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Things keep getting weirder.

I don't know. I've heard people say definitively you need 8 full football members, but never say how they know that. I do know you need 8 football members to qualify for the College football playoff conference champions slot. I do know you could have 7 full football members and a Gonzaga and be an NCAA Division I conference with autobids in all NCAA championships (assuming you meet the sports sponsorship requirements, but you could bring in affiliates for sports like baseball). What I don't know is if 7 full football members, Gonzaga and UConn for football only would be enough for the CFP and to be classified an FBS conference or if your 8 FBS schools need to play all sponsored sports in conference.

They were talking about UTSA. 1/4 of their schedule is against Owls-Kennesaw, Rice and Temple.

In line with the comments above about the top tier, I ran across this list of FBS schools by winning % the other day. When you exclude the newbies (Boise, Kennesaw, Coastal Carolina, App. St., James Madison, Ga. Southern), it just runs straight down the list of who's who. Ohio State, Alabama, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Texas, USC, Penn St., Nebraska Tennessee, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Miami (FL), Florida, Auburn, Clemson, Washington https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Division_I_FBS_football_win–loss_records Oregon is down at #40 and Colorado at #47. I've posted before a list of the top 19/20 schools for #1, top 3 and top 5 finishes since 1960 and its those first 17 above with Washington, Oregon and Colorado #s 18-20. NCAA Division I FBS football records[1][2][3] Team Won Lost Tied Pct. Years Total Games Conference Ohio State 966 333 53 .734 135 1352 Big Ten Alabama 968 337 43 .734 130 1348 SECTooltip Southeastern Conference Michigan 1006 354 36 .734 145 1396 Big Ten Notre Dame 950 338 42 .730 135 1330 Independent Oklahoma 947 341 53 .726 130 1341 SEC Boise State 491 188 2 .722 57 681 Mountain WestTooltip Mountain West Conference Texas 951 392 33 .703 132 1376 SEC USC 877 368 54 .696 131 1299 Big Ten Penn State 932 409 41 .689 138 1382 Big Ten Kennesaw State 71 33 0 .683 10 103 CUSATooltip Conference USA Nebraska 920 424 40 .679 135 1383 Big Ten Tennessee 868 414 53 .670 128 1346 SEC Florida State 581 284 17 .668 78 882 ACCTooltip Atlantic Coast Conference Georgia 884 429 54 .666 131 1367 SEC Coastal Carolina 169 89 0 .655 22 258 SBCTooltip Sun Belt Conference Appalachian State 666 356 29 .648 95 1051 SBC LSU 808 435 47 .645 131 1327 SEC Miami (FL) 666 388 19 .630 99 1073 ACC James Madison 371 221 4 .626 52 596 SBC Florida 759 447 40 .625 118 1245 SEC Auburn 801 472 47 .625 132 1320 SEC Clemson 799 473 45 .624 129 1317 ACC Georgia Southern 420 254 10 .621 61 684 SBC Washington 777 467 50 .619 135 1294 Big Ten

And I understand former UGA QB Jake Fromm (with the hot mom) has been cut. So he could do announcing and his mom the sideline interviews for the State Farm PAC.

What's funny is the 8 are lined up on different sides. Utah and BYU are off to the Big 12. San Diego St. and Colorado St. are with the Pac XX UNLV, Wyoming, Air Force and New Mexico are with the MWC.

Well its a recent contract. It was done in order to give the 2Pac games this season. It goes away in another year. I don't think it is like the exit fees that are to approximate damages. This is intended to be painful, just as breakup fees in a corporate merger are painful. Its much more of an agreed purchase price. Strikes me as a frivolous lawsuit.

I read they were only offering $2.5 million for exit fees for the AAC schools. Those fees would probably be around $15-$18 million.

"...But that plan is going to be limited by another reality: Memphis, one consultant told USA TODAY Sports, is not valued by TV rights holders significantly more than, say, Utah State. And Oregon State and Washington State, the two original Pac-12 leftovers who decided to bring the conference back, aren’t valued much more than Memphis. In other words, the new Pac-12 was not going to be a power conference no matter which of the potential members jumped in. And the notion of a $12 million per member payday, which had been the carrot for a school like Memphis (currently making around $8-9 million in the AAC) was merely theoretical and based on calculations from the Pac-12’s paid consultants that few people across the college sports industry actually believed...." https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/dan-wolken/2024/09/23/pac-12-conference-realignment-aac/75354941007/ This is the part that made me skeptical of all these plans. It just didn't make sense based on the values. WSU/OSU are not much more valuable than a typical G5, maybe less than Boise. And after that, you've probably got Memphis, USF and Temple. Then its all pretty fungible, some slightly worse than others. Besides the money they are spending, SDSU seems to be mentioned mainly because they are the only G5 school in southern California. Below are the TV ratings from Sic-em for non power schools. The schools with 36 games over the 9 years were ranked. Oregon St. was #66, near the bottom of the P5 and a little below Boise and Memphis and just ahead of USF. Below that, I've ranked the schools with less than 36 games in order. UNLV was dead last in MWC and SDSU didn't do that well either, ranked right between Buffalo and Kent. School All 2013-2021 Top 36 (4 Per Year) Top 36 Rank Navy 45 Games, 2.33mm 2.819mm 35 Washington St. 56 Games, 1.407mm 1.905mm 50 P12 Boise St. 72 Games, 0.827mm 1.258mm 63 MWC Memphis 52 Games, 0.918mm 1.257mm 64 Oregon St. 40 Games, 1.124mm 1.214mm 66 P12 USF 48 Games, 0.861mm 1.103mm 68 Temple 42 Games, 0.773mm 0.891mm 70 Tulsa 51 Games, 0.603mm 0.82mm 72 Northern Illinois 36 Games, 0.648mm 0.648mm 74 East Carolina 37 Games, 0.547mm 0.56mm 75 Army 24 Games, 3.331mm N/A N/A Rice 13 Games, 0.836mm N/A N/A Fresno St. 33 Games, 0.697mm N/A N/A MWC Coastal Carolina 10 Games, 0.647mm N/A N/A Ball St. 15 Games, 0.635mm N/A N/A Colorado St. 22 Games, 0.605mm N/A N/A MWC Western Michigan 26 Games, 0.603mm N/A N/A Appalachian St. 27 Games, 0.587mm N/A N/A Air Force 30 Games, 0.584mm N/A N/A MWC Florida Atlantic 13 Games, 0.583mm N/A N/A Connecticut 31 Games, 0.571mm N/A N/A Utah St. 33 Games, 0.563mm N/A N/A MWC ULL 25 Games, 0.562mm N/A N/A Western Kentucky 18 Games, 0.553mm N/A N/A UAB 8 Games, 0.552mm N/A N/A Hawaii 15 Games, 0.55mm N/A N/A MWC Southern Miss 11 Games, 0.541mm N/A N/A Buffalo 25 Games, 0.529mm N/A N/A San Diego St. 28 Games, 0.522mm N/A N/A MWC Kent St. 25 Games, 0.503mm N/A N/A Marshall 18 Games, 0.498mm N/A N/A Nevada 24 Games, 0.493mm N/A N/A MWC Bowling Green 25 Games, 0.478mm N/A N/A Arkansas St. 24 Games, 0.472mm N/A N/A Massachusetts 6 Games, 0.468mm N/A N/A Wyoming 29 Games, 0.45mm N/A N/A MWC UTEP 12 Games, 0.444mm N/A N/A Ohio 29 Games, 0.44mm N/A N/A Toledo 31 Games, 0.439mm N/A N/A Georgia St. 9 Games, 0.434mm N/A N/A South Alabama 15 Games, 0.42mm N/A N/A Tulane 35 Games, 0.419mm N/A N/A Miami (OH) 15 Games, 0.405mm N/A N/A San Jose St. 20 Games, 0.398mm N/A N/A MWC New Mexico 25 Games, 0.371mm N/A N/A MWC Middle Tennessee St. 12 Games, 0.359mm N/A N/A Eastern Michigan 9 Games, 0.35mm N/A N/A Central Michigan 17 Games, 0.347mm N/A N/A Texas St. 15 Games, 0.337mm N/A N/A Louisiana Tech 14 Games, 0.334mm N/A N/A UTSA 16 Games, 0.314mm N/A N/A UNLV 20 Games, 0.307mm N/A N/A MWC

ULL has always been FBS. They didn't move down in 1982. LT didn't move up until 1989 and ULM until 1994.

https://www.actionnetwork.com/ncaaf/conference-realignment-update-recap-gonzaga-pac-12-mountain-west-aac? McMurphy's summary: "For college football fans wondering what conference realignment would look like if they could speed date for new partners, Monday provided a real-time glimpse. And like most reality TV shows, it was part lovefest, part trainwreck, and you couldn’t look away. It started with Memphis, USF, UTSA and Tulane — all of which had offers to join the Pac-12 — announcing they were committed to the AAC. They sent out a 120-word commitment to the AAC ending with “The American Way.” Lately “The American Way” has been conference realignment...."

They're desperate for football members.

MWC is trying to get commitments. its going back and forth. Air Force has committed. SJSU has committed. New Mexico and Wyoming I haven't heard, but the 6PAC has no interest in them. Air Force and UNLV are supposed to get $10 million bonuses to stay from the Pac money. UNLV agreed to stay, but after Utah St. decided to leave, is now waffling. Latest is Utah St. to 6Pac and talking to Gonzaga all but football and UConn football only!

Lincoln was famously quoted as saying, after being told Grant was a drunk early in the war, "Well he fights. Let me know what brand he drinks and I'll send it to all my generals!"

Other sources (less reliable than McMurphy) have said the Gonzaga deal isn't done yet, but they are talking. I'm inclined to go with McMurphy-all the i's haven't been dotted and the t's crossed, but its likely done. Dellenger is saying AFA is committed to the MWC and not going to AAC. Sounds like a bit of a standoff between the 6Pac and MWC8.

Best TV ratings of the G5 (excluding military academies). Best upward potential. They have drawn 45k in the past in good years. Hoops is really good. How many schools outside the P6 have been to two national title games?

I thought all the night games were because we were on TV. I would have expected afternoon or noon.

They were Indians so they had to make up a stupid new mascot name.

I had the LHN.

Aggy vs. Bowling Green is also relegated to streaming so Mickey can show Ga. Southern vs. Ole Miss on the SECN and Miami at South Florida on ESPN. Are they really pushing streaming or does somebody in Connecticut just hate the state of Texas?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/pac-12-gutting-mountain-west-sparks-fresh-realignment-stress-at-schools-outside-power-four/ar-AA1qRIQw "...The first level of those concerns revolves around simple math: Until the Pac-12 lands a media deal, there’s no guarantee of a significant increase from what Memphis makes in the American Athletic (estimated to be in the $8 million-$9 million range). But the valuations being discussed for the new Pac-12 by its media consultants in the $10 million-$12 million range are only theoretical at this point, and may not make a meaningful difference financially when you consider increased travel costs. Crucially, though, maximizing the value of the new Pac-12 is also going to depend on selling a true “best of the rest” configuration that Memphis and others would need to commit to with a Grant of Rights agreement that locks them into the league for the length of the contract. That illustrates the other reason why patience may win out at Memphis. After an unsuccessful pursuit of Big 12 membership, school officials there are now eyeing the ACC as a potential landing spot in the next handful of years.... The Pac-12’s resurrection, though, has forced Group of Five administrators to acknowledge the reality that either one of the current leagues will fold or more FCS members are going to be brought up to FBS to backfill amidst the game of musical chairs. Both options are bad, but the latter may be worse...."

There is no end game. It always changes. The conferences are getting so big, there are going to be differences and schools dissatisfied with their number of conference titles. Every conference that has gotten to 16 or more has eventually split. Its happened before, it will happen again. But I think it will take a while this time, maybe 20-30 years before the Big 10 and SEC crack up.

https://sports.yahoo.com/go-west-the-next-wave-of-realignment-is-in-memphis-hands-135625431.html Article today. Apparently its all on Memphis. PAC wants Memphis, Tulane, USF and UTSA. Projecting $12-$15 million total conference distributions (TV, NCAA bb, etc.). Memphis isn't thrilled and worried about the validity of the projections.

UH has barely played UCF. They don't really care about Cincinnati.

UTSA coach admits they are talking to PAC. https://clutchpoints.com/pac-12-news-utsa-coach-admits-conversation-expansion-rumblings