ArizonaLonghorn

College basketball does the same thing - roughly the top 40-45 teams get in on merit, then there are 20 or so "conference champs" (I forget the exact number) from lower ranked leagues that get a guaranteed spot. With 68 teams making the field you'd think the bitching about who got left out would be minimal but every year fans of the # 7 (of whatever) team in a power conference, or a good mid-major who lost their conference tournament whine endlessly about how unfair it is that they were left out. For those questioning the wisdom (and competitive unfairness) of the guaranteed G5 bid - I think the big conferences felt they had to do that to avoid anti-trust lawsuits since the 'little guys' would have almost surely been locked out otherwise. Big deal, so now there are essentially 11 teams from the P4+ND getting in (unless a real outlier like Duke gets passed over for a second G5 team). Going to 16 teams would make it better, going to 24 would seemingly leave room enough for almost every even semi-worthy pretender, but I'd bet there would still be teams in the high 20's yapping if left out ...

Please allow me to clear it up for everyone - Schrödinger's cat Lee's recruitment is a thought experiment concerning quantum superposition. In the thought experiment, a hypothetical cat coveted OL recruit in a closed box an unknown location may be considered to be simultaneously both alive on the Texas campus and dead not on the Texas campus while it is unobserved, as a result of its fate being linked to a random subatomic NIL event that may or may not occur. Makes sense now, right?

Wonder how much they are paying Stewart and D. Moore, and now Lott? What's the production thus far? In two years Stewart has played in 5 games due to injury,with decent production when healthy (48 rec, 5 TD, 613 yards). Moore has played in 5 games this year (again, missed time due to injury). 28 catches, 3 TD, 443 yards - also 4 carries for 49 yards and a TD). They are excellent recruits and I wish they had gone to Texas, but so far out of 36 possible games they've been healthy for just 10 of them.

Thanksgiving is not kind to turkeys

Saved the rest of us from subscribing to another site! ChatGPT for the win baby ... that's what the multi-billion dollar investment in AI is all about, right?

Well, they are rushing 3 and we have 6 guys blocking, so that explains a lot about our 'success'.

What's fong with it?

I think it's $90 million over 7 years, which would be a working man's salary under $13 million/year. The extra $25 mill "roster cash" is pretty much what all the big time programs are likely paying to stay competitive in the NIL Wars. They are trying to screw Brian Kelly out of the $53 mill they owe him, which will make it easier to pay Lane (though it's hard to see how they have a legal leg to stand on with Kelly's deal).

If mediocre coaches like Les Miles and Ed Ogeron can win national championships there then how do you rationalize "doom(ed) to fail"?

Hypothetically, say Sark wants to leave (for whatever reason) and CDC is OK with it - no buyout, nothing like that, just a mutual amicable parting of the ways. Texas job is open. There are only two coaches on the list who just might (possibly) come here that I think would do an excellent job, based on what they've done the past say 5 years - I'm leaving out Kirby, Dabo, Saban, Cignetti - the usual extremely unlikely or unobtainables. Marcus Freeman and Dan Lanning are the two I think would be great fits at Texas. I know there are solid reasons that might keep them in their current jobs, but those are the two I'd go for who seem even remotely feasible, probably in that order. What do you guys think? Any other big names that you think are interested? Would Freeman or Lanning be suitable for you?

Hope he plays well. Really hope he stays healthy. He was playing at a very high level before that injury. A good article on the Longhorn from Arp and his comeback on ESPN: How Cowboys' DeMarvion Overshown returned from knee injury

The key things to look at are first, how many deals are being turned down for not meeting the FMV threshold and second, how many lawsuits are filed regarding deals not accepted. The NCAA has a recent history of caving at the mere mention of lawsuits, given their history of losing so many court cases the past few years. I just checked and the updated stats seem to indicate the agents have figured out ways to make most deals 'legal'. From Associated Press article More than $87 million in NIL deals have been approved in college sports since June (updated Nov 9 so pretty recent): (quote) The College Sports Commission released statistics Thursday saying it has approved 12,175 third-party name, image, likeness deals for athletes worth $87.5 million while rejecting fewer than 400. The latest snapshot, which includes data from June 11 through Nov. 1, also provided an update on turnaround time. It said 53% of deals submitted to NIL Go were resolved within 24 hours and 74% of deals that reached resolution did so within seven days following submission of all required information. Third-party deals, often with organizations with close ties to the schools called collectives, are a way for athletic departments to go beyond the $20.5 million they’re allowed to pay players directly this academic year as part of the court-approved House settlement. ... The overall value of the rejected deals was $10.01 million, with an average of $25,400. Common reasons for rejecting deals include them not fitting the CSC definition of having a “valid business purpose,” a requirement designed to prevent collectives from simply paying athletes to play at the school. Also, a practice called “warehousing” athletes’ NIL rights is against the rules; that happens when a company locks up a player’s NIL rights with no immediate plan to use them. Athletes must also be receiving a fair “range of compensation” for what they’re doing, a metric being determined by Deloitte, the accounting firm hired by the CSC to create NIL Go. The 394 rejected deals does not include deals that were not cleared at first but have been sent back for further review. The CSC said no cases have been sent to arbitration. (/quote) This will be an ongoing story but so far it looks like the 3rd party deals are going through relatively unscathed. Would be nice to know if the really big ones like Felix Ojo's $5 million+ deal are getting approved.

Unless those two college assistants are named Kyle Flood and Peter Kwiatkowski I ain't too worried ...

Jerry Tarkanian explained it well many years ago when Kentucky basketball was being investigated for things like FedEx envelopes and shoeboxes full of cash were sent to recruits, yet Kentucky always seemed to escape serious penalty: "The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky they're going to give Cleveland State another year of probation"

This one with QB Walker Howard is possibly worse better ...