SEC Open Thread

ColinKSU

ColinKSU

Well-known member
Messages
4,647
Reaction score
6,163
IrishLax said:


Gee I wonder why everyone caught up to the SEC so quickly
Click to expand...

Two things:

1) I love Coach O, and I refuse to apologize for that. It’s one of my toxic traits.

2) The big problem for SEC is that the money their schools have goes a lot further when they’re the only ones paying it. It’s a problem now that the schools with *real* money can do it.
 
Jimmy3Putt

Jimmy3Putt

KooL
Messages
5,769
Reaction score
6,683
ColinKSU said:
Two things:

1) I love Coach O, and I refuse to apologize for that. It’s one of my toxic traits.

2) The big problem for SEC is that the money their schools have goes a lot further when they’re the only ones paying it. It’s a problem now that the schools with *real* money can do it.
Click to expand...

It's why they're pushing for a salary cap. To limit honest teams and allow them to cheat again.
 
ulukinatme

ulukinatme

Carr for QB 2025!
Messages
31,509
Reaction score
17,368
Bishop2b5 said:
Do you guys honestly think only the SEC was paying players? Let's get real. Everybody was doing it. Been going on for decades.
Click to expand...
I don't think only the SEC was paying players, but I think some schools were probably more lowkey about it or at least knew how to be quiet about it and appear like they were on the up and up. I go back to about 16 years ago, my family took Michael Floyd out for dinner after a game. My grandpa tried to pay for his meal, but Floyd politely declined. He basically said he could get in big trouble for accepting that, he was very careful and had been instructed what not to do.

Now, whether Floyd paid for the meal himself with undisclosed bag money or his own pocket change...I can't say :laugh:
 
M

Me2SouthBend

Well-known member
Messages
2,634
Reaction score
3,196
I believe it was Mike Bellamy in an interview some yrs ago saying he’d gone on a recruiting visit to Georgia. They gave him a duffel bag of cash hoping to lure him there. He took the bag and ultimately went to Clemson. They had a good laugh about it in the interview.
 
IrishLax

IrishLax

Something Witty
Staff member
Messages
37,544
Reaction score
28,990
Bishop2b5 said:
Do you guys honestly think only the SEC was paying players? Let's get real. Everybody was doing it. Been going on for decades.
Click to expand...
Hand to God do you actually believe other places were paying players on the level of the SEC and Clemson? Because they flat out weren't. There are tons of *very specific examples* of late flips from ND to schools down south simply because they offered money and we did not.

Now ND can pay -- and doesn't even pay as much as a lot of places -- all of a sudden we sign 20+ guys and a bunch of 5-stars with ZERO decommitments. It's not coincidence.
 
IrishLax

IrishLax

Something Witty
Staff member
Messages
37,544
Reaction score
28,990
ColinKSU said:
Two things:

1) I love Coach O, and I refuse to apologize for that. It’s one of my toxic traits.

2) The big problem for SEC is that the money their schools have goes a lot further when they’re the only ones paying it. It’s a problem now that the schools with *real* money can do it.
Click to expand...
Yes, they are comparatively broke. A duffel bag with $400k doesn't get you Cam Newton anymore. There are flagship SEC schools with less NIL money than Texas Tech.
 
Irish#1

Irish#1

Livin' Your Dream!
Staff member
Messages
44,569
Reaction score
20,018
Bishop2b5 said:
Do you guys honestly think only the SEC was paying players? Let's get real. Everybody was doing it. Been going on for decades.
Click to expand...
I doubt it was at the level or consistency of the SEC. Why else were 99% of the rumors centered around SEC schools?
 
irishff1014

irishff1014

Well-known member
Messages
26,509
Reaction score
9,283
Bishop2b5 said:
Do you guys honestly think only the SEC was paying players? Let's get real. Everybody was doing it. Been going on for decades.
Click to expand...

The sec was the main factor in this. Cam Newton is the example. His dumb and uneducated ass could
Play football but couldn’t spell it. And everyone knows his family/his families church got money.
 
R

ReesusCrist

Active member
Messages
89
Reaction score
188
IrishLax said:
Yes, they are comparatively broke. A duffel bag with $400k doesn't get you Cam Newton anymore. There are flagship SEC schools with less NIL money than Texas Tech.
Click to expand...
The only thing keeping these comparatively broke programs competitive in the NIL era are some very specific boosters and outsized media rights revenues. And if an outside entity were to start shining a light on the corruption protecting those revenues, there would be a coordinated attack by all internal parties against that outside agitator. Does that sound familiar to anyone?
 
IRISHDODGER

IRISHDODGER

Blue Chip Recruit
Messages
8,037
Reaction score
6,099
Bishop2b5 said:
Do you guys honestly think only the SEC was paying players? Let's get real. Everybody was doing it. Been going on for decades.
Click to expand...
One recent anecdote: I’m sure you remember Altee Tenpenny (RIP). He was a highly recruited RB out of Arkansas who chose Bama. One of his family members who is a friend of mine told me matter of factly that when his family visited, a brown paper bag full of cash was handed to one of the family. IIRC, they were at Saban’s lake house. I’m sure Saban separated himself from that & didn’t want to know but he had to know.

I doubt Bama had to do it as much as the rest of the conference. Auburn, for example; is the crown jewel of cheating. Pat Dye was so crooked they had to break his legs to fit him into his coffin. Then of course the Cam Newton purchase. He was worth every dime b/c he alone delivered them a BCS NC. Otherwise, Chizik doesn’t get fired as soon as he did if he was truly a NC level HC.
 
rtrn2glory

rtrn2glory

Well-known member
Messages
16,163
Reaction score
6,450
Bishop2b5 said:
Do you guys honestly think only the SEC was paying players? Let's get real. Everybody was doing it. Been going on for decades.
Click to expand...
Big difference b/t a brown paper bag full of cash to giving a player some gas money to drive home to see mom/dad. If you use that logic yes everybody was handing out money.
 
bobbyok1

bobbyok1

Dominates Wiffle Ball
Messages
1,447
Reaction score
1,287
IrishLax said:
Hand to God do you actually believe other places were paying players on the level of the SEC and Clemson? Because they flat out weren't. There are tons of *very specific examples* of late flips from ND to schools down south simply because they offered money and we did not.

Now ND can pay -- and doesn't even pay as much as a lot of places -- all of a sudden we sign 20+ guys and a bunch of 5-stars with ZERO decommitments. It's not coincidence.
Click to expand...
100%- Why did we receive four five-star recruits for the first time in 25 years, when most years we had zero, sometimes one, and once or twice we got two? Coincidence? I think not
 
Last edited:
T

tirishman505

Well-known member
Messages
163
Reaction score
294
rtrn2glory said:
Big difference b/t a brown paper bag full of cash to giving a player some gas money to drive home to see mom/dad. If you use that logic yes everybody was handing out money.
Click to expand...
I think this is the important distinction. We know in the South has had well organized under the table operations going back at least to the "Gentlemen, you have a payroll to meet" Pony Express era, probably farther. And if you've read Bagmen and listen to Steven Godfrey, the thing getting in the way of the SEC teams was that they kept narcing on each other for these payments. Mike Slive came in and put a stop to all of the infighting then lo and behold, who dominated the sport and recruiting from then on out? Coach O took that org knowledge to SC, Urban to OSU and Clemson folks are swimming in those waters.

The petty-ante stuff I saw at ND when I was a student was more along the lines of players "selling" their exclusive football gear or ticket allotment. Not even close to the same in kind or effect.
 
Irish du Nord

Irish du Nord

Well-known member
Messages
3,415
Reaction score
3,064
tirishman505 said:
I think this is the important distinction. We know in the South has had well organized under the table operations going back at least to the "Gentlemen, you have a payroll to meet" Pony Express era, probably farther. And if you've read Bagmen and listen to Steven Godfrey, the thing getting in the way of the SEC teams was that they kept narcing on each other for these payments. Mike Slive came in and put a stop to all of the infighting then lo and behold, who dominated the sport and recruiting from then on out? Coach O took that org knowledge to SC, Urban to OSU and Clemson folks are swimming in those waters.

The petty-ante stuff I saw at ND when I was a student was more along the lines of players "selling" their exclusive football gear or ticket allotment. Not even close to the same in kind or effect.
Click to expand...
I heard rumors from other students but nothing first hand even from the players I knew. If ND was doing pay-for-play they were really covert about it.
 
T-Boone

T-Boone

Well-known member
Messages
8,399
Reaction score
4,792
Bishop2b5 said:
Do you guys honestly think only the SEC was paying players? Let's get real. Everybody was doing it. Been going on for decades.
Click to expand...
Only the SEC for sure.
100% what IrishinSyria says below.
SEC went from dominant to a distant second to Big 10 and closer to around ND level recruiting.
 
Last edited:
MNIrishman

MNIrishman

Well-known member
Messages
2,532
Reaction score
481
IrishinSyria said:
Sure seems like a weird coincidence that the conference’s run of unprecedented dominance came to an end the second NIL money started flowing.
Click to expand...
Also started very suddenly. SEC was very average for most of its history, but suddenly something changed around 2007 for some reason that just elevated the entire conference.
 
I

Irishdawg

Well-known member
Messages
1,397
Reaction score
1,080
Rockin’Irish said:
Two more UGA players arrested including starting RB Bo Jackson…….both were caught shoplifting.
Click to expand...
So dumb of them… WTF are they thinking!! But it was Freshman offensive lineman Dontrell Glover and running back Bo Walker.
RB Bo Jackson plays for Ohio State.
 
I

IrelandIrish

Well-known member
Messages
705
Reaction score
607
IrishLax said:
Hand to God do you actually believe other places were paying players on the level of the SEC and Clemson? Because they flat out weren't. There are tons of *very specific examples* of late flips from ND to schools down south simply because they offered money and we did not.

Now ND can pay -- and doesn't even pay as much as a lot of places -- all of a sudden we sign 20+ guys and a bunch of 5-stars with ZERO decommitments. It's not coincidence.
Click to expand...
Great time to be a cfb fan for ND. What was always obvious to some is now obvious to all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top