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1) Is it the end of the college sports world? Again? Obviously the news of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten dominated the sports world in the last week. And now everybody is talking about what happens next. And I keep thinking...what if nothing happens next? The Big Ten has 16 teams. The SEC has 16 teams. Those numbers makes sense. Scheduling is pretty easy. To add another team, it has to be a team that is going to help the bottom line, which means it's a team that's going to have to be worth well over $50 million a year. Notre Dame is. Is anybody else? I don't know. I'm not saying nothing else is going to happen. But every time there's a move or two, everybody immediately goes into Armageddon mode. We've buried the Big 12 like a dozen times. Even if there are more moves (and there probably are) maybe it isn't automatically a 40-team super league with everyone else told to go sit at the kids' table.
2) I think there are three potential scenarios if this is the beginning of the end as we know it.
*The SEC and Big Ten take everyone they want, they are the two major leagues which basically stage their own playoff and nobody else matters at all. In this scenario, Notre Dame is involved. I have to think schools like Oregon, Washington, Florida State, Clemson and Miami are involved. There are probably others. It would require the Big Ten and SEC to get to at least 20 teams each and maybe more than that. It's possible certainly.
*The Big 12 and the PAC 12 more or less consolidate into one conference. I don't know which name they would use. Maybe they'd just form an entirely new league like the Big 12 did when the Big Eight and the SWC came together. But there are 12 Big 12 teams and 10 leftover PAC 12 teams. Maybe they just all go into one. Or maybe some of them do and there are a handful of schools (Man, I wouldn't want to be Washington State or Oregon State right now) left sitting at home. Either way, there's enough there to maintain status as the fourth major conference, the playoff gets reworked, there's an automatic bid for each of the four major conference teams and 4-8 at large bids and off we go for a while.
*What if there's some combination of those two? What if Oregon and Washington join the Big Ten to give USC and UCLA partners? Then what's left of the PAC 12 merges with the Big 12, giving that league 20 teams? Then the ACC falls apart with the SEC and possibly the Big Ten picking off the teams they want? We end up with three conferences with about 20 teams each? I don't really know if that's possible, but honestly, I have no idea what's going to happen so let's just throw out every possibility.
I think realignment in general has been a negative for college sports. But it's fun as hell to follow, especially when it doesn't really impact the school you cover or cheer for. And, again, like I said above, I'm just throwing stuff against the wall. I don't have a clue what's going to happen.
3) Friday marked a decade since Missouri officially became a member of the SEC. Fitting that so much realignment talk is going on. This will be my 11th season covering an SEC football team. I only covered Missouri in the Big 12 for nine seasons. Because of my age, it still seems a little bit weird Missouri is in the SEC to me. But the memories of the old neighborhood fade a little every day. I remember in the first year or two when it was so knew saying that we would hit a point where there would be a generation of fans who never knew Missouri as anything other than an SEC team. I don't think we're quite there yet, but we're not far off. The kids enrolling at Mizzou this summer were about eight years old when the school left the Big 12. The ones that are graduating were in middle school. If they grew up big sports fans, they probably remember the Big 12 and some of the games. But we're not far from that not being true. In less than ten years, not a single student at Missouri will have any memories of Mizzou in the Big 12. And those of us who remember the Big Eight will be hoping just to still be in relatively decent health.
4) Missouri picked up a football commitment on Sunday and kept itself alive for another one. St. Mary's RB Jamal Roberts gave his pledge to Mizzou. He picked up an offer about a month ago, visited a week ago and jumped on board Sunday. Missouri would definitely still take Jeremiyah Love at running back in this class. We don't think that's all that likely. If that doesn't happen, it will be interesting to see if the Tigers chase another back or if they're happy with Roberts being the only one.
Perhaps the bigger story on Sunday was the kid that didn't commit. Lee's Summit WR Joshua Manning announced on Saturday night that he was committing at noon on Sunday. By the time everyone went to bed on Saturday night, it was generally believed that commitment would be to Kansas State. And then on Sunday morning, suddenly Manning wasn't committing anywhere. Our Kansas State site reported the reason for that was Missouri:
"However, after making calls to the schools involved, he was convinced to hold off on going public and taking a bit more time to consider the options still remaining on the table.
Manning was set to pick between K-State, Iowa State, Nebraska, Missouri and Arkansas. Based on conversations that we have had throughout the day, our belief is Eliah Drinkwitz and the Tigers are behind it.
That doesn't mean that they will be the choice, but they were successful in at least having Manning push the pause button."
That tracks with what I've heard. Obviously NIL money cannot be used as a recruiting inducement and it never happens anywhere because everyone in college sports follows all the rules. But hypothetically if a kid tells you he's going somewhere else you could find out what his hypothetical NIL value might be at that place and hypothetically say that his NIL value could potentially be more at your place. Welcome, hypothetically, to recruiting in 2022.
5) It's a pretty gigantic week of decisions for Mizzou, both literally and figuratively. We know that Amir Herring is announcing his commitment on Thursday and Cayden Green is doing so on Friday. Herring will choose between Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska and Boston College. Michigan is viewed as the favorite, but how much of that is based on actual information and how much is being assumed because he's a Michigan prospect with a Michigan offer I'm not sure. Missouri felt like the visit went well and felt like it had a chance when he left. That's all you can ask for. Green will choose between Mizzou, Nebraska, LSU and Oklahoma, though it would be a major surprise if it was LSU or Nebraska. Oklahoma feels confident here, but I've continued to hear really good things on Missouri's side since his visit. I think it's pretty close to a coin flip to be honest. Getting Green would be a massive victory for Mizzou. If the Tigers can go 1/2 here it's a good week. If they somehow get both, Eli Drinkwitz might go ask for an extension.
