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Realignment theories abound Fantasy conference proposals become an offseason sportPosted: Monday May 19, 2003 11:07 AM
Another week, another bushel of fantasy conference proposals filling up my inbox. Some of them are fairly predictable. Some are quite intriguing. And some are just plain delusional (hobbies, people, hobbies). A few of them, along with some actual questions about other topics -- believe it or not, there are still other topics of interest in college football -- are addressed below. Doesn't the demise of the Big East mean Notre Dame will be FORCED to join the Big Ten? It's all about bowl tie-ins. ND needs them, otherwise it's BCS-or-bust every year. Virtually all non-BCS, big-$$$ bowls have tie-ins. Without access to those tie-ins, ND would be forced to go 10-1 every year to qualify for the BCS, or else it'll end up annually in the Humanitarian Weedeater Sour Grapes Bowl.
I think Humanitarian Weedeater Sour Grapes is an apt description of nearly all the bowls played before New Year's these days. Quick, without looking it up, who won the Las Vegas Bowl last year? The Houston Bowl? Can't remember? Can't blame you. As for the Irish, David, do you really think they'd be out on the street in terms of postseason opportunities? Even if the Big East partnership goes belly up, you don't think reps from the Gator Bowl or the Insight Bowl will be in South Bend the next day with contract in hand? It's not like those bowls are going to have a whole lot of other options themselves if they lose the Big East. Certainly Notre Dame wouldn't have as many built-in opportunities working on an independent basis as it would in the Big Ten, but by no means is its back against the wall if the Big East crumbles. What Miami should do is think outside the box and go back to being independent. If this is really about money, Miami can get a contract with Fox. You can make a strong argument that the demand for Miami has to be on a level with Notre Dame -- the alumni base in Miami has large roots in New York, and the talent level at Miami assures it will dominate for the near future.
Now there's an interesting concept. The prevailing logic is you need conference affiliation to survive because of the TV and bowl deals. Notre Dame has been the one program capable of transcending that because its unparalleled national following helped land its own TV contract. Could Miami pull it off as well? I tend to think no. The Hurricanes are certainly the most dominant program of the past 20 years, and they certainly play in some of the nation's biggest games each season. But I don't know that people from all parts of the country would tune into a Miami every week regardless of who it's playing like NBC's audience does for Notre Dame. Think about it, not only does Notre Dame have the Catholic thing going for it, but it has huge followings in two of the nation's three biggest cities, New York and Chicago. Miami, as good as it's been, can't sell out most of its own home games. I think Miami needs a conference more than you might realize. I think one thing that you are overlooking in terms of the University of Miami, where I am a law student, is joining the ACC is a huge step down in academics from the Big East. The Big East has storied academic institutions such as Georgetown, Syracuse, St. John's and Seton Hall, meanwhile the ACC has Duke. Georgia Tech is a nice engineering school, but after that there is a huge dropoff to the dregs of Southern state institutions. I hope President Shalala also takes this into account when she makes her decision.
Matthew, I'm guessing you lived in the Northeast before enrolling at Miami because you seem to have an inflated view of the Big East's academics and an underappreciation of the ACC's. I don't think Virginia's entrance requirements are typical of a "southern state school." Using the popular U.S. News & World Report college rankings from 2002, you'll find that the ACC has five top 50 schools (Duke, Virginia, Wake Forest, North Carolina and Georgia Tech) compared with one Big East football school (Boston College) and Notre Dame and Georgetown in basketball. The ACC's other four schools are all in the next category, tier 2, whereas the Big East has three that fall into tier 3, West Virginia, St. John's and Temple. All of the schools that would be joining the ACC are at least tier 2. Of course, Louisville should go to the Big East. But South Florida in the new Big East? I guess you are trying to keep the Big East in the south Florida TV market. But will the people of that area watch the Big East even with South Florida in it? Wouldn't Cincinnati be a better fit?
OK, first off let's clear up a little misconception. The University of South Florida is actually nowhere near South Florida. Tampa, actually. So this would not be the same audience as Miami. I seem to be in the minority in projecting USF to be one of the Big East's likely invitees, but hear me out. You have to consider what USF will be 10 years from now, not what it is right now. This is a program that after only six years of existence already is producing winning records, beating teams like Pittsburgh and sending players to the NFL. With the talent and enthusiasm for college football in Florida, the Bulls seem to me the one team among those available with the most chance of actually turning into a big-time program, and they have a competitive basketball program to boot. Compare that with Cincinnati, which, while already built up in both sports, never has been able to draw more than 15-20,000 to football games and would never be associated with a BCS-type atmosphere. I could be wrong, but USF seems to have more potential. Hello, Stewart. Most people on the West Coast know that the Pac-10 is the toughest conference in all of football. That's why very few national champions come from the Pac-10. Do you see USC or Washington having a chance of pulling it off? Last time was 1991, with Washington.
No, I don't. Why? Pac-10 teams play brutal schedules when compared with most other conferences. There aren't any other big-time teams on the West Coast to play in the non-conference, so they end up traveling across the country for marquee games. And they play all but one team in their own conference every season. Consider: Ohio State will not play its first road game this season before Oct. 11, with eight home games in all. They don't play either Illinois or Minnesota, either of which could end up winning eight or nine games this year. Conversely, Washington opens its season at Ohio State, a year after opening at Michigan. And USC, a year after playing at Kansas State and Colorado, this season travels to Auburn and Notre Dame. Yikes. How long do you think Bob Stoops will coach Oklahoma? It is well known that Stoops likes Norman, and he feels comfortable there, but do you think he could be lured away? How would the Sooners replace Bob Stoops and the present coaching staff? And where would Oklahoma be without Stoops?
OK, calm down, Tim. Deep breaths. Bob Stoops isn't leaving next month or anything, let's not worry about how to replace him just yet. In all seriousness, I don't see Stoops leaving anytime in the next couple years, but I don't think he'll ever be Oklahoma's version of Bobby Bowden either. With each year, I see more similarities between Stoops and his mentor, Steve Spurrier. Like Spurrier, I think he truly enjoys being the architect of a dynasty. While most coaches try to downplay their teams' expectations going into each season, Stoops goes out of his way to point out how good his is. I think he's driven to win at least one more national title. But like Spurrier, he also may eventually become bored and move on to another challenge, the logical one being the NFL. Finally this week, a few readers e-mailed casting suggestions for my proposed TV movie versions of the Mike Price Story. For Price, the most common mention was Coach himself, Craig T. Nelson, with the role of Destiny the stripper going to former Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider -- that's right, a man, man. Other suggestions: Mike Price would be played by John Spencer from The West Wing. Destiny would be played by Lisa Kudrow, which is being awfully charitable.
In the Fox movie version of the Mike Price story, might I suggest that Mike Price be played by Darrell Hammond of Saturday Night Live. He could make it pretty funny.
Can we get Jessica Hahn to play Destiny?
As for the Mike Price Story, Destiny Rides Again, here are two suggestions for the key roles: Not sure if he is still alive, but Hal Smith, who played Otis the town drunk on The Andy Griffith Show, would be perfect for the role of Coach Price. [Unfortunately, Smith died in 1994]. As for the role of Destiny, you can go either of two ways -- the way that Coach Price saw her (Jenna of Survivor: Amazon) or the way the rest of the world viewed her (Dee Snider).
Stewart Mandel covers college sports for SI.com. To send a question or comment for Stewart's Mailbag, click here. |
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