Ohio State Football: Stinks when it goes the other way, doesn’t it?

Have you ever known someone who did something kind of shady to gain the upper hand in a situation? They enjoy telling anyone who will listen just how much more clever and smarter they are than everyone else. They’ll lose themselves in their self-assured hubris and openly laugh in the face of those who dare question their ways. Ohio State football fans have seen this with TTUN.

Their tune changes in a hurry when those they’ve been laughing at find a way to one-up them. They ball up their fists, stomp their foot, and scream, “NO FAIR!!” They’ll talk non-stop about how embarrassing it is for the others to have found a way to beat them at their own game. Sounds an awful lot like the SEC and ESPN in the last week, doesn’t it?

We all know the story by now. While working on a playoff expansion plan with the Big XII commissioner, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was also negotiating a backroom deal with Big XII members Texas and Oklahoma to bring them into his conference.

Sankey worked on both of these things knowing it would mean a great deal more money and leverage for his conference. ESPN, who owns the SEC Network and the broadcast rights to playoff games, stood to benefit as well.

While others questioned the ethics of Sankey’s tactics, those at ESPN hailed him as a visionary who just plain outsmarted everyone else. Washington State president Kirk Schulz called Sankey’s poaching of Texas and Oklahoma a predatory move.

The talking heads at ESPN had a field day with that comment. One of the hosts on ESPNU Radio pooh-pooed Schulz’s claim and said Sankey’s move is just good business. Well, of course ESPN thinks Sankey’s underhanded move is good business!

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The College Football Playoff TV contract will be negotiated again soon and they desperately want broadcast rights to all of the expanded playoff games. The SEC and ESPN thought playoff expansion was going to be a slam dunk and they’d laugh all the way to the bank. What they didn’t count on was others finding a way to hold the keys to the bank doors.

After a few weeks of looking into expanding their conferences and other solutions, the ACC, Big Ten, and PAC 12 decided to band together and put a stop to the SEC and ESPN’s college football coup attempt. While the alliance formed by those three conferences will include scheduling games among each other, the most important thing it does is give them a very powerful voting block on matters like playoff expansion.

Many of the university presidents who make up those three conferences have said they are no longer in favor of playoff expansion because of how unstable things are in college football right now in regards to conference realignment.

There is also a growing sentiment to open up the TV contract negotiations to allow more networks than just ESPN to carry the games. By doing so, it will mean more money for everyone, not just ESPN and the SEC. As you can imagine, this has not gone over well with certain people.

One SEC shill on ESPN (and they certainly have enough of them) wrung his hands, shook his head, and said it is embarrassing for these three once-proud conferences to stoop to such a level. Others have mocked the three leagues by saying, “What? They couldn’t schedule each other in the past? Hey, how about an Ohio State football-Oregon matchup? HAHAHAHA!!” What they miss is this is not about scheduling. This alliance is about money and power. The ACC, Big Ten, and PAC 12 figured out how to one-up the SEC and ESPN, and not allow those two to control college football.

This is what I have to say to those who decry this alliance: stinks when it goes the other way, doesn’t it? It really stinks when you think you’re pretty smart and then you find someone else is just a little smarter. It must stink even more when you try an underhanded power move like Sankey’s and then see that power usurped by those playing above board.

You’ll continue to read and hear holier-than-thou opinions on the formation of the alliance. Each time I run across one, I’ll smile and think, “Sure stinks when it goes the other way, doesn’t it?” Good thing we don’t have to think that way about Ohio State football most of the time!