Solar

As my son would say, RIP being able to see the game with all the towels in way. No thanks.

We may be able to go to to toe and win against USC, OSU, and Michigan, but national media and the public still don't quite see us as a true blue blood quite yet based on the chatter of the last week. I base this on a simple principle, the benefit of the doubt, or presumption of excellence. For example, when OSU beats another team, it's taken as a reminder of how good they are, and if the other team didn't get run off the field it's because they were really good, just not good enough to beat the amazing OSU (e.g. Texas). The flip side is how new bloods are treated. When Indiana absolutely destroyed a highly ranked Illinois team, they immediate thought is Illinois is actually absolute trash, and Indiana is just competitive, not top tier. They don't get their stripes for winning. We've definitely lived this over the years. The asymmetry of it all is irritating .The assumption that if we beat someone it means the other team really isn't as good as we thought, but if the other team beats us it still means they're really good to beat us. You can't win the perception battle even by winning. We are now somewhere in the middle, we get a little benefit of the doubt with high preseason rankings and with pomp and circumstance leading up to games. But there is still a large contingent with their doubts as evidenced this week. A lot of people are definitely saying Oregon beat PSU because PSU sucks, not that we played a big role in their downfall to UCLA. Even worse is the talk that if we lose to Indiana it will mean we aren't that good, but still Indiana might actually be really good (emphasis on "might" for being the new blood they are too) So we're still in new blood purgatory, peering up at the final level to be a true blue blood. Until then, it's going to be "No flowers for you! Win a Natty, then we'll talk...but no promises."

Dante Moore is a wise dude like Justin Herbert. The extra millions don't mean as much as just enjoying a year of life you can't duplicate later, and being better prepared for the next level. Dante has already done that once. He sees the success Herbert Nix and Gabriel are having and the common theme that they all used up all of their eligibility before moving on to the NFL. I think the real deciding factor for Dante is going to be if if Will Stein stays or takes a HC job somewhere else. I don't believe projections of how high he will go in the draft carry much weight with him.

That's great to hear. Good job Dillon.

He's no fool. He's not giving anything for Lanning to use against him.

A great reminder it can always be worse..well, maybe not for Penn State, but it can always be worse..

I'm with Charles. It's relative. I'm a manager that hires from time to time and all the B1G school carry prestige for their graduates. At least we're accredited unlike Nebraska, the only team below them.

It's the loooooong travel and they let Oregon beat them twice as they say. I don't think this PSU loss takes away from our win.

The most hilarious part of this whole thing is the UCLA fans just sitting in the stands after winning. Nobody rushed the field.

Penn State looks sluggish and in a fog. It's almost like traveling all the way across the country is hard on a team. Who knew? One could say Oregon's win is lessened by a Penn State loss to UCLA, but I think it shows how hard it is to pull off what Oregon did.

Sorry John. I've literally never heard of a private equity deal that didn't ultimately screw over the little guy. They will find a way. They will be a stage 4 cancer the B1G office will never admit they have for the next 20 years as fans get the short end of the stick in an insidious manner.

Great to see Big Play VA making a living off his talent even if it isn't the NFL.

I kind of had the same hohum response. we are entering the getting spoiled phase.

I hate private equity that typically seems to strip mine everything it can at everyone's expense. In this case it appears the B1G is getting: $2B Outsourced Business Management Outsourced Business development, with incentives to drive growth The entity is getting 5% of the profits going forward. It seems like a reasonable deal. My concerns lie in strip mining fans which the B1G governance has to limit, but they will be under a lot more incentive and pressure from the entity to do bad things for the fans that increase profits (i.e. corruption). I'm also nervous about how this affects the flexibility of the league and it's compounded by extending the grant of right to TWO DECADES which as another poster commented sounds extremely foolish in light of the ACC experience. Is conference realignment frozen by this? Are distributions to the equity holders frozen by this? Are the media deals frozen by this? Bottom line, anytime private equity gets involved the public's pockets are going to get picked. This will be no different. The inflation of prices for everything the B1G gets a cut of will be huge as the find the pricing pain point where hardcore fans tap out. Jerseys, game and tailgating tickets, B1G network subscriptions, longer commercial breaks, etc. And who knows what the future holds and how the lack of flexibility could leave the B1G out in the cold as the industry innovates, resulting in hollowing out the league.

Yeah, the WSU DC Grinch that came to USC was one of the best DCs WSU ever had. Gave USC a good D for one year, then it was all downhill after that to the basement and USC fans swore he was a horrible DC. It appears to be happening all over again with the former UCLA DC that was the best thing since sliced bread for UCLA.