NIL is meant to be an additional benefit of coming to a great program. You get an education, great coaching, a culture, and if everything works out you get to go pro. Beware of bag chasers though. If they are only coming for the bag, it won't be long till they demand more. Their loyalty and dedication isn't to the program, but to themselves. 

 

There's a difference between a guy like Arch Manning and Jaden Rashada. There's a difference between a DJ Lagway and Nico Imaleava. Yes all four rightfully want their money, but two of those guys are as invested in the program that is paying them as the program is invested in the player they are paying. 

 

 

On 6/29/2025 at 10:45 AM, 30Duck said:

Your plan should be Transfer, NIL 101

It's amazing how all the intellectuals can't comprehend common sense. It's not aerospace engineering. It's freaking sports, we as sports fans understand the revenue football makes. We understand Marcus Mariota, Tim Tebow, and Jeremiah Smith are marketable stars. It's why you put them on your video game cover. Maybe you should let them earn a little coin off their likeness.

 

If the star bowler or lacrosse player gets upset, go take a survey and ask how many people know who he is, show the disgruntled player the results and revenue vs expense each sport generates, tell them that from that day forward everybody is going to get what they earn, and the ones in the red are going to pay back the deficits.

Setup an actual enforcement committee. Have the peanut butter to call it that and enforce it. Set two transfer dates, enforce coaching contracts and compensation for those who lose one to a poacher. Set a transfer limit number and amount any one player can get. Let the athlete do their third party advertisements but make sure there is no affiliation with the school. Don't tell schools how much of a percentage they have to spend on non revenue generating sports.

 

I hope the period we are in right now is considered the learning stages. I'm tired of hearing about house committees, NCAA enforcement codes, and back office meetings where RB #45 is making more from his rice krispies deal than DT #98 is from husky boy milkshakes.

The clowns should've just joined the Mountain West but did it in a way where they changed the name to PAC West. Now I gotta hear how Texas State, San Jose State, and Buckee Beaver State are all the next UCF or Boise State. 

 

Mount Union and Wisconsin Whitewater have more name value than whatever the new Pac Who is adding.

On 6/23/2025 at 8:14 AM, Jon Joseph said:

Thanks, G. The B12 does support the 11-5 format, but at least as of today, like the B1G, the B12 does not want the PO to expand unless the SEC plays 9 conference games. 

 

I do give Greg Sankey a pass on last season's fouled-up format—a format designed for 5 Power Conferences. He was able to eliminate a second G6 team as an automatic qualifier, but could not reach an agreement on changing the format to seeding that matched the rankings. 

 

As you note, last season's field was so unbalanced that 10 conferences and Notre Dame voted for this needed change in 2025-26. Of course, the 'balance issues' were exacerbated by the committee for no good reason ranking G6 Boise State the 9th best team in the nation. This screwed ASU fans out of a game in Glendale, Arizona instead of Atlanta. 

 

Is the 4-4-2-2-1-3 format (B1G format) bad for the ACC and B12? Looking back from the inception of the BCS in 1998, and projecting what a 16-team field would have been, the B1G would have had the most participants, followed closely by the SEC. Two teams each for the ACC and the B12 would have helped both conferences, especially the B12.

 

Among his duplicitous comments regarding the B1G format, Sankey suggests that a guarantee of only 4 teams in the field would hurt the SEC. True in that all three 9-3 'left out' SEC teams would have been in last season's 5- 11, 16-team field. Notre Dame would score one of the three at-large bids every season, and the other two at-large bids could go to the B1G and SEC teams.

 

Is there a reasonable SEC fan (an oxymoron?) who, after the 2024-25 postseason, believes six SEC teams deserved to be in the field? Does anyone with a modicum of objectivity believe that the SEC commissioner and SEC ADs, before arriving at the SEC spring meetings, were not aware that SEC coaches wanted to stay at 8 conference games? And that an ESPN FPI pamphlet justifying 8 games because of the brutality of the SEC schedule just happened to be lying (lie-ing?) around? 

 

At this point, without the SEC agreeing to play nine conference games, I'd as soon see CFB leave multi-millions of dollars on the table and stay with a 12-team field through the conclusion of the ESPN broadcast agreement, 2031-32. With the condition that the Football Committee uses disclosed metrics, as does the CBB Committee, and none of the metrics come from an ESPN computer. (Unfortunately, CFB has a weekly rankings show, but the shows are built into the ESPN broadcast agreement, and ESPN will not give up the revenue.)

 

Use the CBB model and move the start of the Season to Week 0, and also consider dumping or flex-scheduling conference champ games. This season's CFB champ game will be played on 1/19/26. In 2026-27, without a change to the schedule, the season will conclude on 1/25/28. CFB PO games will not have more viewers than NFL PO games. 

 

I also see no reason for continuing the Greg Sankey suggested Advisory Committee.

 

I have no beef with the SEC fans who want to play nine conference games instead of N-E-W-S Directional State. No beef with a Florida team playing 11 P4 games in 2025, and other SEC teams that play 10 P4 opponents.

 

Tony Petitti and Brett Yormark need to call the SEC and the ACC's 8 conference games bluff.

 

 

 

There's some news that the ACC and Big 12 were desperate to break up the power couple of the B1G and SEC. Will the B1G wield it's power and vote to keep the playoff at 12 if the SEC doesn't back off the 8 game conference slate? It's going to cost everybody money because more playoff teams means more money for the conference, I think it was 3.2 million after disbursement. Notre Dame gets about 16 million I think, that's the biggest winner in any format imo.

 

In my perfect world the B1G and SEC would use their power to force Notre Dame to make a decision. After that the SEC would go to 9 games like everyone else, and they would eliminate the static two season opponent home/away slate. 

 

The ACC and Big 12 would get a guarantee of three teams should they meet the criteria. The G5 would get a bid if they finish in the top 20. No byes, and the first two rounds would be on campus.

 

Will any of that happen? I doubt it, too many egos in the room to be made to look weak for compromising. Greg Sankey has been getting away with more bluster than anybody not named Notre Dame. Should he be seen as compromising, he would lose some of his so called mystique.

On 6/23/2025 at 7:09 AM, 30Duck said:

And Okie and Vandy beat up 'Bama, the strength of schedule is what the ESPN computer says it is, nobody is crowing louder than ESECPN about how great the SEC is, that the football product must be dominated by SEC teams. We DESERVE to only play 8 conference games.

I'm a Gator fan, not an SEC flag waver. I have tired of the whole argument and hyping of the SEC bottom feeders.What are we doing here? Ole Miss, South Carolina, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, and Vanderbilt are now yearly tough games?

 

I can't even brag about Florida because it's been fifteen years since they've done anything. I don't celebrate or try to claim some quasi third party of separation victory from Georgia or Alabama. Those two have been dominant, they deserve the bragging rights.  

The ACC and Big 12 have sided with Sankey mostly because accepting the 4-4-2-2-4 model is like admitting they really are little brothers. The B1G is pushing for the SEC to get to 9 conference games, the SEC will use the strength of schedule argument to say its seasons are already tougher, and the B1G top beats up on its bottom.

 

I don't know about any of you, but I'm over this old men in suits arguing over an extra million when they are already making billions. Let me know who's in, make the regular season still matter, and don't totally exclude the G5. Arizona State and Boise State were great stories, so was SMU and Indiana. Let's just seed the teams based off their true ranking please. Oregon would've made it to the CFP if they were in the Notre Dame/Penn State bracket. How in the heck did you reward Oregon for it's undefeated season by giving them Ohio State or Tennessee in the Rose? Meanwhile you gave Penn State the Boise State Broncos.

 

Even if Oregon had gotten Tennessee and if they beat them, they would get Texas. Tell me which side is balanced. Oregon, Arizona State, Texas, Ohio State , Tennessee and Clemson vs Georgia(backup QB), Boise State, Notre Dame, Penn State, SMU and Indiana.

Never heard of this guy before. Does he play baseball? Is he a spelling bee champion? Maybe a pre law student wanting to talk NIL deals? Those are the things Vanderbilt people can spout off about. Great academics. Football? Not so much.

On 6/17/2025 at 3:08 PM, 30Duck said:

Would have been incredible. I KNOW the Lady Ducks would have won the basketball Natty in 2020, and I'm positive that Dixon would have won the Heisman and the Ducks would have won their FIRST football Natty in 2007...

I remember one game distinctly from the Ducks 2007 season. It was a top five matchup against Arizona State, the Ducks rolled in that game. Dixon definitely looked like a Heisman contender.  My fan hood being what it is, I can't say Dixon should've won it over Tebow. But the Ducks had a better season that year and Dixon would've been a worthy winner. I actually think Tebow had a better season in '08, the team obviously did as they won the National Championship.

On 6/17/2025 at 7:05 AM, 30Duck said:

Yes, he was. They capped off the season with a win over Florida State. 35-28 in the Music City Bowl. 

They beat the eventual National Champion LSU that year as well I believe. Imagine a playoff existing in 2007. West Virginia, Missouri, Oregon, Kansas, Boise State, Oklahoma. How many great matchups could we have seen?

On 6/16/2025 at 1:03 PM, 30Duck said:

Rich Brooks did the heavy lifting, but did get the field named after him, so that's right. Bellotti-Kelly, still see 2007 as the closet OBD got to a Natty.  Agree on the Lanning-Meyer comparison.

Speaking of 2007. Was Rich Brooks the coach who got Kentucky into the top 10 in 2007? That alone tells me how good he was.  I think your 2001 Oregon squad was worthy of championship talk imo.

On 6/16/2025 at 11:50 AM, Jon Joseph said:

 

I again tapped into A Eye 🧐, a knowledgeable dude. 

 

The Tennessee coach in 1962 was Bowden Wyatt. Jim McDonald took over in 1963. I'm guessing it was under Jim that the Vols passed on home boy Steve Spurrier. 

Yeah my reference was a compliment my friend. I consider myself a visual learner, but that guy Jennings is like a computer.

 

Think of all the pain McDonald could've saved future Vols including Sir Omaha Omaha himself, if only he'd let Steve be a backup or something. Would Spurrier take the Florida job in the eighties? For people under the age of forty that answer is a no brainier.

 

But Florida was like Oregon before Belotti in those dark days. I became a fan in the 90's, but in Florida it was very much Hurricane and Seminole dominated before Spurrier got the Fun &Gun going. Sure the Gators got blown out in '95 to Tom Osborne, but it felt inevitable that it was only a matter of time before they broke through. I think it's a similar feeling in Eugene today. But in the 70's and 80's? Florida was seen as a potential sleeping giant. The facilities sucked, the best in State kids were going to Miami, Free Shoes, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Notre Dame.

 

I have Spurrier as number one because he was the first Heisman winner. He recruited and coached the second, and he brought swagger and fun to Florida. He brought Florida it's first National Title. Without Steve Spurrier, I don't know if Tim Tebow even goes to Florida. Tim is my age, and I'm sure he became a Florida fan for the same reasons I did.

 

I think Chip Kelly and Mike Belotti should be inducted into the college football hall of fame, and both go into the Oregon ring of honor for the same reasons as Spurrier at Florida. Mike built that program, but Chip elevated it nationally with that RPO quick tempo. Dan Lanning is going to be like your Urban Meyer imo. But he's going to do it without the off field drama, and with more longevity.

On 6/16/2025 at 10:19 AM, Jon Joseph said:

 

Phillip Fulmer was the coach at Tennessee. Fulmer went 2-7 vs. Florida and Spurrier. 2-2 vs. Spurrier at South Carolina.

 

(Disclosure: I looked this up. 🧑‍🎓)

Thanks Jon, he took over in '93 right?

Who was the coach who was there when Spurrier was looking at colleges.Was it Majors? I guess I could not be lazy and do a two minute search and find out. But you are like the Ken Jennings of college football information. I trust you more than Wikipedia. 

 

I don't know if there are any Vols on here.

On 6/16/2025 at 8:48 AM, Jon Joseph said:

 

Presumptuously jumping in. (I know, you're shocked 😁!)

 

For younger Gators, it has to be the iconic Tebow. For a person in advanced middle age, I'll take Steve Spurrier as the all-time greatest Gator. Steve won games for the Gators at QB and also as Florida's head coach. Steve was known coast-to-coast well before (un)social media. 

 

In 1966, Spurrier won the Heisman Trophy. The 1st time a Gator won the Stiff-Arm. (I was a senior in HS and watched Steve play ball.)

 

Spurrier finished with a college coaching record of 228-89-2, a .718% winning percentage. He amassed this record coaching Florida, which he transformed into an SEC power, as well as at 'punching bags', Duke and South Carolina.

 

He was the SEC COY on 5 occasions and the ACC COY twice in three seasons at Duke.

 

In 1996, under Spurrier, Florida won its first national title in football, defeating rival No. 1-ranked FSU 52 - 20 in the Sugar Bowl. The victory was made sweeter by Florida having lost 24-21 to the Seminoles in the regular season.

 

If you have two QBs you have too many? In 1997, Spurrier took Florida to a 10-2 second-place SEC finish behind Tennessee, alternating QBs Doug Johnson and Jesse 'The Bachelor' Palmer on every play, and occasionally, also playing QB Noah Brandise. 

 

Spurrier's O was justifiably referred to as the 'Fun N Gun.' 

 

Tebow was one of the greatest Gators, but Spurrier elevated Florida as a player and a coach.

 

Oh, and don't forget the great one-liners.

 

In 1993, Florida State was put on probation for agents paying for free shopping trips at Foot Locker. (I know 🤣, compared to today?) Spurrier: 'You know what FSU stands for, don't you? Free Shoes U.'

 

Asked about a fire at the Auburn football dormitory that destroyed twenty books. 'The real shame is that 15 hadn't been colored in yet.'

 

'You can have good ballplayers and still not win games. All you LSU fans know that'

 

Spurrier loved to tweak his home state of Tennessee.

 

'Peyton Manning came back to Tennessee for his senior year because he wanted to be the first three-time MVP of the Citrus Bowl.'

 

'You can't spell Citrus Bowl without UT.'

 

I rest my case 🤓.

I was shocked to discover he was born in Miami. His father was a pastor in both Georgia and Tennessee. The Volunteers didn't recruit him because he ran something called the wing T. 

 

Jon, you know more about the history of college football than I. Was Johnny Majors the coach of Tennessee at that time? 

On 6/16/2025 at 6:58 AM, 30Duck said:

That's what I came up with, at Oregon I'd go

 

1. Marcus Mariota

2. LaMichael James

3, Haloti Ngata 

Ngata was a man and a half. I think he helped prolong Ray Lewis career in Baltimore.  I remember Lewis complaining about the lack of any help after Tony Siragusa retired. I laughed because he had a guy like Ed Reed behind him, but Ray needed some space eaters up front to allow him space to disrupt running lanes or get to the QB.

On 6/15/2025 at 10:20 PM, Nevada Dawg said:

I would guess Tebow is considered the GOAT by most of the jort crowd (as I sit here at my keyboard wearing a pair of jorts so loathed b Dawg fans). Actually, I kinda like jorts--they last forever it seems, probably longer than I will.

I've owned maybe two pairs my whole life. To me they don't have the durability of a good old fashioned pair of Wranglers. If I'm rocking the shorts I prefer camos or even khaki.

On 6/15/2025 at 5:39 PM, 30Duck said:

I've been wondering, Gat. Is Tebow considered the GOAT of the Gators?

He is right up there. Spurrier is seen as the Godfather of Florida. He won a Heisman as a QB. When he left Duke to join Florida, people forget that Florida had won nothing. They were more known for Gatorade than success on the field. Steve brought swagger and the fun &gun reveloutinized the game. Danny Wuerffel won the school's second Heisman under Steve. 

 

Free Shoes University was a quip Steve made that really irked Bobby Bowden, and boy that Florida vs FSU rivalry in the 90's was bigger than FSU vs Miami in the 80's.

 

The 1996 season saw FSU hand Florida it's only loss, but Florida trounced them in the Sugar Bowl to win it's first ever National Title. That was the game that made me a Gator fan, even though I later attended FSU because of my major and decision to enlist in the Air Force.

 

But my top 3, and most people's would be

 

1.) Spurrier 

2.) Tim Tebow

3.) Emmitt Smith

 

Some might have Wuerffel or Kearse up there. But Tebow is undoubtedly in the discussion. It helps that he is genuinely one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. I saw him with his fiance eating dinner and he talked to me for ten minutes. 

Oregon is blessed with a great track and field program. Your baseball and softball squads aren't shabby either. I don't really follow much beyond football myself, but Florida has won a baseball, basketball, softball and numerous Olympic sports as well. But I would trade all of those for a couple more football titles.

 

You would think Florida would invest in it's football program, but that wasn't the case. It took Dan Mullen to get an indoor practice facility. Can you imagine a football program in the SEC having to be called out to finally invest in the sport that pays the bills? Heck the school didn't even want to get into the NIL game until it became apparent to keep a guy like Lagway, that you might want to tap into those who've been willing to invest. Maybe not like Phil Knight, but there are some derp pockets that are willing to make sure Miami doesn't continue to run circles around us.

 

I ask you, my Duck friends a fun question. If you could guarantee a title or two in the next five years. What would it be? Would you take two basketball titles, one baseball and softball title, or a football championship?

On 6/10/2025 at 6:25 PM, Jon Joseph said:

Great clips from the early days of ESPN have Beano screaming: "Where in the hell is Fowler!"

 

The Fowler he called for was a young intern out of CU, Chris Fowler. Chris went on to have a pretty good career with ESPN. 

 

Beano's love for Notre Dame was right there with Lou 'Granny' Holtz. 

 

The Courtroom skits with Holtz and Mark May in front of Judge Rece Davis were terrific. Rece is another guy who has done well at E$PN. 

When I think of Beano Cook and Lou Holtz, I think of Grumpy Old Men. Except with them it's "Delusional Old Men".

 

Beano was high on Penn State, he said somethings might change. But Penn State will usually beat Ohio State, and a program like Oregon could never win consistently against a program like Penn State. He said this in 2011 btw. 

On 6/10/2025 at 6:03 PM, 30Duck said:

Holtz and May were fun, 

 

 

 

Beano was rarely coherent.

I think Beano couldn't make the decision that Lee did. There are clips or him in the 80's where he talks about people complaining about there being too many bowls. Can you imagine how he'd handle the playoffs and NIL issues?

On 6/10/2025 at 5:45 PM, 30Duck said:

We know who Corso's favorite really is.

 

Best mascot in the game imo. Back in the seventies or eighties there was talk to have a live Gator be at football games. Luckily for UGA that idea never produced anything. As we saw in the 2018 Sugar Bowl vs Texas when Bevo acted like a Bull meeting a Bulldog played out. Luckily UGA wasn't hurt, the same couldn't be said about the team that day.

Lee is still good for a few good quips here and there. Older guys tell the best stories, and I've come to appreciate even the smallest bits of it. I remember the days of Lou Holtz battling that guy Mark May, and Beano Cook not understanding Colin Cowherd when he asked him if Beano was going to enjoy the Super Salad. Beano took it as Colin asking if he liked Soup or Salad better.

On 6/9/2025 at 12:26 AM, Jon Joseph said:

 

I don't know. But I hope they enjoy the effort. 😁

I'm sure they're quite content, much more than their hyena or arachnid counterpart.😬

Can a Tigon reproduce?

 

Definition of TIGON

WWW.MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM

---

tiglon… See the full definition

 

 

Alexander the great believed elephants were a great unused resource for labor when he first began seeing different parts of the world. My question is if the elephants ever formed a union or asked for better peanuts while doing their jobs. They say an elephant never forgets. Also, which kind of elephants did Caeser and Cleopatra use the most? I'm assuming the African since Egypt is on that continent, and they're generally much bigger. But the Indian elephant might be a little easier on those roads.