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College Football playoff picture is it clear/ Plus more NIL talk
5 Plays17 days ago
Don and Russ review the CFP picture and talk about what a B1G/SEC collaboration could mean and how the NIL could trickle down to non-revenue sports.
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Transcript
Introduction and Host Welcome
00:00:00
Speaker
This is the Fuel Sports Network. Ladies and gentlemen, I've got a couple questions for you. Do you love college sports as much as I do? Are you always wondering where you can find the latest NCAA reports? Well, you've come to the right place. Welcome, sports fans, to Fuel Sports Presents, the NCAA report with Don and Russ. You've got to get it done.
00:00:50
Speaker
Look at the air, look at the hang time, look at the flying motion. Look at his head above the rim.
00:01:19
Speaker
Ready to win the game!
00:01:55
Speaker
What the hell is going on out here?
00:02:15
Speaker
by confident young man, a superb athlete.
00:02:27
Speaker
We're caught on the field stands. Touchdown. The moment you've all been waiting for, here they are, your favorite host, Don Glenn.
00:02:45
Speaker
And Russ Robinson. Okay. Thank you, Devin Tynan. We appreciate the all you do for our introductions. This is the NCAA report presented by the Fuel Sports Network. FuelSportsNetwork dot.com. You can find podcasts and articles on much of your favorite interest in pro and college sports. Check it out. The Fuel Sports Network dot.com.
Weather Impact on Sports
00:03:14
Speaker
Well, it is another, uh, another, uh, two weeks have gone by and Russ and I are ready to, uh, to, uh, tackle some, uh, uh, burning questions. At least they we think they're burning questions. You may not think so, but, uh, but yeah as always my broadcast partner, Russ Robinson from Missouri, how are things down in a show me state, Russ?
00:03:38
Speaker
Well, they're cold right now down as we were talking early, so that's at least on my part of the show me state. I'm in the southeast extreme southeastern part, so it's just the it's cold. It seemed like we lost.
00:03:51
Speaker
We lost a lot of the fall and went right into winter almost. At least we're not having snow or ice. That's a nice thing, which I think north of us, I don't know if you're having snow or not up there, Don, are you? We've had a little bit of snow, just ah more more or less just a dusting the last couple days. um But you know it still it definitely was Like you said, I think we have maybe about a week of fall and then it just kind of bit flittered back and forth between, you know, going back to summer and little bits of winter. And now I think it just decided to go to winter and we're, yeah we're in it for, it we're in it for the long haul at this point. There you go.
00:04:29
Speaker
So,
NCAA Game Analysis
00:04:30
Speaker
well, there's, man, I'm going to tell you what, um, there were some going ons in the NCAA the last couple of weeks. Yeah. It has, it has changed around everything. Um, a couple of weeks ago.
00:04:49
Speaker
Um, we were talking about, let's see, there it is. That's what I want. Yeah. A couple of weeks. We were talking about the games that were coming up and, uh, you know, the Indiana Ohio state was the big one in the big 10 as to, you know, who was going to remain undefeated. Um, and we saw Ohio state can just, you know, they, they told Indiana, who's your daddy? ah Yeah.
00:05:14
Speaker
but no You know, but that's the way that one went. Um, yeah couple of there were a couple of shockers, uh, Florida taking down old miss, uh, we'll get into some of these games here in a minute. I'm just going to kind of go real quick and then we're going to get into them a little bit here. Um, and, uh, let's see, what was the other one? Uh, uh, you know, what help if I was on the right page and, and actually looked at, uh,
00:05:43
Speaker
what I'm supposed to look at, which is the top 25. I'm sitting there looking at Akron score. Oh, i don what the heck's going on here? Okay. So, uh, yeah. Uh, let's see here. We had, uh,
00:05:59
Speaker
so we already mentioned them and that, uh, BYU getting upset by Arizona state. I mean, i mean it's not, I wasn't, I don't think a huge upset to many people, but there was, that was an upset. Um, hands is taking down Colorado.
00:06:14
Speaker
Um, that, I mean, well, that, that put the hurt, that put the hurt to prime. I'm telling you there. Yeah. Um, then army or army losing to Notre Dame. Yeah. It's not necessarily upset, but the, but the, the, uh, spread of the score, I think to me was surprising.
00:06:35
Speaker
And that game, uh, and then the big upset was Oklahoma taking down Alabama, Alabama, not scoring a touchdown in the entire game.
00:06:47
Speaker
Right. Right. You know, that was a big one to me. And then Auburn taking down Texas A and&M, you know, again, it's an upset, but really we're talking about Texas A and&M and Auburn. So, so let's go back to the, well, we'll start with that Alabama, um Oklahoma game.
00:07:06
Speaker
um You know, I, I, I, I didn't get a chance to watch it, but I was kind of tracking it on the, on the, on the phone and whatnot. And, you know, I saw Oklahoma at a 10 to three lead at half and I'm like, okay, well, Alabama will take over here in the second half and just wear him down. And it never happened. No, this is, uh, this Alabama team is not a Nick Saban team anymore. It's a bit board team. And, you know, he's, I think there's probably a, uh,
00:07:38
Speaker
an adjustment in coaching styles that the team is team is trying to make. ah you know ah you know Alabama just hasn't been, as some some weeks they've looked great and some weeks they just haven't looked very good. And this Oklahoma team is one of the worst Oklahoma teams I've seen in decades. I mean, you know this is ah this is a team that just is not very good, that that hasn't been very good.
00:08:02
Speaker
So but they I suspect Alabama came in not expecting to being able to handle that they probably just in Oklahoma got up for it and just ah you know they pulled an upset but
College Football Playoff Predictions
00:08:14
Speaker
that's kind of been the That's been kind of a story across college football, especially in the SEC this year with upsets. I mean, teams that just didn't expect to lose lost and teams you didn't expect to win just one. So, I mean, that's just, it's just one of the, it's just part of this season. You know, by my but my my theory is, and I haven't seen Oregon play, but I don't think there's any great teams this year. Now Oregon may be.
00:08:40
Speaker
I haven't watched them this year, but just aren't any great teams. I think that's the story you take from but the 2024 season. So it's I think that when we get into the playoffs, it'll be a wide open, really. I really do.
00:08:56
Speaker
Yeah, and I kind of agree with you. I've seen Oregon a little bit. um they're Don't get me wrong, they're a good football team. um are Should they be undefeated? I don't really know.
00:09:12
Speaker
um I mean, if you look at the schedule they played, it wasn't the the toughest of schedules. Yes, they beat Ohio State, or as some people would say, they they lost are they won when Ohio State lost the game, um you know depending on how you wanna look at that last series of plays or whatever. um you know and you know And I've i've mentioned to you a couple different times, you know I've watched Georgia play, it's just like,
00:09:40
Speaker
they they they It's almost like a tiger playing with his food. You know, they they'll, they'll sit there and okay. And next thing you know, they're down 10 points, 14 points. And like I said, they need to find that next gear and kick it in and they win the ball game. Um, you know, it, so I think you're right. I don't think there's really going to be, once they get the playoff set up, I really don't think there's going to be a dominant team. That's just that you're going to point at and say, yeah, they're going all the way. Uh,
00:10:13
Speaker
broughtt thing I was listening to a program today on on college sports on on Sirius XM and um the guy was saying he thought right now that there were as many as four to five teams that are slated to be in the playoffs that could win the national championship. Yeah, I would agree with that. I don't think there's any one team that's just is so stacked that, you know, just almost, it's almost overcome to film. They've all got, they've all got weaknesses, faults, whatever you want to call it, um you know, and so there's so there's no team. Like I said, I haven't seen Oregon play. I've seen Georgia play. I've seen Penn State play. I've seen
00:11:05
Speaker
Notre Dame play and you know there's another you know I'm just not a team that you just think wow you you say here's some good teams and that and you know you could go up I think he's whoever you you listen to. I can't remember the guy's name. He's got a, he's on the, the five o'clock program on, or six o'clock program on, on Sirius XM on college, on the college sports network. I can't remember what his name was. Well, I think, I think he's right. And I think there's You know, when it depends on this, we'll see how the conference championship games. Face play out, but I think there's, you know, there's, he's probably right. There's probably maybe five or six teams that could make a run at it with good running. We could be surprised who could be the champion at the end. It could be.
00:11:51
Speaker
Count out the NCAA tournament. Yeah, basketball tournament. Oh yeah, we're very surprised who ends up in the finals. You know, so yeah, no doubt ah the the big upset or not. Why not again? Not upset, but the big game in the Big 10 was Ohio State, Indiana. um You know a lot of people. That I talked to and that were.
00:12:15
Speaker
Waiting for that game, if you will, you know, um, they were split both sides, uh, huge. Uh, you had a lot of people saying, you know, Indiana was going to prove themselves and. You know, you're going to, then there was others that said, no, how state's going to win this game, then go on to win the natty. Um, then, you know, I think there was so much back and forth that.
00:12:40
Speaker
the game only to me almost got overhyped, really. um i know I didn't think Indiana really could beat Ohio State. Was there a chance? Yes, if Ohio State played like they um you know, they did it did against Michigan against Michigan. Yeah. Well, yeah, we'll get to that game. We'll get to that game in a minute or two. But if they'd know if they'd have played again, like they did against Nebraska or, you know, a couple of these other teams that they just barely got by beat, you know, winning, then yeah, I think Indiana would have had a chance, but I think Ohio State went into that game ah knowing that if they won that
00:13:18
Speaker
They were playing in the big 10 championship against Oregon. That's just no other place about it. That's what was going to happen. And I think if nothing else, that, that spurred them on to say, okay, which I think also, uh, and we'll get to it here in men again, uh, you know, kind of led that are up there, let down the next week. Um,
00:13:39
Speaker
One of the the one game that I thought, like I said, I thought it would have not it was going to knock. Knock them out of contention, but I guess technically they're still in that bubble group is when Florida beat Ole Miss.
00:13:57
Speaker
Um, Florida, Florida, because that knocked the Ole Miss down to eight and three, uh, Florida would be unranked. Ole Miss was number nine. You know, they've dropped out of the top 12, but they're only, they're only sitting at like 14 or 13, something like that. I have to look at the news, the news standings here in a second. Um, but, uh, you know, and you and I have talked, um,
00:14:23
Speaker
I would have thought that these eight and thirties, nine and three teams would be, you know, on the outside looking in and most of them are with the exception. Again, we'll get to it here in a minute, but the exception of, of, uh, of, uh, Alabama. Um, but is there really anything, um, I have, oh, I, well, I.
Playoff Expansion Debate
00:14:51
Speaker
How, how, cause I've heard a lot of calls or a lot of people calling for already to be the playoffs, the, for the playoffs to be expanded to at least 16 teams. Yeah. And I don't quite get it other than the fact that, you know, okay, they did their team didn't make it in. So now we got to expand it again. Um, yeah.
00:15:13
Speaker
I mean, I don't know. Can, can we expand it too far? I mean, you start letting, like, cause right now you're getting, you know, um, like in the NCAA basketball, you're getting teams with, uh, you know, 12 and 13 losses coming in the NCAA basketball. turn Yeah. Are we going to start allowing three and four loss teams into the college football playoffs?
00:15:40
Speaker
Yeah, I think. I've heard that that 16 will teams will be coming, but it's always they always say when they expand something like this that there's teams that are just missed it that should be in it and stuff like that. So we need to incorporate them in. Could make sure we get those teams in, but then that just makes it another group of teams that just barely miss out. So you keep you keep growing and growing. You know 12 teams is.
00:16:07
Speaker
It's kind of the NFL style of way of doing it. And you're always going to have teams who feel like they've got left out that shouldn't have been. They shouldn't have been left out. You always got teams that got in the people that debate where they should get in. So it doesn't matter, you know, trying to get those teams in. I hope they don't, I'd like to see them do this for a few years where they start talking about expanding it. But certainly I know there's over, I forgot how many teams,
00:16:36
Speaker
there's well over 100 teams that are vision one football. Isn't that right? I'm guessing God. Yeah, pretty close. Yeah, pretty close. So, you know, if you expanded to 16, you probably wouldn't hurt you any, but yeah, I would have reservations about jumping too soon on this. Let's see how this 12-team thing works out.
00:17:00
Speaker
You know, it's it's and it's done have the balance the NFL has that's another problem. ah That's the way they schedule. is go to happen Yeah, it's not that it's not this as balanced as the NFL schedule, obviously, you know, some people are going to say, well, the the difference between the SEC and the ACC is just not day. And it's not fair maybe for a ah two-loss SEC. You can make a case of two-loss ACC team getting in over a three-loss Southeast Conference team. You can say the same thing about the Big 10 versus the Big 12 or something like that.
00:17:37
Speaker
I mean, you could you could you could because ah it's not a balanced league, it's not a balanced leagues not balance schedule. The NCAA doesn't make out the college schedules the conferences do. And then they make out all the non-conference and everybody schedules patsies for their non-conference schedules or ads too. So it's very hard to to compare to, and the NFL doesn't do that. They set the schedule for everybody. Some teams have an easier schedule than others, but for the most part, it's pretty balanced. So, and you then you don't need a committee to to decide who you're going to make the postseason, but in college football, it's so complicated. i You know, I guess you need a committee, but, you know. Well, I i think its the only the only way you could actually balance the schedules out yeah without, um
00:18:28
Speaker
The NCAA being the ultimate schedule maker. Uh, I think the only way you could do that is if you just say, okay, all FBS teams, uh, you cannot play an FCS opponent run story, but you know, there' was no, no more scheduling your Akron's and your, sent and and your, uh, um, Louisiana Monroe's or whoever, you know, that that are not, uh, are not a division, a true division one program.
Scheduling and Financial Complications
00:18:57
Speaker
I mean.
00:18:58
Speaker
you could get that, but then you're still, you know, you're still playing, I guess you're still playing your Akron's because they're a Mac, they're a Mac conference. So they're technically division one. Um, you know, you're still playing your, oh, your Miami of Ohio. They're a Mac team. You know, you still got Northern there. I'm at there. Uh, no, actually, no, they're um no nice. They're well, i've done they may be Ohio or Missouri Valley. They're an MVC team.
00:19:27
Speaker
Uh, but still, you know, like you said, without actually setting up like opponents across the board, you know, cause like you said, you've got a hundred, I think it's like, like 134 schools in division one. Yeah. And that's just an impossible to try and schedule people to put people together of like schedules.
00:19:46
Speaker
And, oh yeah and to have some kind of a saying, okay, if you're nine and two, you're nine and one or 10 and one or whatever, you get in ahead of this team. You know, I, like you said, I don't think it's that that's going to be a feasible, uh, work around, um, rod unless you just play, unless you just went to a ah complete, uh,
00:20:09
Speaker
expansion of everything, meaning you expand regular season play, you expand non-conference play, something like that to a lot. I don't know. I mean, there's a, there's a rabbit hole there. I don't think anybody wants to go down. Well, that's right.
00:20:29
Speaker
And another complication gets into is money. no A lot of these FCS schools, you know, they did they rely on getting scheduled by, let's say, in Illinois. ah Let's say someone like ah I don't know, let me just bring up one. ah Southeast Missouri State, my alma mater, you know, FCS. go They're going to play someone every year like an Illinois, a Missouri, maybe a Kansas state or something. And they bring home a nice check from going to that school and taking a beating. and
00:21:04
Speaker
And that helps finance their whole athletic part department by doing that. It happens in basketball too. right And so you know so in they're NCAA schools and they need money. So that's what makes it complicated when you start saying ban FCS schools on your schedule. you know they they They would kick up. They would say, you know we don't make it. We draw 10,000 at a game.
00:21:29
Speaker
We need that check from, uh, from Kansas state that hybrid big $250,000 check help fund our athletic department. So it gets really kind of, as you said, Don really gets complicated and you get down a rabbit hole. So, uh, so there's probably not an answer to this in the, in the foreseeable future, you know? Yeah, no, no doubt. So, well, let's move up to last week then and, uh, I'll get those skill scores here real quick. Um,
00:21:58
Speaker
Well, as we talked about, you know, Ohio state went in riding high, knowing that they're in the big 10 championship game and, and completely lay it, laid an egg at home against Michigan. Um, and not now, not to say Michigan was playing great football. I mean, they, they only had, uh, I don't know how many, uh, what was the, what was the stats on the game here real quick? See what it was here. Um,
00:22:25
Speaker
I think both teams had less than 200 yards total offense. Oh, just over 200. Michigan had 234 yards of total offense and Ohio State at 252 yards of total offense. Yeah. There was not a lot of anything going on in that game. right Um, you know, but Michigan was able to come up with the win. Uh, and we'll talk about something else here in a little bit too, but, uh, then you had, uh, South Carolina take down Clemson, knock them basically out of the top 12. Um, And.
00:23:01
Speaker
As was expected, the Alabama rebounded in the, ah in the iron bowl. Uh, one, it was kind of a shocker to a lot of people was, and I, and that's, I've heard some people saying it shouldn't have been a shocker was Syracuse taking down Miami. That. Yeah.
00:23:21
Speaker
That was a shot on people. Yeah, you know, search used to have a bad football team. They had the Ohio former though House State quarterback. ah Last year they took Ohio State, you know, with one loss into the into the Cotton Bowl and he transferred out. But you know, so they they probably have a good team. I just don't know how good Miami is and I know Miami look like they were heading for the. The college football playoff and that should certainly shot a.
00:23:51
Speaker
you know, damage their ten chances. yeah I think it's is an SMU and who in the championship game. It's SMU and Clemson will be playing the championship even the in the ACC. OK, OK, so that took Miami out and that could that could yeah that could actually take my I've seen a lot of projections with Miami is still in ah because Clemson is not in the. um in the, in the top 12 it's, you know, but like you said, if let's say Clemson wins the SEC or the ACC championship game, SMU is pretty much already projected in. Right. And what does that do to to Miami? Does it, does that in effect knock them out because nobody wants three teams in the ACC? Well, it could be, you know, you look at, they've got to take the one, the best team from the,
00:24:47
Speaker
uh from the group of five and right now boys you state I guess it's the highest rank on that and they're playing UNLV for the uh Mountain West Championship. And if UNLV wins that, they you know there'll be a case for them to to be to move up into it. ah So yeah, there'd be a lot of things. When you're setting at 12, I imagine, Don, this is the first year we we've gone through this. You're setting at 12, you're exposed. yeah yeah You're exposed.
00:25:18
Speaker
So, uh, so Miami, you know, if someone, the wrong team loses or the wrong team wins, they could get knocked out, you know, so, yeah, well, uh, current, okay. The, the current, uh, playoff rankings are going this way. Oregon is number one, Texas is two Penn state's three Notre Dame is four.
00:25:37
Speaker
Georgia five, Ohio state six, Tennessee seven, SMU is eight, Indiana's nine, Boise state is 10, Alabama's 11 and Miami is 12. Now, the one thing you don't see in all that is a big 12 team. They are down, the closest big 12 team is Arizona state at 15 and right behind them is Iowa state at 16.
00:26:05
Speaker
And that's the two we're playing in the championship game. Yeah. And they'll be playing the championship game. So one of those two teams will be in the top 12. And like I said, with Miami sitting at number 12, you know, they're on the hot seat. Um, yeah. And I guess that I don't, I mean, if SMU loses that game to Clemson, does it knock SMU out and keep Miami in? Mm
Rankings and Upcoming Championships
00:26:29
Speaker
-hmm.
00:26:29
Speaker
or does it, or does, um, you know, I, I, there's this so much of this that's so, so strange and so weird in that, like I said, we were talking earlier off before the program started, Georgia loses to Texas in the sec championship. Now they're, uh, 10 and three. So now you have for projectively two, three lost teams in the college football playoff. Um, right.
00:26:59
Speaker
You know, uh, and you're, and you're going to, you're going to ignore a BYU who's a 11 and one or 10 and two, 10 and 10, 10 and two. Yeah. Um, I think Iowa state's only got a couple losses. So, you know, I guess it's like, like you said before, it comes down to there's no set, um,
00:27:23
Speaker
uh, program on how to schedule things and what the schedules look like. And you just have to go with what the, what they've come up with. So it's going to be interesting. Uh, the, the conference championships, they're going to make a difference on this, of course. Well, one, a couple of them really won't make a big difference. Like I said, Oregon plays Ohio state. That's just gonna, um, or excuse me, plays a Penn state.
00:27:47
Speaker
because Ohio State got knocked out with that loss to Michigan. So it's Penn State and Oregon in the Big Ten Championship. ah It's Texas and Georgia in the SEC Championship.
00:28:00
Speaker
ah Let's see, ACC, SMU and Clemson, as we said. Big 12 is Arizona State, Iowa State, and the Mountain West, which is currently the team that's got yeah like you said, the leader of the group of five, um Boise State, they play UNLV for that championship.
00:28:23
Speaker
Um, you know, it, it's, and then then two new at the tail end of the rankings where army and Memphis got in this week, uh, the tail end of the top five. Um, but like you said, there's a lot of things there that could, uh, the Arizona, Iowa state game in the big 12, like I said, that's probably going to likely decide the only representative from the big 12 in the, clock play yeah in the, in the playoffs. Um, that's right.
00:28:54
Speaker
and around <unk> sorry go ahead Well, I know I agree with you. I think I don't see more than one big 12 team getting in. I mean, you know. oh I'm just glancing to it. This is these games this weekend. I think we pretty well safely say Penn State and Oregon or in Georgia and Texas are both in regardless, so. ah So then we go Iowa State and Arizona State. One of those teams are not.
00:29:22
Speaker
probably only one of those teams going to get in and claims the SMU. It'd be interesting to see, claim some wins, what happens to the SMU. So, right you know, but yeah I think we, of those teams we see right now that there's, there's four that regardless of what happens, we'll get in. You know, the rest of them we're not so sure about. I think SMU, even if they lose are still in, but they'll be down near the bottom.
00:29:49
Speaker
I mean, you know, but, but then again, then you bring Clemson in and if they win, so that means Clemson's now is probably has to come in. I would say they, they'd come in as the, um,
00:30:04
Speaker
well, let's see. Well, yeah, I, yeah, it depends on where they get ranked. Cause if they end up getting ranked ahead of Boise state, then they get the, um, the four, one of the four buy seeds. Um,
00:30:20
Speaker
but that's going to be interesting. You can see Boise State or whoever the mountain went well Boise State could end up with a buy in this if they win their championship. yeah because and i And I have been wrong in how i've I've stated all this and i'll make back I want to make that correction now. I've been saying along it's the four uh, conference or the four power four teams that they get the buy. No, it is the top four conference champions. And they buy and so, yeah so you could see, like I said, you could see a, uh, the big 12 champion, not getting the buy and being the, whatever seed they end up being getting in as, whether it be the 12 C, which right now would be the 12 seat.
00:31:08
Speaker
Uh-huh. Right. Because they're not ranked and neither team is ranked. That's it's playing for that. So that's going to be something to be to watch. ah You mentioned schedule. So we got that. We got the Georgia, Texas. Now the yeah Boise State UNLV game is Friday night, as is the Tulane Army game, which will which will decide that conference's championship. Which, again, makes it interesting only the to the extent of you know there is going if Army does win, then there's going to be the whole call of, hey, you know here's an 11-1 team you guys left out. Why don't we expand to 16? I mean, you know that's that's what's going to and shape up from that, I got this feeling.
00:31:51
Speaker
Um, yeah. And then like I said, the big, the the big three games on Saturday, uh, or yeah, big four games on Saturday, which would be Iowa state, Arizona state. That's at noon. I've got these set up pretty nice, except for the, the two evening games, Iowa state, Arizona states at noon, Georgia, Texas is a four.
00:32:13
Speaker
Clemson and SMU are at eight and all of those games are on ABC and then Penn State, Oregon's on CBS at eight o'clock. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. you know And those are the ones everybody's going to be like, those are the only going to be the only games in town. So, and like you said, we'll have our playoff answers, um you know,
00:32:34
Speaker
Basically Saturday night, we'll know all, we'll know, we'll know who won. Now the question is where the committee is going to put them. Like I said, if if Texas, you if it goes chalk and Oregon, Texas, SMU and Arizona state, when the only outlier or the only thing that's going to be and and Boise state, the only thing that's going to happen is there's going to Arizona state's going to take over the position that Miami holds. They're going to be number 12. Um, that'll be what that, what happens with that.
00:33:02
Speaker
um And then you'll see um Oregon, Texas, ah SMU, and Boise as your top four seeds. And then everybody else just falls in behind. So that's going to be fun to watch, I think. I really do think it's going to be fun to see how all that shakes out. Yeah. Because you got Notre Dame in there as well, being the only independent in the whole bunch. um So it's going to be fun to watch that come come to fruition there.
Transfer Portals' Impact
00:33:33
Speaker
All right, well, um
00:36:18
Speaker
We, we talked last week about talking about a couple of teams that had just been kind of gone opposite directions from where they were a year ago. Um, which was Florida state and Indiana. And I think they both have a similar situation in that they both lost a ton of players that are transfer portal last year.
00:36:46
Speaker
I'll start fruit with Indiana. They lost 38 players that are transfer portal last year. They brought in 31. Now the interesting part is 20 of these players that they brought in were from group of five schools. They weren't power four, power five schools. And 13 came from James Madison, which is where the coach, Syngenetti was at the year before, last year before he came to the Indiana this year. ah vote And in 23, the Hoosiers were three and nine.
00:37:23
Speaker
they only The only wins they had were Indiana State, Akron, and somehow they beat Wisconsin. Of course, when you start to get and start the year that season, their first game out of the gate to open the season was against Ohio State. Who who in hell scheduled that? It needs to be shocked, is what I got to say.
00:37:42
Speaker
I know. Yeah, but you know they also lost to Louisville. They had Louisville, Michigan worked in Penn State. So they had four tough games to start with or in on their schedule to begin with. um Now this year they're 11 and one only lost to Ohio State and it's because a lot of these players that Cincinnati brought with him. They're the ones that are. um You know, um I say leading the team, if you will, um in tackles or in certain categories.
00:38:19
Speaker
um they ah Brian Soresby, the quarterback came from Cincinnati, one of their better running backs. Jalen Lucas came from Florida State. um They picked up a cornerback from Memphis, one of their top defensive.
00:38:37
Speaker
um Lineman or I think a linebacker Zach carpenters from Miami. So, you know, all these guys that are that are performing for him or from other other university that came in through that transfer report. I mean, he lost a bunch of they lost a bunch of starters. And some I think they lost it was a total of 35 scholarship players and three walk ons.
00:39:01
Speaker
that were counted on to, uh, to come into the situation, so to speak. So, you know, that that's, that's a, that's tough and they've made it work. Now you look at Florida state, they had 19 guys jumped ship before their bowl game last year. Right. right And I don't know what happened there. What you can you tell me about Florida state?
00:39:29
Speaker
Well, I think, you know, the best I could tell, I've kept but looking for like reasons in the transfer report or failures in the transfer report or recruiting failures. You know, it's really amazing. Norah Val went from was it 13 and 12 and one last year to 13 and one last year to one and two and 10. It just seems like they had, they got off to a bad start. They lost to Georgia Tech. And then they just seemed like it it compelled there. If you read a lot of the accounts of the games, Norvell, you know, shots that in specific games that they dropped passes at the wrong time, had a fumble at the wrong time. And I think, Don, this is just one of the stories of a team, a talented team, that got on a downward slope and then it reached a certain point where they just started like ah like a snowball. It just gathered and they just could stop it, you know. And they started, and you know, they they
00:40:30
Speaker
but Take for instance, you know they they barely lost to Georgia Tech, which is a team that you would thought they would have beaten, but that was a better team than they thought. Turned out to be then they just started going down. Then they just start getting blown out, so I really think it's just a matter of it's not the lack of talent. It's just that the the coaches lost the team. I think just basically is it and we know now that Norvell has brought in a new offensive coordinator. He's brought in Gus Malzahn, who was it the head coach of Central Florida. And Gus Malzahn is an offensive specialist. And so I think he's doing all he can to to try to turn this thing around. It's kind of amazing. It's an amazing story, and it's hard to put your finger on one thing is just what it is. It's just one thing at all. Right. well Now, as far as as far as what's going to happen down the road with these two teams,
00:41:29
Speaker
You know, bringing in that many transfer players as a Syngenetti has done over in in Indiana, a number them of course are seniors or fifth year seniors.
Sustainability of Transfer Strategies
00:41:41
Speaker
So, you know, Is that a situation where he it's going to have to be the transfer portal that sustains ah Indiana until he can start getting some some of his his own type of recruits in there. He's going to have to do a lot of Uh, whole filling using the portal for key positions instead of trying to, instead of being able to develop what he's got. Is that a sustainable model? but Well, I think it may be the new sustainable model. Uh, you know, you bring in, uh,
00:42:17
Speaker
you bring in a good recruiting class, you don't know if you're going to get to keep those guys, you know, ah they could take off on yeah ah so you. So you have to be effective in the portal. So I think it's from here on out, I think the successful coaches will be successful at bringing in decent recruiting classes, but they also need to be successful at hitting the transfer portal, bringing lure in players away basically from other schools. And so I would say that,
00:42:46
Speaker
These younger coaches, um the Indiana coach, yeah they're probably more adapted to this making this change, ah trying to lure up you know with the transfer portal and and the NILs, which is something that always comes back to ah having a strong NIL program at your school. I think that's just going to be the new Uh, the new norm, I guess is, is what I'm, I'm trying to say and, uh, recruiting will be important, but maybe it's, it's just one of three legs now that you have to be good at. And, uh, coach has to be good at, uh, you know, he's, he's definitely, you always heard that college head football coaches were going to be, had to be CEOs. Well, they're really CEOs now because they got their balance in so many things. They're going to be turning to coaching.
00:43:37
Speaker
the day-to-day coaching more over their staff. you know right You're not going to see a Steve Spurrier anymore who who spends a lot of time with his offensive practice anymore. These guys, the successful guys aren't going to be doing that. They're going to be.
00:43:50
Speaker
They're going to be running other aspects of the program, worrying about that. So you better have two good coordinators. And that's why Norvelles went out and recruited Gus Malzahn to be his new offensive coordinator. And you know it's it's ah it's it's just about and I think your coach at Indiana, that's what he's going to.
00:44:12
Speaker
I think that's what he'll see. That's what he'll try to adapt to. And so he'll be hitting the transport portal pretty hard. I'm pretty sure so. Yeah. Well, we're going to take a quick break here and then we'll come back and we'll get to, we'll talk some more stuff. And, uh, again, the NCAA report with Don and Russ. Have you heard about liquid IV? Well, it's a new way to hydrate in America. It delivers two times faster hydration in water alone and three times electrolytes of traditional sports strengths.
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00:45:11
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:47:31
Speaker
So we are back. This
Recruiting and NIL Changes
00:47:33
Speaker
is Don Glenn, my partner, Russ Robinson, right there. We're going to be talking a little bit about NIL and all that stuff and how this is all played out with ah what's going on. You know, like you said, I think you're right.
00:47:46
Speaker
um you know the the with the transfer portal and NIL, you know, recruiting is going to change. um I've got a piece I'm getting, I'm working on the second part two of my NIL wild wild west blog for the fuel sports network. You know, one thing i've I've been looking at when doing all this is that And you we've talked about this a couple three shows ago was the elimination now of the national letter of intent.
00:48:20
Speaker
and changing it over to basically a financial services contract is what it's going to amount to. That's that's ah an oversimplification, but it is what it is. I mean, that's what you're going to see. You're going to see these contracts with these kids that are now, okay, you know you're going to come in and you're locked in. Now the question is going to be, if they go to these contracts, how locked in are these kids going to be?
00:48:49
Speaker
because originally when the, and I didn't know this until I started doing a little research, the national editor in intent has only been around since 1964. And originally it was a formal binding contract between a student athlete and the university that the student athlete would, would agree to come to that school and they would take care of basically his, um, educational fees and books and that at the best and as we've seen the last. A few years. And then just a year ago, they, because before you could
00:49:26
Speaker
You had to have a reason to get out of your, your, as they called it NLI. You had to have a reason to change of a coach or, um, family hardship, something like that. And now they got rid of that reason. I think it was either last year or the year before. So you don't have to have any reason. If you don't want, you can just say, well, I don't want to go back. I don't want to go there anymore.
00:49:50
Speaker
and you back out of your, your agreement. I, if there's going to be a financial contract between, uh, players and schools, yeah are they going to treat that the same way? Are they going to allow these kids? Oh, well, I can, you know, somebody says I can get you a better NIL deal at, at Missouri instead of Arkansas. who You know, you know,
00:50:18
Speaker
is I just don't, I, that's an answer I don't have. And it's going to be very interesting over the next cut few years as to how that actually shapes up. Yeah. Yeah. I will be to see how these NIL shake out and the legalities of it and everything like that. Once they, uh, there'll be some court challenges. I'm sure to some of these NIL deals when, uh, you know, we saw the thing that we talked about earlier in the year, the UNLV quarterback who walked.
00:50:46
Speaker
uh in the middle of the year from UNILV because they didn't honor his NIL, he said they didn't honor his NIL deal what they were going to pay him right so they didn't come up with them they said they told me they were going to come up with so much money for an NIL deal he got there about halfway through the season he hadn't come up come with it so he walked you know he he went in so and there was and as far as you know there's no legal challenge to that or you know, uh, so I guess there was no contract signed Don in his case, if it was just a promise, uh, maybe a verbal promise. so Yeah. Well, and, and, and so much of these NIL deals, at least the way I understand it right now, you know, it's not the universities that put these NIL deals together. It's these, uh, uh, what do they call them? the The packs or whatever that, that, uh,
00:51:35
Speaker
work with the schools that put these NIL deals together. And then of course you've got sponsors and businesses and investors and all that. Um, you know, so I, I, for, to me, for a kid to take it out on the school itself, you know, school can't promise them in an NIL deal, you know, no but You know, it is what it is. A couple of three, I guess it's been what, three shows ago now, Russ. We we talked about the meetings that Big Ten and the SEC had and there was a lot of speculation because nobody's really said anything about what actually happened at that meeting. um But there was a lot of speculation that those two conferences were going to be the ones to push
00:52:20
Speaker
any changes you're seeing in the NIL and the transfer portal. Do you still think that may be the case? um Yeah, you know, I think they're going to, I think the rest of college sports is looking to the Big Ten and the SEC maybe to take the lead on this to tell us where you know what the next step is going to be because they've been, I know Greg Sankey, the SEC Commissioner,
00:52:44
Speaker
was getting frustrated with all the schools going out and doing their own NIL deals. um He thought it should be handled through the NCAA, but the NCAA isn't really doing anything. A lot of people are calling. We talked about this before. A lot of people talk about Congress getting involved, but I i really don't think they can they can do much about it. I seem like they have other things that are more important that they can't can't resolve. I'm not sure them jumping in to,
00:53:13
Speaker
to college sports on this, trying to manage all this, this changing is something they can do. So I think this initial meeting with the Big 10 and the SEC just is to try to get, see you know what needs to be done, what what direction we need to go in this, where we can work together. But you know i I suspect this is that the rest of college sports, maybe we're getting to look to the Big 10 and the SEC to give them leadership on this.
00:53:42
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I think, and I think you're you're probably right on that, that everybody's kind of looking in, but you know, it does, it does beg the question. Uh, and I've heard, and I've seen this written, uh, can't, can't exactly me where I saw it. The perceived threat, if you will, of a big 10 SEC collaboration is.
00:54:03
Speaker
basically creating a new athletic organization, if you will, and basically telling the NCAA to put it where the sun doesn't shine. Yeah. Yeah. you know And I'll put it this way. I don't know if that's actually going to happen, but as you said, everybody's looking at those two and it would not surprise me if those two conferences got together and said, you know,
00:54:32
Speaker
We'll just going to do our own thing. We're
NCAA Restructuring Speculation
00:54:34
Speaker
going to set up our own playoff system. We're going to set up our own scheduling. We're going to set up this and then just start bringing in teams or maybe even a whole conference from everybody else. Um, oh now I, I don't envision them saying taking.
00:54:51
Speaker
like bringing the Missouri Valley in or anything like that as a whole, you know, maybe a team here and there, you know, definitely though, looking at if, if say the ACC said, Hey, you know, can we get in on this? You know, it might be, okay, well, yeah, we like this team, this team and this team, but you know, these guys, I, there's so many different ways it can play out.
00:55:14
Speaker
I don't know. I don't think either conference is wanting to do that at this point. But like I said, it wouldn't surprise me. Yeah, we I could see it going down that way where one day, like you said, we have a the big 10 SEC said, OK, let's let's create our own association here and to strengthen it. Yeah, we'll take Clemson. We'll take Florida State from the ACC. Maybe we'll take Syracuse.
00:55:44
Speaker
and then go down to the Big 12 and say, you know, we will take, a maybe we'll take BYU, maybe we'll take ah Arizona State or something like that. But the rest of you, you know, right now, no you know, and we're going to get it, we're going to have this massive deal. be ah It'd be like the NFL, be a a playoff system and everything set up. and uh it'd be a massive TV contract and you know that that's the way i think it could it could possibly go that way you know who who knows but uh it could be heading that way and they may be gearing up in case it does come that way you know but uh things are so uh
00:56:25
Speaker
up in the air right now. This is all new territory for everyone, so they're still they're still trying to feel their way. So oh yeah, no doubt and and I you know and I think when you when you start talking about, as you said, the NCAA kind of losing their teeth. um You know they've been challenged in court so many different times on so many different things and you know not fared well, you know, and then you look at.
00:56:54
Speaker
how, like you said earlier that they, yeah they still deal out some punishment, but we are a far cry from when was it? Oh, was it back in the eighties when I use the SMU, you got the death penalty handed down to him. Oh yeah.
00:57:10
Speaker
You know, you know back back when the NCAA still had some teeth. um you know I don't think you're you're not seeing penalties like that anymore. You know the the whole thing of of last year with Harbaugh being suspended from coaching for ah two games. You really think he sat there for two weeks. And did nothing. Yeah, I mean, come on. Yeah, we saw how that team held together after he left.
00:57:40
Speaker
The NCAA, some of their decisions seems to be arbitrary. some sometimes Sometimes it seems like they come down harder in some schools than they do other schools who commit similar penalties. So there hasn't always been consistency.
00:57:55
Speaker
ah you know So it's almost like if you're dumb enough to get caught, then you deserve to get get a penalty We know other schools are doing it, right? But you're the one that got caught. You're dumb enough to get caught. So so there we go. So anyway, exactly, exactly. You know, and we've talked a lot about how we we we perceive it. You know, I just wonder, and I'm hoping then this is kind of a a shout out tart to the fans here.
00:58:24
Speaker
you know um If you follow this program, we are we are interested in your thoughts. We really would like to know what you think about, what we've been talking about, and how you how you consider or you what you think the um if there's any solution or if there's any issues. ah So, if you want to, ah I'm going to throw this out there. You can hit me up on Twitter at TSOTBGCS or you can email my show Talking Sports on the Bleachers and that's TSOTB.GCS at gmail dot.com. Let us know and Frank will probably give Frank, you'll give his contact. You know, let us know what we got or what we what you think and
00:59:09
Speaker
Hopefully, we get some responses and maybe we can have a little more extra content or things of that nature. So why don't you go ahead and give your contact info. I'm at Uncle Frank at FR Robinson 1.957 on Twitter. And I'll tell you what, also I've started gone to a Blue Sky account. And if for those of you on Blue Sky, I'm at rust57bsky.social. That's the, standard the bsk dot.social is the standard Blue Sky address. So I'm rust57. So, you know, if you want to follow me or hit me up there, I'd be happy to say that we should let people know, Don, that we're not all knowing on everything.
00:59:51
Speaker
Oh, no, we, we're just two fans who that's right who who toss this stuff around and, uh, we may get it wrong. And if it, and it's all right, if you've, if we made some factual errors here, let us know, you know, we oh yeah no no and that's kind of like, yeah, that's kind of why I like the one to hear from the fans because, you know, you and I talk and like you said, we're fans. We don't, neither one of us has any kind of insight or any insiders information, if you will. So if anybody's, you know, got a thought on.
01:00:22
Speaker
or comment on how we're doing things that, hey, we we'd love to hear from you. Cause I think that's one thing we yeah we really could really would like to see is a lot more interaction by the fans. ah Let us know what you think. Cause like I said, this is a show and Russ hit it right on the head. This is a show for fans by a couple of fans. You know, yeah, we
Engagement and Feedback Request
01:00:42
Speaker
do our blogs and we, and I've got the podcasts and stuff like that. Quite frankly, podcasting is not that hard. If you've got a computer,
01:00:51
Speaker
and and so and some type of recording device, you can make a podcast. ah you know Trust me, i yeah you know it's the way it works. um Hopefully, somebody will some of our fans will jump in and let us know what they think about but what we're talking about. A little quick thing. um In a broader sense of college sports for us, you know we've talked a lot about the NIL, the transfer portal, and what it means to football, what it means to basketball. Do you see, or I shouldn't, let me let me rephrase that. How do you see that actually
01:01:25
Speaker
affecting the other sports I know it will in a sense if you're if you're football and basketball programs main programs improve you're going to get more money you can spread it down to the lower the lower levels the lower the lower programs if you will I don't mean to say that volleyball or women's basketball is a lower program than the men's program but you know in in terms of of money outlay and yeah Do you see maybe things expanding that and because of of the n i l and and sponsors and investors and things of that nature does it does is it are we gonna see a triple trickle down.
01:01:58
Speaker
I think so, and I think we're going to see it the NILs expand to other sports gradually. I've i've been watching some women's volleyball. I follow Mizzou as most people have listened to this broadcast goal. And the Mizzou women's volleyball team, i was the the crowds there and the enthusiasm there at those at those matches are just amazing and I think that's across the board on many programs especially the top pro the top conferences they there's a lot of energy in some of these programs we've seen done what happened with women's college basketball last year than the tournament the viewership just picked up in last year's women's NCAA tournament of course they had a
01:02:42
Speaker
I had a couple players that played in that. The good gal from Iowa that I can't you know, I can't think of her name, but Kaylin Clark is down the WNBA here. I think it's brought a lot of attention, more attention to the WNBA. So I do so there. So that was kind of a rambling answer, but the short answer is yes to your question. and I do think it'll stand down to other stories.
01:03:06
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I do too. I mean, I've been following Illinois women's basketball this year. I finally got season tickets and I can see what the Shauna Green, the coach there has done as far as bringing in different players and, you know, starting to make that program something. And I do think there is a correlation to what she's doing and what has happened with Illinois football and Illinois basketball.
01:03:32
Speaker
in how they brought in um transfers and they and I'm like you, I can see the money start showing up in the other sports, the the as they call them, the non-revenue sports.
01:03:47
Speaker
lot Um, you know, I can see the money, maybe start going out there a little bit. It always has. Cause I mean, let's face it, you know, you're not going to get, um, unless you're a program like Tennessee or UConn or LSU. I know years ago was, it was, it was really big women's program. You know, you know, yeah those programs fill a stadium or fill a, fill an arena.
01:04:11
Speaker
uh so they could sustain themselves to a certain extent and they probably do they probably pay for a little bit more than most other women's programs do but your main funding and all these sports all the the the women's sports and and men's baseball and golf and all this Their main funding is coming from football and basketball. Absolutely. yeah that's that's what drives think I think as the NIL starts getting more and more prevalent, I think you may start seeing, as you just said, you may start seeing it start to trickle down where, yeah okay, we've got a good women's program. Maybe if we help them out by sponsoring a couple of the players.
01:04:51
Speaker
You know, maybe she can get some better recruits or, you know, maybe, uh, uh, the softball team or the baseball team, you know, things of that nature. I can see that actually, I'm, I'm, I'm agreeing with you. I can see that trip trickling down. I think it's a good thing. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. One more thing to add to that, Don is something I've noticed lately is live sports for these cable systems is the big revenue thing they're finding out they get.
01:05:19
Speaker
And let me, I mean, I'm talking about streaming, you know, you as being a big 10 fan, you probably know Peacock has gone out and got some exclusives, big 10 games where they got it. It's not on the network. It's they've got it. Paramount Plus is is it's being aggressive. Max is an aggressive. And TBS, TNT and TruTV have got, that I mean, they lost their NBA contract, I think, but they're going out and grabbing up other sports too.
01:05:48
Speaker
uh to try and they're finding out live sports is what draws nude listeners in so I think that and that will if they sign deals with conferences and all like that that that's that's going to uh bring in more money for NIL deals and things like that for those uh for those team for those conferences so oh for sure I think keep an eye on that Oh, for sure. i it's It's a far cry back, well, say just, you know, 15, 20 years ago when, you know, pretty much all you had, if you wanted to watch live sports, you know, maybe NBC would show a few games in the weekend, ABC, CBS might show one game, but you're pretty much had to go to the cable route.
01:06:30
Speaker
and get ESPN, ESPNU, TBS, like you say, but you were so limited on what you could get. And like you said, now with the streaming, you know, you can sit there and watch the games on your phone for crying out loud. If you've got the right. That's right. You know, we know if you want an ESPN plus, like, you know, if you want to subscribe to that, you can watch, you can watch your favorite division, double one double A,
01:06:57
Speaker
FCS team on on all their games. no yeah yeah I'm a seat um a Southeast Missouri State graduate and when I was on ESPN plus I don't have it now but when I did I could pick up about everything they were doing.
01:07:12
Speaker
football, basketball, and anything like that. So it's a amazing it's amazing what they whats what's there. yeah Right. so ah Well, I'll tell you what, um well we might as well just go ahead and call her a night. We'll definitely in a couple of weeks, we'll have the playoff the definite playoff picture in hand. We'll probably start talking a little bit more about basketball. I think we'll may by that time, we'll probably have an idea of what the Heisman situation looks like.
01:07:38
Speaker
you know, things like that. So we already give our information out though, Russ, but what else can we find you beside your two besides ah your blue sky and your Twitter? Well, next week, maybe I'll have, ah i I'm trying to develop this. I don't know if I said this before or not done a sub-stack blog. Oh, cool. And i' wild I'll try to do more, have more on that. I've been experimenting with it and seeing how it goes. And so we'll see next time I talk about it. Other than that, other than the Twitter and blue sky, am I might, some of them is Zoom Facebook group. So, you know, you might find me floating around there. So anyway.
01:08:17
Speaker
Well, and you can always find me at the my other shows, uh, Facebook, uh, talking sports on the bleachers, uh, podcasts are on Spotify. I'm working on getting, uh, getting it on Apple podcast as well. And you can always find my, but my articles and, uh, blogs and podcasts are on fuel sports network.com, where you can, as I say, find a lot of different podcasts. You got the.
01:08:42
Speaker
team of rivals with Ron, Pete and Elliott. Ron Nuttle also hosts at the park all about city soccer. You have Moose Michaels with the two for three. You can follow Arlington Lane, the A-Train, and of course the Derek King show with the one and only Derek King. You can find this podcast there. You can find Talking Sports on the Bleachers there. So check it out, FuelSportsNetwork.com.
01:09:07
Speaker
Well for my partner Russ Robinson, this is Don Glenn and we really want to thank you guys for hanging out with us and Listening to us putting up with us. So until we see you again, I Want you guys to have fun stay safe. We'll talk to you again when we are talking the NCAA report presented by the Fuel Sports Network