Two sports writers share their opinion of the state of college football exclusively on TLSN

Discussion in 'On The Field' started by Billy Dale, Feb 1, 2022.

  1. Billy Dale

    Billy Dale The History of Longhorn Sports through 2014

    TLSN: What should the NCAA do, if anything, to try and establish some checks and balances on free agency in college football, also known as the transfer portal?


    TIM: I think the NCAA is on a slippery slope as it tries to regulate the idea of the transfer portal. And it’s all kind of The Wild, Wild West as nobody has ever really experienced it. I worry about a recruit who might get angry about the lack of playing time early in his career casting longing eyes at another program that recruited them. But I know that will be happening on a regular basis.

    What eventually will happen, in my opinion, is that the NCAA is pulled out of the regulation business for the biggest of all college football programs. It’s already the case with the CFP having little input. I see it going even more to where the biggest conferences will manage the programs themselves and not even rely on the NCAA. This will effectively make coaches feel that no player really will be safe in their folds until their senior year and will make the dynamics of the coach/player relationship fascinating and something to continually watch.

    And this will also result – mark my words – in burnout for coaches, who continually will have to be recruiting 12 months a year, 365 days a year in college football. In the long term, I look for more college coaches to make the switch to the NFL, where they won’t have to face these incessant demands, eventually resulting in a watered-down college product in comparison with the behemoth NFL.


    TLSN: With reports of A&M raising $25-35 million to pay the December recruiting class, and UT's establishment of a "Pancake Factory" to pay offensive linemen, what does NIL do to recruiting for the foreseeable future?


    TIM: On the reports of big money going into investing in top players in the NIL, I think we’ll continue to see this. The genie is out of the bottle and will eventually result in the bigger, richer programs become the most powerful with the best recruits. It’s something that needs to be analyzed for a couple of years before changes are made.

    Now will this eventually lead to those programs dominating? It should. But this is where coaching and talent development becomes key, taking those heralded players and making them their best. It will be interesting to see. But I could see the big school spending big money to get the top players resulting in an eventual stratification where only 15-20 schools contend for the national championship. It will be those schools with a big money outlook.


    TLSN: You told me recently that you believe only Clemson and Ohio State have shown that they can compete with the SEC. As Texas and OU prepare to join the conference, what does this move mean for the rest of the Power Five conferences and schools?


    TIM: This will mean that the other conferences will be playing at what they average fan perceives to be a much lower level. Will people watch? Sure, but not at the levels they are now. Eventually, this will lead to lower television ratings and lower rights payments and push them even farther down compared to the highest levels.

    It will lead to the perception that the SEC is at the pinnacle of college football. And everybody else will be at a lower level. I don’t think that will be good for the sport. I love the variety of different programs, different areas, different stadiums, different traditions. And I fear this will be lost.

    Here’s something to consider. The viewership of the three-game national football playoffs has skidded from 91 million to 56.4 million since it started to the most recent one. That’s more than 38 percent. Those erosion numbers should scare the founders of the playoff and anybody who loves the sport.


    TLSN: What's one rule that needs to be changed?


    TIM: As far as on-the-field rules, I actually like most of the college rules better than their NFL counterparts. I love stopping the clock after a first down, giving us more plays to savor. Damn the people who want to fit a television game into a tight 3½ hour window. It is a game to be savored. Anybody who has battled traffic to get into Starkville or Stillwater or even the L.A. Coliseum should be able to enjoy more football once they get into the stadium. It happens only once a week. I’m enough of a glutton to want more.

    I’m not crazy about the overtime rules as they currently are constituted. I’d like to back it up say to the 50-yard line in overtime to make it more of a challenge to score. It’s too easy now.

    Another item I’m not enthralled with is the fair catch on kickoffs outside the goal line and the automatic placement on the 25. I realize it’s being done as a safety rule. But what it’s done is effectively taken the kickoff return out of the modern game. And that’s sad. Special teams are an important part of football, but its importance is being lessened with these rules changes.


    TLSN: Where do you see the college football playoff system going in the near future, and what would be your choice for it?


    TIM: I think the playoff needs to be expanded to 12 teams. I would favor all five Power 5 conference champions to get a bid. I would also like to see the highest rated G5 program to make it. And then we could pick six at-large teams. Give the first four teams a bye in the first round and play 5-12 seeds at homefield sites for those games. Incorporate the biggest bowls the rest of the way out.

    People would say we would never see those lower schools contend. Who knows? They might. And once we got that upset, it would turn the public’s reaction of the CFP into more like “March Madness.” The NCAA tournament thrives on. And the biggest reason? The upsets that mark the tournament. Some of that would help the college football playoff and eventually would happen.

    College football needs a shot of excitement. Right now there’s a growing perception that only the top 4-5 programs have a real shot at the playoffs every year. And it’s playing out that way with Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Ohio State making the playoffs most of the time over the last few years. This must change if college football will start earning some new fans.
    The public is getting tired of seeing those same teams play all the time. With the SEC’s continued dominance, the sport is becoming way too regionalized with the South dominating. It needs to open up to the entire country or it could become irrelevant in the eyes of many fans.
    TLSN: How 'bout a nutshell theory on how and why UT football has been so mediocre for so long? And how do you read the tea leaves as to the way things will play out for the Longhorns in their first few seasons in the SEC?
    TIM: Texas has been mediocre so long for several reasons. Despite having among the best infrastructures to build upon among all college programs. The Longhorns have skidded because of a pair of substandard coaching hires. I’m not ready to throw the towel in on the Sark experiment. But he needs to show substantive improvement in Year 2 to get the program back on the right track. In terms of challenging top national powers, the Longhorns often appear soft and wimpish. That’s a systemic problem that starts with location. The last generation of Texas high school football players who form the foundation of recruiting for the Longhorns have been weaned on seven-on-seven, Air Raid-heavy attacks. Unfortunately, that leaves them woefully underprepared to play smashmouth football against the SEC powers like Alabama and Georgia they have to beat to challenge for a national title. They shouldn’t feel alone. Oklahoma has faced the same problem when they played in the CFP with the same results.
    That’s why I think the transformation into an SEC program will take several years before Texas and OU are contending for conference titles. They have to get their offensive line and defense comparable to the teams they are going to have to beat regularly once they start playing conference schedules. It’s not there yet for Texas and will take some time to get back there. It won’t be as easy for the Longhorns to transform into the SEC as it did for them to join the Big 12 in the mid-1990s where they won the conference title in their first season.



    Photo on top is Tim Griffin and the bottom photo is Professor Carlson and Kirk Bohls in their early years starting their professional sports writing Journey's.
    Tim Griffin.jpg Kirk Bohls and larry carlson.jpg


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    Tim Griffin.jpg Kirk Bohls and larry carlson.jpg
     
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  2. Chop

    Chop 10,000+ Posts

    The rich get richer.
    The big get bigger.
    The club gets smaller.
    Only the giants will be able to compete for the national championship. (for the most part)
     
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  3. Horns11

    Horns11 10,000+ Posts

    Yeah, and at some point, we're all just going to have to be ok with that. While I feel for my brethren who went to places like Colorado State and UNT for college, the days of them competing in "Division I" college football are effectively over. And that also means that TV deals are going to exclude those who can't keep up.

    Being Texas, it's nice and all. But we can't sit here and mourn the loss of the way things were if we're going to compete.

    Honestly, we need to just start treating it like European football clubs. Sign kids with huge NIL deals in middle school and high school. Make them practice with the U15 and U18 teams like AAU squads do for every sport except football in the U.S. There are U23 tournaments in places like Germany and England where every kid on the field is getting 5-figures to be there (superstars are getting 6-figures)... there's really no reason we can't be doing the same here. Just admit it's a pro league feeder system and kids "happen" to be enrolled in the university at the same time.

    I think the transfer portal is fine too. At least it's a system in place. I think that whoever is coming up with NIL cash can make contracts with players about avoiding the portal, and it would probably be another 10 years or more before it would get to court.
     
  4. RainH2burntO

    RainH2burntO 2,500+ Posts

    And yesterday we have Tito's announcing $20 million to UT athletics, so...there.....and good on 'em
     
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  5. nashhorn

    nashhorn 5,000+ Posts

    I disagree there will be 15-20 in top rankings repeatedly, I say more like 10-12 at most, probably less.
     
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  6. SabreHorn

    SabreHorn 10,000+ Posts

    If I'm the AD or president of one of the also rans or smaller division schools, I'm working to ditch the NCAA and form the University Amateur Athletics Association, admitting we can't compete, but that America will get fed up with professional college football enabling us to get a decent TV contract and sponsorships, hoping for the day our viewing audience outdraws Alabama/Ole Miss.
     
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  7. Horns11

    Horns11 10,000+ Posts

    Agreed, but I just don't think you're going to get the player support that would be necessary to maintain any level of success. You might sneak in 1 or 2 good athletes who could be the face of the league, but it'd be paltry. XFL-lite. Or like the new iteration of the USFL but even less recognizable.

    That kid who was at/near the top of the recruiting lists and committed to Deion is going to quickly realize that the FCS league isn't going to get them what they need beyond cash. It'll be even tougher for schools that stick with scholarships and amateurism.
     
  8. MajorRules00

    MajorRules00 500+ Posts

    I like a lot of what was said in the interview. But a 12-team playoff will only serve to water down the playoff. And turn the regular season into an exhibition. No thanks.
     
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  9. TEXAS1983

    TEXAS1983 250+ Posts

    I think it will sort down to 40 to 60 universities that can at least reasonably compete dollar wise. At some point, these unis will tire of the ever increasing cost of the arms race, and put in some sort of "salary" structure, if only to avoid a continuing loss of viewership due to the same richest 5 schools monopolizing the playoffs.

    If they can achieve some sort of reasonable parity, then a 12 team playoff makes tons of money for everyone.
     
  10. MajorRules00

    MajorRules00 500+ Posts

    It depends on how things shake out. If the sport devolves into 40-60 teams, as you suggest, then we would likely see two Mega Conferences emerge. And at that point, yes, a 12 team playoff would make sense.

    I would much prefer 3-4 Super Conferences, for a total 60-70ish teams. This would maintain the regional aspect of CFB. In this format, a 12-team playoff could also be had. But the bulk of the playoff games would be inside the conferences.
     

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