10 Reasons Why College Football Will Be More Exciting Than NFL In 2010
I love the NFL. It's always dramatic, exciting and every season produces a reel of highlights (and lowlights) more entertaining any movie theater silver screen could possibly contain.
However, I am and always have been a college football fan first and foremost. Each and every college football season has just a few of those extra elements that really draw me into the university ranks a little farther than I fall into the professional ones.
In 2010, there will be several enticements as pertaining to the NCAA that have me believing once more I shall not be straying from my home that is college football.
Here are just a few reasons...
No. 10: Terrell Brown
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Thank you, USA Today, for achieving a photo that really puts it all in perspective.
I don't care if he ever sees a minute of playing time, I just want to see what happened. At 6'11" and 400 pounds, this guy as an inch or short (and an inch or two long on the horizontal plane) of Shaq in football pads.
I'm not about to get sucked into any hype, here. Who knows what kind of football player he'll be. However, he made it through junior college, so he's no rookie, and Houston Nutt might just make a football player out of him.
Image Courtesy: USAToday.com
No. 9: College Overtime
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No offense, professional overtime, but I love the college format.
Does anyone else remember Ohio State and Miami's National Championship overtime several years back? It disappoints me to think that even with some rule changes, no NFL overtime could ever match the energy or excitement of something like that.
I love the strategies behind it, the pain in the players faces who know that the entire game lies in one last stop or score, I love the pressure and I love the very fair and just situational placement.
Way to go, NCAA, because what I love most is watching more good football than I originally planned on watching.
No. 8: No Contract Disputes
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I love Darelle Revis. I don’t mind too much that he wants more money, other than that I’d like to see him really appreciate how devastating his defense would be with him on it.
The only thing I mind is not knowing where he’ll end up playing. Whose uniform will I be watching him in next? Who will he be matched up against? How soon will I get to see him play?
At least in college I have an entire year to soak up a player transferring to another team. It’s hard to get excited for the NFL when one of your favorite athletes is in team limbo.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
No. 7: Walk-Ons
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As a KU fan, I’m immensely excited about a couple of walk-ons this year and that’s something you don’t get to see in the NFL.
I suppose an undrafted rookie getting playing time is nice, but the undrafted guy gets the automatic chip on his shoulder (not to mention a paycheck). A college walk-on is usually just an extremely devoted student athlete who has to work twice as hard as anyone else to reach the field.
Steve Johnson is one former walk-on Jayhawk who should start this year, but if any of you follow my writing you know there’s a redshirt freshman running back of whom I have a pretty positive impression.
Walk-ons just make for truly inspiring stories, don't they?
No. 6: College Home Football Crowds
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Nothing beats an alcohol infused group of insane, stressed and emotional college students yelling irrational profanities at opponents.
I personally try to be a classy sort of fan and enjoy my football far more when I’m sober.
Still, a nice full college football stadium presents an atmosphere of intensely unrivaled love, devotion and emotion that cannot be duplicated.
No. 5: The SEC
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The NFL has some very impressive divisions. It’s hard to tell now, but you never know when three teams from a single division will make the playoffs.
However, the NCAA has the SEC. This is such a powerful football conference top to bottom.
The difference here is that instead of playing divisional foes each twice to constitute 6 of 16 games, SEC teams play eight conference foes, all of which are potentially very good opponents in individual games that are far more important than those of the NFL.
Keep an eye out for the Pac-10, too. I think that top-to-bottom the Pac-10 can outdo every other (non-SEC) conference in the league.
This is all so painful for a Big 12 fan to admit, though.
No. 4: An Impossible To Out-Do 2009-2010 NFL Campaign
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The Saints won the Super Bowl. That’s what everyone wanted, right?
It was exciting. It was emotional. It made for a storybook ending to a great season.
It was last year, and chances are something that neat won’t happen again.
I guess all I’m saying is that I don’t think football fans can expect such an exciting outcome in the NFL in 2010. I expect it to be, well, more expected.
If Donovan McNabb and Mike Shanahan resurrect the Redskins, give me a call. Otherwise, I expect college football’s finish to be much more invigorating than the NFL’s.
No. 3: Conference-Swap Clashes
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Professional football teams can’t just switch conferences for money, TV time, or ‘other’ reasons. Professional football teams don’t get last chances to play each other before a conference exit.
The NCAA ranks, however, do allow their components to control this particular portion of their destinies.
All I'm saying is keep an eye out on Nebraska and Colorado when the conference season kicks off. There will be a lot of heavy weaponry pointed their directions.
No. 2: Garrett Gilbert and John Brantley
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“Hey Garrett, our starter for the last four seasons has won more games than any other quarterback in history.”
“Hey John, our starter for the past three seasons was one of the most popular, influential and memorable players college football history.”
“Grab your helmets, get in there and do them one better, why dontcha?”
OK, so maybe that’s a little overly dramatic. Also, Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow aren't the only mainstay signal-callers now missing from the college ranks in 2010.
Still, I don’t see any young quarterbacks in the NFL this year who’ll have the same amount of pressure on them as Garrett Gilbert of Texas or John Brantley of Florida.
I absolutely cannot wait to see how they both develop.
No. 1: Boise State
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One of my least favorite things about the NFL is the lack of true drama sourcing from anything other than an unhappy individual athlete. My favorite source of that drama is a team like Boise State (or whichever mid-major team I feel could run the table that year).
Will they run the table? Will the Broncos win that mega-tough non-conference showdown against the Virginia Tech Hokies? Could they get shunned from a National Championship game? Could they achieve a number one ranking?
I love playoffs, but at the same time I love the drama that a construction like the BCS system creates. Boise State may not like the BCS, but Boise State would not be Boise State without the BCS.
The NCAA would not be the NCAA without a team like Boise State.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
