I would take Boise and Fresno first and even Boise is pushing it to me.

I wouldn’t want to have a cluttered conference like the SEC and Big10

If you read the proposal, you know that I posted polls at each of the SBN blog sites. Thanks to all who’ve participated across 10 blogs, voted 410 times, and commented ! I thought this would be a great topic to blog about and I was surprised at some of the results. Like everyone, I’m happy the conference has an auto-BCS bid. But I’m frustrated by the fact that the Pac-10 has shown it cannot get two BCS bowl bids (’04 Cal, ’07 ASU). Boo hoo, right? Well, these are big bucks were talking about here. It would be nice to be able to replace the rotten wood bleachers in Memorial (or something to that effect). Moreover, the secondary bowls are terrible. The Holiday Bowl sounds corny, is pre-New Years, and gets the opportunity to play the #3 Big-12 team. And the Pac-10, in an effort to get more bowls, has settled for "meh" bowls rather than quality bowls. My goal behind the expansion was to level the playing field and to improve the Pac-10’s chances of two BCS bowl bids. I’ve posted the voting statistics below from all of the schools participating (% for / % against / total # voters):

Cal (Cal Golden Blogs): 34% / 64% / 49
Bruins Nation: (UCLA): 21% / 78 % / 185
Conquest Chronicles (USC): 23 % / 76 % / 17
ASU (House of Sparky): 47 %/ 52 % / 19
Oregon (ATQ): 22 % / 77 % / 57
Oregon St (Building the Dam): 15 % / 85 % / 40
UW (UW Dawg Pound): 50 % / 50 % / 38
Wazzou (CougCenter): 36 % / 63 % / 11
Utah (Block U): 80 % / 20 % / 30
Colorado (The Ralphie Report): 63 % / 38 % / 18
UofA (no SBN blog): N/A
‘furd (no SBN blog): N/A
=======
Total: 32 % / 68 % / 410
Throw out UCLA’s 185 votes for copying Cal’s fight song, mascot, colors, team name: 41 % / 59 % / 227

I’m kidding with the last one of course…just a little good natured ribbing. BN should be commended for having such a large blogging audience. I’ve listed some of the general comments that were received around the various blogs that participated:

1) Round Robin Scheduling/I hate changing. Wow. I never knew so many people like robins that are round. In my opinion, I don’t think the SEC/Big-12 cares about non-round robin scheduling since they usually compete for a second BCS bowl bid and they can laugh about it all the way to the bank. The round robin gives the clearest champion whereas the proposed schedule could potentially lead to a screwy system although with better football this "screwiness" could be minimal. This was by far the most common reason for opposing expansion. 11 league football games and 22 league hoops games sound like a lot. Would 11 league games + 2-3 OOC games work? If so, does this improve our BCS chances? I don’t think so. I think a lot of people love the overhyped Conference Championhsip – particularly those who vote in the polls that decide our BCS rankings.

2) Colorado wouldn’t want to/Colorado sucks at hoops/BYU and Utah instead. As the votes and comments suggested, Colorado might want to (some fans at least). Hell, they almost did in ’94 I think. The balance of power has shifted towards the Big-12S/Southwest Conference teams (just as Osborne said it would in the late ‘90s) and it doesn’t appear as it will shift significantly back. Fans should compare the revenue potential of the new Pac-12 and compare it to the revenue potential of the old Big-12, not compare current Pac-10/Big12. I realize that’s hard to do but somebody must be talented enough at business to do this.

Several fans voted for BYU and Utah instead since they offer better hoops teams and have the "Holy War" rivalry to bring. My poll question asked for Colorado and Utah, so these voting numbers don’t reflect BYU + Utah for the Pac-12 expansion. Note that my proposal protects the Holy War, it just doesn’t make it a league game. L’s still matter. This allows for Colorado and Utah to dust off their old rivalry. If BYU wants to take itself seriously, get an SBN blog and help ‘furd and ‘Zona as well.

3) Colardo/Utah don’t fit academically. Yes they do…they are better than 1/3 to 1/2 of the current universities in the Pac-10. Some Buffs fans were really offended by some of the lower Pac-10 blogs were really offended by blogger posting at academically inferior institutions. BYU is different: excellent (so they say) undergrad institution, huge endowment $, no research and no grant $. Some have said this does/does not matter.

4) Mountain West teams can’t compete with Pac-10 teams. A Utah blogger actually said this as his team is ranked #7, 2 spots behind USC and 17 spots ahead of the next Pac-10 team. I think this says something about our current ranking system!

5) Don’t conform to The Man, Screw The Man. Totally unexpected this one and it is very Berkeley. A Utah fan said he enjoys being the BCS buster and he thinks the Pac-10 should leave the BCS conference just to see what others would do. Several other fans around the Pac-10 said they’d rather fix/destroy the BCS and adopt the old version or create a playoff system. One Bruins fan had some crazy shuffling throughout the nation that lead to 7 BCS conferences comprised of 10 teams each, playing round robins, and the winners + next highest ranked team would get BCS bowls. "Fixing the current BCS" is the only thing I see coming out of these ideas mentioned as we roll into another bowl year with 3 teams undefeated…

6) I don’t want to road trip to Utah and Colorado/SLC and Denver aren’t big enough cities. Hey, people hate change. Salt Lake and Denver are major airline hubs and I’ve flown to both locales several times. Salt Lake hosted the Winter Olympics this six years ago. Denver just hosted the DNC. Pulman just hos…

7) Pac-10 teams are afraid of being less successful/losing recruits. I’m of the belief that better teams = better football = better glory. Some aren’t.

8) Are you a commish? Buffs fan? Mountain West fan? No, I’m not a commissioner, Buffs fan, nor Mountain West fan. I’m just a scientist (cue Coldplay) who solves problems for a living.

I’d like to thank everyone for participating and for making this an enjoyable experience. Thanks to all of the chief bloggers for letting a Cal fan post at their site, especially House of Sparky and The Ralphie Report for front page presence.

Boulder is a very dark city…pun intended!

Utah and BYU or Fresno State and Boise State. Colorado should stay where they are in the Big-12, Big Oil, NWO conglomerate.