We are entering a golden age for college football...

[DrDawkinstein]

I feel like we just left the true "golden age" and are entering more of a "guilded age" or an age dictated by greed and making the most money (even more so than before).

 

To me, the real golden age ended once they moved to the playoffs. And while that might leave less to argue over who really is the true National Champion, I feel like we lost a LOT at the lower levels.

 

It used to be, come New Years day, student athletes all over the country, at ALL levels, were playing "their championship". Sure, you may not be up for the National Championship, but doggone it, the kids playing for UCLA and Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl were going to give it their all and have that memory/story forever.

Edited December 13, 2024 by DrDawkinstein

[boyst]

2 hours ago, DrDawkinstein said:

I feel like we just left the true "golden age" and are entering more of a "guilded age" or an age dictated by greed and making the most money (even more so than before).

 

To me, the real golden age ended once they moved to the playoffs. And while that might leave less to argue over who really is the true National Champion, I feel like we lost a LOT at the lower levels.

 

It used to be, come New Years day, student athletes all over the country, at ALL levels, were playing "their championship". Sure, you may not be up for the National Championship, but doggone it, the kids playing for UCLA and Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl were going to give it their all and have that memory/story forever.

the golden age flourished and truly was peaking early with Miami, Reggie Bush, USC, to end with Alabama and Nick Saban.

[Logic]

4 hours ago, DrDawkinstein said:

I feel like we just left the true "golden age" and are entering more of a "guilded age" or an age dictated by greed and making the most money (even more so than before).

 

To me, the real golden age ended once they moved to the playoffs. And while that might leave less to argue over who really is the true National Champion, I feel like we lost a LOT at the lower levels.

 

It used to be, come New Years day, student athletes all over the country, at ALL levels, were playing "their championship". Sure, you may not be up for the National Championship, but doggone it, the kids playing for UCLA and Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl were going to give it their all and have that memory/story forever.

College football has always been a game where the universities exploited free labor to make obscene amounts of money. 

Now, at least the labor gets to get in on the money-making. 

Considering that only 1.6% of college players make it to the NFL, I hope they all get AS MUCH as they can WHILE they can, whether it be via transfer portal, NIL deals, whatever. Enough with asking young men to place their bodies, brains, and long term health on the line for free.

So rather than viewing the game as entering a new era dictated by greed, I view it as top universities -- if they want to continue to attract talent the way the used to be able to -- being required to distribute some of their football-earned wealth to the young men who actually brought it to them to begin with. I do not fault the players one bit for seeking every last penny they can get their hands on.

[DrDawkinstein]

36 minutes ago, Logic said:

College football has always been a game where the universities exploited free labor to make obscene amounts of money. 

Now, at least the labor gets to get in on the money-making. 

Considering that only 1.6% of college players make it to the NFL, I hope they all get AS MUCH as they can WHILE they can, whether it be via transfer portal, NIL deals, whatever. Enough with asking young men to place their bodies, brains, and long term health on the line for free.

So rather than viewing the game as entering a new era dictated by greed, I view it as top universities -- if they want to continue to attract talent the way the used to be able to -- being required to distribute some of their football-earned wealth to the young men who actually brought it to them to begin with. I do not fault the players one bit for seeking every last penny they can get their hands on.

 

I'm all for paying student athletes. But (unsurprisingly) the NCAA picked the absolute worst way to do it.

 

Regardless, that isnt even my biggest beef when I talk about greed and money. I'm more referring to the actual schools and power conferences consolidating everything, and it all coming down to which schools can generate $100M+ in TV revenue.

[Logic]

12 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

I'm all for paying student athletes. But (unsurprisingly) the NCAA picked the absolute worst way to do it.

 

Regardless, that isnt even my biggest beef when I talk about greed and money. I'm more referring to the actual schools and power conferences consolidating everything, and it all coming down to which schools can generate $100M+ in TV revenue.

Ah, okay. THAT I can get on board with. Sorry, I misunderstood.

Seeing Oregon in the Big 10 is still so weird to me...

[boyst]

7 hours ago, Logic said:

College football has always been a game where the universities exploited free labor to make obscene amounts of money. 

Now, at least the labor gets to get in on the money-making. 

Considering that only 1.6% of college players make it to the NFL, I hope they all get AS MUCH as they can WHILE they can, whether it be via transfer portal, NIL deals, whatever. Enough with asking young men to place their bodies, brains, and long term health on the line for free.

So rather than viewing the game as entering a new era dictated by greed, I view it as top universities -- if they want to continue to attract talent the way the used to be able to -- being required to distribute some of their football-earned wealth to the young men who actually brought it to them to begin with. I do not fault the players one bit for seeking every last penny they can get their hands on.

100% wrong. Just like Title IX helped to kill sports the NIL is making it much worse for the average NCAA athlete. The brief time I ran D1 (Toledo) track and then quit only to have the team disbanded to due numbers of female athletes dropping ilearned a little.

 

The student athlete could not work certain jobs due to lack of time, or simply because of possible rules infractions. 3-4 hour practices/day per sport with 2 days a week study hall of at least 90 minutes consumed all time.

 

The greedy university making money off of the track team? Volleyball? *****...no. The MAC school i went to was like most other MAC schools and barely made money off of the basketball team. The only profitable sport was the football team. Baseball, softball, soccer, etc. didn't make money. Swimming, dive, field hockey...nope.

 

The obscene amounts of money the University made from a pretty darn good football team was spread to other teams. We didn't complain the football team had their own weight room, training staff, etc. The track team shared a staff, locker room, and facilities with the baseball team.

 

The whole idea and statement is so tiresome. Football literally funds the athletic programs of the smaller schools.

[CaseyatBat]

On 12/13/2024 at 10:28 PM, boyst said:

100% wrong. Just like Title IX helped to kill sports the NIL is making it much worse for the average NCAA athlete. The brief time I ran D1 (Toledo) track and then quit only to have the team disbanded to due numbers of female athletes dropping ilearned a little.

 

The student athlete could not work certain jobs due to lack of time, or simply because of possible rules infractions. 3-4 hour practices/day per sport with 2 days a week study hall of at least 90 minutes consumed all time.

 

The greedy university making money off of the track team? Volleyball? *****...no. The MAC school i went to was like most other MAC schools and barely made money off of the basketball team. The only profitable sport was the football team. Baseball, softball, soccer, etc. didn't make money. Swimming, dive, field hockey...nope.

 

The obscene amounts of money the University made from a pretty darn good football team was spread to other teams. We didn't complain the football team had their own weight room, training staff, etc. The track team shared a staff, locker room, and facilities with the baseball team.

 

The whole idea and statement is so tiresome. Football literally funds the athletic programs of the smaller schools.

 

good post. the "olympic sports" you mention are going to be gutted in the coming years. sad.

 

I dont think thats good for society in general as many outstanding business/industry leaders got their start with an athletic scholarship in something other than football. 

 

football is going to look way different anyway, Oregon is already a powerhouse, North Carolina and Virginia are next. This has nothing to do with tradition and building their programs it is just $$$$$ potential they have with NIL donors

[boyst]

42 minutes ago, CaseyatBat said:

 

good post. the "olympic sports" you mention are going to be gutted in the coming years. sad.

 

I dont think thats good for society in general as many outstanding business/industry leaders got their start with an athletic scholarship in something other than football. 

 

football is going to look way different anyway, Oregon is already a powerhouse, North Carolina and Virginia are next. This has nothing to do with tradition and building their programs it is just $$$$$ potential they have with NIL donors

The Olympic sports will continue to go the way of club and private routes. It is happening in high school as more people opt to play in clubs and private organizations instead of their high school. It began some years ago with things like golf, tennis, and other more miniscule sports. But now it's happening for soccer, baseball, and even basketball.

[CaseyatBat]

53 minutes ago, boyst said:

The Olympic sports will continue to go the way of club and private routes. It is happening in high school as more people opt to play in clubs and private organizations instead of their high school. It began some years ago with things like golf, tennis, and other more miniscule sports. But now it's happening for soccer, baseball, and even basketball.

 

agreed and thats not good, now you gotta be a rich kid to play tennis or swimming or track

[YoloinOhio]

On 12/13/2024 at 3:57 PM, Logic said:

Ah, okay. THAT I can get on board with. Sorry, I misunderstood.

Seeing Oregon in the Big 10 is still so weird to me...

It is SO weird, especially if the buckeyes win Saturday and face Oregon in the rose bowl next week, which is the traditional PAC-12-big 10 matchup, it just doesn’t make sense in my brain yet. Same with USC and washington

[Mr. WEO]

playoffs with 6 blowouts in first 7 games.

 

it's a mess.  the 10, 11 and 12 seeds didn't belong.  Boise as a #3 was a joke.

[gobills404]

37 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

playoffs with 6 blowouts in first 7 games.

 

it's a mess.  the 10, 11 and 12 seeds didn't belong.  Boise as a #3 was a joke.

I think an 8 team playoff would’ve been better but this is easily one of the best college playoffs ever. I’m fine with there being more blowouts if it means there’s 4-5 good games instead of 1 or 2. Not to mention ND and OSU wouldn’t have been in the playoffs at all if it was still only 4 teams.

[GaryPinC]

I'm ok with the 12, despite some lopsided games.  There's always going to be subjectivity in the rankings and finally, FINALlY they just play it out.  No more excuses about how a team lost because they were too beat up by their superior conference coming in.  Shut up and go home!

 

I think the non-playoff bowl games will grow because they'll still be money makers and I predict the bottom or bottom two seeds will eventually become early bowl play-in games.

[Mr. WEO]

15 hours ago, gobills404 said:

I think an 8 team playoff would’ve been better but this is easily one of the best college playoffs ever. I’m fine with there being more blowouts if it means there’s 4-5 good games instead of 1 or 2. Not to mention ND and OSU wouldn’t have been in the playoffs at all if it was still only 4 teams.

 there have been 3 close games

 

8 is the right number. 

 

The 2 best teams ended up in the finals

[CaseyatBat]

Golden showers maybe. You had guys quitting at halftime of a bowl game.
 

Worst era of college football in my life and I’m old!

 

[GunnerBill]

On 1/11/2025 at 3:11 AM, Mr. WEO said:

playoffs with 6 blowouts in first 7 games.

 

it's a mess.  the 10, 11 and 12 seeds didn't belong.  Boise as a #3 was a joke.

 

I don't think the problem is the 10, 11, 12 seeds. It is the insistence in rewarding winners of 2nd tier conferences. There is a premier league of college football. It is the SEC and the Big 10. 

[TrentEdwardsCheckDownOn4th]

I was going to post the complete opposite ...  What made college football great were the rivalries which are gone. What we have now is essentially a minor league comparable to AAA baseball.  

[EasternOHBillsFan]

1 hour ago, TrentEdwardsCheckDownOn4th said:

I was going to post the complete opposite ...  What made college football great were the rivalries which are gone. What we have now is essentially a minor league comparable to AAA baseball.  

 

The rivalries are by no means gone in the Big Ten, that's for sure. All of those rivalry trophies are still very much alive and well and new rivalries with USC and Oregon are really coming on now with the new playoff format offering a big boost.