John Canzano of the PORTLAND OREGONIAN is a couple years ahead of what will happen to the current Pac-10 conference. With dinosaur Tom Hansen about to finally step down as league commissioner, expect the conference to soon expand to 12 teams while adding a championship football game.
(Hasn’t she heard of who’s President now?)
Hansen has long been a proponent of the BCS and resistant to expansion, and claims that the league’s school presidents echo his outlook - and that there will be no future additions to the Pac-10’s membership.
And that would make him dead wrong in a couple years.
I’m guessing watching league member USC stand by helpless as the world watched the Big 12 and SEC championship games last weekend won’t continue to sit well with the school presidents, coaches and athletic admins.
While Oklahoma and Florida cemented spots in the BCS title game, USC was stuck in neutral and once again faced with the underwhelming prospect of another meaningless Rose Bowl appearance. Trust me when I tell you, USC fans want no part of the Rose Bowl, and would’ve loved to have, at the very least, enjoyed a league championship game to cap the season and give the team a glimmer of hope of moving up in the BCS standings. (Though that would’ve been unlikely this season.)
And it goes without saying that the money generated by such an attraction would go a long way to cover those women’s water polo financial shortfalls at Washington State.
As noted by Canzano, Utah and BYU are the obvious additions to the Pac-10, thanks to geography and travel logistics. Visiting teams could easily play both in a couple days in non-football affairs. Of course the Mountain West wouldn’t go quietly, but there’s precedence for this kind of high profile membership movement, witness the Big East and ACC in recent years. And Boise State would be a nice replacement for one of the schools. Along with perhaps Fresno State.
Now if we can only do something about the little matter of the BCS debacle.
2:58 pm on December 8th, 2008
The BCS isn't going anywhere -until people stop going to the games & watching them on TV, which isn't going to happen.
3:29 pm on December 8th, 2008
Canzano is an idiot reporter. I'm a pac-10er and I won't even read anything he writes, you should not either.
3:45 pm on December 8th, 2008
Canzano is a great reporter and right on the money. Hansen is a relic who needed to go out to pasture years ago. The Pac-10 bowl tie ins are a joke.
5:14 pm on December 8th, 2008
I'm a little surprised UNLV wouldn't be considered for Pac-10 expansion - unless the lure of the Strip is too tempting.
5:16 pm on December 8th, 2008
Hey girl,
I'll convert, then we can. But you'll have to take turns with my 6 other wives.
5:52 pm on December 8th, 2008
Canzano is money.
Getting Hansen out of the way was key to the expansion.
Remember, everyone said the Pac-10 would never have a postseason hoops tourney.
12:23 am on December 9th, 2008
Pac-10 needs to go to 12 schools and have a championship game. Unlike the ACC, I think the Pac-10 could draw well for a title game, with so many large TV/media markets in the region. BYU and Utah would be excellent additions.
2:09 am on December 9th, 2008
I think Boise State would be a better addition than BYU.. Just my two cents
9:47 am on December 9th, 2008
I think BYU and Boise would be the best fits here, Utah has had a few flash in the pan seasons, but not enough to make that move.
10:20 am on December 9th, 2008
Look, the reason expansion has been nixed is due to a high accedemic standard. Boise state does not offer that but BYU and Utah does in spades. Though all have have strong football programs, BYU and Utah are much better fits at Pac-10 type of school. One major problem is the scheduling. The north/south divisions would look like the Big-12 N/S divide:
N:BYU, Utah, UofO, OSU, UW, WSU
N:UofA,ASU, Cal, Stanford, UCLA, USC
Another problem is the schedule, with the 9 IC games that the Pac-10 plays, you would be limited to 3 out of division games were you to play you entire division.
In basketball this would become even harder to deal with. With only 18 IC games you would home and home your divisional games and only have enough spots left to play the other division once. This does work in other systems.
In conclusion. This would help many schools, esepecially USC in creating a championship game and a 13th game they could put on a resume. This would however, give oregon another crack at them on a neutral sight (somewhere like Qualcom or Candlestick would make sence for geographic reasons). For basketball this would also make the Papé Challenge, Pac-10/Big-10 challenge more interesting (1 team would sit out on the pac-10 side like the 1 team on the big 10 side does now). Scheduling would be important to consider, but it would be a good addition to the confrence.
12:45 pm on December 9th, 2008
Cannot happen because of academics. Pac 10 requires certain levels of its schools including research grant levels. BYU does not meet those standards. For that matter WSU and OSU do not meet the standards either, but as members of the old Pac 8 conference, they were grandfathered in to the academic standards when they increased 14 years ago. Also why no CSU team like Fresno State can get n.
2:09 pm on December 9th, 2008
"I think BYU and Boise would be the best fits here, Utah has had a few flash in the pan seasons, but not enough to make that move."
How on earth is Boise any less of a "flash in the pan" than Utah?
2:42 pm on December 9th, 2008
This is part of the way that the BCS will seed playoff teams in subsequent seasons. The demand is too great for a playoff and while I'd like to see the BCS destroyed, we're going to have to rely on their stupid rankings to seed the teams. However, this is a move in the right direction. Brigham Young and Utah already own the PAC-10, so much like ASU and the UofA joined in 1978, the Cougs and Utes should be invited as well.
2:42 pm on December 9th, 2008
P.S. I'm Mormon too, so yes I can although I prefer brunettes.
3:32 pm on December 9th, 2008
Dude, dont use the word own the pac ten. You beat UW (worst team) and UCLA (3rd worst team). Congrats, you munched this years bottom feeders. Its like making the same assumptions about the pac 10 should they eat your bottom teams. I am in full favor of BYU and UTAH joining (the argument that BYU isn't a good acdemic school is a joke, Utah you have an argument, but its no worse than OSU). I would hold judgment on how good those two teams are until next year. If you can beat UofO at Autzen, then come talk (BYU home games at the vagas bowl don't count, neutral field my ass), but I digress.
Having Utah and BYU would also work in distance. It is about 13 Hours from Eugene to LA, same from Eugene to SLC. This would also work with the pairings the the pac 10 boasts OSU/UO, USC/UCLA, etc… Their accedemics work and they would really round out the the conf. Do it, the pac-10 would be all the better for it. (Plus oregon would get another crack at USC on a neutral field).
5:21 pm on December 9th, 2008
The BSU homers are forgetting basketball.
6:57 pm on December 9th, 2008
"Cannot happen because of academics. Pac 10 requires certain levels of its schools including research grant levels. "
I'm willing to venture neither Arizona nor Arizona State fit that requirement when they transferred from the WAC to the Pac-10. Both BYU and Utah, in their own way, have the academic pedigree the Pac-10 desires, plus they have the facilities.
7:07 pm on December 9th, 2008
Since when do academics have anything to do with college sports?