Portal season has begun

#52
#52
sami said:
It isn't necessarily the parity itself that is the issue, it's the fact that instead of more teams stepping up and being great it is a 'dumbing down' due to NIL and portal movement spreading the wealth and cohesive units being impossible to build, resulting in mediocrity across the board. The quality of the game suffers, just as it has over the last couple of decades in the NFL.

Aside from Ohio State, and we honestly don't even know about them yet due to that joke schedule, who are the great teams this year? Or last year? "Any given Saturday" sounds really nice until the games are sloppy messes, which is becoming more the rule than exception.
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Would you rather have 1 or 2 teams that have it all together and then sloppy messes after that, or a more clustered field where there are some teams that are clearly better than others, but there are several teams you could see winning it all? A huge complaint for years was that Alabama and Clemson were ruining college football.

It's perfectly OK with me that there are no "great" teams. There are great players all over the country and the Portal, while there are aspects of it that I don't like, gives guys a chance to get playing time that they would not have gotten otherwise. The NCAA Tournament is a great entertainment product precisely because of the upsets.

From a fan's perspective, is it really all that entertaining to watch a sport where there are a couple of teams who "should" win basically all their games, and as the seasons play out that's basically what happens?
 
#54
#54
05_never_again said:
Would you rather have 1 or 2 teams that have it all together and then sloppy messes after that, or a more clustered field where there are some teams that are clearly better than others, but there are several teams you could see winning it all? A huge complaint for years was that Alabama and Clemson were ruining college football.

It's perfectly OK with me that there are no "great" teams. There are great players all over the country and the Portal, while there are aspects of it that I don't like, gives guys a chance to get playing time that they would not have gotten otherwise. The NCAA Tournament is a great entertainment product precisely because of the upsets.

From a fan's perspective, is it really all that entertaining to watch a sport where there are a couple of teams who "should" win basically all their games, and as the seasons play out that's basically what happens?
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I wasn't necessarily saying one is better than the other, just pointing out the obvious facts of why it has changed and where it is headed. The quality of play isn't the same as it was because coaches can't build cohesive units any more, especially defenses and O-Lines, because of the constant movement. The most talent still wins out, but the level of play overall suffers.

Is it better this way? Do you honestly think there are 'several' teams that could win it all? We had more blowouts than anything else in last year's playoff, and I would anticipate the same this year and every year moving forward. It's always going to be 2-3 teams in any given year that are legitimate title contenders, and it might only be Ohio State this year. We'll see.
 
#56
#56
sami said:
I wasn't necessarily saying one is better than the other, just pointing out the obvious facts of why it has changed and where it is headed. The quality of play isn't the same as it was because coaches can't build cohesive units any more, especially defenses and O-Lines, because of the constant movement. The most talent still wins out, but the level of play overall suffers.

Is it better this way? Do you honestly think there are 'several' teams that could win it all? We had more blowouts than anything else in last year's playoff, and I would anticipate the same this year and every year moving forward. It's always going to be 2-3 teams in any given year that are legitimate title contenders, and it might only be Ohio State this year. We'll see.
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I haven't noticed some big decline in quality of play. What I have noticed is that there's less separation between the best teams and the good teams.

The CFP has always had lots of blowouts, even in the pre-portal era. It's been one of the many criticisms of it.
 
#58
#58
05_never_again said:
I haven't noticed some big decline in quality of play. What I have noticed is that there's less separation between the best teams and the good teams.

The CFP has always had lots of blowouts, even in the pre-portal era. It's been one of the many criticisms of it.
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The decline in play will become more apparent if the amount of portal movement keeps up the pace it is now.

The comical thing is how people talk about an expanded playoff being more like March Madness. CFB and CBB couldn't be more different - the chance of a George Mason type CFB program winning even one game much less making a run to a final four is less likely than winning the lottery.
 
#59
#59

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#60
#60
05_never_again said:
A big complaint of the 2010-2020 era of college football (not saying from you specifically) was that a small number of dominant ran the sport and won almost all the time. Now it's bad a bunch of different teams have a chance to win any given week.
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Touche. I think it’s more about the quality of play than anything else. Like are we watching a better product? I’d argue no. It’s competitive and crazy, which is great for a fan who has no dog in the fight.

Like we’re paying kids millions and not getting the same quality of game. Just look at the Qbs: Lagway, Nico, Jackson Arnold, Arch. They were the bees knees in 2023. Now? Only one I think has actually lived up to expectations and even Arch has had his ups and downs.
 
#62
#62
UT97Vol said:
Yeah, he's going to the combine and then to the first round. Those are the only two places he's headed.
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I hope Chris goes round 1. If he tests well and runs in the 4.4 range, he’s got a shot. There’s going to be questions about his route tree and the offense in general. Hopefully he can break the mold and be a good proof of concept for future WRs coming to UT.
 
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#63
#63
I hate the route tree talk. During nfl games, their live stats will for instance show Cooper Kupps routes for the game and hardly any of them would be recognized by the standard tree. He doesn’t run a single route in a straight line.
 
#64
#64
MDsweetT said:
Touche. I think it’s more about the quality of play than anything else. Like are we watching a better product? I’d argue no. It’s competitive and crazy, which is great for a fan who has no dog in the fight.

Like we’re paying kids millions and not getting the same quality of game. Just look at the Qbs: Lagway, Nico, Jackson Arnold, Arch. They were the bees knees in 2023. Now? Only one I think has actually lived up to expectations and even Arch has had his ups and downs.
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Hyped QBs coming into both college and NFL programs have been super hit or miss for a very long time. I think it is a function of the nature of the position and the importance of the position. Fans hype guys up as the savior of their team before they've even played, and some aspects of playing the position (reading defenses, understanding what everybody is doing on offense, processing speed, leadership skills, etc.) are difficult to gauge on a practice field, at a camp, or in an interview.

In the last 6 NFL Drafts, 20 QBs have been taken in the first round. How many of them are franchise-changing players, either for the team that drafted them or another team? You could probably do the same thing with 5-star QB recruits in college.

Baker Mayfield
Sam Darnold
Josh Allen
Josh Rosen
Kyler Murray
Daniel Jones
Dwayne Haskins
Joe Burrow
Tua
Justin Herbert
Jordan Love
Trevor Lawrence
Zach Wilson
Trey Lance
Justin Fields
Mac Jones
Kenny Pickett
Bryce Young
CJ Stroud
Anthony Richardson
 
#66
#66
05_never_again said:
A big complaint of the 2010-2020 era of college football (not saying from you specifically) was that a small number of dominant ran the sport and won almost all the time. Now it's bad a bunch of different teams have a chance to win any given week.
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You really think the sport is at "parity" level in reality? On paper, I suppose everyone has the same shot, but in reality?

Look at who is gonna go to the playoffs 1/2 are Blue Bloods by any definition TTU has bought their way into contention. Oregon has been good for a decade straight. Sure you are gonna have a G5 team and Virginia as the long shots. Everyone knows what's gonna happen to them. Sacrificed to whoever get the 5 and 6 seeds so the actual meaningful games can start.

Our game with tOSU last December opened my eyes just a bit more Were we playing the same game on the same field with the same rules? Yes. They just had "more" of everything though We had about as much of a chance of winning that game as I stand of winning the Powerball AND Moneyball this week
 
#67
#67
stolitonic said:
You really think the sport is at "parity" level in reality? On paper, I suppose everyone has the same shot, but in reality?

Look at who is gonna go to the playoffs 1/2 are Blue Bloods by any definition TTU has bought their way into contention. Oregon has been good for a decade straight. Sure you are gonna have a G5 team and Virginia as the long shots. Everyone knows what's gonna happen to them. Sacrificed to whoever get the 5 and 6 seeds so the actual meaningful games can start.

Our game with tOSU last December opened my eyes just a bit more Were we playing the same game on the same field with the same rules? Yes. They just had "more" of everything though We had about as much of a chance of winning that game as I stand of winning the Powerball AND Moneyball this week
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No. Not everybody has the same shot in the same way that every NFL team has the same shot. College football (and college sports generally) is a sport that has never had a lot of parity because it wasn't designed to have any. However I think the relative level of parity has gone way up since the Portal was introduced. You can't hoard players anymore.

So far, in the Portal/CFP era, it still has been blue bloods who have won the titles, although TCU and Washington have made it to a title game.
 
#72
#72
SayUWantAreVOLution said:
Again, if you can't pay guys to sit, you can't compete. It's that simple.

If we refuse to pay Faizon Brandon to sit and learn as a freshman, he'll go somewhere that will and we'll never see him in orange. If we insist he has to start as a freshman, he'll do what's good for his career and go somewhere that won't.

Your call but this isn't a "let's do it on the cheap" sport.
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There has to be a balance between recruiting and portal, and I would invest more heavily on the portal given the current transfer rules. Spending for a proven portal transfer who can contribute right away is safer than paying a true freshman to sit for a year and hope he stays around next year. You have to be very careful about which freshman you invest in now that they can portal away at will.
 
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#73
#73
Vol_guy said:
I'll be honest, I'm concerned about keys until I see the paperwork tomorrow...
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Under the current circumstances, I feel the same way about every kid in the class. The one positive is that we can honestly offer lots playing time to any freshman ready for it at any and every position.

My money is on Matthews hitting the portal and Brazzell going to the draft so Keys can be the man from the jump here.
 
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#74
#74
vol94fan said:
There has to be a balance between recruiting and portal, and I would invest more heavily on the portal given the current transfer rules. Spending for a proven portal transfer who can contribute right away is safer than paying a true freshman to sit for a year and hope he stays around next year. You have to be very careful about which freshman you invest in now that they can portal away at will.
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The problem is your portal guy has to learn your offense, particularly an offense like Heupel's which isn't a "cookie cutter" offense.

Granted, "non skill" positions won't have much of a problem but getting a "plug and play" connection between a QB and WR isn't guaranteed. Timing matters on lots of routes and isn't just "there" on day one.

We did very well with Joey A but it's pretty obvious we've seen QBs struggle to pick up Heupel's offense.

Guys being together and bonding as a team matters even in this mercenary era of college football.
 
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