Is This Year Going to be the Peak for College Football?

[Full Speed Ahead]

Several factors at play here...

1. Due to the extra year of eligibility, lots of teams have pretty much everyone back. Depth and experience upped for pretty much every team. In the coming years that won't be the case. And actually, a lot of Sophomores and such that would have gained experience this year, won't be playing because sixth year seniors are talking those slots.
2. In the past decade, football has gotten a bad rap for concussions. As such, for several years kids are either not playing sports at all (e.g., video gaming) or playing other sports (e.g., soccer). Someone with more time than I have maybe can look up the data on this. My guess is that the new "pipeline" of players to recruit isn't going to be as large or as good in the future as it is now.
3. ESPN is doing its best to wreck the sport with its Mega Conferences. One of the many negatives is that they're making it so the rich get richer (e.g., Alabama) and the poor get poorer (e.g., Big 12). Across the board, competition in the future isn't going to be as balanced as it will be this year and as it has been in the past. I predict a lot more blowout games in the future.

Bottomline: enjoy this year folks.

 

[MplsGopher_fan]

Good points, I think #2 is the strongest. Regarding that, I think last summer there was an article in the strib about the Minneapolis public schools having trouble fielding teams. More of the student body is from areas that American football isn't popular and those kids will choose soccer, on top of parents holding kids out. My friend had a 3 sport kid who quit football after like 7th grade because of injury concerns, and his other quit too. 20 years ago they'd be playing high school football.

 

[Some guy]

I personally feel college football peaked culturally around 2010-2016

The BCS title game that was Alabama vs LSU was the beginning of the end for me. Though some great seasons followed. The first year of the playoff created a bit of a buzz. But college football has gone from being a regional sport with national intrigue to a cable tv driven money grab.


The SEC has been the best conference for probably 12-15 years…but they are only marginally ahead, the talking heads make watching college football outside of the big ten insufferable to me

 

[Lincoln gopher]

NIL will change college sports for ever.

 

[Full Speed Ahead]

NIL will change college sports for ever.

Yep, and for the worse. All part of my "the rich get richer" statement.

 

[MplsGopher_fan]

The BCS title game that was Alabama vs LSU was the beginning of the end for me. Though some great seasons followed. The first year of the playoff created a bit of a buzz. But college football has gone from being a regional sport with national intrigue to a cable tv driven money grab.

That was only because no one else was qualified to play for it. You had two teams, 'bama and LSU, head and shoulders above the rest of the field. Sure, they played once, and it was a fantastic game but it went into overtime. I personally didn't want to watch LSU beat the living snot out of oklahoma state, the #3 team before losing to unranked Iowa State. Think about it, the #3 team loses to an unranked opponent. That's how far ahead of the pack 'bama and LSU were that year.

But I love the "cable tv driven money grab" comment - spot on!

 

[Some guy]

That was only because no one else was qualified to play for it. You had two teams, 'bama and LSU, head and shoulders above the rest of the field. Sure, they played once, and it was a fantastic game but it went into overtime. I personally didn't want to watch LSU beat the living snot out of oklahoma state, the #3 team before losing to unranked Iowa State. Think about it, the #3 team loses to an unranked opponent. That's how far ahead of the pack 'bama and LSU were that year.

But I love the "cable tv driven money grab" comment - spot on!

Neither Alabama nor LSU could score that year. Both of those teams biggest vulnerability was their secondary. A quarterback who could hit open wideouts would’ve had a chance. Ok state and Stanford both would’ve been underdogs but had a chance.

The bigger deal to me than them missing out was LSU having to win the conference twice. Part of what makes college football great is one upset can change a season. LSU beats Alabama. Then has to beat them again. That ruins the regular season for me somewhat. Multiple teams from the same conference in a championship or a playoff diminishes the regular season. And the regular season is what makes college football great. OK State lost to Iowa state that year the day or two after someone on their team died

 

[MplsGopher_fan]

Neither Alabama nor LSU could score that year. Both of those teams biggest vulnerability was their secondary. A quarterback who could hit open wideouts would’ve had a chance. Ok state and Stanford both would’ve been underdogs but had a chance.

The bigger deal to me than them missing out was LSU having to win the conference twice. Part of what makes college football great is one upset can change a season. LSU beats Alabama. Then has to beat them again. That ruins the regular season for me somewhat. Multiple teams from the same conference in a championship or a playoff diminishes the regular season. And the regular season is what makes college football great. OK State lost to Iowa state that year the day or two after someone on their team died

I just thought they didn't score because defense was so dominant, but I could be wrong.

I definitely agree with the bolded - in such a case I think the correct thing to do would be to just crown them national champs before the bowl season and say no one else is deserving of playing you guys. We don't need a national champ game this year because we already know who #1 is.

A furtherly expanded playoff ruins the regular season, and the sport, for me as well. I really got into it simply because of the regular seasons that we used to have.

 

[PMWinSTP]

I personally feel college football peaked culturally around 2010-2016

The BCS title game that was Alabama vs LSU was the beginning of the end for me. Though some great seasons followed. The first year of the playoff created a bit of a buzz. But college football has gone from being a regional sport with national intrigue to a cable tv driven money grab.


The SEC has been the best conference for probably 12-15 years…but they are only marginally ahead, the talking heads make watching college football outside of the big ten insufferable to me

Don't say that around Fleck...

 

[Some guy]

I just thought they didn't score because defense was so dominant, but I could be wrong.

I definitely agree with the bolded - in such a case I think the correct thing to do would be to just crown them national champs before the bowl season and say no one else is deserving of playing you guys. We don't need a national champ game this year because we already know who #1 is.

A furtherly expanded playoff ruins the regular season, and the sport, for me as well. I really got into it simply because of the regular seasons that we used to have.

Both teams switched to spread offenses shortly after that season because their offense couldn’t attack those great defenses the right way.
QB play was atrocious in the SEC that season.


your idea is flat stupid. Don’t play a game and just assume one conference is better?
If it was Oklahoma state vs LSU for the national title that year…LSU probably wins by a few scores. But that’s an assumption. Nobody has any data to back that up.

2011 ok state lost in double OT to a bowl team. And had 5 wins against teams that finished ranked. 9 wins against bowl teams.

Alabama had wins against 7 bowl teams. And 3 ranked teams.

But by all means let’s just assume Alabama wins handily and not even play the game

 

[fmlizard]

Good points, I think #2 is the strongest. Regarding that, I think last summer there was an article in the strib about the Minneapolis public schools having trouble fielding teams. More of the student body is from areas that American football isn't popular and those kids will choose soccer, on top of parents holding kids out. My friend had a 3 sport kid who quit football after like 7th grade because of injury concerns, and his other quit too. 20 years ago they'd be playing high school football.

Minneapolis public high school football has always been terrible. Lots of inner city football across America is awful. I went to a small public high school in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and because every school was already in our conference we had to schedule Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago -- it was stunning how awful those teams were. Obliterations by 4-8 touchdowns. Easiest teams we faced. My high school has not produced a scholarship P5 recruit in over 30 years and we missed the playoffs in the years I speak of.

 

[Some guy]

Minneapolis public high school football has always been terrible. Lots of inner city football across America is awful. I went to a small public high school in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and because every school was already in our conference we had to schedule Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago -- it was stunning how awful those teams were. Obliterations by 4-8 touchdowns. Easiest teams we faced. My high school has not produced a scholarship P5 recruit in over 30 years and we missed the playoffs in the years I speak of.

One thing that makes Wisconsin high school football better than Mn is the decentralized nature of it. So much of Minnesota’s talent is concentrated in one place. High level football isn’t played state wide.
In Wisconsin different cities produce the best teams in different years