Mike Beeson

Chris Del Conte on the non-conference football schedule he won't immediately alter for Steve Sarkisian: “Game schedule. When we joined the SEC, it was an eight-game schedule. I was an absolute proponent of going to nine games. “This year, we were away from DKR 43 straight days. We were road warriors. Was that fair to our football program? Was that fair to you? That was an eight-game schedule, because we play a neutral-site game in Dallas. We only had three games this year at home in the SEC, and we had four on the road. They counted the OU game as our home game because we were the home team. “So as soon as we got in the SEC, we were like, ‘Hey, time out. We need to go to nine games,’ because I want four on the road, four at home and the neutral site. And with the playoff going from four teams to 12 teams, we voted to go to nine games. “But before we joined the SEC, I made schedules of Ohio State and Michigan. We had USC, we had LSU, because I was trying to make sure that your dollar that you’re spending with us, we’re bringing the best teams we could into DKR and play those great teams. That’s what we wanted. So we scheduled great games here to bring value to you all. “At the same time, we were in the Big 12, and we’re looking at who we’re playing and who’s coming into DKR. And we lost A&M, we lost Nebraska, we lost those games. We weren’t playing at Missouri in the previous Big 12. So we looked at it differently. So we looked at value. “Well, when we joined the SEC, I had to reverse our schedules. Had to go to the Big Ten twice in order for us to get in early. That was a price I was willing to pay to get in early, take no TV revenue, and I had to switch the two games around — go there first. “Well, I’m not about to give those games up. I want a little piece of their rear end in DKR. So Ohio State comes in and Michigan comes in. So that’s the reason where we were at. “But I want our fans — Longhorn Nation — to be able to watch Ohio State in this stadium. I want fans in Longhorn Nation to be able to watch Michigan, along with our SEC slate. But I had a lot of people say we need to cancel those games. No, we’re going to honor our word. If we play them, said we’re going to go play, you’re going to come and play me, we’re going to honor our word. That’s what we do. “As far as future schedules look like, we will sit down and look at what that looks like for getting into the postseason tournament. “I will tell you that college football is built around your regular season. Do you guys really want nice, good games in DKR? We can play three cream puffs, and we can play an SEC schedule. But if the playoff is going to expand, which I prefer the playoff expands, you want to then have great games, right, and value those great games, as long as we have an opportunity to get into postseason. “There’s 32 teams in the NFL. Fourteen teams make the playoff. Of those 32 teams, what’s the percentage of that? Roughly 50 percent, a little under. I’ll give you the math. Where’s my wife? She’s a math professor. Forty-five percent — there you go. My gorgeous would have figured that out in two seconds. Old Rice professor, bang. You aren’t too far behind. Forty-five percent make that. “There’s 138 teams in college. There’s 60 — say 68 teams — in the Power Four conferences, correct? What is 12 teams out of 64? What’s the percentage? Let’s just say 23 percent. Do you think that’s fair? “Now you have another 60 that are in the Group of Five. So you have 138 teams for 12 spots. I prefer to expand that playoff a little bit. “I prefer to preserve the regular season by playing great games and not dumbing down your schedule and playing nobody with the hopes that you can get in the playoff because you played nobody. If we can strengthen our regular season and keep that where our fans are engaged and want to see great games and have an expanded playoff, that’d be awesome. “I’m also in favor of moving the schedule up a week. Start Week Zero, which is the last week in August. Be a little hot here. We got to make sure it’s a night game. I get that. But start in the last week in August, and you play Labor Day weekend. “I’m also in favor — why have a conference championship game? Let’s start the playoffs that week, right? Start the playoffs that week, and let’s play every single week, and the semifinals are played on New Year’s Day, which is college football, and the national championship a week later. “That’s what I’d like to see, but I’m one vote. But this is where we need to get to. “I harken back all the time to Kodak. You want to hear me on this little analogy for a moment? Kodak — a guy at Kodak, a real famous engineer — figured out a way to put a camera on a phone. Said, ‘I could do this.’ Went to the higher-ups and said, ‘Hey, you want to do this?’ ‘No one wants that. We all want to take our cameras and take pictures. There’s no evolution coming.’ “Kodak didn’t buy it. The last item sold before Kodak went bankrupt was that ability to put a camera on the phone to Apple for $100 million. “When’s the last time you took a picture with Kodak? Remember going to Safeway? You go to the little booth out front, get your pictures, make sure your mom didn’t see all the dirty pictures you took, and said, ‘Hey, Mom, here’s the pictures.’ You remember that? “The idea is — remember that back in the day — that’s the last thing he sold. “We’re trying to preserve an old system of bowl games. We’re trying to preserve this whole idea of what college football was 30 years ago, 10 years ago, four years ago. Evolution is coming, and I firmly believe that the way we do the playoff is coming. We have to expand that playoff. We have to have more opportunities for teams. At the same time, we’ve got to honor strength in the regular season. “But if that does not happen, we are going to be forced into a position: don’t play anybody, let’s give it a go and see what happens at the end to get in the tournament. “And not every schedule is equal. The SEC is a gauntlet, right? It is a gauntlet, and not every conference is the same. So how do we do that at the same time saying we want it to be like it is today, preserve bowls like we know it, at the same time have a tournament? “So everyone says, ‘Well, boy, if you had a 16-team playoff, if you had a 20-team playoff, there’s not enough viewership.’ Ten million people watched our game. Nine million people watched BYU against Georgia Tech a couple days before. “Viewership is there during Christmas break. Viewership is there during the holidays. No one’s doing anything. They’re sitting at home, freezing their tail off, drinking a cocktail, eating some old fruitcake. I mean, we can do this. “But this is what it’s going to take. It’s going to take thoughtful leaders to look at that. “So that’s my take on that.”