When it comes to the new age of college football, money is king, and those willing to spend it in the world of name, image, and likeness, are going to end up having the most success.
For teams that have money, like the Oregon Ducks and Ohio State Buckeyes of the world, this is a great thing. For others, like the Oklahoma State Cowboys or the Washington State Cougars , the new era of the sport can make things tough.
On Monday, ahead of a Week 2 matchup against Oregon, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy got to talking about money, and how much of his his upcoming opponent has to spend. He made comments about the luxury that funds can bring, and how in a new world, teams like Oregon may consider playing someone with a similar budget to themselves in the non-conference.
On Monday night, Oregon coach Dan Lanning had a chance to respond to these comments, and he wasn't afraid to pull punches.
Gundy, who has been coaching for 21 years, is a known character in the world of college football. He is not afraid to speak his mind. When previewing the upcoming game against Oregon this week, he dove into the Ducks' team, saying they're "spending a lot of money and they've put a lot into that organization and you can see, they're a good football team," according to Oregon Live's James Crepea.
It didn't stop there, though.
"I think Oregon spent close to $40 (million) last year alone," Gundy said on radio. "That was just one year. Now, I might be off a few million. ... But for us, what we do is we got a great group of young men that we get ready and we coach them and love them and get them to play hard and go out and compete, which they will."
No, it didn't even stop there. After talking about how much Oregon spends, Gundy went on to suggest that teams as big as the Ducks, with as much NIL funding, should potentially consider playing non-conference games against teams with similar budgets.
"My concern is they need to get a grasp at some point because what I hear chatter from coaches around the country is that nonconference scheduling—and I never thought anybody would ever say this—should be based on the financial situation for each school. So if you have schools — Oregon is paying a lot, a lot of money for their team. From a nonconference standpoint, there's coaches saying they should play teams that are spending the same amount of money."
This is coming from the coach of a team who just play UT Martin in Week 1 of the season, for complete clarity.
On Monday night during his weekly press conference, Lanning was asked about these comments from Gundy, and he wasn't afraid to get into it. When asked about the disparity between the two programs because of an apparent funding difference, Lanning had this to say:
"It sounds like there is, listening to him talk. Look, I've got a ton of respect for Coach Gundy," Lanning said. "You know, ultimately, how blessed are we to be in a place that's invested in winning? If you want to be a top 10 team in college football, you'd better be invested in winning. And we spend to win.
"Some people save to have an excuse for why they don't, right? Ultimately, he's a great coach, and they've done an unbelievable job, but I want to be a team that's competing at the highest level, and we're really fortunate to be in that situation. So I can't speak on their situation. I have no idea, you know, what they've got in their pockets over there. I'm sure UT Martin maybe didn't have as much as them last week, and they played. So we'll let it play out."
Before any comments were made by either coach, the betting line for this Week 2 matchup between the Ducks and the Cowboys was already lopsided. According to FanDuel Sportsbook, Oregon is favored by 28.5-points. When dealing with a number that big, it's fair to think that the favored team might struggle to cover the spread because they could take their foot off of the gas when the game is in hand.
After what Gundy has said, though, and how Lanning responded, I might think twice before predicting that the Ducks will ease up.
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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Sep 2, 2025, where it first appeared in the College section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
