What’s your favorite way to partake in a white-out?
Frodo Swagginz: Game week baby, finally!
FSU vs GT: I’ve seen several predictions and analysi (plural of analysis, Josh Pate reference) that don’t give Tech much of a chance however, the line opened at 14.5 and has dropped to 10.5. What does this signal to the team at FTRS?
Jack: Any line at 11 or above I have never believed to be close to what’s actually going to happen in this game. Something closer to 7 makes more sense to me. Georgia Tech has become more relevant in the last month because people are turning towards football, and we’re the opening crawl of the season. With that came people finally doing their research on us and seeing that line wasn’t right. Now it’s certainly possible we lose by 11, but for now I see people starting to get wiser about us.
Logan: we’re gonna win, so it doesn’t really matter what the spread is, but I think Jack’s analysis is accurate.
Ben: I think a double-digit spread is crazy. Nobody knows what’s going to happen in this game as it is occurring in such un-normal circumstances.
Chris: I think it’s showing that there are a lot of people out there that believe we’re a good team this year.
Jake: Agreed with Chris and Logan. I haven’t even tracked it all that closely, because I see a legitimate path to a Tech win.
Jellopacket98: This NIL thing has become almost as amusing to watch as the games.
So now Mike Gundy is having to tell his players’ agents that the time for negotiating is over (apparently the agents don’t feel that way). Since NIL isn’t supposed to be performance based and players get paid regardless if they play or not (Myles Brennan), what’s to stop a player from just refusing to play once a NIL deal is in place? What if a player feels like they are outperforming their NIL and decides to hold out in the middle of the season until they get paid more? Or what if they just plain decide to quit football? At least in the NFL they have the CBA and players can be fined or not get paid for not playing. Unless something has changed, I don’t see those same rules for NIL.
Jack: Well, if you don’t play, that makes you less of an asset for the entity that will pay NIL money, so that gets rid of potential future NIL money once people see you are defrauding your school.
Ben: I’m sure there’s some kind of language in these contracts about cancellation if a player voluntarily decides to stop playing. It’s also important to remember that the purpose of NIL is not paying players for playing, it’s paying them for representing something (e.g., a product, service, etc.).
Chris: I believe Ben is right, there are going to be clauses stipulating that the player is actually…a player. And I’m sure that most contracts are not long-term, but rather are able to be terminated at any time (like….employment). I think all of this will lead to a market correct at some point though – maybe a player gets a big contract when they commit, but that money will disappear if they don’t live up to the hype. Slowly I think as the newness dies down we’ll see more shrewd contracts and less crazy money.
Jake: Completely agree with Chris. In fact, I am pretty sure that I saw reference to those concepts in the discussion about Tech’s recent recruiting success.
GT_Jason: Just found out the Ga St game August 31 will be a whiteout. What’s your favorite way to do that? Do you spend a lot of money on a giant white puffer jacket like a certain AI generated drippy pontif or just wrap yourself in toilet paper and call it good enough?
Jack: https://www.section103.com/collections/georgia-tech/products/georgia-tech-haynes-king-football-jersey-t-shirt-white. Use code FTRS.
Chris: A shirt in every color.
Jake: The white Section 103 with Ramblin’ Wreck in gold script has rocketed up to the top of my list. It’s timeless looking and, importantly, predominantly white. And I’d say that if we didn’t have a promo code for their site, too. They also have fall weather cuts and styles for it, too.
GTSMURF: How does the AA take care of passports for the athletes and the student administrators who may not have their passport?
I’m thinking of the NCAA requirements, along with the time it would take to process them for the new players coming in as freshman or transfers for the fall semester. Who pays?
Jack: Good question! Asked the team and Tech did in fact handle that process. Wouldn’t want to leave something like that to chance!
DressHerInWhiteAndGold: How do we feel about QR codes on OSU helmets to fund “general” NIL fund FROM YOUR TV SET?
In my day, paying players required standing at the tunnel entrance, no show jobs for Z-28’s, or an Auburn bag man.
Jack: You still gotta stand still for the QR codes to work, so maybe it hasn’t changed all that much! I’m not sure how these will actually work without broadcasts showing stills of a helmet. The idea that people are going to hunt for the perfect spot to pause a game and scan a QR code seems far fetched to me.
Ben: Yeah, I don’t understand how it’s going to work. I would be super curious to see the analytics of it after the season, though.
Chris: It’s pretty weird to me, I can’t imagine that any normal people are actually gonna utilize that system given how annoying it would be to do. But maybe some insane people will, and their money is the same as mine.
Jake: I imagine pausing a television to get an angle to scan would be tedious even in the best of angles and lights, so good luck if you’re in the upper deck. Seems like engagement farming as much as anything to me.
GTSMURF: I was surprised to see Cole Kirouac not on this year’s roster. I looked to see if he had been released from his LOI and had moved on, but there is nothing other than a July post on X indicating he was entering the OTE draft. Everything else still says he is signed with us. Did Kirouac reclassify to 2025? If so, I think it’s a good decision to develop one more year with the transfers and the signing of Onwuchekwa.
Ben: His Rivals profile shows him as Class of 2025, so it would appear so.