NCAA Football 2021-22 Season

Yeah I usually chirp in this thread when Louisville makes the CWS every other year or so.

Of course last season they had 2 pitchers drafted first round and would have been favorites to win the whole thing but the season got cancelled. This year did not go as well, young and reloading.

Stele wrote:

Yeah I usually chirp in this thread when Louisville makes the CWS every other year or so.

Of course last season they had 2 pitchers drafted first round and would have been favorites to win the whole thing but the season got cancelled. This year did not go as well, young and reloading.

UT had the number 11 player drafted in 2020 (pitcher Garrett Crochet) as well as some others off of the shortened 2020 season team. They'd already beaten then #1 Texas Tech and gone 15-2 before the season was shut down. Some say last year's team was more talented than this year's. We also had arguably our best pitcher go down for the season in the first game of 2021 (IIRC).

Next year we'll be pretty young, though.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I'm interested in college baseball, but the only thing I have to talk about is how we just hired TCU's coach. They knocked us out of the postseason four times in the last decade.

Knoxville was worried you guys might come after Vitello. He's getting ready to get a big raise and a lot of much needed upgrades at the stadium.

Women in Knoxville would be very upset if he was stolen away from us. He's quite popular. He's like a better looking version of Bruce Pearl in how well he promotes himself and his team.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E4aXsWmX0AQ6IWY?format=png&name=900x900)

F*ckin' GET EM, kids.

Can't get 9 people to agree on anything in this country except that the NCAA sucks

What? They didn't mention Texas at all! Do these justices even Friday Night Lights? Secede now!

/s

Stele wrote:

Can't get 9 people to agree on anything in this country except that the NCAA sucks

They lost 9-0! The entire Supreme Court looked at the NCAA and was like "This is bullsh*t and you know it."

Amazing.

Prederick wrote:
Stele wrote:

Can't get 9 people to agree on anything in this country except that the NCAA sucks

They lost 9-0! The entire Supreme Court looked at the NCAA and was like "This is bullsh*t and you know it."

Amazing.

Imagine if you're the NCAA and their wealthy backers who bankrolled the campaigns of the senators who confirmed conservative justices to the Supreme Court and in the moment of truth you got absolutely nada out of them. The court even trolled you by having two Trump justices write opinions.

Train to Cleveland time, but this court's probably going to say that states can ban abortions but not ban assault weapons. This court's probably going to say the Constitution doesn't guarantee a right to privacy while ensuring the wealthy can sue news organizations into oblivion if they find an article unflattering. They may even break the backs of organized labor in the tech industry once and for all. So it says something about what the NCAA's doing if in comparison of everything else the most conservative Supreme Court in this century is about to ban/permit if preventing fair compensation to student athletes is crossing a red line.

Edit: And this is multiple generations and multiple Republican presidencies worth of Supreme Court justices that the NCAA thought would have protected their interests. Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, White Clarence Thomas, Amy COVID Spreader Event. They all should have been in the bag for the rich and yet they all sided against them.

I'll be honest: I don't know what the long play is here for the conservatives on the court. On one hand, conservatives hate higher ed, and anything to damage it is a win. (Having to pay athletes even tiny amounts will crush some athletic budgets.) On the other, conservatives have some, ah, issues with race, and it stands to reason that Black athletics (bc they make up the majority of D1 football and basketball players) will benefit greatly. On the third hand, the majority of college athletes are white (56 percent, acc to the NCAA). Once you get into baseball/softball, soccer, cross country, lacrosse, etc, there aren't many black and brown faces.

Otherwise, what the NCAA is doing now is a capitalist's dream: minimize labor costs to maximize profits.

Any chance we can keep the sweeping insulting generalizations in D&D? This is the college football thread.

Cal will allow 100% capacity during football. Not really news, but based on our last few years, 100% capacity probably still allows for social distancing

From Cal's alma mater:
All Hail, Blue and Gold
Thy colors unfold
O'er loyal Californians,
Whose hearts are strong and bold,
All Hail, Blue and Gold
Thy strength ne'er shall fail;
For thee we'll die,
All Hail! All Hail!

Truer words haven't been spoken!

See you at Memorial! GO BEARS!

This is back to better quality:

BREAKING: In a major shift, the NCAA will allow college athletes to earn compensation for use of their name, image or likeness. The move comes as legislation is set to become law in several states allowing such compensation.

Please start the video at 1:24.

Here for all of this. I would very much like SMU to make a NIL-influenced comeback.

^^^

That was hilarious. As someone with a passing interest in big-time football and fond memories of when I was in school and my school was corrupt enough to be good, let the chaos reign!

I'm kinda looking forward to all of this NIL stuff. Former Pac-12 commissioner (and still current moron) Larry Scott thought being literally a few blocks away from Twitter HQ was a competitive advantage for the league.. which was totally false for any multi billion dollar org. The SEC as an organization has as much access to Twitter, Facebook, etc. as the Pac-12.

HOWEVER for an individual athlete in the Pac-12 you have much easier access to Hollywood for UCLA/USC, you have Nike for Oregon and you have all sorts of video game and social media companies in the Bay Area. You can film a mocap session at 2K's facility in Northern California or preview the next Madden at EA, shoot a commercial in a studio in LA, look at shoe designs in Nike World HQ and be back in time for practice in the Pac-12 footprint. So many brands that these athletes are familiar with are based here. Nearly every major company has plenty of alum from Pac-12 schools (this author included) who would be thrilled to bring in college athletes. Obviously any Used Car Lot in the country can pay an athlete a few bucks to put a face into a commercial, but here your paid internship is at Disney, or Nike, or Facebook, or Microsoft, or Neflix, or Apple, or Electronic Arts, or Visa or Novartis or Pixar or Kleiner Perkins. I have to think in this day and age, most athletes realize they aren't going to go pro. I know even before this NIL stuff, Cal emphasizes post college opportunities beyond football a lot during recruiting, and I believe it works. As schools start to navigate this NIL stuff a school like Cal can leverage this even more.

Maybe its too late for the Pac-12, but I do see this as something that actually benefits this conference significantly.

Problem with some towns on NIL I bet is competing with pro teams in big cities. For instance, in LA, how much actual name recognition would a college kid have that would make them worth the endorsements when you've got all the celebrities and pro athletes competing with them? And there are few college players that would be worth large amounts of money nationwide unless they already had big social media followings.

On the other hand, some of the mid-sized college towns have little local competition. Say an Austin, a College Station, a Columbia, a Little Rock, a Knoxville. None of those towns would seem to compete as much against others.

There's a senior walk on UT receiver that I was reading an article about yesterday that's carving himself out a niche of giving basic business advice to players, both on UT's roster and around the country. He's apparently built a business for ground cover distribution to landscapers already with $1M revenue+, so seems pretty entrepreneurial.

Interesting article on him from The Athletic (pay wall).

Definitely an interesting time.

Understood. I think I'm focusing on what will inevitably become internships and other more direct and indirect ways corporations and marketing teams may be able to impact an athlete besides just putting an image on a billboard or ad. The Trevor Lawrences of the world are going to profit off their likenesses regardless if they are in Clemson, SC or Los Angeles. Once you start moving down the depth chart though, that's when it becomes interesting. OLB #3 has been told he's an awesome personality and has a great presence... the athletic departments here can arrange meetings and presentations with executives from Nike, Facebook, Twitter, CAA to help them understand what that all means and how to take advantage of it. Its not necessarily about Phil Knight throwing $1MM to a 5-star QB to get him to enroll at Oregon, but the opportunity for the 3-star or 4-star Safety that is deciding between Baton Rouge or Berkeley.

That being said QB1 for USC or UCLA is still a big deal in the #1 (or #2?) media market in the US. Leinart/Bush owned the southern california market at the time, and UCLA basketball is always a big deal in LA (probably more popular than the Clippers at least!).

Tennessee is creating a whole Entrepreneurship minor as part of their NIL program.

“A unique characteristic of the NIL framework at Tennessee is the ability to connect our student-athletes with nationally recognized faculty that have spent their entire professional careers in key areas related to NIL,” Associate Provost & Senior Associate AD Dr. Joe Scogin said. “At the core, college athletics is about educating student-athletes and preparing them to have success beyond sport. Partnering with multiple colleges throughout campus and anchoring our NIL education in a credentialed minor in Entrepreneurship gives UT student-athletes the opportunity to invest in their future in new and creative ways. Most importantly, the Entrepreneurship minor is fully developed and ready to deliver now.”

Tennessee’s partnership with Altius Sports Partners assures UT student-athletes have on-demand access to a diverse national roster of NIL consultants and cross-disciplinary leaders whose areas of industry expertise ranges from personal branding and media/marketing to business formation and revenue generation to legal and compliance and more.

Yep, I wouldn't be surprised if most schools are doing something similar given what is happening. Its going to create a different kind of arms race, but its one that I think the Pac-12 has a distinct advantage. I just think the rolodex of "cross-disciplinary leaders whose areas of industry expertise ranges from personal branding and media/marketing to business formation and revenue generation to legal and compliance and more" is a lot bigger at Pac-12 schools than elsewhere. We've all spent a year on zoom calls so maybe location means a little less, but a field trip to Electronic Arts to meet their sports marketing team or Nike HQ is a lot more impactful than a zoom call.

Carlbear95 wrote:

Yep, I wouldn't be surprised if most schools are doing something similar given what is happening. Its going to create a different kind of arms race, but its one that I think the Pac-12 has a distinct advantage. I just think the rolodex of "cross-disciplinary leaders whose areas of industry expertise ranges from personal branding and media/marketing to business formation and revenue generation to legal and compliance and more" is a lot bigger at Pac-12 schools than elsewhere. We've all spent a year on zoom calls so maybe location means a little less, but a field trip to Electronic Arts to meet their sports marketing team or Nike HQ is a lot more impactful than a zoom call.

But if you don't have the Saturday TV ratings for your games than you have at Alabama, does it matter? EA's going to want the quarterback for the Tide even if it's 3/4 of a country away. Atlanta is full of talent management agencies for music and entertainment, as is Nashville. Austin is full of high tech start ups, etc.

And I'm sure on the shoe side, the big schools are going to have reps around. Do you think UF, which is a Jordan branded school, won't have Nike people around?

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The whole athletic apparel conversation is something I don't understand yet anyway. Schools already have huge contracts with Nike or Adidas. What if Danny Quarterback wants to deal with a different brand than the school? What will he wear on Saturday, or even outside of team activities? That's a HUGE source of revenue for some schools that is at direct odds with NIL.

Basketball is even harder because a lot of times these kids get into a travel team track with a particular brand and get fed into that brand's partner schools almost by default. That's part of all the federal investigation stuff that's been going on for years.

I saw a player on Twitter saying that the dream is to make it to the NFL, not to make a few grand, or even few tens of grands, for four years at most. Schools like Bama and LSU will still likely be competing for championships and putting players in the league.

MannishBoy wrote:

Basketball is even harder because a lot of times these kids get into a travel team track with a particular brand and get fed into that brand's partner schools almost by default. That's part of all the federal investigation stuff that's been going on for years.

Yeah this has been a constant source of frustration at Louisville the last ~15 years or so. We inked a deal to be one of Adidas prime schools. But then any kid who plays on a Nike AAU team is unlikely to commit to us. And for a top 6 all time program that's pretty annoying. Shoes mean more than wins.

I'm just waiting for people who have been calling for players to be paid for years to now denounce Aggies for actually doing it.

FWIW it was a real estate company doing the paying, and the fansite (the largest single-school fansite, I'm told) did the interviews.

For the record, I want the players to get paid. I would rather they get paid by the school (because the QB/RB/WR will get the cash while the OL and non-sexy D players get screwed), but I am happy for this.

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You may be pleased to know that one of these two players is a Safety. The other is an RB.

Oh I am super-duper here for all of this, and the fact that the Wisconsin offensive line isn't being sponsored by a cheese or sausage producer yet is just offensive.

Hi, my name is QB4 Shephard, and this is my favorite store on The Citadel.

IMAGE(https://aestheticsforbirds.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/shepard.jpg)

Here's something interesting: Twitter tells me that Texas and Oklahoma have approached the SEC about becoming members.