SC/UCLA always play the weekend before Thanksgiving, due to the final weekend being the SC/ND game when it's in LA (so not an issue with the LA schools).ImLawBoy wrote: ↑Fri Feb 17, 2023 6:00 pmWhatever happens, it's not really relevant to the prior discussion, which was around the tiering of the teams. I thought Pyperkub was generally (but not always) overvaluing teams from the West.JCC wrote: ↑Fri Feb 17, 2023 5:32 pm There will no longer be a Big 10 West (most likely) after next season. In fact, pretty much all of the conferences are or will be scrapping their divisions. Divisions can muck up playoff berths and/or dilute the conference title game. The bottom line is the conference title game is often (not always) their highest rated, showcase "regular season" game. They aren't going to keep mediocre division champs making them anticlimactic.
That said, it'll be interesting to see where the Big Ten goes. As it stands, OSU and Michigan are clearly the best two teams in the conference, as they were the last two years. The two are not going to want to move The Game off of its final weekend standing, and what the Big 2 want, the Big 2 generally get. For the last couple of years, that would have meant back-to-back Games, which devalues the first Game. Since the Game is usually the true marquee game for the conference (with the best ratings), will the Big Ten want to risk that? I don't know. Maybe?
WRT to the divisions, because it is pretty well established that Fox orchestrated the LA expansion, I *could* see Fox wanting to just dump SC/UCLA into the West and hope for/stack the odds in favor of an LA v Mich/tOSU in the B1G championship, especially early in the cycle as people get used to it. As such, I could see the elimination of divisions coming later in the cycle.
It's not about getting the best matchup, but getting the best ratings.