It's the highest revenue generating women's sport. NIL is pretty new, but my guess it is going to be significant for the best players. Players like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, Juju Watkins, Cameron Brink, Flau'jae Johnson, and Hailey Van Lith have received significant endorsement deals off the top of my head, and that is outside of whatever NIL they get from school collectives.
She used the "do not contact" tag as well which means this was in the works behind the scenes and most likely has a landing spot/NIL offer already locked up.
Corum and Hutchinson, definitely yes. Moody, yes. Zinter, yes. Sainristil, probably misses the cut. I think it is a definite no on everyone else. I think most of the players pictured made an All-America team I believe, and many won individual awards as well.
I think Will Johnson and Mason Graham will be in the conversation when their career is over. My pick for player who is missing is Brandon Graham. Toiled on some of the worst Michigan teams but one of the all-time greats.
Not to downplay the allegations in the article, but is this the expose that OSU and MSU fans have been breathlessly waiting for the last week or so? It's serious for Juwan Howard and Warde Manuel, but it does not really register as the massive scandal that they have been talking it up to be unless there is something else there.
The player who probably defines this category: John Navarre.
You could possibly make a case for Tom Brady as well. He only topped out at Big Ten Honorable Mention, but that had more to do with playing at the same time as Drew Brees and Randle-El. Might have been the best collection of QBs in Big Ten history.
I think putting his name in the portal gives him the ability to be contacted and recruited openly now. Entering the portal does not necessarily mean he has left the team yet, but it is not a good sign. The best potential situation for Michigan would be if he were putting his name in the portal to keep his options open while feeling out the new coaching staff.
I may need some clarification from someone else here, but I think the date the portal closes is just the deadline to put your name in. Once your name is in the portal, I think you can still be recruited and transfer after it closes. If you are uncertain about staying, it might be better to enter your name now than wait until the spring window.
This. If anyone transfers at this point, it will probably be during the spring transfer window. Very few schools would be able to add students this late in the semester. Spring practice will give the new staff time to connect with the roster and hopefully that will be able to reassure any players who were having doubts with the coaching turnover.
No. Someone is bound to slip and go undrafted, and there is little margin for error given we only have 18 prospects to choose from (OP left out Jaylen Harrell and Cam Goode). Someone might get injured during the draft evaluation process and slip out. At least one of those offensive linemen are probably going to go undrafted especially because most of them project to interior line. Mike Barrett and Josh Wallace would have to blow up or kill the combine to overcome their measurables as they are both small for their position. Not helpful that some of the players are missing the Senior Bowl due to injury (Barrett, Sainristil, and possibly Keegan now too).
Correct. Alex Boone was the primary player who criticized Harbaugh in the interview for pushing the players and demanding too much. My favorite part was the quote "'Dude, we got over the mountain. Stop. Let go.'" Dude, you lost the Super Bowl. You didn't get over the mountain and that is why he was still pushing. No surprise the franchise fell apart after Harbaugh left and Boone was on another team not long after.
I'm not sure that Michigan-Washington game is going to carry the same significance if Jedd Fisch does not find a way to reload. It looks like he is getting the worst of the coaching musical chairs. Most of Washington's roster left for the draft or transferred with DeBoer. It looks like the new Arizona head coach is going to keep Fisch from poaching much of Arizona's roster. Fisch still has a couple weeks and the spring transfer window, but it looks like it will be a rough transition to the Big Ten for Washington.
I think that Oregon at Michigan and USC at Michigan games will carry more significance than at Washington.
Hit the nail on the head. Ross Bjork was at Ole Miss during the Hugh Freeze era and Texas A&M for Jimbo Fisher era. Common denominator was finding ways to bend or break rules to pay recruits.
If it weren't for COVID, another season wouldn't have been an option. Trente Jones has been here for 5 years, got his degree, played a huge role in winning a national championship. Hopefully, he weighed any feedback he got about draft prospects into his decision. I don't think it is a given he will be a UDFA.
One difference is Trente Jones would have been returning for a 6th year. His entire class is gone except for maybe Quinten Johnson, and he has his degree. If the feedback from NFL was good enough, it was time to go.
Same. Outside of JJ's decision, this is one of the few declarations to date that I thought could go either way and have a huge impact on next year. It's possible a full season starting would have vaulted his draft stock, but he might have accumulated enough film over the last 4 games to go for it.
It would have been awesome to have him back, but he has his degree, going out on top, and has several teammates like Derrick Moore and Josaiah Stewart looking to step up.
McCarthy was one of the most visible players on the team, named team MVP, and probably made the most NIL next to maybe Blake Corum. Won a National Championship and Rose Bowl Game MVP. Was a borderline Heisman candidate for most of the season and named Big Ten QB of the Year. Remains to be seen where he will be drafted but should probably do OK. Hardly do anything? Those things aren't appealing to anyone out there?
The point of "pure" meaning that most assumed there was a high probability that he would switch positions. Maybe not the best word choice, but I think the point is clear. Villari and Kendrick Bell, and possibly even Orji were always seen as multi-tool players that Harbaugh likes that often switch positions once on campus. And Villari, guess what, ended up switching to TE at Syracuse and only got play QB at the end of the season because injuries and transfers depleted the QB position.
JJ McCarthy and Jayden Denegal were the only two scholarship QBs recruited over the last 4 years that were only going to play QB. That is not enough for most FBS schools, let alone one that wants to contend next year.
If the coaches put out feelers that the QB job is open at Michigan, I think you will see some names you did not expect jump in the post-spring portal. I think it is hard for any transfer QB right now because the coaching situation is still uncertain and can't blame any of them for not wanting to commit before knowing who is going to be coaching them. Will Rogers already got burned once at Washington.
That's fine, but I think it would be better if he earned in a competition against more than just a true freshman. Bring in a veteran and see what happens. We need another dependable QB in the room anyway.
It's not overlooking him. It's that the QB room is light because we didn't recruit a QB in 2020 or 2023. The number of live snaps they have taken is probably less than 50 total. You can't go into a season with a roster that can contend for championships with that. It is a disservice to the rest of the team especially with the the new transfer rules.
The backup QB always sounds great until you throw him into the fire. Saying he is big, "poised," and can run and throw is baseline characteristics and qualities of most scholarship QBs. Also how do you know he is poised? He hasn't played one meaningful snap under pressure to date for Michigan.
Disagree. If the team was in a full rebuild, maybe you could roll the dice on a true freshman QB.
Michigan is going to return one of the best defenses in the Big Ten. Michigan loses a lot on offense, and I think needs to have a healthy competition to give it the best chance to compete next year. Michigan has not recruited the position well in the last 4 years as it did not sign a pure QB in the 2020 or 2023 classes. Given the importance of the position and what we have returning, the coaches owe it to the team to make sure the QB position does not torpedo the whole season.
OSU, Georgia, and Alabama have been stacked with talent a level above everyone else in college football. It's nothing new. But I am not sure the soft schedule matters as much next year. It's a 12-team playoff and no more Big Ten divisions. Given their historical performance over the last 25 years or so, they would have made almost every single playoff and a top-two Big Ten Championship Game if it had existed previously.
When has OSU not been loaded? I do wonder if some of their highly-rated juniors or sophomores transfer out in the spring as they might not see the field for another year.
The moment any of these guys committed to playing in the Cotton Bowl, I was pretty certain those guys were coming back. They have never beaten Michigan and not sure they want to be remembered like that especially if the NIL money can make them partially whole. I am also not certain how much of a lock some of them are for the 1st round.
My observation live from the game: Paige was on the sideline hopping on one leg with what looked like a trainer evaluating him. My guess is that he had an ankle injury as he was having some trouble hopping on one of his legs.
I think it is the other way around. Michigan right now is the outlier. Alabama, Georgia, and OSU are recruiting on another level from everyone else in college football. They are expected to be here. Michigan beating OSU three years in a row and getting to the playoffs is the unicorn. No other program in college football outside the top 10 team talent composite has been able to do that consistently like Michigan has over the last 3 years. Can Michigan continue that without improving their recruiting reach? It remains to be seen.
What should we make of Michigan? The Wolverines have won the Big Ten and beaten Ohio State three years in a row, yet their class currently includes only two top-100 players, both of whom are outside of the top 75. If any program in the country has defied the recruiting results to achieve great things, it’s Michigan. I want to say it’s yet another underwhelming class when compared to what is happening on the field, but maybe it’s just time to say Jim Harbaugh and his staff are playing chess in evaluation, development and the transfer portal. Michigan legitimately may win the national title this year, which I thought was impossible — literally impossible — for a team that ranks No. 14 in the 247Sports Team Talent Composite.
About 1/3 of the top 100 players have been going to a group of 3 schools: Georgia, Alabama, OSU. About 1/2 of the top 100 players have been clustered in a group of 5-7 schools. It is going to be hard to be a contender regularly without getting these players.
I think the transfer portal makes a difference though. Michigan has retained and developed players and not had a lot of turnover while a school like Texas A&M had a lot of 5-stars enter and then transfer. College football has much more of an NFL model now with recruiting analogous to the Draft, and the transfer portal similar to free agency.
Going to be some old faces returning to Michigan when the 4 Pac-12 schools join next year in addition to Shaun Nua at USC. Those schools might have more Michigan connections than the ones in the current Big Ten. USC could potentially have some turnover on defense so some of those guys might be on the hot seat.
USC - Roy Manning (Assistant Head Coach/outside LBs), Shaun Nua (DL)
Washington - Nick Sheridan (TE), Courtney Morgan (General Manager of personnel), Jerret McElwain (Director of Scouting)
What does ranking have to do with it? Ranking isn't taking into account injuries and opt outs. This is a terrible way to evaluate this. Not all bowls are equal either. CFP playoff games are a much higher bar than the Pinstripe Bowl. Only OSU has had a comparable bowl schedule during these past 7 years, and they are 4-4 during that period with three of those wins coming against the Pac-12. Michigan has almost exclusively played the best in the SEC and FSU in this stretch going 0-5. OSU is 1-4 against the SEC and Clemson in the same stretch.
Michigan was favored in a bunch of these games, but some of these bowls have felt more like meaningless exhibitions (2018 Outback Bowl and 2018 Peach Bowl in particular). I feel the TCU game was the biggest disappointment to me. Michigan was a heavy favorite and did not play well, but lost in the postgame analysis for this game is that Blake Corum, the team MVP and workhorse, was lost for the season and not available for Michigan.
Michigan was a heavy underdog to Georgia and Alabama in 2021 and 2019 respectively, and it is hard to have expected a win against those teams even in retrospect looking at the personnel they had.
Michigan was favored in the 2018 Peach Bowl against Florida by -7.5 points, but they had several key players opt out including 2 NFL 1st round picks in Rashan Gary and Devin Bush while Florida had almost everyone opt in to play that game.
The 2017 team played in the Outback Bowl with a backup QB in Brandon Peters who threw 2 INTs and lost a fumble. He was making one of his first starts for Michigan and was not ready to be the starter. Not sure I would use this game in this analysis, but it was played I guess.
The 2016 Orange Bowl had Michigan as a 7-point favorite, but Jabrill Peppers, Michigan's MVP, was ruled out before kickoff. Michigan was outplayed, but the team still worked their way in the second half into an opportunity to win the game. Dalvin Cook was pretty good and tip my hat to him.
The 2022 Fiesta Bowl playoff game and 2016 Orange Bowl were disappointments to me, but it doesn't help that in both games Michigan was playing without their team MVPs.
This is nonsense. These coaches have little to no access to our bowl prep. Is it possible and should our bowl prep be evaluated in-house? Yes. But I think our performance has more to do with tough draws for bowl games along with opt outs and injuries.
It's the only way you are going to get an article like this in college football. I place the fault more with the other Big Ten coaches, but some of the writers are at fault for not being more discerning and allowing these coaches to abuse the format.
Two nine-team divisions means essentially reconstituting and subsidizing the Pac-12. It makes no sense and isn't what the TV networks are paying for anyway.
One issue with this is the calendar. There is only one week scheduled for the conference championship. The final week of the regular season is the week before, and the first week of the playoff is the week after. The only way to have a 4-team playoff within the conference with the current FBS calendar would be to shorten the conference regular season by one game to 8 games and have the semifinal in the final week of the regular season and count as a conference game. That would create chaos though because the other 14 teams that do not make the conference 4-team playoff would still need one more conference regular season game that would have to be determined in the final week of the season. Some of those 14 teams might be borderline playoff teams so that final game could be crucial for them.
It might be a great school, but it has problems at the governance level. The Board of Governors are appointed by the state legislature. This has led to the politicization of the board and university governance. I don't care how good the school might be, but that is going to lead to a job full of headaches for a president to navigate.
The OP may be able to speak more knowledgeably on this, but it's not as simple as you make it out. The stadium is in a unique location surrounded by a golf course and what felt like more residential area. It's not like it is located in a downtown area.
I don't think flight prices are coming down at this point. It is already a busy holiday weekend with the 1st landing on the Monday making it ideal for 4-day weekend travel trips for New Year's. You are already passing the 4-week advance, and flight prices tend to only rise after the 3-week advance. Maybe you get lucky in the next week, but I doubt it.
It's going to be that way for a lot of these bowls. So many players, especially QBs, in the portal or opting out.
Not sure what the solution is. I feel players should have an opportunity to transfer as they please, and December is probably the only window for many of them to do a midseason transfer before the second semester begins. But it is wrecking havoc on the postseason, and I have to imagine there will be some teams that make the playoff in future years that will have depth players enter the portal and transfer in the middle of the playoff.
Are you planning on staying for a trophy presentation? Or are you going to book it out at the final whistle? I remember it being a pain in the neck to get out of the stadium, but that involved walking to parking and then dealing with stadium traffic. Ubers did not exist at the last Michigan Rose Bowl I attended, and I have no idea how long it will take to get an Uber and get out of the stadium area.
Is it possible? Yes. Is it worth it? Probably not.
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It's the highest revenue generating women's sport. NIL is pretty new, but my guess it is going to be significant for the best players. Players like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, Juju Watkins, Cameron Brink, Flau'jae Johnson, and Hailey Van Lith have received significant endorsement deals off the top of my head, and that is outside of whatever NIL they get from school collectives.
She used the "do not contact" tag as well which means this was in the works behind the scenes and most likely has a landing spot/NIL offer already locked up.
Corum and Hutchinson, definitely yes. Moody, yes. Zinter, yes. Sainristil, probably misses the cut. I think it is a definite no on everyone else. I think most of the players pictured made an All-America team I believe, and many won individual awards as well.
I think Will Johnson and Mason Graham will be in the conversation when their career is over. My pick for player who is missing is Brandon Graham. Toiled on some of the worst Michigan teams but one of the all-time greats.
Not to downplay the allegations in the article, but is this the expose that OSU and MSU fans have been breathlessly waiting for the last week or so? It's serious for Juwan Howard and Warde Manuel, but it does not really register as the massive scandal that they have been talking it up to be unless there is something else there.
The player who probably defines this category: John Navarre.
You could possibly make a case for Tom Brady as well. He only topped out at Big Ten Honorable Mention, but that had more to do with playing at the same time as Drew Brees and Randle-El. Might have been the best collection of QBs in Big Ten history.
I think putting his name in the portal gives him the ability to be contacted and recruited openly now. Entering the portal does not necessarily mean he has left the team yet, but it is not a good sign. The best potential situation for Michigan would be if he were putting his name in the portal to keep his options open while feeling out the new coaching staff.
I may need some clarification from someone else here, but I think the date the portal closes is just the deadline to put your name in. Once your name is in the portal, I think you can still be recruited and transfer after it closes. If you are uncertain about staying, it might be better to enter your name now than wait until the spring window.
I think that is every draft eligible Michigan player that saw significant snaps this year except Cam Goode and Quinten Johnson.
This. If anyone transfers at this point, it will probably be during the spring transfer window. Very few schools would be able to add students this late in the semester. Spring practice will give the new staff time to connect with the roster and hopefully that will be able to reassure any players who were having doubts with the coaching turnover.
For now. But it will be helpful in the future to have the Ravens tree expand to the Chargers and Seahawks.
No. Someone is bound to slip and go undrafted, and there is little margin for error given we only have 18 prospects to choose from (OP left out Jaylen Harrell and Cam Goode). Someone might get injured during the draft evaluation process and slip out. At least one of those offensive linemen are probably going to go undrafted especially because most of them project to interior line. Mike Barrett and Josh Wallace would have to blow up or kill the combine to overcome their measurables as they are both small for their position. Not helpful that some of the players are missing the Senior Bowl due to injury (Barrett, Sainristil, and possibly Keegan now too).
Whatever gets the clicks
Correct. Alex Boone was the primary player who criticized Harbaugh in the interview for pushing the players and demanding too much. My favorite part was the quote "'Dude, we got over the mountain. Stop. Let go.'" Dude, you lost the Super Bowl. You didn't get over the mountain and that is why he was still pushing. No surprise the franchise fell apart after Harbaugh left and Boone was on another team not long after.
https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/alex-boone-on-jim-harbaugh-this-guy-might-be-clinically-insane-hes-crazy/
I'm not sure that Michigan-Washington game is going to carry the same significance if Jedd Fisch does not find a way to reload. It looks like he is getting the worst of the coaching musical chairs. Most of Washington's roster left for the draft or transferred with DeBoer. It looks like the new Arizona head coach is going to keep Fisch from poaching much of Arizona's roster. Fisch still has a couple weeks and the spring transfer window, but it looks like it will be a rough transition to the Big Ten for Washington.
I think that Oregon at Michigan and USC at Michigan games will carry more significance than at Washington.
T Rob is the former safeties coach at Alabama who jumped to Georgia after Saban retired. Big name in recruiting in the SEC.
That may have more to do with Fisher than Bjork though. The ROI at Ole Miss under Freeze with with Bjork was pretty good.
Hit the nail on the head. Ross Bjork was at Ole Miss during the Hugh Freeze era and Texas A&M for Jimbo Fisher era. Common denominator was finding ways to bend or break rules to pay recruits.
If it weren't for COVID, another season wouldn't have been an option. Trente Jones has been here for 5 years, got his degree, played a huge role in winning a national championship. Hopefully, he weighed any feedback he got about draft prospects into his decision. I don't think it is a given he will be a UDFA.
One difference is Trente Jones would have been returning for a 6th year. His entire class is gone except for maybe Quinten Johnson, and he has his degree. If the feedback from NFL was good enough, it was time to go.
As we saw this year, it helps to have more than 5 ready to play, especially in the Harbaugh/Moore offense.
Same. Outside of JJ's decision, this is one of the few declarations to date that I thought could go either way and have a huge impact on next year. It's possible a full season starting would have vaulted his draft stock, but he might have accumulated enough film over the last 4 games to go for it.
It would have been awesome to have him back, but he has his degree, going out on top, and has several teammates like Derrick Moore and Josaiah Stewart looking to step up.
Love it. Defense is going to be nasty next year
McCarthy was one of the most visible players on the team, named team MVP, and probably made the most NIL next to maybe Blake Corum. Won a National Championship and Rose Bowl Game MVP. Was a borderline Heisman candidate for most of the season and named Big Ten QB of the Year. Remains to be seen where he will be drafted but should probably do OK. Hardly do anything? Those things aren't appealing to anyone out there?
The point of "pure" meaning that most assumed there was a high probability that he would switch positions. Maybe not the best word choice, but I think the point is clear. Villari and Kendrick Bell, and possibly even Orji were always seen as multi-tool players that Harbaugh likes that often switch positions once on campus. And Villari, guess what, ended up switching to TE at Syracuse and only got play QB at the end of the season because injuries and transfers depleted the QB position.
JJ McCarthy and Jayden Denegal were the only two scholarship QBs recruited over the last 4 years that were only going to play QB. That is not enough for most FBS schools, let alone one that wants to contend next year.
If the coaches put out feelers that the QB job is open at Michigan, I think you will see some names you did not expect jump in the post-spring portal. I think it is hard for any transfer QB right now because the coaching situation is still uncertain and can't blame any of them for not wanting to commit before knowing who is going to be coaching them. Will Rogers already got burned once at Washington.
That's fine, but I think it would be better if he earned in a competition against more than just a true freshman. Bring in a veteran and see what happens. We need another dependable QB in the room anyway.
It's not overlooking him. It's that the QB room is light because we didn't recruit a QB in 2020 or 2023. The number of live snaps they have taken is probably less than 50 total. You can't go into a season with a roster that can contend for championships with that. It is a disservice to the rest of the team especially with the the new transfer rules.
The backup QB always sounds great until you throw him into the fire. Saying he is big, "poised," and can run and throw is baseline characteristics and qualities of most scholarship QBs. Also how do you know he is poised? He hasn't played one meaningful snap under pressure to date for Michigan.
Disagree. If the team was in a full rebuild, maybe you could roll the dice on a true freshman QB.
Michigan is going to return one of the best defenses in the Big Ten. Michigan loses a lot on offense, and I think needs to have a healthy competition to give it the best chance to compete next year. Michigan has not recruited the position well in the last 4 years as it did not sign a pure QB in the 2020 or 2023 classes. Given the importance of the position and what we have returning, the coaches owe it to the team to make sure the QB position does not torpedo the whole season.
OSU, Georgia, and Alabama have been stacked with talent a level above everyone else in college football. It's nothing new. But I am not sure the soft schedule matters as much next year. It's a 12-team playoff and no more Big Ten divisions. Given their historical performance over the last 25 years or so, they would have made almost every single playoff and a top-two Big Ten Championship Game if it had existed previously.
When has OSU not been loaded? I do wonder if some of their highly-rated juniors or sophomores transfer out in the spring as they might not see the field for another year.
The moment any of these guys committed to playing in the Cotton Bowl, I was pretty certain those guys were coming back. They have never beaten Michigan and not sure they want to be remembered like that especially if the NIL money can make them partially whole. I am also not certain how much of a lock some of them are for the 1st round.
McBurrows came in the game at one point when Sainristil's helmet came off and had to leave for one play.
My observation live from the game: Paige was on the sideline hopping on one leg with what looked like a trainer evaluating him. My guess is that he had an ankle injury as he was having some trouble hopping on one of his legs.
I think it is the other way around. Michigan right now is the outlier. Alabama, Georgia, and OSU are recruiting on another level from everyone else in college football. They are expected to be here. Michigan beating OSU three years in a row and getting to the playoffs is the unicorn. No other program in college football outside the top 10 team talent composite has been able to do that consistently like Michigan has over the last 3 years. Can Michigan continue that without improving their recruiting reach? It remains to be seen.
The 247Sports Team Talent composite:
https://247sports.com/season/2023-football/collegeteamtalentcomposite/
Michigan…
From the Athletic Signing Day roundup:
Michigan is THE OUTLIER:
About 1/3 of the top 100 players have been going to a group of 3 schools: Georgia, Alabama, OSU. About 1/2 of the top 100 players have been clustered in a group of 5-7 schools. It is going to be hard to be a contender regularly without getting these players.
I think the transfer portal makes a difference though. Michigan has retained and developed players and not had a lot of turnover while a school like Texas A&M had a lot of 5-stars enter and then transfer. College football has much more of an NFL model now with recruiting analogous to the Draft, and the transfer portal similar to free agency.
Going to be some old faces returning to Michigan when the 4 Pac-12 schools join next year in addition to Shaun Nua at USC. Those schools might have more Michigan connections than the ones in the current Big Ten. USC could potentially have some turnover on defense so some of those guys might be on the hot seat.
USC - Roy Manning (Assistant Head Coach/outside LBs), Shaun Nua (DL)
Washington - Nick Sheridan (TE), Courtney Morgan (General Manager of personnel), Jerret McElwain (Director of Scouting)
UCLA - Tim Drevno (OL)
Oregon - Tony Tuioti (DL)
What does ranking have to do with it? Ranking isn't taking into account injuries and opt outs. This is a terrible way to evaluate this. Not all bowls are equal either. CFP playoff games are a much higher bar than the Pinstripe Bowl. Only OSU has had a comparable bowl schedule during these past 7 years, and they are 4-4 during that period with three of those wins coming against the Pac-12. Michigan has almost exclusively played the best in the SEC and FSU in this stretch going 0-5. OSU is 1-4 against the SEC and Clemson in the same stretch.
Michigan was favored in a bunch of these games, but some of these bowls have felt more like meaningless exhibitions (2018 Outback Bowl and 2018 Peach Bowl in particular). I feel the TCU game was the biggest disappointment to me. Michigan was a heavy favorite and did not play well, but lost in the postgame analysis for this game is that Blake Corum, the team MVP and workhorse, was lost for the season and not available for Michigan.
Michigan was a heavy underdog to Georgia and Alabama in 2021 and 2019 respectively, and it is hard to have expected a win against those teams even in retrospect looking at the personnel they had.
Michigan was favored in the 2018 Peach Bowl against Florida by -7.5 points, but they had several key players opt out including 2 NFL 1st round picks in Rashan Gary and Devin Bush while Florida had almost everyone opt in to play that game.
The 2017 team played in the Outback Bowl with a backup QB in Brandon Peters who threw 2 INTs and lost a fumble. He was making one of his first starts for Michigan and was not ready to be the starter. Not sure I would use this game in this analysis, but it was played I guess.
The 2016 Orange Bowl had Michigan as a 7-point favorite, but Jabrill Peppers, Michigan's MVP, was ruled out before kickoff. Michigan was outplayed, but the team still worked their way in the second half into an opportunity to win the game. Dalvin Cook was pretty good and tip my hat to him.
The 2022 Fiesta Bowl playoff game and 2016 Orange Bowl were disappointments to me, but it doesn't help that in both games Michigan was playing without their team MVPs.
This is nonsense. These coaches have little to no access to our bowl prep. Is it possible and should our bowl prep be evaluated in-house? Yes. But I think our performance has more to do with tough draws for bowl games along with opt outs and injuries.
It's the only way you are going to get an article like this in college football. I place the fault more with the other Big Ten coaches, but some of the writers are at fault for not being more discerning and allowing these coaches to abuse the format.
Two nine-team divisions means essentially reconstituting and subsidizing the Pac-12. It makes no sense and isn't what the TV networks are paying for anyway.
One issue with this is the calendar. There is only one week scheduled for the conference championship. The final week of the regular season is the week before, and the first week of the playoff is the week after. The only way to have a 4-team playoff within the conference with the current FBS calendar would be to shorten the conference regular season by one game to 8 games and have the semifinal in the final week of the regular season and count as a conference game. That would create chaos though because the other 14 teams that do not make the conference 4-team playoff would still need one more conference regular season game that would have to be determined in the final week of the season. Some of those 14 teams might be borderline playoff teams so that final game could be crucial for them.
I decided to leave out the Big Ten Championship games in addition to OSU.
1. Erick All 47-yd TD catch and run at PSU 2021
2. Brad Hawkins forced fumble, recovery, and return at Nebraska 2021
3. Isaiah Gash 8-yd reception on 4th-and-3 vs Illinois 2022
Honorable mention:
Blake Corum 30-yd TD run at PSU 2023
Mike Sainristil INT for TD vs Rutgers; Mike Sainristil INT at Maryland 2023
Blake Corum 33-yd TD run on 4th-and-1 vs Maryland 2022
It might be a great school, but it has problems at the governance level. The Board of Governors are appointed by the state legislature. This has led to the politicization of the board and university governance. I don't care how good the school might be, but that is going to lead to a job full of headaches for a president to navigate.
Here are just a couple examples:
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article281090148.html
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article260820252.html
UNC's might be an even bigger mess over the past couple years as the governance has become more politicized there.
MSU
Metro station? That has to be over 2 miles away from the stadium.
The OP may be able to speak more knowledgeably on this, but it's not as simple as you make it out. The stadium is in a unique location surrounded by a golf course and what felt like more residential area. It's not like it is located in a downtown area.
I don't think flight prices are coming down at this point. It is already a busy holiday weekend with the 1st landing on the Monday making it ideal for 4-day weekend travel trips for New Year's. You are already passing the 4-week advance, and flight prices tend to only rise after the 3-week advance. Maybe you get lucky in the next week, but I doubt it.
It's going to be that way for a lot of these bowls. So many players, especially QBs, in the portal or opting out.
Not sure what the solution is. I feel players should have an opportunity to transfer as they please, and December is probably the only window for many of them to do a midseason transfer before the second semester begins. But it is wrecking havoc on the postseason, and I have to imagine there will be some teams that make the playoff in future years that will have depth players enter the portal and transfer in the middle of the playoff.
Are you planning on staying for a trophy presentation? Or are you going to book it out at the final whistle? I remember it being a pain in the neck to get out of the stadium, but that involved walking to parking and then dealing with stadium traffic. Ubers did not exist at the last Michigan Rose Bowl I attended, and I have no idea how long it will take to get an Uber and get out of the stadium area.
Is it possible? Yes. Is it worth it? Probably not.