GP1

Actually, there is, but as you describe they are leading in the wrong direction for self interest. I firmly believe any path forward for G5 schools has to exclude the athletic directors of G5 schools from any conversation. They cannot be trusted to act in the best interest of the schools they work for.

If Dabos Winney has it figured out, anyone can figure it out. https://www.foxnews.com/sports/dabo-hates-realignment-talk-doesnt-see-end-in-sight I would add, within 5-7 years, there will be a super conference. Whatever happens between now and then doesn't really matter much unless there are a few P5 schools that simply don't want to join a super conference or the super conference doesn't want them for whatever reason (think some schools like Iowa State or WVU or Texas Tech or TCU). Notice the remaining Big 12 teams could be in a world of hurt. They could find themselves in the same situation UCONN was years ago when the Big East split up and nobody wanted them. Enough of them. What are the G5 schools going to do?

Don't tell Colorado, but they played in the PAC 12 Championship Game in 2016.

It is already happening 72. The disparity between AL/OSU/Clemson vs the rest of P5 is drastic at this point. Some believe it is the money, but they are wrong. It is the vast disparity in recruiting advantage that comes from winning. This disparity can only be resolved by required changes in scheduling difficulty based upon previous season success and by making the "playoffs" a real playoff by eliminating the invitational tournament aspect of it and requiring total season result as benchmark for entry. If these schools want to act like professional leagues, treat them like teams get treated at the professional level. If the players want to make money, treat them like professionals where there are no weeks off. I don't say any of this to be malicious. It's the reality of P5 football in 2021. Some would say this is a Faustian Bargain that started years ago, but the Faustian Bargain assumes someone/something sacrifices the moral high ground for money/power. I don't think P5 schools ever occupied a moral high ground. They are businesses staffed by some of the biggest sleazebags in the country who would willingly destroy any organization they work for to advance themselves. The evidence is at the G5 level.

Conference realignment? No. College football realignment? Yes. End of NCAA? As we know it? Yes. Forever?...We can only hope. We have passed the point of shuffling chairs around for P5 schools. It's so obvious where they are going and that is on their own whether or not this OK/TX thing happens. The NCAA may not exist after they separate because their only purpose was to keep players from making money and now that NIL is in effect, there is no reason for them to exist. Good riddance. The lack of imagination from the NCAA is appalling. The G5 schools shouldn't spend five minutes thinking about shuffling the chairs. At some point reshuffling is just painting over the mold on the walls without addressing the water problem. It's just cosmetic. G5 energy should be directed towards creating their own division that serves the universities, players, students, alumni, fans and local communities the with their athletic programs. Now is the time for them to put their heads together and figure out the future. More of the past with some tinkering around isn't going to work. I welcome all of these changes. It will force everyone involved to do what they should have done years ago and college football will be better off because of it. We can be so much better than what we are now.

I have very few regrets in life. One of them is I never grew my hair long when I was young. It was almost all completely gone by the time I was 30. If these guys want long hair when in college, I say go for it.

It should be analog, like the Doomsday Clock.

Not when I'm feeling highly disinterested with time to waste.

Depends on how good he is. If nobody has heard of him, how good can he be? It's one thing to waste a scholarship on a player you thought could turn out to be good. Even schools like Alabama make mistakes. It's another to waste a scholarship on a player that is an almost certain bust. Good programs are not built on wasting scholarships on highly questionable players. Far too many schools have wasted too many scholarships over the years for "political" reasons. Recruiting is the lifeblood of college athletics and scholarships are how teams go about getting players. Scholarships cannot be wasted. Success is not easy and difficult choices have to be made. All of this will blow over for UB. They will be in much bigger trouble if they have several losing seasons in a row. In closing, this kid's brother is a highly paid NFL player with the resources to afford to pay for his brother to attend UB as a walk-on. Let him put his money where his Twitter feed is.

I'm more surprised anyone would put UNC at #12. Further, how many times can the pollsters fall for Oklahoma being the best team in the country and then having the rug pulled out from under them?

Technically, the NCAA is a non-profit organization so it can't make any money. It just organizes college sports for the member schools. The NAIA does the same thing for their member schools.

The past OSU vs Alabama game had the worst national championship ratings since 2004. I think America is tired of the same old, same old. So what does the NCAA do? Expand the college football "playoffs", without increasing parity in college football, so next year OSU and Alabama will just have to play more games to get to an even lower rated national championship game on a Monday night lasting until around midnight. The excitement devaluing the regular season in favor of an almost completely predictable "playoff" is almost overwhelming.....not. College athletics is not run by smart people.

The only reason the NFL is able to have is a draft is because they are exempt from anti-trust laws. Much of the NCAA is not and it would be horrible to exempt it from anti trust laws. The best way to achieve parity between teams is to require the P5 schools to have tiered scheduling based upon their performance the previous year, much like the NFL used to do a better job of. A school that finishes in at the top of their conference the prior year should be required to play at least three schools that finished at the top of their conference the prior year to open their season. Apply this to second, third, forth, etc. place finishers down the line. Only conference winners are allowed to make the "playoffs" with their overall record being the determining factor in making the "playoff" or not. Eliminate conference championship games. This system would take the shine off of the recruiting advantage 2-3 schools have in recruiting because players would see more than 2-3 schools as an avenue for winning a national championship, if that is their goal. It would also not punish the better schools for their success, just make them try a little harder for the mountain of cash they bring in each season. A rising tide lifts all ships.

The president of my company graduated from Auburn. He said their fans have circled the Akron game on their calendars and point it as a "program builder" since Akron has so much experience at the building process.

Well, someone has to say it. For some = for attractive young girls who know they are attractive and fit some fetishes/fantasies. There are some hammer throwers that also fall into some of the above but probably will not be as much as these two sisters. It's a different twist on the phrase "haves vs have nots". The self hyper sexualization of college age women is an odd twist for the "#metoo" era. If I was a publication like Playboy, I would already be approaching some of these women for a special editions of things like "the girls of conference X" editions.

This is the least surprising news I've heard in a while. Years ago all the NCAA had to do was to allow players to have jobs and make some money. Learning the value of work is a good lesson for a young person. Now these kids are going to learn the modern life lesson that is you can get paid for doing almost nothing as an "influencer".

Matt starts awesome Twitter thread yesterday. Some of the responses are pretty awesome. For example, one response was, "No Europe Gyro?" Link

Thanks MDZip. Knowing how many ADs are still around since then would be interesting, but I'm too lazy to look it up. The MAC is a member institution so the Commissioner can't do anything without consent of the members.

There is no way on God's green Earth that OSU loses a dime, but that's not why I'm responding. What if MAC schools continued to operate at a loss, and produced events that benefit the students, alumni, fans and the general community? Does the money matter at that point?

If they are counting taxpayers funding and student fees into the "revenue" column, I'll buy it. Roughly 70% of the athletic departments budget is subsidized. It's what the NCAA doesn't want to report. Does anyone believe OSU actually loses money? https://www.hustlebelt.com/2020/4/24/21233631/university-of-akron-president-recommends-20-percent-budget-cut-for-athletics-in-new-master-plan

Smart for whom? The revenues Ohio MAC schools make off of TV and elite schools could easily be absorbed into the Ohio general budget and paid for by the taxpayers. Ohio MAC football is basically a ward of the State of Ohio and should be treated as such. As long as the taxpayers are paying for it, they should have access to it, much like roads and bridges.

Ok. An exaggeration. Here is something more accurately stated. For almost every school, profiting $10.00 is mere illusion. They almost all lose money.

Ignorance and stupidity are different things. I don't think I'm stupid. I do know there are billions things I'm ignorant about. Ignorance is a solvable problem. Stupidity is not.

For almost every school, having a billion dollars is mere illusion. Almost all lose money. The P5 conferences have their own tv networks. If the G5 schools forego Tuesday and Wednesday nights in ESPN, these conferences will move game so those nights. They will claim "greater exposure" as their reasoning, but we have learned that is all poop. They will fail. Let them.

While 100% true, with the exception of about 5-10 schools, you have described TV money for all of college athletics. Almost no schools books are in the black. Taxpayers and student fees are picking up the rest. There is a whole series of lazy marketing behaviors over the past 30 years including partnering with organizations like img that wreak of laziness. I think the way G5 schools should market is as a community event and give back to the taxpayers what they are already paying for. It would take schools out of the world of welfare recipients and into the world of public service. Much like roads.