Is this the most parity that’s been in college football in a long time?

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Or maybe ever? I know we’ve all said “Team X just isn’t that good because they lost to Team Y.” But is that because of the talent being spread out more? NIL and the portal have kept teams from stockpiling depth.

You can go down the top 10 rankings and make a case for each of those teams to win and lose and even make it to the national championship.

 

[8dog]

Yes. But I also wonder how much Alabama is impacting that. If this were normal Bama would we feel that way. Because we still have a lot of 1 loss teams and a no loss team.

 

[Grove Sh.tter]

It's certainly the most dispair-ity I've fwlt for our program in 20+ years

 

[paindonthurt17]

Or maybe ever? I know we’ve all said “Team X just isn’t that good because they lost to Team Y.” But is that because of the talent being spread out more? NIL and the portal have kept teams from stockpiling depth.

You can go down the top 10 rankings and make a case for each of those teams to win and lose and even make it to the national championship.

NIL has 100% helped parity. If they go back to 1 free transfer and then sit out a year after that, it would help things a lot.

Possibly limit scholarships to 80 total and drop the yearly down to like 22 would help a lot more. Give the 3 extra to baseball.
Creating some type of salary cap with NIL.

Teams like bama and USC and Ohio State deserve some type of advantage but they shouldN'T be able to dish out unlimited funds.

 

[thatsbaseball]

I think there is more parity but I think it's for the wrong reasons. I think some of what we're seeing is proof that 18-20 year old's are not mentally ready to be professional athletes and that manifests itself by way of some inexplicable underachieving on the field by some supposedly superior teams.

I edited to add "mentally"

 

[paindonthurt17]

Yes. But I also wonder how much Alabama is impacting that. If this were normal Bama would we feel that way. Because we still have a lot of 1 loss teams and a no loss team.

Part of Bama being down is parity. Lot of it had to do with Saban retiring but part of his retiring was NIL.

 

[Barkman Turner Overdrive]

Parity is a very good way to describe the current state of college football in general.

Parody is a very good way to describe the current state of Mississippi State football specifically.

 

[8dog]

NIL has 100% helped parity. If they go back to 1 free transfer and then sit out a year after that, it would help things a lot.

Possibly limit scholarships to 80 total and drop the yearly down to like 22 would help a lot more. Give the 3 extra to baseball.
Creating some type of salary cap with NIL.

Teams like bama and USC and Ohio State deserve some type of advantage but they should be able to dish out unlimited funds.

Has NIL really played a part in the parity? The most expensive team out there is gonna go 9-3 with a home loss to KY. But aside from that the teams that can pay the most NIL other than OM are the teams that traditionally have been powers anyway. I mean how much is Vandys roster? Indiana’s?

 

[85Bears]

Has NIL really played a part in the parity? The most expensive team out there is gonna go 9-3 with a home loss to KY. But aside from that the teams that can pay the most NIL other than OM are the teams that traditionally have been powers anyway. I mean how much is Vandys roster? Indiana’s?

I don’t think Indiana or Vandys rosters are that expensive, the players they added were mostly G5. most importantly they had an experienced coach with a plan building the roster and doing evaluations. We seem to be staggering around with no rhyme or reason to what we are doing.

 

[Shmuley]

State is certainly on par …. with most G5 programs.

 

[8dog]

I don’t think Indiana or Vandys rosters are that expensive, the players they added were mostly G5. most importantly they had an experienced coach with a plan building the roster and doing evaluations. We seem to be staggering around with no rhyme or reason to what we are doing.

Yeah. It’s mostly about coaching. Portal helps and it helped Indiana massively bc of all the JMU guys. People just seems to say the answer to every question is “because of NIL” like when that guy said MC was shutting down FB bc of it which was asinine

 

[Shmuley]

Part of Bama being down is parity. Lot of it had to do with Saban retiring but part of his retiring was NIL.

Clearly Saban coasted toward the end of his tenure and then voted on NIL with his feet. He couldn’t have signaled any stronger what he thought about pay for play than how he exited.

 

[kired]

I think it’s more noticeable because we’re paying attention to teams in that 10-20 range now. In years past those teams would mostly be out of the headlines. No one would care that Florida just beat ole Miss.

 

[patdog]

I don’t think Indiana or Vandys rosters are that expensive, the players they added were mostly G5. most importantly they had an experienced coach with a plan building the roster and doing evaluations. We seem to be staggering around with no rhyme or reason to what we are doing.

Yeah, I don’t think their rosters are that good either. Vandy is going 6-6. And Indianas best win is 6-5 Michigan.

 

[civildawg88]

I like seeing an underdog like Indiana succeed but man that schedule is bad.

 

[WilCoDawg]

NIL, portal, and faith in the coaches has leveled the field.
Honestly, I hate that it’s a free-for-all for players to go willy-nilly wherever they want. They need to be locked into contracts like coaches are. You want to poach a player? Be ready to pay a lot of money to snag him from someone else. I’m not sure why this hasn’t been implemented. Otherwise, cut the scholarships and other benefits and give it to other players/sports. Imagine how much better our other sports would be if football and basketball and possibly baseball would be then.

 

[olblue]

Or maybe ever? I know we’ve all said “Team X just isn’t that good because they lost to Team Y.” But is that because of the talent being spread out more? NIL and the portal have kept teams from stockpiling depth.

You can go down the top 10 rankings and make a case for each of those teams to win and lose and even make it to the national championship.

People bemoan the current system but it benefits the traditional bottom feeders if the right leadership structure is in place.

 

[paindonthurt17]

Has NIL really played a part in the parity? The most expensive team out there is gonna go 9-3 with a home loss to KY. But aside from that the teams that can pay the most NIL other than OM are the teams that traditionally have been powers anyway. I mean how much is Vandys roster? Indiana’s?

OM, Vandy, SMU, Kentucky among many others have pulled some of the best players away from Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Tenn, USC, Michigan, LSU, etc.

The top teams still have a distinct advantage but they are definitely losing SOME of the top talent.

 

[paindonthurt17]

Clearly Saban coasted toward the end of his tenure and then voted on NIL with his feet. He couldn’t have signaled any stronger what he thought about pay for play than how he exited.

I think you are agreeing with me? But i agree with you.....I think.

 

[8dog]

OM, Vandy, SMU, Kentucky among many others have pulled some of the best players away from Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Tenn, USC, Michigan, LSU, etc.

The top teams still have a distinct advantage but they are definitely losing SOME of the top talent.

Thats a portal thing. They aren’t luring them with NIL away from schools that can outbid them. But those schools you listed outside of OM are primarily portaling in kids from lower tier schools.

 

[Shmuley]

I think you are agreeing with me? But i agree with you.....I think.

Yes, I agreed with your assessment.

 

[Dawgzilla2]

Ask us again after Ohio State and Oregon play each other in the Championship game.

 

[paindonthurt17]

Thats a portal thing. They aren’t luring them with NIL away from schools that can outbid them. But those schools you listed outside of OM are primarily portaling in kids from lower tier schools.

I don’t know the exact number but the dispersion of the high school top 100 has most assuredly gone up.

so instead of the top 100 being mixed over 8 to 10 schools it’s being mixed up over 10 to 12.

Combo those schools with less top players and other schools being able to pull the best in transfers due partially NIL it’s creating parity.

or it’s helping to create parity

 

[8dog]

I don’t know the exact number but the dispersion of the high school top 100 has most assuredly gone up.

so instead of the top 100 being mixed over 8 to 10 schools it’s being mixed up over 10 to 12.

Combo those schools with less top players and other schools being able to pull the best in transfers due partially NIL it’s creating parity.

or it’s helping to create parity

We will have to disagree. Kids aren’t leaving bama for most schools for NIL. They are doing it for playing time
And bc they don’t have to sit a year. Now OM pays but Amos wasn’t even a starter at Bama. The portal just gives kids more options. NIL is gravy. But if a blue blood wants to keep you they aren’t typically losing you bc of NIL

Vandy portal class is a who’s not who of CFB schools

 

[thatsbaseball]

In the NIL age there are three letters I suggest everyone get used to hearing.....SMU. They are going to play and play hard.

 

[MSTerritoryDog]

I think it’s more noticeable because we’re paying attention to teams in that 10-20 range now. In years past those teams would mostly be out of the headlines. No one would care that Florida just beat ole Miss.

Bingo! With BCS we were looking at 3 or 4 teams to choose two; either undefeated or 1-loss. The 4 team playoff didn’t change that calculus much and just tried to pick from 6 or 7 team, but going to 12 really starts the problems because now you’re looking at a lot more resumes and all of them have problems. For example, does a 1-loss Army with its weak SoS get a spot over a 3-loss non- conf champion SEC team? I don’t know, but that situation hasn’t been a discussion point until this year.

 

[paindonthurt17]

We will have to disagree. Kids aren’t leaving bama for most schools for NIL. They are doing it for playing time
And bc they don’t have to sit a year. Now OM pays but Amos wasn’t even a starter at Bama. The portal just gives kids more options. NIL is gravy. But if a blue blood wants to keep you they aren’t typically losing you bc of NIL

Vandy portal class is a who’s not who of CFB schools

Its a combo of both. Amos kind of makes my point. He likely isn't leaving bama and going to Ole Miss if it wasn't for NIL. He MIGHT have left bama but only for another big school. With NIL its a lot easier to make the call to go to Ole Miss or state. Playing time and significant money.

NIL isn't the only reason for increased parity but its a big part of it. You can disagree, but you can also be wrong.

 

[paindonthurt17]

In the NIL age there are three letters I suggest everyone get used to hearing.....SMU. They are going to play and play hard.

Lot of smaller non traditional powers with lots of money are going to do similar. They might not do it to degree SMU will but they going to create ripples.

 

[8dog]

Its a combo of both. Amos kind of makes my point. He likely isn't leaving bama and going to Ole Miss if it wasn't for NIL. He MIGHT have left bama but only for another big school. With NIL its a lot easier to make the call to go to Ole Miss or state. Playing time and significant money.

NIL isn't the only reason for increased parity but its a big part of it. You can disagree, but you can also be wrong.

Agree on Amos but that’s why I noted earlier OM is more of an exception. Indiana, Vandy, Az State aren’t luring kids with huge NIL bags.

 

[paindonthurt17]

Agree on Amos but that’s why I noted earlier OM is more of an exception. Indiana, Vandy, Az State aren’t luring kids with huge NIL bags.

It’s not really about luring kids.

if the 80% of the top 100 once went to 6 schools and no only 70% goes to the top 6, the 10 players gained at 10 programs isn’t really what helps. What helps is the top 6 aren’t as good bc they don’t have as much depth.

plus the bottom teams are able to pick up really good players from smaller schools so the gap between top and bottom decreases even more.

 

[8dog]

It’s not really about luring kids.

if the 80% of the top 100 once went to 6 schools and no only 70% goes to the top 6, the 10 players gained at 10 programs isn’t really what helps. What helps is the top 6 aren’t as good bc they don’t have as much depth.

plus the bottom teams are able to pick up really good players from smaller schools so the gap between top and bottom decreases even more.

Well those highly ranked kids are transferring bc they aren’t playing for the most part. But again you are conflating the portal and NIL. They are leaving bc they can - and yes that helps. NIL really isn’t the reason. It’s the ease of movement. Gerald Mincey is on his third school for example.

 

[onewoof]

In helmet communication results in more losses for big programs like Georgia, Bama and Ohio State.

Vandy never beats Bama without it. Neither does Oklahoma.

 

[Bulldog Bruce]

Kiffin talked about it in Dan Patrick this week. It is definitely a combination of portal and NIL. He made a great point in that you can't buy culture and with all this movement it is hard to get a group of guys to do things "the Bama way" or "the Bulldog way". When guys sat for a year or two they were learning how to do things the programs way. Now they can move on.

For example many of the Steinbrenner Yankees teams were a collection of really good players, but the cohesion was lacking. It could take some time to gel, but time is no longer on a coaches side to build a culture.

 

[patdog]

Kiffin talked about it in Dan Patrick this week. It is definitely a combination of portal and NIL. He made a great point in that you can't buy culture and with all this movement it is hard to get a group of guys to do things "the Bama way" or "the Bulldog way". When guys sat for a year or two they were learning how to do things the programs way. Now they can move on.

For example many of the Steinbrenner Yankees teams were a collection of really good players, but the cohesion was lacking. It could take some time to gel, but time is no longer on a coaches side to build a culture.

And this is why college football is a worse product than it used to be.

 

[Boosh]

Or maybe ever? I know we’ve all said “Team X just isn’t that good because they lost to Team Y.” But is that because of the talent being spread out more? NIL and the portal have kept teams from stockpiling depth.

You can go down the top 10 rankings and make a case for each of those teams to win and lose and even make it to the national championship.

Definitely true in the SEC with the obvious exception, and in the ACC & B12. The B10 is behind in parity as the same teams at the top and few upsets.

 

[Mr. Cook]

Kiffin talked about it in Dan Patrick this week. It is definitely a combination of portal and NIL. He made a great point in that you can't buy culture and with all this movement it is hard to get a group of guys to do things "the Bama way" or "the Bulldog way". When guys sat for a year or two they were learning how to do things the programs way. Now they can move on.

For example many of the Steinbrenner Yankees teams were a collection of really good players, but the cohesion was lacking. It could take some time to gel, but time is no longer on a coaches side to build a culture.

Kiffin said exact same thing on Cowherd’s show.

Must be gunning for a new gig

 

[birdawg]

Yes. NIL and transfer portal means more good players on the field. Doesn't make sense for stud players to play backup for 3 years and "develop" anymore.

This is the unpopular opinion that NIL and TP bring parity to the game which makes it more fun to watch.

If we didn't stink at it, we probably wouldn't complain.

 

[paindonthurt17]

Well those highly ranked kids are transferring bc they aren’t playing for the most part. But again you are conflating the portal and NIL. They are leaving bc they can - and yes that helps. NIL really isn’t the reason. It’s the ease of movement. Gerald Mincey is on his third school for example.

Why didn’t they transfer as much before NIL? And incoming freshman aren’t transfers.

 

[8dog]

Why didn’t they transfer as much before NIL? And incoming freshman aren’t transfers.

Because you had to sit out a year. Transferring without sitting became permissible in April 2021. NIL became permissible in July 2021. So it’s easy to confuse the reason for the spike in transfers.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Why didn’t they transfer as much before NIL? And incoming freshman aren’t transfers.

Transferring without penalty just started a couple of years ago. NIL is part of the equation but the biggest thing is these players can transfer as much as they want whenever they want and play immediately.