Facing mounting pressure amid a tumultuous first season at Michigan, Kyle Whittingham mentioned a surplus of resources this week when harping on Oregon's talent level under Dan Lanning ahead of Saturday's game with the Ducks. "(Lanning's an) outstanding football coach, defensive-minded coach; that's his background, but tireless recruiter," Whittingham said Monday night. "He really does a great job recruiting.
It doesn't hurt that you have $50 million at your disposal to, in essence, to outbid everybody. Not everybody, but a lot of people. But that's not his fault.
I mean, that's a credit to their program and their dedication and desire to win and the support they have. "NIL is really the name in the game in recruiting these days; it's shifted so much. Used to be the facilities you had, the tradition and all these other things; now it's these guys got 100 grand more for me.
It's a little bit of a factor, to say the least, but not to take anything away from Dan because he's an outstanding recruiter just in and of itself." Whittingham's unprompted "outbid everybody" remark quickly made the rounds on social media, this coming after questioning his team's motivation following a shocking loss to Michigan State since there's "no more trophy games" on the schedule this season. Inexplicably not mentioning Ohio State after a question centered around motivation was alarming. Oregon signed a top-10 class last recruiting cycle and began the season inside the top five before early struggles.
Last week's win at Ohio State, however, put the Ducks back in the College Football Playoff at-large conversation and should push Oregon to a top-20 ranking in the selection committee's updated reveal on Tuesday night. According to CBS Sports' preseason poll of 50-plus industry insiders, Oregon does have one of the costliest rosters in the country this season. Michigan's roster cost exceeds $30 million, but has not passed the $40 million threshold, per 247Sports.
The Wolverines are reportedly paying more than $3 million this season to quarterback Bryce Underwood, who was benched last month. Lanning wasn't made aware of Whittingham's comments Monday, but he previewed the matchup with the Wolverines during his weekly presser. "I haven't really been able to pay much attention to them until this week," Lanning said of Michigan.
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