Resolved: College Football is way more exciting than Pro. Pro Football Talk agrees.

Submitted by wolverine1987 on

So H/T to friend of mgoblog Jane Coastan, who retweeted this so I saw it: I think this position is not even debateable recently, College Football is in every way superior as a product. But I know there are many NFL elite types who would disagree. what do you guys think?

Currently, college football is genuinely exciting far more often than pro football is. NFL needs to be concerned about that.

smwilliams

September 15th, 2017 at 2:00 PM ^

I think there's valid reasons to prefer college;



1. Every game is crucial. Ohio State has an uphill climb to make the playoff and has to win out now. 1 loss can be disastrous.



2. Tradition and environment. NFL games are corporate and soulless at least until the playoffs.



3. Style of play. I'm not arguing the football is better, but every NFL team is basically the same. In college you get Air RAID teams, option teams, 3-3-5 defenses, power teams, spread teams.

lhglrkwg

September 15th, 2017 at 2:01 PM ^

I think bands, student sections, traditiona, the passion, etc set it apart. There's no touch the banner, dot the i, Howards rock, Stanford band, or jump around. It's just a lot more atale and corporate in the NFL. Nothing beats the buzz in Ann Arbor on a big game morning.

taistreetsmyhero

September 15th, 2017 at 2:04 PM ^

Where teams are totally unwatchable unless they have a great QB. And very few teams have a great QB.



In CFB, verrrry few teams have a great QB, and the average QB is relatively terrible (see: above average qb Wilton Speight). But the schemes work around that and the opposing defenses aren't good enough to make the games boring af.



Plus, the whole, ya know, inherent excitement of the games. The NFL can't compete with cfb rivalries and it's not even close.

nerv

September 15th, 2017 at 2:05 PM ^

Obviously the people who obsess over Michigan football year round no this board are going to agree with the sentiment that college ball is superior. I absolutely agree with all my being. That said just about nobody I know agrees with me. They get so, so excited for the NFL (as Lions fans, no less). Ive tried having this conversation and for reasons that never make any sense that 13-9 awful on the eyes product the NFL put out last night is preferred.

/shrug

Sambojangles

September 15th, 2017 at 2:16 PM ^

I'm playing Devil's advocate because I totally agree that NCAA football > NFL. But there are a number of things which the NFL has over college:

Quality of play is definitely better overall. The players are are more skilled, experienced, and conditioned. Of course it cuts both ways, as more skill on defense stifles offensive skill. But there are plays and schemes that can only be done at the NFL level.

The draft, roster limit and salary cap enforce parity, so winning games is more about the playing and coaching, rather than a skill gap. Every team in the league (except the Lions and Browns) has a relatively equal chance of a successful season, compared to the disparity between the college football haves and have-nots. The trade-off is that there are no truly shocking NFL upsets. When a team wins a surprising road game, it's just what happens.

Also cupcake games which have infested college football don't really occur in the NFL. It's a regular occurrance to have non-conference games be blowouts where the starters don't play in the second half of college football, and far more rare in the NFL where games are decided within a possession or two more often.

Some fans prefer to follow the inside baseball part of the draft, free agency, and teambuilding through salary cap management, and prefer that to the recruiting industry.

It's easier to get emotionally invested in a player when their career can last a decade or two, compared to 4 at most for a college player. Denard was a starter for 3 years, and it seems so long ago. If you're the type that really likes to follow individual players, college is harder since the career arc is so short. Changing sports but look at how people freaked out when Verlander was traded - it does have an emotional effect to many fans.

The NFL has branding over NCAA. Individual schools have their great traditions and ESPN has done a great job with Gameday and big-game Saturday nights, etc., Sunday games, MNF, and the Super Bowl are cultural institutions which almost trancend football fans. Fantasy football helps here too.

Perkis-Size Me

September 15th, 2017 at 2:45 PM ^

College football is, in my mind, a far superior product. But there is one thing I will say that the NFL has in spades over college.

College is always a story of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. You can expect teams like OSU, Michigan, Alabama, Texas, and USC to always recruit better than most everyone else and be in contention for the title just about every year. Schools like IU, Vanderbilt, Oregon State, Iowa State, etc. are probably never going to have that opportunity. Top kids don't want to go there, and any good coach who does come along leaves for greener pastures after a few years. And then boom, that school is right back where it started. 

In the NFL, minus a few exceptions like the Pats and Steelers, you never really know who's going to be good year in and year out. There are so many instances of "worst to first" that almost any team can rise up in any given year. Every team can, in theory, one day win it all.

I know you all are laughing at the idea of the Browns or Lions ever winning, but the Lions or Browns will win a Super Bowl long before any of the mid-tier college teams that I mentioned above even sniff a national title. I may be oversimplifying this, but let's put it this way: there is a LOT more parity in the NFL than there is in college. 

Other than that, the NFL product sucks compared to the college product. 

DonAZ

September 15th, 2017 at 3:27 PM ^

Schools like IU, Vanderbilt, Oregon State, Iowa State, etc. are probably never going to have that opportunity.

Totally agree ... unless said programs cheat aggressively and successfully.  But that's a short-term strategy.

The college playoff will -- in my opinion -- only make this worse.  The arms race is on to be in the "top 10" conversation so they can have a hope to be in the "top 4" decision.  In the Big 10 it's Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, and maybe Wisconsin.  The other programs won't be able to keep up.

How that'll manifest is the open question.  Do those programs just accept their fate, play their schedule, go to some lesser bowl, count their money, and hope a profit is at the other side?  In most cases, probably. But I can see some programs seriously talking about dropping football.

We'll see how things unfold over, say, the next 10 years. But for now I'm fairly certain the rich will get much richer, and the poor will do their best to survive.

othernel

September 15th, 2017 at 2:53 PM ^

Yeah, watching NFL on Sunday after watching College on Saturday is like watching football in slo-mo.

Seriously? a 4 minute commercial break at the 2 minute mark? Way to kill all momentum.

Sopwith

September 15th, 2017 at 3:21 PM ^

I'd much rather watch a good NFL films production (especially about NFL in the 70s or 80s) than an actual NFL game. Anything narrated by John Facenda is still pure gold after all these years.

UofM Die Hard …

September 15th, 2017 at 3:21 PM ^

and every other bullshit rule drags NFL games out way too long.  Attendance is down, viewership is down...they are hard to watch.   

 

I record the Seahawks and Lions games and watch them later....skip all the bs.  I could never do this with Michigan game...ever

uncle leo

September 15th, 2017 at 3:38 PM ^

But I'll just throw in some of my reasons:

-NFL is oversaturated. Thursday night, sometimes Saturday (during the later part of the season), all day Sunday, and Monday night. The Thursday night games are complete dog bleep. When I was younger, there was a general excitement all week because you know basically everything was on Sunday. Things have become more and more spread out.

-Playcalling is vanilla by necessity. Too much speed to do a ton of stuff to the perimeter. Very much a straightforward game, lower man wins, insert cliches.

-No real, true rivals. Some teams may not "like" each other, but I don't think there's legit disgust for other teams. I'm supposed to hate the Bears and Packers, but I'm honestly very indifferent towards them. 

-Colors. I know this is an odd one, but all the colors in the NFL are just very washed out. College football just "pops."

 

UMxWolverines

September 15th, 2017 at 3:41 PM ^

The only bad thing about college is there are a lot of teams that struggle on defense. But at the same time a lot of teams in the NFL have zero creativity and are offensive disasters, as seen in the Texans Bengals game last night.

charblue.

September 15th, 2017 at 4:37 PM ^

isn't necessarily better, it's just more anticeptic than college football. And if you've ever gone to a pro game vs. a college game, the dead time in between plays makes watching baseball far more intriguing.

Of the pro sports, hockey is the best to watch, then baseball, then football and basketball. And that for me has changed drastically since I was a kid.

Truth is, the reason why pros don't compete for pure entertainment with college is because their games are so predictable and drama-free based on scheduling, salaries and the lack of need to win to stay relevant. Lose and you get the top draft pick. Lose and you still get paid by the league for all the ancillary charges of presenting its weekly fall product. Win and you get a few dollars more.

Win or lose, the NFL will leave your town if you don't give them a great stadium deal or your market is bigger than the one they are currently located in. Doesn't matter what your history of support has been. And the reason there is no corporate ownership outside of Green Bay (which was grandfathered in) is because it's easier to persuade one guy than a dozen board members of each team on what's best for league operations.

Winning in the NFL is almost an irrelevant factor to a successful enterprise because of the way ownership and franchise operations are controlled and the underlying monetary system that drives it. In fact, what's more important to the league is that their teams remain competitve in TV ratings and marketing.

What's curious about the NFL, is that it's run like the Trump Organization with values added.

BIGWEENIE

September 15th, 2017 at 4:29 PM ^

Being old as dirt, I have always thought that. Go back and watch games from the early 70's until now. Triple option, Wishbone. Saturday is a holiday from now until Dec.

Hotel Putingrad

September 15th, 2017 at 4:45 PM ^

However, I will say this: as much as I love Michigan football, seeing the Lions win a Super Bowl would without a doubt be the apex of my sports fandom. It would trump every other celebration in my lifetime, short of the births of my daughters.

buddha

September 15th, 2017 at 5:06 PM ^

Considering this is a college sports blog - dedicated to Michigan - I am not entirely surprised by the popular opinion that College Football is better than the NFL.

For me, as a Bay Area native and growing up with the Niners during their dynasty years, I have always and will always love the NFL. I can appreciate that for many of you who grew up either a Lions fan or a Browns fan, the NFL is horrible because - frankly - the product you are accustomed to is pretty crappy. Obviously, the Niners aren't great now, but they have been pretty fantastic more often than not in my lifetime.

UM sports - and football, specifically - is the peak of my fandom. I devour and absorb as much UM information as possible because it feeds my fanhood; and, to some extent, I engineer my weekend schedule(s) around UM football just so I can see it.

Having said that, it's painful for me to watch the rest of college football. Save the occasional Top-10 matchup like OU - OSU, I just fundamentally do not care about the games of other schools. While this is silly to be said, it's not the pros. Many of the teams out there are simply not very good, and the disparity in talent between teams doesn't make games very interesting for me.

While I completely agree the pomp, pageantry, and atmosphere of college football dwarfs the NFL, I just cannot get past the actual talent and execution on the field. For that reason, I can watch almost every NFL game, but not many college games other than UM.

socalwolverine1

September 15th, 2017 at 5:10 PM ^

For me, pretty much all American pro sports are too frustrating to watch live...the corporate advertisers have effectively killed the goose that laid the golden eggs. If I can't DVR it, I won't be watching. European league soccer (EPL, Champions League) with its running clock is the only pro sport I watch live. I also like the way the Euro leagues have relegation because it makes every game so important, no matter how far down in the standings a team may be. But it would never fly in the US because of the aforementioned TV and sponsorship deals. 

buddha

September 15th, 2017 at 5:19 PM ^

I wanted to disagree with this but I can't!

My initial hypothesis was the EPL must be as valuable - if not more  than the NFL. But I checked league revenue by year, and - even with all the extra games and sponsorship deals of the EPL for a GLOBAL audience - the NFL  makes nearly 250% more money annually! That's insane...And - yes - you are totally right about EPL and Champions League...

Grumpy52

September 15th, 2017 at 10:22 PM ^

At least the NFL isn't corrupt. You have major programs across the country, that cheat year in, year out. Nothing ever happens to them. If anything, they're protected. Basketball is even worse. So while the college game has good points. It's also a corrupt system, that will never be cleaned up.

brad

September 15th, 2017 at 11:27 PM ^

The NFL has what I would call moderate corruption issues: DV coverups, PED use conspicuously overlooked, the companion issue to PED use - concussions - also buried as much as possible, the Brady witch hunt, handing the Steelers Super Bowl wins. The NFL isn't exactly pure as the driven snow.

ralphgoblue

September 16th, 2017 at 7:03 AM ^

Fantasy Football might be the only reason why a ton of people watch the NFL. Most Thursday Night games are so bad (i think the avg Thursaday score is 19-16 over the years)

 

Id rather watch Tuesday MAC football over 90% of NFL games

HimJarbaugh

September 16th, 2017 at 8:19 AM ^

I like both. The NFL is a different game and its biggest strength is the number of teams. College football has no preseason so they get cupcakes and in the NFL you may play a bad team here and there but rarely are spreads over 35 or 40. If you look at college football in totality there were not a lot of last-minute drives or make-or-break plays last week or in the first week. That happens much more in the NFL and I find that exciting, just like I find Michigan wins like that (Minnesota 2003, Florida 2008).