Early betting line: 28-point favorite over UCLA
- Thread starter Jerry
- Start date
UCLA is an odd duck. For a program that was pretty good in the Terry Donahue years they have just disappeared from the list of prominent football programs.
I watched a good part of all the Ucla losses. I’m not sure how good their opponents were but Ucla was not impressive. That coach has his hands full.
Terry Donahue was like 35 years ago. You might as well talk about how Colorado was a national championship caliber team under Bill McCartney - it has no relevance to today.
I remember people here talking about UCLA as being a “good” team when talking about them joining the Big Ten and schedules getting harder - like they were another Iowa or Wisconsin second tier team. But they aren’t. They are more like a Maryland that might have a good year or two sometimes but are decidedly mediocre historically.
I wouldn't. Sure, the Lions have a good offense, but they're not an explosive, big-play offense (yet).
UCLA coming in from the west coast after consecutive beat-downs against three ranked teams -- God knows what's gotten into Indiana -- and now draws a noon kick at our place. Seems like they could be demoralized at this point.
This game could get out of hand early what with the factor of emotions and our talent edge. It adds up to a W by at least 28, but you never know.
It seems unethical to force those guys to play at noon. There should be a standing rule in the conference that at the earliest a West Coast team starts at 3:30 EST. And likewise, an eastern team should never play at 10:30 EST for a 730 game on the West Coast.
I guess that it made too much sense to play the Iowa at OSU game at noon rather than make a West Coast team play a de facto 9:00 game for them.
Their schedule is criminal. This week will mark four consecutive games against ranked teams. Then there's a bit of a breather (if you want to call it that) at home against Minnesota.
After that, back to the east coast against currently undefeated Rutgers followed by another road game against a revived Nebraska team and then come Iowa, Washington, and USC.
The only decent chance for a win there is Minnesota...and that's far from a sure thing after the way the Gophers played Michigan.
Oh well, too bad for UCLA, but I'm happy to play them while they're down so to speak. Just hoping our guys don't take anything for granted. Welcome to the Big-10, Bruins! Aren't you glad you joined our little club!!
Only second time all year the spread for one of our games is dangerous enough for me not to bet. We aren't finishing drives...ton of yards with minimal points. I think we win easily but I'd say 34-6 type game which is the spread
Lions always come out in a slumber for noon games. I expect they'll get things in gear by the second half, especially against UCLA, but not enough to cover 4 TDs. I'm thinking something like 35-17.
Dick Vermeil and Terry Donahue had some damn good teams at UCLA. Unfortunately, they couldn't sustain that success. This year's team will win two or three games. They are to USC what Pitt is to Penn State in terms of attraction to recruits. Definitely a tough draw.
Going back even further, UCLA had some great teams under Tommy Prothro in the late 1960s. In every decade since then, they've had occasional excellent years...and a number of mediocre seasons as well. At the moment, they definitely appear to be back on the downslide.
Ethics has nothing to do with the B2G
I counter with our horrendous record of terrible 1st qtrs in nooners.
Bonus: Coach K likes to pound it, see last game. Long drives, burn clock. Only caveat to that is Singleton can always break a couple long ones.
Seems like a huge spread to me.
I wonder if the west coast teams willingly entered into an agreement knowing the potential for this scheduling albatross to become reality.
I'm sure it made cents when they were chasing the $'s - and they did not want to be 'left out'....
UCLA has not been to State College for a football game since 1968.
Interestingly, we played them 6 years in a row from '63-'68 going 1-2 both at home and on the road.
And we definitely have some Senior Lion alums who were witness to or remember these contests.
Plus, throw in some Cali $ and interest...
the cheapest "all in" on tickpix is $86. When I checked Saturday night, it was $106 so it is falling. Last week the Ill tickets, a 19th ranked opponent, was ~ $25.
West Coast teams playing at noon ET when away is not anything new. Of course USC/UCLA (and later Washington and Oregon) knew that was on the table when joining the Big Ten. It's still a far better situation for them in terms of exposure (and of course $$$) than being in the PAC-12.
Also, the West Coast teams will typically only make 3 trips east per season for conference games in football (occasionally 4). That's not really a large number each season if only 1 or two of them are even at noon.
I agree.
And I'm guessing the terms and conditions for the former PAC-12 members were nebulous in that the networks will make that final determination based on where they pick and the attractiveness of the game.
And this is the reality of those details.
I don't think there was anything nebulous. The networks stated that west coast teams in the Big Ten were not going to host noon ET games. Anything else is in play and the schools certainly knew that playing at noon on the road was something that was going to happen.
It must be the fact that the game is at State College at what would be 9am for UCLA.
I suspect Helene had an overall impact, in various ways, to the price and demand for tickets.
109K+ turned out at Beaver Stadium for the game Saturday night so perhaps some folks who would not normally be able to attend took advantage of the discounted prices.
good point. Looking at ticket sales before the season, ILL wasn't considered a good game but UCLA was. Plus, after UCLA, we don't play at home again until Nov 2nd vs tOSU (two away games and a bye)
Last week tickets may have been depressed by fears of Helene attending the game.
Well, maybe it's nebulous to me because, beyond the specified condition that no west coast team will be required to host a noon kickoff, I'm not familiar with how the games are selected for the noon time slot.
Are there restrictions on the number of times the same west coast team can be slotted for a noon kickoff game?
Can UCLA's game at Rutgers on 11/2 be slotted for a noon kickoff?
Are they required to play an away game noon ko annually?
Answers:
No, no restrictions to the number of times playing at noon. Could be every single away game they play in the ET/CT schools
Absolutely, the game against Rutgers on 11/2 could be at noon.
No requirement for a number of noon games away, but any game could be slotted there.
UCLA (and all the PAC schools) are aware of this possibility. None of this would be a surprise to them.
The way games are chosen is a little complex given that there are three different networks (FOX, CBS, NBC) as well as their non-network outlets (FS1 and BTN for FOX, Peacock for NBC) that can broadcast football games. But they have a system in place that determines the selection order in any given week and the Big Ten and conference teams are privy to that information. In general, the basic thing is that FOX network games at at noon, CBS at 3:30 ET, NBC at 7:30 ET. FOX also carries some games on Friday nights - announced in advance of the season - and rare Saturday nights (after dark at 10 PM ET). Otherwise, games on BTN, FS1 or Peacock can be in pretty much any window.
Thank you for the prompt and informative update!
May I inquire as to how and why you are so knowledgeable in this area?
It seems beyond conventional fandom so I was wondering if you were in some way involved in the process.
Haha! If only.
But no, it's more complicated than that. Plus Indiana beat them by 29 at their place, and we're better than Indiana. I hope...
No, I just have an interest in sports broadcasts on TV. I'm active in some groups that do have insiders who provide such information.
Wait, am I understanding you correctly then that our October 12 game against USC can NOT kick at 12:00 Eastern time?
I'd love that to be the case for reasons explained below, but that's not the impression I get from the Trojans Wire piece linked below which says Fox will air the game, and it could in fact be kicked off at 12:00 EST...though as of today, this has not been determined yet.
It's important information for me because my grandson's football games are this Saturday at 3:00 and the following Saturday at 12:00. Being the devoted Grandpa that I am, I have to attend at least one of them. Even though it's the 10-year old league where these kids are more or less just running around bumping into one another.
If I attend his game this Saturday, then I'd have to miss much of the 2nd half of our game against UCLA. Therefore, the following Saturday at noon seems better but not if the huge USC game kicks at 12:00 Eastern.
I'd rather miss some of the UCLA game, which hopefully will be in the bag early, than take a chance on even missing one play of the USC game. But I'm guessing we won't know the start time of the USC game until next week.
Anyway, here's the link I mentioned:
Will USC-Penn State football be a 9 am kickoff in LA this October?
USC-Penn State playing at 9 a.m. on Fox Big Noon Saturday is a real possibility after a surprising twist in the college football media world.
trojanswire.usatoday.com
We've lived in Pasadena since 2010 and when we first moved here, I got season tickets for UCLA football since the Rose Bowl is only a few miles away and I thought it would be something to do. That was Neuheisel's next-to-last year. It was so different than what I was used to--being spoiled by Penn State. The only game where the stadium felt full was the UCLA-USC game. Since then, there's been brief moments of excitement--Jim Mora's first 2-3 seasons but outside of that, it really is an afterthought. Even during USC's down years, when UCLA could have built support, it never really happened. UCLA has supporters but it's their alumni. USC has support from everyone else and there are more of everyone else.
During basketball season, it shifts a bit and you see more support for UCLA. That also may speak to the people around here who our front-runners and/or look back to the old times when it comes to UCLA basketball, Dodgers, Lakers, and Raiders (who still outnumber Chargers/Rams fans combined).
But the big factor that is most often brought up with the success (or lack of) for UCLA, it's the UCLA admin does not financially support the football program as much as is needed to be a factor on the national scale. It seems odd given that stature and well-known branding of UCLA but they just dont seem to care as much about football. Another factor--though minor---is that UCLA campus is 26 miles away from the Rose Bowl. Not having the stadium close to campus feels like you lose some of the campus support when students have to find their way all the way to Pasadena. I think it's the furthest campus-stadium for any FBS team.
Wait, am I understanding you correctly then that our October 12 game against USC can NOT kick at 12:00 Eastern time?
I'd love that to be the case for reasons explained below, but that's not the impression I get from the Trojans Wire piece linked below which says Fox will air the game, and it could in fact be kicked off at 12:00 EST...though as of today, this has not been determined yet.
It's important information for me because my grandson's football games are this Saturday at 3:00 and the following Saturday at 12:00. Being the devoted Grandpa that I am, I have to attend at least one of them. Even though it's the 10-year old league where these kids are more or less just running around bumping into one another.
If I attend his game this Saturday, then I'd have to miss much of the 2nd half of our game against UCLA. Therefore, the following Saturday at noon seems better but not if the huge USC game kicks at 12:00 Eastern.
I'd rather miss some of the UCLA game, which hopefully will be in the bag early, than take a chance on even missing one play of the USC game. But I'm guessing we won't know the start time of the USC game until next week.
Anyway, here's the link I mentioned:
Will USC-Penn State football be a 9 am kickoff in LA this October?
USC-Penn State playing at 9 a.m. on Fox Big Noon Saturday is a real possibility after a surprising twist in the college football media world.
I think the article is making leaps that are not correct - among them the point the idea that the networks trade games as opposed to selection order; in this case, it seems like FOX traded the first choice of games on 10/12 to NBC and that choice is almost certainly going to be Oregon/Ohio St but doesn't have to be.
But this came up previously and it seems that FOX has the ability to switch broadcast windows with CBS if FOX selects a west coast home game. So, if FOX does choose PSU/USC on 10/12, it will likely end up that FOX will carry that game at 3:30 and CBS will carry a Big Ten game at noon (most likely either Wisconsin/Rutgers or Washington/Iowa).
Thanks, I guess I'm still a little confused because even with all the potential wrinkles and permutations outlined in the article, there is no mention of a rule that West Coast home games can not kick at 9:00 local.
But last year, I recall this issue came up, and I have some memory, perhaps incorrect, of an article in The Athletic quoting a senior league official as saying there would be no 9:00 West Coast kick-offs. I hope that's the case. A 9:00 kick is messed up on a number of levels.
