The New Reality of College Football

 

Welcome to the new reality of college football! What is this new reality? Is it parity? Is it NIL? I think those are factors but that is not the reality that I am thinking about. No, the new reality of college football is the current NFL reality, mediocrity. 

With onset of this Wild West mentality where anything goes, what we can expect is mediocre football at best. Why? Well, there will be no depth as depth transfers to play right away. No one wants to sit the bench, work hard in practice and be developed over time because they no longer have to wait. If your current school will not start you, there is a school out there that will. To land top freshman recruits, programs are now forced to guarantee true freshman playing time. That leaves little time to be developed and no time to grow and mature. 

We have already seen this in the NFL. College players have been leaving their colleges earlier because they can get paid right away in the NFL. We have seen the deterioration of the skill positions in the NFL. Quarterback play has seen an increase in interceptions and a decrease in completion rates. Wide receivers drop more balls and blame other factors. The running back is no longer a prominent position on the field. Coaches are hired to counsel and manage egos and not coach football. I can't even watch the NFL anymore, and college has quickly arrived at the same door.  

I admit it. I don't like it. I am starting to see to many things that resemble the NFL game. So, what's the answer? I am not sure there is one. There is plenty of money in support of the game so those who watch football for football will probably fad into the woodwork. The game will miss the football purist only if he or she can't be replaced, but my bet is that for a while they will be replaced by a new bred of fans. Those wanting all the other things besides football. The drama ... the storylines ... the feuds ... the plots ... All of these things will be added to football to make it more appealing and people will go and cheer, but for what?

The game will have changed, and purists like me will be long gone, but are we needed? Probably not. It will go on without us, but I don't think it will be the same and that is sad. Those cheering their team on ten years from now will not recognize the football I knew and loved. They will never know the beauty of the game where every kid had a place on the team. There was no bigger, faster, stronger program ... no flying around tackling with your head down. The game back in the day taught more than football. It was a chance for boys to learn to be men. It was a place where hard work was rewarded and being physical was taught in all the right ways. It was field where every player learned the benefits of team and the determent of individuality. 

The game of football I knew taught so much more than football and it appears that this version of the game is gone and being replaced by money, power and fame. Something inside me says this will not end well, but what do I know.