Why I Love College Football, But Hate College Football Fans

If you’re reading this, you're already walking a path similar to mine—you absolutely love college ball. The emotion, the stadiums, the bands, the rivalries, and the atmosphere. But then there are the meatball fans that you run into at the stadium or online that make this sport practically unbearable, and there are several key things that almost all of them do.

Now, when reading this list, know we are all guilty of some of these, but if you are giving yourself a big old check on each and every one of these, please take a long look at your fandom.

The College Football Transitive Property

We've all done it. Team A beat Team B and lost to Team C, therefore Team C is better than Team B. It is a favorite when fans are trying to show how much better their conference is better than another by either building up their own team or discrediting another one.

Now, can you make some conclusions based on these scenarios? Sure, for example, this year Miami beat Florida State, who then went on to beat down BYU, a good team. I can conclude that FSU is actually a pretty good team and therefore can give Miami some more credit for beating them.

I cannot make any real, definitive statements about Miami vs. BYU or FSU vs. Oklahoma and claim any sort of credibility or objectiveness based on this interaction, though.

If you believe a definitive statement can be made based on that, I can make one. Middle Tennessee State was better than the Florida Gators last season. That is right! The MTS Blue Raiders beat Maryland, who then went on to beat Wake Forest. Wake Forrest beat Ole Miss, and Ole Miss handed the Gators their lone loss in the 2008 season. If you follow that logical path, Middle Tennessee State could beat the Gators.

I think we can all agree that is crap, and here is why: The Gators were a better team than Ole Miss.

In sports, especially college sports, teams can lose a game to a team they are just better than. I was a college athlete and I can say with certainty that I lost to guys a lot worse than me and beat guys a lot better than me. It happens! And when it happens, you can't make broad judgments about every team that team has played based on one game!

Your Out-of-Conference Schedule Sucks! So You Suck!

Since when did OOC become the highlight of the season? It seems unless your team has a top 10 team every week for the first three weeks of the college football season, you catch hell.

Now this, like everything I point out, is acceptable to a certain level; some teams deserve to catch hell for their OOC, like Penn State. When they made the schedule 10 years ago, they knew they were giving themselves cream puffs. We know it and Penn State fans for the most part will admit they have not really had much to watch these past few weeks.

Part of it is how far ahead these games are scheduled because a lot changes in 10 years; take Ohio State's past few years.

In the late 1990s, when we did our OOC, we lined up for a game at Washington, which would have been a brutal game that decade. A  home-and-home with USC would have been stat-padding time.

So, teams in 1998 went out and signed Washington to play a Pac-10 machine, and in 2008, got a winless wonder. And Big 10 teams adding USC looking for a nice, easy win have been getting hosed.

Also, since OOC games occur so early in a season, many times a team is still finding its way when it is confronted with a high-level team. Take this past Ohio State-USC game: Do you really think the USC offense is going to be as average as it was in that game come bowl season?

Do you really think the playbook won't expand as Matt Barkley learns the position and the athletes USC has at running back and wideout won't become more effective? Look for USC to be a totally different team later in the season.

While OOC games give us great early season fireworks, they can make a statement or end up meaning very little. I mean, do any of you really think that the Oklahoma Sooners' loss to BYU has taken them out of the BCS hunt?

It has zero impact on their BCS chances because if they win their conference, they will go to the BCS and likely have a great shot at the title.

The fact of the matter is that the most important part of the season is the part we are entering now—conference play. Your conference is full of teams that are in direct competition with you for a title; they know you inside and out because they see you every year. On top of that, they hate your guts and would love to see you suffer.

Conference vs. Conference

Going along with the OOC mania that has swept the nation is the process of ranking conferences and conference pride. I place the blame of this firmly on the SEC, though not so much the top teams.

I won't bash the Gators, Tigers, Bulldogs, and the other BCS bowl winners doing their thing; more so it's the bottom part of the SEC looking to boost its own image by riding the Gators' coat tails.

Now, every team is judged on their conference and every fan is looking to tear down every other conference to build their own up. The result is that rivalries are almost shifting to conference vs. conference rather than conference teams against each other.

I am an Ohio State fan, and I really hate this idea that I have to root for other Big 10 teams to win and then look good when they play us. I want the Buckeyes to crush every Big 10 team we play and would like to establish a never-ending conference crown dynasty.

Why do I have to defend the Buckeyes' level of football when Purdue drops a game against Northern Illinois?  Purdue sucks! That’s right, Boilermaker fans, your team sucks! You see that? That’s some good, old fashioned in-conference hate!

Let me put it this way: Most of you are NFL fans. Do you really think fans of the Giants are happy because the Cowboys, Eagles, and Redskins are all above .500 and the NFC East gets respect? Or would Giants fans rather be 14-2 with a gold-plated elevator to the NFC Championship Game every year and rule over some sub .500 division rivals?

Why is college so different? Partially because perception of conference translates to BCS ranking. But it is mostly a fan-generated thing; fans want their conference to be respected. They want respect.

To hell with respect!

They will respect you when you beat them. If fan-bases and local media didn't get so caught up in respect of the team and of the conference, it's likely many teams could focus more on winning than proving something.

Again, I think in this case, the SEC has its right. The teams understand they don't have to really worry about respect and they are focused on just winning.

I propose we take college football one team at a time instead of broad judgments based on conference.

And this is not a Big 10 fan making a case for his Buckeye teams; I firmly believe that since the 2006 loss to Florida, my Buckeyes have been a No. 10-20 team, not a No. 5-10 team.



If You Ain't First, You're Last

I'm just going to say this: With the way the college football system is built, it is possible to be a good team, with a good coach and good players, and not win a national championship.

College football is an unfair world by nature. The teams that can get the high school players from Florida, California, and Texas are going to have better teams. There is no system to distribute those players evenly or fairly among teams and conferences; the fates of programs and coaches are decided on the whims of 18-year-old boys and their decision-making process.

And their decisions are based on anything from what school gives them best exposure to pro teams, where they think they can win a championship, where they can get the best education for free, if they were a fan growing up, or if they went to an awesome party on their visit and got lucky with a really hot girl.

Now your response is, "but Tom, great coaches recruit well," and that’s true. But recruiting is a combination of who, where, and when.

Programs get recruits just as much as coaches, sometimes more so. Steve Spurrier was regarded as an amazing recruiter when he was at Florida. Since Spurrier took the South Carolina job in 2005, he has convinced one—count 'em one—five-Star player to come play for him. Kids do not want to play at USC east.

Miami has the location down, being in the middle of one of the best party cities in the nation, but has lacked that dynamic coach to get kids to come there. But with the run Miami is having thus far this season, watch for its recruiting numbers to spike.

Put a hot team with a great location and an amazing coach together, and the results are scary. Example: USC. Location: Los Angeles, a great city to be a star football player, for sure. California is a talent hot bed, and Pete Carroll brings a ton of energy to recruiting. He basically gets his pick of west coast prospects.

Now, coaches that don't have this ideal mix have to make due with what they have. My example will be my own team because I am most familiar with it.

Jim Tressel has a good location in Columbus, a real city, but it has less than ideal weather. It’s hard convincing southern boys to come out to Columbus and spend the offseason shoveling snow.

Ohio is a hotbed for talent, No. 4-6 as a state in turning out NFL players, depending what outlet you use. While impressive, it doesn't turn out players with the consistency of the Big Three. Ohio turns out a Tedd Ginn, Jr. and a Chris Wells every couple of years, but there are serious down periods.

Tressel does a good job of snatching an occasional Santonio Holmes from Florida, but it's difficult to build a pipeline of southern boys to a cold weather state. Weather plays a huge role in where recruits go, and Tressel has built the most consistent cold weather program by far.

Since 2000, can you name a team north of Tennessee that has more consistent winning seasons, ranked seasons, and bowl appearances than Ohio State?

Programs like Virginia Tech also deserve respect for their consistent winning, making due with less than excellent talent. All over the country, teams with excellent coaches, good players, and great results are constantly devalued because they aren't winning national championships.

This is not to detract from champions; they are incredible, so much so that we don't need to tear down every other team to elevate them.

These are just the top four of annoying fan-isms that exist in college football. It does not do this great sport justice. If you ever wonder why players, coaches, and members of the media ignore, insult, and generally devalue the fans, these are the reasons why. Fan is short for fanatic, and we really live up to that mantra.