2025 College Football Thread

[BM1090]

Zero chance they come to regret this.
Signed,
Texas A&M
Michigan State

(He is a good coach, but I'd be surprised if the current run of success is sustainable. That's a big pay day for a guy who's beaten two ranked teams ever, one of which is no longer ranked.)

No idea if it's sustainable, but I'm nearly certain than he's a far better coach than those other two guys.

[Uncle Rico]

The fainting couches needed in Madison after seeing this contract is unsustainable

[Billy Hoyle]

Why not if you're Cuban?  And if you're Indiana and Cuban is funding it, even more why not?

$90 million or whatever the amount is to Cuban (worth $6 billion), like what, $10,000 is to the average worker? Chump change.

[Pakuni]

No idea if it's sustainable, but I'm nearly certain than he's a far better coach than those other two guys.

Jimbo's got a national title as a head coach and two more as an offensive coordinator. And another playoff appearance as a HC.
But Cignetti won a road game at Oregon and beat up on an overrated Illinois team, so crown him.

Again, I do think Cignetti is a good coach ... but saying he's "far better" than a guy who's won national titles seems a tad premature.

[Uncle Rico]

Jimbo's got a national title as a head coach and two more as an offensive coordinator.
But Cignetti won a road game at Oregon and beat up on an overrated Illinois team, so crown him.

Again, I do think Cignetti is a good coach ... but saying he's "far better" than a guy who's won national titles seems a tad premature.

I'm with you.  But at the same time, this is the world of college athletics now.

[Pakuni]

I'm with you.  But at the same time, this is the world of college athletics now.

It's just recency bias.
Things ended badly for Jimbo at A&M, so he's a bad coach. Cignetti just beat a top 10 opponent on the road, so he's the belle of the ball.

[BM1090]

Jimbo's got a national title as a head coach and two more as an offensive coordinator.
But Cignetti won a road game at Oregon and beat up on an overrated Illinois team, so crown him.

Again, I do think Cignetti is a good coach ... but saying he's "far better" than a guy who's won national titles seems a tad premature.

Yes he does. But he did both at schools that have historically had a lot of success and resources. Cignetti is 17-2 and both losses were on the road to top 5 teams. The team he took over was 9-27 in the three seasons before he got there.

Time will tell who is more successful, but from a strictly football perspective Cignetti is more impressive IMO

[Hards Alumni]

It's just recency bias.
Things ended badly for Jimbo at A&M, so he's a bad coach. Cignetti just beat a top 10 opponent on the road, so he's the belle of the ball.

Fickell had Cincinatti in the CFP and now he is going to get fired from his new job five years later.

[MU82]

$90 million or whatever the amount is to Cuban (worth $6 billion), like what, $10,000 is to the average worker? Chump change.

More like a nickel. The vast majority of Americans would feel a $10K loss more than Cuban would feel a $90M loss.

[Pakuni]

Yes he does. But he did both at schools that have historically had a lot of success and resources. Cignetti is 17-2 and both losses were on the road to top 5 teams. The team he took over was 9-27 in the three seasons before he got there.

Time will tell who is more successful, but from a strictly football perspective Cignetti is more impressive IMO

Cignetti has been fantastic for Indiana. All credit to him. Just wild to me that a guy who's won nothing is the third-highest paid coach in college football.
As impressive as 17-2 is, it's mostly over mediocire to bad teams. The Illinois win was impressive, and that's a good team, but definitely not the top 10 team. @ Oregon a good win also, but it's worth pointing out that the Ducks' best win this year was squeaking past a team that has since lost to UCLA and Northwestern, and fired its coach.

Speaking of Oregon, holy sh-t do they have a soft schedule.

[JWags85]

Yes he does. But he did both at schools that have historically had a lot of success and resources. Cignetti is 17-2 and both losses were on the road to top 5 teams. The team he took over was 9-27 in the three seasons before he got there.

Time will tell who is more successful, but from a strictly football perspective Cignetti is more impressive IMO

I think Cignetti is a very good coach.  I think he's an example of why more schools should hire more guys who won a ton at smaller levels (Willie Fritz at Houston is another example of a guy who has won everywhere like Cignetti). 

That being said, Cignetti has 1 good win in 20 games at IU.  7 of their 8 wins in the B10 last year were against bottom half of the conference teams.  They played an FCS team and 2 low majors in the non conference and then got absolutely obliterated by the first good team they played in Columbus.  Then they were thoroughly handled by ND, they were never in that game.  This year, the Oregon game is the best win in the country so far, no doubt, but the Illinois win will not age well.  That won't be a top 20 win by the end of the season.

Jimbo Fisher inherited a program that was withering on the vine under Bowden.  They had finished .500 in the ACC over the previous 5 seasons.  Fisher turned them around immediately and won a bunch of important games early on.

[wadesworld]

Cignette is winning at Indiana. Soft schedule or not, It's Indiana, It's Indiana.

[JWags85]

Cignette is winning at Indiana. Soft schedule or not, It's Indiana, It's Indiana.

The soft schedule absolutely matters.  Nobody here thinks PJ Fleck is the second coming or with $10MM+ a year, but he put up multiple 9 win, and an 11 win, seasons at a non B10 power with puffy non conference and avoiding the best teams in the B10 in certain years. And that was before the conference expanded and the bottom got bigger and weaker.

[BM1090]

The soft schedule absolutely matters.  Nobody here thinks PJ Fleck is the second coming or with $10MM+ a year, but he put up multiple 9 win, and an 11 win, seasons at a non B10 power with puffy non conference and avoiding the best teams in the B10 in certain years. And that was before the conference expanded and the bottom got bigger and weaker.

I don't like this comparison. Fleck every year had games that kind of showed it was never going to be sustainable. Indiana is running through everyone except top 5 teams on the road. In year 2, with a talent disparity.

I think you're right the soft schedule matters, but the contract feels like a no brainer for a school that has made 5 bowl games since 1993

[The Sultan]

Last year IU lost to the two ranked teams it faced. This year they have beat both of them (Illinois and Oregon). That Oregon win was legit.

[WhiteTrash]

Last year IU lost to the two ranked teams it faced. This year they have beat both of them (Illinois and Oregon). That Oregon win was legit.

Agreed, and IMO, how they beat Illinois was very impressive.

When I look at the other deals for coaches coupled with the Big10 revenues, IU did just fine.

[The Sultan]

The other issue is that the athletic director who signs these contracts looks like a hero. And oftentimes moves on for his/her successor to clean up. Sandy Barbour gave James Franklin the extension, she retires in 2022 to great fanfare, and now a guy named Patrick Kraft has to fix it.

[JWags85]

I don't like this comparison. Fleck every year had games that kind of showed it was never going to be sustainable. Indiana is running through everyone except top 5 teams on the road. In year 2, with a talent disparity.

I think you're right the soft schedule matters, but the contract feels like a no brainer for a school that has made 5 bowl games since 1993

Setting aside the Oregon win (which Ive repeatedly said was a fantastic win), where is the "talent disparity"?  Its the NIL era, so its not like he's stuck with a clump of mediocre players from the Allen era.  He brought in a very solid QB from Cal in Mendoza who threw for 3000 yards and very few picks despite playing on a mediocre team.  Hemby was a really good RB at Maryland who had 1000 all purpose yards a couple years in a row before taking his 5th year.  And they have an All-B10 WR plus another who was a 4 star from Indy recruited by a bunch of SEC teams. 

They aren't stacked like OSU or Penn St, but they aren't behind in talent compared to the mid level B10 teams they are smacking around.  Illinois was just absurdly overrated, not sure what they did to merit that top 10 ranking at the time, and its not like they were overflowing with talent compared to IU.

[barfolomew]

Cignette is winning at Indiana. Soft schedule or not, It's Indiana, It's Indiana.

Yes, maybe this will be his swan song.

[Uncle Rico]

Who says no to a Holiday Bowl in Saudi Arabia? 

https://bsky.app/profile/foiaball.com/post/3m3g5andixs2y

[Pakuni]

Wouldn't be a Mario Cristobal team without at least one inexplicable loss to an unranked opponent.

[MU82]

Carson Beck ... over-rated.

[Uncle Rico]

Big day for our boys in Madison.  Great opportunity to turn the season around

[tower912]

Fan appreciation for college coaches is a Fickell mistress.

The Fickell finger of fate has turned against the Badgers.

The Badger faithful find themselves in quite a Fickell.

[MuggsyB]

Should I go all-in on Ohio St and make a large deposit in the MU NIL fund?  I don't gamble but it's only 25.5??