Newfound swagger has awoken a side of Sacramento State never seen before. A cool, cowboy-hatted head football coach named Brennan Marion started the conversation. Then walked in former Sacramento Kings point guard Mike Bibby, who held the door open for the man they call Shaq.
NIL
Inside the rise of Sacramento State sports
Sacramento State football head coach Brennan Marion is among those at the school with big dreams for the program.
Football recruiting visits accessorized by Mercedes-Benz GT photo shoots became commonplace, as if several years earlier the same program hadn’t proposed a fundraising project to subsidize player meals in summer school. A third-party name, image and likeness collective called the Sac-12 raised $50 million in conditional funds to prepare for a potential future in the rebuilt Pac-12 Conference.
The NCAA thought the Hornets bit off more than they could chew with a bid to join the FBS as an independent. Their application was promptly rejected earlier this summer for lack of a conference invitation. The notion that a long-standing FCS school could book a seat at the adult table so easily?
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Ambitious at best, exclaimed the FBS fraternity.
President J. Luke Wood, the youngest person to ever be appointed the role of university president at Sacramento State, swiftly appealed the decision. Wood, an Oakland native, told the Chronicle his FBS dream for a once innocuous alma mater was neither a matter of if nor when. He insisted his Hornets will play at that level in 2026.
At a time when mid-major programs helplessly watch the haves pocket their best players, Wood has launched an audacious pursuit to remove Sacramento State from among the have-nots. Three other programs within 100 miles of San Francisco compete at the FBS level: Stanford, Cal and San Jose State. With a $4 million football roster, Sacramento State already has more NIL money than San Jose State, per Marion, more national headlines than Stanford and Cal this year, and more nerve. The school’s athletic director, Mark Orr, a Cal football alumnus, hopes to see each of the Northern California schools on the schedule ASAP.
At last, the sleeping giant with more than 31,000 students wants all the smoke.
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“Our success, of course, is going to be determined upon when and how we become FBS,” Wood said. “But no matter what, in terms of what this was all about, we have been successful. Because the whole point of this was to raise the visibility of the institution. And there’s no question that we’ve succeeded in doing that.”
Ready or not
As a 19-year-old college freshman, Wood called his shot.
He told anyone who would listen that he was going to be president of Sacramento State. One pillar of his platform as a student leader then mirrored what he has set into motion over the past two-plus years on the banks of the American River: Athletics heals all wounds.
Such foresight came into full focus when Wood was the vice president for student affairs at San Diego State, where he had a front-row seat to the ripple effects of a thrilling March Madness run. Aztecs men’s basketball in 2023 notched its first Final Four and national championship appearance in program history. The profile of the university leveled up overnight.
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“I got to see what that did for applications, for students accepting admittance into the campus, for the increase of out-of-state students, and, of course, the additional revenue that comes to the university through that,” Wood said.
Wood at age 41 followed in the footsteps of former President Robert S. Nelsen, whom Wood credited for helping birth the FBS plan.
Sacramento State President J. Luke Wood, an Oakland native, is determined to elevate the Hornets football team to the FBS level by 2026.
Several months before he retired, Nelsen conducted a feasibility study (which Wood repeated a year later) that entailed a landscape analysis of FBS institutions to determine the internal improvements needed across facilities, staffing, physical therapy, sports psychology and overall athletics operations. A new stadium project had also already been drawn up. The problem, which Wood pointed out early on, was the stadium as originally imagined would not meet FBS requirements.
Wood called an audible, which led to Sacramento State’s announced plans to replace the 21,000-capacity Hornet Stadium with a 25,000-seat, multi-use football stadium, a vision that most recently went under renovation.
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Cal Expo, home to the annual California State Fair about 2 miles from Sacramento State’s campus, held a Thursday board meeting with an agenda that included a new business item titled, “Review for Approval-Agreement to memorialize activities for the Sac State Football Stadium.”
Wood reportedly proposed plans at the meeting to adapt Cal Expo’s horse racing grandstand into a college football facility by the fall of 2026, his FBS deadline.
A move to the FBS would open doors for “a football program that is revenue-generating to the point where it helps to support the academic side of the house,” said Wood. Being in the country’s No. 20 media market, according to Nielsen, certainly helps. A significant $23.5 million budget shortfall, in accordance with proposed $143.8 million in California State University funding cuts? Not so much.
Sacramento State’s initial projected shortfall was $31.2 million until the state reduced its initially proposed $375 million budget cut to the CSU system, which resulted in a number of course cuts and layoffs. The steps taken by the university to prioritize athletics amid a restrictive budget environment offers a striking contrast to Sonoma State, which eliminated its entire athletic department for the 2025-26 school year due to a $24 million budget deficit.
It isn’t exactly an apples-to-apples comparison. Sacramento State has an enrollment of 31,000, versus Sonoma State’s 5,700, a number expected to drop closer to 4,000, according to former longtime Seawolves golf coach Val Verhunce. Still, both schools represent compelling case studies on the perceived importance of athletics to the overall health of a university.
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“Obviously they’re investing in the future of athletics, where we’ve done just the opposite,” Verhunce said.
“When we see what’s happening at Sacramento State … I know great things can happen with great leadership. And that’s not a pun on anyone that’s ever been a leader (at Sonoma State). It’s just that there’s no stability there.”
One of Wood’s first orders of business: 92 “listening sessions” that lasted an hour and 15 minutes each and involved 1,500 students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members over the course of his first semester as president in the fall of 2023. Many outlined the need for Sacramento State to reduce the number of athletic conferences its sports compete in from five to one … two, maximum. Wood will have resolved as much by the fall of 2026, when the school’s 20 non-football sports join the Big West.
Marion recalled only one other university president he encountered in his career who was as invested as Wood in athletics: Jay Hartzell, former president of Texas, a school with “more money than God,” according to Marion.
“He told the players they didn’t have to go to class on the first day of school,” Marion said of Hartzell, who led Texas from 2020 to 2025.
The bigger and better thing
The direction of Sacramento State sports did not change overnight. Orr, hired as athletic director by Nelsen in 2017, retraced his steps to the first domino: the hiring of head football coach Troy Taylor.
The program had become accustomed to losing, marked by a measly 20-35 record and a .364 winning percentage under Jody Sears. His predecessors did not fare much better. Of the nine Hornets head coaches who came before Sears, Bob Mattos stood as the only one who finished with a winning record.
Together as Sacramento natives, Orr and Taylor raised the standard. Taylor in his 2019 debut season led the team to its first FCS playoff appearance, snapping a 31-year postseason drought, with a share of the program’s first-ever Big Sky Championship. The Hornets won three conference titles under Taylor’s direction, including two outright in 2021 and 2022.
At the peak of his hometown heroism, Taylor left. Stanford came calling.
His star running back, Cam Skattebo, a local Rio Linda product, followed suit. After two years at Arizona State, Skattebo found himself in the national spotlight. He became known as the workhorse who carried the Sun Devils to the College Football Playoff as a Cinderella, and Sacramento State was reduced to a passing mention in his player bio.
Wood was appointed Sacramento State’s president the summer of 2023, in the wake of such telling departures. He rooted for Skattebo as any alum would (Wood earned multiple degrees at Sacramento State and ASU). But mostly, he bemoaned the painful reality revealed by Skattebo’s journey, that Sacramento State was no more than a rest stop en route to the FBS.
“We had a lot of people who wanted to be able to be hometown heroes that felt like they couldn’t, or they would have to sacrifice, or they would take the path that Cam Skattebo did; they play here for a little bit, and then we would celebrate them as they went off to bigger and better things,” Wood said.
“But why can’t we be the bigger and better thing, too?”
Sacramento State has since checked some serious boxes in its efforts to transition from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision, despite being barred from entry the first go. ESPN reported in June that the university had hired prominent antitrust and sports attorney Jeffrey Kessler, who was “exploring legal avenues” in light of the NCAA’s decision.
“The perception of the NCAA was you’re not FBS unless a conference says you are,” said Wood, who had released a statement post-denial that Sacramento State had “met every meaningful benchmark for FBS membership.”
Table for two
At the spry age of 38, Marion had already been a college coach for the better part of a decade. He knew the drill. Interviews with Power Four and Group of Five schools taught Marion to expect the casual Zoom or phone call. The process often lacked creativity. Fortunately for him, an FCS athletic director didn’t know better.
Less than 48 hours after Orr got in contact with the UNLV offensive coordinator, the two sat down for lunch in Las Vegas. Marion had just helped lead the Rebels to their first 10-win season in Division I and first national ranking in program history. Orr was in search of a new head football coach. One meal with Marion made apparent the job was his to lose. The next night’s dinner with Wood only confirmed as much. Marion asked the right questions.
His first major coaching gigs came right around the time players could begin to profit from NIL. Marion was the wide receivers coach at Pittsburgh in 2021. Then the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach at Texas in 2022. Both places taught Marion the outsized role that “real” boosters would play in college football for the foreseeable future.
When Marion gave Sacramento State brass the skinny, they effectively smiled and nodded.
“I was telling them, ‘This is what we need if we’re going to be a top-tier program,’ and they just kept saying yes,” Marion said.
With Wood and Orr on the same page, the money was there. From a $4 million player budget (NIL and revenue sharing) to Marion’s $750,000 base salary to a $2.7 million staff pool, Sacramento State leads the FCS in all three categories.
Cool, said Wood: “We don’t see ourselves as an FCS institution anymore. You don’t have an FCS mindset and apply for FBS. You have an FBS mindset you apply because you think that’s where you belong.”
Sacramento State quarterback Jaden Rashada prepares to throw a pass during practice in Sacramento on Monday.
Marion pulled together a recruiting class for the 2025 season that ranked No. 1 in the FCS, No. 3 among Group of Five schools, and No. 73 compared to 136 FBS programs, according to Hero Sports (FCS) and 247Sports (FBS). The team signed seven former four-star high school recruits, including quarterback Jaden Rashada, the Bay Area native who followed up his infamous NIL mishap at Florida with a season apiece at Arizona State and Georgia before returning to his home state.
Then you get to the 2026 class, currently ranked No. 54 nationally on 247Sports and headlined by Xavier McDonald, a four-star wide receiver who chose Sacramento State over SEC schools Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss, Arkansas and Auburn.
Marion said he and his staff can get three-star and junior college recruits “all day long without any compensation,” but it’s the four- and five-star guys who require the financial incentive. Even considering the appeal of Marion’s signature “Go-Go” offense, an up-tempo, triple-option scheme that averaged 35.4 points per game (15th nationally) at UNLV last season, money talks when it comes to top-tier talent.
Cutting checks
Sacramento State has committed to a floor of $2.5 million to $3 million in revenue-shared funds to be distributed to athletes directly, per Orr, who added that figure remains fluid and could grow in accordance with increased ticket sales, corporate sponsorships and the like.
Hiring Marion, Bibby and Shaquille O’Neal — forgoing a salary as basketball general manager — stirred a level of financial support unlike anything the university has ever witnessed. Orr said corporate partnerships have quadrupled since they were brought aboard.
The Sac-12 has collected more than $50 million of donations spanning the next decade to support a Pac-12 future for Sacramento State athletics. A majority of that money won’t be accessible unless the school actually joins the Pac-12, though Wood said a number of donors have sent gifts directly to the university in the meantime.
Hornets fans are also buying in. According to Orr, football ticket sales were up 65% from last season — in July.
“It’s a tough ticket to get,” Orr said.
Almost a full month before basketball season tickets officially went on sale, senior associate athletic director Andy Fiske said about 600 fans were on the waiting list. Is that supposed to be good?
Compared to the year before, “Yeah, we didn’t have one,” Fiske said. “How about that?”
Sacramento State basketball coach Mike Bibby and forward Shaqir O’Neal during practice in Sacramento on Monday.
Sacramento State basketball is set to retire the Nest, a 1,012-seat arena that has been around for nearly seven decades, and begin playing home games this season at the Well, a fitness and healthy facility on campus being adapted into an events center that will seat more than 3,000. Still not the endgame, but a better place to start for a men’s team that has never made the NCAA Tournament. (Women’s basketball made its March Madness debut in 2023.)
Former four-star high school recruits in USC transfer forward Brandon Gardner and Central Florida transfer guard Mikey Williams headlined the splashy signings that followed Bibby’s first commitment: Florida A&M transfer forward Shaqir O’Neal, Shaq’s son.
“We’re just not blending in anymore,” said Bibby, a first-time college coach. “Hiring a guy like me with no experience, but a big-time person in Sacramento, is going to open up a lot of eyes. And I’m able to get kids, a lot of these kids that are here would not probably be here if I wasn’t here.”
Marion mentioned a Bibby autograph is a common ask at his son’s flag football games. That and an unofficial visit, for 8-year-olds.
“The sports thing really does something to people in America,” Marion said, “when it comes to football especially.”
The school’s spring football game drew a record crowd of more than 7,000 fans, which dwarfed the turnout of 300 from the previous year. Now that people are paying attention, results will be expected, if not demanded. Football went 3-9 last season; men’s basketball was 7-25.
Time to see what Sacramento State’s big bucks can buy.
“We got to win,” Wood said.
“You can bring in an amazing coach, you can bring in amazing players, you can raise money, but nobody cares about it unless you win.”
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The USA TODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll Top 25 has been refreshed following the eighth week of the season. It was a bit of a light week due to Christmas, but some showdowns still took place amid the holiday celebrations, resulting in some movement throughout the Top 25.
With conference play picking up this coming weekend, we’re getting into the nitty-gritty of the season, where the rankings will fluctuate week-in and week-out. While this past week was packed with tune-up games and not a ton of riveting action, that won’t be the case from now until April.
Regardless, the Coaches Poll Top 25 is certain to see plenty of movement. For now, here’s how things stack up after Week 8. This week’s updated rankings are below.
Michigan enjoyed a full week off and enters the week undefeated at 11–0. The Wolverines return to action with home games against McNeese State on Monday and USC on Friday.
Senior forward Yaxel Lendeborg has been the engine, stuffing the stat sheet with 15.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game. Michigan will look to stay perfect as conference play looms.
Arizona rolled past Bethune 107–71 last Monday to improve to 12–0 on the season. The Wildcats host South Dakota State before traveling to Utah for a road test on Saturday.
Freshman guard Brayden Burries has emerged as a steady scorer, averaging 14.0 points per game. Arizona’s depth and tempo continue to overwhelm opponents early in the season.
Iowa State remained perfect at 12–0 after an off week. The Cyclones host Houston Christian on Monday and West Virginia on Friday.
Junior forward Milan Momcilovic leads the team at 18.3 points per game. Iowa State’s balance continues to separate it from most of the field.
UConn had the week off and remains one of the nation’s most complete teams at 12–1. The Huskies head to Xavier on Wednesday before hosting Marquette on Sunday.
Junior guard Solo Ball leads the backcourt with 15.4 points per game. This week offers a strong measuring stick against Big East competition.
Purdue stayed idle last week but remains firmly entrenched near the top of the Coaches Poll with an 11–1 record. The Boilermakers face a tricky week with a home matchup against Kent State on Monday before heading to Wisconsin on Saturday.
Senior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn continues to anchor the frontcourt, averaging a double-double at 13.9 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. Purdue’s ability to maintain consistency through a two-game week will be closely watched.
Duke remained idle last week and sits at 11–1 entering a two-game stretch. The Blue Devils host Georgia Tech on Wednesday before traveling to Florida State on Saturday.
Freshman phenom Cameron Boozer has been dominant, averaging 23.2 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. Duke will be tested defensively as ACC play intensifies.
Gonzaga extended its winning streak with a victory over Pepperdine on Sunday and sits at 13–1. The Bulldogs play three times this week, traveling to San Diego before hosting Seattle U and LMU.
Junior forward Braden Huff leads the way with 19.1 points per game. Gonzaga’s depth will be tested during the busy stretch.
Houston enters the week at 11–1 after a quiet stretch. The Cougars host Middle Tennessee State on Monday before heading to Cincinnati on Saturday.
Senior guard Emanuel Sharp continues to pace the offense with 17.9 points per game. Houston’s defensive pressure remains its calling card heading into conference play.
Michigan State enjoyed a week off and sits at 11–1 on the season. The Spartans host Cornell on Monday before traveling to Nebraska on Friday.
Senior forward Jaxon Kohler has been a force inside, averaging 13.9 points and 10.3 rebounds. Michigan State will look to sharpen its execution away from home.
BYU cruised past Eastern Washington 109–81 last Monday to improve to 12–1. The Cougars face a lone test this week with a road trip to Kansas State on Saturday.
Freshman star AJ Dybantsa has lived up to the hype, averaging 23.1 points per game. BYU’s offense remains one of the most explosive in the country.
11. Vanderbilt
12. North Carolina
13-T. Nebraska
13-T. Louisville (+1)
15. Alabama
16. Texas Tech
17. Kansas
18. Arkansas
19. Illinois
20. Tennessee
21. Virginia
22. Florida
23. Iowa
24. Georgia
25. St. John’s
Dropped Out: No. 25 USC
Others Receiving Votes: Kentucky 35; USC 25; Utah State 14; Auburn 7; Saint Louis 6; Clemson 6; Seton Hall 5; Oklahoma State 5; Yale 4; UCLA 4; Saint Mary’s 4; LSU 3; California 2; Villanova 1; Miami (OH) 1; Indiana 1
When Bobby Petrino returned to Arkansas after the 2023 season, his first task was finding a new quarterback.
In this era of college football, that also meant funding a new quarterback. For that, the former head coach leaned on his old friend Frank Fletcher.
The Little Rock-based businessman stepped up and footed a large chunk of the bill for Taylen Green, the talented signal caller Petrino identified to run his offense for the Razorbacks.
It hasn’t only been a transactional relationship, though. Over the last two years, Fletcher has been mindful of Green’s life after sports. Rather than simply handing the star quarterback a boatload of cash, he offered something few college athletes receive: personal relationship and mentorship.
“I had a wonderful two years with Taylen Green,” Fletcher said during Monday’s edition of Morning Mayhem on 103.7 The Buzz. “I was lucky that I happened to back a player that was that nice a kid and [had] great parents. I’ve learned a lot from him. I’m teaching him everything I know, and he wants to learn.”
Fletcher helped Green navigate the financial market by giving the QB1 homework, making him chart a series of stocks over a few months – something that could prove even more important after his subpar finish to the 2025 season likely impacted his pro prospects.
But it wasn’t just financial exercises. Fletcher turned the lessons into on-the-job training – especially when it comes to creative thinking.
After dealing with complicated, 15-page NIL contracts from the university, Fletcher found a way to work around the red tape.
“We had a one-page deal that Taylen’s dad looked at, that we paid him quarterly,” Fletcher said. “He was a direct employee of Fletcher Auto Group, and he advertised for our Honda store in Northwest Arkansas.”
Such arrangements, which align with the original spirit of NIL, allowed boosters to effectively pay student-athletes whatever they deemed the market value of the service provided. That changed with the House settlement that went into effect this summer.
Among other things, it introduced a centralized clearinghouse through which all NIL deals over $600 must be approved. Now, Fletcher can no longer bypass the red tape and unilaterally make deals with players like Green. His contract with the quarterback would still be subject to the “fair market value” requirement, hence why the original agreement ended in April.
The settlement also ushered in a new era of rev-share payrolls alongside NIL agreements that was supposed to cap football roster spending and effectively level the playing field. Boosters of many Power Four programs, however, have found loopholes of their own.
Creative maneuvering remains alive and well.
Peeling Back the Curtain
During his now infamous appearance at the Little Rock Touchdown Club in September, Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek referenced a shady “third lane” in which other schools are operating.
He was confident in how the UA has adapted to the two primary “lanes” — revenue sharing and “legitimate” NIL deals — on the financial front, but the eighth-year AD has long been a vocal opponent of pay-for-play deals that were supposed to be eliminated when the House settlement went into effect over the summer.
Of course, that hasn’t happened.
Despite the revenue sharing “cap” being set at $20.5 million, which is distributed amongst all sports on campus, there have been numerous reports this offseason of new coaches being promised roster “salaries” well over that number — even before factoring out the portion going to men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and other sports.
According to The Advocate, Lane Kiffin will get $25-30 million to build his roster at LSU. After flirting with Arkansas, Alex Golesh will instead have close to $30 million to spend on players at Auburn, according to 247Sports’ Auburn Undercover.
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The above-the-cap difference comes from third-party NIL deals, which must be submitted to NIL Go and approved by the clearinghouse to keep everyone in the good graces of the College Sports Commission.
While people like Frank Fletcher used to do it simply for convenience, schools have been forced to get creative when finding workarounds to navigate Yurachek’s so-called “third lane” — which The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel and Ralph Russo pulled the curtain back on over the weekend.
Their reporting found that some have simply not reported deals, especially since the Power Four schools have yet to agree on enforcement rules, but there are also some seemingly above-board ways to fudge the cap with the help of collectives.
One such way, according to The Athletic, is by paying agents separately. In this scenario, a $100,000 deal negotiated by an agent taking a 10% cut would come out to $90,000 from the school to the player, which counts against the rev-share cap, and $10,000 from the collective to the agent, which doesn’t and also isn’t subject to the clearinghouse.
When collective employees are worried about a large deal being approved by the CSC, they have reportedly been known to verbally agree to a certain amount, only to split it up into smaller deals submitted throughout the year that ultimately equal the agreed upon total.
The Athletic also reported that at least one school’s collective is believed to have paid the entire incoming freshman class to avoid having to count it against the rev-share limit.
It’s worth noting that the UA doesn’t have an active NIL collective at the moment, as it cut ties with the Blueprint Sports-run Arkansas Edge in October. Sources have indicated to Best of Arkansas Sports that the UA has something else in the works, but no such announcements have been made.
Still, like Fletcher and its fellow SEC programs, Arkansas has room to be creative. Yurachek must be willing to navigate that “third lane” or risk the Razorbacks being left in the dust.
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Frank Fletcher talks about his NIL agreement with Taylen Green beginning at the 2:16:55 mark below:
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More coverage of Arkansas football from BoAS…
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College football free agency does not officially kick off until the transfer portal opens on Jan. 2, but planning for the eventful two-week period is well underway. Players are announcing their intentions as coaching staffs prepare a plan of attack. It’s a busy time for every college football program, but the intensity is amplified even more for first-year head coaches, like Kentucky’s Will Stein.
With every coaching change, there is significant roster turnover. You can expect some schools to change more than half of their roster as a coach tells the old players to kick rocks as he brings in new ones from the transfer portal.
Lane Kiffin was called the “Portal King” during his time at Ole Miss. The man has frequent flyer miles in college football free agency. One of his first hires in Baton Rouge was Eric Wolford. The former Kentucky assistant coach did not fix the Wildcats’ high school recruiting woes on the offensive line, but his intense style actually might help Kentucky this offseason.
You have to be a certain type of person to play for Eric Wolford. Not every LSU offensive lineman is gonna sign up for that. Kentucky needs offensive linemen. You know who is well acquainted with those LSU players who need a new home? Joe Sloan.
Kentucky needs five new starters on the offensive line. There are a few reserves from last year’s squad that may be ready to emerge as starters, but the Cats need players in the trenches. Plenty of Joe Sloan’s former LSU players will be available in free agency.
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LSU Offensive Linemen hitting the Transfer Portal
OT Carius Curne — A top 15 overall talent in the 2025 recruiting class who was evaluated as a guard, the Arkansas native started five games as a true freshman, splitting time at both left and right tackle. He showed plenty of potential and will be a hot commodity in the transfer portal. He has three years of eligibility remaining.
OT Tyree Adams — Adams earned a starting role at left tackle ahead of the 2025 season before an injury forced him to undergo season-ending surgery in November. The New Orleans native has two years of eligibility remaining.
IOL Coen Echols — Started the last eight games at left guard and played the third-most snaps on the offense. The former Texas A&M commit will be a true junior with two years of eligibility remaining.
C DJ Chester — LSU’s starting center in 2024 led the team in snaps, but was replaced by a Virginia Tech transfer this fall. He enters the transfer portal with two years of eligibility remaining.
OT Ory Williams — The redshirt freshman earned two starts at left tackle at the end of the season. He appeared in four games total and logged 150 snaps.
The LSU offensive line was far from a juggernaut for Sloan last fall. PFF gave the Tigers the worst run-blocking grade in the SEC after finishing at the bottom of the league in rushing yards per game (104). Even though the unit had plenty of imperfections, there are still players with plenty of upside and SEC experience who could find a second wind by following their old offensive coordinator to Kentucky via the transfer portal.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Texas Tech arrived to sunny skies and warm weather on Monday afternoon as the Capital One Orange Bowl staff rolled out the red carpet for the Red Raiders. A bevy of media awaited on the tarmac for first-impression interviews with seniors Behren Morton and Jacob Rodriguez, while organizers distributed Orange Bowl memorabilia before the team headed to its hotel along the Atlantic Ocean.
Texas Tech will begin its first full day in South Florida on Tuesday with a morning practice followed by College Football Playoff quarterfinal media day at Hard Rock Stadium, site of Thursday’s game against Oregon.
No. 4 Texas Tech (12-1, 8-1 Big 12) meets No. 5 Oregon (12-1, 8-1 Big Ten) at noon ET on New Year’s Day. ESPN will televise the game, with Joe Tessitore and Jesse Palmer in the booth and Stormy Buonantony and Katie George on the sidelines.
This will be the first time the programs have met in the Capital One Orange Bowl and the fourth meeting overall dating to 1991. It is also the first College Football Playoff quarterfinal in Orange Bowl history.
– TECH –
This isn’t isolated to mid-tier teams like Iowa State. Even former powerhouses are reeling from portal raids. USC, under Lincoln Riley, hemorrhaged 15 players after a disappointing 2025 season, including backups and starters seeking better NIL opportunities elsewhere. The Trojans’ losses exacerbate roster instability in a program once synonymous with West Coast dominance. Similarly, Florida State shed 25 athletes, UNC lost 15, and over 10 programs nationwide saw 20 or more departures, highlighting how NIL bidding wars amplify turnover at underperforming or underfunded schools. These exits often follow coaching changes or subpar seasons, with athletes prioritizing financial incentives over rebuilding efforts.
The fallout extends beyond regular-season rosters, contributing to a palpable lack of interest in the multitude of bowl games not tied to the College Football Playoff (CFP). With the transfer portal overlapping bowl season and NIL deals luring players away, non-playoff bowls have become exhibitions of depleted teams, rife with opt-outs and makeshift lineups. Players, now professionalized through NIL earnings, increasingly skip these games to avoid injury risks ahead of the NFL draft or to chase better opportunities via the portal, rendering many matchups unwatchable and irrelevant. This year alone, several 5-7 teams declined bowl invitations outright, including Iowa State and Notre Dame that also had a 10-2 winning record in 2025, signaling diminished prestige, while opt-outs have turned storied bowls into shadow versions of themselves. Viewership for non-playoff bowls remains robust in aggregate—Disney’s 33 such games averaged 2.7 million viewers last season, up from prior years—but fan sentiment and expert analysis point to growing apathy, with complaints that NIL and the portal have “demolished bowl season” by eroding competitive integrity. As one observer noted, these games hold “no interest” for teams anymore, fueling calls for reforms like paying players to participate or shifting the portal window post-bowls.
As the 2025 calendar winds down, the NCAA’s revamped transfer portal is poised to swing open on January 2, 2026, ushering in a condensed 15-day frenzy that closes on January 16, 2026, for most football programs. This single-window structure, a shift from previous dual periods to curb ongoing tampering and streamline chaos, includes extensions: Players from teams in the College Football Playoff national championship (set for January 19, 2026) get an extra five days from January 20-24, while coaching changes trigger separate 15-day windows starting five days after a new hire. Amid NIL’s financial allure, this upcoming portal period could accelerate roster volatility, with programs like Iowa State still reeling from pre-window announcements and others bracing for bidding wars.
Yet, in Texas—the epicenter of NIL spending—some programs thrive amid the chaos, leveraging deep-pocketed boosters to build fortresses against portal losses. The University of Texas (UT) boasts the nation’s top football NIL budget at $35-40 million for 2025, enabling net gains like edge rusher Colin Simmons from LSU and wideout Isaiah Bond from Alabama while minimizing outflows. Texas A&M follows closely with $51.4 million in total NIL revenue (football-dominant), adding 12 transfers like quarterback Marcel Reed despite some exits tied to NIL dissatisfaction. Texas Tech, spending nearly $30 million, turned the portal into a weapon with 15 additions, including quarterback Brendan Sorsby on a rumored $4 million deal, fueling a playoff push. SMU, raising $65 million for all sports via its Mustang Club, focused on retention bonuses to limit departures to just five, adding talents like edge Braden Carter and earning ACC buzz.
Contrast this with in-state rivals Baylor, TCU, and the University of Houston, where modest NIL resources expose vulnerabilities. Baylor ramped up to $15 million in NIL spending, adding 24 transfers to flip its roster, but still suffered heavy losses post-2025, prompting coach Dave Aranda to fight for key retentions like four critical players amid portal risks. TCU, also allocating around $15 million to football under Big 12 revenue sharing, balanced gains (e.g., experienced quarterbacks) with lumps from departures, reflecting the portal’s double-edged sword in a new era of $20.5 million caps. Houston, with unspecified but lower NIL figures, bolstered its roster with 15 transfers and 30 overall additions, yet faces ongoing portal needs after a 4-8 season, lacking the financial firepower to consistently outbid elites.
This Texas divide underscores NIL’s inequality: Wealthy programs like UT and A&M buy stability and stars, while others like Baylor and TCU scramble to plug holes, often becoming feeder systems. As the transfer portal window in 2026 looms, college football’s soul hangs in the balance and talk of reform is already in the air.
For over a decade, Dave Clawson built Wake Forest into one of the steadiest football programs in the Atlantic Coast Conference, crafting a developmental model that produced seven consecutive bowl appearances.
Clawson’s approach to making the Demon Deacons a fixture in North Carolina’s college football landscape was deliberate: recruit under-the-radar prospects, develop them patiently for two or three seasons, then rely on experienced upperclassmen to carry the program.
As the transfer portal and NIL opportunities reshaped college football, that model became harder to sustain. After back-to-back 4-8 seasons, Clawson resigned, citing a rapidly changing landscape and acknowledging he could no longer give the job everything it required.
Wake Forest suddenly faced a reset as a coaching change, roster turnover and evolving expectations left the program searching for direction. When Jake Dickert, former coach at Washington State, arrived in Winston-Salem ahead of the 2025 season, optimism was cautious at best.
What followed was one of the ACC’s most striking turnarounds.
In his first season, Dickert — the North State Journal’s 2025 Coach of the Year — restored stability and belief, guiding Wake to an 8-4 record and a return to bowl eligibility.
Capping off Dickert’s debut season, the Demon Deacons (8-4) will face SEC representative Mississippi State Bulldogs (5-7) in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Jan. 2 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
In their 2025 campaign, the Deacs tied for the most victories among all FBS programs in the Carolinas, underscoring the program’s rapid rebound. Wake Forest defeated two teams ranked at the time, including a road victory at Virginia (the Cavaliers’ only home loss of the season) and a home win that snapped SMU’s 20-game regular-season conference winning streak.
After back-to-back losses in September, Wake responded by winning six of seven games before closing the regular season with a loss at Duke; the Deacs finished 4-4 in ACC play.
On the field, Dickert leaned on a blend of experience and toughness. Graduate transfer quarterback Robby Ashford brought leadership to an offense that had struggled for consistency in recent seasons, while senior running back Demond Claiborne anchored the ground game and emerged as a physical focal point in key moments.
Defense again proved to be the program’s backbone. The Demon Deacons ranked sixth in the ACC and 38th nationally in scoring defense, finished top five in the league in total and passing defense, and did not allow a touchdown against either Virginia or North Carolina.
Dickert’s impact extended well beyond Saturdays.
Before the season, he overhauled Wake Forest’s recruiting and scouting infrastructure, assembling a 10-person staff dedicated to identifying talent and building depth in a new era of college football. The early returns have been promising.
During the recent National Signing Day, Wake Forest announced a 30-player 2026 recruiting class — the highest-ranked in program history — currently inside the national top 50. The class includes one four-star and 29 three-star recruits, signaling a shift toward broader talent acquisition and immediate competitiveness.
Dickert’s efforts were rewarded following the regular season. On Dec. 2, Wake Forest Vice President and Athletics Director John Currie announced that Dickert had signed a long-term contract extension.
“Jake Dickert has proven himself to be one of college football’s rising head coaches and one of the truly special leaders in the ACC,” Currie said. “He has galvanized our locker room, our campus, and our community. Coach Dickert is exactly the type of leader who inspires players, and he and his family fit seamlessly into the Wake Forest and Winston-Salem community.”
Dickert echoed that sentiment, pointing to long-term investment as central to Wake Forest’s direction.
“Our family could not be more grateful to call Wake Forest and Winston-Salem home,” he said. “Over the last 11-plus months, our staff and student-athletes have embraced a new process of being ‘Built in the Dark.’ When John approached me a few weeks ago about the university’s desire to further invest in our program, I was both humbled and energized.”
“This commitment ensures that our staff has the stability, resources and support necessary to continue elevating Wake Forest football,” Dickert added. “I’m proud of this team, our staff and our seniors who built the foundation for this new era, and excited for what’s ahead. There has never been a better time to be a Demon Deacon.”
While roster turnover remains a reality, Wake Forest’s trajectory is still heading upward. With a retooled staff, a revamped recruiting approach and renewed confidence throughout the program, Dickert has revived the Demon Deacons and positioned them for sustained relevance for years to come.
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