conspectus
\ kən-ˈspek-təs \
noun
1: a usually brief survey or summary (as of an extensive subject) often providing an overall view

Each week, Greg Brandt and/or Brad McDaniel will write a conspectus from the week of football that was. Since this is the first edition, we’ll summarize some of the most notable news from the summer. Outside of conference media days, it’s been a rather quiet stretch. We’ll hit the highlights from the Power 5 conferences in case you missed anything.

SEC Media Days

• With all 14 head coaches returning in 2019, most of SEC Media Days was what you would expect. 
• Nick Saban was Nick Saban. 
• Jeremy Pruitt hates standing up and answering questions so his opening statement was a 21-minute filibuster so he only had 9 minutes worth of questions to answer. 
• Lamical Perine was probably the most quotable player at SEC Media Days. When asked about his recruitment, he mentioned Alabama making a late push for him. Someone spoke up and told Perine that no one tells Saban no. Perine’s response? “Lamical Perine does.”
• Perine didn’t stop there. He let everyone know that Auburn told him he was too slow. The Gators host Auburn at the beginning of October. 
• One more from Perine. He was asked if he considered Tennessee a rivalry. He told reporters, “I wouldn’t say it’s a rivalry. It’s just another game. I wouldn’t call it a rivalry. LSU, that’s a rivalry game.”

ACC Media Days

• Talking season was a lot like the regular season – a lot of Clemson and everyone else playing for second.
• Clemson was picked to win the ACC. They had 13 players named to the All-ACC Preseason Team. QB Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne were 1/2 in ACC POY voting. Yawn.
• Someone asked about the Alabama/Clemson rivalry. Reporters at ACC Media Days told Clemson players that Alabama players said Georgia was the toughest team they faced all season. Clemson players responded that Notre Dame was the toughest team they faced all season. This Alabama/Clemson series has to be called a rivalry at this point, but it’s been stale since the beginning with zero back and forth between the two teams.

Big Ten Media Days

• Scott Frost tried to deflect lofty expectations for his Huskers’ program
• Jim Harbaugh alluded to Michigan playing Shea Patterson and Dylan McCaffrey not only in the same games but at the same time. (That tells me all I need to know about Shea Patterson) Harbaugh said: “Yes, I do [see Patterson and McCaffrey playing together]. We may re-define what a starter means — we want to get both of them on the field, either together or at different times. The way it stands now, that could happen in every game.” Jim Harbaugh can be a tough man to read if he’s being serious or just BSing around. This one of the quotes that I find very hard to believe from him. A coach who is finally modernizing from running a ground and pound outdated offense to a guy who’s redefining what starter means at the QB spot? I could see Michigan doing what Penn State has done the last few seasons with Trace McSorley and Tommy Stevens. McCaffrey may come in for 3-5 snaps a game to run the ball with a few passes sprinkled in as well.
• Northwestern Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald thinks phones and technology have ruined college football attendance. 

PAC 12 Media Days

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott revealed the conference had discussed the possibility of having 9 AM local start times. Doing so would eliminate some of the PAC-12 after dark games and would give the conference more national exposure during the day. How will this affect attendance at these games? To travel and get ready for a 9 AM kickoff, will almost certainly eliminate a legit chance to tailgate at the stadium. Rolling out of bed and flipping on the game at 9 AM sounds much more appealing than waking up at 5 AM to get ready and to travel to the game. UCLA Head Coach Chip Kelly is a fan of the proposal. Stating, “The hardest thing with Saturdays is when you wake up and then you’ve got to wait until seven at night.”  

Mike Leach, on the other hand, doesn’t appear in favor of the proposal. He took to Twitter this weekend to ask PAC-12 fans if they liked the idea of 9 AM kickoffs. Leach replied to a question about what time game day prep would need to begin for a 9 AM kick. He said “Around 4:30 AM.” I don’t see many coaches backing this idea. Looking around the nation and the quality of football seems to be worse for 11 AM Central and Noon Eastern kickoffs than it is later in the day. 

Big 12 Media Days

The Big 12 is a surprisingly stable conference and their 2019 Media Days was bland. Four new coaches introduced themselves to the conference. Lincoln Riley fed us a line that Jalen Hurts isn’t his starting QB yet. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. We still aren’t sure if Texas is back. Only time will tell. Gary Patterson didn’t give us anything on his incredibly crowded QB room. Looks like we’ll find out the pecking order shortly after he figures it out in fall practice.