THE LOOKBACK

The 7 things to know before Week 5

1) Welp, it happened. We finally hit the “NIL Holdout” phase of college football’s new world order. Matthew Sluka, now-former UNLV quarterback, announced this week that he’s sitting out the rest of the season to preserve his redshirt and, presumably, transfer elsewhere for the 2025 season. The reason: Empty NIL promises! Per the Sluka Camp, the quarterback was (verbally) promised a minimum of $100,000 by an assistant coach, but never saw a dime.

As expected, this has ignited a big ole war of words…

It’s hard to know exactly what went down here, but it seems that Sluka thought he was getting a lucrative NIL deal from a collective that never actually made a written offer. One thing is for certain: It’s a bad look all-around, and a cautionary tale to get everything in writing.

The biggest bummer of all is that UNLV is off to its first 3-0 start since 1984, with a real shot at the Mountain West and the College Football Playoff… and now the season is in serious question. Our question: Why couldn’t they just find the money? Surely, football success would translate to even bigger dollars down the road, no?

2) One more from the Preserve Your Redshirt drawer… USC’s Bear Alexander, apparently unhappy with his playing time, will also sit out the remainder of the 2024 season, hold onto his eligibility, and transfer out.

After coming over from Georgia, Alexander was touted as a prospect who could give USC some much-needed physicality along the defensive line. While true to some extent, it’s clear the coaching staff was not impressed enough to make Alexander a bona fide starter.

3) So, what exactly is happening with the Pac-12? We already knew it wasn’t dead thanks to the stick-to-itiveness Oregon State and Washington State. Now, in a fledgling attempt at being SO BACK, it’s poaching teams from the Mountain West.

🎵 PLAY THAT FUNKY REALIGNMENT MUSIC 🎵

To recap, the Pac-12 is now up to seven teams, just one short of clearing the eight-team threshold it needs to be considered a real conference by the NCAA’s standard. Thus far, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State have all accepted offers to join the new version of the league. Finding another team has been a bit of an adventure, though, as schools like UNLV, Memphis, Tulane and others declined invitations. This has led us down an improbable path of hyping Sacramento State as the eighth member and Dennis Dodd tweeting things like “UTEP has never looked so valuable.” You can’t make this stuff up.

Meanwhile, the Mountain West is also down to seven teams after a handful of its most prominent schools decided to leave. Per Brett McMurphy, the MAC is now courting NIU and Toledo as potential additions to the conference, to which the Internet responded with a collective LEAVE THE MAC ALONNNNNNE!

There are also a bunch of lawsuits flying around as a result of all this jostling. I’m not gonna write about those because, frankly, I’m exhausted.

4) Spicy Lane Kiffin is the best Lane Kiffin! After hearing that Hugh Freeze complimented the Ole Miss NIL infrastructure on a weekly SEC coaches call, Kiffin wondered aloud whether the Auburn coach would try to steal its staff the way he tried to steal the Rebels’ coaches 🔥🔥🔥

5) Speaking of Freeze… this comment on a local radio show raised some eyebrows…

6) It was real. It was fun. Nebraska’s Friday night game against Illinois in Week 4 was real fun (except if you root for the Huskers). But now, Nebraska AD Troy Dannen is requesting that the Big Ten not schedule more Friday night games in Lincoln, with the exception of its Iowa rivalry.

Why? Logistics. Nebraska canceled Friday classes to accommodate the influx of fans coming to Lincoln for the game. Other schools in the Big Ten — Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State — have also resisted hosting Friday games for similar reasons.

This will be interesting to follow over the course of the next few seasons. As college football has officially entered its Big Money Era and the pressure to open up new time slots for advertisers has influenced scheduling, Friday night games have become something of an emerging trend. Can it continue if the biggest schools aren’t on board?

7) Finally, let’s close out on a high note with some uniform news! Behold the ‘Mighty Oregon’ uniform that the Ducks will trot out this weekend against UCLA. It’s a direct reference to the Mighty Ducks movie, which means we instantly love it. What would it take to get Dan Lanning to run the football version of the “Flying V” to further commemorate the occasion?

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THE LOOKAHEAD

Our big Week 5 Preview is live!

College Football Week 5 is already off to a controversial start. Join us as we dive into the news that Matthew Sluka is leaving UNLV over an NIL dispute and talk through the latest round of conference realignment in the Pac-12 and Mountain West. Plus, a look at the biggest games of Week 5, with Oklahoma State and Kansas State looking to get back on track, Louisville looking to make it two in a row against Notre Dame, Illinois seeking to defeat Penn State’s White Out and Georgia aiming for sweet redemption against Alabama. And, as always, your Window of Opportunity, optimal afternoon quad boxes and more!

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Also, don’t forget that our new video series, Big Ten Breakfast, goes live every Friday morning at 9am ET out on our YouTube channel. Not gonna lie, we got a little weird with this one. Check it out here: