College Football 2019/20

[ursus arctos]

The Pac-12 was 18-0 in out of conference games until the Arizona schools and Cal lost late last night.

Arizona lost to Mississippi State in overtime, Cal could have beat Auburn and AZ State lost to Oklahpma State.

I thi k that the conference suffers from being very much at the centre of the "fake it til you make it" ecosystem. The schools have also seen large non-athletic pledges vaporise overnight and have to deal with some particularly dysfunctional state legislatures.

[Hot Pepsi]

The commentators for the Wazzou-Wisconsin game were going on about how WSU was showing it deserved to be in a major conference.

They didn’t point out that the stadium they were in seats 32,000. Wisconsin’s Camp Randall has 82,000. The size of the TV audiences is likely proportional.

Deserve has nothing to do with it.

But tying the schedules for the other sports to TV deals made for football is a choice.

There’s no particularly good reason why the the ACC and B1G have to play other sports coast to coast. They will, at least initially, because it enhances the relatively small TV prospects for those sports, but mostly because there’s just so much distrust among the conference and athletics leaders that they can’t reach an agreement on a more sensible plan.

Of course, that plagues most sports around the world. It’s the peculiar nature of the business, I guess. Each team/franchise/club is in competition with every other - for wins and fans - but they also need to cooperate to form the leagues and tournaments that make those competitions meaningful.

[Cal Alamein]

Decades ago had a soft spot for Texas a&m - not sure why. Now, I love it when they lose.

Longhorns lost a tough one to Bama last year in Austin. Was glad to see them beat em in Tuscaloosa.

And how about those Lobos? Does not say much for Tennessee Tech, that is for sure.

Wish there could be some sort of actual geographical normalcy w/ NCAA conferences but that ship sailed many yrs ago.

[Hot Pepsi]

It’s amusing to see Texas A&M be so bad. They spend so much on it and get top recruits. Texas has mostly underachieved for the past 30 years in football too.

[Hot Pepsi]

[ursus arctos]

(Allegedly) harassing the anti-harassment consultant is a good way to torch your over-market "generational wealth" contract.

Speaking of which, A&M are going to have the pass the hat at the Petroleum Club to buy out Jimbo before it is too late.

[Hot Pepsi]

He’s going with the “I regret some of it, but it was consensual” angle. Good luck with that.

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/NicoleAuerbach/status/1701304667882275048

https://twitter.com/NicoleAuerbach/status/1701313825868312671?s=20

[ursus arctos]

New definitions of chutzpah being developed on the Left Coast

[Hot Pepsi]

I couldn't begin to guess on the legality of all of that, but I assume that the leaving schools will give OSU and WSU some parting money, plus the rights to the Pac12 name and whatever is left in the Pac12 Network merch closet.

Like in Goodfellas when Pauli gives Henry $3,200 and says "Now I gotta turn my back on you."

[ursus arctos]

If the judge has granted a TRO, that requires her/him to have concluded that OSU and WSU have a likelihood of success on the merits.

This was the leaving schools looking to take funds they had already contributed to the conference out to facilitate their departure.

[Hot Pepsi]

If the judge has granted a TRO, that requires her/him to have concluded that OSU and WSU have a likelihood of success on the merits.

This was the leaving schools looking to take funds they had already contributed to the conference out to facilitate their departure.

Oh, in my fog, I thought it said that the board can meet.

I'm sure there's another gangster film quote that would apply, but I can't pull it right now.

[Hot Pepsi]

He may have a point when he claims that these kinds of proceedings are not primarily designed to find the truth. They are primarily designed for the institution to cover it's ass.

But the most charitable reading of this situation is that he was having an affair with a consultant that he hired. That's not going to help in recruiting or fund-raising.

I don't see any way that he comes out of this as their coach.

MSU has been this way at least for the past 30 years. Every time they start to look like they're going to have sustained success, it all turns to shit. They gave him a 10-year $95m contract based on one decent year and then they want 5-7 and now this.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/38380947/tucker-denies-harassment-claims-calls-msu-hearing-ridiculously-flawed

[caja-dglh]

It doesn't look good when your defense is "it was between two consenting adults" and the other person says it was sexual harassment.

[Hot Pepsi]

Yeah. They’ve been investigating this for months. If she were just running some elaborate con, the investigation would probably have turned that up.

The local paper was making a big deal out of the fact that MSU’s own Title IX office hired outside counsel. Surely that’s SOP, isn’t if? For a case that’s this high stakes for the institution, they need to spare no expense.

There’s also furor that they’ve been looking into this for around a year and it’s only coming out now.

It does seem like it should go faster. But, I’ve never run an investigation like this. Few people have. It just takes as long as it takes, I guess.

And they couldn’t just fire him based on an allegation, as much as twitter wants that to be how it works.

[jefe]

Speaking of which, A&M are going to have the pass the hat at the Petroleum Club to buy out Jimbo before it is too late.

But not before, as announced today, he teaches a course on contract negotiation at the A&M business school.

Sometimes, the jokes write themselves.

[Hot Pepsi]

[ursus arctos]

Alabama has not looked this poor for at least 15 years

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/chrisvannini/status/1703861822829244506?s=12&t=xvOireV8JOIS_CpbTtDBow

[Hot Pepsi]

Sparty cannot catch a break.

It's worth noting that MSU has an interim president now because three presidents have resigned in the past 5 years because they can't get along with the board. I don't know who is right and who is wrong, but it's not going well.

And, of course, they had a shooting. And the clusterfuck with the gymnastics program and Larry Nasser.

[ursus arctos]

On the other hand, this may well have freed up the better part of the USD 95 million they had agreed to pay Tucker

[Hot Pepsi]

Sure. One cannot help but wonder if this all would have gone differently if the contract had less money left on it and/or if the team was doing better.

[Hot Pepsi]

It's going to get ugly.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/38439040/mel-tucker-says-other-motives-play-michigan-state-decision

[ursus arctos]

Always does when there is more than 75 million in play.

His legal case appears to be rather weak, and I don't think he has anywhere near the volume ofuboic support he had when he got the extension.

[Hot Pepsi]

I don't know how courts define "moral turpitude" etc when deciding if a for-cause termination is legal or not.