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That game literally put me to sleep.
OU is wearing gross unis today
Canzano: Don't be mad at the Pac-12, it's not a football conference, it's a media companyUpdated on Nov 30, 2018 at 10:52 PM PSTBy John Canzano | The Oregonian/OregonLive SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- So, what was your favorite part of the Pac-12 Conference championship football game?One of the residents who lives near Levi's Stadium said her favorite part was that nobody bothered to put up the usual "EVENT PARKING" signs they're used to seeing on big game days.Another guy said he liked the way Washington quarterback Jake Browning waved his arms late in the game and tried to get all those empty red plastic seats in the stadium to make some noise.My favorite part was when the Pac-12 Conference announced the attendance: 35,143.It was a mischaracterization.Washington beat Utah 10-3 on Friday. Those are numbers you can trust. The Huskies got the Rose Bowl berth. Utah left feeling sore about the final play, a non-call on a pass. And the rest of us got another sledgehammer-like reminder why the Pac-12 has a broken football brand.This should have been a wonderful night between two good football teams and their fan bases. It should have been a home game for the team with the better record, too. But what it became was a sobering viewing party for an intimate group of interested people who cared to make it.When it ended, confetti was blown out of air cannons. A Utah fan who jumped the railing got tackled by police and arrested. And a stage was erected near one of the end zones.I watched with great curiosity as FOX broadcaster Petros Papadakis began his interview with Pac-12 Conference commissioner Larry Scott.Before the game Papadakis was given the post-game plan. He was to hand Scott the microphone and let the commissioner say a few words. But Papadakis didn't want to do that. Mostly, because he feared he wouldn't ever get the thing back.Papadakis has a degree from USC. Smart guy. Or maybe he just heard about Scott taking the microphone on Thursday night at a dinner for Pac-12 Network employees, where the commissioner stood and waxed for 10 minutes.Anyway, Papadakis asked Scott to say a few words on camera. The broadcaster held the microphone in front of the commissioner. And as Scott began to speak, something happened.Boos.Lots of them.Maybe the fans were booing because of the officiating. Maybe they were booing because this season has been marred by an instant-replay scandal that has eroded trust. Maybe they were booing because of years of DirecTV frustration, or because they know Scott lives lavishly while the conference football programs are faced with making more out of less. But it was a statement from the UW and Utah fans.Maybe you booed in your living room.If so, it was a moment in which the entire conference felt galvanized.The conference deserved better than what it got on Friday night. This stage was not like 2011, the first-ever conference title game between UCLA and Oregon held at Autzen Stadium. That night, a cold evening, drew 59,376 to a stadium that doesn't hold nearly that many.It wasn't like 2013, either. More than 69,000 showed up at Sun Devil Stadium to see Stanford beat Arizona State that night.The enthusiasm level at Levi's Stadium was sort of like one of those furniture stores that puts up a "GOING OUT OF BUSINESS!!!" sign.People poked around.A defensive score won the game.UW coach Chris Petersen looked as happy as a guy who just bought a new sofa.Conference leadership believed that selling the broadcast rights to the game to FOX was the right move. As a result, the game took a 5 p.m. kickoff on a Friday. And all of that was fine. The media company did well there. But this game should have been held at Husky Stadium in Seattle, and the football conference failed that one.In the summer of 2017, the Pac-12 signed on to continue to hold the conference title game at Levi's Stadium through 2019, and with an option for 2020. The prevailing thinking is that the event will be moved to the new NFL stadium in Las Vegas after that. What nobody considered was the damage it might do to the conference's brand.The conference has a long list of problems . It has high overhead. It's led by a commissioner who doesn't know a thing about football and doesn't care to hire anyone who does. And the Pac-12 doesn't reach as many households as others and distributes less money to its members than other Power 5 Conferences.The Pac-12 claims to be both a media company and a sports conference. Scott said so prior to kickoff. But on Friday, it was all media company.The football brand is something that could have received a shot in the arm on Friday night. A national television audience could have seen 70,000 Pac-12 fans, rabid, enthusiastic, and best of all, invested. Instead, it became a running joke.35,143?"Maybe if they count the people stuck in traffic in their vehicles on Highway 101," someone on Twitter quipped.35,143?"They're a media company - not an accounting firm," someone else joked.35,143?Said another: "Is this that Price is Right game where we choose one number to take out to guess the correct number?"Look. Laugh all you want. Huskies fans are kicking their feet at the ceiling today and booking travel to Pasadena. But the thing that isn't funny is how the damaged brand of the conference affects the football programs.Washington State is trying to get itself to a New Year's Six bowl game. It's a 10-win team. A Utah win might have helped its cause. But also, the perception nationally that the Pac-12 Conference is a serious football conference with a serious title game would help, too.Friday night looked like the Pac-12 fans were engaged in a planned walk-out.This game needs to find a new home.
Quote from: mocat on December 01, 2018, 12:33:21 PMOU is wearing gross unis todayI like the cream OU unis. Actually, I kind of love them.
The refs have appeared to simplify things by determining that if an OU receiver does not catch a pass then it was pass interference.
As much as people panicked about the Big 12, it was never this bad. The Pac 12 needs to fire Larry ScottQuoteCanzano: Don't be mad at the Pac-12, it's not a football conference, it's a media companyUpdated on Nov 30, 2018 at 10:52 PM PSTBy John Canzano | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Canzano: Don't be mad at the Pac-12, it's not a football conference, it's a media companyUpdated on Nov 30, 2018 at 10:52 PM PSTBy John Canzano | The Oregonian/OregonLive
The red shoulders part is gross
