Friday, November 17, 2017

Cleaning out the inbox-College Football

I am planning on a special post that I've been talking to different people for their perspectives yesterday and I wanted to finish it today, but I still feel that it needs refinement.

Hang in there and I hope to get that and the Ric Flair piece finished over the next few days.

Texas Tech and TCU have been conference rivals (SWC), not (Texas Tech was an expansion Big 12 member, TCU moved to the Mountain West first before receiving their Big 12 invitation), but haven't played for a trophy since 1970.
The Red Raiders and Horned Frogs decided to change that with the return of the Saddle Trophy for this year's game.
Why the return of the trophy? Because after playing for the saddle for years after the Red Raiders win in 1970, the trophy disappeared and hasn't been seen since.
I love trophy games when they come organically and aren't forced into existence, so the return here makes lots of sense.
TCU currently plays for the Iron Skillet against the SMU Mustangs, while Tech shares the Chancellor's Spurs trophy with the Texas Longhorns.

I recently mentioned that I've watched a lot more Pac 12 football this season and that I like watching their games for various reasons.
However, the league does have some problems that need fixing and Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury-News takes a swing with what he calls a radical solution and what I would say is an amazing and simple plan to address issues with the conference.
My only questions are these-Why haven't I heard of Wilner before this and how in the world hasn't the Pac 12 picked up the phone and called Wilner for some counsel?

David Briggs of the Toledo Blade writes of the poor attendance of the battle for I-75 earlier this week between the Toledo Rockets and Bowling Green Falcons and Briggs raises an excellent point- is the amount of money that the MAC receives from ESPN to play these November games on weekdays along with the exposure worth the hassle and lost attendance numbers to their fans?
It's a good question and for as much as I like being able to watch MAC football during the week, the deal with ESPN has to hit attendance hard and I wonder just how many high school recruits are sitting in their living rooms watching Central Michigan play Akron on a Wednesday night...

Awful Announcing writes that the Mountain West has issues with television as well in a different manner as their problem is with the late night starts to have their games televised to the East Coast.
The Pac 12 has been complaining about this as well, but their contract is far more substantial than that of the Mountain West and the MWC has to wonder (like the MAC) if the money that they bring in from ESPN and CBS Sports Network is worth the bother to their fans and the lost attendance.
The Mountain West contract still has three years to run, so they have time to figure things out.
It really is an intriguing issue to consider for Group of Five schools and one that affects the bottom line of schools that don't have nearly the budget of larger conference schools.

Another note on Bowling Green, which seems to be a program in flux under second-year head coach Mike Jinks.
Jinks had never been a head coach at any college level or even a coordinator when the Falcons selected him to replace Dino Babers, who left to go to Syracuse.
Jinks also seemed to be a questionable hire, having spent his entire coaching career in Texas, which meant no familarity with the Midwest and the main recruiting base for schools in the MAC.
I make no claims about the recruiting levels in the MAC, but that doesn't seem to be a recipe for a successful program and it'll be difficult to quickly turn things around for the next coach at those schools.
The MAC at its base is a transient league for head coaches as coaches that succeed there usually don't last long as they move to Power five jobs, but that has its issues as schools that hit the bottom of the league with a thud, not a bounce.
Bowling Green has had three of their last four head coaches move on to Power five jobs with success (Urban Meyer, Dave Clawson, and Babers) and the other (Gregg Brandon) was fired after six years with an overall winning record (44-30).
With one game to go in the season, Jinks is just 6-17 and even though two years isn't really long enough to judge competely, can a school with the tradition of Bowling Green afford to gamble on another a year or two after falling from 10-4 to possibly 2-10 ( with a possible loss in the season finale to Eastern Michigan) in just two years?
It'll be interesting to see if Jinks is given more time or if BG cuts their losses and looks elsewhere for the latest MAC coaching star...







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