As the Wolverine’s season is marred by controversy and the Aggies explore spending even more money on a new coach, it’s evident that more is never enough in college football.
First Quarter: Connor Stalions Is the Inevitable Product of an Excessive System
It would seem that the only similarity between Connor Stalions (2) and Jimbo Fisher (1) is their employment in college football. or have. Stalions left his analyst post at Michigan on Friday, thus his work is currently in the past tense. Furthermore, Fisher, the troubled Texas A&M coach, may soon find himself in a past tense situation. However, the two men represent a deranged sport.
Texas A&M is thinking about firing Fisher. His disappointing Aggies are 5–4, not much of an improvement over their 5–7 disaster from the previous year, which came after a lackluster 8–4 campaign in 2021. With a 26–21 SEC record at a location with many advantages, his dismissal after six seasons might have made sense if not for the cost.
If Fisher is dismissed this season, the school will have to forgo the approximately $78 million in buyout money that it would otherwise owe him. Thanks to a careless contract extension in 2021 that added four completely guaranteed years to an already enormous agreement, it’s an absurd sum. That caused his buyout to more than double in size, reaching a never-before-seen height in college football.
Aggies athletic director Ross Bjork stated, “At the time the now-infamous extension was announced, we support our football program at the highest level and providing the appropriate amount of stability and continuity during this important time is critical.
It is financially insane to spend $78 million to fire a coach, along with whatever it takes to fire his assistants and the tens of millions needed to employ new staff and Fisher’s replacement. However, excessive behavior has gotten so embedded in college football that it is very possible, and some in the industry won’t even blink if it does.
Everything has become justified in a decentralized system of ordered chaos due to the reckless chase of gains and profits. The Pac-12 (3) was dismantled and sold for parts, ruining tradition and causing logistical and geographical havoc for the athletes. However, the leaders involved simply shrugged and pointed to increasing revenue. When the NCAA tries to enforce bylaws that member schools have chosen to adopt, it frequently encounters resistance, contempt, and downright ridicule. Allegiances, contracts, and loyalty are ephemeral.
Each conference acts independently of the sport as a whole, and each school in those conferences acts in the same way. There is no trust and very little honor. It makes sense that Stalions, the purported mastermind of a massive scheme to intercept play signals from the other Big Ten teams as well as numerous other elite programs, could carve out a valuable position for himself in a system gone awry that incentivizes disobedience and breeds poisonous ambition.
Assume for the moment that Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh (4) was unaware of the extent of his staff crackpot’s activities. This is a reasonable assumption, in part because Harbaugh, like the majority of coaches at the highest levels of the game, has a large support staff consisting of several dozen individuals. We’re informed that football clubs require between 60 and 70 employees to stay competitive with other teams that employ that many people. More reasonable excess. Greater excessive self-importance.However, it’s obvious that the Michigan coaches were aware that Stalions was a talented signal stealer. Maybe none of them was curious enough to want to know how Stalions had mastered his evil craft. “If I’m a coordinator or assistant coach and we have an ambitious young guy walking around the building saying, ‘I’ve got a bead on their signals,’ and I’m the defensive play caller, I’d say, ‘Give it to me,'” the former FBS head coach and current defensive assistant told Sports Illustrated last week. Not that I would question how he acquired it.
The coach responded, “If I can know it’s a run instead of a pass on even five plays, you absolutely take it,” when asked how great of an advantage that information would be. That’s quite beneficial.
In an environment of excess, where every bit of information, including that of outnumbered opponents, is pursued with missionary fervor, Stalions could thrive to the point of conspicuously careless actions. Nothing says excess like suiting up as a Central Michigan (5) coach to watch your in-state rival from the sidelines during the season opener—allegedly. (Nearly a week has passed since the supposed 30-minute inquiry into whether anyone knew the identity of the man on the Chippewas sideline began in Central Michigan. We would have heard the benign explanation last Tuesday, if there was one.)
Commissioner Tony Petitti may take disciplinary action this week after conference members voiced their objections to him due to the controversy’s enough strain on ties with the other Big Ten teams. He faces the difficult task of weighing the league’s outrage about the alleged violation of NCAA bylaws and sportsmanship against the traditional deciding factor: money. If Michigan is punished and fails to qualify for the College Football Playoffs, millions of dollars could be lost. The price of leadership in divisive times is that he will face harsh criticism no matter which direction he chooses.
But Purdue coach Ryan Walters’s (6) blow-by handshake with Harbaugh on Saturday night summed up the conference’s disdain for Michigan. Last week, Walters made public information about Stalions purchasing Purdue game tickets for their purported espionage network.
In college football, this is the state of affairs: extravagant expenditure, an emphasis on goals justifying means, and the gradual erosion of trust due to one overindulgence at a time. It’s a fantastic sport with a broken system. And it appears like the remainder of this extravagant season is about to unfold at the height of ridiculousness.
For the Playoffs, four
Every week, The Dash declares what, if it were Selection Sunday, the College Football Playoffs would look like. While there were a few near misses, the majority of the top candidates survived another Saturday without incident. Rose Bowl: Michigan (8) vs. Ohio State (7), the top-seeded team.
The Buckeyes (9-0) were behind a pretty sour Rutgers squad at the break. Jordan Hancock’s 93-yard pick-six and Tre-Veyon Henderson’s 208 all-purpose yards—his second straight game with more than 200 yards in that category kept the Buckeyes from certain defeat. Even though he wasn’t a terrific quarterback, Kyle McCord had the wisdom to target Marvin Harrison Jr. in the red zone, where he scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to put the game away. Michigan State is Ohio State’s next opponent.
The Wolverines (9-0) defeated Purdue 41–13 on Saturday, continuing to brush aside the scandal they created for themselves. They also outperformed all (unranked) opponents. With eighteen seconds remaining, the Boile makers scored their most points of the season versus Michigan with a touchdown. With J.J. McCarthy throwing for a season-high 335 yards, Michigan scored more than 40 points for the sixth straight game. Michigan’s next game is their first of the season against a ranked opponent, which will take place at Penn State. Sugar Bowl: Florida State (9), the #2 seed, takes against Georgia (10), the #3 seed.
The Seminoles (9-0) scampered around against Pittsburgh for over half the game before displaying their signature closing ability, without their two best wide receivers. The third quarter saw two lengthy touchdown drives that sealed the 24–7 victory, however this outing ended Florida State’s 14-game run of scoring at least 31 points. QB Jordan Travis passed for a season-high 360 yards, even in the absence of Keon Coleman and Johnny Wilson.
Miami is Florida State’s next opponent. This week, The Dash elevated the Bulldogs (9-0) from fourth place to third after defeating a team ranked in the top 15. On a Saturday at home, Georgia fell behind Missouri in the second half before regaining control with four consecutive goals. For the second consecutive season, Mizzou gave Georgia a scare but was unable to seal the deal. Georgia’s next game, the second of three consecutive against rated opponents, is against Mississippi.
Also considered: Alphaspornews.com
