College Football Outscores the NFL: NCAA Goes Head to Head with the Pros

With September just a few weeks away, the best time of the year is rapidly approaching.

Football season.

All over the nation, fans both young and old are gearing up for their favorite pro and college teams’ seasons. College kicks off labor day weekend, while the NFL concludes its preseason and kicks off the following week.

Football is without a doubt the most popular sport in America, but the question facing football fans is to tune in Sundays, Saturday, or both?

Players

Obviously, the NFL takes the cake on this one.

These players are getting paid to play professional football for a reason. By this point in their careers, most of them have been playing the game for practically their entire lives, and the benefits of NFL strength and conditioning programs are easy to see. Don’t forget the incredible talent scattered throughout the league, providing plenty of morning-highlight-reel material.

However, don’t count out the college talent and physical prowess so easily.

Over the past few years, college football programs have made leaps and bounds of progress in the strength and conditioning area. Players are looking bigger and faster every year, which essentially makes a better product on the field.

In the end though, there’s no way you can give this advantage to the college boys. After all, only 4 percent of Division-I football players make it to the NFL.

Edge: NFL

Teams

Just as the NFL has the clear cut advantage with the players, college football has the advantage when it comes to teams and the reason is simple. Division-I college football has about four times the number of teams the NFL does.

While many NFL supporters will argue this large amount of teams provides for more meaningless games, they are failing to look at it from an individual team-by-team perspective.

More teams mean more opportunities for people to be fans, including many cities that don’t have a professional organization.

Edge: College

Tradition

You can easily guess which level this advantage goes to.

While certain NFL organizations have great tradition, such as Green Bay, Pittsburgh, and Dallas, nothing even remotely compares to college football’s rich tradition.

From Chief Osceola and Renegade at Florida State to the Vol Walk at Tennessee, the traditions across Division-I football are countless. Student sections and bands are polarizing features of college football which the NFL can never emulate.

Edge: College

Atmosphere

This one is close and cases can be made for both leagues.

However, there is simply no way to put an NFL game-day atmosphere on the same level as a college game day.

Student sections and bands are again catalysts that put college football over the top. With rowdy students on their feet and screaming the entire game, the stadium never lacks life. 

After the home team scores a touchdown, the band proceeds to play the school’s fight song, often followed by the home fans singing in unison. That never happens in the NFL, not to that extent at least.

Stadium sizes are another huge factor in why college atmospheres trump those of the NFL. Until the Cowboys’ new massive stadium was built, there were no facilities in the league that could hold more than 91,000 fans.

Now the new Cowboys Field seats 80,000 on a normal game, although it can expand to a mind boggling 111,000.

However, this still doesn’t hold a candle to college football as five stadiums hold more than 100,000.

Edge: College

Playoff System

There’s no denying the NFL has the advantage when it comes to playoffs.

They have it the way it should be, with a regular playoff system. On the other hand, it’s not long before the annual complaints about college football’s BCS system rise once again.

Many feel when it comes to the BCS, several teams that deserve to compete for the national title are left out. Likewise, there are also those that feel through inflated rankings and easy scheduling, there are teams who do not deserve to be contending for the national title.

This is why the NFL has the advantage, because, when it comes down to it, the players decide who really deserves it by fighting it out. There are no computers or voting, just competing on the field.

The way it's supposed to be.

Edge: NFL

Conclusion

When it comes down to the conclusion, both levels of football have their flaws.

However, pure football and excitement are easier to find in college football. The pride, tradition, and atmosphere are simply too much to pass up.

Yes, the NFL provides exciting highlight-reel moments and has a clear and fair playoff system, but it lacks the intangibles of college football.