ESPN And All It’s East Coast Bias Might Be Making A Huge Mistake

No Comments September 11, 2017 USC Football By John Stellman

USC is perfect!

So is UCLA!

And six other PAC-12 members are perfect as well!

More about that later.

In the meantime, all those East Coast bias media types had better take notice.

Late Nights…Boo Hoo!

Maybe the so-called ESPN ‘experts’ will finally be inconvenienced by having to stay up past their bedtime.

You might have to pardon the yawns.

Granted, many PAC-12 football games don’t even kick off until long after the sun has disappeared in Connecticut, so maybe the pundits don’t need to start their day until noon-ish.

Otherwise, they’ll continue missing out on some of the best collegiate football in the nation.

Their Little World

But as far as they’re concerned, nothing west of the Mississippi matters.

I’ve got a late breaking news flash for those talking heads.

There is a lot going on west of the Allegheny Mountains.

And as much as they’re probably going to hate it, they need to realize that West Coast football needs some recognition.

League Of Their Own

Just because ESPN owns the Southeastern Conference pigskin package doesn’t entitle them to close their eyes on a majority of the other 114 Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs.

Granted, the SEC has been handed nine of the 19 National Championship Trophies.

Yet two weeks into the 2017 season No. 1 Alabama is the lone SEC team in the Top Ten. Twelfth ranked LSU, is next. Georgia (13), Auburn (15), Tennessee (23) and Florida (24) gives the conference six representatives.

No Need To Boast

Not exactly reasons for ESPN to be blowing its horn!

The PAC-12 is one better than the SEC with the Trojans (4) and Washington (6) in the Top Ten. Three other conference teams: Stanford (19), Washington State (21) and the Bruins (25) are also in elite company.

The Atlantic Coast Conference is represented by Florida State (11), Louisville (14), Virginia Tech (16) and Miami (17). But only third ranked Clemson is breathing that rarefied air.

The Big 10 and Big 12 (Oklahoma No. 2), (Oklahoma State No. 9), ( Kansas State 18) and (TCU 20) both have four Top 25 teams. But all four teams from the Big 10 (Penn State 5), (Michigan (7), Ohio State (8) and Wisconsin (10) are in the Top Ten!

Wake Up And Smell The Coffee!

Maybe ESPN had better open its eyes.

Had they done that this past weekend they would have witnessed one of the most impressive performances of the early season.

And no, I haven’t forgotten Clemson’s dominant 31-0 shutout of the high octane Buckeyes the previous week.

But what Trojan quarterback Sam Darnold accomplished against the Cardinal certainly didn’t hurt his Heisman Trophy resume.

The red shirt sophomore connected in 21 of 26 passes for 316 yards and four touchdowns. He did throw two interceptions. But that’s OK. Sports Center probably missed that too!

Back To The Future

“I was just trusting the offense more. I had more of a rhythm.

“I knew I had to play better than last week. It’s going to be scary to see what this team can do,” Darnold told the media after the game.

The Trojans have had high expectations ever since coach Clay Helton made Darnold his starter after USC’s 1-2 start last season.

Darnold lost that fourth game on a cold and windy afternoon in Salt Lake City.

11 Straight

He hasn’t lost since.

They finished with nine straight wins, including a thrilling last-play-of-the-game 46-yard field goal by Matt Moermeester to beat Penn State in the Rose Bowl, 52-49.

Western Michigan was victim No. 10 a couple of weeks ago, 49-31.

The opener got neither the hype nor the audience nor the start time this game got.

This was a late afternoon kickoff that would probably end near midnight, heaven forbid, on the east coast.

No worries! Darnold was wide awake.

And he had plenty of help from an energized offense that would grind out 632 total yards.

Running Wild

Freshmen sensation Stephen Carr accumulated 119 yards. His junior counterpart, Ronald Jones, amassed 116 yards of his own.

Now put that in your microphones and don’t choke when you say, “USC 42, Stanford 24.”

Adding to the embarrassment, the defense held the Cardinal to 342 yards, controlled the ball for nearly 10 minutes more than Stanford (34:35 – 25:25) and had almost twice as many first downs (28-16).

As well oiled as the Trojan machine was, UCLA signal caller Josh Rosen’s performance was equally efficient.

The highly publicized junior, who spent most of last season sidelined by injury, missed connecting on just three of his 25 passes.

Milestone

His five touchdown passes was a career high and his 329 yards was just part of his blue collar performance.

A 14-0 first quarter lead quickly ballooned to 35-7 at halftime en route to a workman like 56-23 victory.

The 98-point explosion by the Trojans and Bruins should have been exciting enough to keep all eyes open at ESPN without the aid of toothpicks.

What it enabled the PAC-12 to do was to maintain a caliber on the gridiron equal to that of the mighty SEC. At least for one more weekend.

With two more schools than the PAC-12, the SEC has an out of conference record of 21-4.

Perfection Personified

The PAC-12? 19-4.

Eight conference teams are a perfect 2-0.

In the North, California, Oregon, Washington and Washington State are unblemished.

The same can be said for Utah and Colorado in the South, along with the aforementioned Trojans and Bruins.

The 14-team Big 10 is 20-6.

The similarly 14 team ACC is 15-7.

And the 10 teams that make up the Big 12 are 13-6.

Right In The Mix

The PAC-12 conference is right there where it needs to be.

They have two well balanced divisions that play entertaining yet disciplined football.

There is strength in the North as well as the South.

And, as fate would have it, the best team in the North and South Divisions don’t meet during the regular season.

Maybe In December?

For the past several years the Trojans and Huskies have collided annually.

Not this season…yet.

Despite the quirk in this year’s schedule, they just might meet in the PAC-12 Championship Game on December 1 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

On Which Network Will They Appear?

I wonder who has the television rights?

If it’s ESPN, they better start negotiation the start time immediately.

We wouldn’t want ‘The World Wide Leader In Sports’ to be knotting off in front of their television sets.

And if the suits snub their noses at the PAC-12 Championship Game, regardless of the combatants, they clearly are making a HUGE MISTAKE!!!

IMAGE: ASSOCIATED PRESS/KRIS TRIPPLAAR/SIPA USA

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John Stellman

I was born with sports in my blood. I began coaching little league baseball at 15. I was the sports editor of my high school newspaper. I did football play by play for the college radio station. I broadcast high school basketball for a local commercial station. But baseball was always my passion. During the 1970's I covered the Angels for the Orange County Register. And now I am back where I belong...