Welcome Home Colorado

The Buffs use a Hail Mary to win in overtime; several other programs make splashes in the first weekend of the latest conference realignment.

Taking a look at NIL lessons from Week 4 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.

There is truly no place like home.

After what has felt like the longest week ever, I sit here typing past midnight in my childhood home. Typing about last Saturday’s CFB games literally hours before the next Saturday slate begins.

Nothing like some deja vu sitting in the same spot where I would procrastinate on my high school projects. But I just have to recap the valuable NIL lessons of week four in CFB—how long could that take?

At least I am home.

Mile High Hail Mary

Like the Prodigal Son returning home, Ralphie and the Buffs are back in the Big 12. This time with Deion Sanders at the helm and all the media attention that comes with it.

They hosted Baylor in their first game back home in the conference. The last time the Bears came to Boulder was 2010, where Robert Griffin III had 371 total yards in a six-point victory.

Fast forward to 2024, and another star quarterback with Heisman potential led their team to a thrilling, and crucial, win. This time it was Shedeur Sanders who had 367 total yards in the overtime epic.

Is any coincidence that it was almost 30 years to the day that Kordell Stewart launched his 70-yard hail mary for the Miracle at Michigan?

Sanders got the memo and had not one, but two of his own hail mary heaves to force overtime. The first was dropped with two seconds left, but the second will go down in CFB lore where defenders slipped in the rain and the catch was clearly secured.

Colorado then won when workhorse Travis Hunter—who should be the Heisman favorite—forced a fumble at the goal line in OT to secure the victory.

The NIL lessons: 1) Leave no doubt and put opponents or deals away quickly when you have the chances; 2) keep fighting; you could always win at the last second.

And just like the prodigal son, 3) you can always return home. No matter how bad you may think things are or how long you haven’t spoken or what disagreements you may have; you can go back. More often than not, you will be welcome with open arms.

Welcome to the ACC

In exchange for relevancy and competitive athletic survival, Stanford, Cal and SMU all sacrificed tens of millions of dollars over close to the next decade so they could join a Power Four league—the ACC.

All summer, the three schools have been a laughingstock and been told how bad they would be and how easy it would be for the current ACC members—who ironically voted them in for the own conference’s relevancy and survival—to beat up on these new foes.

Instead here is where we are:

• Stanford traveled all the way to Syracuse, NY, and beat the Orange on a last second field goal.

• SMU pounded TCU 66-42 for the Iron Skillet— even though TCU beat Stanford

• Cal traveled all the way to Florida State and just lost to the Seminoles 14-9—but have a win over SEC’s Auburn.

There are typical lessons here about betting on yourself and using doubt as a chip on your shoulder but I think there is a more nuanced lesson in this instance:

Having success at the highest level—especially when everybody else thinks it is impossible for you to do so—is richer than any amount of money. Therefore, do what it takes to get in the room, smile at your doubters, and then beat them.

This will feel the best and also yield greater future opportunities.

Welcome to the New Rose Bowl?

The Rose Bowl has mostly pitted the Big Ten and Pac Ten champions up against each other on New Years Day. And Michigan and USC have met in eight Rose Bowls.

Memories of these two teams in the mid-2000s simply ooze with nostalgia and have been built up to reimagining something bigger than maybe it truly was. Only two of the eight meetings occurred in that time period (‘04 and ‘07 Rose) and USC beat Michigan by two touchdowns in each game.

There is, however, no over inflating how big and iconic each of these brands have been to the sport. So it was a natural fit that USC’s first ever Big Ten conference game was a trip to the Big House to face the Wolverines.

And there is no exaggeration of what a classic that game was. Michigan only passed for 32 yards, but used a rushing attack that average 6.3 yards per carry; a perfect fourth down conversion rate; a pick six and a 10-play, 89-yard game-winning drive that ended with a touchdown on fourth and goal with only 37 seconds left to upset the Trojans.

The lesson: If you want to be the best, you need to rub shoulders with the best—either on the field or in the boardroom. Continue to challenge yourself to be surrounded by people smarter than you and take the stairs.

You will be rewarded—even if you need to cut your teeth at first.

Welcome to Reality

Let’s be honest. This is all about Vanderbilt and how they choked away what would have been a stunning road upset over No. 7 Missouri.

The Commodores were sunk in double OT as they missed opportunities to seal the deal all afternoon. For the second straight week, an internal top 10 SEC upset (that the country would have loved) slipped right through the fingers of the underdogs.

A cruel wake up call to the reality of their situations and how much work is left to be done.

Here were some additional cruel reality checks:

• Kansas & Nebraska still need to learn how to close games

• G5 team losses of Memphis and Northern Illinois prove that you need to stay focused even after your marquee victories if you want a playoff shot

• James Madison dropped 70 on UNC and forced Mack Brown to consider retirement

• Arch Manning’s stellar performance should tell Quinn Ewers that the best man for the job will always be who is most available

Understand your reality. Never get too high or too low.

Now it’s a little past 2 a.m. But I’m ready to turn in the paper and watch the next Saturday games to learn new lessons!

That’s the type of school I can get behind. Until next time…