UCLA put in motion a series of events, quite frankly, no one saw coming when it left the Pac-12 for the Big Ten. Even their departure is cause for controversy. Was its departure due to greed, or was it gross incompetence by their former conference home over a long-term television deal?
However, due to the increased number of premier programs entering the Big Ten and the SEC, depriving the Pac-12 and Big 12 of their traditional powers, creating a power vacuum within college football that has led to ridiculous playoff seedings.
College Football seeding is a prime example of the current issues in college football. Go back six years, and there is no way the Pac-12 and Big 12 would allow the Big Ten and SEC to bully them out of guaranteed first-round byes in the playoff. However, the teams that could prevent such a move are the Texas Longhorns, and they play in one of two conferences.
One of the voices that helped engineer Texas’ move to the SEC spoke out about the modern state of college football.
“The way the economic forces in college sports are going it’s going to exacerbate the gaps between the haves and have-nots,” said former Texas president Jay Hartzell, per Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger. “I do worry about schools below a certain threshold and I do worry about how they are going to keep up and keep competing.”
Prime examples are Washington State and Oregon State, the ultimate losers in the demise of the Pac-12.
Within the timeline of conference realignment, NIL and the transfer portal have hurt many smaller programs with UCLA being on the border. While they have seen many players leave, they also picked up the Iamaleava brothers, two of the highest quarterback prospects in recent program history.
This continual power struggle is not sustainable, and the greed is evident. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey made that point abundantly clear.
“I don’t need lectures from others about (what’s) good for the game,” Sankey said at the SEC spring meetings in Destin, Florida. “I don’t lecture others about good of the game. I’m looking for ideas to move us forward.”
With everyone out for their own interest, there must be a governing body to regulate such reckless ambition.
Remember, all of this is happening after one year. Imagine after five without regulation.
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