College Football: Why This Sacred Sport Must Return To Its Roots

Every year, it seems like there is always some huge scandal in CFB, such as USC's recruiting violations and the allegations against Cam Newton.

I would not be writing this article if these were once in a decade happenings, but sadly that is not the case.

College football has become more about business than sports. The players, instead of being college students, are now walking investments for universities.

They are pressured to perform beyond expectations to put more money in their college's pockets, instead of thinking of the overall well being of the players. Obviously, you do want your favorite team to have the money they need, but you do not want them to operate like a professional team.

We are talking about college students, not matured adults. They are susceptible to making poor decisions; when they are put in the spotlight and given celebrity status, they will take advantage or do stupid things.

We need to back off a little and allow these people to be college students.

The lack of money is what makes college sports tick. The players are not playing for their paycheck, but for their pride and their school. But at the rate CFB is deteriorating, in this respect, that may eventually make it ethically deprived and dirty.

Players will get into more trouble and schools will be violating even more NCAA rules. Do we want this? Absolutely not.

College football has not always been this way. It used to be a sport that was played FOR THE GAME, not for the future or money. Coaches were not fired every two years, players actually stayed at college for four years, not three or even two.

Now the game was not as big as it is now, but it still had the whole electricity and excitement. But water cooler conversations were not about the huge scandal, but about the game itself.

The sport itself was the focus, not the extracurricular activities.

The coaches were not scrutinized for everything they did, but were given their space to coach. They didn't have to worry about money or expectations to win it all every year. They were expected to make playing the game a positive experience for the players and the fans.

Nowadays, coaches are expected to be perfect or they are gone. They are being paid millions instead of a reasonable salary. This puts more pressure and stress on the coach, which may have a more negative effect than positive.

We come to the point that students should be coached not only to be better players but to be better people. The emphasis should be on education, not wins and losses.

College is about education first, sports second.

School has always been and will be about preparing people for their careers. If universities put more emphasis on sports for the athletes, then they are not doing the right thing. What if their professional sports career is a disaster? They may not be ready to do other jobs if they spent their entire time in college focusing on football.

Schools must be schools.

I am not saying that sports should take a step back in terms of passion and excitement. I love the game and do not want to see it falter or deteriorate, but I do want it to return to its earlier values.

Money should not be a large factor in the game and pressure should not be so unrealistic.

Sure, the NFL pays a lot, but players should make the best decisions for themselves, not do what is expected of their families or their internal greed. It is less of a risk to finish your college education than to enter the NFL early.

College football is about pride and competition, and it should always be that way.

Money has only warped and damage the sport. In this case, it is a good thing to take a step back.