NIL has ruined college football.

The gap is huge and will likely see the same pool of 5/6 teams winning yearly but the new format does give the little guy a fighters chance.

It's huge….. but not as long as they're playing their second best quarterback.

bear2be2 said:

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IowaBear said:

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The gap is huge and will likely see the same pool of 5/6 teams winning yearly but the new format does give the little guy a fighters chance.

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The gap has always been huge in college football. But it was much wider before NIL and the transfer portal gave historically disadvantaged programs the opportunity to use every resource they have to build the best roster possible.

One of the teams that will play for the title lost to Northern Illinois and the other had two losses in league play and missed their conference championship game. Tell me when that ever happened in the BCS or four-team playoff era.

Blue bloods will always have a cleaner path to the playoff/a championship than non-blue bloods. But the access to both the playoff and talent is greater than it has ever been for those without elite resources. And NIL and the transfer portal are to thank for that. Along with an expanded playoff, they've democratized college football in a way it had never been in its entire history.

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What we saw before this format was the SEC invitational. 2 SEC teams and two others for the rest of us. The gap is not as big anymore.

I believe this format will break up the super conferences. Once a team like us starts breaking through, the UTs and Nebraskas are going to want back to smaller conferences with regional rivalries.

bear2be2 said:

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IowaBear said:

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The gap is huge and will likely see the same pool of 5/6 teams winning yearly but the new format does give the little guy a fighters chance.

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The gap has always been huge in college football. But it was much wider before NIL and the transfer portal gave historically disadvantaged programs the opportunity to use every resource they have to build the best roster possible.
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Truth

Think of the fact that Indiana….freaking Indiana was able to build a team that won 11 games and went to the playoff

Indiana football history makes Baylor look like Alabama

Indiana has a historical record of .422 and has 2 conference titles in their history. They went to the playoff the season after a bad year. I particularly like the chaos of the portal and NIL and expanded play off. Purdue for example can go from a literal Steelesque season to an 8 or 9 win season next season for example. If this existed in 02 we could have had a great season potentially the first post Steele year. A lot of quick rises and falls and rising quickly again seems to be common now.

Seeds 5,6,7,8 were the semifinal

Desperado718 said:

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RD2WINAGNBEAR86 said:

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BUATX2000 said:

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NIL has ruined college football.

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Agree!! But actually this is where the leadership of Baylor wants us to be. Compete. Achieve mediocrity. Go to a ****ty bowl nobody cares about. Don't make waves. Happy to receive a participation trophy. We are Baylor.

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can you spell stilupid? Just asking

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Can I spell "stilupid"? I can, but stilupid is not a word. Welcome to the new world of Big Boy Football. (For the record, we are not in the club.) We are Baylor.

PartyBear said:

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Indiana has a historical record of .422 and has 2 conference titles in their history. They went to the playoff the season after a bad year. I particularly like the chaos of the portal and NIL and expanded play off. Purdue for example can go from a literal Steelesque season to an 8 or 9 win season next season for example. If this existed in 02 we could have had a great season potentially the first post Steele year. A lot of quick rises and falls and rising quickly again seems to be common now.

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Add in good coaches and it's a possibility for a lot of teams.

Fre3dombear said:

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Seeds 5,6,7,8 were the semifinal

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It will be interesting next year to see how Seeds 1-4 alter their 20-25 day off schedule. I think the first round games should be at neutral sites so 1/2 stadium can be allocated to each school, next round games at the home seed (1-4) schools and then the Semi and Finals at designated "bowl" sites.

ASU was a defensive stop away from being in the semi…

BUATX2000 said:

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NIL has ruined college football.

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Idk, before NIL we were forced to watch Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, OU, and Ohio State blow each other out in the playoff each year

BigGameBaylorBear said:

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BUATX2000 said:

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NIL has ruined college football.

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Idk, before NIL we were forced to watch Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, OU, and Ohio State blow each other out in the playoff each year

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There were three of those in it this year. Honestly, I don't see much difference going forward. OU will basically be an "ever so often", TX will be there much of the time, AL, GA and Ohio State the same. They're just too large, infinite $$$ and history.

The Baylor's of the world are a non entity now. At some point a league/playoff need to be developed for schools like Baylor because they are the Valpo's in the new format, NIL, ESPN moving forward. Baylor is that ticket in the Billion $ Lottery drawing.,, ZERO to billion to one chance. Relevancy is the anomaly.

BBWCBear said:

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BigGameBaylorBear said:

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BUATX2000 said:

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NIL has ruined college football.

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Idk, before NIL we were forced to watch Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, OU, and Ohio State blow each other out in the playoff each year

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There were three of those in it this year. Honestly, I don't see much difference going forward. OU will basically be an "ever so often", TX will be there much of the time, AL, GA and Ohio State the same. They're just too large, infinite $$$ and history.

The Baylor's of the world are a non entity now. At some point a league/playoff need to be developed for schools like Baylor because they are the Valpo's in the new format, NIL, ESPN moving forward. Baylor is that ticket in the Billion $ Lottery drawing.,, ZERO to billion to one chance. Relevancy is the anomaly.

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If you think we're a non-entity now, what exactly did you think we were before, when our best seasons in school history would earn us a pat-on-the-head bowl invite?

Indiana, Arizona State, SMU and Boise State just proved that schools like Baylor are closer than they've ever been to being part of the championship process. Whether we can beat those blue blood programs to summit Everest is largely irrelevant right now because before this year we didn't even get to participate in the process -- unless literally everything fell our way, as it did for Cincinnati and TCU (the only disruptors during the four-team playoff era). Progress is progress.

Well…the Sugar Bowl was more than a pat on the head bowl and Cincy actually deserved the 4th spot more than us that particular year. But your point is still valid.

PartyBear said:

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Well…the Sugar Bowl was more than a pat on the head bowl and Cincy actually deserved the 4th spot more than us that particular year. But your point is still valid.

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Bowl games are never more than a pat on the head, especially in the playoff era. The national punditry and most fans don't even consider the results legitimate anymore.

And my point wasn't that we should have gotten in over Cincinnati. It's that an undefeated Cincinnati team needed literally everything to go right to get an invite that year. If they had not had the head-to-head win over Notre Dame in nonconference play, I think the committee would have put a one-loss Notre Dame team in ahead of them, citing schedule strength as the reason.

In any previous setup, be it the BCS or four-team playoff era, a team like Baylor literally had to go undefeated to feel confident that it would be included in the playoff. With a single loss, the committee would be looking for sexier programs to take our place. TCU was just lucky that Alabama had two regular-season losses in 2022 or they would have gotten leap-frogged after their Big 12 title game loss in 2022.

That's not the case anymore. And that's a very good thing for programs like ours.

IowaBear said:

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The gap is huge and will likely see the same pool of 5/6 teams winning yearly but the new format does give the little guy a fighters chance.

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This! But you know, "parity". Make no mistake here - all top 6 teams in the final CFP rankings were in the initial top 8 of the AP poll, and none of the semi final participants came from outside of that group. The idea that true opportunity has expanded based on - checks notes - perennial power Ohio State and lurking power Notre Dame making the CFP title game is farcical.

BBWCBear said:

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BigGameBaylorBear said:

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BUATX2000 said:

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NIL has ruined college football.

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Idk, before NIL we were forced to watch Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, OU, and Ohio State blow each other out in the playoff each year

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There were three of those in it this year. Honestly, I don't see much difference going forward. OU will basically be an "ever so often", TX will be there much of the time, AL, GA and Ohio State the same. They're just too large, infinite $$$ and history.

The Baylor's of the world are a non entity now. At some point a league/playoff need to be developed for schools like Baylor because they are the Valpo's in the new format, NIL, ESPN moving forward. Baylor is that ticket in the Billion $ Lottery drawing.,, ZERO to billion to one chance. Relevancy is the anomaly.

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Ya but none of them dominated like they used to (besides OSU). There's already a separate league, it's called FCS, and nobody watches it. Is that what you want for Baylor?

There's more parity this year than we've seen in years. If Indiana, ASU, and SMU can make the playoff then Baylor can too

BylrFan said:

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ASU was a defensive stop away from being in the semi…

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Baylor was a 4th and 54 from maybe being in the playoff

We're still early stages of NIL The traditional blue bloods will continue to throw more and more money to attract the top talent from lesser schools.

look at the QBs in the national championship. They''re from Duke and K-State. While you may see more parity from the rest of FBS, the top 15 or so schools can always remain at the top now with transfer portal and infinite money.

GoldenBear007 said:

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We're still early stages of NIL The traditional blue bloods will continue to throw more and more money to attract the top talent from lesser schools.

look at the QBs in the national championship. They''re from Duke and K-State. While you may see more parity from the rest of FBS, the top 15 or so schools can always remain at the top now with transfer portal and infinite money.

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They can throw all the money around that they want. Guys still won't stay in programs where they're not getting to play.

This is where the parity has actually occurred. It's not with high school recruiting or incoming transfers, of which the blue blood programs are still largely getting first pick (though the talent has been a little less concentrated in recent years). It's in the inability now for those historically dominant programs to hoard depth.

Players want to play. And with the portal and NIL, they now have the opportunity to leave schools that aren't playing them for still-lucrative opportunities elsewhere. And we're seeing this more and more frequently.

Parity in college football isn't a case of rising tides lifting ships. It's a case of lowering tides leveling ships. Most power conference teams have a solid starting units. What separates the good teams from the great ones is the depth on the two deep. It's getting harder and harder for blue blood programs to maintain the depth advantage they've traditionally had over less privileged programs.

They likely always will still hold an advantage. No one is suggesting otherwise. But that advantage is smaller now than it has been at any other point in college football history.

bear2be2 said:

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Aberzombie1892 said:

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IowaBear said:

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The gap is huge and will likely see the same pool of 5/6 teams winning yearly but the new format does give the little guy a fighters chance.

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This! But you know, "parity". Make no mistake here - all top 6 teams in the final CFP rankings were in the initial top 8 of the AP poll, and none of the semi final participants came from outside of that group. The idea that access has expanded based on - checks notes - perennial power Ohio State and lurking power Notre Dame is farcical.

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We just watched a middling AAC program play for and almost win the ACC title, the SEC finish the season with nothing but three-plus loss teams, a PAC-12 team win the Big Ten and Big 12 titles, a historically terrible Indiana program crack the playoff cartel and two teams that would not have made the four-team playoff reach the title game, and you're still trying to pretend the sport is the same as it's always been.

Keep beating that drum. You're just going to look dumber and dumber over time.

You went down with the SEC ship this year because you refused to believe what was right in front of your eyes. There's no need to continue to be so confidently wrong. There's no shame whatsoever in adjusting opinions in the face of new data. In fact, it's an admirable quality too few possess.

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By "parity" did you only mean outside the top tier of college football when it comes to the CFP? If so, we may be misunderstood each other, as I'm simply saying only the top teams - blue chip ratio approved - have a shot at a title. It was true before CFP expansion and it's true now.

If you're just saying that there is parity at lower levels of CFP teams, then sure but who cares? Teams like SMU, Indiana, Boise State and Arizona State weren't going to win the title this year, and they won't win it next year and the year after that into perpetuity unless they dramatically improve recruiting in a manner that is not practical.

I never rode the SEC the way that you keep implying, but knock yourself out by all means. The SEC was much better than the Big 12, but everyone already knew that.

Baylor Bears would have boatraced Indiana. Their schedule was a joke.
But it was great to see them win so many games for the first time ever.

The gap is more narrow than it's ever been.

The time for a have not to win big is now. You can buy talent. That's a game changer. Money is way more egalitarian than the prior system.

Killing Floor said:

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Baylor Bears would have boatraced Indiana. Their schedule was a joke.
But it was great to see them win so many games for the first time ever.

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Absolutely

And I think it shows that in the new NIL smaller brand schools can build good teams and compete with the top 10 blue bloods

Aberzombie1892 said:

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bear2be2 said:

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Aberzombie1892 said:

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IowaBear said:

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The gap is huge and will likely see the same pool of 5/6 teams winning yearly but the new format does give the little guy a fighters chance.

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This! But you know, "parity". Make no mistake here - all top 6 teams in the final CFP rankings were in the initial top 8 of the AP poll, and none of the semi final participants came from outside of that group. The idea that access has expanded based on - checks notes - perennial power Ohio State and lurking power Notre Dame is farcical.

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We just watched a middling AAC program play for and almost win the ACC title, the SEC finish the season with nothing but three-plus loss teams, a PAC-12 team win the Big Ten and Big 12 titles, a historically terrible Indiana program crack the playoff cartel and two teams that would not have made the four-team playoff reach the title game, and you're still trying to pretend the sport is the same as it's always been.

Keep beating that drum. You're just going to look dumber and dumber over time.

You went down with the SEC ship this year because you refused to believe what was right in front of your eyes. There's no need to continue to be so confidently wrong. There's no shame whatsoever in adjusting opinions in the face of new data. In fact, it's an admirable quality too few possess.

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By "parity" did you only mean outside the top tier of college football when it comes to the CFP? If so, we may be misunderstood each other, as I'm simply saying only the top teams - blue chip ratio approved - have a shot at a title. It was true before CFP expansion and it's true now.

If you're just saying that there is parity at lower levels of CFP teams, then sure but who cares? Teams like SMU, Indiana, Boise State and Arizona State weren't going to win the title this year, and they won't win it next year and the year after that into perpetuity unless they dramatically improve recruiting in a manner that is not practical.

I never rode the SEC the way that you keep implying, but knock yourself out by all means. The SEC was much better than the Big 12, but everyone already knew that.

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Aberzombie is still riding that pac 12 blue blood wave…

I don't think we will see parity across the board. I think the same 8-10 schools will be playing in the championship. The setup is too large for a cindrella. A school like Boise or SMU are going to have to win on the road and then on a "neutral" field against a team with more talent just to get to the semi finals. It is incredibly unlikely. Almost as unlikely that a team like BSU would be chosen in a 4 team format. The possibility that a nobody school can make it is better, but only minisculely. If you believe the media telling you that it is significant progress, then I will assume you also believe politicians when they say they are going to make your life better.

If Jeanty was not headed to the NFL, I would better dollars to donuts he would not be at BSU next year. And if he were, it would be because they put all their dollars into him and had nothing around him. Their good QB from 2023 went to Arkansas for the money.

And the "lack of depth" argument is being quelled by the ND offensive line. I believe they are on their 4th LG. Not to mention Arch Manning has stayed at UT despite no real playing time. Sure some guys will transfer out, but it won't be enough to level the playing field.

Ultimately, it will just put in the light what most people have known in the dark. WIthout a real governing body, and choosing to play by rules, college football is too big to be "fair" for everyone.

BUATX2000 said:

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NIL has ruined college football.

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It was already ruined, but NIL buried it.

Bleed Green said:

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I don't think we will see parity across the board. I think the same 8-10 schools will be playing in the championship. The setup is too large for a cindrella. A school like Boise or SMU are going to have to win on the road and then on a "neutral" field against a team with more talent just to get to the semi finals. It is incredibly unlikely. Almost as unlikely that a team like BSU would be chosen in a 4 team format. The possibility that a nobody school can make it is better, but only minisculely. If you believe the media telling you that it is significant progress, then I will assume you also believe politicians when they say they are going to make your life better.

If Jeanty was not headed to the NFL, I would better dollars to donuts he would not be at BSU next year. And if he were, it would be because they put all their dollars into him and had nothing around him. Their good QB from 2023 went to Arkansas for the money.

And the "lack of depth" argument is being quelled by the ND offensive line. I believe they are on their 4th LG. Not to mention Arch Manning has stayed at UT despite no real playing time. Sure some guys will transfer out, but it won't be enough to level the playing field.

Ultimately, it will just put in the light what most people have known in the dark. WIthout a real governing body, and choosing to play by rules, college football is too big to be "fair" for everyone.

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The problem with this post is the same problem with most of Aberzombie's on the topic. It subscribes to this bizarre notion that anything short of a national championship is failure/irrelevant.

But most people don't buy into the Reese Bobby, "If you're not first, you're last" nonsense. And if you want proof, look no further than the NCAA basketball tournament, where any trip to the Sweet 16 and beyond is celebrated.

Now that we have a real playoff, the same is coming to college football. There will be more degrees of success, particularly for programs like ours that don't have national championships as an expectation.

Playoff appearances themselves will be celebrated, and any win in the tournament will bring unprecedented recognition to the program. The first non-blueblood to win two games and reach the semifinals, which will happen at some point because that's the nature of expanded playoffs, will be viewed as a historic success.

Where in the past, being selected to the four-team playoff and losing in the semifinals would draw ridicule and dismissal, reaching the same round will soon be considered an achievement.

What those who only focus on national championships miss is that greater access to the playoff opens up opportunities for unprecedented levels of achievement and recognition, with or without a championship. That's progress for programs like ours, which were previously locked out of the process entirely.

And just as a point of fact, Taylen Green transferred out at Boise because he was already losing playing time to Maddux Madsen. They were playing two QBs for most of the second half of last season, and Madsen was the more productive of the two players in several games.

Desperado718 said:

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RD2WINAGNBEAR86 said:

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BUATX2000 said:

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NIL has ruined college football.

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Agree!! But actually this is where the leadership of Baylor wants us to be. Compete. Achieve mediocrity. Go to a ****ty bowl nobody cares about. Don't make waves. Happy to receive a participation trophy. We are Baylor.

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can you spell stilupid? Just asking

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The irony..