While we’ve been watching the mass exodus of CU players to the portal (17 at last count,) CU fans have been saying “College football can’t sustain this,” and “This is crazy. It’s NIL-driven.” That’s been the chorus on this board, and also on other CU forums and among CU fans in general.
Now, let’s talk a little reality.
I had asked Nikki and our Rivals mods how CU compares so far with other schools with player losses during this Spring portal opening, but heard no reply. So, I put some numbers together by myself, and they’re sobering. Totally sobering.
We’re sitting here as CU fans in a bubble with our 17 players who have jumped in the spring portal. Why? Because CU is a total outlier. Other than Houston (15 spring portal losses so far,) not one P4 team I checked has half that many. Here’s what things look like nationally and in the Big-12 so far with spring portal losses:
Spring Portal Losses, Key National Teams:
Zero: Clemson, Florida, UVA
One: Oregon, UCLA, Tennessee
Two: Ohio St, Michigan, UNC, PSU, Georgia, Nebraska, Wisconsin
Three: Auburn, USC
Four: A&M
Five: Va Tech, Miami
Six: Texas, Washington
Seven: LSU
Spring Portal Losses, Big-12 Teams:
Zero: Oklahoma St
One: WVU, Baylor
Two: KSU, ISU
Three: TCU, BYU, ASU, Arizona
Four: Texas Tech
Five: UCF, KU
Six: Cincy
Seven: Utah
Fifteen: Houston
Seventeen: CU
Many CU fans have been saying that the portal is devasting teams, that recruiting out of high school just means losing players the following year, and that college football can’t sustain this. But let’s come back to reality. College football is ruled by a combination of ESPN/FOX and a small contingent of something like six power-brand schools – Ohio State, Georgia, Texas, Michigan, USC, and PSU, and maybe a few others. Add all of the spring portal losses for those six schools, the total sum, and you still don’t have the losses experienced by just one -- the Colorado Buffaloes.
Oh, we can tell ourselves that the Buffs haven’t been losing that many starters, real contributors. But we’re back-peddling, looking for excuses. The reality is that the shock and pain and dismay around CU as we’ve seen another mass portal exit has not been experienced by the powers of college football during the spring portal.
With our current coach, we’ve bought ourselves into a football revolving door that other schools have avoided, even with NIL. As Coach Prime University (nobody calls Bama “DeBoer U,” or The Ohio State “Ryan Day U”) we’ve given up continuity and connection for chaos. A total annual free-agency. That's what's not sustainable.
The bottom line: Yes, we can expect some tweaking of the portal and NIL among power schools (the basketball schools want it,) but it won’t be driven by the football bluebloods, and it’ll focus more on NIL than on the portal. The football portal is CU’s issue. Sanders wants to win before his kids leave, and he's willing to re-stock with cast-offs from other schools to try to get there. But the portal and spring portal exits, is hardly noticeable in Gainesville, Columbus, State College, College Station, Ann Arbor, or Tuscaloosa. It's not a huge issue other than in Boulder, Colorado.
Now, let’s talk a little reality.
I had asked Nikki and our Rivals mods how CU compares so far with other schools with player losses during this Spring portal opening, but heard no reply. So, I put some numbers together by myself, and they’re sobering. Totally sobering.
We’re sitting here as CU fans in a bubble with our 17 players who have jumped in the spring portal. Why? Because CU is a total outlier. Other than Houston (15 spring portal losses so far,) not one P4 team I checked has half that many. Here’s what things look like nationally and in the Big-12 so far with spring portal losses:
Spring Portal Losses, Key National Teams:
Zero: Clemson, Florida, UVA
One: Oregon, UCLA, Tennessee
Two: Ohio St, Michigan, UNC, PSU, Georgia, Nebraska, Wisconsin
Three: Auburn, USC
Four: A&M
Five: Va Tech, Miami
Six: Texas, Washington
Seven: LSU
Spring Portal Losses, Big-12 Teams:
Zero: Oklahoma St
One: WVU, Baylor
Two: KSU, ISU
Three: TCU, BYU, ASU, Arizona
Four: Texas Tech
Five: UCF, KU
Six: Cincy
Seven: Utah
Fifteen: Houston
Seventeen: CU
Many CU fans have been saying that the portal is devasting teams, that recruiting out of high school just means losing players the following year, and that college football can’t sustain this. But let’s come back to reality. College football is ruled by a combination of ESPN/FOX and a small contingent of something like six power-brand schools – Ohio State, Georgia, Texas, Michigan, USC, and PSU, and maybe a few others. Add all of the spring portal losses for those six schools, the total sum, and you still don’t have the losses experienced by just one -- the Colorado Buffaloes.
Oh, we can tell ourselves that the Buffs haven’t been losing that many starters, real contributors. But we’re back-peddling, looking for excuses. The reality is that the shock and pain and dismay around CU as we’ve seen another mass portal exit has not been experienced by the powers of college football during the spring portal.
With our current coach, we’ve bought ourselves into a football revolving door that other schools have avoided, even with NIL. As Coach Prime University (nobody calls Bama “DeBoer U,” or The Ohio State “Ryan Day U”) we’ve given up continuity and connection for chaos. A total annual free-agency. That's what's not sustainable.
The bottom line: Yes, we can expect some tweaking of the portal and NIL among power schools (the basketball schools want it,) but it won’t be driven by the football bluebloods, and it’ll focus more on NIL than on the portal. The football portal is CU’s issue. Sanders wants to win before his kids leave, and he's willing to re-stock with cast-offs from other schools to try to get there. But the portal and spring portal exits, is hardly noticeable in Gainesville, Columbus, State College, College Station, Ann Arbor, or Tuscaloosa. It's not a huge issue other than in Boulder, Colorado.
