Is Oklahoma A Top 10 Football Job Anymore?

quote:

---

Who knew that Notre Dame’s revival would be predicated on legally paying players and lowered academic standards behind a charismatic coach?

---

quote:

---

It’s not that Oklahoma dramatically lags NIL per se, it’s that putting payments above board eroded a real differentiating value proposition.

---

quote:

---

Who knew that Notre Dame’s revival would be predicated on legally paying players and lowered academic standards behind a charismatic coach? Not Brian Kelly. And he had a pretty good bird’s eye view in South Bend for a dozen years.

---

quote:

---

The structural changes in college football are creating level shifts. It’s interesting to see who that advantages and who it handicaps.

---

quote:

---

Last year’s bravura 7-6 performance by Nebraska was its first winning record in seven years. The Huskers have now lost 4+ games for 21 consecutive years. Tradition and past achievements don’t guarantee future success.

The Miami Hurricanes won 5 national titles between 1983 and 2001, appeared in several more of those games, and were the dominant team of their era. They’ve not exactly dominated the zeitgeist over the last two decades.

---

quote:

---

Does your school prioritize football? Game day environment, facilities, culture, administrative emphasis and so on. So-called t-shirt fans and national interest matter, despite whatever the Aggies tell you.

---

quote:

---

NIL

If that acronym had been in this essay a few years ago, it would have drawn quizzical looks. “You mean the Ed O’Bannon lawsuits?” What are you babbling about?”

Now even the casual fan understands its primacy.

There are a lot of ways to skin the NIL cat.

A single very rich dude who can use it as a marketing tool (Oregon).

The mass mobilization of the upper middle class (Auburn, Alabama, Penn State).

Rich dudes and the upper middle class (Texas, Texas A&M, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Florida).

Ignoring it, then freaking out (Clemson).

Embezzling from children’s hospitals (LSU).

Circumventing RICO statutes (Miami).

---

quote:

---

The relevant issue here is not total NIL but the erosion of a competitive advantage.

Paying players through various means was a differentiating tool for OU football. They weren’t alone in that and it’s not “the only reason they were good” – let’s keep the simpleton takes out of here – but if you don’t understand it as a historical part of OU football’s value prop, you’re deluded.

They’ve always been comfortable in the grey zone, and shrugged about that fact viewed against the larger hypocrisies of the sport.

This isn’t a moral judgement – NCAA bylaws can’t be found on Moses’ tablets – but it was a useful competitive advantage for a program that could also sell football first culture, winning teams, and a campus life built around its star athletes.

It’s not that Oklahoma dramatically lags NIL per se, it’s that putting payments above board eroded a real differentiating value proposition.

---

quote:

---

Clemson has had a better last 15 years but OU blows us away with history.

---

quote:

---

Yes, the majority of his "points" make no sense.

The structural shifts around NIL and the portal didn't make Oklahoma, Miami, and Nebraska feckless.

Miami and Nebraska have been struggling awhile now and Oklahoma dominated a weak conference.

Those same structural shifts haven't enabled Notre Dame to reach new heights, they're what they've been for awhile now. A good program that struggles to beat great to elite teams.

I would say that Notre Dame and Oklahoma have been in similar situations for awhile, they're both historical blue bloods that have been consistently good but not really great for over the last 15 years or so.

---

quote:

---

They’re one of the winningest programs in college football history

---