The PAC12 Celebration Thread

[LA Ute]

This is a thread primarily for Ute fans but also for anyone who wants to follow the transition to the PAC12. We've had enough of why the change happened, whether it should have, when it was going to happen, whether it was going to happen at all, and so forth. Time to talk about the future!

So, along those lines: While at the beach I saw this article in the Orange County Register:

Kiffin is Coach Question Mark

And this one too:

New-model Kiffin is shadow of former self

Lane Kiffin is an interesting guy, probably the kind of opposing head coach who is going to add a lot of spice to playing in the PAC12 (including being someone Ute fans can dislike - maybe a lot). Should be fun!

[LA Ute]

Here's another article on the zipper schedule:

12-team split on Pac-10's agenda

I'm pretty impressed by the Orange County Register's coverage of the PAC-10 meetings. It's much more comprehensive and interesting than anything in the S.L. Trib's or the DesNews's coverage of MWC meetings.

[DU Ute]

[LA Ute]

David Gardner on the U's fit in the PAC12 and what it means for the University, beyond athletics.

[Ma'ake]

I'm impressed and grateful that David P. Gardner has remained close & loyal to the U. One of our restaurants at Huntsman Cancer Institute is in his name.

[LA Ute]

Why am I suddenly thinking about ketchup?

[YOUTUBE]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4NwP3wes4M8&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4NwP3wes4M8&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]

[OrangeUte]

I'm impressed and grateful that David P. Gardner has remained close & loyal to the U. One of our restaurants at Huntsman Cancer Institute is in his name.

I agree, Gardner is an amazing guy.

[LA Ute]

Interesting Chris Dufresne piece from the LA Times today. It contains the usual healthy dose of jaded world-weariness, but it has several good tidbits:

Pac-10 was in a league of its own this spring and summer

The 2010 college football season — coming soon to a campus near you — faces the daunting challenge of getting the drama of its fall and winter to match its spring and summer.

The Pacific 10 Conference, of all the sleepy gym joints, caused most of the commotion by awakening from a publicity coma to make more headlines — good and bad — than it had in years.

In terms of noise levels, the league went from one kazoo to 50,000 vuvuzelas....

Also, this:

Pac-10 considering annual kickoff game at Rose Bowl

Pacific 10 Conference and Rose Bowl officials are considering an annual kickoff game — maybe pitting the Pac-10 against the Big Ten — that would give the West Coast a stronger presence at the start of each college football season.

With the conference borrowing the Pasadena stadium for its annual media day Thursday, officials said the idea is in the discussion stage.

I love being able to read about the PAC10 and know that the news is relevant to my own favorite team. It's just terrific.

[Ma'ake]

Relevance is sexy and everything, LA, but if we have to play in some Pac-12 / Big-10 kickoff game then we *really* won't have any time to play BYU.

[LA Ute]

Relevance is sexy and everything, LA, but if we have to play in some Pac-12 / Big-10 kickoff game then we *really* won't have any time to play BYU.

Well, I wasn't going to mention that ....

[LA Ute]

N.Y. Times on the PAC-10 scheduling issues. Haven't read about my (soon-to-be) conference in that Tiimes for a while.

And -- the conference's teams (football, basketball, etc.) will be wearing that new logo on their jerseys from now on:

According to SI.com, the New York-based firm SME that Scott hired to look into the Pac-10's brand identity reported back to him that the conference lost out on value by not putting its logo on uniforms, fields and equipment.

Some of the findings probably sent palms crashing into foreheads in the Pac-10's Walnut Creek, Calif., office. Other leagues had required teams to wear conference patches on their uniforms and paint logos on their playing surfaces for more than a decade. How could the Pac-10 miss something so obvious? "Isn't that amazing? It's just so simple," [SME chairman Ed] O'Hara said. "But it's a loss of revenue of exposure."

That's why these days, the Pac-10 logo is seemingly everywhere -- like at a cocktail party in New York. The Los Angeles Daily News reported that at football media day in Pasadena, there was a 15-foot-high inflatable version of the thing.

And this is a very interesting long article about the challenges ahead for the PAC-10.

A big-time conference that actually cares a lot about marketing itself. Good stuff.

[Mormon Red Death]

Chris Hill on Kall700. PAC-12 will have 9 conference games.

[LA Ute]

I don't think this has been posted:

Pac-10 expansion: Deputy commish Weiberg on logistics of the division split

All the discussion about how the league divisions will be set up and scheduled kind of leaves me cold, because we can't affect that. But it will help to understand what eventually gets decided. Chris Hill's statement that there will be a 9-team conference schedule is important.

[Borderline Divine]

The divisions are of no concern to me

I'm just thrilled the Utes were invited to the party. Whether we are tapping the keg in the front room or grabbing a beer from the fridge in the kitchen matters not at all to me.

Nine conference games is problematic, but I wouldn't switch it for the alternative.

[statman]

Chris Hill's statement that there will be a 9-team conference schedule is important.

I missed that. 9 games instead of the traditional 8? Seems strange. With 8 league games, you can go to the SEC model - 4 conference home games, 4 conference away games, 1 OOC decent team at home, 1 OOC decent team on the road and 2 OOC patsies (the really brazen ones go for as many as 4 OOC patsies all at home).

The result, a minimum of 7 home games, a maximum of 5 away, 2 - 4 automatic wins. If you go with 4 patsies, you only have to go 2-6 in conference to be bowl eligible. The SEC works this model for all it's worth.

Playing 9 conference games makes it harder.

It also means it will be harder for BYU to schedule PAC-12 teams should the Cougars go the independent route. 9 conference games means 1/4 less OOC games. A total of 36 potential scheduling dates/locations to match up with the PAC-12 in an OOC game - instead of 48. And it means that the conference calendar is stretched by a week as well, making it even harder to get matchups.

That really sucks...