Lost in the $40 Million NIL Woods
A lack of situational awareness was on full display this past week across CFB
Taking a look at NIL lessons from Week 7 of the 2024 CFB season and how they can apply to sports, business and life.
If you are an athlete and would like our team to help share your story, please DM us or email TheNILReport@gmail.com.
As always, college football delivered on the biggest stages across the nation. Thrilling finishes across the country that included three successful onside kicks; last second touchdowns and rushing (multiple) fields.
And within the unique tapestry of the weekend was a maddening lack of situational awareness from coast to coast. We explore the mind numbing errors and the business lessons behind them in this edition of our newsletter.
The NIL Game of the Century
We cannot know for certain, but there is a strong case that No. 2 Ohio State vs No. 3 Oregon was the biggest NIL football matchup since NIL became ‘legal’ in 2021.
The Ducks won a 32-31 thriller that lived up to the hype.
It has been reported that the Buckeyes spent $20M on their roster and that Oregon has the largest NIL warchest out there with Nike founder Phil Knight leading the charge.
Recently, Washington coach Jedd Fisch said that both programs have spent $20M on NIL, but that future revenue sharing would help even the playing field.
This game literally had NIL lessons at every turn:
Spitting
Oregon receiver Traeshon Holden was ejected for spitting at a defender.
Never perform selfish acts that negatively impacts your team’s ability to win.
12th Man Integrity
Oregon Coach Dan Lanning confirmed that he purposely and deliberately put an extra player on the field on defense with 10 seconds left in order to drain time off the clock. The Bucks only had enough time to run one more play and were well out of field goal range even after the five-yard penalty.
Well within the rules; however, the NCAA is looking to change the rule as soon as this week! Why?
Because it’s clearly a loophole that has been exploited. The only thing stopping the Ducks from doing this is morals and a respect for the game and competition.
Maybe I am getting old, but the aftermath of this coming out has felt gimmicky and unnecessary. Like Bill Belichick shaving seconds by exploiting NFL rules; or basketball teams shaving seconds before inbounding after a late bucket; or during our third grade basketball championship where the team threw the ball into the back court (where backcourt defense was illegal), then calling a timeout before a 10-second violation and repeating multiple times to win.
Maybe it’s a ‘don’t hate the player, hate the game’ situation and the rules just need to be changed. But it does remind me of two things. First is John Wooden always advocating for competing evenly against the best. Second is this quote:
Integrity is doing the right thing when nobody’s watching.
Whatever you do. Make sure your decisions still make you feel good when looking in the mirror at the end of the day.
Sliding Zeros
I am not sure what Ohio State paid for Will Howard to transfer in from Kansas State, but they may need to review time and score strategies with him.
Howard ran and slid down as time expired that ended the game and prevented any miracle victory. To be fair, the IQ was directionally correct as Howard was undoubtedly thinking ‘pick up a few yards, call timeout with one second left, kick FG.’
If that is what you are going to do fine, but it needs to be instant. Howard spent a considerable amount of time scrambling and pump faking before running and sliding. By the time he was done, it was too late.
Always understand the clock, give yourself an opportunity and know when you need to close.
Touchdown Greed
Desperately trying to prove they are better than when they lost to Vanderbilt and stay alive for the SEC title and Playoff hunt, Alabama faced a third and 10 with 1:54 left to play and nursing a one-point lead over South Carolina.
The Gamecocks were out of timeouts, therefore when Jalen Milroe found Germie Bernard wide open down field the game should have been over.
All Bernard had to do was slide down and ‘Bama could have melted the rest of the clock. Instead he ran 34 yards into the end zone, which ensured South Carolina would get the ball back with plenty of time for an opportunity to tie the game.
Quarterback LaNorris Sellers made the most of the chance, overcame a lost fumble due to a facemask penalty and then fired a 34-yard strike that Kyck Harbor snagged and stuck his foot in the front left corner of the end zone.
Initially the pass was called incomplete, but was overturned via replay.
South Carolina missed the two-point try, but executed the most perfect onside kick you will ever see. With 43 seconds left the Cocks all of the sudden had a chance to win the game.
An offensive lineman catching a deflected pass ran most of the time down and South Carolina never really threatened moving into field goal range. Consequently, Alabama survived.
The NIL lesson: Don’t be greedy; don’t talk past the sale; know when you have won. Otherwise, disaster may be looming.
Don’t Chase a Paycheck
USC and UCLA were the first major dominos to fall in the demise of the original Pac-12 when they announced they would leave for the Big Ten.
Clearly it made more financial sense to change conferences and provide their programs stability and future upside. Still both schools are finding out that the grass is no always greener—even if you are making more money.
Both teams lost heartbreakers at home in LA with UCLA falling to Minnesota on a last second TD and USC blowing a lead and losing in OT to Penn State. The Golden Gophers also upset USC the week before. In total, the Trojans and Bruins have a combined 4-8 overall record and 1-7 Big Ten record.
Often the money is not worth the costs and pain to make a change. And if it is, success is not guaranteed.
UNC WR Cancer
Tragically, UNC wide receiver Tylee Craft passed away after over a two-year battle with lung cancer. Doctors only gave him two weeks.
Instead he fought, became an assistant coach, graduated with his bachelor’s and was recognized with the Disney Spirit Award in 2022 for being the most inspirational person in CFB.
Project Purple Reflection
Our family is unfortunately all too familiar with cancer and the devastating impact it can deliver physically and emotionally. My mom’s sister, and my aunt, Karen passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer this year. She was always the life of the party, and it felt like a small light had been extinguished.
Two of my brothers are running the New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 3, in her memory. They have joined and are fundraising for Team Project Purple.
Project Purple is an incredible organization that has raised and invested over $3M+ in pancreatic cancer research, and over $1M+ in patient aid that has helped over 1,3000+ families. Click here if you are interested in learning more or even donating.
I’ll leave you with this NIL lesson: always fight, no matter the odds.