Will the Big Ten pass the SEC for football supremacy, and more chaos questions

Random notes:

▪ Does the addition of Oregon and Washington, along with USC and UCLA, mean the Big Ten has passed the SEC for football supremacy? Uh, no.

Current or soon-to-be SEC members are responsible for 15 of the past 20 national champions. Of the five non-SEC champions, only two are now or will be in the Big Ten — USC in 2004 and Ohio State in 2014.

▪ Stanford and California to the ACC? It makes no sense. Then again, not much makes sense when it comes to conference realignment these days.

▪ Agree with Rick Pitino, who tweeted, “Doesn’t it make more sense for football to break away to separate leagues and allow the rest of the sports to compete regionally? Rivalries remain (and) minor sports don’t spend half their day looking for bad food at airport restaurants!!!”

▪ From a reader: “I found your column on the state of college athletics interesting. I agree with much of it, but it struck me as a bit hypocritical in light of your strong criticisms of Rand Paul a couple of weeks ago. I know you put the good of the student-athletes at the center of both columns. But I think if you were fair you would acknowledge your concern here and Senator Paul’s concern with the loss of amateurism in college athletics are both legitimate. Or was your earlier column just a political shot?”

My response: “Thanks for the e-mail. I’m all for the players getting a piece of the financial pie. I think the amateur model for student-athletes is outdated. What I object to is the schools’ need for more and more money. They are bringing in more revenue now than they ever have and it’s never enough. In doing so, I’m not sure they are looking out for what’s best for the student-athlete.”

▪ Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz over the weekend: “I don’t worry at all about the game. The game is going to be strong. Football is going to be fine. . . . But did we consider the people that we are entrusted with? Did we consider the student-athlete?”

▪ Oh, and NCAA President Charlie Baker says he has “concerns” about conference realignment. Another example of the NCAA’s lack of any sort of power.

▪ Thank goodness for the actual games.

▪ One big takeaway from Kentucky football’s Fan Day open practice last Saturday: Devin Leary is indeed very accurate with his throws.

▪ Don’t sleep on Ramon Jefferson, the running back who tore his ACL in UK’s first game after transferring from Sam Houston State last year. As Liam Coen said at last Friday’s media day, the distribution of carries by running backs may look different than in previous seasons at UK.

▪ Speaking of Coen, if you want to know more about the roots of his offense, I highly recommend Jourdan Rodrigue’s “The Playcallers” podcast at The Athletic.

▪ As Coen pointed out last Friday, last year as offensive coordinator with the Rams, Los Angeles had an NFL-record 13 different starting lineups along the offensive line. “No one wants to be a part of that,” he said.

▪ Hat tip to Dawgstats for this stat: Since 2013, Kentucky football is 5-19 against teams that finished the season ranked in the AP Top 25.

▪ Former Kentucky quarterback Will Levis is No. 3 and Malik Willis No. 2 at quarterback behind No. 1 Ryan Tannehill on the Tennessee Titans’ initial depth chart.

Look for Levis to take plenty of snaps Saturday when the Titans play their first preseason game. Tennessee is at Chicago, which the NFL Network will air at 1 p.m.

▪ Cincinnati’s lack of quality starting pitching may catch up with the Reds over the final 45 games, but I still would not have given up prospects for help at the trade deadline. The Reds are a year ahead of schedule, at least.

▪ I predict that the Cubs end up winning the National League Central.

▪ Continued best wishes to Dick Vitale, who underwent his 14th radiation treatment for vocal cord cancer on Tuesday. He has 21 more treatments to go.

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