It seems fairly obvious that the family tried to shake down UNLV for another $100,000 after the hot start and the school figured they were bluffing. It’s not a good outcome for anyone.

I wouldn't come to conclusions just yet. The kid might have receipts.

I was always more of a Dan Andriano guy

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Yeah I don't know who is telling the truth on this one but obviously the kid got off to a hot start and will use his redshirt and probably transfer to a better program than he ever thought he'd get into.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I cannot imagine this is the college football anyone wants.

The football on the field is awesome, great games every week. They knew this coming down the tracks and chose to be ostriches. Now, to try and get it legislated is an uphill battle.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

The next logical step is that top players at all schools, and a large part of the rosters at the largest 45 programs or so aren’t even going to be enrolled students anymore. They’ll just be paid employees/independent contractors on the semi-pro team sponsored by State University X.

There are great games every week, but that’s no different than 1987. I do agree that as the money in college football exploded and the ADs and Conference Comm’rs made every effort to exploit the players at the expense of chasing every last dollar only would have resulted in player compensation either directly or through this barely disguised indirect payment from school supporters/the school itself.

Incorrect, in 1987 there may been 1 the first 3 weeks. Everyone played their non conference home games first and then you went into conference play.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

Most take online classes now that other students do the work for.

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I just saw that Stanford’s women’s volleyball team will travel 33,700 miles this season with realignment.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

In 1987 there were 8 games between top 20 teams the first 3 weeks, all non-conference including a 2 vs 3. This year it was 3 non-conference and 1 conference top 20 games and the best matchup was a 3 vs 10

1987 Top 20 matchups
Week 0
#17 Tennessee vs #16 Iowa

week 1
#10 Miami vs #20 Florida
#6 LSU vs #15 Texas A&M

Week 2
#19 Alabama vs #11 Penn State
#2 Nebraska vs #3 UCLA
#16 Notre Dame vs #9 Michigan

Week 3
#8 Clemson vs #18 Georgia
#9 Notre Dame vs #17 Michigan State


2024 top 20 matchups
Week 0
None

Week 1
#1 Georgia vs #14 Clemson
#7 Notre Dame vs #20 Texas A&M

Week 2
#3 Michigan vs #10 Texas

Week 3
#14 Kansas State vs #20 Arizona

I was looking up something similar. Just because the media says realignment is the reason we have all these great matchups doesn’t make it true. There are only 25 ranked teams every year, most of them are the same year in and year out. Unless the SEC wants to force all of its top teams to play annually, we aren’t going to have this 3x influx of amazing matchups.

USC is going to have plenty of games against Northwestern and Purdue and Wisconsin. They aren’t just going to be playing a schedule that has Oregon, Ohio St., Penn St., and Michigan every year.

Right, that’s my point. Why continue the facade? Student athletes have been removed from the traditional notion of a student at a rapid pace over the last 15 years. Why make some kid who is earning 250k a year to be the QB of Minnesota to not attend 12 credit hours of bullshit classes each semester.

What does anyone benefit from some 20 year old kid who is being paid to play for the semi-pro team branded by Minnesota to have him sign up for 4 classes he’s not going to take?

Well in 1987 it was only top 20, so there were some ranked games in 2024 that I didn't count, but there might have been some additional top 25 matchups in 1987 if they had 25 ranked teams.

Is that really a question? College sports is the only successful sports leagues in America that doesn't have the best players playing in it. Why would that continue long term if it turned into a U22 league?

Why should people who want to play college sports have to attend college? The question is also the answer.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Why should an employee/IC of Michigan State have to be a student to fulfill the duties of his job? Like does Michigan State make all of its janitors enroll in classes?

This isn’t college sports anymore (and maybe hasn’t been for a long time but the veneer is gone), these are semi-pro teams that are branded by colleges.

There is a specific reason that employee is linked to the University. They are there to facilitate the education of students. In your scenario, there is no value added by having the name Michigan State associated with that football team. Just call it the East Lansing 300s and the Ann Arbor Bobcats. It's the same thing.

It certainly is college sports. What is your definition of college sports if college kids playing sports against other college kids isn't college sports?

A better argument is to cancel all college sports since it doesn't fit in whatever old timey definition you want to use about students going to class and throwing a football for a scholarship.

However, the other flaw in your plan is that you would actually make it harder for 18 year olds with football and basketball skills but not enough skill to make millions in the NBA and NFL to actually get a value besides the money they would get in college. So, you'd have a bunch of 22 and 23 year olds who haven't gone to school in 4 years, maybe made $250k, and no other options.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Maybe the way to do scholarships is to defer the book-learnin' until after they're done generating revenue as football players. If the NFL isn't in the cards, then you can start doing actual coursework as a contingency plan (and it is a contingency plan. All these guys are bred to be professional athletes and that's the only goal; no one is joining the football team at even the University of Kansas because it seems like a fun way to stay active and meet people). But I don't know how the status quo serves anyone well except for "that's the way we've always done it."

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I’d argue the book learning doesn’t matter so much as the piece of paper that opens the door to a well paid career in ______ sales if/when going pro doesn’t work.

They need to have that before their usefulness runs out. Four years removed from football relevance isn’t going to make a guy who runs a money management firm very interested.

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This is in effect how it works anyways. Players that don't graduate often finish their degrees later.

But again doing nothing but football or basketball from 18 to 23 is going to make it hard to jump back in and get a college degree.

There are plenty of players at big schools that also learn and go on to do well. What's the point of getting rid of the requirement because some athletes want to work at a gas station if they don't make the pros?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

This idea that you can redshirt after the third game without a medical issue and keep your year of eligibility when you transfer, who the fuck thought that was a good idea? Stay at the same place, keep your eligibility for the next year. Transfer? Too bad.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

The same marketing and promotional benefits for a university are present regardless if the players are enrolled in class. Your idea that schools are looking out for the wellbeing of their college football players is so naïve it is adorable. Everything in the last 25 years of college football has been about extracting every dollar out of the enterprise that can be had at the expense of the players. More games, more travel, less rest between games, more out of season requirements, etc. The only difference in the last 3 years are that they players are going to get some of that money.

The irony is that you seem to have some old times definition of a student athlete. You seem to think the top 30 players on Ohio State are wearing letterman jackets and sitting next to Joe Fatso in Econ 201. I hate to break it but that hasn’t happened for a long time. I’m just accepting that the environment has changed and that the idea of some kid making 900k a year as the QB at Auburn needs to enroll in 12 hours of classes he won’t attend is nothing more that a facade. Let’s just be done with that facade.

You’ll still have plenty of kids that do attend school and are on the team. It’s just your top 30 guys that won’t enroll and will walk away with a few hundred thousand dollars in the bank at the age of 21. They can pay for their own education at that point and actually focus on class instead of position coach Ron telling them then need to major in general studies so academics doesn’t interfere with their job as a football player.

As long as Wisconsin sucks and bitches because things aren’t fair, I am great!!

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

My take is that the networks and leagues would vastly prefer developmental professional leagues but they know people simply will not tune in for that. The universities have the brands and legacies that you just cannot replicate, even the pros can’t quite match it. They are shaky ground with this stuff though, it takes a lot longer to build that legacy than it takes to lose it.

None of that explains what is BETTER about not having players be actual students.

The elite talent doesn't need school. They know as long as they stay healthy they get life changing money the first year they are eligible. Pretty much everyone else is going to need to do something besides football player or basketball player as a career.

No you won't. That's what you don't seem to get. You are incentivizing not going to class and therefore everyone who chooses to not be an enrolled student has a major advantage in actually playing. Also, this hybrid model doesn't really work. How are practices structured? Do they still block out times for practice so players who want to go to class can still go to class? Will coaches be hesitant to have any player who isn't 100% in because he wants to attend class?

You aren't giving any benefit to the idea of letting players not go to college and still play college football. There are many downsides(players who want to go to class will be treated worse, players will go 4-5 years with no academic progress and finish at the age of 23 and then have to basically be a college freshman, the illogical nature of rooting for a college team that has no connection to the college).

I get that this is just the continuation of the thought that players should just be thankful they get a place to sleep and a scholarship instead of being greedy in wanting $100k from a program making $100 million or more a year.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

It’s not about being better, it’s about recognizing what is.

You are missing the point. The top 30 players at Ohio State are not students RIGHT NOW. Sure they are enrolled in a few online classes but they are as much of a student in Columbus as you or I am. That’s the whole point, it’s a veneer of being a student. Let’s just be done with the kabuki theater. It doesn’t benefit the student or the academic endeavor, it’s just a facade.

We just have a simple disagreement. I see the trend over the last 30 years and see the logical extension that eventually players on the teams won’t be students to some extent. You seem to believe that over the last 30 years members of the Ohio State football team are becoming more immersed in the role of student. We can agree to disagree.

This seems to be acknowledging that there is no real benefit to your suggestion.

But college sports don't exist as just the top 30 players at OSU, though I'll point out that only about 6 OSU players get drafted a year, and some of them are late round picks that are unlikely to get the life changing money that renders any degree meaningless. Even with that, there are on average 20 or so players per class that won't ever play in the NFL and this is referring to the best case scenario. Now do the same with a school that has maybe one or two future NFL players on it.

It's not a disagreement. You just have a terrible idea for many reasons.

It hurts EVERYONE else besides those who are going to be long time NFL/NBA players making tens of millions of dollars and even those guys don't really get harmed by having to take a bunch of 100 level psych and history classes in the morning and going to football practice in the afternoon.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

It's might be good that there isn't much NIL regulation. It's an experiment. See how it plays out and let the pendulum swing wide. Easier and quicker fix when you have all the real life data than trying a pre-fix before you don't know what you don't know. Wild west this shit.

Brick, we aren’t talking about all 30 of those guys going pro. Many of those guys will make more than 1MM during their 4 year college career. With the NIL you don’t have to go pro to have college athletics by very lucrative. You will have fewer athletes opt out of class at say UTEP vs Ohio State because very few UTEP players will get significant money during college.

What benefit do you see to the Purdue starting WR who is making 400k no-show 12 hours of online classes. What is the benefit and who benefits from this facade?

Do you see the trend of elite student athletes being treated MORE or LESS like a regular student at Purdue? More or less? What is the trend.