It's been a hectic past few days in the Duck world, and in college football in general with a giant restructuring of the major conferences seeming to be just around the corner. We'll start your morning off with some quack, and finish it off with a little Expandageddon.
- Oregon baseball ended their season last night as they fell 5-3 to the Florida State Seminoles. The Ducks' weaknesses because very apparent while playing FSU, as they simply did not have enough firepower to match the Seminoles. Oregon left 11 men on base, which just won't get it done against a team like FSU. But it's hard to be too disappointed in the loss. Oregon took two games from UConn during the weekend, and were competitive in both games against FSU. On top of that, Oregon succeeded beyond wildest expectations this year, making the postseason in just their second year of reinstated baseball, and in an incredibly difficult Pac-10 to boot.
- Though Oregon golf fell to Oklahoma State on Saturday, Eugene Wong received a nice consolation prize, winning the Nicklaus Award, given by the Golf Coaches Association of America to the collegiate players of the year.
- Oregon will be competing for more championships this week, as Oregon hosts the NCAA track & field championships. The Register Guard has a profile on Oregon sprinter Keshia Baker. A leader on the field, and off, when she's not winning sprints, she's starting non-profit organizations. Baker will be pursuing her first individual NCAA title as she is a favorite to win the 400, having the fastest outdoor time this year, though the field is incredibly competitive. Baker will also be leading the team in the 4x400, where they'll be taking on Texas A&M, which could very well determine the NCAA title.
- Also, in preparation for the championships, the RG's Curtis Anderson has a list of his best moments at Hayward Field.
- Oregon will be getting another free building from Phil Knight after the state board voter to allow the university to accept Knight's gift. The expansion to the athletic complex around Autzen should be complete in early 2013. This was a hotly contested issue, but President Lariviere argued strongly in favor of accepting the gift.
That's all for your quack, so let's get on with Expandageddon, after the jump.
- There are countless articles flying around, so let's start out with what we doknow. After meeting with the Pac-10 Presidents, Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott has been given the authority to pursue expansion for the conference. This will be a very fluid situation, and Scott has a few scenarios to look at. First, he can look at a two-team expansion, presumably including Colorado and Utah. Second, he can pursue a six-team expansion, which would include the Big XII South, with a possibility of taking Colorado instead of Baylor. Lastly, he can pursue a full merger between the Big XII and the Pac-10, creating a 22-team super-duper-godzilla conference. For once, the Pac-10 will be proactive. Instead of sitting by and letting everything happen around it, the conference will be pushing a lot of the change that is bound to happen this offseason.
- The prize of any expansion is obviously Texas, and it was assumed that Texas wants to get out of the Big XII. This may not be entirely true. Chip Brown, who originally broke this story, is now saying that Texas wants the Big XII to stay together. But how far Texas will go to keep the conference intact? If the conference begins to fall apart (which is very possible with Nebraska and Missouri flirting with the Big 10), then Texas will move on.
- And this leads many to now speculate that Nebraska is the key to almost all significant expansion. And they (and Missouri) have been given an ultimatum by the Big XII, that they must state their intentions by 5pm Friday. It is presumed that the Big XII could withstand the loss of Missouri, but not Nebraska, so if Nebraska does not double-down with the Big XII by Friday, then the whole conference could start to unravel as its universities split up and look out for their own interest. My question is, does Nebraska trust Texas? The Big 10 definitely offers a stability and trust that the Big XII does not.
- Yahoo's Dan Wetzel has an interesting piece today on how these problems for the Big XII are due to their eschewing a playoff two years ago. The kneejerk dismissal of a playoff by commissioner Dan Beebe, which was a big factor in the rejection of the "plus-one," lost the conference millions in potential revenues, and that is now choking off some of the less established conferences. Wetzel even goes as far as saying that this was Big 10 commissioner Jim Delany's plan all along. If expansion happens, it will almost definitely lead to some sort of playoff, but a playoff two years ago would have legitimized the Big XII, the Big East, and eventually the MWC, for good. Expansion is about consolidation, and when a playoff happens, it will simply further separate the "haves" the the "have nots." I'm just glad Oregon will end up as part of the "haves."
- Almost all SBNation blogs are buzzing from these changes, as there's a good chance that the college football landscape as we know it will change forever. Avinash at Cal Golden Blogs looks at the various scenarios and asks if the Pac-10 is about to get played. Big 10 blog Rivalry, Esq. says that this is good for the Big 10, but bad for college football, because it would get rid of the regional nature of college football. In the case of the "Pac-16," I think this would would actually bring back the importance of regional games (if scheduling is done right), as we get back to the old Pac-8, and a slightly expanded Big XII South.
- Lastly, some of the most interesting blogs come from those teams that are (at least right now) on the outside of expansion talk. KSU Blog Bring On The Cats looks at the scenarios, while BlockU has a good amount of optimism.
There's sure to be more info coming out today, so keep it here, and we'll have the latest Duck and Expandageddon news. One last note, if you hadn't noticed, SBNation unveiled a number of regional sites over the weekend, and was profiled in the New York Times. This is yet another huge step for the network. Thanks for your support, not only at this site, but across the whole SBNation network. GO DUCKS!