Tonight I watched....

[Diesel]

Detroit break the streak against Toronto...

After I watched UGA kill FSU.  I thought FSU was undefeated?

Anyway, 

Watching Detroit break the streak was must see TV.  Their fans were so happy.  I mean, in the 4th qtr, they were up by 7 with less than a minute to go... NOBODY left the arena.  Every fan was standing up.   There was a sense of PRIDE in the arena??  Toronto was doing everything it could to win the game.  The Moment for me came when Duren got the ball in a foul situation and refused to pass it to their Bogi because he wanted to take the FTs....   I hate we didn't get that guy.   He's going to be a great player one day.   He nailed both FTs.   I don't know how Toronto got down by so much but Detroit outlasted them...  In my heart, I said... I'm glad it wasn't us.   I think there are a few teams that will lose to Detroit soon.   They are not that bad. 

 

 

[Hawkmoor]

Georgia beat the HECK out of them whining Florida State Seminoles...

[kg01]

20 minutes ago, Hawkmoor said:

Georgia beat the HECK out of them whining Florida State Seminoles...

That wasn't the seminoles they beat.  And FSU had ample reason to whine and more. 

[Diesel]

1 minute ago, kg01 said:

That wasn't the seminoles they beat.  And FSU had ample reason to whine and more. 

I think FSU lost their argument when their players decided not to play.   That's a punk generation's way.  The real way is that you met UGA with your best effort and you soundly defeated them in the Orange Bowl.   Too many guys worried about NIL and Draft position.  Well, I have to say that was the Seminoles that they beat... You recruited players who were scared to play. 

[kg01]

51 minutes ago, Diesel said:

I think FSU lost their argument when their players decided not to play.   That's a punk generation's way.  The real way is that you met UGA with your best effort and you soundly defeated them in the Orange Bowl.   Too many guys worried about NIL and Draft position.  Well, I have to say that was the Seminoles that they beat... You recruited players who were scared to play. 

Disagree.  It's so much more nuanced than this. 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

1 hour ago, Diesel said:

I think FSU lost their argument when their players decided not to play.   That's a punk generation's way.  The real way is that you met UGA with your best effort and you soundly defeated them in the Orange Bowl.   Too many guys worried about NIL and Draft position.  Well, I have to say that was the Seminoles that they beat... You recruited players who were scared to play. 

No sir Diesel. 

Don't blame the kids for doing something that Head Coaches have done for decades. 

When a head coach gets a better job, after being secretly courted by another school for weeks before the end of the season, the kids should be able to look out for their best interest without being villified.

You want the best kids to play, break them off 25% of their projected 1st year's NFL signing bonus before they take the field for a bowl game.

You want to keep kids out of the portal? Move the first jump in the portal date until after the Natl Championship and require them to be eligible to play.

But if you do that, ban any coach from leaving their program until after the Natty as well.

I'll never forget what Chip Kelly did to Notre Dame. Dude loses his last game, and a shot to get into the playoffs, and he's on a plane to Baton Rouge less than 24 hours to take the job at LSU.

[Diesel]

7 hours ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

No sir Diesel. 

Don't blame the kids for doing something that Head Coaches have done for decades. 

When a head coach gets a better job, after being secretly courted by another school for weeks before the end of the season, the kids should be able to look out for their best interest without being villified.

You want the best kids to play, break them off 25% of their projected 1st year's NFL signing bonus before they take the field for a bowl game.

You want to keep kids out of the portal? Move the first jump in the portal date until after the Natl Championship and require them to be eligible to play.

But if you do that, ban any coach from leaving their program until after the Natty as well.

I'll never forget what Chip Kelly did to Notre Dame. Dude loses his last game, and a shot to get into the playoffs, and he's on a plane to Baton Rouge less than 24 hours to take the job at LSU.

For Years...  Many Years...  College players have played in Bowl games as a Capstone of their college careers.  I understand that now, everything is money driven; but what about being competitive.   I mean, why even play at all?  We are coming to a time when Junior and Seniors students will see their standing in the draft and say...  "I'm done."   Middle of the season... "I'm Done. "  Why risk their draft standing?  Why risk injury?  We are coming to a time where College Athletics will not matter so much.   Your favorite team could be on their way to winning the NCAA Title and then within a week, they no longer have the stars that got them to that point.  I mean, what's stopping them from doing that?

 

[Diesel]

8 hours ago, kg01 said:

Disagree.  It's so much more nuanced than this. 

There's no way that you can look at the FSU team and argue that their 13-0 meant something or made them as good at the teams in the playoffs.  Their spot was not solidified by their best players not playing.  The history books will record that they played the Orange Bowl and lost to UGA by 60.  There will be no asterisk saying.. "but if they had their full complement of players"....

Does anybody say... If Sal would have played, Colorado would have beaten Notre Dame? Is there an asterisk by Norte Dame's National championship?  No.   You can only beat who shows up.   If your star WR gets hurt before the bowl game, nobody is making exceptions.

 

 

 

[shakes]

7 hours ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

No sir Diesel. 

Don't blame the kids for doing something that Head Coaches have done for decades. 

When a head coach gets a better job, after being secretly courted by another school for weeks before the end of the season, the kids should be able to look out for their best interest without being villified.

You want the best kids to play, break them off 25% of their projected 1st year's NFL signing bonus before they take the field for a bowl game.

You want to keep kids out of the portal? Move the first jump in the portal date until after the Natl Championship and require them to be eligible to play.

But if you do that, ban any coach from leaving their program until after the Natty as well.

I'll never forget what Chip Kelly did to Notre Dame. Dude loses his last game, and a shot to get into the playoffs, and he's on a plane to Baton Rouge less than 24 hours to take the job at LSU.

 

This is such a stupid post.  everyone who reads it is now a little bit dumber.

[AHF]

11 hours ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

No sir Diesel. 

Don't blame the kids for doing something that Head Coaches have done for decades. 

When a head coach gets a better job, after being secretly courted by another school for weeks before the end of the season, the kids should be able to look out for their best interest without being villified.

You want the best kids to play, break them off 25% of their projected 1st year's NFL signing bonus before they take the field for a bowl game.

You want to keep kids out of the portal? Move the first jump in the portal date until after the Natl Championship and require them to be eligible to play.

But if you do that, ban any coach from leaving their program until after the Natty as well.

I'll never forget what Chip Kelly did to Notre Dame. Dude loses his last game, and a shot to get into the playoffs, and he's on a plane to Baton Rouge less than 24 hours to take the job at LSU.

This acts like UGA has fewer players going to the NFL.  This wasn’t about getting your next job.  It was about being above playing UGA in the Orange Bowl after dreams of the playoffs were denied.  
 

12 hours ago, Diesel said:

I think FSU lost their argument when their players decided not to play.   That's a punk generation's way.  The real way is that you met UGA with your best effort and you soundly defeated them in the Orange Bowl.   Too many guys worried about NIL and Draft position.  Well, I have to say that was the Seminoles that they beat... You recruited players who were scared to play. 

It doesn’t impact the logic of the argument because FSU was missing so many starters.  But only ACC fans feel sorry for them after that shameful embarrassment.  They went from guys who would have had people commiserating with them and buying them drinks for the rest of their lives as they exchanged stories about what could have been to eviscerating their standing in a bar room kind of discussion.  I think they will regret not playing because they will find they had everyone’s sympathy and now will be remembered by everyone outside of the ACC as much for putting up the biggest stinker in bowl history.  
 

FSU had a right to feel they were screwed but join a huge club in college football history in that position.  They are going to be less remembered as the team that was screwed and instead remembered as “the team that quit.”

UGA played its practice squad players in the second half and still ripped off touchdowns.  FSU had no pride and that will stick with them longer than they might like.  (And don’t think that UGA wasn’t set on another championship or that they didn’t think they were one of the 4 best teams and deserving of being picked by the Committee).  FSU got a huge gut punch.  They could have sucked it up, faced the 2x defending champs in the biggest bowl game for FSU in years, and become a remembered part of college lore by beating UGA, given it their best even if they weren’t good enough to beat UGA, or become a forgotten team perceived by non-ACC fans as pretenders to the throne by getting crushed.  They had no pride.
 

What could be amusing is that the ACC could also use their beat down against FSU as a defense in FSU’s lawsuit.  They argue that they didn’t get in the playoffs because of the conference’s bad image, etc.  The ACC might argue that this game proves the committee made a decision on the merits and so the conference wasn’t the cause and FSU didn’t suffer damages because of the ACC.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

18 hours ago, shakes said:

 

This is such a stupid post.  everyone who reads it is now a little bit dumber.

 

I tore my ACL in a bowl game. I lost a lot of money by falling in the draft. It didn’t stop there. Since I was injured outside of the NFL, I did not get a credited season my rookie year. I did not get benefits my rookie year. I was not part of league insurance my rookie year. I made split salary, which was a six-figure reduction in my salary.

 

You know who this was?  It was this guy.  Here are his thoughts.

 

 

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

17 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

 

I tore my ACL in a bowl game. I lost a lot of money by falling in the draft. It didn’t stop there. Since I was injured outside of the NFL, I did not get a credited season my rookie year. I did not get benefits my rookie year. I was not part of league insurance my rookie year. I made split salary, which was a six-figure reduction in my salary.

 

You know who this was?  It was this guy.  Here are his thoughts.

 

 

 

Now call him stupid.

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Tulane football

 

3:46 .... a reporter asks Coach Fritz about the rumors of him leaving Tulane, and if an agreement is in place.

7:24 .... coach is asked "how does he keep morale high for a bowl game?"

10:03 .... last question to coach is about how nervous Tulane fans are and if he had any message to the fans

 

less than 24 hours later .... he's on a jet plane to Houston 

 

 

But don't cry for Tulane. They're a top 25 program. That means they can do some courtin' of their own ...

This was 5 days later.

 

 

So how did Tulane fare in the bowl game?. After all, they did beat USC last bowl season.

Oh but first, remember #7 the QB from the first video?  His name is Michael Pratt.  Best QB in school history ( even over Shaun King ... former Tulane star QB and Tampa Bay QB ).  He's a projected 2nd - 4th rd draft pick.  Guess what he did?

 

 

But ...but ... I thought coach Fritz said these kids loved the game?  The star QB opts out?

Well, his coach opted out, so I guess Pratt felt he had to prepare for his next career to and opt out.. 5 of his teammates opted out too or hit the portal.

 

Tulane put up a damn good effort for 3 quarters. But V Tech and extremely bad weather conditions was too much to overcome.

 

 

Sucks for the fans that pay big money to attend these games and travel to destinations.

But the coaches started this.

Pay the potential NFL players extra money, if you want them to risk their future livelihood in non playoff bowl games.

Even my starting QB wont play later today vs Iowa.  He saw what happened to Herndon Hooker late last season.  I'm not mad at the kid at all. I wish him well ... and look forward to see Nico play an entire game.

 

 

Edited January 1 by TheNorthCydeRises

[Diesel]

19 hours ago, AHF said:

FSU had a right to feel they were screwed but join a huge club in college football history in that position.  They are going to be less remembered as the team that was screwed and instead remembered as “the team that quit.”

What nobody talks about is Culture.

What is not mentioned is that UGA players could have quit too.  They were in the same circumstance as FSU players.   They had gone 12-0 in a season full of domination.  Lose by 3 pts in a game that could have went either way... and now they were out of the playoffs.   Washington and Texas would be meat for UGA.   Still, UGA players most of whom will be playing on Sundays could have said the same thing that FSU players said..  But they didn't.   The culture is different in UGA than in FSU.  FSU culture said "Play the Victim".  UGA culture said "Play the game and prove that the committee made a mistake!"  

Last year, Alabama showed their culture when they faced KSU.  No Quit.

Now, it's hard to think that if FSU would have showed up with it's full team that they wouldn't have taken a 30 point defeat.   It feels like they didn't want to play because they knew the truth.   UGA was coming.  UGA is angry.  And UGA was going to take their frustrations out on us...  They thought that not playing would preserve their place in History.   But as @AHF said, it just made them be remembered as the team that quit.

 

[shakes]

9 hours ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

 

I tore my ACL in a bowl game. I lost a lot of money by falling in the draft. It didn’t stop there. Since I was injured outside of the NFL, I did not get a credited season my rookie year. I did not get benefits my rookie year. I was not part of league insurance my rookie year. I made split salary, which was a six-figure reduction in my salary.

 

You know who this was?  It was this guy.  Here are his thoughts.

 

 

 

Injuries are part of sports.  Some people are lucky and avoid them and countless others aren’t so lucky.   Thems the breaks.

The answer is not to stop competing.  that’s a slippery slope that has already led us into nonsense land when it comes to NBA players and load management.    Now as a result we have a far less entertaining game to watch as consumers.  All because we have players nowadays who think it’s their god given right to have a 20+ year career and sign as many multi-million dollar contracts as possible.

 

It’s all nonsense.  And it’s only going to get worse for sports when dummy fans buy into this nonsense.  Guys skipping bowl games so they don’t hurt their draft stock.  Then we’ll have guys skipping conference season because their agent told them they showed enough in the pre conference schedule.  then we’ll have guys sitting out the whole year and doing solo workouts rather than play and possibly hurt themselves or their draft ranking.

in basketball only a matter of time before players start skipping the tournament.  Then tghe conference season.  Then they just say screw it and skip the entire spring semester.

 

I’ll keep it real simple:  If you’re an athlete play every game that’s in front of you and hope for the best…just like 1000s of athletes before you have done.  If god forbid you get hurt then go out and use that college degree to get a real job like everyone else and still live a good life.

 

stop enabling this Bullshit!

[TheNorthCydeRises]

37 minutes ago, shakes said:

Injuries are part of sports.  Some people are lucky and avoid them and countless others aren’t so lucky.   Thems the breaks.

The answer is not to stop competing.  that’s a slippery slope that has already led us into nonsense land when it comes to NBA players and load management.    Now as a result we have a far less entertaining game to watch as consumers.  All because we have players nowadays who think it’s their god given right to have a 20+ year career and sign as many multi-million dollar contracts as possible.

 

It’s all nonsense.  And it’s only going to get worse for sports when dummy fans buy into this nonsense.  Guys skipping bowl games so they don’t hurt their draft stock.  Then we’ll have guys skipping conference season because their agent told them they showed enough in the pre conference schedule.  then we’ll have guys sitting out the whole year and doing solo workouts rather than play and possibly hurt themselves or their draft ranking.

in basketball only a matter of time before players start skipping the tournament.  Then tghe conference season.  Then they just say screw it and skip the entire spring semester.

 

I’ll keep it real simple:  If you’re an athlete play every game that’s in front of you and hope for the best…just like 1000s of athletes before you have done.  If god forbid you get hurt then go out and use that college degree to get a real job like everyone else and still live a good life.

 

stop enabling this Bullshit!

 

One of the huge reasons why the playoff is expanding to 12 teams, is so that these kids can have something to play for after the season is over.  These bowl games are for the most part, exhibition games, unless you're a smaller program playing a bigger program, like Liberty playing Oregon.

Don't villify kids because they dont want to play in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, because they want to improve their draft stock.  Don't act Drake Mayne is selfish, because he wants to protect his top 10 draft status, and opts out of the Duke's Mayo Bowl against West Virginia.  That's a potential 15 million dollar signing bonus decision you want him to just forego, just to play in a meaningless bowl game.  That's not counting the multi year contract coming your way.

And speaking of that, if you got that "good job" with your college degree, making $100K a year, it would take you 150 years to make 15 million in your life. You would have to do extra things, like make good investments, to increase your nest egg.

Even if you averaged $250K a year over the span of your work career, which for most people will last 50 years, it'll still take you 60 years to make that 15 million.

We're talking about LIFE CHANGING MONEY for some of these kids and their families.  Why should they play in a meaningless bowl game, if they have time to prep for the NFL combine and potentially make millions of dollars within the next 6 months? 

Save that "love of the game" crap for those of us who had no opportunity, or weren't talented enough to make millions playing the sports that we loved.  We're talking generational wealth for some of these kids and their families.

The only person enabling BS, is you. Typical old school fan entitlement.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Thank God OUR fan base at Tennessee understands what's up.  When Hendon Hooker went down last year, we all were devastated as fans, but highly sympathetic for what it did for his potential career.  Hooker then stayed around and mentored Joe Milton, who finished the year strong and won his bowl game.

Joe comes back this year, has a decent but not great season, but still played well enough to keep the program afloat.

When the season ended, we knew there was a chance that Joe wasn't going to play.  Joe decides not to play, and we all understand why.

He didn't leave his team.  He's on the sideline today, not dressed in uniform, but is right beside his brothers, encouraging and cheering them on.

And the QB that took his place?  He just scored a rushing TD and looks absolutely fantastic today.

 

It's the ultimate in fan entitlement to try to act like these kids are doing something wrong for opting out of exhibition games.  It is THEIR DECISION if they want to play or not.  Bo Nix is playing for Oregon today vs Liberty.  Great for him.  If he decided not to play . . . Great for him.

 

So I'll say again.  If you want these top prospects to play in these exhibition games . . . PAY THEM!  And the NFL needs to insure them properly, so that we don't have a situation like what happened to Jake Butt.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

7 hours ago, Diesel said:

What nobody talks about is Culture.

What is not mentioned is that UGA players could have quit too.  They were in the same circumstance as FSU players.   They had gone 12-0 in a season full of domination.  Lose by 3 pts in a game that could have went either way... and now they were out of the playoffs.   Washington and Texas would be meat for UGA.   Still, UGA players most of whom will be playing on Sundays could have said the same thing that FSU players said..  But they didn't.   The culture is different in UGA than in FSU.  FSU culture said "Play the Victim".  UGA culture said "Play the game and prove that the committee made a mistake!"  

Last year, Alabama showed their culture when they faced KSU.  No Quit.

Now, it's hard to think that if FSU would have showed up with it's full team that they wouldn't have taken a 30 point defeat.   It feels like they didn't want to play because they knew the truth.   UGA was coming.  UGA is angry.  And UGA was going to take their frustrations out on us...  They thought that not playing would preserve their place in History.   But as @AHF said, it just made them be remembered as the team that quit.

 

 

Diesel . . . culture doesn't mean a damn thing, if one of those UGA prospective NFL prospects goes down with a severe injury.  That's strictly a "bragging rights" game.  That game meant nothing.

Also, from the FSU players perspective, the NCAA committee deemed that even though they went through a season undefeated, and in the top 4 for most of the year, that they were not worthy of playing in the playoff.  They gave all of those kids the middle finger, because they felt that FSU would not be competitive enough to play in the semifinal games without Jordan Travis, their All-American QB.

So honestly, why should any of those kids give AF about playing in the Chik-fil-a Bowl?

If they beat UGA, they'll get to say  . . . "SEEE!  We were worthy!  We were worthy!"

Guess what, it still wouldn't have changed a damn thing.

 

From the Tomahawk Nation website after the UGA beatdown:

https://www.tomahawknation.com/florida-state-football-fsu-seminoles-college-cfb-acc-norvell-team-roster-schedule-game/2023/12/30/24020194/starters-opt-outs-depth-offense-playoff-georgia-sec-acc-orange-bowl-score-recap-quarterback-playoff

 

First things first: if anybody outside of Tallahassee wants to judge Florida State players for opting out of the Orange Bowl, after being told that winning all 13 of their games didn’t matter, then they are likely not somebody you need to be paying attention to.

Even more — if they’re using it as validation for leaving FSU out of the College Football Playoff, you definitely don't need to pay any attention to them.

This was not a case of “prove it,” given that FSU did just that over the course of the season by going undefeated and securing a Power 5 championship. The situation wasn’t UCF attempting to validate its claim to a national championship after running through a weak schedule, nor was it a one-loss squad trying to validate itself after just missing out.

The majority of Florida State’s starters, told that nothing it did matter, opted out of the matchup, with major names like wide receivers Keon Coleman and Johnny Wilson and defensive lineman Jared Verse, Fabien Lovett and Braden Fiske protecting their professional futures. Last season, we saw several Florida State players who had decided to transfer participate in the Cheez-It Bowl in order to cap off the season the right way, but after getting the bedrock of what the game is supposed to be about shattered, it makes sense for the same level of “let’s get it done” to be there.

If Florida State beat Georgia, there was no validation to be had. Every possible argument used to dismiss any other claims at non-invitational earned titles would have been lobbied, from “Georgia didn’t care” to “it’s still not a real title.” If the starters took on the challenge and lost, it would’ve further enabled those with bad-faith arguments to defend FSU’s exclusion from the playoff.

 

No one really cares about these kids Diesel.  They only care about money. 

So why shouldn't the kids feel the same way?

Never judge a kid for making a life changing decision.  Celebrate the kids that want to play in these games.  And celebrate the kids that fulfilled their obligations during the regular season, but want to now make the transition to their next life in professional sports.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

The simple solution is to pay the kids, if you want them to play in bowl games.

Drake Maye is projected by Sports Illustrated to be the #2 pick in the draft.  He opted out of playing in the Duke's Mayo Bowl, in order to prepare for the draft, and most important, protect his draft status.

Here are the locked in salaries of the top 10 picks last season

 

 

If Maye goes #2 in the draft, he's going to be able to get a signing bonus north of 23 MILLION dollars.  If he falls to #10, he'll still be able to get a signing bonus of at least 12 MILLION dollars.

But some of you want these kids to forego the chance to make this type of money, to play in an exhibition bowl game?

 

Woo-Hoo . . . My team won the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl! 

But I just tore my ACL in the game, which is about to knock me completely out of the 1st round.  And the NFL isn't going to insure me, if I don't play my rookie year.  And I'm not going to get that 5 year deal as a 1st round pick.  I might not even get a signing bonus at all, if I fall to the 4th round.  I just lost 13 MILLION DOLLARS because I got hurt in the game.

But Woo-Hoo . . . My team won the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl!!

 

 

That's why I say, you want these kids to play?  Pay them!

Even on this Cheeze-It Citrus Bowl broadcast, they were raving about how well Nico is playing for Tennessee, and mentioned that he got the chance because Joe Milton opted out.  But they also said that "something has to be done about the opt outs."

You see . . . ESPN has HEAVILY INVESTED in 90% of these bowl games.  If the star players aren't playing, less eyes will watch these games.  And if less eyes watch the games, ad revenue will go down because major advertisers will "opt out" as well.

 

It's not like the NCAA can force these kids to play. The backlash from that would be unbelievable.

With all of these BILLIONS OF DOLLARS being negotiated from these TV contracts, the solution is to break these top NFL prospects off with significant money for playing in the bowl game.

 

I personally don't think it's unreasonable to pay the top NFL prospects $2+ million to play in these games.  You can even negotiate playing in bowl games in their NIL deals, if people REALLY want to see their top player play in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.

 

I'm a solutions guy, so I try to offer solutions, instead of complaining and villifying people.

 

Projected Top 5 pick = $5 million

Projected 5 - 10  =  $4 million

Projected 11 - 20 = $2 million

Projected 21 - 32 = $1 million

Projected 2nd rd = $500K

Projected 3rd rd = $250K

 

Everybody else is motivated by money.  So break these kids off with the cash as well.

That's the reality of where we are in college sports now.