When you tease Jay Norvell about watching more Pac-12 game tape in the future, the CSU Rams football coach reminds you he’s been down that little rabbit hole plenty already.
“We play two Pac-12 teams (in September) that we match up with pretty (darn) good,” Norvell told me Wednesday, referring to a Sept. 2 visit from Washington State (still a member) and a Sept. 16 visit to CU (gone, baby, gone). “And we’ve had a lot of success in my six years as a head coach playing those types of teams.
“I look at it as an opportunity. We get a chance to play two Pac-12 teams (early) — we recruit a lot of the same players as Wazzu, CU is going through a rebuild. I mean, I think it’s a great opportunity for CSU football.”
There could be more. The Rammies-to-Pac-12 drumbeat isn’t as loud as CU-is-joining-the-Big-12 got to — and got to quickly. But there’s a little tap-tap-tapping there, consistently, if you put your ear to the ground, just below the din.
Sources say there’s interest, understandably, on CSU’s part. Meanwhile, longtime Pac-12 scribes John Canzano and Jon Wilner have reiterated, in the wake of the Buffs’ great escape, that the Rams rank somewhere near the top of commissioner George “Chip Diller” Kliavkoff’s emergency shortlist.
How near, and how necessary, mind you, remains to be seen. And if it’s a Pac-12 that’s down to Stanford, Cal, Oregon State, Wazzu and half the Mountain West, does that still count as a “Power 5” league?
“Every once a while, we get somebody talking about it,” Norvell said of the Rams’ Pac-12 bona fides. “It’s more water-cooler talk right now, more than anything. But I think we’re in an incredible situation.
“I look at it this way: We would love to have that (Power 5) opportunity. But my focus is on building this team. I’m excited because (given) the different (types of) teams that have moved to the Power 5, if we win this conference, we’ve got a chance to play on New Year’s Day, and probably in the Fiesta Bowl. And that, to me, is an incredible opportunity. Next year, they’re adding 12 teams to the College Football Playoff. If we continue to grow as a program and we’re where we want to be, we’ll have an opportunity to do that, too.”
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Players report on Thursday to Norvell’s second preseason camp as CSU coach. Which makes the timing of all this realignment chatter even more interesting, given that the Pac-12 has been a small part of Norvell’s career narrative, too.
Coming off a 3-9 Year 1 at Nevada, his Wolf Pack announced its presence to West Coast football junkies — all 14 of them — by knocking off Oregon State at home in Week 3, 37-35.
Those same Beavers, under then-first-year coach Jonathan Smith, would eventually ruin CU’s 2018 homecoming with a bonkers, 41-34 overtime win at Folsom Field in late October, as then-Buffs coach Mike MacIntyre managed to blow both a 31-3 lead and whatever political capital he had left in the bank.
“I just think this: We want to build a great program and I don’t think there (are) shortcuts to doing that,” said Norvell, who was 2-1 vs. the Pac-12 over his last four seasons at Nevada, 1-0 at home. “I think, if you want to build a program that lasts, you want to recruit to a certain profile and you have to coach and develop those guys.
“We want to win. So regardless of conference alignments, or any of that, we want to win. And I think we have to go about building a strong program for the long haul.”
In the meantime, though, buckle up. CU leaving for the Big 12 feels like a Jenga block just got ripped from the bottom of the tower. Now the whole mess is swaying in the breeze.
Oregon and Washington, per Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel, have the Big Ten’s attention, and maybe Cal and Stanford, too, as sympathy cases. Meanwhile, a Florida State trustee said that “it’s not a matter of if we leave (the ACC), but how and when we leave.”
“CSU is in a tough place,” an industry source texted me Wednesday. “The Pac-12 is hinging on the remaining (Four Corners) schools. If they go, the Pac-12 is in serious trouble. I don’t think the Big Ten and SEC are going to sit around on their hands. Especially with (Florida State) making noises.”
Tap. Tap. Tap.
“College football, nothing surprises me anymore,” Norvell chuckled. “And so to try and anticipate what’s going to happen, it’s like (you need) a Ouija board.”
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