Michigan and Penn State already said no to hosting Friday night Big Ten Games. Michigan said it will not even play a Friday night road game. What about Ohio State? It will host a Friday night game once every three years and only when the school is on a fall break in mid-October.
At least the Buckeyes said something and didn’t agree to four consecutive weekday home games, like USC just went through. USC is the big dog of the Pac-12 but you would never know it.
USC has one of the most storied programs in the nation, but they bite like they have baby teeth, from the athletic administration, to the football program itself. Can you imagine Alabama, or Michigan functioning like a Mountain West school? Well that’s what SC fans have been getting for the last five years.
Fred, there are MWC schools that act tougher than USC
San Diego State, and a few others, actually have much better administration, and coaching staff’s then USC . They just lack the blue chip talent of the Pac 12 schools.
Boise State
Rocky Long is a very good football coach, he would do great at USC.
He understands football, put Clay Helton at New Mexico, and where Rocky Long got his first head coaching gig, and I guarantee he wouldn’t be half as successful as Long was.
paraphrasing article last week in the San Diego U T, “after an extensive national search for a new AD, SDSU hired former asst AD…”. Sound familiar?
We will all agree that USC doesn’t act like it is the draw program in
the conference. There is a difference between being obnoxious about your
standing and being a b***h.
Sadly, the administration only seems to care about the Benjamins and treats its season ticket holders the way it “used to” treat its students – “they’ll keep coming back no matter how we treat them. Where else are they going to go?” That starts wearing thin after – like – 40 years.
It has long been obvious that loyalty to the school is only returned by the student athletes. Memo to Lynn Swann: it is getting harder every year to “re-up” for season tickets with schedules that load up with fan-hostile days and times (the number of which we only figure out by the end of the season). Personally, I’m only willing to throw $300 away for so many missed games before I look for alternative uses for my entertainment dollar. In Los Angeles.
What do you expect from the school that has the highest tuition in the country? It’s all about the $$$$. Students, their parents, athletes, alums, fans.
USC should go independent, they have nothing to gain by staying in the weak teet PAC 12
Except that every other sport but football would be diminished, and diminished greatly, and by going independent, USC would face even more significant hurdles in trying to make the playoffs.
No they wouldn’t
BTW, for all of Haden’s fault, he bitched about weekday night games constantly. Sa,p[le was the one who sold USC down the river, not Haden or Nikias.
For the record: I don’t like Thurs or Fri games, or late start games. I don’t think the PAC 12 Network provides optimal viewing options for a large enough audience. But that said, it should also be said that these shortcomings are not necessarily the result of malfeasance, mis-management or incompetence. If you take each item individually it is easy to point out its failure, but none of these things are independent of each other. Far too many people on this blog live in an echo chamber that only reinforces their opinion or mindset–namely USC does everything wrong and everyone but them is wrong. But when we have a moderator that does not exercise any journalistic effort to interview the stakeholders to flesh out why certain things are the way they are, it is no wonder readers are left to make judgments without the benefit of information & context.
They play Thursday night games because no other conference does, thus ESPN has an open slot. They play at all times of the day on Saturday because the conference gets told by espn, fox, abc, when there are slots open for whatever games the networks want to televise. The gutties will play tonight with temps probably in the mid 50’s dropping to the upper 40’s. If they played at 1pm on Saturday, the temps would be in the low to mid 60’s. It’s all about the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
And The Big Ten makes more dollars than Pac 12.. Especially TV dollars
I would love to see USC say NO to the commish. Tell him once bama plays on a Thursday or Friday night, we will. Until then, let the uglies play on those nights. BTW, Ugly will be playing tonight. U Clowns Will Lose Again.
Hey PT, look at the standings, we need a Colorado loss. It pains me to say it but Go Ruins, Beat the Buffs.
I look at this way, Colorado will lose to Utah. What we need is Utah lose one more game
As some have commented below, the PAC-12 has little negotiating power with ESPN/FOX because their teams don’t pull in the ratings that SEC and Big 10 teams do. The PAC-12 is only as strong as USC, and USC has been very weak lately.
Two other contributing factors–1) pac 12 does not deliver the viewer #s that SEC/BIG10/ or BIG12 do. 2) Pacific Time zone impacts scheduling. Also, generally USC is the only true national team in the PAC 12. No other school delivers #s like SC & SC #s aren’t that hot when they are not a top 10 team.
Doesn’t matter if SC or the Pac-12 can deliver those weekday ratings because they are also going up against the NFL’s Thursday night football game (Bucs and Falcons tonight, Nov. 3rd).
There is no reason for the Pac-12 to play on Thursday at all. Most of the country will be watching the NFL game. More reason to eliminate the stupid Thursday (and Friday) night games.
Go back to Saturdays!
Agreed. There is some talk that NFL might even abandon the Thurs. night games. Players and coaches don’t like them, and the games are often unwatchable.They are making $, but not the big big $ they were expecting. They might make decision that the downside is not worth the effort. I have heard some of the talking heads ( some are yahoo’s , some are not) speculate that some of the drop in ratings is in part due to over saturation. NFL games are available 3 days a week and coupled with College games there is only so much time someone can watch TV. But I am afraid the cat is out of the bag and we will continue to see games on Thurs & Fri–the $$$ are to good to turn down. Alas, wishing it were so, doe not make it so.
they are pretty gutless for guys who dress like warriors
Big dog? Not while Max Nikias is USC president…