The price of competing in college football has never been more obvious, and The Athletic’s latest reporting puts a number on it that lands like a hammer. Eleven programs are sitting in the $40 million range for roster spending, with the usual heavy hitters clustered near the top.
Ohio State is leading the charge and is approaching $50 million. Oregon and Texas are right there with the Buckeyes, forming the top three and all believed to be spending roughly the same amount. Then comes the wrinkle: LSU.
The Tigers are the outlier among the top spenders. They sit just behind Ohio State, Oregon and Texas, but unlike the others, LSU has not reached the College Football Playoff under the current format. According to The Athletic’s college football staff, LSU is spending somewhere in the $47-50 million range per year, making it the only team in the top 11 with a near-record commitment to player NIL deals and no postseason appearance to show for it.
That spending figure also helps explain why the numbers around roster construction have become so hard to pin down. As The Athletic noted, “Few people inside a football building know that number, and even if they do, many don’t feel comfortable sharing it, even anonymously.
Even if they do spill, coaches often undersell the number, either to temper fans’ expectations or keep their players from asking for even more. Meanwhile, administrators want people to think the number is higher than it is so that they look like great fundraisers.”
If LSU is near the top end, the bottom of the survey tells a different story about which schools are truly throwing themselves into football. The Athletic compiled data on 70 programs, and Boston College came in last among Power Four teams with a range of $8-13 million.
Four of the bottom six programs are traditional basketball schools. Kansas, Arizona, Iowa State and Duke are all hovering around $15 million a year, a clear reminder that not every school is making the same kind of financial push when it comes to football.
In Other News...
Dante Moores Response To Oregons Loss Could Matter More Than Fans Think
After Oregons loss to Oklahoma State, Dante Moore did what quarterbacks are expected to do and then some, standing in front of the media and taking responsibility for the mistakes that helped sink the Ducks. He pointed to misreads and misthrows, not excuses, and made it clear he intended to treat the game as a lesson as Oregon turns the page to Portland State.
For a team that still has plenty in front of it, Moores response may matter as much as the loss itself. Oregon is counting on its quarterback to settle in, and Moores long-term upside has already put him on the radar as an NFL prospect, but the immediate focus is simpler: show growth, clean up the errors, and give the Ducks a steadier version of the offense in the next matchup. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon Suddenly Has A Dan Lanning Problem Fans Can't Ignore
A loss to Oklahoma State would have stung for Oregon no matter when it came, but the timing made it even harder to brush off. The Cowboys had been stuck in a 12-game losing streak, and yet the Ducks still walked out of the game with more questions than answers, from a quarterback who struggled against Oklahoma States defense to coaching decisions that did little to steady things.
Now Oregon heads into a meeting with Portland State carrying the kind of uneasy aftermath that follows a result like that. One bad afternoon can be explained away in September, but for Dan Lanning and his staff, the concern is what the performance said about how the Ducks handled pressure, adjusted in-game and responded when the script stopped working. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon Already Faces An Early Response Test After Oklahoma State
After the loss to Oklahoma State, Oregon wasted little time turning inward. The Ducks held a player-led meeting to sort through some internal issues and tighten up the groups cohesion, a sign that the early-season stumble hit hard enough to demand more than a standard week of practice. Quarterback Dante Moore, center Iapani Laloulu and linebacker Devon Jackson all pointed to the meeting as a constructive step, the kind of reset a team hopes can sharpen its edge before the schedule starts piling up.
Now the challenge is turning that talk into a cleaner Saturday. Oregon wants to use the coming week to refocus and show that the response matches the concern, and hosting Portland State gives the Ducks a chance to do it in front of their own crowd. It is still early, but the tone inside the building suggests this was more than a postgame chat, and the next game will tell whether the message took hold. [Read more 🡒]