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Junkyard Mail College Football Playoff
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Junkyard Mail College Football Playoff
Bill, I expect you saw the stories this week about the SEC and Big 10â²s efforts to insure they get four teams each in the College Football Playoff in the future, even if that means expanding it yet again. Iâm of two minds there.
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In terms of Transfer portal, I always come back to Justin Fields. This is where (in my mind) things were FAR worse that they were today. Think back to that time. He got a pass (despite literally playing as a Freshman and being from Georgia) to head straight to Ohio State without Penalty because of some ugliness, racism and high $$$ lawyers. Others with REAL reasons to transfer were denied. It was a sickening time. I'm not saying that things are perfect (far from it), but at least it's more fair.
NIL is overall a good thing. I loved that the show Ballers called out the NCAA for being the "most corrupt organization in the sports world". They were pure greed. Remember now that as things evolve there will be more incentives for a player to STAY IN COLLEGE for a longer period of time. I WOULD like to see more "sharing" of resources - not with the University but instead with other Georgia athletes or at least teammates. Maybe a 20% cut goes to "the pot" for either fun activities and dinners or pure cash.
I'm very annoyed about the whole "we're not doing the Spring Game because [insert BS reason here]" as well as starting to charge for admission. I would LOVE to see Smart just put the "smack down" on this concept and say that he's having a free Spring Game no matter what and will allow whatever players that WANT to play to play (with no pressure if they are worried about injuries). The NFL has FAR more games than the NCAA including pre-season which is basically rookie ball.
I would like to hear a response from Smart on the O-line and WR catching coaching wise. Changes need to be made there and it's irritating that no journalists seem to want to ask him why Georgia had the most drops of any team. Coaching adjustments need to be made even if they are additional hires.
I don't think Yale would entertain traveling to Athens to play football. Unlike many of the FCS teams that do it for the pay day I don't think Yale is hurting for money or prestige.
Bill, it sounds like the following will be happening starting in 2026 with the new CFP Contract:
Like you, I do not think auto-bids are necessary. Stewart Mandel pointed out in an article this weekend that if you look back at the playoff history since 2014 and assume there were 14 teams with auto-bids back then, the SEC and B1G would have actually screwed themselves out of having 5-6 potential teams in the playoffs with that system in at least 1-2 seasons. However, having said all of that, I do understand why the B1G and SEC want auto-bids - even if that means occasionally having a scenario like the one I described in Mandel's article.
Personally, I like the Sankey plan if the decision is made to go to auto-bids, because it takes the CFP Committee's very questionable decision making concerning who gets in and who doesn't out of the picture. Each conference can have a set of rules (including for tie breakers) to correctly and FAIRLY determine each conference's 4 BEST or 2 BEST teams.
Like you mentioned in your article Bill, no matter what the CFP Committee tried to do, they never took into account SOS properly in determining playoff teams. Now, all they have to do is rank the 14-16 teams given to them by each conference. It's a much less subjective and controversial task overall. The playoff bracket seeding will lineup with the final rankings of the (14) or (16) teams instead of the mishmash bracket that happened this year. Non- conference matchups will still be important, because the wins and losses will ultimately determine where your team falls in the final rankings & playoffs and how tough your path will be.
In regards to the NIL/Collectives and paying players directly, I do think that is coming. I also would love to see some kind of player contract accountability as part of that along with limiting the # of transfers, but like you said, the courts may not allow those type of guardrails to be legally put in place for college athletes (like they can with NFL players). It's a sticky situation.
Bill as usual another Great info.filled article !! Thank You !! I’m not adverse to players receiving some compensation for their name, image, likeness. But and if it’s paid directly from the school there should be some items in place to protect the school.
Like paying it out Yearly instead of one big lump sum. And stipulate that if the player transfers his pay from that school is terminated. Also the cost of a full scholarship should be factored into his pay.
If he’s paid by a collective they would have to work out their own terms. What ever conclusion on this issue is reached should be NCAA wide. Also if the school pays the players there should be a Team NIL Cap much like the NFL salary cap. This would at least help a smidge for schools to stay financially competitive.
I would hope that collectives would have a NCAA sanctioned NIL Cap. I’m ALL Dawgs fan so it doesn’t affect My favorite team quite as much as UGA Is financially competitive both the actual school and collectives. But the current situation is grossly unfair to the smaller schools with less resources.
If the NCAA and individual schools had addressed this many years ago with some sort of additional to scholarship stipend this issue could have at least been put off for some time, but it was inevitable that NIL was gonna happen.
Outside of the players the lawyers and agents are getting their cut. They will fight hard against any common sense ideas as they stand to lose allot of money regardless of the player. I should say miss out on allot of money not lose. Gonna be mighty tough to straighten this mess out. The main victims will be CFB fans.
What an intriguing possibility…..The Georgia Bull Dawgs vs The Yale Bull Dogs to kick off the 2029 football season and commemorating Sanford's centennial …. one of my most treasures possessions is a ticket from the 1929 game…. DMVDawg is correct, Yale sure doesn't "need" the money but I believe it''s more the woke administration/student population that has relegated football and other competitive sports to traditional museum relics….however, I believe a concerted effort by The University of Georgia Administration, Athletic Association, and Dawg Nation should be a priority….after all, if not for several Yale Grads, The University of Georgia….the first state chartered university in American history…..might have succumbed to the native population north of the evils of alcohol found in the tavern south in Watkinsville.
Excellent article Bill, as usual.