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00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid.
00:06Wow, it has been a minute since we've had Bill Bender here on the show of Sporting News.
00:10He covers college football for Sporting News and also appears weekly for us.
00:15And I believe the last time we saw Bill was either late in February, maybe early March,
00:21probably even before that, I'm guessing.
00:23So it's been a few months, but it is time to wind up, Bill,
00:27for another college football season here on Sports Grid.
00:29We're less than now two months away, a lot of catching up to do.
00:32Bill, thanks again for coming on Newswire, it's great to see you.
00:35Yeah, once we get into media season, and I think Monday with Texas and Oklahoma officially
00:42joining the SEC and all these moves that we have to catch up on, I've been telling people
00:47for a while, Craig, that it's a how does this work season with the new conferences, with
00:52the playoffs, the new teams, there's a lot to sort out, there's no doubt about that,
00:56and it's good to be back.
00:58Yeah, and I think that's probably our best bet here to do this for a couple weeks before
01:03we really get into some of the games.
01:05The conferences have been realigned, as Bill mentioned.
01:08If you have not been paying attention, the SEC, still the premier conference probably
01:11in the country, has added a couple of teams.
01:14The Big Ten now has 18 teams, the ACC has 17, the Big 12 has 16, the SEC has 16, and
01:24the Pac-12 has two.
01:27And I know they went off the air the other day on television, there's no more Pac-12,
01:30I did see that as well.
01:32So we could go in a number of different directions here, I mean, I guess let's start with what's
01:36going on here with the Pac-12, are they going to continue?
01:39And then in your opinion, do you think that people will enjoy this new alignment in college
01:44football?
01:46There's going to be a lot of surreal moments this year.
01:50And I'll start at the top, it hit me when you said 17 ACC teams, and then you're like,
01:55Oh yeah, SMU, Cal, and Stanford are in that league now.
01:59And I may be watching a late night game between Stanford and Wake Forest, and it's not a basketball
02:04game.
02:05I don't know what they'll do with Oregon State and Washington State other than I think their
02:10most logical move is to probably go into the Mountain West and try to find some access
02:15into the playoff that way.
02:17It's one of the casualties of losing the Pac-12 is those are two outposts that have a history
02:22in college football and you hate to see it go.
02:25When you're talking about the SEC at the top, another pinch me moment will be seeing Texas
02:29and Georgia in a huge SEC game, maybe twice, maybe three times with a 12 team playoff.
02:36And of course, up here in Big Ten country, the Pac-12 games, USC and UCLA were teams
02:43that I grew up not really liking because they were the Pac-12 team at the end of the rainbow
02:48at the Rose Bowl that the Big Ten champion had to go up against.
02:51And now the game at the Coliseum and the game at the Rose Bowl is a conference game.
02:55Those are some of the moments that are going to hit me this season.
02:58Yeah, I look, I again, as somebody who is in, I mean, I go in South Florida, it's like
03:04sort of ACC country, but going to school in SEC country and being a Gator, I mean, it's
03:09kind of crazy for me to see all these different matchups.
03:12And look, I think it'll be interesting.
03:13I think it'll take some time to get used to.
03:16The only thing that really is going to take some getting used to are the betting odds,
03:20Bill, because this is like has some shock value looking at the potential winner to win
03:25the SEC and seeing Texas there, you know, right in the thick of it to win the SEC.
03:32You know, clearly Georgia still the favorite at plus 180.
03:36Fair to say, I think at this point, Alabama, if you ever would say that they're a team
03:41in transition in the last 15 years, this is probably the year for them.
03:46Ole Miss could be strong.
03:48I think the odds makers are basically telling us, Bill, it's anybody's at this point.
03:52I don't think they know what to do with these odds, but it's very easy to just simply make
03:56Georgia the favorite because they're expected to be one of the best teams in college football
03:59again.
04:00Yeah.
04:01And their road is not easy.
04:02I think before you make a pick on the SEC champion, you have to consult these schedules
04:07because with a 16 team set up, there are imbalanced schedules.
04:11I don't have to tell you twice how difficult Florida schedule is this season.
04:15It's one of the most brutal in recent memory that I've ever seen.
04:19When you see all the teams they're playing within the conference, and then they're playing
04:23Miami and Florida State outside of the conference.
04:26So you look at Texas, tough road game at Michigan and non-conference play, traditional matchup
04:31with Oklahoma.
04:32Other than that, it's Georgia and Texas A&M.
04:36So if they can win three of those games or even split those two games, not lose any of
04:41the rest, you're looking at a 10 and two Longhorns team that will probably be in Atlanta
04:46for the SEC championship game in their first season in the conference, which is a scenario
04:50I would have not dreamed of saying three years ago when they joined it.
04:54So they are definitely a team to watch.
04:56Oklahoma, conversely, brutal schedule, got to play Alabama, got to play Tennessee, got
05:01to play LSU.
05:02It is one of those things where before you make a call, make sure you look at the schedules,
05:06especially in the Big Ten and the SEC.
05:09Yeah.
05:10It's going to be a little bit revolving, I think, with odds over the course of the season.
05:13I don't think the favorites are going to be the favorites the entire year.
05:16You know, you mentioned Texas and Oklahoma, which is crazy.
05:18How about the Big Ten?
05:19The fact that Oregon is as close to a favorite to win this conference as Ohio State.
05:24I don't think people would have guessed that.
05:26People may look at Michigan and say, wait a second, why is Michigan 7 to 1?
05:30A lot of kids left, Jim Horbaugh not there.
05:33Two-team race here between Ohio State and Oregon?
05:35It seems like this is a little different than the SEC, Bill.
05:38Michigan State has the easiest schedule of those top four in that top tier.
05:42Michigan has the most difficult schedule and lost 13 guys to the NFL draft, not to mention
05:47Jim Horbaugh.
05:48So there will be a little bit of honeymoon slash transition with Sharon Moore.
05:52It does come down to Ohio State, loaded roster, huge additions, hire Chip Kelly, all-in year
05:58for the Buckeyes.
05:59I think they'll get to Indianapolis, and they do play at Oregon on October 12th.
06:04Another pinch-me moment for me because I would have never dreamed it.
06:07By the way, I turned 45 that day, and I'm going to be watching a huge Big Ten game against
06:12Ohio State at Autzen Stadium, and I'm going to say, man, I'm getting old.
06:17But I think Ohio State and Oregon, another scenario where they could play one, two, maybe
06:22even three times with this 12-team setup, those are the two bets in the Big Ten for
06:26me.
06:28All right.
06:29Let's cap it off real quick with the Big 12.
06:30Utah's got to be the class.
06:31I know they have one of the strongest junior-senior classes coming back in all of college football
06:34this season.
06:36They got a shot to win the championship, Bill.
06:37They're 3-1 to win the Big 12.
06:40Kansas State is right there, too.
06:42Yeah, Utah, really interesting team to me.
06:45Got Cam Risingback going to be in the mix.
06:46I like Kansas State with the experience they have, but watch Oklahoma State.
06:51All five offensive linemen back, Ollie Gordon in the backfield, and this team waiting for
06:56Texas and Oklahoma to get out of the conference.
06:59The Cowboys are an interesting sleeper to me.
07:01All right.
07:02Well, next week with Bill, we'll do the ACC.
07:04There's just too many teams.
07:06There's not enough time here on the show to do every single conference.
07:09Bill, have a great holiday, July 4th.
07:11We'll see you soon.
07:13Thank you so much.