Bash Riprock

They are one tough ballclub....anyone beating them will have earned that W.

Miami now has a home game for the CFP championship....that's a very nice plus for them.

Former 4 star HS QB Brady Allen now a Sycamore.

Hold your breath…

I didn't take your post as an argument with Bob and I am agreeing with you on the need of the portal. I am just wondering if ND would follow Vanderbilt's route (assuming I am correct) in taking C students, or would their academic standards prohibit this, resulting in a much smaller % of applicable transfer portal players? My guess is schools like Stanford is in the same place. Are they at a crossroads with the changing game to consider things they once would have never done...such as lower academic performance for transfer portal players, joining a conference, etc.?

The recent reference is Brandon Sorsby leaving Cinn for Texas Tech for $5M for a season. What's crazy is that Sorsby left Indiana for Cincy, because he couldn't get the starting QB job. What a journey.....

that's an interesting comment and perhaps you are right. But I also have to wonder if that is the case given academic requirements. My paradigm (perhaps an incorrect stereotype) is that the vast majority of players entering the portal (especially repeatedly) are not focused on academics. If that is accurate, does that put schools like ND and Stanford at a disadvantage? It feels (I may be way off) that Vandy has recently sacrificed academics with the improvement of their football program. I absolutely acknowledge there are players that enter the portal after earning degress, such as Fernando Mendoza did earning his BS in business from Cal. There has to be a number like him that ND could absolutely target that could fill in gaps for a year or two.

Agree....I just wonder "who is they"? NCAA doesn't seem to care or have the power. As Coach N has predicted, does the P4 plus ND pull away and establish their own governance??

Its an interesting question, and perhaps the chicken before the egg type thing. The one common denomimator to me seem to be the coach. I look back on the great southern teams (more than a single year flash in the pan) they had great coaches that brought players to their school. Florida with Spurrier and Meyer, Bama with Bryant and Saban, Florida State with Bowden, Texas with Royal, Miami with Snellenberger and Johnson, etc. Outside the south Penn State with Paterno, Nebraska with Osbourne, Oklahoma with Switzer and Stoops, OSU with Hayes and Meyer, Michigan with Bo, USE with McKay and Robinson, etc. Perhaps they do pull in the best of their regions, but as they programs have lost those coaches, their performance has suffered. It would be interesting to go back and look at these programs when they were on top and track where they pulled thier players. I don't think one could dispute the overall quality of players from the southeast, but are they better and more of them than from Texas, California, Pennslyvania, Ohio, etc? Not sure. I do know teams like IU have pulled kids from Florida and Georgia for years, but are they pulling more or better players from those states now? If so, is it purely money? What role does TV networks play as more games today are on TV, so mom and dad can watch regardless where they live? But it seems like the number one factor is the quality of the head coach. The programs on the south (or anywhere) rise and fall depending on who is in charge. Even OSU declined with certain head coaches...thus go after Meyer. Bama is a great case study. Players absolutely matter...but as we are seeing with IU and historically others schools, the coach may be the number one factor.

Good for you...go ahead and see how much discussion you can drive about a facility that was built almost 2 decades ago.

I like most of your stuff.....just try to ignore the decade plus noise of complaining about Lucas Oil. And the 2025 Colts thread has nothing to do with their venue investment. So again, refuse to follow you down into your basement.

I don't disagree....whether we agree with the recruiting ratings or not, just guessing most (not all) of the JMU players would have jumped at the opportunity to play at a program like ISU earlier if given the chance. After all, many followed their coach with no hesitation to the NCAA's Div 1 all-time losingest program just to have an opportunity to play P4 football.

I just assumed the Lubbock beach front property was the deciding factor......

I thought about that...assuming ISU's players are probably rated higher than a bunch of JMU guys. I'm sure he got most of the guys he truly wanted.

First, great initial write-up. Your spelling was impeccable!! I agree with your comment above. I think with the BIG and SEC specifically going to 9 conference games, will get tougher for them to want to schedule ND. ND's recent TV ratings performance isn't helping either. (see below) The world continues to change with the college football landscape. I remember the days of a number of CFB independents; ND, Penn State, Miami, Pitt, Florida State, West Virginia, BYU, Syracuse, Virgina Tech, Boston College, Army, Navy, etc. Now there are 2 schools independent...ND and UConn.....with the latter not a major program. ND used to have rivalries with a number of other independents....now, not so much. I agree with you...ND can't ignore this changing landscape, and they haven't for all other varsity sports. I believe a major reason ND was left out this year, is that they had no one fighting for them. The ACC certainly wasn't going to argue for ND, and they couldn't and shouldn't. https://frontofficesports.com/notre-dames-tv-ratings-dont-match-its-reputation/ Notre Dame carries itself like an irreplaceable television attraction, when in reality, it has become more of a middle-of-the-road TV draw. The hard truth for Subway Alumni is this: When it comes to national TV appeal, the Irish are now more Indianapolis Colts than Dallas Cowboys. Consider: The 10–2 Irish didn’t rank among the top 10 most-watched college football teams this year, according to Nielsen. In fact, their average viewing audience of 3,925,000 viewers ranked them No. 15, behind Florida, Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Florida State. And ahead of Vanderbilt, Missouri, Penn State, and Miami. The most-watched team was Alabama, averaging more than double Notre Dame’s viewers at 8,493,000, followed by Texas, Georgia, Ohio State, and Oklahoma. Overall, SEC teams accounted for 4 of the 5 most-watched schools—and 8 of the top 10. According to Nielsen, Notre Dame played in only one of the top 20 most-watched college football games this year. It drew a season-high 10.8 million viewers vs. Miami for its season opener on Aug. 31. Ironically, the committee pointed to that 27–24 road loss to the Hurricanes as the reason the Irish didn’t make the playoff cut. Even Notre Dame’s 34–23 victory over rival USC on Oct. 18 didn’t pop a big number. NBC’s broadcast averaged 2,998,000 viewers, trailing three SEC matchups on ABC: 6,046,000 for Mississippi-Georgia; 4,913,000 for Alabama-Tennessee; and 3,875,000 for LSU-Vanderbilt.

What I find interesting it that these players weren't exactly dominating the Big 12.....perhaps solid players to join an already strong nucleus? Per another thread, Iowa State to start robbing MAC rosters to field a team?

3 losing seasons in 18 years. 12 playoff appearances in those 18 years. His teams were 35-16 in the prior 3 seasons. What have you done for me lately? Wonder if there was some other internal issues going on not widely talked about with the media?

I am going to ask Chat GPT to misspell my responses just to keep our local GID grammar police occupied......

Don't confuse a lack of interesting in your baiting and trolling an admission of anything other than simply growing tired of your never-ending drivel on this particular topic...and another attempt to hijack a thread.

Not going down the rabbit hole again....there is nothing that can be said to you (regardless of economic benefit and/or intangible benefit this venue provides the city) that would change your views and I respect your commitment to your views. Just have heard it so much over the years.

100% coach....what some people don't understand that perhaps the "dumbing down of America" is thinking one has the resume and credibility in the first place to correct others. They simply cannot stay in their lane, and most importantly see the bigger picture of intrepreting the message itself vs was every word spelled correctly and was each sentence grammatically correct. When it comes to the latter, guessing an excellent english teacher could find mistakes with ALL of our posts from time to time. I think there is a segment of the population that feels more important if they seize an opportunity to "shame others" and fail to realize they shame themselves. "My candle will burn brighter if I blow out the candle of another" type of thinking. Its simply "perposterus".......

my broken record comment was not directed to your comments...I concur before one replaces they had better have at least one or more better options. We all saw how Penn State football struggled with replacing their head coach and was very fortunate at the end to find a decent replacement. My broken record image was for Muda's continued slights about Lucas Oil Stadium. Been going on prior to 2008.

Sorry about your delusions that your view = truth

Most ND fans are gracious about IU on GID....pretty small population. X and Instagram increases the national sample size considerably. Herbtreit and Saban are the big faces for ESPN college football. I am just saying you've been dogging ESPN hard as influencing the CFP committee, but then quote the ESPN CFB biggest names if they align with your views. To you last point...I think anyone plays on your emotions if they challenge your views and perhaps disagree. On this entire ND issue, I have tried to see both sides. I understand and don't disagree ND fan's frustrations. But I also feel that ND is not a victim and would have put this issue to rest by not going 1-3 against ranked teams. Good news...with their new agreement and most likely a 16 team playoff next year, don't see this issue arising next in the future with a 10-2 ND team. BTW, some awful good information out there on X about CFB and NFL if one follows the right sources. Give it a try!!