Official 2024-25 College Football Thread (teams, university, Florida)

[Mike from back east]

Never too soon to start the ball rolling with a seasonal thread.

[quiet life]

Never too soon. I saw you post about private equity may be entering into NFL ownership. I just found an article on firms may be entering college football.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/savi...a01cb495&ei=59

On Wednesday, RedBird Capital and Weatherford Capital jointly announced the creation of Collegiate Athletic Solutions, "a purpose-driven, dedicated capital and business-building platform for public and private university athletic departments across the United States." Though both are private equity firms -- RedBird manages more than $10 billion in assets, Weatherford surpassed $1 billion in March -- CAS would not operate like private equity. In a companion piece on Yahoo Sports, Ross Dellenger explained that CAS will provide between $50 million and $200 million in "private capital" that athletics departments would be free to spend as they see fit. CAS would only recoup its investment by taking a cut on new revenue generated through their involvement.

This differs from private equity, where firms take an equity stake in underperforming business, oftentimes strip them down to the studs, and then flip the company for a profit. What's in it for RedBird and Weatherford, where they're laying out eight or nine figures in essentially interest-free loans while assuming all the risk? “I deeply personally believe in college athletics,” Weatherford told Yahoo. “As an ex-athlete, I owe a lot to it and so does my family. We believe in college athletics. I don’t like the fact that 10 to 15 teams have a chance to win a national title every year. I’d like that to be 40-50. It’s not a level playing field. Not everyone has the resources to compete.” Weatherford played quarterback at Florida State from 2004-08 and now sits on FSU's Board of Trustees. He's also been a major voice in attempting to drive the Seminoles out of the ACC.
RedBird has previously invested in AC Milan, the Boston Red Sox, a Formula One team, and is funding an 8-team college basketball tournament this winter that will pay out $2 million in NIL appearance fees to players.

[Mike from back east]

Thank you. Wall Street can't stand to see a pot of money sitting around without their sticky finger in it. Nothing is sacred.

Maybe colleges can get back to teaching, the nation is way short of doctors and STEM types. When I look at the U. S. Patent and Trademark website, I see very few American names listed for the patents be awarded these days.

[LargeKingCat]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Thank you. Wall Street can't stand to see a pot of money sitting around without their sticky finger in it. Nothing is sacred.

Maybe colleges can get back to teaching, the nation is way short of doctors and STEM types. When I look at the U. S. Patent and Trademark website, I see very few American names listed for the patents be awarded these days.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Mike from back east again.



I think the values of many in this great nation are askew

When the biggest headlines are about what dress some celebrity wore to her divorce, or some political lies, I start to wonder what kinds of lives many people lack

From a psychology perspective, it is not simply entertainment, but more a symptom of someone feeling so inadequate with himself or herself that one must live vicariously through the loves of others.
Perhaps schools should also be teaching self-esteem and promoting mental health as well?

In regards to college though, we used to have a running joke while growing up in Texas that a "School is only as good as it's football team" Funny or sad thing is that many told it and several seemed to believe it.

I think the comedian RED GREEN made the best point on his last tour. Yeah, it is something that we have a building full of computer geeks, hackers, coders, programmers, but which one knows how to troubleshoot the blower on the air-conditioning system when it goes out? Which one understands the basics of plumbing when the water stops? which one can weld a hinge back on the emergency door?

It seems that we need to focus on people who do necessities, medicine technology and stop glorifying athletes who cannot keep the wheels turning

NOW on to the CATS usual commentary

Big Questions

1 Will the ALMA MATER make it to a bowl?


2 Will Washington repeat as National Cat Champions?

3 Will Ol Bammy falter under new coaching?

4 Will Fat Matt Patricia, Sean Desai and Love Smith find new homes in Tempe Arizona?

5 Will Primetime Neon Deion Sanders and his thundering herd of Bison move up from last year?

6 And finally who will win the MAC ? The only Division 1 conference left that is still amateur, pure college football. THe Ivy league more so, but they are not division 1

[quiet life]

Too early top 50.

https://247sports.com/longformarticl...24--232214680/

Here are USA Today's preseason top 50 rankings coming out of spring practice:
(Only cut and paste top 10)
1. Georgia Bulldogs.
2. Ohio State Buckeyes.
3. Texas Longhorns.
4. Oregon Ducks.
5. Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
6. LSU Tigers.
7. Alabama Crimson Tide.
8. Florida State Seminoles.
9. Clemson Tigers.
10. Penn State Nittany Lions.

[JustMike77]

I'm really curious to see how "my" Buckeyes do this year.

[quiet life]

I am curious how "my" Nittany Lions will do. Especially against those Buckeyes and those blasted Wolverines. Those two Kryptonites are going to get coach Franklin chit canned.

[Canes2006Champs]

My guess is either Georgia or Ohio State win the championship.