Recent Comments
You don't see an issue with a sport that needs to be propped up by huge donors?
Great point. This is the issue having a revenue generating sport that is tied to a not-for-profit institution. I don't see a way around this unless:
- Universities/football teams transform into truly for-profit institutions
- Football teams agree to turn down billions in TV dollars to be truly not-for-profit
You can't have half the organization function as a non-profit and the other half function as a for-profit. You can't have donors and amateurs on one hand, then billion dollar TV contracts and employees making 8 figures annually on the other. It doesn't work. Pick one, and commit fully.
Let me acknowledge that:
- Yes - the scale of player 'compensation' is different now. I'm not arguing against that.
- College basketball is a shitshow. I get it and agree.
No one was paying a backup OT $500,000
No one is now either... because being a starter at VT still pays more than being a backup at Texas.
The current environment is not merely an extension of the previous environment, it is a completely different environment.
I also cannot disagree with this. However, the movement towards player employment has put a check on (what I would call) unsavory player treatment. I'm talking about situations where the coach lies to a recruit, convinces a player to go there because a booster is lining up a job for his uncle, then when the coach turns out to be a colossal asshole, the player is stuck there because if he leaves his uncle is getting fired (cough gary patterson cough). NIL has put glass walls on the sausage factor AND cleaned it up quite a bit. I doesn't look like a sausage factory any more.
I understand why people are upset at the current state of the sport. I just think it's lazy to suggest 'these problems would all go away if we just don't pay the players' - This was inevitable as soon as TV money got in the mix and started growing rapidly. There were dozens of fixes that could've been implemented beforehand. The system was being held together with duct tape (aka amateurism). The duct tape has torn. The solution is not more duct tape.
I know right lol. Re-recruiting your best players every year must be SO fun for coaches...
Read it as the something 2 prove and not the run it back.
In 2024......ZERO.....as in not a single one 5-Star Recruit signed with a non-P2 school. For the first time since Recruiting Rankings have been tracked. Things have changed massively in 5 years....to pretend like NIL and the Transfer Portal haven't changed the hierarchy isn't rational.
IMO issue here is conference expansion, not NIL. If the conferences went back to where they were 10 years ago, then the top is no where near as P2-heavy, then every conference has at least two teams per year that land a 5-star.
I quibble with using the distribution of 5-stars as a metric for parity in recruiting, but if we see that 5-stars are basically being distributed in the same way they have been for the last decade. The problem is that the 4 best PAC Programs and the 2 best B12 programs are now in the P2.
| Class | # of Teams landing a 5-stars | Conference to land a 5-star | highest 5 stars on a team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 (first class with P2) | 16 | 4 | 5 (Tie: UGA/Bama) |
| 2023 | 17 | 5 | 9 (Bama) |
| 2022 | 13 | 5 (+ND) | 8 (TAMU) |
| 2021 | 16 | 5 | 7 (Tie: OSU/Bama) |
| 2020 | 15 | 5 (+ND) | 5 (Clemson) |
| 2019 | 17 | 5 | 5 (UGA) |
| 2018 | 10 | 5 | 7 (UGA) |
| 2017 | 13 | 4 | 6 (Bama) |
| 2016 | 17 | 6 | 3 (Tie: Bama/Ole Miss/UGA) |
| 2015 | 15 | 5 | 5 (Bama) |
| 2014 | 17 | 5 | 6 (Bama) |
Regardless - I think the point is clear: FBS football is getting less stratified. There's a break into two classes. The upper class is getting a little bit bigger, but the lower class is growing rapidly.
Clemson is case-in-point of this. They have gone from Blueblood to Outside looking in largely based on Dabo's refusal to jump into the Transfer Portal Cesspool. Wake Forest is now dead as a Program due to the Transfer Portal.
So Clemson is failing due to choice/incompetence. Wake is being replaced by Vandy, Tulane, and Duke.
Wake is completely undeserving of their power status. They got here simply because they were friends with the right schools/people 40+ years ago. They got lucky by hiring a coach who was basically content with a great work life balance (relative to the rest of the college football industry) and was okay never competing for national titles. They've basically been operating like a good-to-bad G5 program for a few decades. They don't have a passionate fanbase. They don't travel, they don't pack out stadiums... They haven't wanted to be involved in 'big-boy' college football... ever? And now they're not 🤷♂️
I get it, you have made it repeatedly clear that "get your cash, forget the rest" is your view on the best path forward.
This could not be further from the truth.
- I believe players should be able to get as much money as they want, and I don't like the idea of a salary cap.
- I like the idea of multi-year contracts for players and transfer fees/buy-outs (just like coaches have)
- I believe that more, smaller, geographically focused conferences would naturally and immediately create the perception of parity across conferences, and with time, we'd start actually seeing more parity.
- I believe promotion/relegation would be the 'fairest' way to reward schools who want to invest in their program
For my entire lifetime as a sports fan (25-30 years, 15ish years as a college football fan), the power in this sport has been concentrated in 20 or so programs. Now that number is closer to 35/40, but there is a stark difference between those on the inside and those on the outside. I just don't think this is the result of NIL; I think it's the result of the top 20 programs consolidating. IMO that's the problem we should be solving for.
The flaw in your argument is using the term "reasonable fan base". I am not sure many of them exist, especially at the P4 level.
Woohoo go Notre Dame!
Rooting for Clemson Tennessee and SMU today. It's kinda cold up here in state college
Uh, because his own employer spins that narrative constantly? Go see exhibit A - Paul Finebaum.
No it went the other way last night. Sean McDonough.
"I don't understand why there's this presumption that the Big Ten is so much better than the ACC or Big 12. I'm not sure what that's based on."
Most of the other talking heads nodding in agreement.
Don't worry they'll use the Indiana performance as some kind of referendum against schools in the ACC and BigXII to ensure we get even fewer bids going forward.
This was a really enjoyable watch and listen, thanks!
I'm taking this as a sign that he'd been totally passed on the depth chart by people like Stevens. This is the kind of portaling that should be happening.
Thankfully it looks like that happened! I'm a federal employee so I've been watching this like a hawk, too
I remember that joke. You sure it was Sandler? I thought it was Fallon. I remember he was late and they got a local guy to come in and he was pretty bad. I was running on high octane but I definitely remember the Wilford joke and response.
Great opening salvo from the ACC against B1g10.
🤣 they wanted to spice things up there at the end for a bit
Chachi, this isn't personal, but any sentence containing "pickleball" and "sport" gives big UVA vibes.
Pickleball is to tennis what wiffleball is to baseball: a casual yard game version of a sport that requires none of the athletic ability, enjoyed primarily by middle aged suburbanites on at least their third beer.
Hazarding a guess, but I vaguely (I was 11) remember that roster being kinda stacked, but our record was underwhelming. Weirdly specific reference if so.
Notre Dame playing like the Hokies under 2 minutes.
{Andrew Miller, grappler1/C1} "I agry." {/on a good ankle and shoulder}
Merry Christmas Sir.
b.street
Notre Dame fucking around and about to make this game look close.
Why wouldn't Indiana make the same mistake we made with Fuente? They already copied our stadium. They clearly have a thing for VT.
Yeah Big10 getting exposed a bit. Indiana may be regretting that Cignetti extension. Just confirms how soft their schedule was.
CJ McCray DE has entered the portal. Not one I expected to see but his usage this year was minimal after being a regular contributor the prior two years. Went from double digit games in 22 and 23 to 4 this year.
It was nice to hear the ACC being defended on national TV even if it was in the last minutes of a game that should have been a blowout.