just another game. It has meaning for the rivalry, as far as who gets to take home the Paul Bunyan trophy and bragging rights, but it also could be a catapult into rare air.
Michigan has never been to the Big Ten championship game under Jim Harbaugh and has never been to the playoff. The players know they need to up the intensity, focus and preparation without straying from what has gotten them to this point in the first place.
“When you change how you prepare during the season, that’s a problem,” Michigan linebacker Josh Ross said. “We’ve been preparing the right way every week, and this week it definitely is higher stakes and we’re going against an in-state rival, but just attack it the same way. Elevate it for sure, but at the end of the day, it’s about us having a great week of preparation and attacking it the right way like we have been doing every single week this season.”
Ross grew up in Michigan and has been part of this rivalry his whole life, so he understands what is at stake.
For Mel Tucker and the Spartans, they revamped their roster with transfers this past offseason and will be playing with new faces and first-time participants in this rivalry.
Tucker doesn’t believe that hinders the new players and it won’t impact the final outcome — partly because he gave his team a history lesson on the rivalry, but also because it’s organically ingrained into the players throughout the year.
“In this type of rivalry, I believe so, because it’s in your face and it’s not just today, it’s every single day since the day I’ve been here, Feb. 12, 2020,” Tucker said. “There hasn’t been a day that’s gone by that someone hasn’t mentioned to me something about this game.”
Tucker said he believes that execution prevails in games like these, and both teams hope their preparation and execution will get them through this week and into the top four of these first playoff rankings. — Tom VanHaaren
No. 1 Georgia vs. Florida (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS): Georgia coach Kirby Smart isn’t saying whether JT Daniels or Stetson Bennett will start at quarterback for the No. 1 Bulldogs in Saturday’s game against Florida.
And, if anyone was wondering whether the Gators would try to go without a passer against the top-ranked defense in the FBS, coach Dan Mullen at least confirmed on Wednesday that someone will indeed play under center. He just wouldn’t say who.
“We will play a quarterback on Saturday,” Mullen said.
Neither coach is willing to reveal much as their teams prepare to meet for their annual rivalry game at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. The Bulldogs will try to avenge last year’s 44-28 loss to the Gators, while Florida will attempt to spoil Georgia’s bid for a perfect regular season and a CFP spot.
Bennett, who started last season’s game against the Gators and injured his right shoulder, has guided the Bulldogs to three straight victories against ranked opponents. Daniels hasn’t played since the first quarter of a 62-0 victory at Vanderbilt on Sept. 25 because of a lat injury.
Smart said Daniels, a former USC transfer, who started three of the first four games, has been throwing more in practice. Smart isn’t showing his hand more than that.
Likewise, Mullen isn’t saying much about his quarterbacks. Emory Jones has started every game this season, but freshman Anthony Richardson guided the Gators to four straight touchdowns in the second half of a 49-42 loss at LSU on Oct. 16.
Smart isn’t sure his team’s defensive plan changes much with either quarterback.
“They don’t hold back,” Smart said. “They may feel like there’s differences I’m not aware of, but when you look at the quarterback reels, there’s plays within each game that both quarterbacks run. They don’t not run quarterback draw, dropback pass, zone read or speed option with one guy or the other. There’s most packages they both carry. He may limit one guy’s packages opposed to the other, but the way the games are called, they have very similar plays.
“They’re physically different in their build, both tremendous athletes, and both tough guys to defend in terms of 53 yards of sideline, and an extra hat in the run game makes it tough.” — Mark Schlabach
Texas Tech at No. 4 Oklahoma (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN App): Texas Tech fired its head coach, Matt Wells, this week after losing a 14-point second-half lead to Kansas State, another disappointing conference loss. So longtime Tech and TCU assistant Sonny Cumbie will get his first chance at running his own show in the interim — beginning with a trip to Norman to face No. 4 Oklahoma this week.
But if you didn’t know better, the Sooners sounded like they were going through their own turmoil this week.
“We feel like there are a number of older, veteran guys on this team right now that need to be at their best and this team needs them to be better,” OU coach Lincoln Riley told reporters on Tuesday. “And we’ve made that adamantly clear.”
The difference, of course is that the Red Raiders are 7-16 in conference games in their past three seasons, whereas the Sooners are 20-3 in that same span, including 5-0 this year en route to an 8-0 overall record and 16 straight overall wins. But after trailing Kansas at halftime, as the Sooners did last week, a whole new level of scrutiny is inevitable.
OU has won six straight Big 12 titles but is on the defensive about its lackluster performances. In the eyes of the playoff selection committee, it would have to battle the similarities to the 2014 Florida State team, which got in largely because it was undefeated despite winning seven games by less than one score. The Seminoles were then blown out by Oregon 59-20 in a semifinal playoff game.
The good news is the Sooners can expect the return of Jalen Redmond, the defensive lineman who led the team in sacks and tackles for loss in 2019 before redshirting last season, after suffering a knee injury against Nebraska. Any and all reinforcements are important — the Sooners are also missing key pieces at corner and safety — as they’ve struggled mightily on defense since the second half of the Texas game.
Riley knows Tech will be fired up to play for Cumbie. The two Red Raiders alumni were members of the same QB room as students before they both became Tech assistants. But he says getting a team’s best shot is just a fact of life for the Sooners, and he’s still confident their best football is to come.
“I’ve been around here long enough that if you keep winning, things tend to work themselves out,” Riley said. “We have eight wins. We have the longest winning streak in the country. The sky is not falling. Don’t write us off yet.” — Dave Wilson
Colorado at No. 7 Oregon (3:30 p.m. ET, Fox): Depending on how you look at it, No. 7 Oregon’s game against 2-5 Colorado on Saturday is an opportunity or a trap. After losing to Stanford, the Ducks (6-1) have been walking a tightrope the past two weeks with close wins against Cal and UCLA. This is their reality: A second loss, and you can forget about the playoff; a continued streak of tight wins against inferior opponents, and you can start introducing doubt into their playoff case. Struggling to beat the Buffs at home would certainly do that.
Of course, as far as Mario Cristobal & Co. are concerned, all they have to do is keep winning, and there’s something to be said for a team that can continue to grind out wins. Cristobal praised his team’s resiliency in his news conference Monday before taking the blame for the interception Anthony Brown threw late in the fourth quarter of the UCLA game that almost cost Oregon the game.
“We’d like to have that playcall back,” Cristobal said. “The throw wasn’t what we wanted, either. Not a good play, and not the call we wanted.”
The Ducks escaped that mistake, but it was a reminder that the margins are slimmer than ever, especially for teams vying for playoff spots. Beating the Buffs handily would go a long way toward making a positive impression on the committee, and it would likely set them up to be in control of their playoff destiny the rest of the way. What Oregon may be lacking in style points lately (outside of Kayvon Thibodeaux, of course) it still has in its early-season win in Columbus over Ohio State. It’s one of the best wins of the season, but how many close calls can the Ducks afford before the luster starts to wear off? — Paolo Uggetti
play
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Todd McShay explains why he is ranking Malik Willis, Matt Corral and Kenny Pickett as the top quarterbacks on his draft board.
Duke at No. 13 Wake Forest (4 p.m. ET, ACC Network): As the only undefeated team left in the ACC, No. 13 Wake Forest (7-0) has to get used to a new reality headed into its final five games: playing as a favorite to make it into the ACC championship game from the Atlantic Division.
“We’re not very surprised at the success, but the one thing we’re adjusting to is we’re the target of everyone we’re going to play for the rest of the year,” quarterback Sam Hartman told ESPN.com this week. “We’re getting everybody’s best game. We’re not little old Wake Forest that everybody doesn’t take as seriously as they should.”
Wake Forest enters its game against in-state rival Duke as a double-digit favorite, coming off an impressive offensive display against Army, in which Hartman threw for five touchdowns and 458 yards in the 70-56 victory.
It stands to reason that if Wake Forest wins Saturday, one of the more intriguing questions headed into the rankings reveal will be where the selection committee places an undefeated ACC team not named Clemson. For their part, Hartman said nobody on his team even knew the first committee rankings were coming out Tuesday.
That makes sense, considering Wake Forest has been ranked only once in the CFP selection committee rankings, at No. 19 in 2019. This certainly is a unique scenario but one that Wake Forest players believed could happen before the season even began.
Hartman described a different aura around the team during offseason workouts, and “a feeling around this team that there was something special brewing.”
Receiver Jaquarii Roberson added, “We want to keep pushing and hit our highest peak. We want to keep going. We don’t want to settle for anything. I know our guys are going to keep getting better every day. It’s very exciting. It really is.” — Andrea Adelson
No. 20 Penn State at No. 5 Ohio State (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN App): Ohio State’s rickety start on defense led to a playcaller change from Kerry Coombs to Matt Barnes, but the responsibility for the product, and getting things fixed, fell on the entire defensive staff.
“It’s not OK to lose here at Ohio State,” Barnes told ESPN. “We all had to look at ourselves and really make some hard decisions and have some tough conversations about how we move forward. Everybody involved has taken ownership and really tried to put egos aside.”
The Buckeyes have made strides since the first three games, where Minnesota and Oregon eclipsed 200 rushing yards and Tulsa racked up 428 passing yards. In the four games since, Ohio State allowed 44 total points and 259.5 yards per game, albeit against inferior competition.
Barnes thinks coaches must always evaluate scheme, how the scheme is being implemented and personnel, especially when things aren’t going well. The staff quickly concluded that the players aren’t the problem — “We have, at Ohio State, the best players,” Barnes said — and instead focused on schematic tweaks that players could process and execute. Ohio State has maintained a healthy rotation of defenders, especially at linebacker and in the secondary.
“In some areas, we’ve become simpler, but at least have created the appearance of multiplicity,” said Barnes, who had been working with Ohio State’s secondary before the playcalling switch. “Not just sitting in the same picture.”
Saturday’s game pits Ohio State’s strength on defense — stopping the run — against Penn State’s weakness on offense. PSU ranks 100th nationally in rushing (118.9 yards per game) and generated only 62 rush yards in last week’s nine-overtime loss to Illinois.
Coach James Franklin expects starting quarterback Sean Clifford to be at full strength Saturday, but PSU must find some running room against an Ohio State defense that has held four teams to 76 rush yards or fewer.
“We’ve got to be more physical up front,” Franklin said. “We’ve got to create more push and play to the echo the whistle and create space. Then, our running backs have got to be decisive and get downhill. And we’ve got to keep people honest with our perimeter throwing games so people can’t overload the box.” — Adam Rittenberg
