Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin hinted that trouble was headed to the college football postseason this week when he talked about issues with the transfer portal. Kiffin is unhappy that players are allowed to leave for the transfer portal before bowl games (and the CFP) are over.
“It really is a really dumb system to think about what we’re talking about, a quarterback going in the portal,” Kiffin said, via a transcription from Sports Illustrated. “Just think about what we’re talking about; the season’s not over yet, and there’s a free agency window open. Just think of the NFL getting ready for the AFC and NFC playoffs, and players are in free agency already. It’s a really poor system, but we just really try to manage the best we can through it, and hopefully someday it will get fixed.”
On Saturday, there was one program that faced a steep penalty by losing too many players for the transfer portal before their scheduled bowl game.
Marshall football pulled out of their bowl game
Per The Athletic, Marshall pulled out of their bowl game against Army because they didn’t have enough players to matchup against Army.
“Marshall pulled out of its Independence Bowl matchup against Army because of a roster depleted by players opting out and entering the transfer portal,” per the Athletic. ” Louisiana Tech will replace Marshall in the game. Louisiana Tech, which finished the regular season with a 5-7 record, is located in Ruston, La., about an hour from Independence Stadium in Shreveport, La. A bowl official confirmed to The Athletic that the process for picking a replacement was based on the Academic Progress Rate (APR).”
Grades over athletics is a funny way to choose bowl participants. It really puts the “college” in college football. However, players are transferring because it’s a business, and they want a piece of that NIL pie.
College football fans weren’t happy with Marshall
Fans on social media reacted to Marshall pulling out of the bowl game by advocating for one solution that needs to happen to the sport: contracts for players. Players should be compensated for playing football, but they should sign a deal that keeps them under contract for a certain number of seasons, like the NFL.
“Gotta be collectively bargained and they must have contracts. Only way,” wrote a fan.
“Welp, we’re witnessing the result of NIL + transfer portal, can the NCAA PLEASE do something to fix this? A solution could be to make players commit to a school for 2 years minimum, not just 1 so they can leave whenever they want. This is ridiculous and ruining sports,” posted another.
“A lot of people are crushing Marshall for this, but really the recruiting calendar is to blame here. The portal should not open until bowl season is complete. Also, all NIL-revenue sharing contracts should require players to participate in all his team’s games that season,” commented one fan.
“This is the result of the unregulated transfer portal,” wrote a fan.
“MAKE PLAYERS SIGN CONTRACTS,” suggested a poster.
“I’m for it. They’re already getting: full tuition, revenue sharing, cost of living adjustments, and NIL deals. This can be in excess of multiple millions for many players, and hundreds of thousands for most. Let’s attach a commitment to that. Seems reasonable,” suggested another.
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1 Comment
Its amazing how so called fans who believe they are educated on what ever sport they talk about are blaming the players for leaving. Especially after one year ! Hint, its not the players fault. Ncaa schools ( teams) only offer 1 yes 1 year scholarships which can be rolled over at the schools decision. Players have been restricted from transferring once the initial year up because of penalties they would incurr. Players want to play and when they have no shot at making the field in some cases probably more than reported teams held them back and you won’t believe the reason but here it is. They need players for scout dummies.they ha e no chance of game time but because the teams have to practice against someone they hold players back to be on the that team. There is no kid going to sign a scholarship if told well your never going to play in a game for us but we want you only fir the s out team. If not mistaken wasn’t it tenn who wouldn’t let a player leave for that very same reason ? Please don’t think tenn is alone in this ,its only the head coach dumm enough to go live with the reason lol