There is a single move out there available today that more than just about anything else BDC or Mike Riley could do would greatly help Oregon State to take the next step to an elite program/university and stay there. Unlike Reser Phase 3 and Valley Football Center new construction this could be done in as little as one day with the right contacts. Oregon State has those right contacts and considering Craig Robinson has underperformed on the basketball court it may be time for him to use his influence if necessary for a simple move that would be bigtime for Oregon State. Whatever BDC is doing right now is much less impactful for Oregon State raising its national profile. So what is Operation ‘X’? It involves a call to ESPN.
ESPN is still 90% of what college recruits think of when they think college football. Recently in an article Angry told the story of a friend who thinks college football has become mostly about whatever teams are deemed revelant by ESPN. Well if that is true and this is important for top level success and status in college football than Oregon State should be very interested on raising its brand’s profile and awareness on ESPN. Lucky for whoever next takes the opportunity there is currently an opening for one more team/brand to get that national level attention every day and have a big assist in taking the next step to a top program/brand in college football. I am talking about the College Football Nation teams that get their own pages on ESPN. On the main NCAAF page of ESPN all these teams are seen everyday by millions of people. Amazingly there is an open slot not being used. This is wasted real estate for ESPN so the sell isn’t hard. BDC just needs to make that call and have Riley and Robinson also in on the call for good measure and odds are it could be done. It would also be a coup for Oregon State.
Riley’s 2014 recruiting class is still ranked 12th or last of all Pac-12 teams and is even below Colorado. I am not sure what the issue is with selling a program that has been 2nd or 3rd best in the Pac-10/Pac-12 over the past decade. For some reason less than the best tactics must be being used or Riley and Co. aren’t selling some key positives of Oregon State well enough. No matter, this simple move would pretty much guarantee by itself Riley would never have a lowest ranked class again in conference. Colorado could not keep pace with such a move and Utah, Arizona, Cal and Washington St. would all have a tough time maintaining Oregon State’s level if the cards are played correctly and OSU were to get this golden real estate on ESPN.
So take advantage of this week DeCarolis and make a move that would impress Beaver Nation. There is an open slot out there for whoever is smart enough to take a couple simple steps to claim it and these teams are all considered quality programs year in and year out just like OSU claims it has wanted so much over this past decade while it has worked to take that next step. A phone call could do about as much for OSU as the past decade has done while we have been knocking on the door but not yet let into that next upper echelon of college football. Seize this opportunity and odds are very high with soon to be announced plans for Reser and the VFC that Oregon State can achieve its goals, get the needed fundraising and have upgraded facilities and the national profile to go along with it. Of course the slots are alphabetical so OSU would be in Penn St.’s current position and next to Penn St. This also fits the sell as OSU has been described as the new Penn St. without any of the issues since Riley’s contract is such a long one and his tenure is about as close to Paterno’s as is out there right now. The national stage is necessary for continued success in college football. Oregon knows this and it is high time Oregon State take a smart step to grab its own spotlight and compete on all fronts to raise the bar and get OSU to that next level.