2025 College Football Thread: FSU loses to Stanford in battle of academic powers (26 Viewers)

[Sparky Polastri]

Anyone been following the private equity battle in the B10? If so, can you explain why this is even a consideration given their position in the CFB landscape?

Maybe a technicality but the funding source would not be private equity but (under the current proposal) would come from the University of California pension fund, "UC Investments" (https://www.ucop.edu/investment-office/index.html). Technically a non-profit entity, but that might be a distinction without a difference. It appears USC and Michigan have come out in opposition to the proposal. USC could be because they're not in the elite group of OSU/Michigan/PSU who would receive a higher level of funds. I'm not sure why the Michigan board is opposed.

The basic structure is that a new entity would be created - Big Ten Enterprises - which would handle commercial revenue, sponsorships, media rights, etc. UC Investments would take an ownership interest in the B10 Enterprises entity together with the 18 member schools. These assets would be bundled together and used to support the investment, which would be distributed to the schools according to an allocation model that is probably the subject of significant dispute at the moment.

The reasons for this are exactly what you'd expect - athletic departments are under economic stress in the new world of college athletics. Although this has apparently been in the works for a year or more, there still seem to be lots of moving parts and uncertainty to it. I'm sure the other conferences are also exploring their options. I read that the SEC is working with Goldman Sachs on a similar concept and the Big 12 was looking into this years ago, but put it on pause due to opposition from the university presidents. I'd expect them to hit the unpause button soon based on this recent news. The American Conference (the tiny AAC, not the ACC) has already rolled out its version of Big Ten Enterprises - the American RISE Ventures entity.

This is the only thing that I can see. Is this only sports revenue or does it include that CIC deal they have on the educational side? The B10 schools are put together and guaranteed far more equality than the rest of the conferences. As a researcher who got to work with several of the schools, I'd kill to have that sort of structure and guarantee (at least as it was explained to me).

 

[Sparky Polastri]

Still think that Michigan is a four loss team

And here i was going to welcome you back.....

(Other than that, nice predictions )

Sorry GB. Just didn't/don't see them ready to run yet. And being honest, the defense is not as good as I thought. Either that or the DC just completely checked out for the games against OU and USC. By the way, what the hell is that avatar? Did you lose a bet or something?

If you want to get into the weeds on it, MGoBlog makes a pretty compelling case that Wink is TERRIBLE and needs to be fired immediately.

It seemed rather obvious to me that Minter was the straw stirring that drink and nothing in his NFL transition would suggest otherwise. In both those games the defense just looked like they forgot they had a game that day.

Is everyone forgetting the OSU game? No terrible DC does that.

This is all fourth hand, obviously. I'm only regurgitating what I have read/listened to on places like Mgoblog. So don't shoot the messenger.

But it's my understanding that mid-last season, the defense had a big Come to Jesus meeting with the coaching staff. And one of the things they stressed was the coaching staff was trying to do too much fancy stuff - when they are just college kids on a limited practice schedule. They aren't NFL players. Their capacity to process, understand, and execute a bunch of exotic defenses is WAY less than an NFL defense. And Wink is a loooooooong time NFL DC. So they asked him to scale it back. And he did. And the D was really good.

Well, presumably everyone thought that would carry over to this year. But it hasn't. Wink is back to running all these exotic defenses with a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds. Also - for example - all season long, when the opposing offense went to a 2 TE set, Wink has responded with a 5-2 look. Well, leading up to the USC game, the Mgoblog folks repeatedly said, "You CANNOT do that against USC. Their TEs are TEs in name only. They are effectively WRs who split out." Nonetheless, during the game, USC ran a bunch of 2 TE sets, MI runs a 5-2 and gets trashed.

So ... whether y'all believe all of that or not - I don't know. But the guys who have been analyzing M for a long time believe it strongly. I defer to them. But I get it if y'all don't wan to.

This makes sense. People are freakin' out over the success of Patricia (another prediction I am wrong on so far....thought he's flame out mostly because he would try to complicate things too much). All he's done is simplified the NFL concepts and runs pretty much the same defense Saban did.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

Anyone been following the private equity battle in the B10? If so, can you explain why this is even a consideration given their position in the CFB landscape?

Maybe a technicality but the funding source would not be private equity but (under the current proposal) would come from the University of California pension fund, "UC Investments" (https://www.ucop.edu/investment-office/index.html). Technically a non-profit entity, but that might be a distinction without a difference. It appears USC and Michigan have come out in opposition to the proposal. USC could be because they're not in the elite group of OSU/Michigan/PSU who would receive a higher level of funds. I'm not sure why the Michigan board is opposed.

The basic structure is that a new entity would be created - Big Ten Enterprises - which would handle commercial revenue, sponsorships, media rights, etc. UC Investments would take an ownership interest in the B10 Enterprises entity together with the 18 member schools. These assets would be bundled together and used to support the investment, which would be distributed to the schools according to an allocation model that is probably the subject of significant dispute at the moment.

The reasons for this are exactly what you'd expect - athletic departments are under economic stress in the new world of college athletics. Although this has apparently been in the works for a year or more, there still seem to be lots of moving parts and uncertainty to it. I'm sure the other conferences are also exploring their options. I read that the SEC is working with Goldman Sachs on a similar concept and the Big 12 was looking into this years ago, but put it on pause due to opposition from the university presidents. I'd expect them to hit the unpause button soon based on this recent news. The American Conference (the tiny AAC, not the ACC) has already rolled out its version of Big Ten Enterprises - the American RISE Ventures entity.

This is the only thing that I can see. Is this only sports revenue or does it include that CIC deal they have on the educational side? The B10 schools are put together and guaranteed far more equality than the rest of the conferences. As a researcher who got to work with several of the schools, I'd kill to have that sort of structure and guarantee (at least as it was explained to me).

I'm not sure I can answer this but my strong expectation is the revenue will only be used to fund athletic departments. But there might be tangential benefits on the educational side just because of the reduced burden on the institution as a whole to remain competitive athletically. There is currently a massive disparity in athletic department budgets within the Big Ten and while there will always be haves and have-nots, this may somewhat offset that.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

some more details in this statement UC Investments issued today: https://x.com/RossDellenger/status/1979269938692132915/photo/1

 

[Max Power]

Miami Defense did not come to play tonight.

 

[Osaurus]

Miami Defense did not come to play tonight.

Nor did their offense apparently

 

[Sparky Polastri]

Anyone been following the private equity battle in the B10? If so, can you explain why this is even a consideration given their position in the CFB landscape?

Maybe a technicality but the funding source would not be private equity but (under the current proposal) would come from the University of California pension fund, "UC Investments" (https://www.ucop.edu/investment-office/index.html). Technically a non-profit entity, but that might be a distinction without a difference. It appears USC and Michigan have come out in opposition to the proposal. USC could be because they're not in the elite group of OSU/Michigan/PSU who would receive a higher level of funds. I'm not sure why the Michigan board is opposed.

The basic structure is that a new entity would be created - Big Ten Enterprises - which would handle commercial revenue, sponsorships, media rights, etc. UC Investments would take an ownership interest in the B10 Enterprises entity together with the 18 member schools. These assets would be bundled together and used to support the investment, which would be distributed to the schools according to an allocation model that is probably the subject of significant dispute at the moment.

The reasons for this are exactly what you'd expect - athletic departments are under economic stress in the new world of college athletics. Although this has apparently been in the works for a year or more, there still seem to be lots of moving parts and uncertainty to it. I'm sure the other conferences are also exploring their options. I read that the SEC is working with Goldman Sachs on a similar concept and the Big 12 was looking into this years ago, but put it on pause due to opposition from the university presidents. I'd expect them to hit the unpause button soon based on this recent news. The American Conference (the tiny AAC, not the ACC) has already rolled out its version of Big Ten Enterprises - the American RISE Ventures entity.

This is the only thing that I can see. Is this only sports revenue or does it include that CIC deal they have on the educational side? The B10 schools are put together and guaranteed far more equality than the rest of the conferences. As a researcher who got to work with several of the schools, I'd kill to have that sort of structure and guarantee (at least as it was explained to me).

I'm not sure I can answer this but my strong expectation is the revenue will only be used to fund athletic departments. But there might be tangential benefits on the educational side just because of the reduced burden on the institution as a whole to remain competitive athletically. There is currently a massive disparity in athletic department budgets within the Big Ten and while there will always be haves and have-nots, this may somewhat offset that.

For this "group" to have any shot of "equalizing" the disparity, they'd have to have control over the booster funding coming in then, true? The schools already get an equal share (once established) of the TV/conference marketing rights.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

As much as I want to be hyped about my Canes and I do think this is one of the most balanced teams Miami has since maybe the late 80s-early 90s era
But I've watched Miami for a couple decades now just lose ACC games to inferior programs so i am not taking any games for granted right now

Louisville 4-1
Miami 5-0 -13.5 on an ESPN Friday Night Special

FSU lost one of these a couple weeks ago
It is at home and that's where Miami plays a lot of games this season
Miami has played just one road game this season and that was Doak Campbell vs FSU

Louisville and Stanford at home next two weeks, that's right the Miami Hurricanes play 6 of their first 7 in Miami
A road game vs SMU looks a little scary
They finish the season on the road...Va Tech and Pittsburgh, that last one vs Pitt on the road in late Nov is a little creepy as well

I see people jus putting the Canes in the Playoffs, long way to go right now and this team tends to drop games they should win
I understand this team is different than those we saw a couple years ago but Cristobal has not changed and he tends to sit on leads and get very conservative
I think Mario could actually cost Miami a game along the way if he doesn't learn to go for the kill , up 21-3, make it 35-3, don't give the other team hope in the 4th Q

Go Canes!

 

[irish eyes]

Carson Beck with a stellar game tonight, oof. 3 picks & one called back on penalty before the 3rd.

 

[Jayded]

Wow bad Beck is back. He looks awful in this game. For Miami fans I guess you want this out of his system at this point vs the end of the year.

 

[irish eyes]

Damn Malachi Toney is something else, a freshman.

 

[Jayded]

That was a heck of a catch by the Louisville defender.

 

[Capella]

How does Miami do this every year.

 

[mr. furley]

did Stephen Belichick eat Stephen Belichick?

 

[Dennis Castro]

did Stephen Belichick eat Stephen Belichick?

Unpack that for me. I’m dumb.

 

[mr. furley]

did Stephen Belichick eat Stephen Belichick?

Unpack that for me. I’m dumb.

he appears to be on reverse Ozempic

 

[Dennis Castro]

It seems like Ware and Shroff are pulling for Cal.

God, I love the transparency with the ACC reviews though. It sure would be interesting if the SEC or B16 offered that.

 

[Harry Frogfish]

Don't post much in here, mostly read for takes around the country, and the most surprising part of last week's tidbits, was the dearth of Washington / Maryland posts. That game was fantastic. It was seemingly over late in the 3rd, with the Terps up 20-0. Undefeated Maryland, an impelling early season story, vs Washington, with this dynamic QB, a beast of an RB in Coleman (who leads the nation in TDs with 11). And Denzel Boston (a 6'5", 209 WR for you FFers, and yes, David's son). 3 exceptional talents. And their other RB is also very good.

Maryland had the game in hand at home, with @ 15 minutes left, when Washington went on this crazy comeback to win. It was overshadowed by the UCLA/Penn St game, but this game was actually better.

Maryland had never been behind in a game all year. But in 15 minutes, on the back of Williams, Washington just blew by them, going on 5 straight scoring drives, while stuffing Maryland on D. Terps and their fans were in total shock.


BTW, more surprising is still nothing about Demond Williams, Jr. This kid is ridiculous. I've watched him all year and the only reason he's not being talked about, is where he plays.

So tonight what does Williams do? Down 10-0 after the 1st quarter, this happened, a 38 - 9 run.

WILLIAMS JR

PASSING
21/27
402
2 TD
0 INT

RUSHING
ATT 13
YDS 136
TD 2

538 yards of total offense by Williams. 4 TDs, no turnovers and over 10 YPC.

Williams Jr. is electric and so fun to watch. And he's not just a running QB. He throws a beautiful ball.

He takes too many hits, though. If he can learn to slide and go out of bounds and stay healthy, he's going to be a superstar.

Really looking forward to this.

Hate playing Michigan after last week and the 9AM start doesn't help either; they start slow anyway. Like, their season has been saved by 2nd halves multiple times. They're kind of built that way but hopefully not this week. Not a team or place they can afford to do so.

BTW, the Heisman favorite, Beck, **** the bed last night, with 4 INTs, in a loss at home no less. There are now only 2 guys less than 16-1, so this thing is wide open and Williams Jr can walk right in with a big day. Just win, and coupled with his season stats, he's in the conversation, finally. But if he has a day on top of it, oh boy. I mean, it's hard to see them winning without him having a solid day, we'll see, but I expect it from him now.

PLEASE happen.

 

[WDIK2]

https://x.com/SkersNews/status/1977459333706416303?t=fG_sguSF2yw5kYnkDWkltg&s=19

Current favorite for PSU opening: Matt Rhule

Not just for selfish reasons, but I just don't see it. Maybe if Rhule was tearing it up at Nebraska, but he is just over .500

Aren't they 5-1 and Rhule has them back in the top 25?

Had them in the top 25 for a week. I think the PSU fan base might riot if they hire a coach that starts 5-1 and finishes 6-6. And that 6th win isn't guaranteed.

 

[kupcho1]

did Stephen Belichick eat Stephen Belichick?

Unpack that for me. I’m dumb.

he appears to be on reverse Ozempic

Cakezempic?

 

[AAABatteries]

12. Georgia Tech - What sort of efforts are being made to retain Coach Key? Whatever they are, they should triple them.

Few thoughts here:

1. Today will be a tough game for Tech. We never seem to play well in Durham and Duke is a goodish team. Key has a great record against ranked opponents but not great against unranked. It’s probably good that he can play up the disrespect angle as we are underdogs today.
2. Key has done a great job and I love him but Tech isn’t the 12th best team in the country (yet). Deserved ranking as they’ve beaten everyone in front of us.
3. Key is an alum - I see almost no scenario that he leaves for another program. He’d like nothing better than make Tech relevant and knock UGA down a peg or two. But he doesn’t even have to compete for the playoffs - most Tech fans are content with a bowl game and beating UGA. A lot of them would trade a UGA win this year for 5 losses. That’s not me, but there’s a lot of them. Key’s also not a NFL, IMO, so not sure where he would go. Tech has some rich alumni so they could find somebody to pay him if he does well enough that him leaving is a concern.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

I enjoy BYU's hate for Urban.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Washington fans. Don't know a ton about your team, but looking forward to seeing some of these players I've been reading and hearing about.

At home after a tough loss I want to see some fire out of Michigan. Maybe slow down some of the aggression on D and over running the play. For god's sake can we see Underwood use his legs today? Haynes is a GTD and getting him back won't hurt, though i think Marshall is more than capable.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Damn, Link going down is tough and it doesn't look good. Already lost Andrew Babalola for the year. Tough break on the O line.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

That's a drive! Beautiful screen to cap it off.

 

[whoknew]

'Dores looking tough. Good game with LSU. #AnchorDown

 

[whoknew]

So weird. Michigan's kicker (Zvada) was maybe the best kicker in college football last year. And this year? F'in terrible.

 

[FairWarning]

'Dores looking tough. Good game with LSU. #AnchorDown

Would it be a surprise if Brian Kelly lands in Happy Valley?

 

[Osaurus]

'Dores looking tough. Good game with LSU. #AnchorDown

Would it be a surprise if Brian Kelly lands in Happy Valley?

It’s fine as long as he NEVER raps again

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

A healthy Klein would certainly help the Michigan O

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Huge!!

Eta. And Huger!!

 

[culdeus]

Refs in LSU game are atrocious

 

[FairWarning]

12. Georgia Tech - What sort of efforts are being made to retain Coach Key? Whatever they are, they should triple them.

Few thoughts here:

1. Today will be a tough game for Tech. We never seem to play well in Durham and Duke is a goodish team. Key has a great record against ranked opponents but not great against unranked. It’s probably good that he can play up the disrespect angle as we are underdogs today.
2. Key has done a great job and I love him but Tech isn’t the 12th best team in the country (yet). Deserved ranking as they’ve beaten everyone in front of us.
3. Key is an alum - I see almost no scenario that he leaves for another program. He’d like nothing better than make Tech relevant and knock UGA down a peg or two. But he doesn’t even have to compete for the playoffs - most Tech fans are content with a bowl game and beating UGA. A lot of them would trade a UGA win this year for 5 losses. That’s not me, but there’s a lot of them. Key’s also not a NFL, IMO, so not sure where he would go. Tech has some rich alumni so they could find somebody to pay him if he does well enough that him leaving is a concern.

Going to the 4Q, Duke should be 10-14, a lot of mistakes by them.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Let's go D!!

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

I hope Hausmann isn't as hurt as that looked. Big loss if he's out for an extended time.

 

[swabs]

Young Michigan team is so much better at home.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

This is how a defense makes you forget a bad week.

 

[whoknew]

HOW ABOUT THEM COMMODORES!?!? #bowleligible

 

[Harry Frogfish]

This is how a defense makes you forget a bad week.

Congrats.

Jedd Fisch philosophy backfires, it was a matter of time. They start so slow EVERY game. Time for him to realize as much and adapt. Cut the kid loose for crying out loud. Come out and let that kid fling it and run (how many designed runs today??) and try and take teams out. He thinks grinding teams down is the way with their big RB and solid backup but this isn’t the Pac 12. Hello, utilize your best player in the first half for ****’s sake, THEN run your big boy all you want. Christ.

Williams has bailed him out all year, not today.

 

[hagmania]

️

 

[hagmania]

Vandy may be in the program’s only playoff window - Pavia only has like 3 years of eligibility left.

 

[The Longtime Lurker]

Nice win and blowing the stink off last week. Back to playing Michigan football

Underwood continues to show growth. Nice to see a little touch instead of pure fastballs. I never doubted Marshall running the ball. The D came up big when they needed to and sometimes when things are going your way the ball falls into your lap.

A two loss Michigan team welcoming osu to the Big House sounds like a whole lotta fun.

 

[whoknew]

BRING ON SPARTY! #GoBlue

 

[Sparky Polastri]

Didn't realize there were other Vandy fans here.

 

[hagmania]

Didn't realize there were other Vandy fans here.

The first time I watched Vandy play LSU at home I was a freshman, the team was 5-0 with Cutler at the helm and it was an ESPN night game. A few visiting Tiger fans thought we were so cute to paint up and offered us gumbo while they patted our heads and later watched their team beat us by 28.

How do you like that gumbo now!

 

[Doug B]

'Dores looking tough. Good game with LSU. #AnchorDown

Would it be a surprise if Brian Kelly lands in Happy Valley?

Kelly will probably be available in a few months.

 

[AAABatteries]

12. Georgia Tech - What sort of efforts are being made to retain Coach Key? Whatever they are, they should triple them.

Few thoughts here:

1. Today will be a tough game for Tech. We never seem to play well in Durham and Duke is a goodish team. Key has a great record against ranked opponents but not great against unranked. It’s probably good that he can play up the disrespect angle as we are underdogs today.
2. Key has done a great job and I love him but Tech isn’t the 12th best team in the country (yet). Deserved ranking as they’ve beaten everyone in front of us.
3. Key is an alum - I see almost no scenario that he leaves for another program. He’d like nothing better than make Tech relevant and knock UGA down a peg or two. But he doesn’t even have to compete for the playoffs - most Tech fans are content with a bowl game and beating UGA. A lot of them would trade a UGA win this year for 5 losses. That’s not me, but there’s a lot of them. Key’s also not a NFL, IMO, so not sure where he would go. Tech has some rich alumni so they could find somebody to pay him if he does well enough that him leaving is a concern.

Going to the 4Q, Duke should be 10-14, a lot of mistakes by them.

Watched the 2nd half on delay but much better. Defense won the game despite all those yards given up. King is a stud. Really opens up for Tech with 3 very winnable games before at Pitt and UGA in the dome.

 

[belljr]

Didn't realize there were other Vandy fans here.

I'm more anti kelly

 

[Capella]

Vanderbilt and Indiana being really good is frying me.

 

[whoknew]

IU needs to wake up.