Everyone wants a villain and NIL is the easiest thing to blame. People point at dollar signs and act like money ruined college football. That is lazy thinking. You can buy players. You cannot buy coaching. You cannot buy game plans, halftime adjustments, discipline, or the split second decisions that turn talent into wins. This weekend showed that plain. Michigan and Florida both had talent and NIL backing, and both still lost. That is a leadership problem, not an NIL problem.
Michigan vs Oklahoma: Big Spending, Small Execution
Michigan came into Norman with a roster stacked with talent and heavy NIL support. On paper they had the Ferrari, premium recruits, transfers, and donor cash. On the field they looked like a car with a blown timing belt. Oklahoma outgained Michigan by roughly 140 yards and finished with far more first downs while Michigan could not sustain drives. Justice Haynes ripped off a 75-yard touchdown that was Michigan’s only real momentum play. Oklahoma’s quarterback methodically controlled the game and finished drives when it mattered.
If your staff cannot make halftime corrections, cannot protect the quarterback under pressure, and cannot build a consistent third down plan, then all the NIL money in the world just buys highlight clips and excuses, not wins.
Florida vs South Florida: Ferraris Crashed by Basics
Florida had the personnel and NIL investment to be favored but they lost because of discipline and situational mistakes. Florida committed eleven penalties for over 100 yards and those self inflicted mistakes erased productive drives. Late in the fourth quarter a Florida player was flagged and ejected for spitting, a penalty that moved USF into field goal range and set up the walk off kick.
That sequence is a coaching failure. Coaches teach the small things. Coaches drill situational awareness, clock management, and composure so players do not hand momentum away in the fourth quarter. You cannot buy that in a contract. You have to earn it in the meeting room and on the practice field.
The Ferrari Analogy: Money Is Not the Driver
NIL buys athletes and attention. Coaching turns athletes into a machine. Give a Ferrari to an inexperienced driver and you get a crash. Give a modest car to a pro driver and mechanic and it wins races. Michigan and Florida had Ferraris. Their coaches let them idle at red lights and stall on the turns. That is on the leaders.
Coaching is the stuff fans do not notice until it is missing. How to scheme a run, how to adjust protection, how to close out a tight fourth quarter, how to avoid penalties and manage the clock. Those are measurable things: third down conversion, red zone efficiency, penalty rate, time of possession. Teams that demand situational reps and enforce standards reduce late game collapses and avoid chaos in tight moments.
When NIL Helps and When It Does Not
Look at programs that make NIL look like a weapon and not just a shopping spree. Some programs pair investment with staff accountability, situational practice, and coaches who actually coach. That consistency is why teams with similar talent have different results. NIL multiplies what is already there. If a program is undisciplined, NIL amplifies the chaos.
Stop treating money as the root cause and start treating it as an amplifier. If you want fewer upsets and cleaner games, fix the performance layer. Reward staffs that win the little things that decide games: third down stops, smart clock management, and red zone conversions, not just flashy recruiting numbers.
Fix the Sport: Start With Coaches
Make accountability part of the job. Put penalty reduction, third down conversion, red zone efficiency, and situational coaching into performance reviews. Require more situational practice in camp. Track the metrics that matter in tight games and use them in contract incentives. That will change behavior faster than another rule on autograph deals or social posts.
Fans do not care about myths. They want coaches who win close games, who stop the self inflicted mistakes, and who develop players into pros. Athletic directors who want fewer embarrassing Saturdays should start by firing bad coaches.
This weekend was a reminder. Michigan and Florida both had the money and the players to win and both lost because leaders failed. NIL is a tool. Coaching is the engine. If you want consistent winners, invest in coaching as aggressively as you invest in recruiting. Until departments treat coaching as a performance job, NIL will keep taking the blame for problems it did not create.
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