Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1407743
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com SEPT. 11, 2021 5 FAN FORUM A NEW WORLD ORDER As we approach what I consider the NIL Transition College Football season, I have some thoughts about ND and the college football world. College football, regardless of the lame NCAA, needs to rapidly adjust to the new world order. It is time that about 64 teams separate themselves from the rest of college football and become their own league. If it must be called a "super conference," so be it. Frankly, when NIL, not scholarships, are factored in to the equation, the rich become richer and the others will play for scrap money. However, if the amount of teams is minimized, then some type of financial cap can be created. My recommendation is that 70 percent of all revenue be split among the players and 30 percent split among the 64 teams. Players would negotiate their worth based on length of service and would be allowed six years to play four. A year of service would be based on appearing on at least five games in any season. Players would then pay tuition, etc., as well as have access to a medical insurance plan. Ideally, players would have a 401(k) [retirement account] since they would in essence be employees of this 64-team network. The key is a level playing field. The ability to play minor schools out- side of the network would be prohibited during the season. There would be an equal amount of home and away games. Neutral sites would have to be midway between the two teams on the schedule. Ideally the season would be reduced to 10 games and 32 teams would qualify for the playoffs. Teams outside of the network could be played as an exhi- bition game before the season so that minor teams could generate revenue to support their efforts. As for ND, it is quite clear that a num- ber of teams have given themselves a two-week window to prepare for the Irish. I am afraid that ND will suffer a physical letdown or as we joked in school (mid-terms). Therefore, I visualize a 9-3 season with Wisconsin, Virginia Tech and Stanford who are strategically placed to upset the perfect season. As always, I expect ND to approach every game as a potential win and that should start with Florida State! Mico Holguin '80 Via the internet BE HEARD! Send your letters to: Letters Blue & Gold Illustrated P. O. Box 1007, Notre Dame, IN 46556 or e-mail to: sdowney@comanpub.com FROM THE WEB Fall camp is generally a time of great optimism, with stories focusing on strides made and great- ness to come. That was certainly the case with junior Marist Liufau, whose performance in Notre Dame's August camp was a highlight for the Fighting Irish. He stood out during the practices that were open to the media and was projected to be the team's starting Will linebacker — until news broke Aug. 26 that he had suffered a season-ending broken and dislocated ankle in practice the day before. Here's a sampling from BlueandGold.com's mes- sage board after the news broke: lucio: Man, sucks for the kid. Best of luck to him. ArchangelFL: This stinks. Hopefully won't be out too long. BigNDfan80: Very likely. Joe M: "Major" and "significant" doesn't give hope for a 4-6 week thing. I just hope its something that doesn't impact his trajectory long term at this point. KevinPS: Tough to lose a guy who was likely going to be a difference-maker — and tougher for him. From a team performance perspective, this is an opportunity for one of the other outstanding ath- letes on the team to make a difference. LoyalSon 2005: Maybe Kollie's development gets fast forwarded? marce6829: My guess is the replacement will come from various areas. Botelho, Kiser, Bertrand, Bauer. Even Hamilton. Depending on the team play- ing and down and distance. Rich Starkey: JMO, but that is very doubtful. Kollie is on the depth chart at Rover. Plus, you have Simon, Bauer that are ready to fill in. Mizzo37: I'm cool with two Drew Whites on the field, but man was Marist about to blow up. Something special about that kid. The pass rushing and timing of the blitz is something he's mastered kinda like [NFL Hall of Famer] Troy Polamalu did for years. Still in good hands, but it is sad to me and a blow Mh2365: Tough loss but at least we are pretty deep at LB. NDorBust: Sucks because no other LB has his athleticism except maybe Pryor and Moala, who's coming off a major injury. Kollie isn't ready. Also just watched last year's UNC game condensed on YouTube and Liufau was a monster that game. FWCOACH: My favorite defender on this team. So the Cubs traded away everyone and now this. 2021 kinda trash right now. nedavis2: Sucks. He was going to add a unique chaos element to the D. Needs to take his time and rest up, Joe Schmidt was half a man when he returned. Naughman: Freeman has been doing so much cross-training and mixing/matching with the front 7, I expect that we'll see a handful of different guys filling that hole depending on down and situation. Really sucks to lose Marist now, but we seem well- equipped and trained to persevere and overcome it. shabak: Well this news bites the big one. A speedy and full recovery. Irish505: Our depth at linebacker is coming into play … I agree that Liufau brought a different element tho. JOIN THE CONVERSATION! GET A 60-DAY FREE TRIAL WITH CODE IRISH60 Junior linebacker Marist Liufau was on track to earn a starting job, but he suffered a season- ending broken and dislocated ankle during prac- tice Aug. 25. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS