LVBowl August 2023 Newsletter

12.23.23 / 4:30PM PT

anything happening in your world?

Well, no one can say it’s been a quiet summer this year – at least for the world of college football! Changes –and rumors of more changes – are happening all over the place, including so much going on with our longtime friends at the Pac-12 Conference. It would prove foolhardy, of course, to review the news in this space because more than likely more of it will have come out by the time the figurative ink is dry on the August newsletter. So, let’s focus on football for now. You know kickoff is close because both of our 2023 leagues held their respective Media Day events in the last couple of weeks. The aforementioned Pac-12 even brought its show to the Las Vegas Strip by holding court for the first time in our very own city. To nobody’s surprise, the media voted USC as the heavy favorites in the fall. The Big Ten, meanwhile, met in Indianapolis and while the league does not release an official preseason poll, an annual survey of primary media by Cleveland.com showed that Michigan (who, interestingly, hosts UNLV in Week Two) is the favorite in the East while Wisconsin was the point-leader in the West division. Indeed, the countdown is on for Week Zero action as seven games involving FBS teams are slated for Saturday, August 26, highlighted by those very same Trojans hosting San Jose State at 5 p.m. PT on Pac-12 Network.

What’s the old saying? Let the games – the real ones played out on the field -- begin!

John Saccenti Executive Director

it all happens here.

Blake Corum, RB, Michigan

Caleb Williams, QB, USC

2023 FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

The Big Ten and Pac-12 Conferences are ready to kick off the season. The Pac-12 held its media day in Las Vegas at Resorts World Hotel and Casino, while the Big Ten held its event at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianpolis, where the usual coach-speak took place - “Our guys were focused on conditioning in the off season to get prepared for this year. We got bigger, faster and stronger” and “Enough talk, it’s time to get to work.”

Listed below is how the media who cover the respective conferences predict the outcome to the 2023 season (first place votes in parentheses).

Big TEN MEDIA POLL

East Division

1. Michigan (27)

2. Ohio State (8)

3. Penn State (2)

4. Maryland

5. Michigan State

6. Rutgers

7. Indiana

WeST Division

1. Wisconsin (20)

2. Iowa (16)

3. Minnesota (1)

4. Illinois

5. Nebraska

6. Purdue

7. Northwestern

PAC-12 MEDIA POLL

1. USC (25)

2. Washington (4)

3. Utah (6)

4. Oregon (1)

5. Oregon State

6. UCLA

7. Washington State

8. Arizona

9. California

10. Arizona State

11. Colorado

12. Stanford

PRESEASON CONFERENCE HONORS

The BIG TEN CONFERENCE announced its 2023 football preseason honors, a 10-member preseason list with five representatives each from the East and the West Divisions, as selected by a media panel.

The East Division list highlighted by a pair of returning consensus All-Americans in Michigan’s Blake Corum and Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. Corum and Harrison Jr. were joined on this year’s preseason East Division squad by Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, Wolverine quarterback J.J. McCarthy and Penn State offensive lineman Olumuyiwa Fashanu.

Four different schools placed students on the West Division preseason list, led by two representatives from Minnesota in tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford and defensive back Tyler Nubin. They were joined on the list by Illinois defensive lineman Jer’Zhan Newton, Iowa defensive back Cooper DeJean and Wisconsin running back Braelon Allen.

The 2023 Big Ten preseason honors list features two recipients of conference individual awards from a season ago in Corum (AmecheDayne Running Back of the Year) and Harrison Jr. (Richter-Howard Receiver of the Year).

Corum, Harrison Jr., and Newton were also 2022 first-team All-Big Ten selections, joining second-team selections Allen, DeJean, Fashanu, Nubin and Tagovailoa, as well as third-team honoree McCarthy.

EAST WEST

Taulia Tagovailoa, QB, Maryland Jer’Zhan Newton, DL, Illinois

Blake Corum, RB, Michigan Cooper DeJean, DB, Iowa

J.J. McCarthy, QB, Michigan Brevyn Spann-Ford, TE, Minnesota

Marvin Harrison Jr., WR, Ohio State Tyler Nubin, DB, Minnesota

Olumuyiwa Fashanu, OL, Penn State Braelon Allen, RB, Wisconsin

The PAC-12 CONFERENCE announced its preseason All-Pac-12 team, as selected by the media who cover Pac-12 football, has been announced ahead of the 2023 season. Two-time defending Pac-12 champion Utah leads the way with six First Team selections while Oregon State and USC are next with five each.

Kyle Whittingham’s squad split their First Team selections evenly with three on the offense and three on the defense. TE Brant Kuithe was selected to the first team for the second straight year while two Utes were selected on the offensive line in Sataoa Laumea and Keaton Bills. The defense is represented at each level with DL Junior Tafuna, LB Karene Reid and DB Cole Bishop.

Oregon State also has three representatives on offense with running back Damien Martinez joined by a pair of offensive linemen in Joshua Gray and Taliese Fuaga. Kitan Oladapo was selected to the First Team Defense while All-American Anthony Gould is the return specialist.

Heisman trophy winning quarterback Caleb Williams leads the USC contingent on the First Team alongside WR Dorian Singer on offense. DB Calen Bullock represents the defense joining punter Eddie Czaplicki with Raleek Brown on All-Purpose/Special Teams.

FIRST TEAM OFFENSE

QB Caleb Williams, USC

RB Damien Martinez, Oregon State

RB Bucky Irving, Oregon

WR Rome Odunze, Washington

FIRST TEAM DEFENSE

Bralen Trice, Washington

Laiatu Latu, UCLA

Brandon Dorlus, Oregon

Junior Tafuna, Utah

WR Dorian Singer, USC LB Jackson Sirmon, California

TE Brant Kuithe, Utah

OL Sataoa Laumea, Utah

OL Joshua Gray, Oregon State

OL Troy Fautanu, Washington

OL Taliese Fuaga, Oregon State

OL Keaton Bills, Utah

Karene Reid, Utah

Darius Muasau, UCLA

Cole Bishop, Utah

Calen Bullock, USC

Kitan Oladapo, Oregon State

Travis Hunter, Colorado

FIRST TEAM SPECIALISTS

PK Joshua Karty, Stanford

P Eddie Czaplickik USC

AP/ST Travis Hunter, Colorado

AP/ST Raleek Brown, USC

RS Anthony Gould, Oregon State

2023 BIG TEN FOOTBALL TEam-BY-TEAM SCHEDULES

2023 PAC-12 FOOTBALL TEam-BY-TEAM SCHEDULES

2023 pac-12 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

allegiant Stadium, las vegas

NATIONAL FOOTBALL FOUNDATION DOCUMENTS GROWTH OF THE GAME

The National Football Foundation (NFF) provided the following key stats to mark the growth of the game at the high school, collegiate and NFL levels.

High School Football

15,800* High Schools in the U.S. that sponsor football

1.04 Million* High school football players in teh U.S.

7.8 percent Percentage of high school football players who will play in college

2,584 High schools in the U.S. sponsor girls tackle football

* These numbers do not include private and/or parochial high schools that do not report to the state high school association.

College Football (Est. 1869)

773 Colleges & Universities playing football at all levels

81,000(+) College football players in NCAA & NAIA

89 Colleges & Universities added football programs from 2008-2022

16 Colleges & Universities will add football programs in 2023 and beyond

17 Colleges & Universities offering sprint football

19 Colleges & Universities offering women’s flag football as a varsity sport

123 Junior Colleges offering football

0.41 Percentage of college football players who made NFL opening week rosters in 2022

National Football League (Est. 1920)

32 NFL Teams

2,016 Players on NFL rosters

297 Rookies made NFL opening week rosters in 2022

259 College football players were drafted in 2023

672 College football players signed as undrafted free agents or received training camp invitations in 2023

3.3 Number of years for the average NFL player’s career.

65TH NATIONAL FOOTBALL FOUNDATION

ANNUAL AWARDS DINNER

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2023 / 7:00PM PT

ARIA RESORT & CASINO - LAS VEGAS

For additional information: www.footballfoundation.org

John Saccenti Executive Director

LAS VEGAS - The sports and Entertainment CapITAL

There’s a reason they call Las Vegas the Sports and Entertainment Capital of the World. In 2023-24, Las Vegas will play host to multiple sporting events. In addition to the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl, the city welcomes the National Final Rodeo, Formula 1, Super Bowl LVIII, the Pac-12 Football Championship Game and a plethora of in-season basketball events and postseason conference basketball tournaments. ESPN Events is proud to announce the Vegas Showdown - a four team basketball event featuring Arizona State, BYU, NC State and Vanderbilt - which will take place at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino’s Michelob ULTRA Arena on Thursday, November 23 and Friday, November 24.

THANK you to our presenting sponsors

las vegas bowl staff

JOHN SACCENTI - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

DAVID HIRSCH - SENIOR MANAGER, EVENTS VERONICA DUGAN - EVENTS COORDINATOR

RUTLEDGE - OFFICE MANAGER

WALLINGTON - MEDIA COORDINATOR