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Yeesh! He was going after the ref! Good thing the assistants held him back, you can't let a head coach loose...

FWIW my understanding is: NIL - No, can't be tied to playing or even enrollment. The only thing I think they do is put in stuff like local appearance requirements, so if I player transfers they aren't around for these and the player doesn't keep getting paid. Rev Share - Yes, this can have playing performance incentives and penalties. Eyeballing our roster we're maybe 2/3 rev share 1/3 NIL this season, perhaps moving closer to 50/50 next season. I don't know what players' agents are able to negotiate, I'd guess it's pretty player friendly given how competitive the market is for top players. But overall, the more I read about this and talk with some people, I don't think any serious program cares much about any "rules." If you learn or hear more about how the nature of player contracts, let me know, it's interesting and info is hard to come by.

For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure it was $1.8-2M, but I'm not trying to split hairs, $1.8M/$2M/$2.3M is all close enough. Also, in chatting with some folks that work with our NIL, the amount available for our 2026 roster is up pretty nicely from 2025. Like... very nicely. I can see why Cig signed that extension so quickly, he's got all one could need here. Scott, Pam, the rest of the AD, and the donors have been just superb with the support. I guess we'll see how that manifests in this portal, but yea a $4M QB is very doable if the staff wants one, I can tell ya that.

lol, omg Ed buddy… Ed before for reference:

24/7 logged a crystal ball for Hoover to IU. Their source maybe ZYN lol, but who knows. Regardless, it's one more data point.

Despite some of the bellyaching about the non-CFP bowls, they’re doing pretty well in TV ratings. There have been some changes with Nielsen but still these are good numbers. And while in person attendance for some of these bowls seemed light, these ratings are what matters most in terms economic viability. This is good. If a bowl makes money keep it going.

That’s a ton of work. Interestingly, Oregon has to do portal work without their coordinators, who I assume must be doing portal work for their new HC gigs at UK and Cal. Nuts.

I think that will the case. Despite their very solid stretch of football success they are a smaller fanbase in the most distant part of the country. When we played Auburn in a mildly interesting regular season bball game in Atlanta a couple years ago we still had a strong crowd show up (rough day for those poor folks). I think it will be 70%+ IU fans. We shall see…

Hopefully Cig can get in the officials ear about this pregame. It should be a penalty on the defense and the refs need to call it that way.

@Home Jersey can you move all these posts to the coffee thread?! *just kidding :-)

This thread is gonna get busy.

From back in October. The man is a ball-knower.

This staff does such a great job transforming players I barely worry about deficiencies they have at other programs. Because when a player gets to the IUFB program, their weaknesses are probably going to get fixed.

Lines have opened up at IU -4 to -4.5. This will be a very tough game as we know, but a semifinal was never gonna be easy. IU fans know how to converge on Atlanta, so I'd expect another crowd advantage for us. Go IU!

The portal is "officially" open. I'm sure no contact has occurred with any players or schools until this morning. Per Matt Zenitz: "In the first seven hours of the transfer portal window being open, there have already been 1,101 FBS scholarship players that have entered the portal."

Looking back at the game, the Fernando TD throws were of course awesome. Easily some of the most exciting IU athletics plays I've ever seen. But those Black and Hemby rushing TDs were so damn satisfying. IU kept wearing down Alabama until they broke and we ran right through their entire #9 SP+ defense full of "high end" recruits with 18 and 25 yard runs. Those two were superb yesterday and I'm glad they got a couple scores.

Haha. This was pre-game! Classic Cig.

He's an interesting one. He grew up in Alabama, was and probably still is an Alabama fan, and he moved here in 2021. I haven't seen any strong predictions. Hartline to USF probably reduces OSU's chances. There has been some recent chatter that he was a Bama lean. But, you can't help but wonder after that lopsided Rose Bowl result. Which offense do you want to play WR in? The nice thing is if he comes here, great. He's awesome and the buzz would be fun. If he doesn't... I will not care or worry one iota. Literally zero zilch nada.

Postgame presser

Grim CFP Bye Reaper…

Another great stat.

I am going to consume every piece of post game analysis and reaction I can find over the next 48 hours. I didn’t catch any bball titles at my age. This is the best IU win of my life… so far. What a win at Memorial Stadium West. Definitely tearing up…

The news about strong ticket sales to IU-heavy areas is starting to prove out in reality. We always traveled well for bball and we are now doing it for football. A big IU crowd tomorrow could make a serious difference. Great job by IU fans.

Gopher Dan continues to ruffle SEC feathers.