January 21st, 2024 at 8:52 PM ^
OSU is openly breaking NIL and tampering rules while their fans brag about it and continue to call us cheaters. And that's not even factoring in the Catapult investigation
January 21st, 2024 at 10:30 PM ^
Thomas Magnum, where are you?
January 22nd, 2024 at 8:34 PM ^
SMU level. This is in your face out of control money.
January 21st, 2024 at 4:21 PM ^
They paying out the dough to try and beat Us. Hopefully the other QB transfers. Also since other schools have been looked at for paying players and Judkins flat out and said he wasn't getting the money Ole Miss transfers were getting so he is going to look for more on open market and OSu payed up.
January 21st, 2024 at 4:40 PM ^
Smells like desperation…also appears like it might work.
January 21st, 2024 at 5:50 PM ^
It’s going to be hilarious when they continually lose in the first round of the CFP.
January 21st, 2024 at 6:20 PM ^
The playoffs are too watered down now for that to be the csse. Realistically, we're going to see teams like OSU play squads like 10-2 with-no-good-wins Ole Miss or 11-1-with-a-seven-TD-loss-to-Oklahoma Texas. It'll be the semis or finals where they get out-toughed by teams with comparable talent/vastly superior coaching
January 21st, 2024 at 11:46 PM ^
Teams like Missouri this season?
January 21st, 2024 at 4:21 PM ^
Is it me or does it seem like they're in a quarterback panic. "JUST GET 100 QUARTERBACKS NOW!! PAY THEM WHATEVER!! NOW!!"
January 21st, 2024 at 5:30 PM ^
This has 2026 in mind as much as anything else.
If you let 100 compete for the position, you know the winner of the competition is legit special, and 97 others can transfer.
I like the way you think...can we get the scholarship limit raised to ~180?
January 21st, 2024 at 5:46 PM ^
If they replace the born on 3rd, pregame whistle blowing, dancing penguin coach for a legit ball coach, OSU would be very scary.
On the flip side, imagine Jim Harbaugh and staff with this type of support, optionality, and resources. If UM went all in like this and Harbaugh could just pick off every player he wanted, and continued to develop and hold the culture...wow.
Cry'n Ryan though...not sure it will make a difference given the all the talent he's already squandered.
January 21st, 2024 at 7:31 PM ^
Yes, it would be very nice if Michigan got this kind of support. But at this moment we don't even know what the hell the coach is going to do yet.
January 21st, 2024 at 7:36 PM ^
Question: If Michigan wanted to, could they also spend $13 million on a roster for next year?
January 21st, 2024 at 7:41 PM ^
No. NCAA would nail UM for tampering - selective enforcement, just like how they are going after Florida St right now. OSU has carte blanche on pay to play, like Bama, Ole Miss, most of SEC.
It's also a bit late in the cycle to try to buy a roster.
January 21st, 2024 at 10:15 PM ^
Reminds me of Matt Millen and his wide receiver fetish. Actually OSU does that with WRs as well.
January 21st, 2024 at 10:32 PM ^
Only if the talent evaluation is correct. And when has that ever gone wrong before? Asking for a friend.
January 21st, 2024 at 4:21 PM ^
I have Reasonable Doubt that O$U is doing all this aboveboard.
January 21st, 2024 at 5:16 PM ^
We need an Itty Bitty Pettiti Committee to investigate this right away--in the interest of player safety, of course.
January 21st, 2024 at 6:00 PM ^
Is there anything "above the board" in this disguised NIL era? TAMU, Texas and Miami have it down to a science
January 21st, 2024 at 7:37 PM ^
The NCAA is waiting for Michigan to do something. Then they will enforce the rules. But just on Michigan.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:56 PM ^
They're not. The manner in which they're paying these transfers is clearly not above board and OSU media has openly admitted they were tampering with Caleb Downs
January 21st, 2024 at 4:21 PM ^
Lord I hope they get more 5* talent on that team next year at this point. If they do not win everything next year let alone against UM, this will be the biggest fail and osu will be the laughing stock of CFB.
January 21st, 2024 at 5:08 PM ^
It's national title or bust for them next year with all this. If they can't buy their way to a title, I'm gonna laugh my ass off for years
January 21st, 2024 at 5:50 PM ^
As much as I hate saying this, I give Michigan a less than 50% chance of beating OSU next year. With all the graduates and early draft enrollees, and Michigan starting a lot first-timers on offense, combined with many from OSU coming back, and them lighting it up in the Portal, then the confidence of Michigan beating them on the road is not high. Unless Harbaugh makes up his mind soon to either coach or let someone else coach Michigan next year so that the program can move forward and put together the best talent they possibly can, then Michigan will be behind OSU, Oregon, PSU and possibly 2-3 other teams in the B1G.
At first I thought the returnees and Portal guys OSU was getting was insignificant, but adding elite players like Downs and Sayin tells me Day is not messing around anymore. Day is still no Meyer or Harbaugh in development and scheme, but the OSU talent next year could very well beat Michigan's inexperience.
January 21st, 2024 at 6:26 PM ^
Dude it's January.
January 21st, 2024 at 7:52 PM ^
I don't understand this attitude. I'm sure when Saban, Meyer, Smart, etc. finish the season they kick back and think how great it was for six months and then say "welp time to get going." The winners NEVER stop, they are all over it as soon as it ends. It's part of what makes them great, there is no down time. When they win a National Championship they are immediately thinking about the next one.
I'm not seeing that with Michigan. Coach doesn't want to be here, we all know that and you're lying to yourself if you think that's not true. All it will take is for one NFL team to say yes. We aren't doing shit with the portal, we aren't recruiting well enough.
I simply say these things because I want Michigan to dominate, I want them to go on a decade long rampage, be the best. But right now I'm not feeling it. I don't want this program to win one natty and live with that memory for twenty-six years again.
January 21st, 2024 at 10:45 PM ^
That’s one of the digs on many of Michigan’s athletic programs, not just football. They are complacent. The fact is they have enough talent and resources to be in the upper tier of most sports and sometimes seem just happy to be there. When we win a championship once, we rarely repeat or create dynasties. Either the coaches leave to cash in or the players don’t stick around. Has haunted us in hockey and basketball even more than football. We won’t ever have multiple championship dynasties like what Iowa had in wrestling, UCONN has in WBB, or what Stanford, USC, or UCLA have had in a multiple sports. At least not until we can keep the core people, culture, and identity around.
January 21st, 2024 at 7:55 PM ^
Yes it is, and soon it will be February with the possibility Michigan still not knowing who the coach next year will be, like in the past.
January 21st, 2024 at 6:26 PM ^
Agree with most of what you are saying, but we also had less than a 50% chance of winning in 2021 and 2022. Anything can happen in The Game.
January 21st, 2024 at 6:39 PM ^
Got to give the Don Slap for this. Try being confident. It's very sexy.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:41 PM ^
Unless they upgrade their offensive line, I like our chances. Their defense is solid, but they don’t create a lot of negative plays or turnovers. It might be an old fashioned defensive game that ends 10-9, but the game is still ten months away. A lot can and will happen between now and then, so I guess we’ll see.
January 21st, 2024 at 4:21 PM ^
Still got a soft ass coach.
January 21st, 2024 at 4:23 PM ^
Noland, Howard, Sayin, Brown and Kienholz. Plus they got a top recruit in 25. Way too many hands to feed, and I bet 3 of these won't be on the roster next year. Be interested if Howard stays, as that QB room is way too packed.
January 21st, 2024 at 4:27 PM ^
If they start an unproven QB…lol.
January 21st, 2024 at 4:28 PM ^
hands?
January 21st, 2024 at 5:13 PM ^
Quarterbacks throw with their hands. There's only one ball to "feed" to those hands.
January 21st, 2024 at 5:53 PM ^
Howard might be the weakest of that group. If he struggles next year, then they have Sayin and Brown to choose from if Brown stays. Hopefully Sayin is more like Shea Patterson and less like Joe Burrow.
January 21st, 2024 at 8:58 PM ^
OSU is seemingly the only school where they've somehow convinced QBs that even though they statistically probably won't start, that it's still a good idea for them to go there
January 21st, 2024 at 10:49 PM ^
If you have five QBs you have none. Just sayin :)
January 22nd, 2024 at 8:13 AM ^
From our perspective, it would be ideal for Howard to start the year and flounder a bit. The chorus of the fanbase demanding a change would win, and then you'd get one of the true freshmen starting for the back half.of the year. Here's hoping, because that would be one of a few viable paths to a Michigan win in Columbus, which would be absolutely glorious.
January 21st, 2024 at 4:24 PM ^
Man if they don’t win the title, there are going to be a lot of unhappy donors. They’re also just begging for locker room issues. You can’t put together this much talent and keep everyone happy, as A&M found out the hard way.
January 21st, 2024 at 4:29 PM ^
Can you call them 'donors' still? Wouldn't investors or employers be more accurate?
January 21st, 2024 at 4:43 PM ^
“Investors” or “employers” would suggest they’re getting something in return, which I’m not convinced of yet.
January 21st, 2024 at 6:16 PM ^
Some investments have zero or negative rates of return.
January 21st, 2024 at 10:20 PM ^
Speculators, with a bad track record.
January 21st, 2024 at 5:05 PM ^
Right?
Thousands of OSU fans are foregoing their trailer payment this month or sacrificing cases of Natty Light to donate to this "UM winning a NC made me the most unhappy I've ever been" mercenary funding campaign.
January 21st, 2024 at 5:29 PM ^
It’ll be interesting see how much of a team OSU is next year. Buying up talent for the sake of having it resulted in the sum being less than the parts in College Station and Coral Gables
Im not seeing the team leadership / chemistry forming and Ryan Day isnt exactly a motivator of men. Will be fascinating to watch
January 21st, 2024 at 11:05 PM ^
Thank God they are buying 6 QBs instead of 6 stud Olinemen. These guys never played fantasy football before. You can only play one (maybe 2) QBs at a time.
January 22nd, 2024 at 11:21 AM ^
THIS. 1000X THIS.
OSU has brought in ONE OL (thus far) in the portal -- the #6 portal IOL aka the "center" from 'Bama -- and zero DTs.
Where were they "weak" last year? OL, DT, and LB. Then they lost their LBs and the one difference maker at DT to graduation - not sure on the OL. I assume they move the 5* Hybrid S. Styles into a true LB position but still no real attention paid to the trenches.
Side Note -- Did anyone see the Twitter hubbub over the weekend where the 5* Freshman All American OT from 'Bama (Former UM target Caden Proctor sp?) admitted Iowa "reached out to him" last season when he was having issues adapting to the south? No outcry about Iowa tampering to get their new transfer Tackle?