Rece Davis shares his reaction to recent conference realignment moves

College football is changing rapidly and College GameDay host Rece Davis has been paying close attention. Davis joined the Paul Finebaum Show on Monday afternoon and shared his thoughts on conference realignment and other changes that are happening throughout the sport.

One thing Davis is interested to follow with so many teams changing conferences is rivalries. He is hopeful that most will continue.

“It’s costing us a lot of the nostalgia. It doesn’t have to cost us the rivalries if teams are in different conferences,” Davis said. “Oklahoma and Oklahoma State can play anytime they want to. I was glad to see that Washington and Washington State have said they’re going to continue to play. But I think that some of the geographical bragging rights that have been such a part of the fabric of this sport are kind of going by the boards.”

Davis also commented on the College Football Playoff expanding to 12 teams and what that means for the sport.

He expects there to be fewer conversations about the No. 1 ranking and teams missing the playoff. Davis added that money is behind most, if not all, of the changes.

“I also think that arguing over who should be in the playoff – and before that who should be No. 1, that really intensified the passion and following of the sport – is part of the cost. Maybe it’s time to pay those costs, but the one thing I think we should just accept, and anybody who says this is anything other than a business, is either fooling themselves or lying or lying to themselves,” Davis said. “It’s a giant business, and people are trying to protect their franchise, because in essence that’s what these football programs are. They’re franchises, and they’re trying to protect their long-term financial interests. I have no problem with that, but I don’t think we should pretend that this is all great and good and part of progress and the 12-team playoff – everything’s perfect. It doesn’t mean that.”

While Davis doesn’t love everything that is happening in college football, he does expect the 2023 season to be a fun one. Once the games begin, he expects fans to put everything else aside and have fun cheering on their team.

“The good news is… generally once the games start, fans are going to love the games, the atmospheres are going to be great, and we’re going to have tremendous football,” Davis said. “And that’s what fans care more about than any of the other business aspects, in my judgment.”

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