"The Pac-12 is favored in 11 of 12 games in Week 1, with Washington State being the only underdog. That means -- at worst -- the conference should go 11-1 . . .Wouldn't be a bad announcement to the rest of college football if the conference runs the table."If this was a blog post about an NFL division - say, the NFC East - this note would come across as very odd. Why should a Stanford fan like myself really care about how the other eleven Pac-12 schools are doing in their opening games? The obvious answer, of course, is that having Pac-12 schools win non-conference games boosts the strength of the conference for BCS purposes, and thus helps the league's schools compete at the national level. Whereas in the NFL is doesn't help the Giants at all if the Eagles, Cowboys or Redskins win their out-of-division games (if fact, it directly hurts them), one of the quirks of college football is that a quality win by Washington State at BYU this weekend, for example, would indirectly benefit the Cardinal.
But if you think about it, there are a number of other reasons why college football fans should be rooting for their most hated of rivals in non-conference games. One is conference reputation. In the NFL, every team gets plenty of media coverage on Sportscenter, NFL Live and pretty much every other highlights show. In the NCAA, air time is heavily skewed towards the conferences with the stronger reputations, like the SEC and the Big Ten. If the Pac-12 can win a few notable non-conference games over the next two weeks, then conference games featuring teams other than Oregon and USC might become more nationally noteworthy. Also remember that, unlike the NFL, the NCAA's national TV schedule isn't completely set, so the more non-conference games that the Pac-12 wins the higher the odds that their games get picked up by ESPN or ABC later in the season.
Another reason for me to root for the Pac-12 to run the table this weekend is pure economics. With the launch of new conference-specific television channels like the Pac-12 Network, schools have their financial outcomes more closely tied to their conference-mates than ever before. As the conference gets stronger and interest in Pac-12 football continues to grow, the Pac-12 Network will get more subscribers which means more money for the conference and each of its teams. If Washington or Arizona State get off to a hot start and become teams that, like Oregon and USC, even out-of-market college football fans want to see regularly, that can translate into more dollars for Stanford's pockets. With college football becoming more and more about money, sweeping the Pac-12 Network's first ever football weekend would be a very good thing.
It goes without saying that, of this weekend's college gridiron action, I primarily care about Friday night's Stanford game versus San Jose State. At the same time, though, I'll be pulling for the rest of the teams in the conference to head into Labor Day with 1-0 records. In particular, Washington State, Arizona (against surprisingly dangerous Toledo) and Colorado (against in-state rival Colorado State) can put the conference on the map with significant victories this weekend. For the next two weeks, the other eleven Pac-12 schools are tied for my second-favorite FBS college football team.
No comments:
Post a Comment