{"id":260803,"date":"2025-10-30T13:02:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T13:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/260803\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T13:02:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T13:02:07","slug":"goodman-the-freak-show-is-here-for-sec-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/260803\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodman: The freak show is here for SEC football"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stay hydrated with Joe\u2019s free newsletter, SPORTS! Happy Hour. Here\u2019s the link to sign up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is an opinion column. <\/p>\n

______________<\/p>\n

Halloween is upon us, which means two things in the SEC.<\/p>\n

One, it\u2019s Nick Saban\u2019s birthday, so happy birthday to his GOATness.<\/p>\n

Two, it\u2019s the weekend when Florida and Georgia play their annual rivalry in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

Alabama was off this week and Auburn finally has an easy gimme of a game at home against Kentucky. What could go wrong, right? Former Auburn coach Bryan Harsin was fired on Halloween three years ago, but we still got faith in Hugh Freeze.<\/p>\n

The only thing that Saban and Harsin ever had in common was their mutual disdain for the NIL era of college football. <\/p>\n

Harsin hated what modern-day college football had become, so he had to go. In the new NIL era, he didn\u2019t want to pay college football players. As for Saban, his whole recruiting pitch was creating value for players at Alabama so they could strike it rich in the NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

Gone are the days.<\/p>\n

Now college football is all about finding value on the NIL market. For college-football purists, it\u2019s a horror show. <\/p>\n

Naturally, this being Halloween, that got me thinking.<\/p>\n

We throw in a fun poll question every week for readers in the \u201c6-0 Challenge\u201d section of Joe vs. the Pro and the Hero<\/a> (don\u2019t forget to make your picks). Sometimes the questions are related to football. Sometimes they\u2019re just completely random. <\/p>\n

Considering the time of year, last week\u2019s question was about Halloween and football: Who would be a better value on the NIL market as an edge rusher, Jason Voorhees from \u201cFriday the 13th,\u201d or a werewolf?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lot to consider.<\/p>\n

Everyone in the SEC knows that a freakishly skilled edge rusher is hard to find. That\u2019s why over 70 percent of readers went with the werewolf. Mythical beasts stay undefeated, and, as the football clich\u00e9 goes, every great defense has to have some dogs.<\/p>\n

Is there more NIL value with the werewolf, though? I had questions. <\/p>\n

As everyone knows, Teen Wolf was a superstar for the Beacon Hill Beavers, but he was also moody, erratic and refused to stay humble about his success.<\/p>\n

Put it this way. There\u2019s absolutely no way Teen Wolf was giving any coach an NIL discount.<\/p>\n

No doubt a werewolf at defensive end could tear through an offensive line, but I don\u2019t think people completely appreciated the blue-collar work ethic of All-American slasher Jason Voorhees.<\/p>\n

Plus, don\u2019t werewolves only come out on full moons? That could be problematic.<\/p>\n

How many games every season are actually played at night under full moons? <\/p>\n

It seemed like paying top dollar for a quarterback-mauling werewolf might not guarantee a high-yield return on investment.<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t college football all about ROI these days?<\/p>\n

I decided to ask some experts about their opinions. Who would actual coaches in the SEC pick, Jason or a werewolf?<\/p>\n

Being a thoughtful journalist who always practices the highest degree of professionalism, I didn\u2019t want to bother a coach with such a trivial question during the middle of a game week. Alabama was off this week after its impressive run of five consecutive victories against SEC opponents. Coach Kalen DeBoer was fair game.<\/p>\n

First, though, we posed the question to Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz. Mizzou is off this weekend, too. <\/p>\n

Drink wasn\u2019t in the best of moods considering his team just lost to Vanderbilt and his starting quarterback dislocated his ankle during the game.<\/p>\n

Still, we needed answers to the important questions.<\/p>\n

Jason or werewolf?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I got, I got no idea,\u201d Drinkwitz said.<\/p>\n

If only Mike Leach were still with us. Coach Leach, who loved Halloween and considered himself a pirate, would have given us five good minutes on the pros and cons of Jason vs. the werewolf debate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink it through,\u201d I said to Drinkwitz on the weekly SEC coaches Zoom call.<\/p>\n

To his credit, Drinkwitz then actually offered up some pretty good insight into what coaches value when it comes to spending money on football players. See, this column wasn\u2019t a complete waste of time after all.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, yeah, I\u2019m thinking it through,\u201d Drinkwitz said. \u201cProbably the uniqueness of a werewolf would give you more NIL value. Yeah, I think the uniqueness of the werewolf.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brilliant.<\/p>\n

The more unique a player, the more value he brings to the team. All werewolves are canines, but not all canines are werewolves. It makes sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to pay the werewolf less, too, right?\u201d I asked. <\/p>\n

The perfect follow-up!<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I would think you\u2019d have to pay the werewolf more, because he\u2019s unique,\u201d Drinkwitz said.<\/p>\n

Fair enough. It\u2019s top dollar for the werewolves of the SEC. Filet minion and bone-in ribeyes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And here I was thinking they\u2019d work for scraps.<\/p>\n

Next on the media call was Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer. The transcript of the call will go in the journalism hall of fame.<\/p>\n

Kalen \u2026 are you familiar with the movie \u201cFriday the 13th?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m familiar with it,\u201d DeBoer said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

OK, so you know who Jason is? Hockey mask. All that.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, yeah,\u201d DeBoer said, clearly thrilled to once again be talking with the guy who said he should be fired after the loss to FSU.<\/p>\n

On the NIL market, who would have more value, Jason or a werewolf?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m that educated on the movie to understand, you know, I don\u2019t know,\u201d DeBoer said. \u201cI don\u2019t have a good answer for ya.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just name one.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust name one?\u201d DeBoer said. \u201cI mean, I suppose, Jason. You said name one. I don\u2019t have a reason for why I\u2019m saying that, though.\u201d<\/p>\n

Intuitive brilliance. That\u2019s what I like about DeBoer. He goes with his gut and he knows how to build a team.<\/p>\n

Because here\u2019s the thing. A werewolf would be a five-star recruit, and he might look pretty scary on film, but Jason never stops. Jason is a machine possessed by the forces of darkness, ill intent and revenge.<\/p>\n

You turn around, and, no matter what, no matter how fast or far you run, Jason is right there in the backfield.<\/p>\n

Jason sees ball; Jason gets ball. No questions asked. The guy doesn\u2019t even sweat. Jason is basically the Waterboy on a really bad day for everyone.<\/p>\n

Best of all, Jason doesn\u2019t even need a paycheck. He\u2019s old school like that. <\/p>\n

He just does it for the free education.<\/p>\n

MAILBAG SOUND OFF<\/p>\n

Got a question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what\u2019s on your mind. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything for the reader mailbag.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stay hydrated with Joe\u2019s free newsletter, SPORTS! Happy Hour. Here\u2019s the link to sign up. This is an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-260803","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}