GRM
I'm a ****ty troll
so the evil deed is done. usc ****ed over the whole conference and themselves and here we are.
how is everyone going to turn out in the long run?
in no particular order, just covering all 12 lost souls...
1. usc. they will be fine. they have the resources, the support, and the footprint to be competitive. competitive, however, is not the standard. winning it all when you have added ohio state and michigan to your conference schedule has become a lot more difficult. and, the trojans appear to be very slow to respond to the way things are, as they are bleeding recruits. and, they cannot run the ball or play defense. they are screwed in the big.
2, oregon. in the age of pure mercenary drivers, the ducks will be ok. they will have to transition their game and play better defense and such, but lanning knows what they are getting into. this era was built for a nike team, although they are still going to have a hard time catching the leaders.
3. ucla. they are completely and totally and utterly ****ed for the foreseeable future. they do not invest in football; they are unable to compete in the current era. in the pac, if they had a couple guys, they could make noise. those days are now over. they are the cal or northwestern of the big.
4. washington. uw is basically going to be wisconsin or michigan state. once in awhile, the stars will align, and they will be in the mix. there are a lot more dragons in the big than there were in the pac.
5. utah. utah is foundationally built well. run the ball, play defense, and do not **** up. the b12 is weaker than the pac.utah will prosper.
6. arizona state. they have been stepping on their own swinging richards forever. cheat and correct. cheat and correct. they have a decent talent pool to draw from and their limited academics should be an advantage. they are going to underperform in the b12.
7. cal. they are completely totally and utterly ****ed. the whole landscape has seismically shifted and they have no answers. bless their hearts, they are vandy or northwestern at best if their programs survive. they do not have the will or the resources of their nocal partner-- this will end badly.
8. CU. it is of course a pivotal moment for our Buffs. we spent a long long time, even when we won some games, having a hard time balancing between what big time ball is and what our academic leaders perceive that it should be. we have more top end success than this new conference we are in. do we want it as much as some of the eager striving secondary or tertiary programs who are now our conference mates? i dunno.
9. Arizona. they fooooked. but are probably ok with it. it is a good bb league and they are adjacent to the elite club in that shorty pants game. so they will do what they. they are basically ucla with slightly more desire.
10. stanford. folks tend to forget. this is a small school with high academic requirements. their sports facilities are among the best, for every sport, across the board. the money is there but the culture and desire to win and their own perceptions of who they are will limit their upside. forever.
11. and 12. wsu and osu. they will be competitive at their new relegated level. the problem that they both have is they are now on the wrong side of the line. being relegated to the g5 sucks for them. thus, their fortunes and chances of punching their way up an out of this hell scape are not ideaL
**** YOU.
GO BUFFS.
This is well done. I agree USC is in for an adjustment period, maybe just the # of guys leaving their program v. the guys that they brought in. Plus, the unknown at QB. There just seems to be a disconnect, and I'm not sure Lincoln Riley is in it for the long haul. Thereafter who comes in behind him? Certainly, it is a most prestigious football program in CA. I think they could bounce back, however CA have severe State Restrictions on HS football (specifically hindering development of Dline, Oline, and LB); and other schools have been raiding their skill players for a while. It could be a rough go in the B1G and a while before they get into the upper echelon of that division.
I agree that UCLA and Zona have serious problems given the bleak financial status of their athletic department finances. The media is exceptionally high on Zona and Brennan, but they lost a bunch. Their basketball tradition is established, but generally spotty in football. They never played in a Rose Bowl.
I think for UW, it is 50/50 or maybe 40/60 whether the Fisch experiment actually works. Fisch has a short track record.
I do think UW and OR will really lock up the Northwest, Northern CA and compete well for recruits/transfers in the west or who want back to the West Coast. So, I give them a shot.
Presently, OR has shots at recruits/transfers anywhere. Lanning looks great, but his tenure is short. If OR pops out, Lanning could be in line for an established SEC or B1G program. Certainly, Phil Knight would match or beat any salary. The consideration would be the impact of travel and moving to a place closer to more fertile recruit/portal grounds. In this scenario, it would be a competitive established program--Moore does not work at MI, Day loses ground at OSU, James Franklin term comes to an end at PSU, Brian Kelly leaves LSU, DeBoar flames out at Bama, then a few others in the SEC.