More matchups like last weekend's Oregon-Ohio State game are expected in the coming years from the AllianceGETTY IMAGES
Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff and Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren said that a matchup like last weekend's Oregon-Ohio State is a "good example of what's to come in the future" with the Alliance, according to Ross Dellenger of SI.com. The Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC plan to "schedule football games against one another in the coming years." They envision that each one of their teams "will play two games, home and away, each season against teams from the other two conferences." That involves the Big Ten and Pac-12 "reducing their league games from nine to eight." Alliance games "will be spread out over the course of the entire season, too, giving America what Kliavkoff calls a 'trifecta' of Alliance matchups every week." These games "won't only be scheduled years in advance." They could be "arranged eight months before the meetings." But there are "some hurdles." First off, several administrators from Alliance conferences have said that they "do not plan to cancel existing nonconference games previously scheduled with the Big 12 and SEC." Secondly, the Pac-12 and Big Ten, as mentioned, "must drop from nine to eight league games, something the conferences are exploring." Another hurdle: The ACC has four annual rivalry games with SEC teams that are "steeped in tradition": Louisville-Kentucky, Florida–Florida State, Clemson–South Carolina and Georgia-Georgia Tech. Kliavkoff said it "would be up to the school" in that situation whether they want to schedule one or two Alliance games (SI.com, 9/15).
PAC-12 STICKING TOGETHER: Kliavkoff is making the rounds visiting Pac-12 campuses, and during a visit to Oregon State last week, he discussed the alliance: "What you’ll see are really interesting new matchups happening, and there’ll be exciting road games. But maybe more importantly for the fans will be bringing some teams into Reser Stadium that may otherwise not have come to Corvallis. That’s going to be really fun and that’s going to permeate its way through all of the sports, but start with football." Kliavkoff said of realignment rumors, "We just went through the process where we had the opportunity to for all 12 of our schools to look each other in the eye and recommit to the Pac-12. Every single school did that. Then the next opportunity was we had lots and lots of schools that wanted to join the Pac-12. I consider being part of the Pac-12 a golden ticket. No one’s giving up a golden ticket and everybody wants one. We decided that we could achieve everything that we could have achieved through expansion by doing the Alliance. That's a recommitment to the Pac-12. I’m very confident about the commitment from all our schools to the Pac-12" (Portland OREGONIAN, 9/14).
