2025 College Football Thread: Florida State fan not really unhappy that YouTube tv took games away (13 Viewers)

[JohnnyU]

People in the midwest also can't pronounce "Biloxi" correctly.

How do they say it?

Johnny U has it right. I worked with a gal who went to Northwestern and she argued with me that I was the one pronouncing it incorrectly. I had to tell her that I've been there and heard the locals pronounce it the way I was saying it. She swore up and down it was "Bil-LOOK-see".

I'm originally from Kentucky and people not from there mispronounce Louisville. It's "Lu-a-vul", not "Louie-ville", or less mispronounced "Louis-ville".

Guilty. I'm a Louie-ville guy and I know it's wrong.

Actually, most of the country pronounces it like that. Lu-a-vul is mostly a Kentucky thing.

When my dad says it, it's 2 syllables.

Lul-Vul is acceptable too I suppose

 

[Sparky Polastri]

I'll celebrate when the first football is kicked off. Until then, rename this the "Notre Dame signed a guy" thread and wake me up, when the summer ends

Recruitment stuff was a bit more interesting when you thought the guys would at least stick around a couple of years.

Yeah, now it's not "who did I get?", it's "who can I keep?" It just seems pointless.

I can't wait until they professionalize the conferences into a league and have a clear salary cap with standard contracts.

People can pay whatever they want booster wise on top of that but contracts that are real and limit the ridiculous amount of transfer movement would be so nice.

There are some cool ways to do it too. Promotion relegation, multiple tiers of league. Ways that if a higher tier wants the player transfer is ok, but there's no breaking a contract to go from Ohio St to Alabama.

And if you and the school will only commit to two years, then after two years move wherever you want.

Hard habit to break for boosters though. Even if there is a formal rules and all that other crap, are boosters gonna stop greasing the palms of the dynamos?

"People can pay whatever they want booster wise on top of that, but contracts that are real and limit the ridiculous amount of transfer movement would be so nice."

So, the way it was before the transfer portal then. That worked well, especially for the athletes. Don't know why we think doing the same thing again is going to produce a different result.

I feel like you didn't read my post at all. I'm not gonna keep trying.

I read it. I don't share the belief that any of the rules you came/come up with will outweigh "follow the money" as history has taught us time and time again.

Yeah. I guess that's why all other professional sports leagues the players randomly move willy nilly. You're surely right.


/s

Sorry...thought we were talking about college football and its culture. You're talking about pro sports?

 

[Chadstroma]

I'll celebrate when the first football is kicked off. Until then, rename this the "Notre Dame signed a guy" thread and wake me up, when the summer ends

Recruitment stuff was a bit more interesting when you thought the guys would at least stick around a couple of years.

Yeah, now it's not "who did I get?", it's "who can I keep?" It just seems pointless.

I can't wait until they professionalize the conferences into a league and have a clear salary cap with standard contracts.

People can pay whatever they want booster wise on top of that but contracts that are real and limit the ridiculous amount of transfer movement would be so nice.

There are some cool ways to do it too. Promotion relegation, multiple tiers of league. Ways that if a higher tier wants the player transfer is ok, but there's no breaking a contract to go from Ohio St to Alabama.

And if you and the school will only commit to two years, then after two years move wherever you want.

Hard habit to break for boosters though. Even if there is a formal rules and all that other crap, are boosters gonna stop greasing the palms of the dynamos?

"People can pay whatever they want booster wise on top of that, but contracts that are real and limit the ridiculous amount of transfer movement would be so nice."

So, the way it was before the transfer portal then. That worked well, especially for the athletes. Don't know why we think doing the same thing again is going to produce a different result.

I feel like you didn't read my post at all. I'm not gonna keep trying.

I read it. I don't share the belief that any of the rules you came/come up with will outweigh "follow the money" as history has taught us time and time again.

Yeah. I guess that's why all other professional sports leagues the players randomly move willy nilly. You're surely right.


/s

Sorry...thought we were talking about college football and its culture. You're talking about pro sports?

No. He is saying contracts for the kids would make it more orderly and less wild wild west in college. They are getting paid so they have to act like professionals now even if we still act like they are amatuer student athletes.

Or that is my take. He can correct me if I am misunderstanding.

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

I'll celebrate when the first football is kicked off. Until then, rename this the "Notre Dame signed a guy" thread and wake me up, when the summer ends

Recruitment stuff was a bit more interesting when you thought the guys would at least stick around a couple of years.

Yeah, now it's not "who did I get?", it's "who can I keep?" It just seems pointless.

I can't wait until they professionalize the conferences into a league and have a clear salary cap with standard contracts.

People can pay whatever they want booster wise on top of that but contracts that are real and limit the ridiculous amount of transfer movement would be so nice.

There are some cool ways to do it too. Promotion relegation, multiple tiers of league. Ways that if a higher tier wants the player transfer is ok, but there's no breaking a contract to go from Ohio St to Alabama.

And if you and the school will only commit to two years, then after two years move wherever you want.

Hard habit to break for boosters though. Even if there is a formal rules and all that other crap, are boosters gonna stop greasing the palms of the dynamos?

"People can pay whatever they want booster wise on top of that, but contracts that are real and limit the ridiculous amount of transfer movement would be so nice."

So, the way it was before the transfer portal then. That worked well, especially for the athletes. Don't know why we think doing the same thing again is going to produce a different result.

I feel like you didn't read my post at all. I'm not gonna keep trying.

I read it. I don't share the belief that any of the rules you came/come up with will outweigh "follow the money" as history has taught us time and time again.

Yeah. I guess that's why all other professional sports leagues the players randomly move willy nilly. You're surely right.


/s

Sorry...thought we were talking about college football and its culture. You're talking about pro sports?

College football isn't a pro sport?

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Side note for the OU fans, why is it OU when the name is University of Oklahoma?

So weird we were just talking about that.

I've never understood. Oregon, as I understand it, is UO.

The University of Kansas is also KU.

With zero actual knowledge, my assumption is that is just sounds better off the tongue.

Yep, we Oregon fans do not like it when others call Oregon OU. It is U of O.

People call is anything other than Oregon? They really should just change the name to Knight University though. Imagine the uniform possibilities.....

The other thing that annoys us is when pronounce Oregon wrong. It is pronounced Oregun, not Oregone.

I don't think I've heard many pronounce it Oregone. Is that a common thing?

Al Michaels can't pronounce it correctly. He is as good as there is in the world of sports' announcing and he's an 'OreGONE' guy. You'd think he'd know better.

My wife's family in Michigan can't pronounce it correctly either, but it's so darn adorable when they say it incorrectly that I don't have the heart to correct them. Just so Midwest nice that I would feel wrong to try and tell them how to pronounce it.

Everyone i knew in Mass said 'gone'. It's how I say it i think

I always thought it was like or-again. Or-again.

Yup, that's it! For some reason, I tell folks it's like saying "More Again". But when my wife's family says it wrong in their thick Michigan accents I just find it adorable and chuckle inside.

You mean their Meeshigan accents??? I'm up in the UP right now it may as well be a foreign land.

Pro tip. Say SOW NAH not SAW NAH. What brings you to our beautiful little corner of the country? Not sure if you're up here often, but forget pasties and go for a cudighi for the best local cuisine (Tino's in Negaunee has the best on earth if you're in the Marquette area)

 

[Instinctive]

I'll celebrate when the first football is kicked off. Until then, rename this the "Notre Dame signed a guy" thread and wake me up, when the summer ends

Recruitment stuff was a bit more interesting when you thought the guys would at least stick around a couple of years.

Yeah, now it's not "who did I get?", it's "who can I keep?" It just seems pointless.

I can't wait until they professionalize the conferences into a league and have a clear salary cap with standard contracts.

People can pay whatever they want booster wise on top of that but contracts that are real and limit the ridiculous amount of transfer movement would be so nice.

There are some cool ways to do it too. Promotion relegation, multiple tiers of league. Ways that if a higher tier wants the player transfer is ok, but there's no breaking a contract to go from Ohio St to Alabama.

And if you and the school will only commit to two years, then after two years move wherever you want.

Hard habit to break for boosters though. Even if there is a formal rules and all that other crap, are boosters gonna stop greasing the palms of the dynamos?

"People can pay whatever they want booster wise on top of that, but contracts that are real and limit the ridiculous amount of transfer movement would be so nice."

So, the way it was before the transfer portal then. That worked well, especially for the athletes. Don't know why we think doing the same thing again is going to produce a different result.

I feel like you didn't read my post at all. I'm not gonna keep trying.

I read it. I don't share the belief that any of the rules you came/come up with will outweigh "follow the money" as history has taught us time and time again.

Yeah. I guess that's why all other professional sports leagues the players randomly move willy nilly. You're surely right.


/s

Sorry...thought we were talking about college football and its culture. You're talking about pro sports?

No. He is saying contracts for the kids would make it more orderly and less wild wild west in college. They are getting paid so they have to act like professionals now even if we still act like they are amatuer student athletes.

Or that is my take. He can correct me if I am misunderstanding.

This is why I think @Sparky Polastri just saw a buzz word and didn't read the post at all. His first response asks a question that one paragraph directly answers. Chad and Ramblin seem to have actually read the words before jumping down my throat.

This new question implies he didn't read the first paragraph. "I can't wait until they professionalize into a league..."

They already are professional. They get paid to play the sport. That's more or less the definition of professional athlete. Now the people running the leagues need to put some more rules in place and put guys under contracts. You can't unilaterally tell a person working for you when and where they can leave, but you sure as hell can in exchange for money (or other valuable consideration) to a reasonable extent (maybe not in CA), and especially moreso if there's a way to unionize it so there's a CBA.

This is fairly obviously the direction this has been heading since conversations in Johnny Manziel's time about pay for play. Until they all realize it's necessary, which they will, every party will continue to just try and wring the maximum dollars possible for themselves at every turn with no real rules or structure in place.

Just for fun, I'll add - back in 2015-18 I was literally discussing this with Condi, Larry Scott, Jay Feely, Greg Sankey, and others on a somewhat regular basis as a leader of the GSBs sports management enterprises. They all knew/know where it's going. It's just a matter of delaying it as long as the schools think they get more money on the way.

 

[Instinctive]

Side note for the OU fans, why is it OU when the name is University of Oklahoma?

So weird we were just talking about that.

I've never understood. Oregon, as I understand it, is UO.

The University of Kansas is also KU.

With zero actual knowledge, my assumption is that is just sounds better off the tongue.

Yep, we Oregon fans do not like it when others call Oregon OU. It is U of O.

People call is anything other than Oregon? They really should just change the name to Knight University though. Imagine the uniform possibilities.....

The other thing that annoys us is when pronounce Oregon wrong. It is pronounced Oregun, not Oregone.

I don't think I've heard many pronounce it Oregone. Is that a common thing?

Al Michaels can't pronounce it correctly. He is as good as there is in the world of sports' announcing and he's an 'OreGONE' guy. You'd think he'd know better.

My wife's family in Michigan can't pronounce it correctly either, but it's so darn adorable when they say it incorrectly that I don't have the heart to correct them. Just so Midwest nice that I would feel wrong to try and tell them how to pronounce it.

Everyone i knew in Mass said 'gone'. It's how I say it i think

I always thought it was like or-again. Or-again.

Yup, that's it! For some reason, I tell folks it's like saying "More Again". But when my wife's family says it wrong in their thick Michigan accents I just find it adorable and chuckle inside.

You mean their Meeshigan accents??? I'm up in the UP right now it may as well be a foreign land.

Pro tip. Say SOW NAH not SAW NAH. What brings you to our beautiful little corner of the country? Not sure if you're up here often, but forget pasties and go for a cudighi for the best local cuisine (Tino's in Negaunee has the best on earth if you're in the Marquette area)

In laws in the Soo, family reunion in July every summer for a week.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Side note for the OU fans, why is it OU when the name is University of Oklahoma?

So weird we were just talking about that.

I've never understood. Oregon, as I understand it, is UO.

The University of Kansas is also KU.

With zero actual knowledge, my assumption is that is just sounds better off the tongue.

Yep, we Oregon fans do not like it when others call Oregon OU. It is U of O.

People call is anything other than Oregon? They really should just change the name to Knight University though. Imagine the uniform possibilities.....

The other thing that annoys us is when pronounce Oregon wrong. It is pronounced Oregun, not Oregone.

I don't think I've heard many pronounce it Oregone. Is that a common thing?

Al Michaels can't pronounce it correctly. He is as good as there is in the world of sports' announcing and he's an 'OreGONE' guy. You'd think he'd know better.

My wife's family in Michigan can't pronounce it correctly either, but it's so darn adorable when they say it incorrectly that I don't have the heart to correct them. Just so Midwest nice that I would feel wrong to try and tell them how to pronounce it.

Everyone i knew in Mass said 'gone'. It's how I say it i think

I always thought it was like or-again. Or-again.

Yup, that's it! For some reason, I tell folks it's like saying "More Again". But when my wife's family says it wrong in their thick Michigan accents I just find it adorable and chuckle inside.

You mean their Meeshigan accents??? I'm up in the UP right now it may as well be a foreign land.

Accents as thick as the mosquitos up there.

Hey, i resemble these remarks. (We've moved on from mosquito season and into biting black fly season which are also as thick as our accents )

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Side note for the OU fans, why is it OU when the name is University of Oklahoma?

So weird we were just talking about that.

I've never understood. Oregon, as I understand it, is UO.

The University of Kansas is also KU.

With zero actual knowledge, my assumption is that is just sounds better off the tongue.

Yep, we Oregon fans do not like it when others call Oregon OU. It is U of O.

People call is anything other than Oregon? They really should just change the name to Knight University though. Imagine the uniform possibilities.....

The other thing that annoys us is when pronounce Oregon wrong. It is pronounced Oregun, not Oregone.

I don't think I've heard many pronounce it Oregone. Is that a common thing?

Al Michaels can't pronounce it correctly. He is as good as there is in the world of sports' announcing and he's an 'OreGONE' guy. You'd think he'd know better.

My wife's family in Michigan can't pronounce it correctly either, but it's so darn adorable when they say it incorrectly that I don't have the heart to correct them. Just so Midwest nice that I would feel wrong to try and tell them how to pronounce it.

Everyone i knew in Mass said 'gone'. It's how I say it i think

I always thought it was like or-again. Or-again.

Yup, that's it! For some reason, I tell folks it's like saying "More Again". But when my wife's family says it wrong in their thick Michigan accents I just find it adorable and chuckle inside.

You mean their Meeshigan accents??? I'm up in the UP right now it may as well be a foreign land.

Pro tip. Say SOW NAH not SAW NAH. What brings you to our beautiful little corner of the country? Not sure if you're up here often, but forget pasties and go for a cudighi for the best local cuisine (Tino's in Negaunee has the best on earth if you're in the Marquette area)

In laws in the Soo, family reunion in July every summer for a week.

Awesome, enjoy. Beautiful country on the east end.

 

[Idiot Boxer]

There is a Beaufort in North Carolina and South Carolina and they are pronounced dramatically different.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

I'll celebrate when the first football is kicked off. Until then, rename this the "Notre Dame signed a guy" thread and wake me up, when the summer ends

Recruitment stuff was a bit more interesting when you thought the guys would at least stick around a couple of years.

Yeah, now it's not "who did I get?", it's "who can I keep?" It just seems pointless.

I can't wait until they professionalize the conferences into a league and have a clear salary cap with standard contracts.

People can pay whatever they want booster wise on top of that but contracts that are real and limit the ridiculous amount of transfer movement would be so nice.

There are some cool ways to do it too. Promotion relegation, multiple tiers of league. Ways that if a higher tier wants the player transfer is ok, but there's no breaking a contract to go from Ohio St to Alabama.

And if you and the school will only commit to two years, then after two years move wherever you want.

Hard habit to break for boosters though. Even if there is a formal rules and all that other crap, are boosters gonna stop greasing the palms of the dynamos?

"People can pay whatever they want booster wise on top of that, but contracts that are real and limit the ridiculous amount of transfer movement would be so nice."

So, the way it was before the transfer portal then. That worked well, especially for the athletes. Don't know why we think doing the same thing again is going to produce a different result.

I feel like you didn't read my post at all. I'm not gonna keep trying.

I read it. I don't share the belief that any of the rules you came/come up with will outweigh "follow the money" as history has taught us time and time again.

Yeah. I guess that's why all other professional sports leagues the players randomly move willy nilly. You're surely right.


/s

Sorry...thought we were talking about college football and its culture. You're talking about pro sports?

No. He is saying contracts for the kids would make it more orderly and less wild wild west in college. They are getting paid so they have to act like professionals now even if we still act like they are amatuer student athletes.

Or that is my take. He can correct me if I am misunderstanding.

This is why I think @Sparky Polastri just saw a buzz word and didn't read the post at all. His first response asks a question that one paragraph directly answers. Chad and Ramblin seem to have actually read the words before jumping down my throat.

This new question implies he didn't read the first paragraph. "I can't wait until they professionalize into a league..."

They already are professional. They get paid to play the sport. That's more or less the definition of professional athlete. Now the people running the leagues need to put some more rules in place and put guys under contracts. You can't unilaterally tell a person working for you when and where they can leave, but you sure as hell can in exchange for money (or other valuable consideration) to a reasonable extent (maybe not in CA), and especially moreso if there's a way to unionize it so there's a CBA.

This is fairly obviously the direction this has been heading since conversations in Johnny Manziel's time about pay for play. Until they all realize it's necessary, which they will, every party will continue to just try and wring the maximum dollars possible for themselves at every turn with no real rules or structure in place.

Just for fun, I'll add - back in 2015-18 I was literally discussing this with Condi, Larry Scott, Jay Feely, Greg Sankey, and others on a somewhat regular basis as a leader of the GSBs sports management enterprises. They all knew/know where it's going. It's just a matter of delaying it as long as the schools think they get more money on the way.

The difficulty is that the NCAA has just concluded a five year legal battle (in reality over 20 years in the making) in which they fought like hell to explicitly deny that the players “are paid to play the sport.” So I agree that your proposed pay-to-play professional contract structure could solve the issue of rampant player movement but we’re still a long long way away from that happening. In one recent example, Xavier Lucas signed two year NIL contracts with Wisconsin and a Badger NIL collective, then promptly asked to enter the portal. When Wisconsin refused to enter his name in the portal, he simply enrolled himself at Miami and joined the team, portal be damned. These were pre-House settlement contracts and I’ve not seen them, but it’s interesting that neither Wisconsin nor the collective sued Lucas for breach of contract. Instead, they both sued Miami for tampering last month. The other interesting thing that came from this is that the school and the NCAA tacitly acknowledged that the portal is just a matter of convenience, not a requirement. We’ll probably see real professional player contracts in our lifetimes, but that’s a long way away now and it will probably take many years of more litigation. Exactly what that will look like is hard to say but it’s possible the entire facade of the NCAA student athlete paradigm will have to be torn down for it to happen.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Fair expectations for the maize and blue. 2026 is shaping up to be a banger, but predicting the offense this year is pretty tough to do, especially with so many question marks at OL, TE, and WR. Underwood has a ton of hype, but as a true freshman there's going to be plenty of inexperienced mistakes. The D looks lights out though.

2025 preseason grades for every Michigan Football position group

The defense looks elite, but the offense is set to begin the season as more of a mystery. Today, we assign a preseason grade breakdown for every Michigan Football position group heading into the 2025 season:

www.maizenbrew.com

 

[bigbottom]

Fair expectations for the maize and blue. 2026 is shaping up to be a banger, but predicting the offense this year is pretty tough to do, especially with so many question marks at OL, TE, and WR. Underwood has a ton of hype, but as a true freshman there's going to be plenty of inexperienced mistakes. The D looks lights out though.

2025 preseason grades for every Michigan Football position group

The defense looks elite, but the offense is set to begin the season as more of a mystery. Today, we assign a preseason grade breakdown for every Michigan Football position group heading into the 2025 season:

www.maizenbrew.com

Any interest in a friendly wager on the Michigan - USC game this upcoming season? Doesn’t have to be money - we can do something fun.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Fair expectations for the maize and blue. 2026 is shaping up to be a banger, but predicting the offense this year is pretty tough to do, especially with so many question marks at OL, TE, and WR. Underwood has a ton of hype, but as a true freshman there's going to be plenty of inexperienced mistakes. The D looks lights out though.

2025 preseason grades for every Michigan Football position group

The defense looks elite, but the offense is set to begin the season as more of a mystery. Today, we assign a preseason grade breakdown for every Michigan Football position group heading into the 2025 season:

www.maizenbrew.com

Any interest in a friendly wager on the Michigan - USC game this upcoming season? Doesn’t have to be money - we can do something fun.

Always down to make the games a little more interesting

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Fair expectations for the maize and blue. 2026 is shaping up to be a banger, but predicting the offense this year is pretty tough to do, especially with so many question marks at OL, TE, and WR. Underwood has a ton of hype, but as a true freshman there's going to be plenty of inexperienced mistakes. The D looks lights out though.

2025 preseason grades for every Michigan Football position group

The defense looks elite, but the offense is set to begin the season as more of a mystery. Today, we assign a preseason grade breakdown for every Michigan Football position group heading into the 2025 season:

www.maizenbrew.com

Any interest in a friendly wager on the Michigan - USC game this upcoming season? Doesn’t have to be money - we can do something fun.

What kind of wager are we thinking? We're a ways off from that one, but my interest is peaked. My creepy AArod avatar and your Nigel Tufnel, something else?

 

[bigbottom]

Fair expectations for the maize and blue. 2026 is shaping up to be a banger, but predicting the offense this year is pretty tough to do, especially with so many question marks at OL, TE, and WR. Underwood has a ton of hype, but as a true freshman there's going to be plenty of inexperienced mistakes. The D looks lights out though.

2025 preseason grades for every Michigan Football position group

The defense looks elite, but the offense is set to begin the season as more of a mystery. Today, we assign a preseason grade breakdown for every Michigan Football position group heading into the 2025 season:

www.maizenbrew.com

Any interest in a friendly wager on the Michigan - USC game this upcoming season? Doesn’t have to be money - we can do something fun.

What kind of wager are we thinking? We're a ways off from that one, but my interest is peaked. My creepy AArod avatar and your Nigel Tufnel, something else?

Sure! That sounds fun. Winner gets to choose the losers avatar for a month (just can’t be obscene or reputation harming - no Jeffrey Epstein avatar, for example).

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Fair expectations for the maize and blue. 2026 is shaping up to be a banger, but predicting the offense this year is pretty tough to do, especially with so many question marks at OL, TE, and WR. Underwood has a ton of hype, but as a true freshman there's going to be plenty of inexperienced mistakes. The D looks lights out though.

2025 preseason grades for every Michigan Football position group

The defense looks elite, but the offense is set to begin the season as more of a mystery. Today, we assign a preseason grade breakdown for every Michigan Football position group heading into the 2025 season:

www.maizenbrew.com

Any interest in a friendly wager on the Michigan - USC game this upcoming season? Doesn’t have to be money - we can do something fun.

What kind of wager are we thinking? We're a ways off from that one, but my interest is peaked. My creepy AArod avatar and your Nigel Tufnel, something else?

Sure! That sounds fun. Winner gets to choose the losers avatar for a month (just can’t be obscene or reputation harming - no Jeffrey Epstein avatar, for example).

You're on!

ETA. I consider anything oSU both obscene and reputation harming

 

[bigbottom]

Fair expectations for the maize and blue. 2026 is shaping up to be a banger, but predicting the offense this year is pretty tough to do, especially with so many question marks at OL, TE, and WR. Underwood has a ton of hype, but as a true freshman there's going to be plenty of inexperienced mistakes. The D looks lights out though.

2025 preseason grades for every Michigan Football position group

The defense looks elite, but the offense is set to begin the season as more of a mystery. Today, we assign a preseason grade breakdown for every Michigan Football position group heading into the 2025 season:

www.maizenbrew.com

Any interest in a friendly wager on the Michigan - USC game this upcoming season? Doesn’t have to be money - we can do something fun.

What kind of wager are we thinking? We're a ways off from that one, but my interest is peaked. My creepy AArod avatar and your Nigel Tufnel, something else?

Sure! That sounds fun. Winner gets to choose the losers avatar for a month (just can’t be obscene or reputation harming - no Jeffrey Epstein avatar, for example).

You're on!

ETA. I consider anything oSU both obscene and reputation harming

DANGIT!!!

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Fair expectations for the maize and blue. 2026 is shaping up to be a banger, but predicting the offense this year is pretty tough to do, especially with so many question marks at OL, TE, and WR. Underwood has a ton of hype, but as a true freshman there's going to be plenty of inexperienced mistakes. The D looks lights out though.

2025 preseason grades for every Michigan Football position group

The defense looks elite, but the offense is set to begin the season as more of a mystery. Today, we assign a preseason grade breakdown for every Michigan Football position group heading into the 2025 season:

www.maizenbrew.com

Any interest in a friendly wager on the Michigan - USC game this upcoming season? Doesn’t have to be money - we can do something fun.

What kind of wager are we thinking? We're a ways off from that one, but my interest is peaked. My creepy AArod avatar and your Nigel Tufnel, something else?

Sure! That sounds fun. Winner gets to choose the losers avatar for a month (just can’t be obscene or reputation harming - no Jeffrey Epstein avatar, for example).

You're on!

ETA. I consider anything oSU both obscene and reputation harming

DANGIT!!!

I'm serious, but also kidding. I don't have to worry about this, but let's say i did, if you want to see Ryan Day's jet black dyed hair or similar oSU nonsense I'll grit my teeth and do it. Ofcourse, I'm not worried about that happening.

Since I'm also a Packers fan your most recent Heisman winner would also be in poor taste, but less so

 

[Sparky Polastri]

I'll celebrate when the first football is kicked off. Until then, rename this the "Notre Dame signed a guy" thread and wake me up, when the summer ends

Recruitment stuff was a bit more interesting when you thought the guys would at least stick around a couple of years.

Yeah, now it's not "who did I get?", it's "who can I keep?" It just seems pointless.

I can't wait until they professionalize the conferences into a league and have a clear salary cap with standard contracts.

People can pay whatever they want booster wise on top of that but contracts that are real and limit the ridiculous amount of transfer movement would be so nice.

There are some cool ways to do it too. Promotion relegation, multiple tiers of league. Ways that if a higher tier wants the player transfer is ok, but there's no breaking a contract to go from Ohio St to Alabama.

And if you and the school will only commit to two years, then after two years move wherever you want.

Hard habit to break for boosters though. Even if there is a formal rules and all that other crap, are boosters gonna stop greasing the palms of the dynamos?

"People can pay whatever they want booster wise on top of that, but contracts that are real and limit the ridiculous amount of transfer movement would be so nice."

So, the way it was before the transfer portal then. That worked well, especially for the athletes. Don't know why we think doing the same thing again is going to produce a different result.

I feel like you didn't read my post at all. I'm not gonna keep trying.

I read it. I don't share the belief that any of the rules you came/come up with will outweigh "follow the money" as history has taught us time and time again.

Yeah. I guess that's why all other professional sports leagues the players randomly move willy nilly. You're surely right.


/s

Sorry...thought we were talking about college football and its culture. You're talking about pro sports?

No. He is saying contracts for the kids would make it more orderly and less wild wild west in college. They are getting paid so they have to act like professionals now even if we still act like they are amatuer student athletes.

Or that is my take. He can correct me if I am misunderstanding.

This is why I think @Sparky Polastri just saw a buzz word and didn't read the post at all. His first response asks a question that one paragraph directly answers. Chad and Ramblin seem to have actually read the words before jumping down my throat.

This new question implies he didn't read the first paragraph. "I can't wait until they professionalize into a league..."

They already are professional. They get paid to play the sport. That's more or less the definition of professional athlete. Now the people running the leagues need to put some more rules in place and put guys under contracts. You can't unilaterally tell a person working for you when and where they can leave, but you sure as hell can in exchange for money (or other valuable consideration) to a reasonable extent (maybe not in CA), and especially moreso if there's a way to unionize it so there's a CBA.

This is fairly obviously the direction this has been heading since conversations in Johnny Manziel's time about pay for play. Until they all realize it's necessary, which they will, every party will continue to just try and wring the maximum dollars possible for themselves at every turn with no real rules or structure in place.

Just for fun, I'll add - back in 2015-18 I was literally discussing this with Condi, Larry Scott, Jay Feely, Greg Sankey, and others on a somewhat regular basis as a leader of the GSBs sports management enterprises. They all knew/know where it's going. It's just a matter of delaying it as long as the schools think they get more money on the way.

The difficulty is that the NCAA has just concluded a five year legal battle (in reality over 20 years in the making) in which they fought like hell to explicitly deny that the players “are paid to play the sport.” So I agree that your proposed pay-to-play professional contract structure could solve the issue of rampant player movement but we’re still a long long way away from that happening. In one recent example, Xavier Lucas signed two year NIL contracts with Wisconsin and a Badger NIL collective, then promptly asked to enter the portal. When Wisconsin refused to enter his name in the portal, he simply enrolled himself at Miami and joined the team, portal be damned. These were pre-House settlement contracts and I’ve not seen them, but it’s interesting that neither Wisconsin nor the collective sued Lucas for breach of contract. Instead, they both sued Miami for tampering last month. The other interesting thing that came from this is that the school and the NCAA tacitly acknowledged that the portal is just a matter of convenience, not a requirement. We’ll probably see real professional player contracts in our lifetimes, but that’s a long way away now and it will probably take many years of more litigation. Exactly what that will look like is hard to say but it’s possible the entire facade of the NCAA student athlete paradigm will have to be torn down for it to happen.

Thanks for this. We are so much further away from these people being pros than amateurs. I thought that wqs obvious, but I didnt consider the varying definitions people put on the same terms. If merely paying players was all that was necessary to be "professionals" for some of them, then I am really starting from a completely different place than they are. There really is no point in me discussing this sort of thing with someone starting where they are. We won't ever see eye to eye from those POVs

 

[Chadstroma]

The thing I found hilarious about Ohio St (in as much as I could find any humor in losing the Championship game) was their big thing is teaching their student body how to spell Ohio.

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

I'll celebrate when the first football is kicked off. Until then, rename this the "Notre Dame signed a guy" thread and wake me up, when the summer ends

Recruitment stuff was a bit more interesting when you thought the guys would at least stick around a couple of years.

Yeah, now it's not "who did I get?", it's "who can I keep?" It just seems pointless.

I can't wait until they professionalize the conferences into a league and have a clear salary cap with standard contracts.

People can pay whatever they want booster wise on top of that but contracts that are real and limit the ridiculous amount of transfer movement would be so nice.

There are some cool ways to do it too. Promotion relegation, multiple tiers of league. Ways that if a higher tier wants the player transfer is ok, but there's no breaking a contract to go from Ohio St to Alabama.

And if you and the school will only commit to two years, then after two years move wherever you want.

Hard habit to break for boosters though. Even if there is a formal rules and all that other crap, are boosters gonna stop greasing the palms of the dynamos?

"People can pay whatever they want booster wise on top of that, but contracts that are real and limit the ridiculous amount of transfer movement would be so nice."

So, the way it was before the transfer portal then. That worked well, especially for the athletes. Don't know why we think doing the same thing again is going to produce a different result.

I feel like you didn't read my post at all. I'm not gonna keep trying.

I read it. I don't share the belief that any of the rules you came/come up with will outweigh "follow the money" as history has taught us time and time again.

Yeah. I guess that's why all other professional sports leagues the players randomly move willy nilly. You're surely right.


/s

Sorry...thought we were talking about college football and its culture. You're talking about pro sports?

No. He is saying contracts for the kids would make it more orderly and less wild wild west in college. They are getting paid so they have to act like professionals now even if we still act like they are amatuer student athletes.

Or that is my take. He can correct me if I am misunderstanding.

This is why I think @Sparky Polastri just saw a buzz word and didn't read the post at all. His first response asks a question that one paragraph directly answers. Chad and Ramblin seem to have actually read the words before jumping down my throat.

This new question implies he didn't read the first paragraph. "I can't wait until they professionalize into a league..."

They already are professional. They get paid to play the sport. That's more or less the definition of professional athlete. Now the people running the leagues need to put some more rules in place and put guys under contracts. You can't unilaterally tell a person working for you when and where they can leave, but you sure as hell can in exchange for money (or other valuable consideration) to a reasonable extent (maybe not in CA), and especially moreso if there's a way to unionize it so there's a CBA.

This is fairly obviously the direction this has been heading since conversations in Johnny Manziel's time about pay for play. Until they all realize it's necessary, which they will, every party will continue to just try and wring the maximum dollars possible for themselves at every turn with no real rules or structure in place.

Just for fun, I'll add - back in 2015-18 I was literally discussing this with Condi, Larry Scott, Jay Feely, Greg Sankey, and others on a somewhat regular basis as a leader of the GSBs sports management enterprises. They all knew/know where it's going. It's just a matter of delaying it as long as the schools think they get more money on the way.

The difficulty is that the NCAA has just concluded a five year legal battle (in reality over 20 years in the making) in which they fought like hell to explicitly deny that the players “are paid to play the sport.” So I agree that your proposed pay-to-play professional contract structure could solve the issue of rampant player movement but we’re still a long long way away from that happening. In one recent example, Xavier Lucas signed two year NIL contracts with Wisconsin and a Badger NIL collective, then promptly asked to enter the portal. When Wisconsin refused to enter his name in the portal, he simply enrolled himself at Miami and joined the team, portal be damned. These were pre-House settlement contracts and I’ve not seen them, but it’s interesting that neither Wisconsin nor the collective sued Lucas for breach of contract. Instead, they both sued Miami for tampering last month. The other interesting thing that came from this is that the school and the NCAA tacitly acknowledged that the portal is just a matter of convenience, not a requirement. We’ll probably see real professional player contracts in our lifetimes, but that’s a long way away now and it will probably take many years of more litigation. Exactly what that will look like is hard to say but it’s possible the entire facade of the NCAA student athlete paradigm will have to be torn down for it to happen.

Thanks for this. We are so much further away from these people being pros than amateurs. I thought that wqs obvious, but I didnt consider the varying definitions people put on the same terms. If merely paying players was all that was necessary to be "professionals" for some of them, then I am really starting from a completely different place than they are. There really is no point in me discussing this sort of thing with someone starting where they are. We won't ever see eye to eye from those POVs

It's literally the definition of the word but we can discuss without you too.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

I'll celebrate when the first football is kicked off. Until then, rename this the "Notre Dame signed a guy" thread and wake me up, when the summer ends

Recruitment stuff was a bit more interesting when you thought the guys would at least stick around a couple of years.

Yeah, now it's not "who did I get?", it's "who can I keep?" It just seems pointless.

I can't wait until they professionalize the conferences into a league and have a clear salary cap with standard contracts.

People can pay whatever they want booster wise on top of that but contracts that are real and limit the ridiculous amount of transfer movement would be so nice.

There are some cool ways to do it too. Promotion relegation, multiple tiers of league. Ways that if a higher tier wants the player transfer is ok, but there's no breaking a contract to go from Ohio St to Alabama.

And if you and the school will only commit to two years, then after two years move wherever you want.

Hard habit to break for boosters though. Even if there is a formal rules and all that other crap, are boosters gonna stop greasing the palms of the dynamos?

"People can pay whatever they want booster wise on top of that, but contracts that are real and limit the ridiculous amount of transfer movement would be so nice."

So, the way it was before the transfer portal then. That worked well, especially for the athletes. Don't know why we think doing the same thing again is going to produce a different result.

I feel like you didn't read my post at all. I'm not gonna keep trying.

I read it. I don't share the belief that any of the rules you came/come up with will outweigh "follow the money" as history has taught us time and time again.

Yeah. I guess that's why all other professional sports leagues the players randomly move willy nilly. You're surely right.


/s

Sorry...thought we were talking about college football and its culture. You're talking about pro sports?

No. He is saying contracts for the kids would make it more orderly and less wild wild west in college. They are getting paid so they have to act like professionals now even if we still act like they are amatuer student athletes.

Or that is my take. He can correct me if I am misunderstanding.

This is why I think @Sparky Polastri just saw a buzz word and didn't read the post at all. His first response asks a question that one paragraph directly answers. Chad and Ramblin seem to have actually read the words before jumping down my throat.

This new question implies he didn't read the first paragraph. "I can't wait until they professionalize into a league..."

They already are professional. They get paid to play the sport. That's more or less the definition of professional athlete. Now the people running the leagues need to put some more rules in place and put guys under contracts. You can't unilaterally tell a person working for you when and where they can leave, but you sure as hell can in exchange for money (or other valuable consideration) to a reasonable extent (maybe not in CA), and especially moreso if there's a way to unionize it so there's a CBA.

This is fairly obviously the direction this has been heading since conversations in Johnny Manziel's time about pay for play. Until they all realize it's necessary, which they will, every party will continue to just try and wring the maximum dollars possible for themselves at every turn with no real rules or structure in place.

Just for fun, I'll add - back in 2015-18 I was literally discussing this with Condi, Larry Scott, Jay Feely, Greg Sankey, and others on a somewhat regular basis as a leader of the GSBs sports management enterprises. They all knew/know where it's going. It's just a matter of delaying it as long as the schools think they get more money on the way.

The difficulty is that the NCAA has just concluded a five year legal battle (in reality over 20 years in the making) in which they fought like hell to explicitly deny that the players “are paid to play the sport.” So I agree that your proposed pay-to-play professional contract structure could solve the issue of rampant player movement but we’re still a long long way away from that happening. In one recent example, Xavier Lucas signed two year NIL contracts with Wisconsin and a Badger NIL collective, then promptly asked to enter the portal. When Wisconsin refused to enter his name in the portal, he simply enrolled himself at Miami and joined the team, portal be damned. These were pre-House settlement contracts and I’ve not seen them, but it’s interesting that neither Wisconsin nor the collective sued Lucas for breach of contract. Instead, they both sued Miami for tampering last month. The other interesting thing that came from this is that the school and the NCAA tacitly acknowledged that the portal is just a matter of convenience, not a requirement. We’ll probably see real professional player contracts in our lifetimes, but that’s a long way away now and it will probably take many years of more litigation. Exactly what that will look like is hard to say but it’s possible the entire facade of the NCAA student athlete paradigm will have to be torn down for it to happen.

Thanks for this. We are so much further away from these people being pros than amateurs. I thought that wqs obvious, but I didnt consider the varying definitions people put on the same terms. If merely paying players was all that was necessary to be "professionals" for some of them, then I am really starting from a completely different place than they are. There really is no point in me discussing this sort of thing with someone starting where they are. We won't ever see eye to eye from those POVs

I think the point is the revenue sport athletes are obviously being paid to play their sports, rather than for their NIL, but for whatever reason the schools and NCAA still refuse to acknowledge them as employees. They still explicitly forbid pay-to-play contracts, despite everyone knowing that’s exactly what they are. I saw an excerpt from one (purportedly) last year that reduced the athlete’s pay in case of injury and missed games. If they can’t sign players to contracts to play football for the school, it’s hard to keep them from moving around. I expect the new contracts under the settlement will address that though.

 

[Sparky Polastri]

@CletiusMaximus my original comment was in response to the perceived problem of athletes being able to jump from place to place like everyone else in the industry. The claim was that part needed to be fixed.

All that claim is suggesting is taking the athletes back to the way it was prior to transfer portal and requiring of them something not required by any of the other people in the industry. Then all the weird replies came as if I had done something outlandish by pointing that out and then also pointing out that if the boosters didnt like the rules, theyd just go back to operating behind the scenes the way they did before when the "contract" was the scholarship.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

@CletiusMaximus my original comment was in response to the perceived problem of athletes being able to jump from place to place like everyone else in the industry. The claim was that part needed to be fixed.

All that claim is suggesting is taking the athletes back to the way it was prior to transfer portal and requiring of them something not required by any of the other people in the industry. Then all the weird replies came as if I had done something outlandish by pointing that out and then also pointing out that if the boosters didnt like the rules, theyd just go back to operating behind the scenes the way they did before when the "contract" was the scholarship.

I think some day people are going to look back at the past several decades of college sports and and be amazed we all just accepted this system where a school prohibits a kid from moving to a different school and if he dares make such a move he lost a year of eligibility and had to sit out an entire season. This was still happening just a few years ago. It’s honestly shameful for me. Now we’re seeing the predictable blowback when the leverage is somewhat shifted toward the players. HOWEVER, if the athletes are acknowledged as employees and allowed to sign professional contracts for a term of years for fair pay, that would obviously restrict player movement and I would say in a good way.

 

[Instinctive]

@CletiusMaximus my original comment was in response to the perceived problem of athletes being able to jump from place to place like everyone else in the industry. The claim was that part needed to be fixed.

All that claim is suggesting is taking the athletes back to the way it was prior to transfer portal and requiring of them something not required by any of the other people in the industry. Then all the weird replies came as if I had done something outlandish by pointing that out and then also pointing out that if the boosters didnt like the rules, theyd just go back to operating behind the scenes the way they did before when the "contract" was the scholarship.

I think some day people are going to look back at the past several decades of college sports and and be amazed we all just accepted this system where a school prohibits a kid from moving to a different school and if he dares make such a move he lost a year of eligibility and had to sit out an entire season. This was still happening just a few years ago. It’s honestly shameful for me. Now we’re seeing the predictable blowback when the leverage is somewhat shifted toward the players. HOWEVER, if the athletes are acknowledged as employees and allowed to sign professional contracts for a term of years for fair pay, that would obviously restrict player movement and I would say in a good way.

"not required by any of the other people in the industry"

I guess this can be true if you think college sports is specifically an industry. But if the industry is just sports, then college is actually the only place where you can just change teams willy nilly. Everyone else who does the same job is subject to tons of restrictions on movement.

The outlandish part, at least to me, would be better described as "willful misreading of the arguments" - for example somehow thinking the suggestion was to go back to just how it was before the transfer portal. Has anyone said that's the goal? No. Have others, including me, said that as part of fixing this system, which is clearly professional already (despite whether you like the literal definition of the word professional), they need some way to include restricted movement. It will be better for the sports - fans are able to follow the team with less confusion, teams can be built over time, you get storylines more about building and overcoming obstacles, etc.

How is this different than before? I haven't seen anyone suggest that players shouldn't BE PAID which is obviously different.

If they're not just students and we want to treat them like paid athletes...then let's go all the way and do it the way it works for all other major sports that pay athletes.

The booster comments make no sense to me either. Who cares if outside parties pay the athletes more or less over or under anyone's table. Outside parties pay all other professional athletes and it goes just fine. They even influence player movement (see, e.g., Nike)...WITHIN the rules of the leagues.

Perhaps most importantly, while I am phrasing this as what would be good to have happen, I would be more accurate to phrase it as what WILL happen. Cletius is right that schools will continue to take every other avenue to make the most money they can as long as possible, but it's going to end up looking like any other pro sports league. And everyone who works in it knows it.

 

[Sparky Polastri]

@CletiusMaximus my original comment was in response to the perceived problem of athletes being able to jump from place to place like everyone else in the industry. The claim was that part needed to be fixed.

All that claim is suggesting is taking the athletes back to the way it was prior to transfer portal and requiring of them something not required by any of the other people in the industry. Then all the weird replies came as if I had done something outlandish by pointing that out and then also pointing out that if the boosters didnt like the rules, theyd just go back to operating behind the scenes the way they did before when the "contract" was the scholarship.

I think some day people are going to look back at the past several decades of college sports and and be amazed we all just accepted this system where a school prohibits a kid from moving to a different school and if he dares make such a move he lost a year of eligibility and had to sit out an entire season. This was still happening just a few years ago. It’s honestly shameful for me. Now we’re seeing the predictable blowback when the leverage is somewhat shifted toward the players. HOWEVER, if the athletes are acknowledged as employees and allowed to sign professional contracts for a term of years for fair pay, that would obviously restrict player movement and I would say in a good way.

Couldn't agree more. Long way to go in a culture where the money doesn't want it to change. It's really fascinating to watch.

 

[Chadstroma]

Have we discussed how to properly pronounce Worcester yet?

 

[Peak]

Have we discussed how to properly pronounce Worcester yet?

Warsh-ur-sister

 

[Chadstroma]

ESPN moves Notre Dame's 2026 class up to No. 3 in its latest recruiting rankings​

The commitment of Lamar Brown, ESPN's No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2026, continued to shake up the website's Top-25 class rankings.

Just over the past week, three ESPN five-stars announced their decisions, including Brown, who gave LSU another in-state win as the Tigers held off Texas A&M to keep the local prospect at home. There are still four five-star prospects uncommitted, so more movement is on the way.

Notre Dame fans have no need to worry, however, as the Fighting Irish currently sit at No. 3, up a spot from the previous rankings on the site.

The Irish have 17 ESPN 300 commits, led by top offensive prospect tight end Ian Premer and top defensive prospect cornerback Khary Adams. Marcus Freeman and Co. added several ESPN 300 prospects in the spring and summer months, including key defensive additions such as EDGE Rodney Dunham, safety Ayden Pouncey (who could grow into an outside linebacker), linebacker Thomas Davis Jr. and Adams.

Offensively, offensive tackle Gregory Patrick joined an already loaded offensive line class that also features OT Tyler Merrill. This unit underscores just how well ND has recruited across the offensive line under this regime. Meanwhile, in addition to Premer, big-name offensive prospects include quarterback Noah Grubbs and wide receiver Devin Fitzgerald.

Whether a recruit is a legacy or not, this Notre Dame class is certainly shaping up to be special.

 

[Chadstroma]

𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: 2026 3 star S Nick Reddish (681 Natl. 57 Pos.) has 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐃 to the University of Notre Dame -

Reddish the 5’11” 185 lbs defender out of Charlotte, NC officially visited campus on June 13th. He chose the Fighting Irish over Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, and Indiana.

 

[Joe Schmo]

Throwing gas on the fire

President Trump working on executive order intending to 'preserve' college sports from 'threat'​

 

[kupcho1]

Throwing gas on the fire

President Trump working on executive order intending to 'preserve' college sports from 'threat'​

Well, that's an enigma.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Petitti letter: Michigan sign-stealing penalties have gone far enough

Despite charges of serious NCAA rule violations, commissioner indicates sanctions have run their course

www.espn.com

(I'm probably going to end up eating those hammers before it's over)

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

The American Athletic Conference is rebranding to the American Conference. I guess they lost their athletic? Is this April Fools Day?

 

[Sparky Polastri]

Petitti letter: Michigan sign-stealing penalties have gone far enough

Despite charges of serious NCAA rule violations, commissioner indicates sanctions have run their course

www.espn.com

(I'm probably going to end up eating those hammers before it's over)

What's most likely to happen is some sort of cosmetic penalty will come down and those who have been prophesizing the end of the program and sanctions/punishments that will take away titles, wins, scholarhsips and cause people to lose their jobs will dance around feeling vindicated saying that (insert cosmetic penalty here) was exactly what should have happened.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Petitti letter: Michigan sign-stealing penalties have gone far enough

Despite charges of serious NCAA rule violations, commissioner indicates sanctions have run their course

www.espn.com

(I'm probably going to end up eating those hammers before it's over)

What's most likely to happen is some sort of cosmetic penalty will come down and those who have been prophesizing the end of the program and sanctions/punishments that will take away titles, wins, scholarhsips and cause people to lose their jobs will dance around feeling vindicated saying that (insert cosmetic penalty here) was exactly what should have happened.

Yeah, we'll see. I really don't expect any kind of a hammer, but some additional slap could be incoming. Maybe Moore’s two games this season will be enough.

 

[Chadstroma]

Elite 2027 QB Teddy Jarrard commits to Notre Dame over Georgia and Michigan

Kennesaw (Ga.) North Cobb’s Teddy Jarrard announced his commitment to Notre Dame on Thursday afternoon via the Rivals YouTube channel.

www.on3.com

 

[WDIK2]

Elite 2027 QB Teddy Jarrard commits to Notre Dame over Georgia and Michigan

Kennesaw (Ga.) North Cobb’s Teddy Jarrard announced his commitment to Notre Dame on Thursday afternoon via the Rivals YouTube channel.

www.on3.com

Google AI tells me the Pope may be a Notre Dame fan. Going to be hard to compete with the Vatican's NIL cash.

 

[Chadstroma]

I am a hater so I need to ask more neutral fans... is this the most ridiculous answer to give? It makes it hard for me to respect Riley.

"Riley took a question about whether or not he wanted the rivalry to keep going and his answer was essentially, "if we can have easier schedules everywhere else, then yes, we'll play Notre Dame." the answer has been rightfully panned across the internet as yet again coming off as complaining about being in the Big Ten, while that was USC's choice."

 

[kupcho1]

I am a hater so I need to ask more neutral fans... is this the most ridiculous answer to give? It makes it hard for me to respect Riley.

"Riley took a question about whether or not he wanted the rivalry to keep going and his answer was essentially, "if we can have easier schedules everywhere else, then yes, we'll play Notre Dame." the answer has been rightfully panned across the internet as yet again coming off as complaining about being in the Big Ten, while that was USC's choice."

I take it as an insult to the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU) Pac-8 Pac10 Pac-12 and the "difficulty" of their conference schedule.

 

[bigbottom]

I am a hater so I need to ask more neutral fans... is this the most ridiculous answer to give? It makes it hard for me to respect Riley.

"Riley took a question about whether or not he wanted the rivalry to keep going and his answer was essentially, "if we can have easier schedules everywhere else, then yes, we'll play Notre Dame." the answer has been rightfully panned across the internet as yet again coming off as complaining about being in the Big Ten, while that was USC's choice."

There are tons of USC fans that are livid about USC’s approach to this rivalry. And this isn’t just Riley, it’s Jen Cohen and others in the administration. And yes, the issue is 100% about having a perennial playoff team as one of their non-conference games every year which may (but not necessarily) make a path to the playoffs more difficult.

But to be clear, this is what Riley said based on what I read. But you’re right about what is ultimately driving this.

“Do I want to play the game? Hell, yeah, I want to play the game,” Riley said. “It’s one of the reasons I came here. But also, my allegiance and my loyalty is not to Notre Dame and not to anyone else. I’m the head coach of USC. I’m going to back USC. And I’m going to do everything in my power to make USC as good as it can be. I’m not going to let anything stand in between that.”

 

[Peak]

I am a hater so I need to ask more neutral fans... is this the most ridiculous answer to give? It makes it hard for me to respect Riley.

"Riley took a question about whether or not he wanted the rivalry to keep going and his answer was essentially, "if we can have easier schedules everywhere else, then yes, we'll play Notre Dame." the answer has been rightfully panned across the internet as yet again coming off as complaining about being in the Big Ten, while that was USC's choice."

I take it as an insult to the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU) Pac-8 Pac10 Pac-12 and the "difficulty" of their conference schedule.

I took it more as a shot to the weak non-conference teams that the SEC schedule every year, which helps them get into the playoffs. Why should USC schedule that perennial playoff team in ND when it could just schedule teams like Charlotte, Austin Peay, and Eastern Illinois at the end of the year like the SEC does? When the W/L record means more now for Playoff contention, scheduling good teams like ND every year hurts more than it helps. Schedule the lower level teams like the SEC does and you can help bolster your own W/L record, but also those in the rest of the conference. Having the lower teams in the SEC beat these non-P4 teams helps boost their W/L record, which helps them get ranked higher and thus makes the top teams in the SEC look better. Meanwhile, the top teams in the SEC schedule the non-P4 teams to play right at the end of the season which becomes another de-facto bye week for them and also bumps up their W/L record. So if the SEC doesn't want to change how they schedule teams, everyone else will need to adapt to that same scheduling tactic in order to level the playing field.

It would be better if there was one governing body who was in charge of all scheduling in order to level the landscape. But that is too close to an NFL model, and the NCAA won't want that. Plus these non-P4 games raise $$ for those smaller schools to help them keep running, especially now in the revenue sharing and NIL era. These smaller schools will need the money they get from being beat up by the P4 conferences to pay players and keep the lights on in their facilities. It's a vicious cycle.

Maybe that's what Riley should have said, that he doesn't want to schedule ND any more because he wants to help fund and support the smaller non-P4 schools.

 

[Instinctive]

I am a hater so I need to ask more neutral fans... is this the most ridiculous answer to give? It makes it hard for me to respect Riley.

"Riley took a question about whether or not he wanted the rivalry to keep going and his answer was essentially, "if we can have easier schedules everywhere else, then yes, we'll play Notre Dame." the answer has been rightfully panned across the internet as yet again coming off as complaining about being in the Big Ten, while that was USC's choice."

There are tons of USC fans that are livid about USC’s approach to this rivalry. And this isn’t just Riley, it’s Jen Cohen and others in the administration. And yes, the issue is 100% about having a perennial playoff team as one of their non-conference games every year which may (but not necessarily) make a path to the playoffs more difficult.

But to be clear, this is what Riley said based on what I read. But you’re right about what is ultimately driving this.

“Do I want to play the game? Hell, yeah, I want to play the game,” Riley said. “It’s one of the reasons I came here. But also, my allegiance and my loyalty is not to Notre Dame and not to anyone else. I’m the head coach of USC. I’m going to back USC. And I’m going to do everything in my power to make USC as good as it can be. I’m not going to let anything stand in between that.”

Wait are we surprised that Lincoln Riley wants to duck more competition to try and do something easier?

 

[bigbottom]

I am a hater so I need to ask more neutral fans... is this the most ridiculous answer to give? It makes it hard for me to respect Riley.

"Riley took a question about whether or not he wanted the rivalry to keep going and his answer was essentially, "if we can have easier schedules everywhere else, then yes, we'll play Notre Dame." the answer has been rightfully panned across the internet as yet again coming off as complaining about being in the Big Ten, while that was USC's choice."

There are tons of USC fans that are livid about USC’s approach to this rivalry. And this isn’t just Riley, it’s Jen Cohen and others in the administration. And yes, the issue is 100% about having a perennial playoff team as one of their non-conference games every year which may (but not necessarily) make a path to the playoffs more difficult.

But to be clear, this is what Riley said based on what I read. But you’re right about what is ultimately driving this.

“Do I want to play the game? Hell, yeah, I want to play the game,” Riley said. “It’s one of the reasons I came here. But also, my allegiance and my loyalty is not to Notre Dame and not to anyone else. I’m the head coach of USC. I’m going to back USC. And I’m going to do everything in my power to make USC as good as it can be. I’m not going to let anything stand in between that.”

Wait are we surprised that Lincoln Riley wants to duck more competition to try and do something easier?

Well USC did probably have the toughest non-conference schedule last season, but yeah, he would definitely prefer to have an SEC setup (4 non-conference with 3 patsies typically).

 

[FreeBaGeL]

I am a hater so I need to ask more neutral fans... is this the most ridiculous answer to give? It makes it hard for me to respect Riley.

"Riley took a question about whether or not he wanted the rivalry to keep going and his answer was essentially, "if we can have easier schedules everywhere else, then yes, we'll play Notre Dame." the answer has been rightfully panned across the internet as yet again coming off as complaining about being in the Big Ten, while that was USC's choice."

I take it as an insult to the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU) Pac-8 Pac10 Pac-12 and the "difficulty" of their conference schedule.

I took it more as a shot to the weak non-conference teams that the SEC schedule every year, which helps them get into the playoffs. Why should USC schedule that perennial playoff team in ND when it could just schedule teams like Charlotte, Austin Peay, and Eastern Illinois at the end of the year like the SEC does? When the W/L record means more now for Playoff contention, scheduling good teams like ND every year hurts more than it helps. Schedule the lower level teams like the SEC does and you can help bolster your own W/L record, but also those in the rest of the conference. Having the lower teams in the SEC beat these non-P4 teams helps boost their W/L record, which helps them get ranked higher and thus makes the top teams in the SEC look better. Meanwhile, the top teams in the SEC schedule the non-P4 teams to play right at the end of the season which becomes another de-facto bye week for them and also bumps up their W/L record. So if the SEC doesn't want to change how they schedule teams, everyone else will need to adapt to that same scheduling tactic in order to level the playing field.

It would be better if there was one governing body who was in charge of all scheduling in order to level the landscape. But that is too close to an NFL model, and the NCAA won't want that. Plus these non-P4 games raise $$ for those smaller schools to help them keep running, especially now in the revenue sharing and NIL era. These smaller schools will need the money they get from being beat up by the P4 conferences to pay players and keep the lights on in their facilities. It's a vicious cycle.

Maybe that's what Riley should have said, that he doesn't want to schedule ND any more because he wants to help fund and support the smaller non-P4 schools.

Do what now?

The top SEC schools are constantly scheduling OOC games against teams like Oregon, Ohio State, Clemson, Texas/OU (before they were in the SEC), etc.

Florida plays an annual rivalry game with FSU, who was consistently a top 5 team going into that game for almost 15 years straight at one point.

USC has historically played a good OOC schedule but kicks off with games against Missouri State and Georgia Southern this year. They only have one OOC game scheduled against a D1 opponent.

 

[Instinctive]

I am a hater so I need to ask more neutral fans... is this the most ridiculous answer to give? It makes it hard for me to respect Riley.

"Riley took a question about whether or not he wanted the rivalry to keep going and his answer was essentially, "if we can have easier schedules everywhere else, then yes, we'll play Notre Dame." the answer has been rightfully panned across the internet as yet again coming off as complaining about being in the Big Ten, while that was USC's choice."

There are tons of USC fans that are livid about USC’s approach to this rivalry. And this isn’t just Riley, it’s Jen Cohen and others in the administration. And yes, the issue is 100% about having a perennial playoff team as one of their non-conference games every year which may (but not necessarily) make a path to the playoffs more difficult.

But to be clear, this is what Riley said based on what I read. But you’re right about what is ultimately driving this.

“Do I want to play the game? Hell, yeah, I want to play the game,” Riley said. “It’s one of the reasons I came here. But also, my allegiance and my loyalty is not to Notre Dame and not to anyone else. I’m the head coach of USC. I’m going to back USC. And I’m going to do everything in my power to make USC as good as it can be. I’m not going to let anything stand in between that.”

Wait are we surprised that Lincoln Riley wants to duck more competition to try and do something easier?

Well USC did probably have the toughest non-conference schedule last season, but yeah, he would definitely prefer to have an SEC setup (4 non-conference with 3 patsies typically).

Weird. Wonder if he could have been at a blue blood program and in the SEC if that were true...or if maybe he left for the easiest competition available (explicitly because he didn't want to go to the SEC) and has had poor teams every year since. And now is whining about how his schedule is too hard.

Idk. I've met the guy. I don't think he's a very good leader. I think he's a phenomenal offensive mind, but every successive year he's been a head coach I think he's even worse at it lol.

 

[bigbottom]

I am a hater so I need to ask more neutral fans... is this the most ridiculous answer to give? It makes it hard for me to respect Riley.

"Riley took a question about whether or not he wanted the rivalry to keep going and his answer was essentially, "if we can have easier schedules everywhere else, then yes, we'll play Notre Dame." the answer has been rightfully panned across the internet as yet again coming off as complaining about being in the Big Ten, while that was USC's choice."

I take it as an insult to the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU) Pac-8 Pac10 Pac-12 and the "difficulty" of their conference schedule.

I took it more as a shot to the weak non-conference teams that the SEC schedule every year, which helps them get into the playoffs. Why should USC schedule that perennial playoff team in ND when it could just schedule teams like Charlotte, Austin Peay, and Eastern Illinois at the end of the year like the SEC does? When the W/L record means more now for Playoff contention, scheduling good teams like ND every year hurts more than it helps. Schedule the lower level teams like the SEC does and you can help bolster your own W/L record, but also those in the rest of the conference. Having the lower teams in the SEC beat these non-P4 teams helps boost their W/L record, which helps them get ranked higher and thus makes the top teams in the SEC look better. Meanwhile, the top teams in the SEC schedule the non-P4 teams to play right at the end of the season which becomes another de-facto bye week for them and also bumps up their W/L record. So if the SEC doesn't want to change how they schedule teams, everyone else will need to adapt to that same scheduling tactic in order to level the playing field.

It would be better if there was one governing body who was in charge of all scheduling in order to level the landscape. But that is too close to an NFL model, and the NCAA won't want that. Plus these non-P4 games raise $$ for those smaller schools to help them keep running, especially now in the revenue sharing and NIL era. These smaller schools will need the money they get from being beat up by the P4 conferences to pay players and keep the lights on in their facilities. It's a vicious cycle.

Maybe that's what Riley should have said, that he doesn't want to schedule ND any more because he wants to help fund and support the smaller non-P4 schools.

Do what now?

The top SEC schools are constantly scheduling OOC games against teams like Oregon, Ohio State, Clemson, Texas/OU (before they were in the SEC), etc.

Florida plays an annual rivalry game with FSU, who was consitently a top 5 team going into that game for almost 15 years straight at one point.

USC has historically played a good OOC schedule but kicks off with games against Missouri State and Georgia Southern this year. They only have one OOC game scheduled against a D1 opponent.

I haven’t looked at all the schedules, but the SEC schools have 4 out of conference games and usually have 3 patsies with one tough opponent typically, right? Using last season as an example, USC had three out of conference games and played LSU and Notre Dame, with one patsy. I’m pretty sure that is a tougher out of conference schedule than any SEC school had. This year, it’s two patsies and Notre Dame.

 

[bigbottom]

I am a hater so I need to ask more neutral fans... is this the most ridiculous answer to give? It makes it hard for me to respect Riley.

"Riley took a question about whether or not he wanted the rivalry to keep going and his answer was essentially, "if we can have easier schedules everywhere else, then yes, we'll play Notre Dame." the answer has been rightfully panned across the internet as yet again coming off as complaining about being in the Big Ten, while that was USC's choice."

There are tons of USC fans that are livid about USC’s approach to this rivalry. And this isn’t just Riley, it’s Jen Cohen and others in the administration. And yes, the issue is 100% about having a perennial playoff team as one of their non-conference games every year which may (but not necessarily) make a path to the playoffs more difficult.

But to be clear, this is what Riley said based on what I read. But you’re right about what is ultimately driving this.

“Do I want to play the game? Hell, yeah, I want to play the game,” Riley said. “It’s one of the reasons I came here. But also, my allegiance and my loyalty is not to Notre Dame and not to anyone else. I’m the head coach of USC. I’m going to back USC. And I’m going to do everything in my power to make USC as good as it can be. I’m not going to let anything stand in between that.”

Wait are we surprised that Lincoln Riley wants to duck more competition to try and do something easier?

Well USC did probably have the toughest non-conference schedule last season, but yeah, he would definitely prefer to have an SEC setup (4 non-conference with 3 patsies typically).

Weird. Wonder if he could have been at a blue blood program and in the SEC if that were true...or if maybe he left for the easiest competition available (explicitly because he didn't want to go to the SEC) and has had poor teams every year since. And now is whining about how his schedule is too hard.

Idk. I've met the guy. I don't think he's a very good leader. I think he's a phenomenal offensive mind, but every successive year he's been a head coach I think he's even worse at it lol.

I think he left because he got a truckload of money.

 

[Instinctive]

I am a hater so I need to ask more neutral fans... is this the most ridiculous answer to give? It makes it hard for me to respect Riley.

"Riley took a question about whether or not he wanted the rivalry to keep going and his answer was essentially, "if we can have easier schedules everywhere else, then yes, we'll play Notre Dame." the answer has been rightfully panned across the internet as yet again coming off as complaining about being in the Big Ten, while that was USC's choice."

There are tons of USC fans that are livid about USC’s approach to this rivalry. And this isn’t just Riley, it’s Jen Cohen and others in the administration. And yes, the issue is 100% about having a perennial playoff team as one of their non-conference games every year which may (but not necessarily) make a path to the playoffs more difficult.

But to be clear, this is what Riley said based on what I read. But you’re right about what is ultimately driving this.

“Do I want to play the game? Hell, yeah, I want to play the game,” Riley said. “It’s one of the reasons I came here. But also, my allegiance and my loyalty is not to Notre Dame and not to anyone else. I’m the head coach of USC. I’m going to back USC. And I’m going to do everything in my power to make USC as good as it can be. I’m not going to let anything stand in between that.”

Wait are we surprised that Lincoln Riley wants to duck more competition to try and do something easier?

Well USC did probably have the toughest non-conference schedule last season, but yeah, he would definitely prefer to have an SEC setup (4 non-conference with 3 patsies typically).

Weird. Wonder if he could have been at a blue blood program and in the SEC if that were true...or if maybe he left for the easiest competition available (explicitly because he didn't want to go to the SEC) and has had poor teams every year since. And now is whining about how his schedule is too hard.

Idk. I've met the guy. I don't think he's a very good leader. I think he's a phenomenal offensive mind, but every successive year he's been a head coach I think he's even worse at it lol.

I think he left because he got a truckload of money.

I'd love to see some evidence of that. My recollection is that OU was willing to pay top of market.