Let's face it. Politics across this country has become quite bitter these days. Is it more acrimonious than it was during the period leading up to the Civil War? How about the late 1950s and most of the 1960s? It does feel like this election cycle has brought out the absolute worst in some of us. A fever pitch that leads to the assassination attempt of a Presidential candidate (who happens to be a former President) means that tensions are as taught as can be.
However, the are of politicking can be as innocuous as it is dangerous. It just depends on the venue. In college athletics, media days are the annual ritual of conferences politicking their own brands, while sticking up for the conferences as whole entities. That's no more true than in football. Every summer, the leagues convene to let head coaches tout their philosophies, their star players, and the brutal schedules they must face in order to win a title. The only thing that truly differentiates these events from a political convention is an overall theme.
So, in this crass and crude attempt to lighten the mood of our furiously polarized time, let me provide some common themes that the major FBS conferences could have used for this year's round of media blitzes.
SEC: "Our Strength Only Gets Stronger"
We've known for a while the Southeastern Conference is the behemoth of the sport. Now, it finally welcomed in two of the biggest brands that weren't under their umbrella. Texas and Oklahoma continue to influence the game, decades after they became known properties. How will they fit into their new neighborhood?
The Longhorns have a large oeuvre (just ask anyone from the Big XII). Will they be able to stifle their ego to co-exist with Alabama, LSU, Florida, etc.? From the mid-1950s on, the Sooners had a good handle on their conference (whether the Big 8 or Big XII). Can they keep that consistency rolling, or could they go the mediocre way of their former rival, Nebraska?
Big Ten: "Contending With Our Manifest Destiny"
The eastward expansion of the country's premier midwest league has had mixed results. Penn State has held their own staying in constant contention with Ohio State and Michigan. Maryland and Rutgers ... not so much. After creating a slightly westward path (bringing in the Cornhuskers), the welcoming committee went all-in with the Pacific time zone.
Going into this season, the pickup seem smart. USC is a perennial contender. UCLA always seems like they're just one class away. Oregon has the Phil Knight connection. And Washington was just in the national championship game. But how long can this all last? USC replaced its defensive coordinator after last season. UCLA and Washington has to replace head coaches in the offseason. And will the Nike money keep flowing in after benefactor Phil Knight passes on?
ACC: "Holding on From Coast to Coast"
The Atlantic Coast Conference was created for a conglomerate of teams on the Atlantic Coast. It's a novel concept that has outlived its usefulness for some time (just like the Big Ten and BiG XII). As of the school calendar year change, the league has a footprint spanning the country. Did the actions of adding Stanford, Cal, and SMU bloat the conglomeration to the point of overindulgence?
And this isn't even the biggest problem facing the upper management in Charlotte. Will Florida State and Clemson be around to see the experiment through? FSU's snub of a playoff spot last December put both the Seminoles and the ACC on notice. It established a pecking order amongst the Power 5 leagues, informing the conference it lacks the cache to be at the top of the heap. For the top two programs of the league, the decision on whether to go for greener pastures is pending. Can the newest additions squash the desire to leave?
Big XII: "The Whole Could Be Greater Than the Sum of the Parts"
With the two biggest fish gone from this Central Plains pond, the Big XII may need to rethink how it does business. The additions of eight new (or returning) members over this season and last are substantial in volume. But is that metric only good enough to sustain after OU and UT moved on? There has been some juice with the arrival of some programs. Utah is the odds-on favorite to win the newly-formed league. Is that good, though?
For the new-look Big XII to grow in stature, it may need to build on the final season of the was-constituted Pac 12. Have a couple of seasons (in the recent future) where 6 or 7 squads pull off big upsets and stellar non-conference slates, rising the tide of all boats. If Coach Prime-led Colorado is in that mix, the TV cameras should follow. Talent can be found among the 16 programs vying for the annual trophy, but the lack of historical dominance puts the whole group at a distinct disadvantage.
Pac-12: "Drink 'Em if You Got 'Em"
Not much to say here. I just keep gaining more sympathy for Oregon State and Washington State. Maybe it'll all work out in the end. Until then, though, everyone raise a glass.
In life, we need things to sustain us through the bad, the harsh, the bizarre. As I said up above, this is an insensitive and oafish way to draw parallels to the current political discourse. Hopefully, there will be a day in the near future when this type of comparison is more fun and less fraught.
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