Ferocious new SEC lineup very likely to get the lion's share of expanded CFP field | Bohls

While I got ya, here are nine things and one crazy prediction:

Expansion: for better or worse, it's here

1. Football economy size: The College Football Playoff board of managers on Tuesday rubber-stamped the 5-7 format for the upcoming season and beyond. That means the five highest-ranked conference champions are guaranteed a spot with the next seven spots reserved for the next highest-ranked teams in the CFP standings, regardless of league. I presume that means probably a minimum of three SEC teams in the mix. Had this 12-team format been around for the entire 10-year history of the CFP, the SEC would have provided four playoff teams in a single season in four of those years, but those four would have come in the last six seasons. … I would have preferred eight teams in the CFP because that would dilute the regular season less and wouldn’t offer byes, an overly excessive advantage. That said, It’s a shame it’s a year too late in coming because had this model been in place this past season, Texas as the No. 3 seed would have gotten a bye in the first round. But Texas then would have likely faced a very mad Georgia (6th seed) in the quarterfinals because the two-time defending champion almost certainly would have won its first game against 11th-seeded Ole Miss. And if the Longhorns had survived that, they would have gone up against Ohio State, Penn State or (gulp) Washington. … Theoretically, this new format means Oregon State could beat out Washington State (or vice versa) to unofficially win the two-team Pac-12 league and perhaps get into the playoff with an at-large bid, if it was ranked high enough, since the Pac-12 won’t be recognized in this format the next two seasons. Interestingly enough, both have decent schedules. Oregon State hosts Oregon and Purdue and plays at Cal, Boise State and Air Force. Washington State visits Washington and Boise State and is at home against Texas Tech and Wyoming. And just know this deal figures to grow to 24 teams by 2030.

A matter of dollars and sense for Texas

2. Big bucks for Sark: Could this be a repeat of Jimbo Fisher Part II? I don’t really think so because Fisher was trending downward and wasn’t well-liked in the Aggie department long before he was let go while the respected Steve Sarkisian’s wins have gone from five to eight to 12 and Texas is looking like an early preseason contender in 2024 … Personally I’m not a fan of guaranteed contracts and prefer big bonuses. Rather than fully guarantee his annual $10.3 million salary for six more years, which will grow to $10.8 million if not more by 2030, I would have preferred Texas bump Sark to, say, $8 million, representing a $2.2 million bump for one spectacular season, with a $2 million bonus if he wins it all. But schools are in a hurry and starving for proven commodities, and there just aren’t many of those. In addition, I repeatedly get told that’s the market. Moreover, if Alabama had come on harder for Sark with a guaranteed contract and Texas only offered bonuses, he might be in Tuscaloosa today. The use of two cars and a personal plane for 20 hours were already in his old contract. … I do think Sark is the real deal for his organization skills, roster management, ability to lure big-impact quarterbacks and receivers and tailbacks and (mostly) his play-calling, save for last year’s games against Washington and Houston (and Oklahoma in the last two minutes) and the 2022 showdown with TCU when Bijan Robinson got the ball only 12 times. It’s a little scary when you think how close Texas came to losing to the Cougars but for a fortuitous first-down marker. Lose that one, and there is no CFP appearance. But Nick Saban had a lucky play here and there, too, right, Auburn?

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Scheduling the Aggies this fall

3. Eight isn’t enough: Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte let it slip that, in his mind, the SEC will stick with the eight-game conference schedule the first two seasons in 2024 and 2025, which may or may not be true. But he is hopeful the league goes to nine games in 2025 and beyond. “That’s my druthers,” Del Conte told me. “We have a neutral-site game (in Dallas against Oklahoma), and I would prefer nine games solely based on that because it’d be better for us if we have four home conference games every year instead of three one year and four the next. But we’re not even near that (decision) yet.” … But no T-Day, please. Del Conte also said during his Town Hall session last week that he prefers the Texas-Texas A&M game be played on Thanksgiving Day. While I love tradition, and the blood feud would get lots of eyeballs, just not nearly as many now that the NFL has taken over that holiday with a regular triple-header. I’d be fine with the Longhorns and Aggies mixing it up on either the Friday or Saturday after Turkey Day. CDC, just leave it to the Cowboys and Lions and enjoy some turkey at home on that Thursday.

Disching out the best of Texas baseball

4. A lot of ball: This marks my 50th season to cover Longhorns baseball. The best five Texas players I covered over that span were, in order, the best clutch hitter ever, Keith Moreland; the best pitcher not named Burt Hooton, Greg Swindell; the best two-way player, Brooks Kieschnick; the slickest shortstop in history, Spike Owen; and the warrior of a player who maximized his talent, pitcher Kirk Dressendorfer. The next five were all-time defensive second baseman Bill Bates, Calvin Schiraldi (who was actually better in college than the dominating Roger Clemens), UT's greatest closer Huston Street, the supremely confident Clemens and one of best big-game performers, Kody Clemens. Just missing were superb hitter David Denny, athletic center fielder Drew Stubbs, ace Jim Gideon and 50-game winner Richard Wortham. And the best player I ever saw play at the Disch had to be Arizona State’s Barry Bonds. Or Oklahoma State’s Pete Incaviglia or Robin Ventura or Arkansas’s Kevin McReynolds. … I won’t be at all surprised if Texas expands the Disch by adding on to the third-base grandstand halfway down the left field line. I know college baseball has grown like few other sports, but Texas is going into the snake pit SEC where the crowds are big and rabid. No fewer than four SEC programs have stadiums with seating capacity of 10,000 or more. Three more can fill 6,000-seat facilities. The top six teams that led the nation in tickets sold last season were LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Florida and South Carolina, all SEC schools. Texas ranked seventh, followed by Texas A&M at eighth, Southern Miss ninth and Tennessee 10th. … Against San Diego, the Longhorns' pitchers and catchers allowed six stolen bases in seven attempts in the first two games without a try in Game 3. Meanwhile, Texas managed only three in the three games, two on a double steal Sunday. That said, I think this team has some wheels. Not saying there’s a 20-base stealer on the roster, but I think they run the bases well and can at least put pressure on the opponent. Heck, catcher Kimble Schuessler runs extremely well for his position. … I think the defense will be stellar. Texas committed just two errors the entire series, one when relief pitcher Cody Howard flubbed a high chopper he lost in the sun and another when right fielder Max Belyeu misplayed a ball hit right at him on Saturday. But overall, the defense looks solid.

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Is Texas softball good enough to beat OU?

5. OU Lite: Don’t look now, but the Texas softball team is crushing it. Not sure if Oklahoma needs to be put on alert yet — the Sooners have won 62 straight games and will show up at McCombs Field on April 5-7 — but Mike White’s Longhorns are making some noise. With wins over No. 2 Tennessee and No. 9 Stanford, Texas has already posted four victories over Top 25 opponents. And they’re showing awesome power. Catcher Reese Atwood has taken four balls out of the yard in seven games, and freshman outfielder Kayden Henry had three home runs in the doubleheader sweep. And don’t forget pitcher Citlaly Gutierrez, who retired nine of the last 12 batters and struck out six Vols in a complete-game win.

Back for more: professional women's tennis

6. Pro tennis is back: This year’s ATX Tennis Open starts Monday at Westwood Country Club and is packed with star power, with everyone from five-time major champion and 21-tournament winner Victoria Aarenka as top seed to Texas’ own favorite daughter and former NCAA singles champion Peyton Stearns. In addition, former Westlake star Fernanda Contreras, who won a Class 5A state title in 2014, will qualify with a wildcard. Sloane Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open winner and one-time No. 3 in the world, will compete here as will Danielle Collins, who reached the semifinals of this event last year. A couple of other wildcard qualifiers are 17-year-old Australian/Longhorns signee Maya Joint and Shelby Rogers, a two-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist who has reached as high as No. 30 in the world. At least a dozen players who have won one or more WTA Tour title events join the field.

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Fan-tastic? Hardly.

7. Hard pass: I happily avoided tuning in to the NBA All-Whatever That Was Game over the weekend. Just don’t see the point. The NFL has turned its Pro Bowl into a carnival of frat-boy events. What if the NBA went to a co-ed All-Star game with a mixture of Steph Currys and very soon Caitlin Clark. Not men against women, but men with women interspersed. Or have a Draymond Green Dunking Booth. Maybe even an Old-Timer All-Star Game so we can see if Charles Barkley indeed has “still got it.” I assume he wouldn’t be the first pick. … Did you see where Adam Silver slam-dunked the G League Ignite team and said the league might do away with the four-year-old experiment since such an alternative to college basketball isn’t needed any more? College basketball would kiss his feet. The idea was set up to give players like would-have-been Texas wing Ron Holland the ability to collect a decent paycheck and not be bound by one season in the college ranks. Seems with NIL money floating around, a lot of players are doing just fine as college “amateurs” so the Ignite team may have gone up in smoke.

Searching for ...

8. Scattershooting. While wondering whatever happened to former Texas pitcher Keith Creel.

Meanwhile, from the greatest seat in the world ...

9. On the couch: Love “Super Pumped: The Battle over Uber.” The eight-episode Netflix historical drama in 2022 is high drama and entertaining and portrays Uber founder Travis Kalanick as the arrogant, uncaring jerk he seems to be. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is spot-on in his role as the evil Uber boss, and Kyle Chandler of “Friday Night Lights” fame does a terrific job as a more principled main money man as did Uma Thurman as did Kalanic confidante and Uber board member Arriana Huffington. Gave it 8 ducks but kind of makes me want to use Lyft.

On the horizon: the NBA

Crazy prediction: Brett Yormark will eventually leave as Big 12 commissioner to become Adam Silver’s assistant commish.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: College football playoff multiplies but mostly adds more SEC teams