Home > Sports & Recreation > Football > College Football
Is college football overrated?
Results so far:
| Yes | 30% | 76 votes | Total: 250 votes | |
| No | 70% | 174 votes |
Yes
by Cain Carpenter
Created on: July 29, 2009 Last Updated: July 30, 2009
While many people don't want to believe it the truth of the matter is that college football is overrated. There are those that will put college football on a pedestal and hold the game high above themselves and the realm of any other sport. The argument being that this is football in it's most pure form. The way that the game should be played and how everyone should enjoy the game. However the truth is much further from that notion than one would expect.
Easily the biggest argument for why college football is overrated is the scheduling factor. While there are good games every week, that's only a very small portion of games. A handful, maybe six or seven games a week are even close to being considered marquee. The rest are four plus touchdown blowouts that are over by the end of the second quarter. The gaps in talent over the years between upper level teams and lower level teams has narrowed, but it's not enough to make for interesting games all the time. In the NFL there are blowouts but on a whole games are more competitive over the course of the week. It's not near as easy to pick who will win between Pittsburgh and Indianapolis as it is between USC and Oregon State.
Another glaring factor for college football being overrated is the poor system they have implemented for deciding a national championship. Merely mention BCS and before you can even get to the S part you will have college football fans shuttering at the sound of it. A terrible way to decide who the national champion will be only adds to the disappointment of certain games and makes the game all that more overrated. If the presidents of the schools finally understand just how profitable a playoff system can be, they would be pleasantly surprised just how happy fans of the game would be and how many new fans they would attract that were turned off by the BCS. This is just a reality that is too far away from happening unfortunately.
College football does have it's merits, there is absolutely no doubt about that and the game is good to watch from time to time, depending on the teams. However there is no doubt that it's overrated and inferior to the NFL in so many so many ways. In time perhaps college football will mend its ways, but there is no reason for anyone to hold their breath on this.
Learn more about this author, Cain Carpenter.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
No
by John Mitchell
Created on: January 19, 2010
Why do people think college football is overrated? Most people point to the BCS as the main reason they feel that way. In 2007, Boise State capped off their perfect season by beating Oklahoma 43-42 in the Fiesta Bowl, while a two loss LSU team defeated Ohio State 38-28 in the BCS National Championship game. Then, in 2008 Utah put an exclamation point on their undefeated season by defeating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, while a one loss Florida knocked off Oklahoma to be named National Champions. Finally, in 2009 an undefeated Boise State beat TCU in the Fiesta Bowl, while Alabama went to Pasadena and beat Texas to take home the Coaches Trophy.
Those same people point to the NFL playoffs as the reason the NFL is superior to college football. But, the NFL playoffs have flaws as well. In the 2009 playoffs, the San Diego Chargers made the playoffs with an 8-8 record while the New England Patriots went 11-5 but were left out of the playoffs although they were three games better than the Chargers.
San Diego got into the playoffs because they played in a much weaker AFC West, while the Patriots played in the AFC East that had three teams with 11-wins. The Chargers were 5-1 against in-division opponents, but just 3-7 against teams out side the AFC West. How is the Patriots not getting into the playoffs any better than Boise State or Utah getting a shot at the National Championship? If you ask me, both systems are flawed, and far from perfect, but it is the college game that gets the worst rap because of it, while people ignore the fact that the Patriots had a better year than the Chargers but were denied a playoff berth.
What makes college football so great is, in my opinion, it has the most exciting regular season in all sports. Every week can decide your season. In no other sport can one regular season loss end your chances at winning a championship. College football teams can't afford to play a bad game, because that one slip up can ruin your whole season. In the NFL, you can lose five, six, or even seven or eight games and still get into the playoffs with a shot at winning the Super Bowl. College football rewards you for what you did for a full season. In the NFL, it's all about getting hot at the right time, and it doesn't matter if you lose a few games early on in the regular season.
In 2008-09, the San Diego Chargers went 8-8 and still made the playoffs. If you go .500 in college football, you are lucky if you make a bowl game, and have absolutely no chance at playing for the National Championship.
Should Boise State in 2007, Utah in 2008, and Boise State again in 2009 got a shot at playing for the National Championship? Absolutely. As long as their is an undefeated team other than the team that was crowned National Champion, we can't for sure say that one team was better than the other. I would have loved to see Boise State play LSU in 2007, Utah play Florida in 2008, and even Boise State play Alabama in 2009, but the system doesn't allow it. That doesn't mean college football is overrated though, it's still a great sport, it just has a flawed way of determining it's champion.
I know it gets frustrating for those fans of teams from the non BCS conferences, because their team(s) aren't getting a fair shot at the National Championship, regardless of if they win every game or not. Times have changed some though, because these teams are at least getting a shot at a BCS bowl game, and this year we actually saw two non BCS teams play in a BCS game, albeit against each other. So, college football has changed some, and it is progressing for the better, and I do believe before long that a non BCS team will get a shot at playing for the National Championship.
The hope for the little guys resides in Boise, Idaho. In 2010, Boise State could, and should start out in the top 5 in the preseason polls. If they are able to run the table with wins over Oregon State and Virginia Tech then they could very well get their shot at playing for the National Championship and changing everybody's perception on college football for the better.
Learn more about this author, John Mitchell.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
Write and get published
Share with other writers
Polish your freelancing skills
Quality articles from proven freelancers
Exclusive rights, fast turnaround
Brand engagement, business blogging -- our writers do it all
INFORMATION
Copyright © 2002-2012 Helium, Inc. All rights reserved.
Helium.com: A Service of RR Donnelley