What would it take for you to completely walk away from college football?
- Thread starter Big JC
- Start date
I disagree. I don't know how you could watch this year unfold and think there's less parity. We saw both UGA and Bama struggle to win a lot of games this year. Saw the same with TX. All across the board the product as a whole was more competitive bc talent is leveling out. I think we're going to see it continue to filter down as both kids and coaching staffs learn how to efficiently navigate the portal.
Amazing to think....but very close. I am nearing 50, and in my lifetime personally knew of no bigger college football junkie. I was obsessed with, and Gamecock football for whatever reason. It lasted through having kids and other interests - but CFB and Gamecock football were always my passion/hobby. Unbelievably...in the last 3-4 years I've gone to the point where I could almost take it or leave it. It is absolutely the changes in CFB culture and a little bit of society mixed in.
I agree...or on life support. I think this is a fantastic thread question.....because of its relevancy.
Another important thing IMO is how long you've been involved? I have a solid 40 years of devotion and absolute love of football. If you like it now....and didn't get to see live what it once was in the 80s/90s I feel bad for you. Seeing ND/Colorado live and games like that.....hard to replicate. Now there's way more targeted, fabricated hype.
I also thought about this after I posted the other day, I don't get as excited about bowl season as I used to, and certain bowl matchups at that. Take for example the Liberty Bowl, when I was a kid it used to match up the Mountain West Champion vs the Conference USA Champion and used to be billed as the first bowl game of the season to do so. The contrasting styles I mentioned in my previous post used to be on display in that game too and it usually was a good entertaining game most years, one I made sure to watch. Then it went to CUSA Champ vs SEC 7th or 8th best and now I couldn't tell you who's playing in it this year, it has become just another bowl game.
There's only one thing at this point. USC football falling off into the abyss. I was close at the end of Muschamp. I don't care how we accomplish it, I just want to see USC winning games. As long as we're winning more than we're losing, I'll be vested.
The glut of bowl games has mostly soured me on bowl games. Getting one used to really mean something. Now the only thing it means is you are pretty terrible if you DON'T get a bowl.
The average P5 team plays 3 patsies, which means they only have to scratch out a 3-6 record in their meaningful games to go to a bowl.
Also, January 1st used to be one of the most exciting days of the year with all the bowl games. Now there's 5 games.
But overall, it's hard to get excited about bowls when you have matchups like Troy/UTSA.
I'm in the small minority that cares about the means as much as the end.
Much of the strategy of college football is gone. Player development was a major, major factor. Identifying talent, hidden gems, developing players. To develop a winning team was truly an accomplishment. Anything accomplished in this era of the game will be like home runs hit in the steroid era.
I'm with you 18. College football is going the way of MLB before the salary cap. The big money programs are going to dominate and there is nothing the South Carolina's of the world can do about it. If a kid comes to Carolina and is a true star, Texas, OK, OKSt, etc. will wave big NIL money in front of him and he will be gone after a year or two. Unless a top recruit grew up dreaming of playing for a school, NIL bidding wars will determine where he goes to school.
The NFL has its farm system fully in place now. They even have the system in place, the 12 team playoff, where the best talent faces the best talent so they can have more accurate data on how players will fare in the NFL. The sad thing is; the idiot college fans are fully funding this NFL farm system to the detriment of the sport they have always loved.
I'm not walking away but I do wonder how many people are going to continue to buy player-specific merchandise not knowing if that player will still be around next year.
I also wonder what's going to happen to football stadiums and player amenities in the future. It used to be that you'd bring in a recruit and show them the state-of-the-art weight room and the gigantic LED scoreboard at the stadium. Millions were pumped into programs for all of that eye-candy to lure recruits. Are they going to care about that stuff anymore? "That's a great weight room and I love the theater and the arcade and the dorm room with a maid and butler, but that other school offered me a million bucks."
I also wonder what's going to happen to football stadiums and player amenities in the future. It used to be that you'd bring in a recruit and show them the state-of-the-art weight room and the gigantic LED scoreboard at the stadium. Millions were pumped into programs for all of that eye-candy to lure recruits. Are they going to care about that stuff anymore? "That's a great weight room and I love the theater and the arcade and the dorm room with a maid and butler, but that other school offered me a million bucks."
Can you imagine how many USC Juice Wells jerseys were wrapped under the tree?? hahaha.
I'm not a big Bud Elliott fan, but I agree with this X 100%. You want to know why no one will do anything about it? Bc doing something about it will cost the decision makers money. They're not going disrupt that gravy train until they're forced to.
I think, and have thought for some time now, the best solution is to make athletes have to be accepted to the school through regular admission channels BEFORE they can be awarded a scholarship. Sure, the quality of play would go down but as long as every school had to live by the same rules, games would be competitive and fun to watch. The NFL would be forced to create an actual farm system and people who wanted to watch minor league professional football could watch that.
Making athletes into employees opens a huge can of worms that no one wants to deal with. I think Bud is wrong about parity but he is right about hope. The gravy train is going to be disrupted whether the powers that be like it or not. The question is; will the actual colleges continue to go along with the current athletic model?
I have loved college football over the years. It was such a unique experience, like no other sport.
But it would make me sad indeed if I felt I could never walk away from it. I've walked away from many far more significant things than college football.
But it would make me sad indeed if I felt I could never walk away from it. I've walked away from many far more significant things than college football.
Same here. Football is entertainment, nothing more and I have walked away from more important things than a form of entertainment.