2025 Miscellaneous College Football thread

[Fear The Chorizo]

On 1/7/2026 at 9:58 PM, LouisEly said:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/mark-cuban-increases-his-indiana-football-spending-for-transfer-portal/ar-AA1TKSDr

The rumor going around is that Cuban gave $15M for the 2025 season.  Now, even more for 2026.

No wonder they are doing so well.

What if Indiana in 2024 had a strength of schedule that, instead of 14th in the Big Ten/55th in the nation, was the toughest in the Big Ten/top 5 in the nation, like Wisconsin's in 2025, and they finish something like 6-6? They played two ranked teams in 2024 and got blown out by both of them.

 

Does Cuban bankroll the program in 2025 if they finish 6-6 in 2024? Are they where they are simply because of a lucky break in their schedule?

I think that doesnt give nearly enough credit to what Cignetti brought to that program just by getting on campus.

 

I dont care what kind of NIL money shows up, in 2 seasons turning literally THE power conference football doormat into what we are watching destroy an NIL-era juggernaut with infinite resources and NFL- style facilities in the CFP semifinals is simply unreal.

[yourout]

If Indiana finishes this off and wins a natty going 15 and 0 they have to be in the conversation of being the best team in college football history.

[homer]

That's what you get for punting, Oregon

[yourout]

1 hour ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

I think that doesnt give nearly enough credit to what Cignetti brought to that program just by getting on campus.

 

I dont care what kind of NIL money shows up, in 2 seasons turning literally THE power conference football doormat into what we are watching destroy an NIL-era juggernaut with infinite resources and NFL- style facilities in the CFP semifinals is simply unreal.

I agree. They don't do this if they're not well coached and I don't care how many NIL dollars you throw at it.

[homer]

Indiana's transfer portal ranking in 2025 was 25th. 

[yourout]

3 minutes ago, homer said:

Indiana's transfer portal ranking in 2025 was 25th. 

I think this Indiana team is greater than the sum of its parts. 

Yes they have some really good football players but they are so solid everywhere.

[homer]

1 minute ago, yourout said:

I think this Indiana team is greater than the sum of its parts. 

Yes they have some really good football players but they are so solid everywhere.

I think Cignetti has a great eye for talent too. 

[True Blue Brew Crew]

How long before an NFL team gives Cignetti a blank check? This guy clearly has a football IQ on a level beyond most. If I had an opening right now, I'd be making the call

[homer]

28 minutes ago, True Blue Brew Crew said:

How long before an NFL team gives Cignetti a blank check? This guy clearly has a football IQ on a level beyond most. If I had an opening right now, I'd be making the call

He just signed a $93 million extension w IU. 

[LouisEly]

18 hours ago, homer said:

Indiana's transfer portal ranking in 2025 was 25th. 

Mendoza was the #4 ranked QB.  Very unlikely he goes to Indiana without Cuban's money.

Rankings weigh every player the same.  Getting the #4 QB in the portal is exponentially more impactful than getting some former 4-star backup safety or WR.

You can have the best eye for talent in the world, but in today's college sports landscape if someone else offers more money it won't matter.

[homer]

5 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

Mendoza was the #4 ranked QB.  Very unlikely he goes to Indiana without Cuban's money.

Rankings weigh every player the same.  Getting the #4 QB in the portal is exponentially more impactful than getting some former 4-star backup safety or WR.

You can have the best eye for talent in the world, but in today's college sports landscape if someone else offers more money it won't matter.

His brother was already enrolled. I'm guessing that helped. That team is a lot more than Mendoza.

[LouisEly]

Ty Simpson was offered over $6M by Miami. to forego the draft.  Tennessee and Ole Miss also offered at least $4M.  Simpson never entered the portal, and teams are not supposed to contact players on another team until they enter the portal.

https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football/breaking-news/article/miami-and-ole-miss-reportedly-offered-alabama-qb-ty-simpson-over-6-million-to-transfer-instead-of-declare-for-nfl-draft-014611113.html?guccounter=1

[JosephC]

When Dante Moore announced he was going back to Oregon, I had to take a look at what the NFL rookies are getting paid.  I knew it was way more, but wasn't sure how much more in terms of guaranteed money.  I see that many are getting their rookie contracts fully guaranteed, which for me was pretty surprising (considering they have proven nothing and so many of them bust).

Last year picks, dollar amount is the fully guaranteed amount-

#1 overall - Cam Ward = 48.8 million

#5 - Mason Graham = 40.8 million

#10 - Colston Loveland = 26.6 million

#20 - Jahdae Barron = 18.0 million

#32 - Josh Simmons = 14.6 million

#40 - Tyler Shough = 10.8 million

#50 - Elijah Arroyo = 6.8 million

#64 - Andrew Mukuba = 4.1 million

There might be a handful of players that can rake in the big bucks through NIL money.  But it still looks like NIL money is not at all competitive with NFL Draft first round money, and probably 95% of round two guys are better off going pro.

[JosephC]

On 1/9/2026 at 9:38 PM, homer said:

Indiana's transfer portal ranking in 2025 was 25th. 

And Wisconsin's portal ranking in 2025 was higher.

And in Wisconsin's 2025 portal haul, I would say the closest thing they got to a difference-maker in that group was Mason Reiger.  That class could fairly be summed up as a lot of players that led the team to a 2-7 conference record.

Indiana's portal success has not been so much about money, but about Cignetti and his staff correctly identifying good players that fit their scheme, plugging them in and getting the most out of them.  Something Fickell and his staff have not been able to do, they still seem to think they are playing at the American Conference level.

[tmwiese55]

Exactly.  There's too much acting like Cuban just bought the best players. This is mostly about coaching, training, identifying unseen talent. And perhaps its Cuban's money that allowed them to pay these coaches the extension they just got and/or the higher level QB transfer they got for this year.  But if folks haven't looked into it, the first year Cignetti brought I think 17 players with him from JMU and his coaching staff from JMU, that was obviously a huge chunk of their transfer, 2 and 3 star guys from JMU.  I believe 9 of them were starters, so almost half their team was just JMU. The QB last year was a MAC transfer. And then goes into the B1G and beats the crap out of everyone other than OSU.   And for WI fans, they have our OL coach from when we had the dominant run team in the country.

I didn't track enough after that to know how many JMU players are still left/starting on this team. But they said in the last game they had I think 8 4 star recruits vs Oregon's like 55. And obviously now the profile has been raised so much that he won't have to pull from the scraps anymore so it'll be interesting how it plays out from here. If he gets elite talent with his elite coaching and it works it could be dangerous.  But there's also an element of the top top talent is more worried about their money/NFL which makes it harder to build the team aspects and get the buy in needed, so he probably has to try and balance it a bit.   Side note, with his Saban connect everyone is lucky Saban didn't handpick him to be his replacement. Him taking over the system and culture Saban had in place with the talent pipeline could've been a juggernaut. 

[igor67]

The head to head money isn't a direct comparison for rookie salaries, but I still think it changes your options. In general if I was a top college QB, I'd be pretty inclined to take the safe college money for my 4 years and then get my big rookie contract knowing that a lot of good college QBs washout because they end up on bad teams. 

[homer]

2 hours ago, JosephC said:

And Wisconsin's portal ranking in 2025 was higher.

And in Wisconsin's 2025 portal haul, I would say the closest thing they got to a difference-maker in that group was Mason Reiger.  That class could fairly be summed up as a lot of players that led the team to a 2-7 conference record.

Indiana's portal success has not been so much about money, but about Cignetti and his staff correctly identifying good players that fit their scheme, plugging them in and getting the most out of them.  Something Fickell and his staff have not been able to do, they still seem to think they are playing at the American Conference level.

I agree. I wasn't using Indiana's ranking as a reason for their success.

[tmwiese55]

1 hour ago, igor67 said:

The head to head money isn't a direct comparison for rookie salaries, but I still think it changes your options. In general if I was a top college QB, I'd be pretty inclined to take the safe college money for my 4 years and then get my big rookie contract knowing that a lot of good college QBs washout because they end up on bad teams. 

Generally agree.  I've been a bit surprised that it seems a done deal that Mendoza is going out this year.  Of course the multi year guarantee so a much larger total dollar is likely the big factor.  But, what seems like more fun than what he's doing now and he's going to get at least 4-6 mil to do it?  And you have a chance to be a part of one of the biggest stories in CFB history.  If they lose Monday, he could come back and try to complete this rags to riches story. Even if they win, you have done that story and now can try to repeat it and repeat Heisman to make it even bigger.  If they do lose, I'd think you'd really want back to complete the job. If they win, I see going out on high note though but with the transfer they got it seems decided that he's leaving.

I suppose another big factor for him and others in his situation would be who you're likely to be drafted by.  For him, the options don't seem great.  Teams near the top who would pick a QB are Jets and Raiders.  No way you want on the Jets. Raiders I guess is neutral.  Maybe Cardinals would be ready to move on from Murray, another ok/neutral spot. 

[LouisEly]

3 hours ago, tmwiese55 said:

There's too much acting like Cuban just bought the best players.

It bought the #4 QB in the portal.

Trade Mendoza for O'Neil and Simmons and no way is Indiana in the CFP.

[tmwiese55]

11 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

It bought the #4 QB in the portal.

Trade Mendoza for O'Neil and Simmons and no way is Indiana in the CFP.

And the year before they had a MAC QB with half their starters from JMU.    And I didn't say its not a factor, I said too much is being made out of it like its that simple.   Which I guess a comment like you made is doing exactly that, since pretty much every upper tier major conference team is paying a similar amount of money to their QB yet at IU it seemingly took just that to win and look like the most dominant team in years. 

ETA: and while NIL info isn't totally clear. Quick google comparisons of IU vs OSU/SEC seems to think there is still a significant gap.    But, like I said in the original post. He's raised their profile so much that might change going forward due to having a mega donor and enormous alumni base, so what will he do with elite talent plus his elite coaching.

[LouisEly]

21 hours ago, tmwiese55 said:

And the year before they had a MAC QB with half their starters from JMU. 

And they got blown out by both ranked teams they played.  #14 ranked schedule in the Big Ten.

Rourke vs Ohio State: 8-18, 68 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs

Rourke vs Notre Dame: 20-33, 215, 2 TDs, 1 INT, most of the yards and all of the TDs coming in garbage time when Notre Dame was playing "eat the clock".

[homer]

14 hours ago, LouisEly said:

It bought the #4 QB in the portal.

Trade Mendoza for O'Neil and Simmons and no way is Indiana in the CFP.

does Mendoza win the Heisman at Wisconsin?

[LouisEly]

7 hours ago, homer said:

does Mendoza win the Heisman at Wisconsin?

You know very well that that's nowhere close to what I was saying.  I'm saying that Indiana doesn't make the playoffs without Mendoza.

See above: Rourke vs Ohio State (8-18, 63 yards, 0 TDs) compared to Mendoza vs Ohio State (15-23, 222, 1 TD, 1 INT).

No Mendoza and Indiana doesn't win at Iowa (20-15), Oregon (30-20), Penn state (27-24), and Ohio State (13-10).  They're still a good team, but not in the playoffs.

And Cuban's $$$ didn't just bring in players, it kept them there.  How many players leave Indiana after 2024 for more $$ elsewhere if Cuban doesn't step in?

[homer]

22 hours ago, LouisEly said:

You know very well that that's nowhere close to what I was saying.  I'm saying that Indiana doesn't make the playoffs without Mendoza.

See above: Rourke vs Ohio State (8-18, 63 yards, 0 TDs) compared to Mendoza vs Ohio State (15-23, 222, 1 TD, 1 INT).

No Mendoza and Indiana doesn't win at Iowa (20-15), Oregon (30-20), Penn state (27-24), and Ohio State (13-10).  They're still a good team, but not in the playoffs.

And Cuban's $$$ didn't just bring in players, it kept them there.  How many players leave Indiana after 2024 for more $$ elsewhere if Cuban doesn't step in?

Is Indiana top 5 in NIL money? Are they top 10? This article has them roughly 9th compared to the other CFP teams this year (and that doesn't count the non-playoff big spenders):

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-playoff-2025-nil-spending-power/

And how does their ability to keep guys from transferring compare to the other top NIL schools? My point is that it takes a lot more than NIL money to turn a program like Indiana into potential national champions. Cignetti is a fantastic coach with a real eye for talent. 

[tmwiese55]

Every upper tier high major program team is spending similar money on a QB as Indiana.    No one is saying Cuban and money aren't a factor, its just that there is much more to it than the recent simplistic narrative of "cuban's buying all the best players".      The most important money Cuban spent was paying to keep the coaches. I think it was midseason last year when they gave extensions. 

In addition, you could make an argument one of the most important thing Cignetti did was convince Cuban he was the guy worthy of this investment.  Paying players has been legal for several years before Cignetti got there and either Cuban didn't pony up, or he already was and those coaches couldn't win squat with it.     

Either way, I think this argument largely goes away from here on out. They've risen their profile so much its unlocked the huge alumni base they have now and combine it with Cuban they're likely to be a power going forward and from here on out will no longer be on the middle tier of money

ETA: according to google an avg SEC NIL budget is 30-40 mil.  It estimates IU at about 14 mil.   One would assume OSU is in the same ballpark as the sec