Project Rudy Saves The Day?

It’s easy to roll your eyes at another Super League proposal, but this time, we have one you should take seriously. 

Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger reports that 25 Power Four athletic directors have seen the details of “Project Rudy,” a 70-team “Super League-esque concept” being pitched by former Disney executives who now work in private equity. 

Dellenger quotes multiple SEC and Big Ten athletic administrators in the story who are on board with at least giving Project Rudy a real chance. Of course, it will all come down to whether or not SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petiti actually decide to give it a chance. 

The fundamental details are this:

• It would consolidate the media rights of 70 schools, including all Power Four conference schools and Notre Dame. 

• It would eliminate non-conference games against Group of Five and FCS schools to increase the amount of TV money available with more big-name matchups. 

• It would expand the playoff and would still include a spot for a Group of Five team. 

• There would be a tiered revenue system. Teams in tier one could make up to $250 million per year by the end of a 12-year deal, while teams in tier three could make as little as $30 million. 

• Eight permanent tier-one teams could be established to convince the top brands in the sports to join.

• A relegation and promotion system would allow teams to move between tiers. 

As Big 12 fans, this proposal puts us in an uncomfortable spot. It’s hard to be a fan of anything that completely cuts out Group of Five and FCS teams without sounding a bit hypocritical. But I think of this as a triage situation – save as many schools as possible. 

Saving four leagues is better than merely two when there’s the constant threat of the SEC and Big Ten forming their own exclusive Super League. 

How likely is it to actually happen? That’s the million-dollar question. Sankey has recently gone out of his way to run down the idea of similar Super League proposals, but this one does make more concessions to the big boys. 

Enough administrators in the SEC and Big Ten seem curious enough that it feels like we’re moving toward something similar to this eventually coming to fruition.

If you don’t believe me, read Ross’s entire article. You’ll be surprised by how many of his sources think Project Rudy has some legs.

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Big 12 Power Rankings

Here are your week seven Big 12 power rankings! Please note: these are rankings, not power ratings. That means they are primarily based on what a team has accomplished so far this year – not necessarily how good I think the team is. You’ll see their ranking from last week in parentheses.

1. Iowa State (LW: 1)

2. BYU (LW: 2)

3. K-State (LW: 3)

4. Texas Tech (LW: 7)

5. Utah (LW: 4)

6. Colorado (LW: 6)

7. West Virginia (LW: 13)

8. Cincinnati (LW: 10)

9. Arizona State (LW: 11)

10. Arizona (LW: 5)

11. UCF (LW: 8)

12. Houston (LW: 16)

13. TCU (LW: 12)

14. Baylor (LW: 14)

15. Oklahoma State (LW: 9)

16. Kansas (LW: 15)

• The top three of the power rankings remain unchanged, primarily because of byes for BYU and K-State. Iowa State certainly didn’t do anything to dissuade me from keeping them in the top spot with a three-touchdown win over Baylor.

• Texas Tech and West Virginia are big movers with key road wins last week. It’s hard to ignore Tech’s 3-0 start to Big 12 play, but the first two weeks of the season are still holding them back from getting any higher than fourth for now. The Mountaineers are making it easier to buy into the narrative that they simply had a brutal non-conference schedule with a pair of ranked teams. 

• The decision between Cincinnati and Arizona State at #8 was the most difficult of the week. Yes, ASU has one less loss, but Cincy was more competitive at Texas Tech and had undefeated Pitt beaten before a late collapse. Another contributing factor is comparing a blowout win against Houston to a nailbiter over Kansas. I’m giving the Bearcats the slightest of edges. 

• Congratulations to Houston for getting out of the basement! A convincing road win at TCU vaulted the Cougars up four spots, and it’s a perfect example of how wild this league is. A team that hadn’t scored a single point in Big 12 play through two games jumped two teams picked to finish in the top four of the league the next week, including the defending Big 12 runner-up.