College Football

I don't like the smell of this...

Game will not be rescheduled.

Dropped out: Kansas State (3), Oklahoma State (NV), Northern Illinois (NV), UCF (10), Washington State (7), Maryland (7), UNLV (5)

Others receiving votes: Auburn (17), Kentucky (14), Arizona State (13), Boston College (12), Mississippi State (10), UCF (10), Virginia Tech (9), Maryland (7), Washington State (7), Texas A&M (6), UNLV (5), Kansas State (3), Nebraska (3), Boise State (2), Pittsburgh (2), Vanderbilt (1)

Link to the results spreadsheet HERE

Link for next weeks poll HERE

Link to submit your CFP bracket prediction for the contest HERE

Welp, I'm happy with this. TN plays alabama, florida, Kentucky fulfilling my criteria for a schedule. We even play Vandy so the blue hairs can be happy and Georgia so idiots who think they're a blueblood can be happy too!

Edit: although now that I'm looking at it, it's just this year's schedule with flipped home games...

Additional details: https://x.com/CoachReedLive/status/1838925402934321156

All financial commitments for UNLV QB Matthew Sluka were completely met.

But after wins against KU and Houston, Sluka’s family hired an agent and they collectively feel that his market value has increased, per source.

https://x.com/PalomaFOX5News/status/1838802285423718419

Per source, UNLV QB Matt Sluka has been approached with more money to transfer.

https://x.com/ESPNRittenberg/status/1838948515113767100

Bob Sluka, father of UNLV QB Matthew Sluka, told ESPN that his son's agents agreed to an NIL deal with the school back in February, never received payments despite requests and never asked for any adjustments to the original deal.

"We have no idea what the hell happened."

1:03pm EST update from ESPN: https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/41438172/matthew-sluka-nil-dispute-unlv-hinges-verbal-offer

Sluka's agent, Marcus Cromartie, told ESPN that UNLV didn't come through on a verbal offer of $100,000 from an assistant coach. The quarterback's father, Bob Sluka, told ESPN that head coach Barry Odom later said in a phone conversation that the offer wasn't valid because it didn't come from him, but rather from offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, who declined comment to ESPN.

UNLV and Shannon Cottrell, the director of athlete engagements for the Friends of UNLV collective, also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

It's finally happened. I have no idea WTF is happening with realignment. The players in the drama are constantly shifting, the motivations are murky, the money is not immediately obvious. I am very confused.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GDZbC8t12o

Youtube link as well just in case

1. Texas
2. Georgia
3. Ohio State
4. Alabama
5. Tennessee (+1)
6. Ole Miss (-1)
7. Miami (+1)
8. Oregon (+1)
9. Penn State (+1)
10. Utah (+2)
11. Missouri (-4)
12. Michigan (+6)
13. USC (-2)
14. LSU (+2)
15. Louisville (+4)
16. Notre Dame (+1)
17. Clemson (+4)
18. Iowa State (+2)
19. Illinois (+5)
20. Oklahoma State (-6)
21. oklahoma (-6)
22. BYU (new)
23. Kansas State (-10)
24. Texas A&M (+1)
25. Boise State (new)

Others receiving votes: Washington State, Indiana, Boston College, UNLV, Pitt, Nebraska, Iowa, JMU, South Carolina, Liberty, Arkansas, UCF, Arizona, SMU, Navy

Dropped out: Nebraska, Northern Illinois

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfddEB6vxcxfJVhO-f3l1F0g8Z_Q-_TTaa9MDSuEs8KDSrQrA/viewform?usp=sf_link

But I'm at the ND Miami Ohio game.

Vibe is very muted it should not be 87 in late September in northern Indiana.

Too many sweaty shirts.

I'm sure it's fine

Dropped out: Boston College(3), Clemson (10), Florida State (9), Nebraska (8)

Others receiving votes: South Carolina (13), Pittsburgh (12), Virginia Tech (12), Iowa State (11), Clemson (10), Florida State (9), Texas A&M (9), Nebraska (8), Arizona State (7), Kentucky (5), Boston College (3), California (3), Indiana (2), Michigan State (2), Boise State (1)

Link to the results spreadsheet HERE

Link for next weeks poll HERE

Link to submit your CFP bracket prediction for the contest HERE

With all the talking heads on TV proclaiming that this season is unlike any other, I'm curious how the community feels. Totally new landscape of CFB or just more of the same? How do we all feel about:

• Helmet communication (for only 1 player on the field per team except on free kicks)
• Tablets on the sidelines (up to 18 per team)
• The 2 minute timeout
• Corporate logos on fields (no longer requires the stadium to be named after the sponsor)
• New homes for Arizona, ASU, Cal, CU, Oregon, ou, SMU, Stanford, Texas, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington
• Expanded playoff (probably too early to tell on this one)
• New TV deals (SEC on ABC, B1G on CBS)
• Current season of Fansville (Ewers could be a Heisman candidate but he sure won't be winning any Oscars)

For reference, here are the P4 vs P4 records so far:

• ACC: 6-8
• B1G: 5-5 (or 5-6 if counting ND)
• Big XII: 5-6
• SEC: 8-5 (or 8-6 if counting ND)

Rendering in the article.

Kind of cool that it's exclusively a student section, but the end zone is kind of a crummy section. Although I suppose it would be foolish to try to sell premium seats in a spot with such a bad view. Gee, I don't know any program that would do that... (FWIW, I can't stand Texas's new south end zone and this one by USF is giving off the same vibes)

The newsworthy part of the article:

The University of Tennessee will increase football ticket prices and the required donations that accompany them by an average of 14.5% in 2025 with most of the new cost going to a “talent fee” to pay players.

...

Here’s the breakdown of the average 14.5% price increase of tickets at Neyland Stadium in 2025:

• Initial average increase of 4.5% per seat on single-game tickets and season tickets plus donations. Some will be higher, some lower. That increase accounts for UT’s rising costs for construction, food, travel and other athletic department expenses.
• An additional 10% increase per seat on all single-game tickets and season tickets plus donations as a “talent fee” to fund the revenue-sharing pool for athletes coming as early as 2025.
• Season ticket renewals will begin Thursday, and the renewal deadline is Feb. 27, 2025. UT is offering a 10-month payment plan to help fans absorb the cost increase.

UT already doubled student ticket prices from $10 to $20 this season, and they’ll go up to $25 in 2025.

Paying Tennessee players, extra scholarships could cost $30 million

The details of revenue sharing aren’t known yet because they’re contingent on the settlement of the House v. NCAA federal antitrust case, which is still amid negotiations. Revenue sharing could go into effect as early as July 2025.

But generally, schools will have the option of funding up to 22% of their annual revenue, or about $22 million, to pay athletes. It could work sort of like a salary cap for college sports, but that structure is also murky.

All SEC and Big Ten schools are expected to opt in to the revenue-sharing model, and some schools from weaker conferences will attempt to keep pace.

Paying athletes for their name, image and likeness could still be a factor in landing and retaining top players. But NIL’s place in a revenue-sharing model is uncertain.

The cap on scholarships also will rise as early as July 2025. Football can go from 85 scholarships to 105. Baseball can go from 11.7 scholarships to 35, and so on.

Many schools won’t be able to fund those extra scholarships unless they drop some sports.

For schools like UT that are opting in, it will require about $30 million annually to both fund revenue sharing and additional scholarships. That’s where UT's ticket price hike comes in.

“It’s really a $30 million-plus math problem,” White said. “We’re not just offloading it to our fans. We are asking them to help us with a portion of it.”

How ticket price hike will fund portion of player pay

UT estimates the 10% ticket price increase for a “talent fee” will account for $7.5 million, or about one-third of the annual $22 million revenue-sharing pool to pay athletes.

...

And the whole second half of the article dissolves into fluff that is mostly blowing smoke up the AD's ass (nothing against the other UT, but being the highest paid AD in the country while asking for money is simply risible)

https://tonko.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fact_sheet_safe_bet_act_3.24.pdf

https://tonko.house.gov/uploadedfiles/safe_bet_legislative_outline_3.24.pdf

I think obvious strikes and home runs, like banning advertising that shows how gambling works seems like abstinence only education. But no advertising during sports events is a slam dunk, to switch to another non football sport analogy.