Grab the face paint and that old, supposedly “lucky” jersey you haven’t washed since 2002. Get out the folding chairs, fire up the grill, and open a cold beverage.
It’s that time of year again.
College football is finally back, and a new Big Ten season – one that spans not two time zones, but four – is upon us.
And boy, it was going to be an exciting year.
This college football season has it all: chaos, change, and should bring in a ton of money. And did we mention the chaos?
If you’ve been sleeping under a rock with no cell reception, allow us to keep you updated on all the changes over the last few months.
The Big Ten has added four new teams: Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington. With the new additions, the league now consists of 18 teams, which makes the name Big Ten even more paradoxical.
The SEC, Big 12 and ACC will also all look different.
The SEC added Texas and Oklahoma, bringing the total to 16 schools. The Big 12 lost the above schools, but gained Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah, bringing the total to 16 schools.
California, Stanford and SMU all moved to the ACC, a football league that now has 17 teams and is located on both coasts but does not trump the Big Ten’s dominance in the Midwest.
These changes made the Pac-12 more like the Pac-2, leaving only Oregon State and Washington State as the only survivors, both of whom added Mountain West Conference fixtures to their now-defunct conference schedules.
The Big Ten has abolished divisions and, probably for the first time in history, the two best teams in the conference will rightfully compete against each other in the league title game.
The format of the College Football Playoffs is also being expanded – you guessed it. After a decade of only four teams, the field has now grown to 12.
A revenue share is also in sight.
All of this sets up an unprecedented college football season in which the success of many programs will depend on reaching the College Football Playoff, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz will have to abandon his refusal to travel west for regular-season games, and legendary prizes — like the gigantic Land Grant Trophy and the Broken Chair Trophy — will gather dust.
What does all this mean for the future of college football?
Well, nobody seems to really know for sure.
In the eyes of Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti, “college football has never been stronger, especially in the Big Ten Conference.”
Of course, it’s easy for the league’s president to say that, because the Big Ten has by far the most lucrative package of television rights in college sports. The Big Ten signed a seven-year, $8 billion deal with NBC, Fox and CBS last year.
Former Ohio State linebacker and current NBC Sports Big Ten football commentator Joshua Perry understands why some are uncertain about the direction of the sport, but believes the Big Ten is in a better position after adding the four West Coast teams.
“Change feels weird. There are a lot of emotions — mixed, for sure,” Perry said. “But as far as the current state of this conference, it’s going to get more attention than it’s had before starting Saturday. Because the conference is really expanded from coast to coast. And we’re in an era of expanded playoffs where we’re going to try to figure out where the best team in the conference can be by the end of the year.”
Others wonder whether university sports as a whole are developing too quickly.
“We still have to get through this first season of expansion,” said Howard Griffith, football analyst for the Big Ten Network. “I’ll be glad when they get the revenue sharing and things like that sorted out, but I think it’s going in the right direction. There are just some guardrails that probably still need to be in place that aren’t yet. So it’s pretty difficult to make everything fair for everyone.”
Griffith said one of his biggest criticisms of the Big Ten’s bicoastal nature is how traveling and crossing time zones could affect players. However, most Big Ten football coaches downplayed the impact of travel on the game at the league’s media day in July.
And what happens after this season, when college football’s scholarship cap of 85 is raised to 105 next season? How might coaches decide who gets to travel?
These were some of the most “fascinating” conversations Griffith said he had during his tour of Big Ten schools this month.
“People’s opinions vary widely as to what they will or could do, but they all say the same thing: we just don’t know what the rules are going to be,” Griffith recalls. “We expect things, but we don’t know exactly how they’re going to play out, so there are a lot of unknowns.”
One thing is certain, however: the Big Ten has what it takes to remain one of the leading football leagues and will regularly compete for multiple spots in the College Football Playoffs.
The Associated Press’ preseason top 25 list featured six Big Ten teams, four of which finished in the top 10.
Ohio State (No. 2) is the favorite to win the division, but Oregon (No. 3) begins the season right on the heels of the Buckeyes. Penn State (No. 8), however, is back in the race but never seems to get over the hump for some reason. Michigan (No. 9) will try to defend its national title, but the Wolverines must first make the College Football Playoff, which is not impossible thanks to the expanded 12-team format this season.
This means that the rest of the conference is mainly fighting for its relevance.
Game day traditions and historic rivalries are part of what makes college football unique compared to other amateur and professional sports. Every game every weekend feels like it has some significance. With the changing landscape and conference realignment, could the regular season lose value?
“No, I think the fans have too much of a stake in it for that to happen,” Perry said. “A lot of the reasons fans – and not just certain fan bases, but general fans of the sport – tune in to certain games is because of the history of the rivalry and the idea that they know you can throw the records out the window. It doesn’t matter what each (team did before the game), there could be a ridiculous outcome.”
Are you ready for a college football season like never before?
Because that is exactly what awaits us. This year and beyond.
“The pendulum kind of swings one way or the other and then things start to settle down,” Griffith said. “I think that’s what we really need. The pendulum is still swinging wildly back and forth at this point and we really haven’t had a chance to let it slow down a little bit. Especially now with the bigger conferences and the 12-team playoffs, it’s going to take some time, but I think that’s why I say we’re going in the right direction.”
@madkenney
