I know Dallas is a heavy favorite tonight with a backup QB starting for Tampa Bay, but an unknown QB always makes me nervous. And while Houston is 0-4, they are a good team playing an awful Titans team.
What are your thoughts? Seems like not a lot of people are on Houston and I don’t know why.
Wisconsin is our focus, but National Champions is our goal. Here’s my top 3 things to watch within the game to signal how good we can be this season:
Our defense is going to be incredible with elite LB’s and secondary. We will be unstoppable if our defensive line can get pressure without blitzing. Let’s see if our hopeful edge rushers turn out to be game changers.
At receiver, we have transfer Mylan Graham and previously injured Jaden Greathouse looking to emerge as a WR1 (sorry I don’t see Faison as a WR1). If we can have a go-to receiver instead of 3-5 just “good” options, that changes our offense. Let’s see if any emerge today, and how the coaching staff looks to get certain receivers involved.
Will Black is a previous 5-star recruit ultra-talented at left tackle, while the rest of the line is going to be solid. If all 5 guys turn out to be great this season, watch out. If Black becomes a liability at the most important spot on the line, we have a serious hole to worry about when dealing with a DL like Miami down the road.
Not sure how you all feel, but I watch most college football games with the lens of how it can help Notre Dame be in the best playoff position. So here’s my week 0 outcomes to root for!
UNC over TCU: we don’t have a great strength of schedule entering the year, so every little bit counts and we play UNC this year.
USC to just look average: this is just for the love of the game. Hate USC, and I’d love for the BYU replacement of the USC dropped game to turn out in our favor with USC struggling.
I am writing articles on NFL Survivor Pools, and planning on writing about the different websites and resources available that will help you decide what picks to make. What each one does, pros/cons, and maybe a recommendation.
Comment what you use and why!
I saw a FF commissioner talk about getting his league sponsored was pretty easy, and curious if anyone has had experience here as well or if that was an anomaly.
I run an NFL survivor pool with ~80-100 people, and send weekly newsletters to everyone. The past 2 years I got a sponsor to add $500 to the pot and to charity, through a personal connection. But the sponsor isn’t sports related at all. Would love to expand my sponsorship, and this year am focusing on proving that I can capture 100 people’s attention and can add value.
If I am crazy for thinking this is even a possibility, please tell me now!
I started a Substack partly aimed at writing about running and participating in survivor pools. My first survivor pool article on the pricing guide:
Free pools: great for public pools
$10-35: sweet spot for large pools and casual fans
$50-100: competitive pool with max entry limits
$200+: professionals only - proceed with caution
Full details below, curious of people’s thoughts and feedback! Here’s for growing our survivor pools!
I love thinking through how ND’s season would have been different if a play or two went another way… so what would have happened if we stopped Ohio State on 3rd & 11 in the national championship game 2 years ago?
Originally down 31-7, then to close out the 3rd and 4th quarter we go touchdown, 2pt conversion, missed field goal from the 9, touchdown, 2pt conversion. Offense looking great.
So what happens if we get the ball back with 3 minutes left, 3 timeouts, down 8? Is there a world where we end up winning that game, when we had only a 2.9% chance of winning before that play happened?
I wrote about this to close out my top 5 “what if” series, but curious what all of you think? Are we all delusional ND fans thinking of course we would have won the game?
Bonus reading: I think the most likely “what if” scenario that would have led to an ND championship is if ND had a healthy Rylie Mills and Benjamin Morrison in the championship game.
Do you all play in other pools besides survivor? I feel like all of us in this sub are really into the NFL, and picking 1 game a week and possibly being done with the pool after a couple of weeks doesn’t scratch the itch.
Do you do fantasy football? Pick Em pools? Or just a lot of survivor pools?
I am on year 3 of the “Leppert Charity Survivor Pool”, which is structured as a standard NFL survivor pool with a few key intentional differences. The pool is great for casual fans, serious players, and especially for people who are philanthropic.
Payouts:
1/3rd to charity
1/3rd split among everyone who makes it to week 13
1/3rd to the winner
$0 to me - I do it for the love of the game
Buy-in: $30 for 1 entry; $50 for 2 entries
Mulligans: $10 buy back in only in weeks 1-4
Engagement: I put together weekly recap emails that talk about the games, call out specific players in the pool, with plenty of dad jokes. I also highlight work the charities we support are doing, so people feel good about where part of their money is going.
Site: SundaySurvivor - love the set up so far!
Interested about learning more about the pool, or the reasoning behind some of this set-up, shoot me a note!
I just started a Substack to write about Notre Dame football primarily as a personal hobby. Since I was reminiscing of how close we got to a national championship recently, I started writing about my top 5 “what ifs” from the past 2 seasons. 2-5 are out… what would you all put at #1?
Update: honorable mention - if the CFP committee had a brain
https://open.substack.com/pub/thesportscommish/p/notre-dame-what-if-honorable-mention?r=4xi3kj&utm\_medium=ios
2: Missed XP vs. Texas A&M
https://substack.com/@thesportscommish/note/p-209054105?r=4xi3kj&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
3: Keon Keeley never de-committed
https://substack.com/@thesportscommish/note/p-208569316?r=4xi3kj&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
4: Jeremiah Love was used more against Miami
https://substack.com/@thesportscommish/note/p-208189041?r=4xi3kj&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
5: Rylie Mills & Benjamin Morrison stayed healthy
https://substack.com/@thesportscommish/note/p-207508483?r=4xi3kj&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
I run both an NFL survivor and a college football survivor pool. I’d really like to use one site for both, but trying to get away from Splash sports. Which sites offer both that are good?
One I’ve found is officepoolstop. Any feedback on that?
And if anyone knows who runs Sundaysurvivor, I checked it out and it is incredible, so if they added college football I would 100% go there. Honestly it’s so good I’m contemplating going with them anyway and either not doing college or doing college on a 2nd site.
The survivor pool I run is $30, where 1/3 of the pot goes to charity, 1/3 is split among everyone who makes it to week 13, and 1/3 to the winner. The week 13 people is so that there is an option for a definitive end goal, and also the more people that get paid the more people who leave happy, and the more people who sign up again next year.
I am contemplating tracking the margin of victory for the games, and paying out who had the largest winning margin at the end of the year. So not just that people survived, but arguably who survived the best. A side quest if you will.
Thoughts? If we like it, should it be a separate payout or maybe use at as a tie-break? Or maybe go crazy and have this be the main event?
I am seeing posts about Jagusah “hopefully” will play at some point this year… any insights? I know there were complications with his recovery, but I thought he was ready to go for the year?
Idk if this is a hot take, but I think Jagusah was going to be our best offensive lineman this year.
Does anyone know when Splash Sports is making NFL pools available? It seems super late for it to still not be up and running, and I’m getting antsy!
I am currently an SLP making $55/hour, which stays the same regardless of an individual or a group session. I work at a clinic. I imagine the clinic makes much more on group sessions from an hourly rate standpoint.
Thoughts on just how much more a group session makes for the clinic? Is it as simple as # of clients in the group x rate, or are the rates less for people in a group therapy session?
Should I ask for a higher rate for doing a group session?
I see so many posts about “I created a new website” or “use AI to make your leagues more efficient”… but what service would a commissioner of one pool actually pay for?
In my opinion, running 1-3 pools, it’s not anything to make it more efficient. I’d really only pay for something that makes the experience much better, like a cool prize or something. Running 4+ pools, maybe efficiency comes into play when it comes to taking in money and tracking it easily.
What are everyone else’s thoughts? If you have something specific, feel free to dm me.
May get dragged for this after ND got 2 massive WR transfers that could be important to Carr and the passing game, but I think Keeley will be a star.
I loved him as a recruit, and hated when he de committed. The talent is there, the opportunity should be there, and the D-Line is the biggest question mark of the whole team. If Keeley lives up to his original HS potential, and this defense with this strong of a LB/Secondary adds a pass rush… we will be deadly.
Every talking head is coming out with top defenses and top secondaries, etc, and most have ND as top 1/2 in both categories. Yet every name being dropped doesn’t talk about Christian Gray. I’ve seen obviously Moore, Bowen, KVA, Johnson, Keeley, but not once Christian Gray.
I know he isn’t a lockdown corner, but he has been a 2-year starter and has made some of the biggest plays of the season with the Penn State pick among others. Is he being overlooked? Or is he just an average player with some key moments that make up for sub-par play the rest of the game?
I run pools for most sports: March madness brackets, NFL survivor pools, etc.
What sites do you recommend for a World Cup bracket? Splash sports has relatively expensive pricing, and my pool benefits charity and is a low entry fee, so I am always cost-conscious. Any other sites people would recommend?
If you are interested in joining a pool that benefits charity and gets weekly newsletters - let me know!