Florida 41, Michigan 15

[hack]

If there's a faction or something, JH should definitely move on from those players. Which is not to say they don't have legit beefs. They may.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I don't think NFL prospect players not playing in the Peach Bowl game is a locker room issue for M. It's a CFB wide trend and it started a while back and has accelerated. As CFB has become so grossly monetized and NFL contracts so huge, for the college players, there is less attraction to "The Team" than there probably was a decade or more ago.

Let's say I'm a pretty good player with a chance to get drafted in the early rounds and sign a multi-million dollar contract to play in the NFL. Then, I'm a Senior, out of eligibility or a Sophomore with lots of it and I choose to forego a couple of seasons of eligibility to enter the draft. Then, I also choose to sit out a meaningless bowl game where white dudes are making millions on my back. A football alumnus, a team-mate or some fan calls you out on twitter or the sports press does it. Ha ...... if I were that guy with an NFL future and bags of money about to be mine, I'd laugh in his fucking face.

I support Higdon, Gary and Bush all the way and as long as CFB treats players like slave labor the problem of players leaving school early and foregoing post season play is going to get worse. There is no question that obscene amounts of money is being made because the cost of labor to do so is ZERO. Sure, there's coaches salaries and admin costs, but those pale in comparison to what is being made CFB wide from the entire operation including post season play.

When that paradigm gets challenged like it is now being challenged in the Alston case, albeit indirectly but the flood gates will open if that case is won by the plaintiffs, the ass-holes of guys like Delaney and Emmert, along with all the guys in ugly madras or pink sport coats who "run" the bowls, start to pucker up. Pay the players? Whose going to do that? Once amateurism in college sports goes out the window the reason for the existence of the NCAA goes with it and Emmert and all his old-fart, bowl friends are done earning his millions. The house will fall. Paying the player's is not going to happen in the current system and as that system is run ..... by a bunch of white dudes earning millions.

Some means of remuneration for the student athlete with said athlete entering a contractual agreement with the program he/she is interested in playing for has to be identified. There are probably compromise avenues to retain some semblance of amateurism to preserve the rule making body that is the NCAA. Players in selected sports could be insured season wide or for just bowl games as a start and their is probably a pool of insurers who would be interested in providing wide scale coverage for that kind of insurance. That has to be paid for and there could be a national entity to see to that or for starters, the Bowls could buy it to encourage top players to play instead of sitting out.

Regardless of what needs to happen, fundamentally an evolution of the relationship between the schools offering football and the players playing that game has to take place. Benefits and responsibilities, stipulated in contracts, have to emerge if the game of CFB is to continue without players continuing to do what only a few are doing now with that number increasing steadily. Why shouldn't it increase? Why shouldn't skilled CFB players push back? They're getting screwed right now..... by white dudes making millions. That problem has to be addressed before the existing system of CFB collapses on itself.

[Hannibal]

Guys sitting out bowl games is an issue across college football, but it seems to be hitting us especially hard this year. How many guys are sitting out if we don't have Hill and Long? Five?

[WM Wolverine]

Hurts teams with NFL talent more, kinda a good issue to have.

[Hannibal]

If you're a borderline candidate then I would think that playing in that last game would help you. Bush doesn't need to. I'm not sure about Long and Hill. Higdon -- I don't see him as a great prospect anyways, so I don't see why he wouldn't want to suit up one more time. Gary -- we'll see where he goes. It wouldn't surprise me if he drops way down the draft board because of his lack of stardom. I can't remember a less productive guy who was predicted to go so high.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Guys sitting out bowl games is an issue across college football, but it seems to be hitting us especially hard this year. How many guys are sitting out if we don't have Hill and Long? Five?

I don't know the answer to that.

I do remember Saban losing an NC game to Clemson and I think we heard he was mightily pissed off at players for not showing up to play because they had one foot out the door headed to the NFL.

I've got a feeling it's a bigger problem than is spoken about publicly by coaches at blue blood programs and will become a bigger one going forward.

[hack]

I don't follow the NFL anymore so I don't know, but generally you should sit if the game doesn't present you with an opportunity to improve your draft standing, right? Long and Hill are higher-rated prospects than Higdon, right? Long and Hill are playing. I don't know for sure, but it seems to me there's enough smoke about lockerroom sentiment to assume that some of this is fire, at least. Can't explain every guy that way, but perhaps some.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I agree with that. It's a two part, probably more, problem ..... the osu loss was a kick in the ass for every player. Some handle it, some don't. I also think the push-back theme I've raised here is very real, endangers the CFB game we love and is probably fueled, in M's case, by the loss to osu.

We heard a lot of rumbling about Higdon being pissed off at Harbaugh after the osu loss. Was he mad about the schemes that produced that loss? I was. I can't imagine the players didn't point fingers after that ass-railing .... at the coaches and at players who got routinely burned. So, yeah, there's a hangover and it has it's own impact on a player's willingness to continue to put his body out there when that player or players think it's not worth it.

[froot loops]

I think Higdon could be a better pro than Hill, but Hill will be drafted higher.

[hack]

I wonder if my heart would be in it as well, at that point.

[Hannibal]

Higdon is reportedly going to play in the Senior Bowl but not our bowl game. If that's true, then he should not ever be welcome back on campus. I think that Bush and Gary are making calculated decisions but Higdon's seems like a "fuck you" to the team and to Harbaugh.

[WingsFan]

It would appear he has over valued his stock and is receiving some bad advice. When you are an outlier player looking in you have to bet on yourself and take your spot. Showing out against an sec defense would be a nice resume booster going into workouts.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Higdon may be saying, "fuck you" but, it's not to Harbaugh and probably not to Michigan either. My take is it his version of Colin Kaepernick - political activist. His angle is racism and slavery in CFB.

Harbaugh probably wishes this stuff would just go away, you know, lets just play for The Team. Higdon, generally outraged like so many these days, probably had enough of that and said, I'm gone.

[hack]

Why do you think it's that? Especially at a time when it seems like there's been some departures and dissatisfaction from guys who get snaps.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I think Higdon's actions, if I'm correct on the underlying reason from them, is a symptom of a very large elephant in the room, unspoken about and unaddressed becasue of the reasons I posted earlier today.