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JONFINEPRODUCTIONS.COM NEWSLETTER
7 17 2024
GOD BLESS ISRAEL, UKRAINE AND THE USA!!!!
JACKETS FOOTBALL RETURNS TO AIRWAVES!....2024 marks our 29th season broadcasting Denham Springs HS Football games. Games can be heard on Family Radio, 91.9 FM, Baton Rouge and on the net at JonFineProductions.com, beginning at 6 pm with Sport-N-Center Jackets Warmup. Josh Ward is on play-by-play, with Mitch Covington calling color commentary. The first broadcast will be Friday, August 30, when the Jackets play in the Walker Jamboree….More info in our next JonFineProductions.com Newsletter.
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
By Scott Osborne
It all started in 1991 with Florida State joining the ACC. The SEC added Arkansas and South Carolina in 1992. The Southwest Conference became the Big 12 in 1994. Meanwhile, the other conferences stood pat as college football was still holding onto bowl games and leaving their championship up to polls.
Once the SEC started holding a conference championship game and the BCS was formed, TV started to invest heavily into college football. The conferences realized the money and power that would come from TV, and they started to move by adding their own conference championship games.
The ACC struck again in 2004 adding Miami and Virginia Tech, then Boston College in 2005. But it wasn’t until the BCS was near its end and the College Football Playoff was about to begin that the first big wave of realignment happened.
Colorado and Utah joined the Pac-10 in 2011, making it the Pac-12. In 2012, the SEC added Texas A&M and Missouri, while the Big Ten finally expanded with the addition of Nebraska (becoming the Big 11, but keeping the name “Ten”). With the loss of four of its teams, the Big 12 was only able to add West Virginia and TCU which left them with 10 teams. To cap this wave, the ACC added Pitt and Syracuse in 2013, and Louisville in 2014. In 2014, the Big Ten added Maryland and Rutgers.
Everyone knew this first wave was not the last and it was just a matter of time for a second wave, so here we are. Like last time, most people do not believe this is the last wave either. With NIL and the expanding playoff it feels like this is just another step toward college football being its own entity. Nevertheless, we are here now and I don’t know where we are entering the 2024 football season. So, I am writing this summary as much for myself in preparation for 2024 as I am to inform anyone reading this article.
Let’s start close to home where the SEC has added Texas and Oklahoma. I think it is safe to say these two will have a larger competitive impact than any of the other additions since 1992. Oklahoma is dominating in gymnastics (although LSU did win it all this year) and softball. The Sooners will be able to compete well in football, baseball, and basketball. Texas is also in good shape with quality softball, baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, football, and other sports. Both teams bring excellent facilities as well. Where the SEC is lacking is figuring out how to make the football schedule make sense with 16 teams. As a fan, I am very disappointed by their decision to stay with an 8 game schedule and the lack of clarity on a long term plan.
The Big Ten is now 18! Oregon, USC, UCLA, and Washington are joining and the Big Ten now stretches from coast to coast. If I was a fan of Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and other midwest college town teams, I would be worried. Oregon is primed to excel in the current environment. They have a great coach, Phil Knight’s money, and now are in one of the two premier conferences. USC and UCLA are also two teams that should benefit from joining the Big Ten. I don’t know how sports other than football will work considering the ridiculous travel teams will now have considering teams like Maryland and Rutgers are in the same conference as USC and Washington. In football, though, they have a quality 5 year plan where everyone will face each other and keping rivalries in a nine game schedule. In my opinion, the Big Ten is currently the winner of this wave of expansion. The only question is whether they expanded too quickly and are stretched too far.
The Big 12 is now 16 teams, and they came out decently considering they lost Oklahoma and Texas. Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah have joined the Big 12. In regards to tradition and name recognition in sports, all four schools are better than the most recent additions of BYU, UCF, and Cincinnati.
The ACC is up to 17 teams with the addition of Cal, SMU, and Stanford. These additions feel like adding teams just to have done something. These schools do not bring much to the conference and is a big reason why most everyone is expecting another wave. This league just does not make sense.
The Pac-12 is the butt of everyone’s jokes now, as they are the Pac-2. Poor Oregon State and Washington State who are left twisting in the wind. They are, of course, going to play each other in football. Outside of this game and their in-state rivals, these two teams have awful football schedules. I would imagine their other sports are having a miserable time making out their schedules as well. Considering how good Oregon State’s baseball team is each year, their lack of conference affiliation is going to have a terrible domino effect.
This second wave has gotten us closer to the point where each week of college football will have quality games. We are not there yet, but we are closer. And now that I have written this article, I have a better idea of who is in each conference as we inch closer to college football in 2024.
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