Nico Iamaleava and his Tennessee teammates have been accused of throwing their College Football Playoff game against Ohio State, a 42-21 loss in Columbus, because they didn’t receive enough in NIL compensation.
CBS Sports’ Josh Pate dropped the bombshell on "Josh Pate's College Football Show.”
“This stuff was happening last December during the playoffs — with this kid included, but not just this kid. They were trying to get more money from Tennessee and other playoff teams before the playoffs. They were trying to leverage playoff participation,” Pate said.
“The explainer was, ‘Our client is being paid X amount of money to participate in 12 games, maybe a 13th if you make the conference championship game. But you guys made the playoff. He should make money money.’ This is the kind of BS that's happening behind the scenes right now.”
Pate’s sentiment is similar to what Jason Whitlock said about Colorado’s players heading into the Alamo Bowl against BYU.
CU players were reportedly given underwhelming gifts for their bowl participation, while some even opted out before the game due to the Buffs “running out of money.”
“They had to do everything on a strict budget. BYU players got amazing gift bags and had an amazing bowl experience. Colorado was on a very strict budget, and the players were frustrated by it,” Whitlock said.
If this is what college football’s postseason has become, more ratings slippage should be expected.
Less and less, the sport is resembling what scholastic athletics were supposed to be.