The Troubling State of College Football in 2009

Depending on which side you believe, ESPN's attempt to broker a Texas-Wisconsin game this fall in Austin didn't happen because:

1. The teams couldn't arrange a return game in Madison until 2013.
2. Neither team was willing to give up a home game in 2009.

Thus is the state of college football in 2009. The nonconference schedules of Bowl Championship Series teams have become so god-awful that ESPN has to play matchmaker in an attempt to get decent programming.

This also brings into question — once again — the increasing influence ESPN has over college football. One can't fault the cable network for trying to bring viewers the best matchups, but it illustrates the sway it can have over teams. And now ESPN has added the BCS package to its portfolio, giving it a virtual stranglehold on the sport.

ESPN's money talks, but apparently there wasn't enough of it to get Mack Brown and Bret Bielema together for one Saturday this fall.

As it stands, Texas plays Louisiana Monroe, Central Florida and Texas El Paso at home and at Wyoming in nonconference play. Not exactly murderer's row and the Longhorns know it. With Colt McCoy returning, a title run could be in the works. A victory over a BCS opponent could be a difference-maker in the BCS standings.

Wisconsin plays Northern Illinois, Fresno State and something called Wofford at home and at Hawaii in nonconference play. Bielema's Badgers appear to be sliding fast — barely resembling the bruising, physical teams of Barry Alvarez — and one could see why Wisconsin wanted no part of Texas. But spin it the way you want because this game is not going to happen.

Thanks to Image of Sport.

Comments

[me]

I doubt this would be a decent matchup. UT would embarrass UW

[Todd]

I think it would be good if these "BCS" teams would have one major high profile match-up per year. They could avoid doing the home and home and just play at a large venue neutral site. Split the revenues, including the pay out from ESPN or ABC or whoever, and recoup some of the loss from not having a home game.

[nixa37]

There's no one to blame but the media. If they hadn't been so insistent that the BCS was broken when the teams they ranked #1 and #2 didn't end up #1 and #2 in the BCS. Under the system where polls, SOS, computer rankings, and quality wins mattered there was a huge incentive to schedule big time OOC matchups. Now that its 2/3 polls and 1/3 computers, its more important to limit your number of losses as opposed to trying to build up the best resume.

[JW]

Jay,

As always, the site looks terrific. As you know, ESPN has been brokering such games for at least half a decade (and has often used subtle "suggestions", such as a school's related appearances on air for college hoops, to get their way...see: canceled Villanova at Auburn game a few years back).
Still, ESPN's avarice is our good fortune. And, looking out to '09, this is the least appetizing slate of non-conference games I've seen in years.

[typemike]

Wiz, what we are seeing is the inevitable result of the BCS conspiracy, with massive payouts going to the select BCS conferences, and the teams in the non-BCS conferences trying to make do with less - with the exception of a handful of non-BCS perennial contending teams like Boise, Utah... I think the reason why the 2009 non-conference schedule looks so awful is because non-BCS conferences, as a whole, are declining in competitiveness vs. BCS teams.

[WTS]

It should be noted that Texas was slated to play Arkansas and Utah this year, dramatically increasing Texas' OOC SOS. Both teams backed out of these '09 matchups in recent years.