Bruininthebay

With respect to the OP, Cincinatti plays defense - they are currently #6 in the NCAA ranking https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/22 Of the top 50 NCAA teams in Total Defense, currently the Bearcats are the only American team that makes the list. The rankings are aggregate game statistics so arguably they would be inflated by playing weaker opponents but UCF's absence weights against that criticism. Currently there are SIX teams ranked in the top 50 for the MW: #11 SDSU, #17 Fresno State, #28 Wyoming, #36 Air Force, #44 Utah State and #46 Boise State while the Pac 12 (!) has FIVE teams ranked #15 Washington , #16 Cal, #19 Utah, # 20 Washington State. and #48 USC @fanhood You should focus on the fact that there are more MW teams in total defense than Pac 12 teams rather than the obvious fact that you have more good defenses than the American. It's a much closer on the field comparison - especially this year.

Power Six WAS a thing in the Bowl Championship series era when the Big East sponsored football. It is not smart marketing to keep bringing up an unfavorable comparison.

A not insignificant number of those UCF fans are celebrating at bars showing Pac 12 and Mountain West games until 2 AM.

^ So Aresco hated/s Boise State and San Diego State?

I think people are forgetting that the Big East turned down a $11 million per school per year deal anticipating more. Boise State and SDSU were invited by the Big East anticipating significantly better money but then it became clear the American would not get compensaton for their media rights close to what the conference turned down when they were the Big East. Boise and SDSU could not make the change in conference affiliation based on the actual economics. This whole "Tulane being invited as full member was an insult" is plausible but overlooks that Tulane is an AAU school with a multi billion dollar endowment. Neither Tulsa and SMU are in Tulane's academic category; only Rice is. Getting upset about Tulane is like getting upset about Stanford or Duke - they are an elite institution.

The difference is that Temple was a football only affiliate member at the time. Full members can't leave involuntarily unless they commit serious NCAA violations. SJSU AD Marie Tuitte is quoted as spending 70% of her time on the football ops building and that she knows that their facilities aren't acceptable to be competitive in the Mountain West. Supposedly there is a donor who will close the gap if they can get in the $25 to $30 Million range but doesn't want to finalize the gift because it might cause other people to think that they don't need to raise any more money.

I guess he just didn't develop as projected. I haven't noticed any ability of BYU to defend the perimeter over the past two seasons and I presume you can only get that highly rated if you can defend individually.

https://www.sltrib.com/sports/byu-cougars/2018/11/09/ncaa-comes-down-byu-over/ BYU boosters are so ridiculous they put their Men's Basketball team on probation giving benefits to a 2 star guard? I guess if everyone else is a 0 or 1 it makes sense. Obviously it comes as no surprise to anyone who participates in this forum that BYU fans and players are the kind of people who post Instagrams of themselves breaking tons of NCAA rules.

Sagarin puts Fresno at 14 so the subjective and computer polls would basically agree around mid to low teens. https://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sagarin/2018/team/ #14 Fresno State #15 Utah

If UCLA is helping Fresno State's strength of schedule, it will also help Cincinatti

After Thompson's survived for a decade since BYU's been trying to get him out, he'd capitulate now? He is the only conference commissioner who has continuously served in the NCAA's FBS governance bodies; he's well connected and not going somewhere unless he wants to go there. I think NCAA President then retirement is more likely than giving in to BYU and fading away. It's mostly already accomplished under the current MW by laws - the conference distributes TV revenue equally to full to Boise's minimum funding guarantee and priority in payment. Obviously those two provisions are still largely unprecedented in FBS football but it's scaled way back from how the deal originally was broken out. Also remember that Hawaii has a unique media rights package in addition to Boise's but they aren't full members. Hopefully a Hawaii fan can explain their pay per view model and how they see that evolving in the next deal - the Star Advertiser doesn't make it easy to read their articles about this topic. Clearly RSN packages can be valuable, but usually national broadcasters will pay more. The ACC, SEC and Big Ten networks are RSN competitors; I hesitate to call the Pac 12 Network an RSN competitor but it is a cost neutral way to have broad-ish distribution of third tier rights and monetize them enough to earn a little profit. However, allowing media entities to bid for the specific rights to a single team (or combo of teams) further monetizes the media rights. The idea for the Pac 12 is to make the overall value so high that ESPN can only afford some of the rights and not letting any buyer making a serious offer walk away empty handed. NBC nearly outbid the combination of Fox and ESPN and we should have just split the package into thirds at that time. If CBS wants games too, we can split into four. My guess is that USC will be it's own specific package of the Pac 12 media rights post 2025. Fox really wants USC and will probably pay a premium - Stanford will likely be combined with that so the rights holder will still get a Notre Dame broadcast when USC plays in South Bend. SDSU/Fresno would also have a lot of appeal to Fox given that part of California is more 'red' than other parts. Given that Hawaii is already a separate package, it would make sense to offer the five West schools as a package that FS1 (for example) could buy and the Mountain as a package that (for example) AT&T Root Sports could buy. Fox will have Disney/ESPN's money to spend on media rights soon if it doesn't already and they want to own sports media rights in areas of the country that are considered 'red'. Either ESPN pays an amount to make Exclusivity something that the MW will agree to, or ESPN will get more competition in the Window 4 time slot by having FS1, rather than CBS Sports, carrying MW games. The key to affiliate rather than full membership is that you can kick the team out involuntarily if the full members decide to do so. Given BYU's history of secret meetings and projects, I think you want to have some leverage so that they will behave themselves. It will also be interesting to see what happens with SJSU's facilities and athletic budget situation. Humboldt State already had to stop spending on athletics and SJSU obviously reports to the same CSU Chancellor Humboldt does so if their current donor campaign is about being 'All In' SJSU will have to 'settle up' around the same time that the MW's new tv deal is renegotiated. BYU would obviously work well as a football only partner to Hawaii.

That stupid PR slogan really made the competition for the Fiesta/Peach Bowl seep in to everything for the Arescoviacs

I agree with sactowndog that BYU joining the MW (football only imo) would have a positive impact on the market dynamics in 2019-20. I'd guess BYU's best chance of getting a lucrative new TV deal post 2020 is with Fox because they'll have all that Disney cash sitting around. ESPN will get more bang for their buck with a MW deal because they have a distribution network that will broadcast 2/3 games at the same time in Window 4 and ESPN controls the non-CFP bowl game business

I think both the American and the Mountain West will get media contracts that clearly distinguish these two conferences from the MAC, CUSA and Sun Belt after the 2019-20 media rights shuffle is over. Fox and NBC are very likely to pursue the American and the Mountain West. Don't forget that the Mountain West generates revenue from sports bar licenses in the East and Central time zones and holding bowl games in the campus stadiums of a significant number of MW schools. The American does not. Only the Pac 12 provides a comparable media product to the Mountain West, although at a much higher price point, and the difference between the two is likely to close significantly given how regularly there are a similar number of ranked teams in college football and men's basketball in both the Pac 12 and the Mountain West.

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