College Football Ain't Good No Mo

[Kenneth Harris]

The traditional powerhouses of college football began to show their weakness when 2007 App State went into the Big House and ran circles around Michigan. 2018 The Citadel trailed Alabama 17-10 at the half and 2017 Troy quietly defeated LSU 24-21. Two years later it was 2019 LSU lifting the national championship trophy. The ranking system in college football is a joke. It serves to make sure that highly financed colleges and universities with powerful alumni are the only teams invited and that Northern Illinois or some other unknown but stable football program will not come in and bulldoze Oregon. The portal system and the potential for NIL income as teams piecing together their teams just before spring practice. The first coach to master that system wins. For now I believe there are multiple unranked FCS teams that can easily beat the power 5 conference teams. This determination to keep Alabama in the top 12 in spite of them being losers is weak. The 2021/2022 back to back national champs Georgia Bulldogs now look like a really bad high school football team but ranked 3 before getting mashed. Think Tenth Avenue Freeze Out.

 

[ThevinStealberg]

That's the parity that is college football. While I love NIL because these young student-athletes (women and men) should be getting paid, it has removed the loyalty and seemingly the genuine love for the sport. I hope it doesn't happen but I can see where players for the "playoff eliminated" teams will now start to sit out to focus on their next best move whether it be hitting the portal or preparing for the NFL draft.

CFB is slowly going to turn into CBB where you have a team of young 5 star recruits losing to the Armys (no disrespect to the Black Knights) of the CFB world because experience will trump talent (not week in and out). I'm both excited and weary to see where CFB heads in the future....

 

[Virginia HS Football Fan]

There's a lot of bad football being played though. Yes, there is parity. But even the great teams (record wise) aren't even that great for the most part.

Also, the lack of effort and heart are now even more apparent than ever.

 

[ThevinStealberg]

There's a lot of bad football being played though. Yes, there is parity. But even the great teams (record wise) aren't even that great for the most part.

Also, the lack of effort and heart are now even more apparent than ever.

I put a large part of the "record wise" piece on conference realignment. Putting the majority of the top teams in 2 conferences and saying "have at it, boys!" was a terrible idea in the eyes of football purists. Oregon/OSU and Texas/UGA or Bama don't even sound right as conference games. BYU and SMU leading the Big 12 and ACC standings, respectively? Unserious football.

Again, I get it from a financial standpoint but it just makes for a bad product.