What’s the buzz from the world of sports? Here are some items that will have people talking:
1
Maybe some of the hand-wringing over Oregon leap-ducking Boise State in the college football rankings will be put to rest this week.
Not that the Ducks or Broncos will be tested. Oregon is at Washington State, and Boise State hosts Toledo.
It’s the shamedown in New Mexico that could tell us something about the Broncos and the Ducks. That’s right, we might learn something on Saturday when 0-5 New Mexico takes on 0-4 New Mexico State in a battle that reminds some of us of too many Civil War’s of yesteryear.
To review: Oregon opened the season with a 72-0 win over New Mexico. Last week Boise State beat N.M. State 59-0, a performance so unimpressive that the Broncos dropped in the polls.
So we can’t wait to see the score from Las Cruces — assuming that either team can score.
2
We will find out on Oct. 21 how the Pac-12 football divisions will look in 2011. That’s when the universities will vote on final proposals that come out of athletic directors’ meetings held Wednesday and Thursday.
Published reports indicate the likely model will pair the Northwest schools with Stanford and Cal in a North Division. Not ideal for recruiting or for exposure in Los Angeles, where it most counts.
But the bigger decisions will regard revenue sharing. Currently revenue is distributed based upon TV appearances, giving the L.A. schools an advantage because their TV market makes them popular choices for networks.
If the conference changes to a system that distributes TV revenue equally among its 12 schools, that will be a significant help to WSU and OSU. At least in the short term, that would ease the sting of losing the valuable exposure that games in L.A. brings.
