OT: D1

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Syracuse got hosed in Death Valley.

Yankees don't get treated well down there.

[shipfbfan1]

How about Sacred Heart in the NEC somehow shattering NEC home attendance records Saturday with a whopping 10,153 fans. They had family weekend, brought in temporary bleachers and expanded endzone seating to accommodate the extra folks.

[IUP PSAC Fan]

Is anyone watching the steelers game? My goodness.

[Fightingscot82]

When Brian Kelley loses. I am happy.

So disliked you can't even spell his name correctly. I bet you also loathe Tom Wolfe.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Pitt doing its best to lose again.

[IUP PSAC Fan]

When Brian Kelly loses. I am happy.

[EyeoftheHawk]

I mostly agree, although I think Penn State has a lot more upside than Wisconsin.

No doubt. They have a great tradition in Wisconsin and play in front of a packed stadium every home game, much like Penn State, but I’ve always seen the Badgers as a half-step behind. They’d be way worse if they had to play in the East Division.

[TheBigCat2192]

ESPN has a story up today about NIL disclosure or lack thereof on the part of a number of D1 schools they sent requests to. Tl;dr for those who don’t want to read the whole article:

• None of the schools were willing to give up information with a student-athlete’s name on it on privacy grounds.
• Multiple schools sent out info that was basically PR presentations. Number of student-athletes that have NIL or list of businesses that have them and total dollars but no breakdowns.
• Some schools gave aggregate numbers by sport and percentage of male or female athletes.
• University of Maryland disclosed the most with a spreadsheet containing a list of businesses, dollar amounts, and type of endorsement but no student-athlete names.
• Seven schools refused to give any info and another four acknowledged receiving the request but gave no information at time of publication.
• The NCAA’s enforcement division claims that schools have also refused to give them info on privacy grounds at times.

In general the reported numbers line up with what you’d probably expect - football and basketball are allegedly getting the lion’s share of the money with differing niche sports (swimming, baseball, and softball) picking up the scraps depending on location/conference. I wouldn’t expect the information to be any easier to glean in the future given that the article also highlights efforts by coaches and state lawmakers across the spectrum (ESPN quotes a Republican state senator from Louisiana and a Democrat state senator from Kentucky along with claiming overwhelming bipartisan support on the latter) to pass laws specifically exempting NIL deals from public disclosure on student privacy grounds.

[Ship69]

As you pointed out Chryst did his best work earlier in his tenure. The second half has still been alright compared to a lot of other schools out there but it’s been marred by some very ugly showings against the other top teams in the B1G (and out of conference too), particularly crossover games.

I think there are a few other factors in play here:

1. After years of Alvarez Wisconsin has a new(ish) AD who probably wants the chance to choose his guy and assert his authority over the department with the specter of Alvarez always lingering.
2. Chryst is supposed to be an offensive guy and had a mild “QB whisperer” rep but his offense and his prize QB recruit have both been stagnant for a few years.
3. Wisconsin has a guy already on the staff they view as a likely replacement in Leonhard. Leonhard has been touted as a coaching candidate elsewhere and the AD might have been afraid of losing him similar to MSU and Narduzzi or (to a lesser extent) OSU and Fickell.
4. The gap between Wisconsin and OSU/Michigan has seemingly widened in the last 3 years. It’s likely, although not guaranteed, that the B1G will be adding UCLA and USC which are both programs with strong histories and recruiting bases in their own rights. The AD might have felt that making a change now was necessary rather than waiting for the conference to get any tougher. Better too early than too late.

The gap between Ohio State and just about all the Big Ten has widened. They've always been a dominant team in the conference, which makes sense given their location and football history, but it's gotten ridiculous in recent years. In the '50s and '60s I can remember Iowa, Illinois, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Purdue, Minnesota, and even Indiana having championship caliber teams on occasion. Northwestern had some competitive teams under Ara Parseghian and then Alex Agase. The downfall began when more games started getting on TV in the '60s and it became all about the "Bo-Woody" rivalry at Ohio State and Michigan. Suddenly, it was if none of the other teams existed and the "Big Two, Little Eight" was born. Because the Bo and Woody twosome were able to recruit well enough to control the rest of the league, they could get away with playing ultra conservative, no-pass football, which often got them torched in bowl games and diminished the reputation of the league.

Today, the four-team playoff has boosted a few teams into household brands, and most of the conferences are dominated by 1-2 teams. Georgia finally appears to have the horses to give Alabama a continuous headache. Harbag beat Ohio State for the first time in a while last year, but we'll see if that holds up. With Wisconsin slipping and Nebraska never getting started, the B1G West is abysmal this year. Minnesota started the year solid, but judging by their effort against Purdue Saturday they apparently have nobody who can run the ball if Ibraheim is injured. Illinois actually appears to be improving under fat Bret, but the division as a whole is abysmal this season. Probably the best thing for the league would be to add a couple of more teams along with USC and UCLA and do a complete realignment.

The expanded playoff might help if top players can be convinced they don't have to go to the same half-dozen schools all the time to compete for the playoffs.

[TheBigCat2192]

Wow, they've fallen off some the past couple of years, but the guy has a 67-26 record, several division titles, and some bowl wins at Wisconsin. I'm getting more and more turned off by D1 football these days, and stuff like this doesn't help.

As you pointed out Chryst did his best work earlier in his tenure. The second half has still been alright compared to a lot of other schools out there but it’s been marred by some very ugly showings against the other top teams in the B1G (and out of conference too), particularly crossover games.

I think there are a few other factors in play here:

1. After years of Alvarez Wisconsin has a new(ish) AD who probably wants the chance to choose his guy and assert his authority over the department with the specter of Alvarez always lingering.
2. Chryst is supposed to be an offensive guy and had a mild “QB whisperer” rep but his offense and his prize QB recruit have both been stagnant for a few years.
3. Wisconsin has a guy already on the staff they view as a likely replacement in Leonhard. Leonhard has been touted as a coaching candidate elsewhere and the AD might have been afraid of losing him similar to MSU and Narduzzi or (to a lesser extent) OSU and Fickell.
4. The gap between Wisconsin and OSU/Michigan has seemingly widened in the last 3 years. It’s likely, although not guaranteed, that the B1G will be adding UCLA and USC which are both programs with strong histories and recruiting bases in their own rights. The AD might have felt that making a change now was necessary rather than waiting for the conference to get any tougher. Better too early than too late.

[shipfbfan1]

It’s unfortunate. Wisconsin’s odds odds of ever winning a national championship are incredibly low. I can’t see how any coach is going to go up there and do much better. They’ve cracked the top five in the polls before but were never really a threat to win it all. They need to be realistic about what they can be. It’s similar for Pitt and Penn State, frankly. Maybe win the conference once every 8-10 years, win and lose a few games you shouldn’t, and rack up a lot of winning seasons.

That said, maybe the expanding playoffs will help save some jobs. To only have four teams make it as it is now is a travesty given the number of programs in the country. It makes teams that go 9-2 feel like they had a bad year.

I agree that in the Big 10 it's Ohio State and Michigan who will be national title contenders. Wisconsin, PSU, Michigan State will have their years here and there where they are very good but not national title winners but maybe sneak into College Football playoffs & lose in round 1. Wisconsin I believe wanted to get rid of him following the abbreviated 2020 season but they were handcuffed, 2 blowout losses in 5 games this year sealed his fate.

[Ship69]

It’s unfortunate. Wisconsin’s odds odds of ever winning a national championship are incredibly low. I can’t see how any coach is going to go up there and do much better. They’ve cracked the top five in the polls before but were never really a threat to win it all. They need to be realistic about what they can be. It’s similar for Pitt and Penn State, frankly. Maybe win the conference once every 8-10 years, win and lose a few games you shouldn’t, and rack up a lot of winning seasons.

That said, maybe the expanding playoffs will help save some jobs. To only have four teams make it as it is now is a travesty given the number of programs in the country. It makes teams that go 9-2 feel like they had a bad year.

I mostly agree, although I think Penn State has a lot more upside than Wisconsin.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

It’s unfortunate. Wisconsin’s odds odds of ever winning a national championship are incredibly low. I can’t see how any coach is going to go up there and do much better. They’ve cracked the top five in the polls before but were never really a threat to win it all. They need to be realistic about what they can be. It’s similar for Pitt and Penn State, frankly. Maybe win the conference once every 8-10 years, win and lose a few games you shouldn’t, and rack up a lot of winning seasons.

That said, maybe the expanding playoffs will help save some jobs. To only have four teams make it as it is now is a travesty given the number of programs in the country. It makes teams that go 9-2 feel like they had a bad year.

Joe Pa fans are on par with the Yinzer Black and Gold. They aren't far from Alabama in the heads of most in Creepy Valley.

[EyeoftheHawk]

Wow, they've fallen off some the past couple of years, but the guy has a 67-26 record, several division titles, and some bowl wins at Wisconsin. I'm getting more and more turned off by D1 football these days, and stuff like this doesn't help.

It’s unfortunate. Wisconsin’s odds odds of ever winning a national championship are incredibly low. I can’t see how any coach is going to go up there and do much better. They’ve cracked the top five in the polls before but were never really a threat to win it all. They need to be realistic about what they can be. It’s similar for Pitt and Penn State, frankly. Maybe win the conference once every 8-10 years, win and lose a few games you shouldn’t, and rack up a lot of winning seasons.

That said, maybe the expanding playoffs will help save some jobs. To only have four teams make it as it is now is a travesty given the number of programs in the country. It makes teams that go 9-2 feel like they had a bad year.

[Ram040506]

I live in Morgantown Wv, plenty of WVU fans are sick of coach Brown and ready to move on. Buy out is too big so he's probably safe this year unless the team totally tanks but toast the end of 2023.

If Texas AM keeps going down the tubes, they might be able to get Jimbo to come on home to WV!