8 Events to Get College Football Fans Through the Offseason
We feel your pain, college football fans.
Ever since Ohio State was crowned as the first playoff-determined national champion back in mid-January, we've been mired in a seemingly endless offseason. It's still almost six months until the first games of the 2015 season are on our TVs, and it feels like there's nothing to keep us entertained until then.
Or is there?
Believe it or not, there are other sporting events between now and then. And while nothing can match the excitement of those Saturdays filled with collegiate action, they're better than nothing.
Check out our suggestions for events to help tide you over during college football's long offseason.
NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament
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When: March 17-April 6
If you can't watch college football, why not another sport featuring many of the same schools? So what if it's involving a differently shaped ball and shorts instead of helmets?
The 68-team NCAA tournament gets going next week, with schools from every conference in Division I playing in a one-and-done format that is so exciting it's got its own name: March Madness.
It's basically a massively larger version of the College Football Playoff, but it still has its own level of controversy when it comes to seeding of teams and which ones are deserving of getting invitations. There are several top teams in basketball that are also strong football schools, such as Arizona, Baylor, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.
And as fate would have it, last year's basketball tourney ended in April in the same place—AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas—where college football had its first playoff title game in January.
If nothing else the first weekend of the NCAA tournament (March 19-22) is so jam-packed with games from morning until night that it will feel like a loaded-football Saturday in September.
Spring Practice
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When: Ongoing
College football teams get to hold a handful of workouts in the middle of the offseason in order to work on conditioning and implement new systems as well as allow for competition to begin for open starting spots. At most schools, the practice period ends with an informal scrimmage where fans can get their first glimpse of next season's stars.
It's referred to as spring practice, despite the fact most schools begin before the winter ends. Duke is already done with its offseason training, holding its "spring" game on Feb. 28.
As crazy as that sounds, it's at least a sign of things to come. Much like when some grass starts to peek through all the snowpack, you know this means that soon we'll be getting the real thing.
Some spring games will be shown on TV, and others can be streamed online. Colorado has its spring game on March 15, while Oregon and Hawaii wrap things up on May 2.
Pro Days
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When: Ongoing
Many of the top college football players from last season have moved on and are preparing for professional careers. But that process often includes making one last trip to campus, where schools gather their most recent stars together to perform drills for NFL scouts.
Similar to the NFL combine that was held in Indianapolis in February, pro days allow each school's players to perform tailored workouts for scouts in a familiar environment that doesn't feel as much like the "underwear Olympics" that the combine has been referred to.
Only a select number of draft-eligible players were invited to that combine, and not all of them participated in every drill offered. Some might have been still working on rehabbing an injury, or they might have preferred to do it on their own terms.
"It's all designed to maximize that one final chance to impress pro organizations," Bleacher Report's Ben Kercheval wrote in his primer on college football pro days.
Pro days began in early March and will run until the first week of April.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Veteran Combine
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When: March 22
The dream of making an NFL team isn't only reserved for players who have just finished playing in college. Recognizing this, for the first time the league has set up an event where players who have already gone through the draft ringer—and often have been through pro training camps—another chance to impress every team at one time.
To be held at the Arizona Cardinals' practice facility in Phoenix, the combine is open to anyone who qualifies as a veteran free agent (which really means the players are at least one year removed from college and aren't currently under contract) and will be operated similar to the predraft combine. Representatives from all 32 NFL teams are expected to attend, and it wouldn't be surprising to see some of them sign players to contracts on the spot.
"There was nothing for that guy out there who has one or two or three years in the league and is not with a team and is at the mercy of when the phone rings or when his agent gets him a workout," NFL director of football development Matt Birk told The Associated Press (h/t ESPN). "This will be a forum for these guys to showcase their talents and a service for our clubs instead of (what had been) an inefficient process.''
A final list of attendees hasn't been released yet, but a name already confirmed is former Missouri defensive end Michael Sam, while Ben Volin of the Boston Globe has reported that ex-Heisman Tropher winner Tim Tebow is considering making an appearance.
NFL Draft
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When: April 30-May 2
Not every college football fan is also an NFL enthusiast, but what often helps bridge the gap between the different versions of the sport is the players. If your school's best player ends up going from playing on Saturdays to starring on Sundays, odds are you're going to want to tune in.
And the gateway to the pro game is the NFL draft, which stretches for three days and gets wall-to-wall coverage on multiple networks while it's going on. And it's now become a traveling circus, going from its normal annual spot in New York City to Chicago this year and possibly somewhere else in 2016.
It lasts seven rounds and dozens of hours, and pretty much every FBS team ends up getting at least one player drafted each year. The most notable prospects get invited to the event, decked out in their best threads before getting brought up on stage to pose with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell while holding a jersey of their new team.
Arena Football
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When: Begins March 27
Much like a person wandering through the desert isn't likely to scoff at having to drink tap water instead of the bottled kind, a desperate college football fan isn't apt to be too picky when it comes to getting a chance to watch some football during the offseason.
Any kind will do, which is why college spring games are frequently televised and why the Arena Football League serves as a perfect option to tide you over during the spring and summer.
So what if the field is half the size, has walls on the sidelines and is played exclusively indoors. Would you rather keep walking in hopes there's a large supply of Aquafina down the road?
About to enter its 28th season, the Arena Football League features 12 teams spread across the country who play an 18-game schedule over 20 weeks before the playoffs in August. The championship is known as the ArenaBowl, and the Arizona Rattlers have won the last three titles.
The rosters are littered with former college stars, either ones who never got a chance to play in the NFL or who only lasted a little while. Former Cincinnati quarterback Nick Davila was last year's MVP.
Media Days
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When: Mid- to late July
It's not college football, but it's close enough. At least they're talking about it and referring to the season ahead more than the previous one.
Every FBS conference holds a media event during the summer, bringing together the coaches and some players from each team to a centralized location so that TV, newspaper, radio and Internet reporters can ask everyone any and all questions about what to expect in the upcoming year.
Some leagues only need a day for this, but then there's the other extreme: the SEC. The most followed conference has its media gathering spread over four days (July 13-16) in Hoover, Alabama, devoting each day to the representatives of three or four schools in order to maximize coverage.
The ESPN-owned SEC Network will no doubt provide wall-to-wall coverage, and from these media days we'll get plenty of updates on what's happened during the offseason and what's in store when training camp begins in late July or early August.
It might seem boring now, but when you start watching Les Miles answer dozens of questions about where things are with his quarterback situation you'll know the 2015 season is just around the corner.
NFL Preseason
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When: Begins Aug. 9
Unlike college football, which goes from weeks of practice straight into games that count, the NFL has a monthlong preseason where every team plays four or five full-fledged exhibition games. The quality of the play isn't particularly great, and most of the stars and established starters see little action. But it's better than nothing.
And after so many months without real games, we'll take what we can get.
While colleges are going through training camp and spending weeks hitting no one but each other, the pro teams will have many preseason games on TV. This can help get us through that final month before the college season begins while also getting a chance to see some of the recently drafted players compete for roster spots and playing time.
The first NFL preseason game this year is between the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers and will come 25 days before the Sept. 3 start of college football.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
