BERKELEY, Calif. — Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott says chances aren`t good Colorado will join his conference before the 2012 season.
As the Camera first reported two weeks ago, Scott confirmed CU officials are not finding much common ground with Big 12 Conference officials on the financial burden of leaving that league. Scott met with reporters Saturday at Memorial Stadium on the California campus before the Golden Bears roasted the Colorado Buffaloes in the first glimpse of the Buffs` future out west.
“The chances are worse than 50-50,” Scott said. “I don`t know how to rank it beyond that. At this stage, we`re planning as though they`re coming in in 2012. In other words, we`ve got an 11-team football schedule for next year teed up.”
Utah is slated to join the Pac-10 next summer. Colorado would prefer to do so as well, but CU officials have said they are content to remain in the Big 12 an extra year if it means saving millions in exit penalties.
Scott said the Pac-10 is still open to the idea of helping CU with some of the up-front costs of leaving the Big 12. He said he isn`t ready to rule anything out at this point.
“But what I have said is that we can`t anticipate new revenue until we enter to new TV agreements or start a football championship,” Scott said. “So, there`s too many unknowns right now and we couldn`t commit to anything concrete. If they work at it and they come to us, we`ll see what the situation is at that stage.”
Scott has mentioned a mid-October target date for deciding when CU will join the league. He said that timetable is not written in stone at this point, but the conference has to move forward at some point.
“That`s a self-imposed deadline,” he said. “We could (move it back) on the one hand, but I think we`re going to hit a point in time where any planning for a football championship game, television scheduling, it would be problematic. So, I think we`ve set it as an internal timetable.”
Scott met with CU officials Friday night and Saturday morning and said he was impressed by the turnout of Colorado fans for the Buffs` first trip to the state since 2002. Colorado officials estimated at least 7,000 fans attended the game.
Pac-10 members along with officials from CU and Utah are scheduled to meet next week to continue discussions about revenue sharing, a football championship game, scheduling in all sports and division alignments. Scott said there is no consensus about divisions at this point and at least six models are being considered.
Flags fall again
The Buffs were flagged nine times on Saturday bringing their season total to 19 penalties already after just two games. CU was among the most penalized teams in the nation in 2009 with 107 penalties.
Multiple players called the problem “a focus issue.” Coach Dan Hawkins said the team would continue to work on it.
Rocky running game
Colorado tailback Rodney Stewart carried 29 times for just 78 yards against the Bears as the Buffs continued to struggle to find success on the ground. The 29 attempts were the second most in a game in Stewart`s career.
The Buffs were 113th in the nation on the ground last fall and don`t appear to moving toward improvement.
Notable
Senior Scotty McKnight caught two passes in the game to extend his streak of at least one catch to 39 games (every game in his career). McKnight is eight yards shy of 2,000 receiving yards in his career. … Junior Matt Bahr made the first reception of his career in his new utility back role. He gained three yards on the play. Bahr suffered a sprained knee later in the game.
