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The Herald Scotland
a day ago
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Indiana's weak schedule won't con College Football Playoff committee
By ducking Virginia, and flaunting its scheduling choice at Big Ten media days, Indiana is begging the selection committee to treat it like gimcrack the next time it builds something resembling a playoff resume - if there is a next time. And for what? Virginia last tasted a winning season six years ago. Curt Cignetti's upstart Hoosiers could beat Virginia when they were scheduled to play in 2027 and 2028. He just doesn't see the point in trying. "We figured we would just adopt SEC scheduling philosophy," quipped Cignetti, who fancies himself the cleverest man in the North. By swapping Virginia for chum opponents, Indiana will join the many SEC teams that schedule only nine Power Four opponents. SEC schools protect Championship Subdivision games like they're gold doubloons. Unlike SEC teams, though, Indiana won't play a single Power Four non-conference opponent this season, or the next, or the next, and so on. The Hoosiers, like some other Big Ten schools, decided the surest path to contention is scheduling the easiest possible collection of non-conference opponents. Washington coach Jedd Fisch said Cignetti's strategy to avoid Power Four non-conference opponents is "dead-on right." Herein lies the great pitfall of the committee's selection of Indiana to the playoff last season as the No. 10 seed, despite its flimsy strength of schedule. Coaches saw Indiana's strategy work, and now they wonder if they should mimic it, at the expense of playing compelling games. BAD PLAN: Big Ten's push for auto berths will make season worse DOUBLING DOWN: Oregon following plan even after Rose Bowl debacle The 2024 Hoosiers capitalized on a soft schedule draw from the Big Ten, and they avoided any opponents from the SEC, ACC or Big 12. They reached 11-1 without a signature victory, but no bad losses. The committee did not err by admitting Indiana. It lacked superior alternatives. Never mind the nonsense that Alabama, with its 9-3 resume including two losses to 6-6 teams, built more deserving qualifications than the Hoosiers. If you believe that, you must have "It Just Means More" tattooed on your bicep. The committee judiciously chose the Hoosiers, but, this being a copycat sport, now we've got teams from Indiana to Nebraska trying to game theory their way into the playoff by ducking any non-conference opponent with a pulse. The issue isn't confined to the Big Ten, either. The SEC won't dare add another conference game to its schedule, because why welcome another tussle when you could cream some flotsam from the MAC? Programs that knew they'd never sniff a four-team playoff wonder if they can emulate Indiana and qualify for this expanded playoff by following a Hoosiers recipe that calls for construction of the feeblest schedule possible. The twist of it is, if a few bubble teams with superior schedule strength had not gotten upset in the season's final two weeks, the committee might have rejected Indiana from the field. Because, contrary to what the SEC's propaganda campaign would have you believe, the committee cares about strength of schedule. Enough bubble teams lost, though, so the Hoosiers slipped in, and the industry accepted Indiana's scheduling method as foolproof, rather than foolish - until the committee reverses course, or the bubble strengthens in a future season. Cignetti jabbed at the SEC at media days, but his quip and scheduling moves also mock the committee and its selection of the Hoosiers. He's acting as if he outwitted the committee. Beware, because the committee is an evolving organism, unbound by past selection strategies. The committee never barred an undefeated Power Four team from the four-team playoff - until it shunned 13-0 Florida State to make room for the SEC's one-loss champion. What's to stop the committee from rejecting the next 11-1 team that slinks into Selection Sunday touting three triumphs against non-conference lackeys that can't spell football, and not a single win against a ranked opponent? Nothing. Committee membership changes. Its chairperson changes. Situations change. No two seasons unfold the same way. If the committee believes it's being played for a fool by Cignetti and others like him, perhaps it will stiffen its spine against a team that uses a weak schedule as a catapult to a strong record. The persistent reluctance to schedule tough non-conference games remains an anchor preventing college football from ascending to a higher perch. The committee wields power to spur some evolution on that non-conference scheduling strategy. If the committee starts rejecting bubble teams that play nothing but slappies in September, I suspect we'll begin to see fewer schedules devoid of Power Four non-conference opponents. Until then, if Cignetti fears a game against Virginia, then he must not believe he's built one of the nation's top 12 teams. Maybe, the committee will learn to trust his judgment. Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@ and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
USA Today
2 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Indiana ups ante on pathetic schedule. Will College Football Playoff committee clap back?
Here's the irony in Indiana canceling games against Virginia in two upcoming seasons and replacing the Cavaliers with even meeker opponents: If the Hoosiers aren't good enough to beat Virginia, they aren't good enough to make the College Football Playoff. Heck, if they can't beat Virginia, they're probably not good enough to make the Pinstripe Bowl. This decision isn't just pathetic. It's unnecessary. By ducking Virginia, and flaunting its scheduling choice at Big Ten media days, Indiana is begging the selection committee to treat it like gimcrack the next time it builds something resembling a playoff résumé – if there is a next time. And for what? Virginia last tasted a winning season six years ago. Curt Cignetti's upstart Hoosiers could beat Virginia when they were scheduled to play in 2027 and 2028. He just doesn't see the point in trying. 'We figured we would just adopt SEC scheduling philosophy,' quipped Cignetti, who fancies himself the cleverest man in the North. By swapping Virginia for chum opponents, Indiana will join the many SEC teams that schedule only nine Power Four opponents. SEC schools protect Championship Subdivision games like they're gold doubloons. Unlike SEC teams, though, Indiana won't play a single Power Four non-conference opponent this season, or the next, or the next, and so on. The Hoosiers, like some other Big Ten schools, decided the surest path to contention is scheduling the easiest possible collection of non-conference opponents. Washington coach Jedd Fisch said Cignetti's strategy to avoid Power Four non-conference opponents is "dead-on right." Herein lies the great pitfall of the committee's selection of Indiana to the playoff last season as the No. 10 seed, despite its flimsy strength of schedule. Coaches saw Indiana's strategy work, and now they wonder if they should mimic it, at the expense of playing compelling games. The 2024 Hoosiers capitalized on a soft schedule draw from the Big Ten, and they avoided any opponents from the SEC, ACC or Big 12. They reached 11-1 without a signature victory, but no bad losses. The committee did not err by admitting Indiana. It lacked superior alternatives. Never mind the nonsense that Alabama, with its 9-3 résumé including two losses to 6-6 teams, built more deserving qualifications than the Hoosiers. If you believe that, you must have 'It Just Means More' tattooed on your bicep. The committee judiciously chose the Hoosiers, but, this being a copycat sport, now we've got teams from Indiana to Nebraska trying to game theory their way into the playoff by ducking any non-conference opponent with a pulse. The issue isn't confined to the Big Ten, either. The SEC won't dare add another conference game to its schedule, because why welcome another tussle when you could cream some flotsam from the MAC? Programs that knew they'd never sniff a four-team playoff wonder if they can emulate Indiana and qualify for this expanded playoff by following a Hoosiers recipe that calls for construction of the feeblest schedule possible. The twist of it is, if a few bubble teams with superior schedule strength had not gotten upset in the season's final two weeks, the committee might have rejected Indiana from the field. Because, contrary to what the SEC's propaganda campaign would have you believe, the committee cares about strength of schedule. Enough bubble teams lost, though, so the Hoosiers slipped in, and the industry accepted Indiana's scheduling method as foolproof, rather than foolish – until the committee reverses course, or the bubble strengthens in a future season. Cignetti jabbed at the SEC at media days, but his quip and scheduling moves also mock the committee and its selection of the Hoosiers. He's acting as if he outwitted the committee. Beware, because the committee is an evolving organism, unbound by past selection strategies. The committee never barred an undefeated Power Four team from the four-team playoff – until it shunned 13-0 Florida State to make room for the SEC's one-loss champion. What's to stop the committee from rejecting the next 11-1 team that slinks into Selection Sunday touting three triumphs against non-conference lackeys that can't spell football, and not a single win against a ranked opponent? Nothing. Committee membership changes. Its chairperson changes. Situations change. No two seasons unfold the same way. If the committee believes it's being played for a fool by Cignetti and others like him, perhaps it will stiffen its spine against a team that uses a weak schedule as a catapult to a strong record. The persistent reluctance to schedule tough non-conference games remains an anchor preventing college football from ascending to a higher perch. The committee wields power to spur some evolution on that non-conference scheduling strategy. If the committee starts rejecting bubble teams that play nothing but slappies in September, I suspect we'll begin to see fewer schedules devoid of Power Four non-conference opponents. Until then, if Cignetti fears a game against Virginia, then he must not believe he's built one of the nation's top 12 teams. Maybe, the committee will learn to trust his judgment. Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@ and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
USA Today
5 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Nico Iamaleava could've exposed college football's seedy NIL process
LAS VEGAS — He could've changed it all, pulled back the curtain on the underbelly of college football and revealed its sordid secrets. And he punted. There was new UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava, ground zero for all that is wrong in the new age of player empowerment in college football, taking the fifth at Big Ten media days on Thursday, July 24 when he could've been transcendent. Shutting it down when he should've lit it up. New team, new goals, but no new answers from the one player with intimate knowledge of – and in a unique position to explain – how the nation's second-most popular sport has driven its spotless reputation into the ditch with a never-ending money grab by players and universities. 'I don't speak on money matters,' Iamaleava said over and over. 'I'm just here for ball and school.' And away we go. Iamaleava, whose $8 million dollar deal with Tennessee three years ago started NIL money madness, could've stood long and strong in his first public comments about his controversial departure. Stretch his 6-feet-6 frame to expand beyond his orbit, and proudly explain his controversial leverage move to UCLA and everything that came with it. He could've detailed how the player procurement sausage is made – recruiting, contract negotiations, predatory sports agents and their bloated fees, prove-it or lose it rosters spots, player retention and player run-off – and how, despite what Joe Sixpack thinks, players aren't the boogeyman. Instead he talked about 'false (media) reports' and the 'noise' outside his inner circle that he ignores by playing video games. He said he loved his time at Tennessee, and he just wanted to go home to Los Angeles. 'It's not about the money,' he said. 'I did what was best for me.' BAD PLAN: Big Ten's push for auto berths will make season worse DOUBLING DOWN: Oregon following plan even after Rose Bowl debacle If you want to blame someone for this convoluted and multiplying mess, for the constant state of flux and turnover among 265 Bowl and Championship Subdivision football playing schools, don't blame the players. They're simply working within the rules laid out by those in power. Or lack of rules. The real villain in the process are universities presidents. Not players, not coaches, not conference commissioners. Presidents run college football, and frankly, a majority have no idea what they're doing. The same university presidents who five years ago saw the get yours, shared revenue train barreling down the tracks and ignored it — then said, screw it, let's allow players to negotiate NIL deals with free player movement. What could go wrong? The same university presidents who time after time watched their dysfunctional NCAA lose spectacularly in major legal cases, but kept doubling down on stupid. It doesn't really matter why Iamaleava left Tennessee, or how or why he used leverage days before the opening of the spring portal. Or how it failed. Doesn't matter if he tried to push Tennessee to put more pieces from the portal around him so he could further develop his NFL bonafides, or if it were just a money play. Or both. What matters is an unguarded system has been set up, and players are taking advantage of the system. Why wouldn't they? Iamaleava isn't the first to use leverage, and won't be the last. He was simply the most high profile because of his position and the leverage moment — and because Tennessee called his bluff. These things happen all the time across all of college football, and they're not going to end. In fact, they'll get worse. Because no matter how hard university presidents try to protect their media rights money by refusing to collectively bargain with players (and therefore pay significantly more to players), they haven't been able to legally pull it off. Even the recent groundbreaking House settlement is beginning to fall apart, with its critical management provision of private NIL deals already facing significant legal hurdles. The moment was there for Iamaleava to seize, to grab the wheel of a sport careening into the unknown and level a shock to the system. Expose the underbelly, force change. Instead of punting. 'I'll let my business reps and agent take care of that,' Iamaleava said. What could go wrong? Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
San Francisco Chronicle
27-06-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Sacramento State's FBS waiver denied, sparking backlash and the potential for lawsuit
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The NCAA has rejected a waiver request from Sacramento State that would have allowed it to play in the Football Bowl Subdivision as an independent next year. Sacramento State last week said it will leave the Big Sky and join the Big West Conference as a full member starting with the 2026-27 academic year. The Big West doesn't sponsor football so Sacramento State's program will be an independent in that sport in the Championship Subdivision. Lacking an invitation from an FBS conference, the university filed the NCAA petition in April and the D-I Council turned it down this week. School president Luke Wood said he disagreed with the decision. 'Sacramento State has met every meaningful benchmark for FBS membership, and we believe our university, our students, and the entire Sacramento region deserve major college football," Wood wrote in a statement posted to X. "We're full steam ahead and we still plan to be playing FBS football in 2026.' Wood did not provide details of potential next steps. Boise State law professor Sam Ehrlich said on X that legal action could be an option. 'This will lead to litigation. Forcing a school to rely on the whims of conferences (to) let them compete for the economic benefits of a higher division is just the sort of arbitrary gatekeeping that draws harsh antitrust scrutiny,' Ehrlich wrote. ___
Fox Sports
26-06-2025
- Business
- Fox Sports
Sacramento State's FBS waiver denied, sparking backlash and the potential for lawsuit
Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The NCAA has rejected a waiver request from Sacramento State that would have allowed it to play in the Football Bowl Subdivision as an independent next year. Sacramento State last week said it will leave the Big Sky and join the Big West Conference as a full member starting with the 2026-27 academic year. The Big West doesn't sponsor football so Sacramento State's program will be an independent in that sport in the Championship Subdivision. Lacking an invitation from an FBS conference, the university filed the NCAA petition in April and the D-I Council turned it down this week. School president Luke Wood said he disagreed with the decision. 'Sacramento State has met every meaningful benchmark for FBS membership, and we believe our university, our students, and the entire Sacramento region deserve major college football," Wood wrote in a statement posted to X. "We're full steam ahead and we still plan to be playing FBS football in 2026.' Wood did not provide details of potential next steps. Boise State law professor Sam Ehrlich said on X that legal action could be an option. 'This will lead to litigation. Forcing a school to rely on the whims of conferences (to) let them compete for the economic benefits of a higher division is just the sort of arbitrary gatekeeping that draws harsh antitrust scrutiny,' Ehrlich wrote. ___ AP college football: recommended in this topic
