Should ASU-UA Consider Making a Move?

This and that…

I wonder if there will come a day when Arizona and Arizona State look at the Pac-12 and consider other options. I bring this up because the Big 12 Athletic Directors are in the Valley this week going through the exercise of trying to figure out how to expand from 10 to 12 teams. Schools like BYU, Central Florida, Houston, SMU and Cincinnati have been floated out as possible additions. Should Arizona and Arizona State be showing interest?

If Arizona State or Arizona had Oklahoma, TCU, Texas, Baylor, on their schedule every week in October, would it be more advantageous than Utah, Colorado, USC, and UCLA?  Would the travel REALLY be that much greater? Playing football games in Pullman, Corvallis, and Seattle are longer trips than traveling to  Stillwater, Norman, or Austin. Sure, Morgantown, West Virginia and Ames, Iowa are hauls, but I believe the payoff COULD be greater over the long run.

Would recruiting really suffer if they weren’t in the Pac-12? Would their national exposure, start times, and procurement of players be hurt if they left the Pac-12? How has the Pac-12 Network helped Todd Graham and Rich Rod? Seriously? Very little distribution, very few big games, and late night start times don’t really move the needle nationally. Other than the LA and Bay Area TV markets, what is the advantage?

We may be on the front end of the Power 5 conferences becoming the Power 4. If the Big 12 can’t figure out how to convince Texas, TCU and Texas Tech to vote for expansion to have a Big 12 Title game, what becomes of Oklahoma? Does the SEC jump in and try to poach that great football program? Schools have to start looking out for themselves. Michael Crow wants ASU to be the Harvard of the West, then he surely has to be looking at the changing landscape of TV dollars and asking himself, “is this where we are supposed to be”.

Other stuff…

I am guessing that Arizona State basketball is going to lead the Pac-12 in air miles next season. The week before Thanksgiving the Sun Devils will travel to Puerto Rico for a few games. The Saturday after Thanksgiving they meet Kentucky down in the Bahamas and during the first week of December Bobby Hurleys team will play in the Jimmy V Classic in New York City. Total air miles, roundtrip from Tempe in that three-week span. 14,532…

Won’t be surprised to see Texas A&M show up on the doorstep at Basha high to recruit Bears quarterback Ryan Kelley. Kelley pulled his verbal to Oregon on Tuesday and re-opened his recruitment. Noel Mazzone and his son Taylor, were all over Kelley when they were at UCLA, they have since joined Kevin Sumlins staff at A&M.  Todd Graham, Taylor and myself were all standing on the same sideline watching Kelley put on a show vs Perry last November…