We might not have football games to enjoy, but get ready to tune into the court room as your new gridiron this week. O’Bannon v NCAA begins this coming week and is about to shake up college sports as we have never seen before. Andy Staples was kind enough to go over the Fact vs Fiction about the lawsuit to give us football fans all the inside info needed and to know what to expect next.
Is this going to turn into one big cash grab against the NCAA? I do think it is time we change how the athletes are compensated, but I think we don’t need to pay them straight out. If we do end up paying them this way, it would be disastrous. Former college football player Jeff Samardzija affirmed that when he told reporters he would have taken the extra money and run.
One last thought that I will always drive home about college athletes being paid … What about the women teams? If O’Bannon wins and you now have to pay football and basketball players … will it stop there? Thanks to Title IX you better believe the women’s golf team is also going to be compensated. This will be the game changer because a school such as Oregon or Alabama can afford to do that, while the San Jose States and Toledos will just fall off the map or have to cut certain teams to try and make this new budget … it is going to be very messy.
The NCAA will not have much of a leg to stand on since it seems like every coach is getting huge paydays, along with every conference reporting record-setting revenue being distributed to each school. Auburn has gone all in with Coach Malzahn and his staff. His deal can get to almost $5.1 million by 2019. Then you have the Nick Saban and Rich Rodriguez coaches of the profession getting huge paydays, while the debate rages on about giving the players, who are responsible for bringing the money in, just a little extra.
On a side note, Auburn is smart to do what they can to keep Gus Malzahn around. He has become an offensive genius and is holding his own in the “mighty SEC.” Watching his offense run should make Duck fans feel like they are watching their own team. The quick no huddle spread is the way of the future and more teams should follow the game plan of teams like Oregon and Auburn.
On a positive note, someone is finally reading my articles and listening to what I have to say. BYU’s football coach came out this week and said they would love to be in the Big 12. It makes a lot of sense in my book right now, but according to the article, the Big 12 still needs a little convincing. Inviting BYU is like getting Notre Dame — well almost. Thanks to the LDS following you will have a national and world wide brand to bring to the conference. The Big 12 should jump on it now before the PAC-12 considers going to 14 teams and grabs BYU. According to this video, I think BYU could hold their own in the Big 12 right now:
When you think of college football, you think of all the passion, tradition and stadiums chock full of fans. Not for the Miami Hurricanes. As part of their package ticket deal they are telling fans to go to fewer games. Odd strategy, but if you ever watched a Miami game on TV, then you will see why this is a bad move. Their stadium is already half empty on game day, so we will see how this promotion works out. Check out this video and just see all the empty Orange seats. Heck, the Florida Gators had more fans in their stadium on the day they lost to Georgia Southern than what Miami had this day.
So, as this off season approaches, I will try to keep you updated with the trial and other related news in the college football world. I could fill up a whole page of just the arrest reports, suspensions and other troubling reports that football players are encurring, but we are better than that and won’t waste your time … unless Jameis Winston makes headlines — again. Enjoy this off season and lets hope they can work things out in the courtroom over the next few months. Less than 80 days until kickoff!
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3. NCAA trial news
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Jeff Hostetler may not have won a Super Bowl with the Giants ( though his uncle of the same name did). He has been an obsessed college football fan living in Florida ever since the Gators beat FSU in the Sugar Bowl to earn the UF’s first national championship.
Ever since Jeff has immersed himself in everything possible related to college football. He enjoys watching, writing, playing, and otherwise obsessing over all things football. A graduate of the University of Florida, he brings a perspective to FishDuck free of our extreme green & yellow homerism glasses to look at the current landscape of collegiate athletics.