Giger: College football needs to make this big change

ALTOONA, Pa. -- Thank you! Before we get into this week's list -- it's a top 10 instead of a top 5 because so much has happened -- I want to point out just how big of a week it was here on the site.

We had our best Penn State readership week of the entire season over the past seven days. That's right, as crazy as it seems. The transfer portal silly season and coaching fallout brought in more readers than any game week all season.

We had three -- THREE! -- stories top 6,000 page views over the past week. There had only been a little more than a handful of those all season, then we had three in a five-day span: the Keyvone Lee transfer news, this item noting Taylor Stubblefield's poor recruiting rankings, and this analysis of how James Franklin will cut loose underperforming assistant coaches.

So again, thanks to everyone for stopping by and showing your interest in our Penn State coverage.

Now, on to this week's top 10:

1. The insanity of December and early January shows how much college football has changed

You gotta wonder how college football coaches and personnel have gotten any sleep over the past seven weeks. It's ridiculous how much is going on nowadays during this time period, with the early signing period and then this new 45-day transfer portal window that just closed Wednesday.

Make no mistake, the seven-week period that just ended is arguably the most important stretch of the entire year, save for the actual games themselves.

But I have to wonder if any of this is sustainable, because the sport is crushing college coaches everywhere by putting too much on their plate during this period.

Yeah, yeah, the head coaches make millions of dollars and others also make lots of money. I get that, and I'm not saying any of these folks deserve sympathy for having to work so hard.

It's just that, with so much going on that will shape programs for years to come, and it being crammed into such a tight window, there are bound to be mistakes, missteps and/or oversights that could end up hurting teams and the sport in general.

There's the early signing day in December. Then bowl preparation. That's if you have a head coach, which a lot of teams don't have and are trying to make hires during that period. The overwhelming burden of the transfer portal -- both re-recruiting your own roster while also scanning dozens of other teams' rosters trying to find fits -- brings about its own level of continuous consternation.

When the College Football Playoff expands to 12 in 2024, it will add more extremely meaningful December games, and put an even greater burden on coaches and programs across the country to manage the outrageous schedule that month.

My solution would be to push the signing period back to early February, where it used to be. One problem with that is so many players enroll early nowadays -- Penn State had 11 this semester -- that coaches may fear prospects could miss out on key development time if they wait too long to sign.

But hey, there have always been exceptions made for kids who want to graduate early and enroll in college in January. You don't need an early signing period to ensure that possibility remains.

Hopefully over the next year or two, rules are changed to help alleviate some of the chaos that takes place in December and early January. It seems like common sense that it has to happen, but then again, we all know the NCAA badly lacks in the area of common sense.

2. Penn State did very well in the transfer portal, despite poor ranking

The Lions rank just 52nd in the 247Sports team transfer portal rankings, a number that doesn't seem all that good. Pitt, by comparison, is at No. 47 in the points system that 247Sports uses for its rankings.

But Penn State's ranking is relatively meaningless for one simple reason: The Lions didn't need to take many transfers -- only four -- because they already have top-flight players and depth in the program at most positions.

The one position they HAD to get transfers was wide receiver, and they did, landing two of them. And all four of the players they landed from the portal should end up being big factors next season.

Here are the players Penn State picked up from the portal:

• WR Dante Cephas (Kent State): The home run of the group and a game-changer for the program.

 • WR Malik McClain (Florida State): A former 4-star recruit who has a lot of experience and fills a big need as a potential No. 2 receiver.

• CB Storm Duck (North Carolina): He should step in and be an immediate starter, plus he's considered an NFL prospect.

• P Riley Thompson (Florida Atlantic): It's not sexy adding a punter, who had no recruiting stars and probably added very few points, if any, to Penn State's total in the 247Sports rankings. But Thompson averaged 45.4 yards per punt last year and should be the starter next season, so he's a big addition.

All in all, that's an outstanding foursome for Penn State.

Here are the nine players the Lions lost to the portal. And note that none were huge contributors this season, save for Keyvone Lee early on.

• QB Christian Veilleux (Pitt)
• CB Jeffrey Davis Jr.
• DE Rodney McGraw (Louisville)
• OT Maleek McNeil
• DL Fatorma Mulbah (West Virginia, which he announced Thursday)
• LB Jamari Buddin
• RB Keyvone Lee
• CB Marquis Wilson
• WR Jaden Dottin

3. Best comments of the week

I want to get these high on the list so everyone can get a good laugh.

The following might be my favorite Penn State comment of the entire season. It's from my story on how Penn State, after firing Stubblefield, landed two receivers from the portal. Stubblefield had been one of the weaker recruiters in the Big Ten two of the past three years.

pmnipper posted:

"Empty desk is rising up the Big 10 recruiter rankings!"

That is pure GOLD! LOL.

By the way, I am surprised that Stubblefield's replacement still has not been named. I figured that would only take a couple of days, and that Franklin would have already had someone in mind for the job. Maybe that was the case, and the timing just may not be right yet for the announcement. But the longer it goes on without a replacement being named, the more questions about the whole process will come up.

My other favorite comment was from my story on whether the Steelers should draft Joey Porter Jr. in the first round. I scoffed at one mock draft because the guy had Will Levis going No. 1 overall, which is just laughable to me.

peasmakr posted:

"I wouldn't mind seeing Levis go number 1 just to see Cory's head explode! Haha"

Yes, my head will explode if Levis is the top pick. The guy is a project who should go in the third or fourth round, not in the top three or four picks.

4. Let's get more comments in these Penn State stories

I am extremely grateful for everyone who reads my stories and comments. But I'm also surprised at times that many Penn State stories don't have a whole lot of comments, even when the overall readership numbers are good.

Our Pitt stories often have a larger number of comments, and that's great for Pitt. Corey Crisan is doing an awesome job on that beat.

This is a plea for all of you who enjoy reading the Penn State stories to go in and post more comments or ask questions. I enjoy reading all of them and usually try to answer any questions if I can.

5. This $13 million NIL story ticks me off

It's absurd to think that any college kid would be given a $13 million NIL deal before he's even in school. No high school prospect has been or ever will be worth that kind of money before he steps foot on campus and proves anything.

It's disturbing and sad and, well, actually not all that surprising that one kid got duped big time when he allegedly was offered a $13 million NIL deal by Florida. Jaden Rashada, a quarterback, is the kid's name, and he was in the news this week because he had to get out of his national letter of intent after finding out that Florida had reneged on its absurdly lucrative NIL deal.

Somebody at Florida is guilty of lying to this young man.

And Rashada is guilty of thinking something that sounded way, way too good to be true actually could be true. He's only the No. 6 QB recruit in the country, and there was no way in the universe that he was worth anything close to a $13 million NIL deal. He and his family should have done all they could to get everything in writing from a legal standpoint, so that if it fell through, they could have recourse to sue whomever it was at Florida that pulled this unethical stunt.

Now look, do I actually believe he was offered $13 million? No. That number is so outrageous, and there has never been any proof that it is accurate. Schools and coaches are lying to these kids about the size of NIL deals, you can bank on it, but I also believe some of these high school recruits are exaggerating numbers in order to push their price tag up for other suitors.

I have no idea if Rashada did this or not.

Whatever happened here, you've got a high school kid who has been placed -- either by Florida, by his own people, or both -- in a terribly difficult spot with all this mess. Everybody should be looking out for these young people's best interests, but when crazy amounts of money are involved, ethics and morals just fly out the window.

6. Bill O'Brien appears to be heading back to Patriots

Good for him.

That's really all I can say.

I have tremendous respect and always will because of what O'Brien did for Penn State -- both the football program and the university. He's an NFL guy, and he's now being considered the offensive coordinator job with the Patriots.

That's the job O'Brien had before he came to Penn State, and here's hoping he gets the job again this time around.

7. Should we take Pro Football Focus ratings seriously?

Defensive end Chop Robinson, who transferred in from Maryland, had a good season for Penn State. He finished with 26 tackles (19 solo), 10 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks and three QB hurries. All good numbers.

But while good and certainly impactful, it never quite seemed like Robinson was a consistent dominant force. The league's media and coaches didn't think so, either, as they named him only honorable mention all-Big Ten.

There is, however, this stat from Pro Football Focus that came out this week, ranking Robinson No. 1 on the list.

OK, hmmm ... what do we make of that? And what do we make of Pro Football Focus?

That outfit, which claims to grade every player on every snap, is indicating here that Robinson was perhaps the most effective edge rusher in the whole country. Which is ... c'mon, man.

Furthermore, Pro Football Focus only named Robinson second-team all-Big Ten in its awards. Now, you'd think if his grade were that high, that he would be named an All-American or something, just like PFF did when it graded safety Jaquan Brisker so highly out of the blue a few years ago.

In this case with Robinson, it just makes Pro Football Focus look suspicious. And inconsistent. And irrelevant.

None of us have any idea what criteria Pro Football Focus uses in its grades. And while some of its information can be very helpful, it's just hard to take them seriously because they're too often just all over the place.

8. Penn State basketball misses yet another chance at massive win

The Lions led by six at the half at Wisconsin on Tuesday and had their chances late in the game before losing, 63-60.

This was a totally bogus charge call on Jalen Pickett that changed how things played out in the final minute.

Nothing has changed with the basketball team. It's still a good team but just cannot string together several big wins to gain some breathing room inside the NCAA Tournament bubble.

The Lions are now 3-4 in the Big Ten and have winnable games coming up against Nebraska, at Rutgers, and back home against Michigan. Win all three to get to 6-4, and that would be terrific for the team.

But the expectation continues to be that Penn State will be up and down the rest of the way and might need to steal a big win to finish 10-10 in the league.

Right now, Penn State is No. 53 in the NCAA NET rankings, one spot behind Pitt.

9. How many meets should Lions wrestle in BJC?

To no one's surprise, No. 1 Penn State is undefeated at 8-0 and is in great shape for a 10th national championship this season.

Penn State has a meet coming up tonight against Michigan at the Bryce Jordan Center, then will host Michigan State at Rec Hall on Sunday.

Tonight will be the first of two meets this season at the BJC, the other coming next Friday when No. 2 Iowa visits for what should be a thrilling evening.

There are many Penn State fans who would love to see more -- if not all -- meets at the Jordan Center. But there are still probably many more fans who love the crazy atmosphere at tiny Rec Hall and want to protect that as opposed to going to the BJC full time.

I've had this topic of conversation on my radio show for many years, and have heard passionate pleas from both sides.

Where do you stand on the BJC vs. Rec Hall debate? Post your thoughts in the comments.

10. Hockey team continues strong season

The Lions are No. 6 in the country and will host Notre Dame on Friday and Saturday at Pegula Ice Arena. Saturday is the annual "wear white" game for fans.

Penn State is 17-6-1 overall but just 7-6-1 in the Big Ten. The Lions are coming off dropping a 3-2 overtime game at Michigan State and then tying in the second game of the series last weekend.

There's still more than a month to go in the regular season -- 10 games -- and it'll be interesting to see if Penn State can build any kind of momentum for the postseason. The Lions have a good team, but the competition in the Big Ten is so tough that every single game figures to be a battle down to the wire.

If they're going to make a postseason run, the Lions probably will have to find a way to win more close games.