GatOrlando

Great read as always Jon. The solutions to these problems are so simple, and college football is superior to the NFL in so many ways. But there is a reason why the NFL is ten times bigger than CFB, and it's not because of the fans. CFB fans are by far more rabid, they are willing to give money to schools that most of them have no real association with. Despite the fact these athletic programs are rich beyond belief. Imagine a Seahawks fan giving money to that billionaire freely, without it being some levy or whatever nonsense. CFB has a tribal problem. You have two main tribes that have the same goal, but are too blind to see the easy solution. If Sankey and Petiti could get their heads out of their rears, they could push for a far better product. Instead it's about who's better. It's "Our way is best. You must concede!!!", imagine a world with the SEC/B1G football challenge every year. Mix in the ACC/Big 12. Imagine what Jon has written about countlessly with great consistency, and common sense. A world with real rules, real scheduling balance, real off-season, and coach/player movement that makes sense. A playoff where we get great matchups, where the regular season has true merit. That would be something. But instead, we are stuck on this tired foolish debate of best league. Something the NFL has no issues with. You don't hear AFC and NFC fanbases argue about this. They just care about their individual team, and hope their favorite aces the draft, coaching hires, and free agent class when the time comes. It happens in a set period, not while the season is on going.

It's tough to compare the two models, the NFL is completely based off actual records. College has over a hundred squads, and it's playoff participants & seeding are based off a selection committee. Sometimes the NFC West is a joke, and sometimes it has three playoff teams. But you get a good idea with the the 32 squads. In college, you get tribalism. You have different college leadership committees. Different levels of financial resources, and roster retention ability. Do we need rules? Yeah. If we can't even figure out that coaches shouldn't be able to be contacted for other jobs in the middle of leading their current team on a playoff run, or a QB can't be swiped on the last day by another program in the same conference. I have little faith we'll get the scheduling across the four power leagues balanced. I mean Indiana kind of laid out the fact that scheduling three tomato cans is the way to go. Notre Dame can keep scheduling the service academies, and maybe getting a real test about three times a year. They're going to have a spot.

There are many things we can say about the NFL, but there are many things the college game can take from it as well. As Mike wrote in the article, giving higher performing teams tougher schedules is a great step. Of course you can't always have Purdue missing out on playing Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, or Oregon. They need to play at least one them in addition to Indiana (as their protected rivalry). But since the CCG may go the way of the dinosaur if Petiti gets his play-in weekend passed. You could do four pods, and a two team relegation where those teams have to play their way into a pod to get a shot at play-in weekend, or just add two more teams to get to a five team pod. You could have a heavyweight in each conference, and then do the rest by strength and geography. The relegation model is a bit tricky, but you could base it off a two year stint. I think the five team pod is just simpler, and no I'm not for the B1G kicking out programs, as relegation usually means doing just that. I simply think programs should be forced to at least use their resources, and not just be comfortable being a B1G member. The five heavyweights would be the best five programs over a five year period. For example, USC would've been one in the late 2000s, but Indiana would take their place as of today. Maybe my idea is too convoluted, I'm just trying think outside the box.

To piggyback off your post, and see how crazy the landscape of college football is today. We thought Oregon joining the B1G was nuts, imagine being a singular school jumping up a whole division, and joining a conference with the nearest member being over 2,000 miles away. I don't imagine the MAC pays out like the B1G either. https://www.carmichaeltimes.com/2026/03/09/566187/hornet-football-to-join-mid-american-conference

Great perspective. It's important to understand everything that goes into a free fall. Altman led you guys to a Final Four in 2017. He's faced the most turbulent time in college sports, with NIL, transfer portal, and moving to a whole new conference.

If Nebraska, a program that has never won a game in the NCAA tournament can get their act together. Oregon can do it with the right coach. I'm not saying Altman should be fired, but sometimes stagnation can happen.

Mark May always kind of rubbed me the wrong way, until he was one of the few who predicted Florida would beat Ohio State in the 2006 BCS Title Game. I think that was more due to his hatred of Ohio State, but I don't care. Lou would always drive him crazy whenever he'd pick Notre Dame to beat USC, or any of those other big games that they'd eventually get blown out in. But Lou was loyal to the Irish till the end. I'm glad he got to see the Irish make that run last year. He is still the last coach to win a National Title at Notre Dame.

First of all, there's a Miami of Ohio? Secondly, they went 31-0 and I've never heard of a single one of their players. They say Cinderella is dead in college basketball. I'm hoping that's not true. The tournament is better with the mid majors. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but go Miami.......of Ohio!!!! Heck with that other Miami.

Former Arkansas, NC State, New York Jets, Notre Dame, and South Carolina head coach, Lou Holtz passed away at 89 after a month long stay in hospice. He won a National Title at Notre Dame, and as an assistant at Ohio State. May you rest in peace coach. Say hi to all the legends up there.

It's always a good day when Calipari loses by thirty four points🤣.

Great points Jon. I see where you're coming at, I really do. Players are the most important thing. If you don't have a Jimmy that can throw the ball, or Joe that can make that goalline stop in the fourth. You could have the maestro of play callers, and it would be the same as having Larry, Curly Joe, and Moe. But....... If you're renovating your house, and you have to decide between fixing the leaky roof, or the faulty wiring. You need to get more money. Of course housing safety codes are more important than football team costs, but in both instances you need to address everything. If Washington is able to find someone who is able to pay Demond Williams five million a year, and they were willing to pay to keep Deboer. I believe they can find the money to find a guy to oversee calling half of a ballgame, and giving the head coach more time to oversee everything. I think it's a Jedd Fisch decision, just like it was a Billy Napier decision. Napier brought in the largest support staff in the SEC, but he never wanted to give up any say in the offense, and it showed. Especially with the development of any quarterback, DJ Lagway regressed from his true freshman year to his sophomore season. The defense actually went from a weakness to a strength. But Billy wouldn't ever entertain changing things up. His offense worked in the Sun Belt, and it was going to work in the SEC. Meanwhile, there were several major issues not being addressed like the Strength and conditioning, offensive line, and QB coach. Jon Sumrall has spoken candidly about the glaring issues he saw when he first came on board. Oddly enough, he said the parking lot was one of the nicest he's seen. If you want further proof that maybe even Napier learned a lesson. In his introductory press conference as the new JMU head coach, he quickly stated how he was going to be handing off play calling duties at JMU. To me, it's not a monetary issue. Especially at these places in the B1G or SEC. It's about what the head coach feels comfortable with. If Jedd Fisch wanted to, he could find a guy. But he probably thinks there isn't somebody who can do the job better than himself.

I get what you're saying Jon. There are a select few that can do that, but it's just such a chore imo. Even a guy like Venables, who did it successfully this past year, he only did so because they struck out on hiring Jim Knowles. I just think the head coach needs to oversee the entire game, with his full attention. I think there's just too much on the plate of guys these days. Steve didn't have to worry about player retention, plus the support staffs were all dudes just happy to be Grad Associates. Now you have run coordinators, QB mental health practitioners, and assistant to assistant coordinators. Steve and Urban actually spoke on this a few weeks ago on Gator Digest. Steve told Urban how much his assistants were making, and Urban then talked about how much things have changed since his days to today. Hitting closer to home is something Chip Kelly said two years ago about leaving UCLA as the head coach, to just be an offensive play caller at Ohio State. He spoke about the major differences between his time at Oregon and coming back to college about six years later. It can be done, but there's a reason why Saban never tried it, why Kirby doesn't do it, why Day hired an ex NFL coach a year after letting an inexperienced WR coach try it out after losing Chip Kelly. Heck Curt Cignetti has spoken about having coordinators he has one hundred percent trust in. It gives him time to evaluate more game tape each week.

There's too much on a head coach these days, to be a play caller. It was one of the things that doomed Billy Napier. It's been a problem for Sarkasian and Day. Name a National Champion the last decade that had also been a primary play caller.

I've played football, struck out at baseball, rode the pine for basketball, and got humiliated by a former ex in tennis in high school. I can't imagine ice skating while a 240 pound man is trying to take my head off while carrying a stick, and trying to move a fat little disc on said stick. I have the upmost respect for those ladies and gentleman that do it at the highest level. For the first time in my lifetime, and the first time ever. The USA has the Gold medals in the Olympics at the same time. They both went undefeated, and won in overtime over the behemoths of the sport, Canada. They represented our country with pride, and gave us two teams to be proud of. Of course we would be proud of them anyhow, but Gold is just a better form of that pride. We are the champions!!!!! Go USA!!?!!

Seems like the B1G talking point this off-season is going to be centered on getting an expanded playoff for the 2027 season. Much consternation has been made of Petiti being dead set on getting 24 teams, and a fixed number going to each conference. The SEC wants 16, and thought going to 9 conference games was the key to getting there. I know how most SEC fans feel, they feel like Sankey is getting pushed around. But in all reality, the SEC has gotten the benefit of the doubt with multiple years in the BCS, four team, and now twelve team eras. There were two all SEC BCS Title games, and one in the four team. The SEC got almost half the field of a twelve team field, and failed to beat another P4 team outside of each other. I know this is a tired question, but I would like to hear from my Duck friends if 24 is too big, or if 16 is good enough with a proposed automatics for each conference. Also, what to do with the G6 and Notre Dame. It's going to be a long wait till we get our football fix, but there's a lot going on right now to keep some topics alive.