There was a college football game in South Bend, Indiana this past Saturday but only one team showed up. For the Cardinal faithful who thought this was going to be any kind of back-and-forth just because they scored first on a TD run by their Junior backup QB Justin Lamson most certainly had to have come to their senses by the end of the first half. Notre Dame scored TD’s on three of their four possessions in the 1st and 2nd Qtr while shutting Stanford out to take a 21-7 lead at the half and would have scored again if they hadn’t fumbled the ball on their first play from scrimmage after holding the Cardinal to a three-and-out after going up 14-0. And apparently head coach Marcus Freeman wasn’t happy about what he called his team’s “lackluster” start. Having to punt on their opening drive and then allowing the Cardinal that 9 play 63 yard scoring drive set him off and lit a fire under the Fighting Irish whose defense only allowed 74 more yards and no more points the rest of the entire game.
After forcing Stanford to fumble to start the 3rd Qtr Notre Dame scored a TD every time they had the ball until their last possession in which they were just running out the clock. In between possessions their defense forced that initial fumble, three punts, and a final turn-over on downs in the Cardinals last ditch effort to somehow get a few more points on the board in this 49-7 beatdown. The two Cardinal QB’s, Juniors Ashton Daniels and Justin Lamson collectively connected on just 10 throws and 87 yards while they rushed for not much more, 41 attempts for 113 yards and that one TD by their backup QB on their first possession of the game. Notre Dame’s starting QB, Senior Riley Leonard connected on 16-of-22 for 229 yards, 3 TD’s and no interceptions as well as rushing for another score. On the ground, and in as balanced of an attack as you can get, the Fighting Irish also rushed for 229 yards with six players handling the ball three or more times with four different players, including Leonard, each recording a rushing TD.
You probably already know that it’s expensive to field a Division 1 football team—even a bad one. To that point there have been 63 schools that played Division I football and 49 in Division II that have dropped their programs completely over the years due to the costs of running a successful football program and the unfair burden it places on the rest of the athletic programs and student athletes at the school. Four years ago Stanford decided to cut 11 other sports on campus to help pay the bills because even if they haven’t been anywhere near elite in a long time the Cardinal have been playing football since 1892. Most of those sports aren’t ones you’ll ever be watching on TV unless it’s an Olympic year. Sports like fencing, rowing, sailing, synchronized swimming, squash, men’s volleyball and wrestling and others. But with only about 15% of the schools athletic population involved in football it’s all the other sports that provide an athletic opportunity to the vast majority of student athletes to obtain a college degree, compete nationally, and if they’re really good become part of Team USA.
After those 11 programs were cut a total of $76 million was committed by donors to Stanford Athletics in 2020-2021 and in May of 2021 the decision to eliminate those programs was reversed. According to published Stanford University Sports Information, recent gifts have included programmatic funds and coach-ships for multiple sports, including wrestling, field hockey, men’s volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball. According to Jon Denny, Stanford’s vice president for development; “Alumni have shown an entirely new level of interest in giving to athletics, and their support has shifted Stanford Athletics into a much stronger position.” According to Stanford Report the school’s commitment to the future of all 36 sports they offer will require a sustained fundraising effort. Denny adds, “In order to pursue athletic excellence at the highest level, we estimate needing at least $300 million in additional philanthropic support over the next few years.” The university has committed itself to assist in the transition to the ACC while keeping all 36 sports without the threat of cuts. In a deal that really makes me wonder if they might have been better off sticking it out with Washington State and Oregon State, in order to join the ACC they had to agree to receive just a 30% share of the media revenue for the first seven years of the media rights deal with ESPN that runs through the 2035-2036 season. The other 15 schools in the conference will be making around $40 million per year while Stanford will be making just $12 million. That’s a long haul and a lot of regular expenses to cover not to mention the extreme increase in travel budget that will be required.
If you’re interested check out the NCAA Finances: Revenue and Expenses by School report that was updated on March 14th of this year. It ranks 232 schools and their expenses and revenue for all sports, all the way from No. 1 Ohio State who spends almost $226 million yearly to create revenue of $252 million down to New Orleans who spends $4.8 million while only bringing in $2.5 million. It’s definitely a picture of the haves and have nots. You only have to go 25 schools down from the top of that list to get to universities that are spending $75 million less than Ohio State and in the case of the team I follow, Washington, who is spending around $149.5 million but only creating revenue of $145.2 or should I say losing $4+ million a year. The costs of having and maintaining a highly competitive football program was the primary driver for the defection of USC and UCLA and eventually Washington and Oregon.