Former All-Pac 12 Oregon OL Geoff Schwartz on Clay Travis’ radio show talking Pac 12 football:
Clay:
“A big part of the discussion of what’s going on in the world of college football is the Big Ten and their many different moving parts. For instance one reason the Big Ten is getting all the attention is because players, coaches, & fans made an aggressive decision to fight against cancellation. The same thing has not happened in any way in the Pac 12. But as a former Pac 12 player are you surprised it hasn’t happened in the Pac 12 at all?”
Geoff:
“I’m not surprised for a couple of reasons. One of them is because the Pac 12 put out a comprehensive memo, a twelve page memo saying here is why we are shutting down. The conference commissioner, the athletic director of Arizona State, the conference’s head medical chief all did a press conference explaining the decision. All the coaches came out with statements supporting the decision. And the conference footprint is in a different place than is the Big Ten footprint as far as the lockdown situation, especially California. Some schools can’t practice. USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford – couldn’t even practice. So it’s a different situation than in the Big Ten. The thing that bothers me, Clay, and this is from me being a Pac 12 homer, is that no one seems to care that we’re not playing football. It’s not that we shut down, or that the Big Ten is fighting this. It’s that nobody cares we not playing out here…we’re going to be so left behind that I do think the other conferences are starting to realize this is a problem for the Pac 12. There was a leaked memo detailing the hiring of someone to maybe oversee the Pac 12 commissioner, which, why don’t you just get rid of the commissioner? The Pac 12 hired a football operations guy – Merton Hanks, the old 49er - to run football which has never happened in the Pac 12 conference. So the conference realizes this is a problem – we have to get better at football and basketball so when we’re not playing people elsewhere wonder why, because we’re being left behind right now.”
Clay:
“Do you think they’ll be a lasting impact here? That’s the question I get asked a lot by college football fans. If the Big Ten and the Pac 12 don’t play, let’s pretend you were a college recruit – would that impact your decision if the Big 12, ACC, and SEC were also recruiting you? Or do you think any possibility of that issue is entirely overrated? “
Geoff:
“Obviously it’ll be used against the Pac 12, but Oregon is still third in the country in recruiting right now. It obviously hasn’t affected them very much. The lasting impact is going to be two things. One is the money. Trying to come up with the money you’ve missed. And the Pac 12 has talked about an insurance policy that you can collect on if you’re a public school. But I think the lasting impact of this is that the Juniors who are sitting out already wanted to do so and COVID provides them the cover to sit out without any pushback. We’re going to see true Juniors and redshirt Sophomores who really have nothing to prove this year just take a year off to get ready for the NFL. And that could be the impact for all conferences.”
Clay:
“The thing about that is – and I said this back when it happened – we were going to see a slippery slope of: if you’re willing to sit out for a bowl game then at some point someone who establishes themselves as a projected top ten pick will question why they are even playing at all. I do think you’re right that COVID gives Ja’Marr Chase an excuse to not play.”
Geoff:
“Yes, but there’s also a stigma with sitting out. This idea of proving you love football is a huge part of the NFL combine process. Because coaches and front office guys live and breathe football and sitting out your last year is always looked at as you don’t love football.”
Clay:
“That’s the fear in general. Is that if you get big money and you don’t love the game enough to play anyway that you’ll never commit to football in a big way…to coaches it’s one thing to lose because the other team has a better QB or game plan but it’s another thing if a guy falls asleep in the film room and then isn’t committed enough to put in an A grade effort on the field.”