The NCAA has ruled that USC will receive a two year ban from the postseason, a loss of scholarships, and will forfeit some wins according to an ESPN report that you can read here. A formal announcement from the NCAA will take place at 3:00 P.M. today.
This is a big blow to the USC football program. This will effect recruiting not only next year but the year after as USC will not be eligible to play in a bowl game until 2012. This also effects current players who have the ability to transfer, although they must sit out a year if they choose to do so. Lane Kiffin has his work cut out for him in the upcoming years, as he has his hands tied as he enters his first season as head coach of the USC football team. The people with smiles on their faces today are the people of Knoxville, whom Kiffin ditched after coaching for only one year to coach at USC.
In other college football news, Nebraska has accepted an offer to join the Big 10. Other teams are also expected to join the Big 10 some time in the near future. The Pac 10 also added the University of Colorado to join its conference. According to Pac 10 officials, it is only a matter of when more teams will join the conference.
A major change in the landscape of college football is taking place. It has been speculated that the Big 12 will dissolve if they lose more teams. We will wait and see if that happens. But what is taking place is something I do not think benefits the game of college football. The better teams will only get better and there will be more of a gap between the bad teams and the good ones. Expansion does not increase competition, and no one wants to see bad football. Expansion also does not benefit the average football fan. These programs are all in it for the revenue. They want more revenue to put more money into their schools to buy more things for their programs in order to recruit better players which only passes the burden on to the fans. Fans should expect ticket prices to continue to increase significantly, while more benefits will be given to boosters who contribute more to the pot. That is just how it works. Just like PSL's are ruining the average Joe NFL fan, expansion in college football will be a detriment to the average Joe college football fan.
What college football may get out of this is the possibility of a playoff system for the postseason. I have never been a fan of the computer system currently in place for the BCS, even though it has benefited the teams I root for. We have to wait until everything settles before we can talk about what type of system we can get.
Comments on USC and college football Conference expansion
I disagree with it creating bad football, I think this will allow for better football, some monster matchups every year will now be seen, the game itself will not change. I mean who doesn't want to see Nebraska vs Ohio St or Michigan every year, and Texas vs USC every year. It's going to be great!!
ReplyDeleteFor every USC vs. Texas game and Ohio State vs. Nebraska game there will be about 5 Iowa State vs. Purdue games going on somewhere else. Competition between the good teams will be great, but what about the bottom feeders who have no shot getting beat 63-7 every other week?
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