Secret Ballots--Public Results

A college degree is not just the learning. In exchange for your time and ten’s of thousands of dollars you can tell people where you went to school and hope they are impressed. Is a student with a degree from Harvard or Yale head and shoulders above the person with a degree from a local state university that began at community college? Hard to tell? Looking over a stack of resumes, which stand out Yale or Northern Iowa?

In this season’s crop of preseason rankings there is one team (like Auburn in 2008) that will be ranking highly only to finish in November without a bowl bid. With the coaches’ ballot now to be secret it is interesting to see how another ballot is filled out.

"University of Florida President Bernie Machen, in a recent assessment of national universities, gave his school the highest-possible ranking, "distinguished," as he also did Harvard, Princeton and Yale universities."

See the ballot here http://www.gainesville.com/assets/pdf/GS17003616.PDF

Running a large university is a difficult job and while you may have a feeling about the competition you may not truly have a nation wide perspective. Apparently President Machen has a very positive view of the job he is doing a UF. He therefore rated his school and therefore his job as “Distinguished”. Two other schools that were rated overall as being the equals of UF, Fordham (“Strong”) and the University of Delaware (“Adequate”) have taken steps to improve their positions in this ranking.

Recently there has been buzz that the Delaware Blue Hens were considering a move the FBS level given there success on the field and putting fans in their stadium. Fordham for its part shook up the sleepy Patriot League by offering scholarship for football which academically minded north eastern universities do not need. Since the 1950’s members of both the Ivy and the near by Patriot League have offered football scholarships. Consequently, college football in the region is smaller than the one would expect given the population. These schools need to learn from the great University of Florida and realize the you can have both...bread, circus and by the way since we say so academics.

So watch President Machen, the competition is upgrading their football and shortly may be nipping a the Gator’s in arrested and legal fees.

And remember, it is only wrong if someone is watching.

What do you bring to the table?

When did you make the move to the “big people table” at holiday meals? At what point did you graduate. For most it was a mere matter of age. There were those awkward years where you were seated in the kitchen with the six year old cousin that is no longer cute and then the first year sitting with the adults where you were all but invisible. Once you made the move there was no going back.

The Mountain West wants a seat at the BCS table as they have fielding very competitive teams that have already won three BCS games—more wins than the ACC (2004-2009) despite not having the coveted automatic bid. In the 2008-09 final poll the MWC had 3 teams in the final top 25 as compared to 2 for the Big East and 3 for the Atlantic Coast Conference. If the MWC were applying for an opening they would definitely be the top candidate.

The Mountain West resume as impressive as it is lack one critical element...television numbers. Given that the BCS is a television driven event the ability to demonstrate that your conference can deliver the eyeballs is of paramount importance. Currently, this key piece is missing. Looking at the 2008 numbers from ESPN you'll see that the MWC fails to deliver impressive numbers.

The road to the BCS may go through the Magic Kingdom of college football. With ESPN having the BCS broadcast rights, the folks in Bristol have unprecedented influence over the agenda. In short given the overwhelming influence ESPN has over the college football storyline, Craig Thompsonthe, MWC commissioner first needs to get the conference a place on already crowded regular season broadcast schedule.

How can the MWC prove that the conference can deliver the all important television rating and the dollars to justify the BCS payout, if the games are hidden on the mtn. , CBS College Sports, and Versus? While it may sound harsh but your on the field performance will get you an invite to the BCS when warranted, a permanent berth requires that you prove the financial angle is covered. Can the addition of one of the non-BCS conferences grow the pot of money? Until the answer is yes the current situation cannot change.

If Congress wants to get involved and regulate college football they might want to start with assuring equal television exposure. Yes, a return era to the equal time. Organize the Fall sports schedule towards make sure that we get to see Wyoming, Troy, and FIU in prime time. While we are nationalizing the banks, maybe we can nationalize cable TV. And start by moving the masters of Bristol to the shores of the Potomac.

The alternative for those not at the BCS table is to grow (up) and earn your place at the table.

Weeknight College Football Ratings

So how does that Thursday Night ESPN compare with the traditional Saturday afternoon offerings as far as delivering the eyeballs. The banter around the Friday water cooler would suggest the popularity of the weeknight game although often the discussion is preceded by the. "I only caught part of it but..."

Information from http://sportsmediawatch.blogspot.com/
All ratings are final national ratings.

Thursday, September 13
2.5 : W. Virginia at Maryland

Thursday, September 20
2.2: Texas A&M at Miami (FL)

Friday, September 21
1.4 : Oklahoma at Tulsa

Thursday, September 27
1.2 : S. Mississippi at Boise St.

Friday, September 28
2.3: W. Virginia at USF

Thursday, October 11
1.9: Florida St. at Wake Forest

By comparison:
3.6: SEC on CBS, Florida/Kentucky (3:30 PM Saturday)
3.2: Saturday Night Football on ABC, Michigan/Illinois (8:00 PM Saturday)
2.1: Notre Dame football on NBC, USC/Notre Dame (3:30 PM Saturday)


15.9: NFL on FOX, Vikings/Cowboys (4:00 PM Sunday)
9.4: Sunday Night Football on NBC, Steelers/Broncos (8:15 PM Sunday)
(About the same as the three 3:30 p.m. college games combined)

The Irish, once the toast of college football, have fallen to the point where the marquee match up with USC fail to garner strong ratings than a Thursday night game (despite the clever SNL promotion). An principal of marketing that gets lost in the desire to work wonders by seeking nothing for something is the need for a real product with value to the consumer.

The Florida/Kentucky game was good reality television being presented live with an uncertain outcome. Such a product will attract and keep views while the USC domination of Notre Dame only holds appeal for the USC fan faithful and those that enjoy seeing the destruction of Notre Dame football.

The problem with the Saturday game and the Monday water cooler discussion is the fact the a whole day has come in between.

Cartoon From http://www.nicholsoncartoons.com.au/