From the Ross Dellinger article that Fighting Muskie posted at the main board...

https://sports.yahoo.com/inside-oregon-a...25222.html

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That doesn’t mean all schools agreed. Ohio State, Michigan, and especially Penn State, were at first against more expansion. Though they eventually voted for the move, leaders in State College expressed disappointment to the point that one administrator described their feelings on adding Oregon and Washington as “no f****** way.”
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Interesting that the Big Three were the most vocal against adding them.

I also didn't hear any opposition against adding UCLA and USC.

Speaking of UCLA and USC...

“Kevin wanted them [Oregon and Washington] to come in with USC and UCLA, but for whatever reason, the L.A. schools didn’t want to create a West Coast pod. He wasn’t able to convince them.”

It's well known USC considers Oregon to be competition on the West Coast recruiting wise. It's probably why USC doesn't want to play Oregon annually even though it would be better for both schools and fewer trips for them to other non Pacific schools.

(10-14-2023 06:43 AM)schmolik Wrote:  From the Ross Dellinger article that Fighting Muskie posted at the main board...

https://sports.yahoo.com/inside-oregon-a...25222.html

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That doesn’t mean all schools agreed. Ohio State, Michigan, and especially Penn State, were at first against more expansion. Though they eventually voted for the move, leaders in State College expressed disappointment to the point that one administrator described their feelings on adding Oregon and Washington as “no f****** way.”
>

Interesting that the Big Three were the most vocal against adding them.

I also didn't hear any opposition against adding UCLA and USC.

Speaking of UCLA and USC...

“Kevin wanted them [Oregon and Washington] to come in with USC and UCLA, but for whatever reason, the L.A. schools didn’t want to create a West Coast pod. He wasn’t able to convince them.”

It's well known USC considers Oregon to be competition on the West Coast recruiting wise. It's probably why USC doesn't want to play Oregon annually even though it would be better for both schools and fewer trips for them to other non Pacific schools.

Agreed, schmolik, very interesting article and also interesting that the big three out east were so vocal. USC’s apparent response is also odd, at least at first. I get that they view Oregon as a recruiting rival but the Trojans are such a storied program that I don’t understand why they wouldn’t just go out and beat the Ducks. (That sounds a lot dirtier than intended.)

I’ve been thinking about this and wonder if the scheduling format is what really drove these reactions. Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State have clearly had a harder path to the BIG championship game and, therefore the CFP, than teams in the west. I imagine they love the Flex Protect model as much as I do. Similarly, I imagine USC was intrigued by it because they sought more exposure outside of the west coast. The last thing these four programs would want is a return to divisions, so maybe they objected until they were assured that divisions were out for football.