Do you know what the chances are of NIL and transfer portal working, of being cure-alls, the problem solvers of collegiate athletics?

They are nil (lower case), as they often say when giving out the final score in soccer.

As in nothing. Zilch. Zero. Not even placebos.

I spend a great deal of my Saturday time watching college football, and it’s pretty easy for me to say the game isn’t as good as it used to be. Because the teams aren’t as good as they used to be. They aren’t built from the bottom up.

Sometimes it appears the kids can’t wait for seasons to end so they can go someplace else without punishment. It’s all-you-can-eat. You can transfer as many times as you like, and a lot of kids like.

Literally thousands of athletes are entering the portal every year, and the great majority of those upset because of a lack of playing time, broken promises, etc, find there is no more shine at the other end of the rainbow. They are free to leave again.

I’m concentrating on football here because so many players make up the rosters, and football pays the freight. Football players must be out of high school three years before they can get drafted. Basketball players can leave after one, so paying them big money requires more prudence — and there simply aren’t as many of them in all Olympic sports.

What we don’t have is the cohesiveness in programs that we once had. USC football coach Lincoln Riley has talked about the volatility of it all, and that’s what it is.

It’s difficult to get a handle amid that chaos, getting into the minds of teenagers, many of whom have nowhere to go to get proper advice. They are big stars in high school and once they get to college find the light doesn’t shine on them.

So they transfer out and find there is no light in the other room they’ve chosen, either. Very few of them start for the teams they’ve transferred to. Most of them don’t play, period. The grass on the other side remains just as brown.

Clemson has one of the top 20 programs in the country. Dabo Swinney, its coach, wants nothing to do with the transfer portal.

“Most of the guys in the portal aren’t good enough to play for us,” he says, preferring to recruit his own kids the way he always has. “That’s just the reality of it.”

I have no problem with kids getting paid. But the table is so uneven. Michigan is paying the nation’s top prep quarterback $10 million, winning a bidding war. What can a San Diego State do? There’s no chance it can come close to catching up.

I fear we have run out of great teams. Oregon is No. 1 in the FBS poll that will determine the 12-team playoff. The Ducks are good, not great, but Nike money is going to keep them out of hot water for as long as they please.

Alabama is 13th only because it’s Alabama. Georgia needed eight OTs Friday to beat Georgia Tech. Ohio State (at home) loses to Michigan, a 23 1/2-point underdog, and is No. 2?

You can’t say parity has come to college football because parity is impossible when your best players can leave as they please and you’re not building programs with kids who have been there from the beginning.

There is no structure. No rules. It’s the wild, wild west. At the very least, there should be limitations on the number of times kids can transfer.

I watch the Aztecs playing before vacant seats with a dull product to sell and wonder how much longer it can go on.

Money talks and the Aztecs are hoarse. …

Jets owner Woody Johnson has hired Mike Tannenbaum and his “think tank” to help in the search for a new general manager. Tannenbaum once was New York’s GM and Johnson canned him. If you need help from a guy you fired and don’t have your own list of replacements, you have no business owning an NFL franchise. …

Saquon Barkley is going to be bigger than Rocky in Philly. What a magnificent talent. Johnson also wanted Barkley to remain in New York, but he was too busy having tea and crumpets with the royals. …

Jets and Giants. The Big Apple has two worms inside. …

Jerry Jones says he hasn’t ruled out giving head coach Mike McCarthy a new contract. Yes, he has. …

McCarthy’s problem isn’t that he can’t coach football. He can’t coach the Cowboys. …

No team in history is luckier than the Chiefs — if luck is what you want to call it. If there’s a break to be had, they’re going to get it. …

When he was with the Giants, Daniel Jones told his teammates he doesn’t vote. To which rookie receiver Malik Nabers responded: “So your decision-making is just as bad off the field, too.” …

What does it tell your players when you basically cut your starting QB (Jones, who since has landed in Minnesota) and skip your No. 2 QB for your 3, after you allowed Barkley to vamoose to Philly? Is this how you spell t-a-n-k-i-n-g? …

But the 2025 quarterback draft livery isn’t going to be anywhere near as full as it was in ’24, which could be an all-timer. Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders may be the only one worthy of the first round, and he’s not Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels or Bo Nix. Doesn’t have their mobility. …

The Cowboys-Giants Thanksgiving dog drew 38.5 million viewers. That’s a lot of overstuffed gamblers. …

The Dodgers have signed Blake Snell to a five-year contract. Good. One World Series win in a row for the Bums seems just about right. …

Little League sign: “No one cares how hard you throw ball four.” …

Congratulations to David Dunn and his Lincoln High School football players and staff for building an empire. This school produced two players — Marcus Allen and Terrell Davis — who were NFL and Super Bowl MVPs. Really impressive. …

Back in the late 1980s, when he was coaching Aztecs football, Denny Stolz told me: “Lincoln High has more major college prospects than the entire states of New Mexico and Colorado.” …

Alas, the finish of the high school football season also signals the end of Paul Rudy’s KUSI “Prep Pigskin Report.” Like brown paper packages tied up with strings, one of my favorite things. …

Matt Eberflus, playing Napoleon at his press conference following Waterloo: “We liked what we did.” …

“We” didn’t include the front office. The Bears allowed Eberflus to have his normal day-after press conference — talking like a coach getting ready for his next game —  and then fired him a few minutes later. Guessing timing is not stressed anywhere in that organization. …

Allowed to keep that valuable timeout card in his wallet, Matt also gets $20,000 a day for the next two years to not coach Chicago. Again, guessing, but if he buys a watch, it will be on a street corner in Manhattan. …

Know why coaches such as Eberflus know squat of clock management? I invented it.

Originally Published: November 30, 2024 at 1:19 PM PST