5 college football programs getting the worst return on their NIL money

There’s a direct correlation between the best teams in college football and how much they’re spending toward NIL and roster building. That said, just because the dollar signs say you’re supposed to be a good team doesn’t mean it will always translate to success on the field or even the results you expect. That’s why teams like Cincinnati, who spend the third fewest of the Power 4 schools, per The Athletic, can knock off Texas Tech, one of the biggest spenders. 

So which teams are realizing maybe money doesn’t buy them wins like they thought? Here are the teams that aren’t getting the return on the NIL investment that they’d hope this season. 

Texas Tech Red Raiders

• Estimated NIL roster spending: $38-42 million

This isn’t just because the Red Raiders were blown out by Cincinnati this past weekend. This is because the Red Raiders once again look like a fraudulent contender in college football. They were blessed with arguably the easiest schedule among any CFP contender and they haven’t looked anything like a team that learned from a blowout loss in the CFP a year ago.

Texas Tech didn’t invest quite in this defense like it did last year and it’s showing. Sure the quarterback situation gave them more problems than they anticipated, but this is a team that should be coasting through the Big 12. After the loss to Cincinnati, it very well could highlight a team that’s underperforming the checks it's cutting. 

Michigan Wolverines

• Estimated NIL roster spending: $36-40 million

Michigan is quite literally one second away from being 3-4 on the year. The Wolverines benched the most expensive player on the roster and now they’re trying to figure out how they can salvage what’s left of this season. Michigan has only scored more than 21 points once this season and it was against UTEP. In their last game against Indiana, they scored just six points. This is a team that is spending a lot in all the wrong places. They need to improve this offense badly. Their defense has been holding this team together. With the money Michigan is spending, losing to Indiana the way it did, Minnesota and then allowing Iowa to go 90 yards in less than two minutes, they could have saved some of that money for Kyle Whittingham’s buyout. 

USC Trojans

Estimated NIL roster spending: $37-40 million

This season, Lincoln Riley was supposed to have zero excuses. He had one of the top recruiting classes and spent like some of the top College Football Playoff contenders. Yet, the Trojans went from preseason top 15 to now being unranked. Not the best investment for the Trojans. They lost to Wisconsin, which should have been a give-me, and now they have to win out with games against Ohio State, UCLA and Indiana to even have a shot at the CFP. When you cough up roughly $40 million to build a roster the expectation is you’re competing for national championships. USC is far from that and now it’s becoming clear Riley might be more of the problem than anything. 

Texas A&M Aggies

Estimated NIL roster spending: $45-50 million

This might be the biggest whiff in NIL history … for now. Texas A&M isn’t even bowl eligible yet and they have the fifth-highest roster spend per The Athletic. A lot of their problems have stemmed from miserable quarterback play from Marcel Reed, but this team is responsible for not backing up the money they’re getting. With one more loss, Texas A&M won’t even finish the 2026 season with a winning conference record and they still need two more wins to get bowl eligible. This is the season from hell and proof that just because you have the budget to spend, doesn’t mean you have to use every penny.

Oregon Ducks

Estimated NIL roster spending: $48-54 million

So much for bringing back Dante Moore and going after Dylan Raiola. The quarterback position has held this Oregon team back from contending this year. At 4-3, this team is closer to firing Dan Lanning than it is winning a national championship, which isn’t how this season was supposed to go, especially since Ohio State is the only team with an estimated budget higher than Oregon. This couldn’t have been a worse season for Oregon, but they did lose their star quarterback so maybe this season gets an asterisk. 

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