UNDATED — Welcome to the final season of college football as we know it. That might sound extreme, but 2023 has an end-of-an-era feel.
Texas and Oklahoma are taking their last lap in the Big 12. The Pac-12 is still a Power Five conference. Will it even be a conference in 2024? The College Football Playoff is a four-team event for the last time this year, before tripling in size. Before the maps are redrawn and the stakes are remade, there is one more season to left to appreciate what is being lost — or long for what’s being gained.
LAS VEGAS — University athletic departments and college conferences use independent sports-betting monitoring services to make sure athletes and personnel do not bet on sports.
Athletes provide private information such as birthdates and residential addresses. The need to keep a close eye on the betting market was driven home over the past several months because of scandals at Alabama, Iowa and Iowa State. Sports betting is legal in 37 states plus the District of Columbia. Experts say schools that want to protect their brand need the right integrity programs in place.
UNDATED — Conference realignment has widened the recruiting footprint for Power Five college football programs long before many teams open play in their new league homes.
Oklahoma and Texas already have taken advantage of their plans to leave the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference in 2024. The Big Ten has created the most significant shift, at least in terms of geography. The sprawling conference will boast programs from the West Coast all the way to New Jersey. Realignment also has made conference stability a more critical recruiting piece as young men try to figure out exactly what they are getting into.
