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re: For skeptics of the new NIL/Portal of College Football
Posted on 11/5/25 at 1:35 am to SidewalkTiger
Posted on 11/5/25 at 1:35 am to SidewalkTiger
quote:
It isn't the same conversation with A&M as it is with Mizzou and Ole Miss IMO.
That’s the best way to look at it. There’s multiple conversations to describe the impact.
1) top of the food chain (OSU, Georgia, Bama etc) has less depth. No more stacking 5 stars on top of each other and they wait their turn. No more teams with insurmountable talent
2) schools that were traditionally fringe powers have greater ability to get to elite status. Miami, A&M and Tennessee are good examples. These schools haven’t done much for awhile, but they have big money and NIL + portal + coach = these schools will rise to elite status
3) B1G and SEC teams that never had a chance before like Indiana and Ole Miss can ride the wave of a good coach and actually compete for a championship. Indiana won’t ever bring in top 10 classes of high school recruits, but they can spend big in the portal every year and build championship rosters. Will they do this forever? Probably not, but it’s nice that every major conference school has the option to temporarily compete with the big dogs while they have a good coach
4) non-B1G/SEC schools with big money have a chance to build programs that can compete for championships. Texas Tech, SMU, BYU and Virginia are all making massive investments. Tech being the real team to watch. Tech could have a top 5 2027 class according to the On3 guys
Overall, the portal is allowing every team to fill holes instantly that used to take 1-2 years to fix. The talent is spread more evenly than it used to be. So we’re getting close games like what we’ve seen in the SEC this year
The expanded playoff also plays a role. More teams than ever think they have a shot. For 100+ years there were realistically 6-8 teams that had a chance in any given year. Now there’s probably 30 or more. And this is why there’s so many coaches fired
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Posted on 11/5/25 at 2:10 am to 3down10
quote:
There isn't really anything to explain. Teams like this come up every year, and then their coaches get hired away and they fall back down.
You make an important point. The biggest question at the moment is what will happen with the coaches. Indiana keeping Cig is a big deal. Lashlee staying at SMU is another sign. Obviously the biggest one to watch is Kiffin. If he stays at Ole Miss it says a lot. If the hot coaches start staying at the non-traditional schools it will really upset the pecking order. Some of these schools with fired coaches might have to dig much deeper and hire unproven guys, which isn’t what fanbases want to hear
This post was edited on 11/5/25 at 2:13 am
Posted on 11/5/25 at 2:13 am to TrendingRight
The first step to fixing NIL is putting a cap on it and if a player gets money up front and leaves early he should have to pay back the percentage for the years remaining.
Posted on 11/5/25 at 5:04 am to 3down10
quote:
Even Hawaii was a top20 team, imagine that.
You’d think they could dominate with NIL…can you imagine going to school there AND having a 5 or 6 figure salary to fly your crew & family over whenever you want? Or go to Tokyo or Bangkok for Spring Break?
Posted on 11/5/25 at 6:21 am to TrendingRight
In the end the same old story with some teams swapping out the others. The SEC still with deepest conference, B10 2 to 3 top teams, ACC self-explode with 1 left maybe 2, B12 with 1 contending for a playoff spot.
All the NIL/Portal has done is eliminate everyone outside of the P4 from being competitive except for ND who has always gotten the mulligan. The rest of the teams are farm teams now and nothing more.
The overall landscape has eliminated over half the teams from playoffs and have only benefitted those in the P4 and nothing more.
All the NIL/Portal has done is eliminate everyone outside of the P4 from being competitive except for ND who has always gotten the mulligan. The rest of the teams are farm teams now and nothing more.
The overall landscape has eliminated over half the teams from playoffs and have only benefitted those in the P4 and nothing more.
Posted on 11/5/25 at 6:35 am to 3down10
quote:
Teams like this come up every year, and then their coaches get hired away and they fall back down.
Uh, that IS the Change. Not many people can use $$ to hire away a successful Texas Tech coach. Tech could out spend about anybody to retain such a coach.
Its this very area regarding NIL that HAS CHANGED the game. --The retention of talent or accumulation of the right talent in the right places.
Posted on 11/5/25 at 7:12 am to TrendingRight
quote:
I was, and remain in some ways, its harshest critic. So much so I stopped watching midseason last year and didn't watch my beloved Crimson Tides last 5 games, the playoffs or NCG. But this seasons surprise contenders has greatly surprised me forcing me to question my initial evaluation of the impacts of NIL and the portal - and 12 team playoff. What surprised me most is the 2025 parity - or competitive uprising if you like - of teams who have historically been also-rans and cellar dwellers: Indiana, Illinoise, Virginia, BYU, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Miami (and even an already a highly improved LK led Ole Miss) have used NIL & the Portal to instantly rebuild their rosters to become real competition for the Bluebloods, on both sides of the ball - shaking up the tried and true historic conventional college powers in ways I've never seen in my lifetime. NIL, the Portal, and 12 Team Playoff has lit a fire across the nation adding fans and interest from areas north and west that lost massive interest and fans of college football over the last decade.
As of now it appears NIL, the Portal, and 12 team Playoff have rejuvenated college football in places where it was declining and created an air of unpredictability and excitement that hasn't been around for a half century or more. I have to admit it appears to be a good thing despite its warts.
If they had a 12 team playoff before NIL, how would it have looked different than now. Still only about four to five teams that really have a shot to win three or four playoff games.
This post was edited on 11/5/25 at 7:13 am
Posted on 11/5/25 at 7:43 am to SidewalkTiger
Baylor
3. Clemson (they were an upstart back then)
5. TCU
6. Michigan State
Baylor was at peak art briles tho, Clemson was on the upswing having won its last three bowls against at the time elite programs(lsu, okie, Ohio st) and got nd bump(ranked high bc you beat or were about to play nd), tcu(Patterson) Mich st(dantonio) were undefeated with very respected coaches.
3. Clemson (they were an upstart back then)
5. TCU
6. Michigan State
Baylor was at peak art briles tho, Clemson was on the upswing having won its last three bowls against at the time elite programs(lsu, okie, Ohio st) and got nd bump(ranked high bc you beat or were about to play nd), tcu(Patterson) Mich st(dantonio) were undefeated with very respected coaches.
Posted on 11/5/25 at 10:07 am to Red_and_black
quote:
Uh, that IS the Change. Not many people can use $$ to hire away a successful Texas Tech coach. Tech could out spend about anybody to retain such a coach.
Its this very area regarding NIL that HAS CHANGED the game. --The retention of talent or accumulation of the right talent in the right places.
There has never been a restriction on how much schools could pay for the HC, their staff, their facilities or anything else other than paying players.
Texas Tech could have been paying money for top coaches all alone, but they don't.
Posted on 11/5/25 at 10:18 am to 3down10
quote:
There has never been a restriction on how much schools could pay for the HC, their staff, their facilities or anything else other than paying players. Texas Tech could have been paying money for top coaches all alone, but they don't.
But if you can’t pay players then why would you spend on anything else? It would be useless. You can have the nicest facilities and best coach and it doesn’t matter if you don’t have the Jimmies and Joes
Also, why would any great coach stay at a school where you can’t win? The money is the only way you can get both the coach and players to stay
Posted on 11/5/25 at 10:20 am to Raoul_Duke
quote:
But if you can’t pay players then why would you spend on anything else? It would be useless. You can have the nicest facilities and best coach and it doesn’t matter if you don’t have the Jimmies and Joes
Also, why would any great coach stay at a school where you can’t win? The money is the only way you can get both the coach and players to stay
Are you trying to claim the top programs just waste money on buying coaches like Nick Saban, having top facilities and so forth?
Do you understand the difference between value and cash?
How long have you been watching college football?
This post was edited on 11/5/25 at 10:21 am
Posted on 11/5/25 at 10:27 am to Red_and_black
quote:
Uh, that IS the Change. Not many people can use $$ to hire away a successful Texas Tech coach. Tech could out spend about anybody to retain such a coach.
Its this very area regarding NIL that HAS CHANGED the game. --The retention of talent or accumulation of the right talent in the right places.
So why hasn't Tech been spending until now?
Posted on 11/5/25 at 10:30 am to 3down10
quote:
Are you trying to claim the top programs just waste money on buying coaches like Nick Saban, having top facilities and so forth?
If Saban had the players on Texas Tech during his years at Bama he would have won 0 championships. Nothing compares to having the best players
For most of CFB history if you had the best facilities and the right name on your helmet, you could get all the best players in your region and the best coaches would leave lesser schools and stay at that destination program. There were 8-10 of these schools at any given point in time. This is not the formula anymore. The players value the $ and the coaches value the players. Brand power has been minimized
Posted on 11/5/25 at 10:31 am to SidewalkTiger
quote:
So why hasn't Tech been spending until now?
"technically" they couldn't.
Posted on 11/5/25 at 10:33 am to travelgamer
quote:
"technically" they couldn't.
They could've been paying coaches and investing in facilities.
Posted on 11/5/25 at 10:33 am to Raoul_Duke
quote:
If Saban had the players on Texas Tech during his years at Bama he would have won 0 championships. Nothing compares to having the best players
For most of CFB history if you had the best facilities and the right name on your helmet, you could get all the best players in your region and the best coaches would leave lesser schools and stay at that destination program. There were 8-10 of these schools at any given point in time. This is not the formula anymore. The players value the $ and the coaches value the players. Brand power has been minimized
Saban didn't have the players Texas Tech did because Alabama has way more to offer than Texas Tech does because Alabama spends money on having top coaching staffs, facilities and so forth.
It's called value.
If you think the logo is what draws in players, then you're just dumb.
Posted on 11/5/25 at 10:36 am to Raoul_Duke
quote:
For most of CFB history if you had the best facilities and the right name on your helmet, you could get all the best players in your region and the best coaches would leave lesser schools and stay at that destination program. There were 8-10 of these schools at any given point in time. This is not the formula anymore. The players value the $ and the coaches value the players. Brand power has been minimized
I don't think this is true at all. Go look at the 2025 class.
1. Texas
2. Georgia
3. Alabama
4. Ohio State
5. Oregon
6. Michigan
7. Florida
8. Auburn
9. A&M
10. LSU
Posted on 11/5/25 at 10:42 am to 3down10
quote:
I don't see this parity
I think the parity is pretty blatant. Clemson doesn’t use the portal, and now they are getting their arse whipped by teams like SMU and Syracuse who almost exclusively use the portal
TTU uses to have one of the worst defenses nationally on an annual basis, and now their defense is in some metrics ranked #1. One year turnaround from grabbing a ton of players in the portal
Indiana was worst in nation and are back to back playoff team, exclusively through portal use
Until the ranking services find a better way to evaluate rosters with transfers, I don’t think the talent composite is a very useful tool anymore. A 3* who has started 3 seasons and is now a senior, is probably a better player *today* than a 5* true freshman or sophomore 4* is
I’m not sure any school is going to have staying power if they rely on the portal. Will be interesting to follow Vandy and Indiana in that regard. FSU is a example of how it can go wrong fast
This post was edited on 11/5/25 at 10:43 am
Posted on 11/5/25 at 10:45 am to GeauxBurrow312
quote:
I think the parity is pretty blatant. Clemson doesn’t use the portal, and now they are getting their arse whipped by teams like SMU and Syracuse who almost exclusively use the portal
TTU uses to have one of the worst defenses nationally on an annual basis, and now their defense is in some metrics ranked #1. One year turnaround from grabbing a ton of players in the portal
Indiana was worst in nation and are back to back playoff team, exclusively through portal use
Until the ranking services find a better way to evaluate rosters with transfers, I don’t think the talent composite is a very useful tool anymore. A 3* who has started 3 seasons and is now a senior, is probably a better player *today* than a 5* true freshman or sophomore 4* is
I’m not sure any school is going to have staying power if they rely on the portal. Will be interesting to follow Vandy and Indiana in that regard. FSU is a example of how it can go wrong fast
You're just describing college football as I have been watching it for over 50 years now.
Posted on 11/5/25 at 10:49 am to 3down10
quote:
You're just describing college football as I have been watching it for over 50 years now.
Teams were not able to retool their roster in a single off season before
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