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The end of college football


AUght2win

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I'll still watch and root for our Tigers, obviously. But it's going to be a major change. One that may zap a lot of my passion for the game. 

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You know, for many of the reasons you list, I was starting to lose interest in CFB, and I think that applies to more people than either ESPN or this board would like to admit. But, the move of Texas and OU to the SEC has actually kind of gotten me interested again. No more cakewalk schedules for OU. Texas might not ever be at the top again, but they are certainly good enough to be spoilers in the SEC. I get to watch AU potentially twice/year in person, once at ATM, once in Austin. On the bigger scale, I think a lot of people nationally will tune in just to see how OU does against a SEC schedule, ditto Texas. It remains to be seen whether the "new" CFB will keep my interest, but I can't deny this is an interesting step. 

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People said the same thing when the forward pass was invented. People will still watch. I’ll be one of them. Doesn’t mean I’m at all happy about this idiotic and pointless merger. But the truth is not much will change.

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17 minutes ago, TigerHorn said:

You know, for many of the reasons you list, I was starting to lose interest in CFB, and I think that applies to more people than either ESPN or this board would like to admit. But, the move of Texas and OU to the SEC has actually kind of gotten me interested again. No more cakewalk schedules for OU. Texas might not ever be at the top again, but they are certainly good enough to be spoilers in the SEC. I get to watch AU potentially twice/year in person, once at ATM, once in Austin. On the bigger scale, I think a lot of people nationally will tune in just to see how OU does against a SEC schedule, ditto Texas. It remains to be seen whether the "new" CFB will keep my interest, but I can't deny this is an interesting step. 

I don’t understand the excitement. This is going to kill recruiting for all the mid to upper SEC teams not named Alabama or LSU. All the people leaving that area because they want to play in the SEC are now going to stay home and go to UT or Oklahoma. I’m just happy we aren’t TAMU. Their program is going to take a huge hit in recruiting now.

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4 minutes ago, ScotsAU said:

I don’t understand the excitement. This is going to kill recruiting for all the mid to upper SEC teams not named Alabama or LSU. All the people leaving that area because they want to play in the SEC are now going to stay home and go to UT or Oklahoma. I’m just happy we aren’t TAMU. Their program is going to take a huge hit in recruiting now.

I honestly disagree. It may make thing a little tougher for some, but I don't think it's going to be some drastic change for the most part. There are only so many elite prospects anyways, and they already pool at a handful of schools...what will change?

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25 minutes ago, TigerHorn said:

You know, for many of the reasons you list, I was starting to lose interest in CFB, and I think that applies to more people than either ESPN or this board would like to admit. But, the move of Texas and OU to the SEC has actually kind of gotten me interested again. No more cakewalk schedules for OU. Texas might not ever be at the top again, but they are certainly good enough to be spoilers in the SEC. I get to watch AU potentially twice/year in person, once at ATM, once in Austin. On the bigger scale, I think a lot of people nationally will tune in just to see how OU does against a SEC schedule, ditto Texas. It remains to be seen whether the "new" CFB will keep my interest, but I can't deny this is an interesting step. 

I’m still depresstexited. On the fence still.

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2 hours ago, AUght2win said:

Just an opinion. To me, with Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC - just the concept of that idea, much less it actually happening - it signals the end of college football.

Now, of course there is still literally going to be college football. There *will* always be some form of American universities competing on the grid iron. But the pillars that made college football different and fascinating are gone.

College football has always been about proximity and history. It's the only major American sport (or global sport, really) that combines the popularity of pro sports with localized competition, similar to high school sports. I mean, if you are reading this from Atlanta, you have 8 programs within a 5 hour drive of you that fill up NFL sized (or larger) stadiums every Saturday. 

This has produced rivalries between schools that date back hundreds of years, and carry an intensity with them that's totally unique. Neighbors cheering for opposing teams. Pockets of football culture that are distinct, developed over years of playing the same teams annually. 

When the dust settles, this will feel more like a mini-NFL - teams regularly traveling halfway across the country to play schools they have no connection or rivalry with. 

This transition began back in the 1990s. For us, we essentially dropped Georgia Tech, Tennessee, and Florida. But what we are about to see will take it a step further. 

We've already seen major rivalries - ones that are season-makers for communities - like Oklahoma-Nebraska, the Texas schools, some of Notre Dame's classic rivals, the Backyard Brawl (Pitt - WVU), and the Border War (Kansas - Missouri) just go extinct. 

This next realignment will kill off even more. 

I don't know how everybody else feels. But with the realignment and word that Alabama's backup QB is making 7 figures without ever playing a game, I just don't think the sport is going to remotely feel the same from here on out. 

I can see myself not giving a —- about ‘college football’ inside of 5 years. I hope I’m wrong.

Edited by Swamp Eagle
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Money money money money, moneeeey!  💰 

Edited by toddc
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19 minutes ago, ScotsAU said:

People said the same thing when the forward pass was invented. People will still watch. I’ll be one of them. Doesn’t mean I’m at all happy about this idiotic and pointless merger. But the truth is not much will change.

You were alive back then?

Edited by Swamp Eagle
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Age has tempered my emotional involvement in college sports, with scattered exceptions here and there. 

I used to be the "Gameday, watch games all day" whether we were playing or not. Prior to cable, those ABC doubleheader days were all this kid could ask for.

I don't arrange my Saturday schedule around football any longer. If I'm free to watch our game, I'll watch. If something else takes precedence, I'll track on my phone.

Things change, and as Billy Joel said "The good ol' days weren't always good; tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems." My issue, full disclosure, is that the change has been a bit dizzying. I am absolutely fine with the athletes making what they can via NIL...it's long overdue, and for some their window will be very small. 

Organizationally, I'm just kind of over all of it...it's NFL Lite. Meh. 

The thing that I wonder about with college football, and football in general, is the impact of CTE. I know helmet technology, proper tackling techniques, etc. have been emphasized, but F = MA is still a bitch when players get both bigger and faster.

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29 minutes ago, ScotsAU said:

People said the same thing when the forward pass was invented.

Apples and oranges. The forward pass was about a difference in the way the game is played. What's happening now is different. It's a fundamental shift of the model that college football has been historically based on. This, with the NIL and the neutering of the NCAA will result in a college football landscape that is fundamentally different. 

Quote

But the truth is not much will change.

It won't be immediately apparent but in ten years time? It will be so different that you won't believe it.

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We’re in the intermediary between that old dream of CFB and the hyper competitive super conference version. The in-between always seems odd and weird. At least the end product will finally take the bag off and give a definitive segregation between the haves and have nots. 
 

im sure some version of G5 football will always be there for people who just want to watch some laid-back amateurish ball

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College football is indeed DOA

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I haven't put a lot of thought into, but I only play close attention to football when Auburn is playing. Otherwise, I'm doing something else more productive. 

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I personally think that OU and Texas is the start of what we are going to notice is the big time Nationally blue bloods rooting themselves in the top tier. You’re going to see teams like Alabama, OSU, Miami, Oklahoma, Texas, Notre Dame just continue to further themselves from the rest of the pack. Their players will get better NIL deals, so they’ll always recruit the best players, they will get the best tv spots, so middle ground teams will be relegated to streaming services, and the portal is going to allow Bama, OSU, etc to just call up players that are high quality and developed. Mid level schools are going to essentially become farm teams. 
 

Auburn is in the middle up of top 25 programs of all time. But, what makes us unlucky is that our league rivals are mostly all ahead of us. Now that gap widens even more. Auburn is going to be the 7-9th best program historically in their conference. SEC adds Clemson and FSU and we move to like the 10/11th best.  Hopefully Coach Harsin can overcome that and put us on an upwards trajectory. But it’s going to be extremely difficult. He may end up being an upgrade in every single way from our previous coach, and still have us at 7-5/8-4 most years, because he can’t bring in the best talent. 

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Are people really sad about the demise of the NCAA?! That corrupt organization can’t burn in flames fast enough for my taste. So excited AU won’t be sacrificed while other programs can do whatever the hell they want. 
 

NIL won’t change the sport other than open up opportunities for the players and new schools to compete. Maybe it’ll mean a few guys staying in school longer and that is a good thing. But if it pisses you off seeing a college kid make more money than you then I guess that’s a personal problem to sort out. 
 

Im not sure about the realignment. The constant flux is a problem. The sport needs rivalries. But those come and go. The sport was not ruined when Texas and A&M stopped playing. It wasn’t ruined when the Fl AU series was cancelled. New rivalries will be built. Hell maybe one day we’ll talk about an AU Michigan rivalry. The problem right now is everything is just moving constantly and no one knows where it is going. Feels very unsettled and I think that is the problem. 

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1 hour ago, AU80cruiser said:

Im not sure if this is funny or a f'd up post. 

You decide which works for you. 😝 

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Actually, the Supreme Court cut college sports off at the knees, so this sort of dramatic change is inevitable. By ruling that the NCAA cannot control things like money flowing into the pockets of college athletes, it has forced the NCAA to make a lot of other changes to its governance. By undercutting the power of the NCAA, which tried to involve college presidents at different levels in the decision making, it set the stage for the new elitism. Conferences now have the power to call the shots, and universities are stuck in a money war with other universities.

So the Okies and the Hornies join the SEC. And so what if Auburn By The Lake and Free Shoes U come to the SEC as well?

1. It forces a realignment of other conferences to form a competing conference -- some sort of combo of PAC12, B1G, and ACC. And fact is, when you look at eyeballs on TV screens, those 3 conferences in some sort of merger, especially if they can draw in ND and BYU, create a TV market competitive to the bigger SEC.

2. Thamel, Wetzel and Forde are all 3 in agreement that this is the absolute death of college football. Anything those 3 agree on is *automatically* nasty, stinking BS as far as I'm concerned.

3. College football has been perceived as a minor league for the NFL for a long time. Now it is going to be even moreso.

Personally, I will still be eager to see SEC games -- *including* the games involving Tejas and Soonies. Remember, A&M and Misery both came to the SEC from the Big12. The SEC survived that catastrophe.

 

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