Taylor Marshall

Taylor Marshall *Sports analyst *The teams that deserve more coverage *business: [email protected]

[Taylor Marshall @Theunderdogdesk]

3 million people watched Texas Tech–Houston on Friday night. Tech was pulling 770K on FS1. Houston averaged 529K last year. Nobody was watching either of them.
Then FOX put the game on at 7 with nothing else on, and 3 million showed up. So spare me the "Big 12 doesn't move the needle" stuff. The needle moves fine. You just have to put the game somewhere people can find it. The problem was never the product. It was the slot. Two Friday nights, two Big 12 games, 6 million viewers, and GameDay's been to Knoxville. GameDay in Morgantown would have been electric.
@LOBig12
@BarstoolBig12 @WVUBarstool @BarstoolOKST @WillyFoosball

[Taylor Marshall @Theunderdogdesk]

Leitch is right about the fan. He's just describing the version of this where you can say no.
Arkansas fans boycotted a game. Tennessee added a 10% "talent fee" to tickets and people can decide whether to pay it. That's the deal at the top.
Below the top, "internal funding" already exists. At JMU it's $2,581 a year per student, mandatory, 73% of the athletic budget, and it's not on the tuition bill. Utah State's stadium bonds are secured by a pledge of student building fees. Colorado had a record revenue year and still needed $43.5M from the university.
Nobody's organizing a boycott of that. You can't. The fan gets the scoreboard ad asking for more. The student gets the invoice.

[Taylor Marshall @Theunderdogdesk]

@s_helwick Love your breakdown and agree. I also wrote about it in my article about the financial reasoning behind it.

[Taylor Marshall @Theunderdogdesk]

College GameDay hasn't left the Power Four since 2023. Everyone's mad. Ratings are up. Here's the part nobody's measuring. https://t.co/riZymWElcf

[Taylor Marshall @Theunderdogdesk]

@FortressHouston @On3 @Nick_Coppola__ Easier for them to avoid a potential loss and schedule a cupcake. Especially if the playoff expands.

[Taylor Marshall @Theunderdogdesk]

@SleeperCFB @LFTGCFB Going to be an electric week. But not including Oklahoma state vs West Virginia is a travesty. Going to be peak.

[Taylor Marshall @Theunderdogdesk]

@zylerbuchanan West Virginia is waiting for an opportunity to rally around the program. Just see how they rallied around their baseball team going to Omaha. Gameday missed a major opportunity not going to Morgantown. Especially with a revitalized Oklahoma state team.

[Taylor Marshall @Theunderdogdesk]

Yes, and I can put a number on it.
Above $32M in roster spend, teams won 76% last year. The SEC median is $30M. Most of the league's already over the line.
Past that line, extra money does almost nothing. Correlation with wins among the top spenders is about +0.2. LSU at $41M and Ole Miss at $32M are standing on the same plateau. LSU's extra nine million bought Brian Kelly a boat.
Jobs used to sit on a slope. Now most of the SEC is on the same flat spot, and what separates them is the quarterback and the coach.
The best job isn't the richest one anymore. It's the one where the money's there and the last guy didn't spend it on himself.

[Taylor Marshall @Theunderdogdesk]

@SteveRodeffer @JMUSportsNews Read the balance sheet and the protect college sports bill. JMU is a great story. No hate here

[Taylor Marshall @Theunderdogdesk]

Because it was never the coach. JMU pays its coaches less than Coastal and ODU do.
What they pay for is everything else — double the support staff, triple the facilities, $18M more than anyone in the league. The strength guys, the analysts, the buildings. None of that goes to Indiana.
Who foots it? Every student. $2,581 a year each. 73% of the whole budget, most in the country.
Amazing program.

[Taylor Marshall @Theunderdogdesk]

Funny thing is the Senate bill this week goes the other way on A. Freezes conference membership and flat out bars the Big Ten and SEC from splitting off. So that's off the table for a while whether anyone wants it or not.
B is the one worth arguing about. One G5 league means one TV package, and that's the only lever those schools have. But it only matters if you keep the playoff access and the buy games. Unify and wall off at the same time and you've built a league with a logo and no money

[Taylor Marshall @Theunderdogdesk]

The game that gets cut here isn't South Carolina or Notre Dame. It's the buy game.
Nine ACC games + a 10-P4 minimum + seven home dates = one non-conference slot left, max. That slot used to be a $1M+ check to an FCS or G5 program.
Clemson's problem is a scheduling headache. For the school on the other end, it's a budget line.
Realignment didn't just reshuffle the top. It's quietly repricing the bottom.

[Taylor Marshall @Theunderdogdesk]

Congress is one vote from a federal law for college football. The Big Ten and SEC fought it for three months. The Big 12 and ACC backed it from day one.
Here's why.
The Protect College Sports Act advanced 77–22 last week. What it does:
1.Hard cap on player pay: $21.5M rev share plus a $22.5M retention fund. Third-party deals count against it. The $40M rosters built on uncapped money get a ceiling.
https://t.co/x6qoECncXO free transfer. Second transfer, you sit a year. The Big 12 develops a player, the SEC buys him. That gets harder.
https://t.co/X87R3ajO5f mid-season coaching moves. No more realignment. The Big Ten and SEC are barred from forming a two-league breakaway. Written into federal law.
https://t.co/f9EHqUxqy6 pooling that could've been worth billions to everyone below the top two. But it needs 75% of FBS to join, the Big Ten and SEC are 25% of FBS, and they said no.
So the Big 12 and ACC get the cap, the transfer rule, and the realignment freeze. They don't get the money.
That's the deal. Congress just locked in fourth place. If you're the ACC, fourth beats the alternative.
But the gap to the SEC, $30M+ a school, isn't closing. It's now permanent.

[Taylor Marshall @Theunderdogdesk]

@osuzack Agreed. Might have to make theunderdogdesk a gameday show and travel to the most underrated games to cover them. Thoughts?

[Taylor Marshall @Theunderdogdesk]

@AggiesRecruitEx It’s true. I break down the financials in my article.

[Taylor Marshall @Theunderdogdesk]

College GameDay hasn't left the Power Four since 2023. Everyone's mad. Ratings are up. Here's the part nobody's measuring. https://t.co/riZymWElcf

[Taylor Marshall @Theunderdogdesk]

@CSOonX Ole miss @ Texas will feed families.

[Taylor Marshall @Theunderdogdesk]

@saltcitysportut I think you bat 1000% this weekend.