11-07-2022, 09:39 AM
OutsiderFan and gailtate have it right.
81alum, Treebound, RuralFan, Lex, anybody else - can you provide evidence that NIL, transfers, etc. make it impossible to compete? I can't see any evidence for that view. There are many programs - I listed about ten competing at a quality level this year alone - that compete despite being relatively middling programs and/or relative losers in the new college football landscape. The fact is this is a competitive landscape, which means that when programs compete some will win and some will lose. In other words, USC benefiting tremendously from NIL and transfer portal hurts UCLA, or Ohio State and Alabama getting even more of the pie makes it even harder for Michigan State and Mississippi State. The mental model you appear to be bringing to this is that everybody else will get richer and Stanford poorer and how can you compete in that landscape. Let's put aside that this is far too defeatist even if taken on face value, for the reasons I, OutsiderFan, and gailtate have mentioned (in a nutshell, some have nots have always been able to compete and overcome headwinds). The right mental model is that the new landscape will shake up the power structure and change who's on top and/or produce even more stratification between the top and everybody else. Maybe this makes it harder for us to get to the Rose Bowl, but I don't see the logic in how it makes it more difficult to get to the Sun Bowl.
Again, why can't we compete with Oregon State?
81alum, Treebound, RuralFan, Lex, anybody else - can you provide evidence that NIL, transfers, etc. make it impossible to compete? I can't see any evidence for that view. There are many programs - I listed about ten competing at a quality level this year alone - that compete despite being relatively middling programs and/or relative losers in the new college football landscape. The fact is this is a competitive landscape, which means that when programs compete some will win and some will lose. In other words, USC benefiting tremendously from NIL and transfer portal hurts UCLA, or Ohio State and Alabama getting even more of the pie makes it even harder for Michigan State and Mississippi State. The mental model you appear to be bringing to this is that everybody else will get richer and Stanford poorer and how can you compete in that landscape. Let's put aside that this is far too defeatist even if taken on face value, for the reasons I, OutsiderFan, and gailtate have mentioned (in a nutshell, some have nots have always been able to compete and overcome headwinds). The right mental model is that the new landscape will shake up the power structure and change who's on top and/or produce even more stratification between the top and everybody else. Maybe this makes it harder for us to get to the Rose Bowl, but I don't see the logic in how it makes it more difficult to get to the Sun Bowl.
Again, why can't we compete with Oregon State?