Welcome to the Big 12 Buzz! Things are going to look a little different during the offseason but that doesn’t mean I can’t share what’s on my mind this week in the Big 12.
Goodbye Rocco Becht
With the news of Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht entering the transfer portal, there was something I wanted to share here because some of the comments that I have seen have been horrible.
People are upset that Rocco is leaving. I get it, they want him to stay and so do I but put yourself in his shoes, you are a fifth-year quarterback, trying to get to the NFL, your head coach leaves and the entire staff you have been around for the last couple years is gone too.
Now you are going into your final season needing a bounce back year after dealing with injuries, and how would you feel to have an entirely new staff come in and have to learn a new offense?
Rocco is one of the best quarterbacks in school history, he’s an Iowa State guy. He’s put in the blood, sweat, tears, you name it. He just graduated from Iowa State last week. He’s a Cyclone whether you like it or not. To sit here and criticize him and call him names is just flat out stupid.
You can be mad Rocco is leaving, hell you don’t even have to root for him at his next school if you don’t want to but to call him a traitor or anything like that is just crazy to me when you look at everything he did for the football program, the school and the community of Ames. Good luck Rocco, I wish you nothing but the best wherever you land. Except Iowa, if you go there, I can’t root for you.
Kenny Dillingham is Staying Put and Wants More
Despite rumors of Kenny Dillingham taking the Michigan job, it appears that he is staying in Tempe. Dillingham signed a five-year contract extension this past weekend worth around $7.5 million per year. It includes a considerable increase in the salary pool for his assistants, raising it to $11 million, positioning ASU’s staff as one of the top earners in the Big 12.
Not long after singing that hefty extension, Dillingham shared with the media about what it’s going to take for Arizona State to become an elite program. “We need to find one of these really rich people in this city to step up and stroke a check,” Dillingham said. “We live in Phoenix, Arizona. You’re telling me there’s not one person who could stroke a $20 million check right now?
There is somebody out here who can. There’s somebody who can. There’s somebody. Other people are going to sacrifice to be here. Somebody step up. Step up and be that dude to say, ‘Holy cow. What completely changed it? This person.’”
It’s not often you see a coach be this blunt about asking for money. And whether you like the way he went about it or not, he’s 100% right. To be competitive today you need money to fund your team. It costs millions of dollars not just this year or next year but every single year if you want to compete for championships.
By no means do I like where college athletics are today, but this is how things work now. I respect Kenny Dillingham for saying the quiet part out loud and maybe more coaches should be more aggressive when it comes to finding ways to fund your program.
The Playoff Problem
After the first round of the college football playoff, there were plenty of people voicing their opinion about the issues of the playoff itself. So, I figured what the hell, I can share some of my thoughts too.
The Oklahoma/Alabama games was everything I could have hoped and asked for on Friday night. Norman was rocking, the atmosphere was electric, and the game itself turned out to be a good one. It was the perfect way to kick off the playoff.
As for the Saturday slate, it left a lot to be desired. The Miami/Texas A&M was a dud until the final few minutes, and the other two games reminded me of my days in Ag where I raised hogs for the school stock show.
Every year, I would raise a hog, get it cleaned up, and show it. Following the show, it was drop off time at the local processing plant. The journey to get there was fun, but you always knew how it would end just like the Tulane and James Madison games if you know what I mean.
Now I am not saying G5 teams should be left out of the playoff every year. There are going to be years when you get a team from the Sun Belt or wherever that ends up undefeated and that’s fine. Let them in. But that wasn’t the case for either Tulane or James Madison this year as both lost by double digits in the non-conference to power four teams. Tulane even had a loss in conference play and backdoored their way into the playoff. To me, that’s not right.
Should BYU and Notre Dame have gotten in over those two? Absolutely and we would have been left with much better matchups and more eyeballs. Would it have competed with the NFL that Saturday? Maybe not but it would have been a hell of a lot better than what we got. I am a college football guy, and I found myself watching the two NFL games over the playoff games on Saturday.
I get it, blowouts in the playoff are going to happen. Hell, look at Tennessee and SMU last year. Tennessee lost to Ohio State by 25 and SMU lost to Penn State by 28. Yet nobody in the national media was throwing a tantrum because of who the schools were and what conference they came from.
But maybe we should do a better job of evaluating some of these teams who they let in. Look at Texas A&M for example, 11-1 from the almighty SEC. Should be an automatic lock, right? Well, if you look at their body of work in SEC play it’s not all that and a bag of chips. They failed to beat a single team that finished in the top half of the SEC because they only played one team that was in the top half of the SEC. That team was Texas, and they lost by double digits.
Due to these massive conferences, you are going to see teams that get favorable schedules and avoid having to play anyone with a pulse. But due to their record, you almost must let them in. Greg Sankey could have killed someone over leaving a 9-3 Alabama team out last year, could you imagine what he would do if a one loss SEC team got left out?
What I am trying to say is that college football has a problem that is more than just letting G5 teams in the playoff, the whole thing needs a revamp from the way we look at teams and the process itself. For your sake and mine, I will end the conversation here because I could go about this topic until next Christmas. With that said, thank you for putting up with my bullshit and I hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas!
