00:00Sacramento State, I don't know if anybody knew what their mascot was.
00:03I don't know if anybody, like, outside of the Golden State knew much about them.
00:07And next thing you know, they're joining the MAC.
00:09And when I saw this come up, Bill, I'm like, this is one of, like, the fake Twitter account.
00:14This is not real.
00:15Like, somebody's putting this out there.
00:16They're gaslighting us.
00:18But, alas, it was.
00:19What are your thoughts on this?
00:21You know, the MAC has its core schools, the six Ohio schools, obviously,
00:26and then the directional Michigan, Central, Eastern, and Western.
00:30And every move they've made outside of that, it's funny to me.
00:34Like, since 1997, Northern Illinois, they leave for the Mountain West.
00:38Marshall, they leave.
00:40UCF is probably the most bizarre one.
00:42You know, you had a Florida school for three years in the league.
00:45And that didn't work out.
00:47UMass has been in and out.
00:48It's funny.
00:49Buffalo is the one that stuck.
00:50And it's probably the one we made fun of the most at the time.
00:54And yet they stuck in the MAC and have become really a core member.
00:57So, I think I love the MAC.
01:00I've always said I love the MAC football because the gap between the best team
01:05and maybe the eighth or ninth best team is not that significant.
01:08And it makes for fun watches during the weekdays, no doubt.
01:12But this is a curious ad on every level.
01:14It feels like a rental.
01:17From Sacramento State's standpoint, yeah, you're in this conference.
01:20But imagine the players who have no familiarity with the MAC going to, you know,
01:25Bowling Green, Ohio, or Athens, Ohio on a Tuesday night.
01:28I mean, I just can't imagine, you know, doing all that travel just to get a seat at the table.
01:34And I think that's what it's about, Bobby.
01:35They have a seat at the FBS table now.
01:38And what that value is, we're about to find out.
01:41Yeah, I see this being a huge gamble because, of course, I think they're paying $6 million that first year
01:46that they're in it.
01:47And then they're covering all their flights.
01:49They don't have the money of like an SMU or like a big-time program.
01:54And then their ticket revenue, I imagine, isn't all that great.
01:57So unless they go out there and maybe pull off a couple big upsets, I see this being very detrimental
02:03to their team
02:03because they just don't have the money to back all this up.
02:06Well, and still, you're exactly right.
02:08And not only that, but the travel.
02:10You know, I was like, when Northern Illinois left for the Mountain West Conference, I was like,
02:13is that really that much of an upgrade for you?
02:16You know, Northern Illinois has made a lot of noise in the MAC over the years.
02:20They've won championships.
02:22They beat Notre Dame a couple years ago.
02:24You know, when I was in college, they pulled a couple upsets.
02:27They had Michael Turner.
02:28That's a dated reference.
02:30But, man, he was a great running back for them, Burner Turner.
02:33And they've had a Heisman candidate.
02:35So what is the Mountain West offering Northern Illinois that the MAC isn't,
02:39especially in a format where a G6 school can still get in the playoff?
02:42And I think part of what I was talking about earlier, that parity in the MAC kind of hurts them
02:47because they beat each other up and it's hard to get a playoff team.
02:51But as far as Sacramento State goes, I just think that I'm just picturing a Wednesday,
02:57night match-in game in November and there's snow on the ground in Athens and Sacramento's out there
03:01wondering what in the world are we doing in Athens, Ohio on November, whatever day it is,
03:06freezing our butts off.
03:08Why are we doing this?
03:09It's just about the last minute, Bill.
03:11When I heard somebody, how is the MAC justifying this?
03:14I mean, everybody's basically touching the Great Lakes outside of Ball State and they're just adjacent.
03:18And you're talking about touching the Pacific Coast.
03:20Like, how is this going to be financially viable?
03:23I'm almost amazed, and we talk about the money and NIL, the fact that they're paying those travel costs
03:27for the MAC, that doesn't even make sense to me how they're going to be able to justify that.
03:32No, and it's a lot of money, especially if they're bad.
03:35You know, you almost have to be good to do this.
03:37I know UMass, like I said, they've bounced in and out of the MAC as a football member,
03:42haven't been a real strong football team.
03:44And I guess for Sacramento State, the play is, okay, maybe we go there, make a little noise.
03:49I mean, UCF did do that.
03:51I mean, UCF's in the Big 12 now.
03:53I guess that you could say that their three-year stint in the MAC worked.
03:56Temple's been in the MAC in football.
03:58I forgot to mention them, and it wasn't real great when they were in the MAC.
04:02But, you know, they've moved on and moved up in football in some ways.
04:05So maybe that's what they're thinking.
04:09It could easily backfire.
04:10But on the other hand, maybe you could increase your profile as those G6 conferences continue to move around.
04:16I mean, we have a new Pac-12 now with Texas State in it.
04:20So who knows who else is going to make these kind of moves?
04:22.
04:22.
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