The NIL landscape is changing the world of college sports, especially for the top-tier programs. After Kentucky got blown out by Georgia this past weekend, Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops had an honest take that the Georgia football team “bought players” due to the NIL changes (h/t Seth Emerson of The Athletic):

“I just encourage them to donate more because that’s what those dudes are doing. I can promise you Georgia, they bought some pretty good players. You’re allowed to these days. We could use some help.”

Then, Georgia football HC Kirby Smart was asked about Stoops' comments, and Smart didn't get into it much at all: “No reaction. Much ado about nothing, really. I think Mark’s trying to garner interest and money from his fan base for his collective. And we’re all trying to do the same, trying to raise money for our collectives. Mark and I talked about NIL pregame. We talked about it in our meetings. I’m not biting on that.”

Smart and Stoops have a good relationship with one another, and Stoops' comments might've been more a recruiting pitch to Kentucky rather than a shot at Smart and Georgia.

In today's game, NIL holds a ton of value in order to land top players. Then again, the Georgia football program has won back-to-back champions and has regularly been at the top of the SEC, so that also helps attract big-name players to the program.

Georgia blew out Kentucky 51-13 on Saturday, handing the Wildcats their first loss of the season, and they looked completely outmatched against the mighty Bulldogs.