Great analysis and I think the VC analogy is helpful up to a point. Except that a lot of these supposed "NIL" deals for high school recruits aren't really business deals. They're good old fashioned pay-for-play on steroids using the "NIL" smoke screen. So, as you suggest, I would expect these "NIL" VC deals to have much worse hit rates than real world VC deals. And that's saying something because real world VC deals have very low hit rates to begin with.   

Thanks for hearing me out. I didn't add the second part, which is that some upper classmen do have NIL value.

An obvious example is Bryce Young doing Dr. Pepper commercials because his NIL truly can help to sell soft drinks. The perverse thing is that Bryce Young probably got paid way less than $13M to do those commercials, while a high school recruit very few fans have heard of - yet - (and therefore has close to zero actually NIL value) gets a $13M "NIL" deal to go to Florida, which was subsequently reneged. 

Ohio State's "problem" is that they're treating NIL as NIL.   

Part of the problem is everyone agreeing to mislabel situations as "NIL." Let's be clear . . . no high school recruit has any NIL value whatsoever. Any money paid to high school recruits is pay to play. 

We know this, so why play along with the charade? I get why high school recruits, coaching staffs, and boosters would play along, but why in the world would media and fans feel beholden to such stupidity?

The safety unit looks like it will be nasty next year. Ja’Had Carter, Styles, Ransom, and Stokes are a very athletic and versatile group that figures to be excellent both in coverage and run support. The CBs are a bigger question mark, but the good news is that CB and RB are the two positions that best lend themselves to true frosh making immediate impacts. Between the two frosh and current roster guys, including Jyaire Brown, hopefully 2-3 will break out.

Very few Warren critics hated the man. They hated the damage he was doing to the conference and Ohio State due to his incompetence and other major flaws as a leader. The proof that they didn’t hate the person . . . No one hates him any longer now that he is gone and can no longer do any more damage. Real hate would follow him to the Bears and where ever else he goes, but now you will hear very little about Warren on 11W threads going forward because what we hated is no longer relevant. 

Actually, the weird thing is this sudden Warren apologism movement and revisionist history. The funny thing is, none of Warren’s apologists are claiming he was an excellent commissioner. They just say he wasn’t as bad as the haters made him out to be. Okay, then, that means Warren was a mediocre commissioner who spent a few years in that role and then bounced. Not exactly a glowing endorsement, fellas. 

Defensively, Rutgers is a tougher matchup for Purdue. The Boilermakers have taken great care of the basketball, but with two frosh guards running the backcourt, there figures to be growing pains at some point. Rutgers - which plays nasty high pressure defense - turned Purdue over 13 times, with 5 of those TOs combined on the two frosh guards. 

The Buckeyes are not capable of generating that kind of pressure, so . . . They will need to score a lot of points on offense to beat Purdue. 

I don't like the FG, either, but now if TCU kicks another FG, they win the game.  

Refs trying to bail out TTUN . . . Announcers trying to wish-cast TTUN into making this game . . . TCU like "nope." 

We don't want your bad whiny vibes a few hours before the Buckeyes play. Save it for what you hope will be future "I told you so" moments.  

Donovan Edwards first rush of the game = 54 yards. Since then, TTUN has run 18 times for 37 yards . . . and that includes a 5 yard scramble by McCarthy.  

This announcer crew desperately wants TTUN to win. Fuck em. 

Frogs whoopin' that Wolverine ass! 

Michigan has never been good in bowl games, going back 50+ years. 

Chalk that pick six up to the evil genius Jim Knowles. Knowles tricked Michigan into thinking they're a passing team with his "cover 0" schemes in The Game. It was a dangerous and painful gamut, but his long con might just pay off. 

Slippery conditions could be a bad thing for Gash. 

I want McCarthy to get his ass tattooed. As for which team wins . . . I would never root for TTUN, but there is a glorious scenario that involves them winning tonight. Somewhat conflicted about that, but I am not conflicted about wanting to see some Michigan players experience semi-serious, but not that serious, trauma today. Sorry, not sorry. 

Leave it to Big Ten refs to call some stupid meaningless penalty because they thought a player showed them up or something. Busy bodies. 

Maybe. I am feeling 12-14 game going into the 4Q. 

It's just wrong that a guy named Squirrel plays for Tennessee and not Clem's Son. 

Total yardage of Clemson's missed FGs > Clemson's total offense in the first half.  

As long as Clemson OLs continue to be trash, no threat of them returning to their peak Dabo level. 

This Gator Bowl is a good, entertaining game. Both teams giving good effort, trading punches. Obviously, not great defense, but both teams are playing hard. 

It's fitting that this season's Orange Bowl involves two schools with orange as their primary colors: Clemson v. Tennesseee.

It makes me think of other hypothetical bowl matchups involving schools that fit with the bowl theme . . .

Sun Bowl: SD State v. Arizona.

Liberty Bowl: UNLV Rebels v. Ole Miss Rebels. 

Alamo Bowl: Bowie State v. Sam Houston State.   

I think Yang Yang was trying to hump the Georgia box. 

You don't see that very often . . . Pitt WR has an easy TD catch, but drops it, ball bounces to DB, who has a catchable INT, but he also drops it.