The Tigers' season is over, but there's still a little bit of football left and there's only one place to get set for game day. Macadoodles does game day like nobody else. Get your crew ready to watch all the big games with a stop at Macadoodles. Whether it's beer, wine or spirits you're looking for, Macadoodles will make your house or tailgate the game day place to be in Columbia this season. Who does game day like nobody else? Macadoodles does.
Every week, PowerMizzou.com publisher Gabe DeArmond answers questions from Tiger fans in the mailbag. This format allows for a more expansive answer than a message board post. Keep your eye out each week to submit your question for the mailbag or send them to powermizzou@gmail.com. On to this week's inquiries.
Schlitty27Â asks: How do you increase parity in college football?
Graphic Edge Guy asks: It's painfully obvious that a majority of the 5 and top level 4-star recruits continue to get stock-piled on the rosters of the same group of 5 or 6 blue blood programs.This is why the same handful of schools continue to dominate the landscape of college football.Will NIL and the transfer portal help to change this? If not...is there any other conceivable solution to "spreading the wealth?"
GD: Under the current system, I don't think you really can. And let's be clear: The goal of the people running the sport isn't to increase parity. It's to make money. And they're doing that. So I don't think the powers that be are upset that the last eight national titles have been won by four teams or that the last 17 have been won by eight teams.
Anyway, the only way to really increase parity is to get rid of the amateurism part of it. Pay them. From the school. As employees. Allow them to form a union that can represent them. Put some financial restrictions on it. Because you can't tell a kid where he can or can't go to school. Yes, there are scholarship limits. And yes, the coach can recruit who he wants to and prioritize players. But if Nick Saban or Kirby Smart has 25 top 100 players who want to commit to him, he can take them all. And there is very little left for the rest of the country. Here's a quick list of where the committed top 100 players in the Class of 2023 are going:
Alabama 14
Georgia 9
Ohio State 8
Texas 8
Miami 6
Texas A&M 6
Tennessee 5
USC 5
Notre Dame 5
Clemson 5
LSU 4
Oregon 3
Penn State 2
Florida 2
Ole Miss 2
Auburn 2
UCLA
Florida State
Nebraska
Kansas State
Iowa State
Washington
The top three teams (which all finished in the top five this year) are getting 31 of the top 100 players. Eighty of the top 100 are going to 11 schools. The only two of those 11 that didn't finish in this year's top 25 are Miami and Texas A&M, which hardly failed to finish there because of a talent deficit. UCLA signed the nation's No. 4 player--but didn't sign anyone else in the top 100. The next-highest ranked player to go to a school outside of that top 11 was the No. 43 player who went to Ole Miss. We have to understand rankings aren't flawless. But the higher-ranked a kid is, the less likely he is to be a bust. So what we're doing is giving the top 42 players in the country to teams that are already mostly ahead of everyone else. And then everyone else has to catch up by taking players who theoretically are not as good.
Missouri's highest-ranked signee is Marvin Burks, who is at No. 198. Alabama signed 17 players who are ranked higher. Georgia signed 16. This is not unusual. As was proven this year, Missouri can still be better than those teams on a given Saturday as the Tigers led Georgia for 56 minutes. But to do it over the course of a season? It's virtually impossible. And the only way it changes is to spread out the talent pool. But without a draft or without limitations on how many elite players can go to a certain place (aka a salary cap), I don't really see how it changes. It's the equivalent of going on Chopped and having the host give you Spam, Jello, peanut butter and skim milk and giving your opponents prime rib, potatoes, caviar and all the spices they want. Then they tell you to make a better meal. I suppose it's possible. But it sure isn't likely.
Dorsey101 asks: With the attendance surge in both football and basketball this year do you see the athletic department finally getting out of the red and turning a profit for this fiscal year? And if it can’t what does it say?
GD: It says they're spending a lot of money they shouldn't be spending. I think they'll probably erase the deficit. But they're not going to report much of a profit. Because the entire idea is basically to spend every dime you get. That way, there's no money to pay the players and you have to keep telling the fans you need more money. That's actually probably not the primary motivation. But it's a thing.
