Fact or Fiction: The Pac-12 will still expand
In today’s Fact or Fiction, national columnist Mike Farrell looks at three big recent topics in college football and decides whether each statement is indeed FACT or if it’s FICTION.
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1. The Pac-12 will still expand.
Farrell’s take: FACT. Even with the agreement among the Pac-12, ACC and Big Ten on scheduling to reduce the volatility of the college football landscape, the Pac-12 will still expand. It just won’t try to add ACC or Big Ten schools which, quite frankly, wouldn’t be interested anyhow.
Getting into the Central Time Zone and the state of Texas with TCU, Baylor and/or Texas Tech would be valuable, and Oklahoma State is also an interesting option. The Pac-12 is an afterthought, and the Big 12 is essentially dead with Texas and Oklahoma moving to the SEC, so an expansion with some Big 12 additions makes sense.
And it could be a must for Pac-12 survival to get into football-hungry regions.
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2. UGA quarterback JT Daniels is the most important player to his team this season.
Farrell’s take: FICTION. This may have been the case last year, but this year there are some options at QB, including freshman Brock Vandagriff, a five-star prospect out of high school.
To me, the most important player on any roster this season – at least when it comes to top 25 teams – is Bijan Robinson at Texas. The way he’s going to be used and relied on by Steve Sarkisian is akin to Najee Harris at Alabama. As Robinson goes, so goes the Texas offense.
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3. Travis Shaw is a breakthrough commitment for UNC.
Farrell’s take: FACT. This commitment from the five-star DT is the result of amazing work by Mack Brown and his staff in changing the perception of UNC in-state, and it will pay dividends for years to come. ACC heavyweight Clemson led for Shaw early in the process and UNC swayed him to its side.
Landmark commitments are usually skill position players and often out of state, this is an interior lineman who will signal a boost in roster talent at UNC for years to come.