2022 Pac 12 Thread

[CatsbyAZ]

In another wild Pac 12 ending that nobody watched over the weekend, Colorado, fresh off firing Karl Dorrell, pulled off an overtime victory over Cal. It’s a particularly bleak loss for Cal, because at going into the game 3-2 and hoping for a run at a bowl, this was supposed to be one of easier wins left.

Instead, for the second year in a row, California loses a game to a winless team deep in the season; last year the Bears served as the Arizona Wildcat's only win, 10-3, the ugliest in-person game I’ve ever attended. Though embarrassing, losing to Colorado wasn’t quite as ugly.

Cal’s big flubs were inability to handle Colorado’s relentless pass rush AND failing to finish drives in the red zone. Late in the game Cal twice settled for tying field goals which ultimately gave way to overtime and a 20-13 loss, capped by a dramatic TD catch by Colorado.


https://twitter.com/avinashkunnath/status/1581395611563139073

[CatsbyAZ]

For the record Stanford is 3-4, on the heels of two straight wins, first over Notre Dame and last Saturday over Arizona State, a game ending the Cardinal’s 10 game conference losing street, and a game the Cardinal almost choked away worse than their earlier collapse Vs Oregon State. Arizona State heaved a hail mary caught at the 1 yard line with 3 ticks left to set up a game-winning FG. But upon review, the ASU receiver’s foot is ruled out of bounds.

Now to get fans in the stands – from Outkick (https://www.outkick.com/stanford-cardinal-football-free-tickets-offer/):

“People can now get free tickets to the final two home games against BYU and Washington State to test out potentially locking in season tickets for next year. “Get free tickets to our final two homes of this season, and lock in those same seats for the entire 2023 home schedule, which features games against Cal, Notre Dame, Oregon and more,” the Cardinal announced.”

“While it’s an interesting move, it shouldn’t surprise anyone. This past weekend, Stanford Stadium was pretty much empty when the Cardinal played Arizona State. The stadium has a capacity north of 50,000, but only filled a tiny fraction of the seats. The Cardinal have to do something in order to get butts in the seat, and offering a free trial run is certainly an interesting option.”


https://twitter.com/ChrisKarpman/status/1583916549907234816

[FearlessF]

brutal

no wonder USC wants out

[Cincydawg]

This is the core and I think unsolvable issue with the Pac, apathy overall outside a few places.

UCLA Football Had Its Biggest Crowd Of The Year, It Was Still Nonexistent (outkick.com)

[CatsbyAZ]

After the Big 12 signed a new TV deal with Fox/ESPN for over $2 billion through 2030, the pressure is on the Pac 12.

From Outkick:

“Jason Scheer reported PAC-12 ADs are being told Big 12 schools are expecting a total revenue payout of $55 million under the new deal. That number includes media revenue and any splits from March Madness and bowl games. The PAC-12 is expected to tap out at no more than $45 million. That means Big 12 teams will be cashing in an extra $10 million annually.”

“PAC-12 teams are gambling on whether or not the Big Ten comes calling for more teams. If the B1G poaches Oregon and a few other teams, the conference could quickly crumble. That might incentivize some teams to leave sooner than later. It’s better to be on the lifeboats before the ship is sinking than be left scrambling to find room in one.”


https://twitter.com/Outkick/status/1587031627393384452

[CatsbyAZ]

“People can now get free tickets to the final two home games against BYU and Washington State to test out potentially locking in season tickets for next year. “Get free tickets to our final two homes of this season, and lock in those same seats for the entire 2023 home schedule, which features games against Cal, Notre Dame, Oregon and more,” the Cardinal announced.”

This promotion did not go well – from USA Today: “That free trial quickly became a clown show on social media as the promotion quickly disappeared just about as soon as it was posted, meaning either there was a rush and those tickets were quickly scooped up or the administration saw the backlash it generated and came to their senses.”

“Either way, fast forward to Saturday when the Cougars came calling to Stanford Stadium – and you could see why anyone in their right mind would want to stay away. The Cardinal found themselves down 42-7 at halftime en route to a 52-14 beat down in front a listed 26,000 in attendance.”

As a sideshow of how poorly Stanford’s season is going (not surprised if Shaw is fired this month) Stanford’s student’s war with the administration over their restriction of campus celebration and parties has spilled over to the football bleachers:

“Student concerns are also not going away: one month after Eurotrash was postponed, four students, including mascots from both Stanford and Arizona State University, walked a 40-foot banner with the same “Stanford Hates Fun” slogan into the middle of a football game during Reunion Homecoming.”


https://twitter.com/RedditCFB/status/1587055327542919168[/i]

[CatsbyAZ]

Over the weekend, 2 of the Pac 12’s last 3 teams with playoff hopes were upset, leaving only USC with any odds left.

#6 Oregon was upset at home by #25 Washington and #12 UCLA was likewise upset at home by Arizona.

Arizona came into the game as a 20 point underdog and with a four game losing streak, all in order to the rest of the Pac 12’s ranked teams – Oregon, Washington, USC, and Utah.

All in all, I like the Wildcats improvement over last year’s more than forgettable 1-11 season. Arizona is beating the teams they are supposed to (North Dakota St & Colorado), splitting with teams that could go either way (California, San Diego St), and managed one upset among more proven teams (Miss St, Oregon, Washington, USC, Utah, and UCLA). At 4-6, Arizona has their bowl hopes barely alive, with Washington State and Arizona State rounding out the season’s schedule.


https://twitter.com/CFBONFOX/status/1591681519822651392

[FearlessF]

PASSING YARDS
Through games November 12, 2022
1 Michael Penix Jr. Washington 3640

[Brutus Buckeye]

Transitive property, eat your heart out. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

It's the Pac 12's world, and the rest of us are just living in it. It's them, then everyone else. 

[CatsbyAZ]

Whether you follow market news, you’re probably hearing about the FTX Exchange collapse rattling beyond highly speculative cryptocurrency trading. As the world’s third largest exchange and valued at $32B early last week, its sudden collapse and resulting bankruptcy has resulted in both wiping out existing customer funds and prompting a run of customer withdrawals from other exchanges. Not to mention the devaluing of a number of venture capital firms whose assets were exposed to crypto holdings, especially within FTX.

Included in the fallout is FTX losing a number of it’s sports naming rights deals most notably a $135M deal for the Miami Heat’s arena to be known as FTX Arena. FTX also bought the naming rights to Cal Memorial Stadium for $17.5 million.

Deadspin best sums the fallout: “The California Golden Bears signed a $17.5 million, 10-year naming rights deal with FTX in 2021, which expanded their reach into the college football sphere. Right then, we should have known that FTX was bound to collapse because any billion-dollar company worth their salt would have known that naming rights on the football field at a public Ivy that isn’t Stanford is throwing money into a black hole. Cal football hasn’t been watched in years. Perhaps it was supposed to be subliminal messaging for students on the outskirts of Silicon Valley, but there had to be a better way.”(https://deadspin.com/ftx-s-collapse-cost-a-who-s-who-of-pro-athletes-sport-1849781199/slides/4)


https://twitter.com/dsmithBerkeley/status/1592238922502877185

[CatsbyAZ]

What better way to ring in this Saturday’s LA Crosstown rivalry between #18 UCLA and #7 USC than for the Bruins to beg USC to split charter flights to cut costs on lengthier travel to play their new Big Ten opponents.

When it comes to UCLA joining the Big Ten: “One of the obvious concerns student-athletes had — as did anyone with common sense when this move was announced — was travel, with UCLA now playing against schools in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in games often on weeknights for many sports. But don't worry, UCLA has the solution: it's going to share flights with USC.”

“UCLA intends to mitigate the travel impact on student-athletes by increasing access to charter flights and minimizing the number of days spent away from campus. After conducting a detailed cost estimate of charter flights to Big Ten schools, calculation the number of additional charter flights needed for each team and days spent away from campus, UCLA estimates that it will spend between $4.62 and $5.79 millions per year on increased travel expenses. These costs may be significantly reduced through efficiencies such as neutral site tournaments, shared flights between UCLA teams and USC teams, and other accommodations that can further reduce travel and travel costs to the Midwest and East Coast.”


https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1592951902286782464

[847badgerfan]

Seems like they could help mitigate the travel thing if they limit weekday contests against any school East of Chicago. Save the other schools for weekend travel.

LA to Seattle is 3 hours. LA to Chicago is 4. LA to Lincoln is 3.

[CatsbyAZ]

38-35 Arizona wins back the Territorial Cup. It's been a few years since attending a game as stressful as the Arizona-Arizona State game I just got home from. And I've never attended a sporting event where there were so many fights breaking out on the field. Maybe in the tunnel, yes, but not the field. The refs let too much of the cheap stuff go to the point both teams lost composure against each other during the second half. 

It was so bad even the Sun Devil and Wildcat mascot got into it. And with about 1 minute left, the refs and coaches were fortunate to calm down what would've been their entire rosters going at it after an ASU player crossed the field and tried to take on the entire Arizona sideline.


https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1596283005672521728


https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1596295370228699136