WTKA Roundtable 11/20/2025: RPO Investment Strategies

9 snips

Nov 20, 2025

The conversation kicks off with a thrilling recap of Michigan's game against Northwestern, spotlighting the incredible throws by freshman Bryce Underwood. Chip Lindsey's innovative RPO strategy is praised for its effectiveness, bolstering Bryce's confidence and showcasing emerging talent like Andrew Marsh. The hosts also delve into the upcoming Maryland game, highlighting their youth and defensive pitfalls. Additionally, they unpack a complex Big Ten private equity deal, revealing the financial pressures on schools and why Michigan should reconsider its involvement.

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INSIGHT

RPOs Exploit Quarters Safety Conflicts

RPOs beat an aggressive quarters defense by forcing the safety to choose and creating consistent yardage gains.
Seth Fisher and Brian Cook argued Michigan gained ~70% of available yards via RPOs even without converting all to points.

INSIGHT

Repetition Built Quarterback Confidence

Running the split-flow RPO repeatedly built Bryce Underwood's confidence and rhythm early in the game.
Seth Fisher emphasized that using the same play (10 times) helped the freshman perform like a five-star talent.

INSIGHT

Balanced Start Showed Intentional Growth

Bryce showed both dropback passing and RPO comfort, starting with downfield throws before ramping RPO usage.
Sam Webb highlighted the balance early drives provided and the intentional coaching adjustments made in the bye week.

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Things Discussed:

FOOTBALL v NORTHWESTERN

When not being a terrible freshman Bryce was a five-star freshman. Some incredible throws in this one. Not that mad about 2nd interception because that was on the OC.
Lindsey's gameplan of RPOs (ten Split Flows!) was perfect against Dantonio-style quarters. Got 70% of their yards, which is more important for future performance.
RPOs were also good for getting Bryce feeling comfortable. We have a freshman but also a five-star, and he looked like one. Sam: Note the first drive was downfield passing!
That throw to Andrew Marsh: wow.
Shoutout to NW safety Robert Fitzgerald. Let's tamper with that guy!
Andrew Marsh: What a perfect guy to be coming through.

MARYLAND PREVIEW

They're young with no running game to fall back on so they lose games. Gotta win jump balls against their big receivers. Malik Washington will be a good one, but no OL and no run game. Their defense is also young and mistake-prone.

BIG TEN PRIVATE EQUITY DEAL ON HOLD, MICHIGAN AND USC FTW?

Why the other schools want it:

They're all in big debt because building debt (paid to their big donors) was how these non-profits made their revenue disappear while getting to keep most of it and making the ledgers balance for Title IX compliance (e.g. updates to Breslin are Women's Basketball expenditures.) Now you want to free the ledgers and the donors to pay players, so you need upfront capital to unravel the old system.
Lock down a portion of Michigan's revenue. MSU, NW, IU, PU, RU, IL need to lock in a share of M/OSU revenue now because if the conferences break up for a super league they're not going to be invited. The length of the media rights contract is 20 years. This is CRITICAL. Michigan State has a real chance of becoming a mid-major.
Ohio State wasn't on board until they got a clause giving them a bonus for selling more gear/stadium advertising. The way it's structured now they get more money than Michigan, which is all they wanted to hear.

Why Michigan and USC don't want it: Michigan already got itself out of the debt cycle.