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Is College Football Broken?


Bobref

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Kirk Herbstreit came out last week and described college football’s playoff system as “broken.” In the wake of Clemson’s predictable beat down of the Irish, I’ll ask the broader question: is college football broken?

Most people thought, and yesterday confirmed, that Alabama and Clemson are at the top, and the gulf between them and the next level is pretty wide. This is demonstrated by won-loss record, championships, lopsided victories, recruiting rankings ... pretty much any metric you can think up. Ohio State is attempting to join that select company. They are already there in terms of won-loss record, recruiting rankings... everything but playoff success. We’ll see if they’re ready soon.

Here on the GID, we seem to think seeing the same cast of characters in our high school 6A final — the Big Four of the MIC — is not a positive for the sport. Do we feel the same way about college football? If so, what’s the answer? You can always expand the playoff number, but will that do the trick? Or is the presence of 2-3 “dynasty” programs actually healthy?

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15 minutes ago, Bobref said:

Kirk Herbstreit came out last week and described college football’s playoff system as “broken.” In the wake of Clemson’s predictable beat down of the Irish, I’ll ask the broader question: is college football broken?

Most people thought, and yesterday confirmed, that Alabama and Clemson are at the top, and the gulf between them and the next level is pretty wide. This is demonstrated by won-loss record, championships, lopsided victories, recruiting rankings ... pretty much any metric you can think up. Ohio State is attempting to join that select company. They are already there in terms of won-loss record, recruiting rankings... everything but playoff success. We’ll see if they’re ready soon.

Here on the GID, we seem to think seeing the same cast of characters in our high school 6A final — the Big Four of the MIC — is not a positive for the sport. Do we feel the same way about college football? If so, what’s the answer? You can always expand the playoff number, but will that do the trick? Or is the presence of 2-3 “dynasty” programs actually healthy?

The NCAA caters to the elite and the rules are written in pencil.  That was proven once again this month.  
 

Some universities are no longer even trying to hide the fact that they are football factories first and student athletes second.

Hell, LSU’s title from 11 months ago is already tainted.  They’ll pretend they are doing something about it by punishing themselves and the spineless powers that be will buy it.

The rewards simply outweigh the risk.

Edited by temptation
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I know this will come across as sour grapes but everyone is not playing by the same rules here folks.

I felt bad for the Northwestern and Notre Dame student athletes yesterday.

How else can you explain Nick Saban winning at a 59 percent clip in his tenure at Michigan State and an 84 percent clip at LSU/Bama?

Edited by temptation
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20 minutes ago, Muda69 said:

Superior regional talent and recruiting.

 

That may be part of it. But those schools invest more financially in their programs. They also take in higher levels of contributions so that even assistants are making what some other head coaches make. As temptation says, the kids at Notre Dame and Northwestern are student athletes first. There are not many five star recruits that take the student part too seriously. And then there is the unmentionable.......players and families are getting a LOT more cash at those schools. The coaches can claim plausible deniability, but word of mouth from players to recruits is all that is needed. 

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6 hours ago, Irishman said:

That may be part of it. But those schools invest more financially in their programs. They also take in higher levels of contributions so that even assistants are making what some other head coaches make. As temptation says, the kids at Notre Dame and Northwestern are student athletes first. There are not many five star recruits that take the student part too seriously. And then there is the unmentionable.......players and families are getting a LOT more cash at those schools. The coaches can claim plausible deniability, but word of mouth from players to recruits is all that is needed. 

Surely you jest.  Where is the objective truth behind such a statement?   This isn't the days of SMU and "Pony Excess"...................

 

Edited by Muda69
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I will now reveal my plan to fix college football.

It’s really very simple. The problem with college football is that the concept of the “student athlete” went by the wayside quite a while ago. There are places now where the football players have about as much in common with the other students as I do with Chief Justice Roberts: We’re both lawyers from Indiana, but the similarity pretty much ends there. But how can we put the “student” back in “student athlete?” It’s so simple.

Make college football success include success as a student. How? Henceforth, all conference championships, post-season bowls, playoff participation, etc., will be awarded according to “College Football Rating, derived by the application of “Bobref’s Formula.” The formula is: CFR = GW x GSR. A team’s College Football Rating (CFR) is equal to the product of games won and NCAA Graduation Success Rate. For example, this season, ND has won 10 games. Their latest GSR for the football program is 97%. This gives them a College Football Rating of 9.7. By comparison, for example, Alabama’s CFR is 8.25, Clemson’s is 7.5, and Ohio State’s is a lowly 4.68, since they’ve only played 6 games.

Problem solved. FTFY. No need to thank me.

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1 hour ago, Bobref said:

I will now reveal my plan to fix college football.

It’s really very simple. The problem with college football is that the concept of the “student athlete” went by the wayside quite a while ago. There are places now where the football players have about as much in common with the other students as I do with Chief Justice Roberts: We’re both lawyers from Indiana, but the similarity pretty much ends there. But how can we put the “student” back in “student athlete?” It’s so simple.

Make college football success include success as a student. How? Henceforth, all conference championships, post-season bowls, playoff participation, etc., will be awarded according to “College Football Rating, derived by the application of “Bobref’s Formula.” The formula is: CFR = GW x GSR. A team’s College Football Rating (CFR) is equal to the product of games won and NCAA Graduation Success Rate. For example, this season, ND has won 10 games. Their latest GSR for the football program is 97%. This gives them a College Football Rating of 9.7. By comparison, for example, Alabama’s CFR is 8.25, Clemson’s is 7.5, and Ohio State’s is a lowly 4.68, since they’ve only played 6 games.

Problem solved. FTFY. No need to thank me.

Nice sentiment and plan, but it will never fly for one reason:  Money.

No, the NCAA basically need to get rid of the concept of the "student athlete" once and for all, at least for the big money sports like football and basketball.  Pay the players a salary commensurate with the program, which have become nothing more than development leagues for the the NFL and NBA.  Stop pussy footing around what these programs have become because you will never change them.  They are sports entertainment for the masses and alumni.

 

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1 hour ago, Muda69 said:

Nice sentiment and plan, but it will never fly for one reason:  Money.

No, the NCAA basically need to get rid of the concept of the "student athlete" once and for all, at least for the big money sports like football and basketball.  Pay the players a salary commensurate with the program, which have become nothing more than development leagues for the the NFL and NBA.  Stop pussy footing around what these programs have become because you will never change them.  They are sports entertainment for the masses and alumni.

How about instead we make college football what it really was intended to be, and let the NFL do what the other major sports have had to do: create and fund their own minor league system? Right now, the colleges are just a training ground for the pros. Or, if you will, a great big combine or audition.

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25 minutes ago, Bobref said:

How about instead we make college football what it really was intended to be, and let the NFL do what the other major sports have had to do: create and fund their own minor league system? Right now, the colleges are just a training ground for the pros. Or, if you will, a great big combine or audition.

Sounds good.  You ok with you alma mater immediately canceling it's lucrative TV rights contract with NBC to air the Irish home games?  After all isn't this sort of deemphasis part of getting college football "what it really was intended to be."?

 

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59 minutes ago, Muda69 said:

Sounds good.  You ok with you alma mater immediately canceling it's lucrative TV rights contract with NBC to air the Irish home games?  After all isn't this sort of deemphasis part of getting college football "what it really was intended to be."?

 

Of course not! Unlike many places, a very significant chunk of all that football money finds its way into the University’s General Fund at Notre Dame, where it’s been used, among other things, to fund lots of scholarships for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Athletic Dept. does not call the shots on that stuff.

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36 minutes ago, Bobref said:

Of course not! Unlike many places, a very significant chunk of all that football money finds its way into the University’s General Fund at Notre Dame, where it’s been used, among other things, to fund lots of scholarships for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Athletic Dept. does not call the shots on that stuff.

So that money isn't part of the problem.  Got it.  I'm sure the likes of Alabama, Clemson, OSU, etc.  would raise similar justifications.  

 

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2 hours ago, Muda69 said:

So that money isn't part of the problem.  Got it.  I'm sure the likes of Alabama, Clemson, OSU, etc.  would raise similar justifications.  

 

Oh, it’s certainly part of the problem. I didn’t say my solution was workable. Or even desirable. More of a tongue in cheek thing.

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23 minutes ago, temptation said:

THIRTY-THREE of the 247 top 100 recruits for 2021 are either committed to one of the big three or have them among their finalists...

There are 130+ FBS programs...

In high school, when a few teams dominate the rest, we impose barriers designed to “level the playing field.” In other sports, when you’re successful, you end up with worse draft order, in the name of competitive balance. Why can’t we do this in college football? Currently D1 programs can award up to 85 full scholarships at any one time. How about if a team wins 11+ games, they get cut to 75 for the next year? If they win 10, they only get cut to 80? And so on. I think that might work, over the long run. Change my mind.

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4 minutes ago, Bobref said:

In high school, when a few teams dominate the rest, we impose barriers designed to “level the playing field.” In other sports, when you’re successful, you end up with worse draft order, in the name of competitive balance. Why can’t we do this in college football? Currently D1 programs can award up to 85 full scholarships at any one time. How about if a team wins 11+ games, they get cut to 75 for the next year? If they win 10, they only get cut to 80? And so on. I think that might work, over the long run. Change my mind.

Eh, don’t really like this idea.  Can’t place my finger on why but I get the high school analogy.

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