Rhule is a Moving Target

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Huscar Football coach Man Rule is a moving target. He's
on the cutting edge of the tumultuous change in his sport,
or he's on the back end trying to catch up.
He's a naked capitalist hoarding cash and players in the
era of free agency, or a sentimental throwback putting the
kids first, fighting to keep walk On's on the roster.
Becomes the first to cancel his spring game, fearing any

(00:22):
game style video will expose young talent and make them
ripe for nil poaching. Many followed, and then, in a
complete about face, he brought it back sort of. There
won't be a game with the roster split in two,
but they will run game type plays and formations featuring
only the last forty or fifty guys desperate to somehow

(00:43):
make the one hundred and five man roster. Rule says
it's about a reward for those who know they likely
won't be on the team next fall, but for hard work, dedication,
and love of the game. Or is it because ticket
sales for this alternative spring festival of a jill drills,
flag football and a garage sale are lagging? Remember what

(01:05):
the spring game is was, well, it was a chance
for fans to get a midyear fix. Remember upon the
spring games in we are about one hundred twenty three
days to kick off. When spring football began, it was
about one hundred twenty three days since the Iowa game.
It is a chance for fans who can't afford season
tickets to sit on the fifty yard line. It's a

(01:26):
chance for the third and fourth stringers to hear the
roars of approval. Fans across the country whose teams dumped
their spring games are outraged. Maybe this ending of a
very popular component of college football can effect change. Consider this.
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian dumped his spring game, saying his
guys are tired. The Longhorns played thirty games in the

(01:49):
last two seasons, too many to have a spring scrimmage.
These are eighteen to twenty two year olds. They'd gladly
play a double header the rest Ryan Day. Lincoln Riley
joined rule, saying without transfer portal reforms, a spring game
is a little too risky for roster raiders. But what
do they really want? I think they're in the rule camp.

(02:11):
They want to keep it. But until we have a
structural change in the transfer portal and the regular season schedule.
Coaches simply can't afford it. So here are a few suggestions.
Stop packing so much into the fall schedule window. Be
more like the NFL. Spread out your twelve regular season games,
mandate at least two by weeks. To do that and

(02:33):
justify a spring game, you got to start the season
in mid August. Now that's not such a big leap anymore.
Most of the guys are here through the year anyway,
and they can house them and feed them that a
Braska Athletic Department is going to take in two hundred
and forty million this year. If the long game is
to compete with the NFL, then why wait? Reform the portal?

(02:54):
Dump December. If they got rid of the December portal,
it would help preserve the rosters for bowl games. Again,
bowl games are for the fans. December is a dumb
time of the year for any kid to move. He
at coach changes, and presumably the biggest reason to move
in December is to be enrolled in your new school. Well,
academics in the transfer portal era are not universally prioritized.

(03:17):
If we only had a spring portal, the kid stays
in school through the spring semester and spring practice gives
both him and the coaches a full evaluation. If you're
worried about spring game raiders, play it after the portal closes.
College football could also make it easier for a kid
to transfer by allowing a series of OTAs organized team
activities mini camps. The NFL does it for their new

(03:39):
free agents. College football shift has really shafted the fans
in the last generation. Conference realignment trashed rivalries, the financial
pressure priced longtime season ticket holders out of their seats,
and the spring games are now toast. Keep this up
and you'll find out there are a lot of other
things to do on a fall Saturday.