Alduflux

Trump has removed the leaders of Venezuela and now Iran. Who's next on your BINGO card? Cuba? Canada? Greenland? Mexico? Panama?

Sounds like a bunch of marriages.

I feel the "moneyball" aspect of this story is overstated. The principal drivers of the Indiana success story are, 1: Talent evaluation and development. 2: Outstanding on field execution. Put another way, coaching is the most important part of the Indiana equation. I imagine you switch the Indiana coaching staff with any other staff in the country, and you'll watch the results follow Cignetti. The "production over potential" at its extreme would be a team that exclusively fields JR's and SR's for the roster and abandons high school recruiting entirely. Again, the "evaluation" part of the equation is key. I'm guessing there are a ton of high production guys Cig looked at and correctly passed on. Other coaches trying to mimic Cignetti will fail at the evaluation part.

Let me rephrase my thoughts. All that really matters is money. Does adding ND to a conference increase or decrease the average payout to that conference's members? The answer to that question for the last 100 years has always been yes. So long as that remains true, and it likely will, ND has an open invitation to every conference. Of course the ACC lobbied for one of their own members over a non-football member. They (ACC) literally make more money with Miami in the playoff over ND. Your right about ND and the TV deal. Joining the B1G/SEC would mean joining the media rights of each conference. The NBC deal would go away in the long term, although there could be a transition period where ND was a partial member and maintained the NBC deal until a certain date in the contract. The B1G made similar concessions regarding membership when USC/UCLA joined vs OREGON/Washington in the form of full shares (Usc/ucla) vs partial shares (oregon/wash).

A bunch of good dialogue here. My observations: Notre Dame football is an asset. It currently has significant value. So long as that continues to be true (and it likely will), they can join any conference whenever they want. Additionally, each conference is competing against one another. Because of this, each conference will appease ND to make sure they don't join a competing conference. This means the P4 will agree to scheduling agreements (and playoff agreements) to prevent ND from joining a competitor. ND has the ability to maintain independence in the current landscape of college football. That landscape will change significantly over the next decade, as the ACC will likely have massive defections before 2036. There may come a day when ND is given an ultimatum to join with the big boys or be left out. That day is not now. I agree with the OP, that the B1G is the conference they should join, when they join. However, from an ND centric viewpoint, their backs are not against the wall, and they can continue to navigate independence as they have if they choose to. Transfer portals, NIL, collective bargaining, Super-leagues, and the Indiana Hoosier football overlords are all things that could change ND's ability to navigate independence.

Hopefully he plays immediately. My advice to any young player in the current landscape of college football is to go where you will play immediately. You can transfer later. It looks like Brady would have been better served to start at ISU (or a similar place) then transfer to a big school later. Best of luck to him.

Any whisper on where he'll play next year?

The final Sagarin rankings since realignment are listed below. The conference was punished for its poor post season results as 2025 only had five teams finish in the top 100. 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 21 Central 25 Mem 35 MD 26 Reitz 21 Mem 40 Mem 38 Castle 26 Jasper 42 Reitz 34 North 41 Castle 65 North 46 Jasper 31 Castle 48 Mem 52 Jasper 46 Reitz 78 MD 56 Mem 44 MD 49 Castle 56 Mem 57 MD 87 Jasper 77 MD 69 North 60 Jasper 62 Castle 77 Jasper 92 Reitz 90 North 86 Reitz 86 North 65 Vincennes 96 North 125 Castle 134 Vincennes 125 Central 95 Vincennes 105 Bosse 114 Vincennes 132 Vincennes 137 Reitz 135 Harrison 156 Harrison 107 MD 151 Harrison 198 Harrison 213 Harrison 148 Bosse 199 Bosse 212 Harrison 214 Central 218 Central 255 Bosse 150 Vincennes 243 Central 247 Central 236 Bosse 285 Bosse

I wonder if he will reconsider his commitment if Kiffin changes schools.

He finished 7th at state in wrestling last year.

Why did he attend HH?

Where did Bettag attend middle school?

The defending state champs from the 2 PAC vs a team from the lowly SIAC that hasn’t won a sectional since the players had baby teeth. HH wins this one getting off the bus.

How did he look?

Thanks for that.