Team Captain [464]
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Improving the Game- College Football
Dec 12, 2012, 11:55 AM
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I love the NFL, fantasy football, college football, recruiting, playing high school football, 7 on 7, flag football, etc. Being from the south, I fell in love with college football, but this love has begun to wane over the last few years.
What do I still love about the game? I love the creativity of the game such as our offense, Oregon’s offense, and crazy Big 12 scores. I am always down to watch the 3:30 SEC slugfest on CBS. Although it is a team sport, my favorite part is watching the superstars absolutely take over games. C.J. Spiller a few years ago, Sammy last year, Nuke (Nuk?) this year. Outside of Clemson, watching Marqise Lee put up 345 receiving yards this year, RG3 last year, heck even Scam Newton a couple of years ago. If some if not most of this does not resonate with you as reasons for loving the game, you are a troll.
Outside of the game, I love the tradition and intensity of college universities on game day. The NFL does have its fair share of passionate fans, but too many of the lower decks are filled with CEO’s and clients who “enjoy watching a football game”. And honestly how passionate can you really be about some of these teams that weren’t even around 15 years ago? I am 4th generation Clemson so I bleed orange.
With that said a few things absolutely need to change about college football.
1. The coach’s poll having any relevance is so dumb. Coaches have way too much incentive to vote unfairly. Coaches are not watching 95% of the games they are voting. I hope Dabo is preparing 24/7 for his opponent and not watching one second of some Pac 10 game involving two top 25 fringe games on any given Saturday.
2. Coaches leaving schools. I am totally ok with coaches leaving for better offers. I certainly believe in upward mobility, but here is the biggest problem: the players. For a kid to transfer he has to sit out at least one season, but coaches can immediately jump ship. Why does a 45 year old, trusted and mature man make promises to 17 year old, impressionable high school athletes, and be able to break them without any consequences. I think that if a coach leaves a school any player can immediately transfer without having to sit out a least one season. The consequences will be the pro-active of hiring of coaches who will actually stay, which leads me to my next point. Honoring your contract! AD’s need to come together and stop allowing coaches to jump ship so easily.
http://a.espncdn.com/ncb/columns/bilas_jay/1541904.html
3. Probation: Ohio State, Miami, USC (Southern Cal last season), Penn State, North Carolina all could not play in bowl games this season for incidents in the past (wow no SEC team is on this last). How do we punish these schools? No bowl games. This amounts to 14 less practices and one less game. Once again it is hindering the development of current players at the expense of former players long past. I love the precedent the NCAA set with Penn State; players should be able to transfer schools immediately. Also for bad probations, this NCAA should not allow coaches to transfer to schools (Lane Kiffen), and since the NFL and NCAA are so interconnected, they should work together to prevent coaches like Pete Carroll from escaping the consequences.
Some suggestions:
1. Out of conference game improvements: SEC and Big 12 challenge, and ACC and Big 10 Challenge. Something similar to what we already do in basketball. I think every year a week 3 challenge would be a great barometer for each conference. This would still allow a few marquee matchups in weeks 1 and 2, and teams could still have time to play a tune up in either week 1 or 2.
2. Bowl Matchups: I have nothing to add that could possibly change your mind. It is really bad though. Honestly, I don’t really care about the amount of bowls. I don’t watch the bad ones. It is the quality of the “important” ones.
3. Early signing period would be nice.
Other small rant:
Tailgate, Run Down the Hill, C-L-E-M-S-O-N, Coin Toss, Kickoff!!- A great tradition that makes football so special.
More directed at the NFL, so college diehards can stop reading. I am so sick of watching touchbacks! Or what I like to call them additional commercial breaks. Kickoffs need to either be taken out altogether (big mistake) or there needs to be bigger incentives to keep the ball reasonably in play. I liked the college game putting the ball on the 25! I actually wish it was 35.
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