Urban Meyer, a superstar head coach and a national figure in college football, spoke at Big Ten Media Days on Monday in Chicago. Big Ten Network did not provide live coverage of his session with the media. ESPN deserves plenty of criticism for how it elevates the SEC and undercuts the levels of exposure it gives to conferences such as the ACC and Big 12. However, when BTN can’t provide live coverage of Meyer, Mark Dantonio, and the coaches of its other big-name programs, the collection of factors that feed into conference bias becomes a lot more complicated. It’s not just about ESPN loving the SEC too much; it’s about BTN and Pac-12 Networks being markedly inadequate when covering their own conferences. Conference bias is, in other words, a two-way street and a multi-source problem. ESPN’s competitors have to do a better job.

Poll: Should Power 5 Schools Play Only Power 5 Opponents?

Posted by on Aug 7, 2014 09:40

If the so-called “Big 5” autonomy vote today passes (as expected), should the power 5 conferences only play each other?

ESPN conducted a poll of the Big 5 coaches last month to ask that very question. Here are the results in a nutshell:

 

To find out which coaches voted which way, and the various concerns held by both sides, be sure to read the entire article.

About Terry P. Johnson

Terry Johnson is the Associate Editor for The Student Section. He is a member of the Football Writers Association of America and the National Football Foundation.

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