FARK.com: (2410362) Differences between college football and the NFL. Or, why the NFL is a generic and stale piece of garbage compared to college football

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(CNNSI)		Differences between college football and the NFL. Or, why the NFL is a generic and stale piece of garbage compared to college football (sportsillustrated.cnn.com)		136
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crunch-o-matic		2006-11-12 09:00:59 AM

It's not like the vast canyon of difference between college basketball and what ever sport the NBA uses.

Honestly why have rules, or even 5 players in a NBA game?

VictoryCabal		2006-11-12 09:18:02 AM

College is just more fun.

superdolfan1		2006-11-12 09:18:50 AM

CNN ran this same story back in August, but called it "10 Reasons Why College Football is Better Than the NFL".

The bottom line is that in the NFL there's a better chance that a lower ranked team will beat an elite team than in college (example - Miami beating Chicago last week). College football lacks the parity of the NFL. In the NFL everyone has a shot at making it. It's not always the same teams ranked in the top 25 like in college. Sure, there's those "rebuilding" seasons, but they don't last long. And then there's the pre-season favorites who fall flat on their ass (it pains me to say it, but the Dolphins are one of them).

Some college fans, especially here in Alabama, couldn't even spell the word "university", yet profess to know the sport better than the head coach, and if he's not winning, demand his head on a platter. Not to say that doesn't happen in the NFL, but at least it's warranted.

The pro game is better organized, better scheduled and consists of better players. College is a cash cow for some colleges and for others it's just something to lure students to the school. Colleges are more subject to cheaters in the football program. The NFL is more regulated. In college we have "recruiting scandals" that get schools penalized by the NCAA for years so they have nothing to play for. In the NFL, fines are dished out, players are suspended, but the quest for the championship continues.

College games are lopsided at times. You know at least once during the season you are GUARANTEED a win, i.e. the homecoming game. In the NFL there's no guarantees.

Officiating is better in the NFL, unless Seattle is involved, then we have this scenario:
i80.photobucket.com

Both have die-hard fans (i.e. The NaSkAr, who lives and breathes Bears football...until they get beat).

Given a choice, give me the NFL over college any time. Especially when the team being beaten is the J-E-T-S, suck, suck, suck.

mialynneb		2006-11-12 09:27:35 AM

I love both college and NFL. I've been a Bengals fan as long as I can remember so it was always a fun thing for me even when we were getting our asses kicked(this year included).

I went to school at UC so I don't really have a favorite college team. I just watch all day and drink beer and usually root for the underdog.

Saturday is for college football and Sunday for NFL. That to me is a heavenly weekend:)

Marcus Aurelius		2006-11-12 09:35:56 AM

An NFL game these days has more commercials in it than football. Just try surfing between games. All you get is commercials.

Nabb1		2006-11-12 09:36:44 AM

I admit to being partial to college football, but at least in the NFL, each and every team starts the season off with the same opportunity to play for the championship. College's "national championship" is a farking joke.

Dom Roark		2006-11-12 09:41:08 AM

mialynneb: Saturday is for college football and Sunday for NFL. That to me is a heavenly weekend:
Agreed.

For me, it's even better these days because my son is freaking obsessed with football-college and pro. We spend a good portion of Saturday watching college ball (when his football game's over) and all day Sunday watching pro.

DD0		2006-11-12 10:03:15 AM

The difference?

The difference is that every player in the NFL is a great player. Top notch athlete. But they are all the same caliber, which makes them look like they aren't very good, since there is no break out star. Which in return in my opinion makes the NFL more boring.

OregonVet		2006-11-12 10:43:53 AM

I'm sorry to threadjack here guys. Just.can't.resist.

From yesterday:

Forced Perspective
UTexas also only lost to #1, and is a much more solid team than the Wolverines.

Longhorn/Buckeye Championship Game.

You heard it hear first.

And my response:
www.cooleycanalyachtclub.org

/end threadjack

MIKELIVE		2006-11-12 10:46:40 AM

The difference in my eyes is that in the NFL, it's all about money and who makes the most of it.

In college, the kids play for school pride and dream about making it to the NFL and a big payday. The only ones who make money here are the universities.

I'll take college over the NFL any day. Go Bucks.

OregonVet		2006-11-12 10:55:42 AM

MIKELIVE
I'll take college over the NFL any day

Shoot, I'd justa 'bout take soccer over the NFL if I were a Steelers fan.

Atvar		2006-11-12 11:13:38 AM

superdolfan1: College games are lopsided at times. You know at least once during the season you are GUARANTEED a win, i.e. the homecoming game.

Plenty of universities treat the homecoming game as just another game. I went down to Miami to watch Va. Tech play, and was stunned to hear that was their homecoming game.

Dr.Knockboots		2006-11-12 11:27:19 AM

There are too many lopsided games in college football. What's this.. USC vs Stanford? ahaha Texas vs Sam Houston State? no..really?

If they started the season off and had the top 24 and then 1 plays 24, 2 played 23..and so on, that might work.

The NFL has a clearly defined champion.. college football does not.
The BCS sucks.

NFL wins. Thread over.

Nabb1		2006-11-12 11:28:06 AM

superdolfan1: You know at least once during the season you are GUARANTEED a win, i.e. the homecoming game.

LSU hosted UAB for their homecoming game in 2000 and lost. Tiger fans are still mad about that. Not as mad as they are about sharing the national title with USC, though.

Nerdlinger		2006-11-12 11:36:08 AM

Dom Roark: We spend a good portion of Saturday watching college ball (when his football game's over) and all day Sunday watching pro.

As long as he's rooting against the Steelers and Wolverines, that kid's gonna be all right.

Nerdlinger		2006-11-12 11:47:13 AM

And FTFA:
Or you get history in the making, attached to a fresh theme (Rutgers Chopping Wood).

Well Jack Del Rio tried that same theme with the Jags a couple years back and ended up with a punter on IR with an axe wound.

One play you see in college, but almost never see in the NFL, is the radical cutback. In another era it was called "reversing the field.''

Otherwise known as "exploiting inferior players". Sorry. I like to watch a suffocating defense doing it's thing. It's far more exciting to me than letting some undisciplined schmucks over-pursue and miss tackles to turn an otherwise unimpressive play into a big gain. The runner didn't earn it then -- it was given to him, and that's boring.

A few weeks later I'm talking to Louisville running back Kolby Smith about quarterback Brian Brohm. He also offers some sound bite-ish platitudes, but not much more. "We believe in Brian,'' he says. ... As for the coaches, there's minimal difference beyond their W2s.

Waitaminute... he starts out saying the college game is better because the attitude is different, then in his examples he says not much is different. I'm so confused... did he even have a point here?

College games are never over, because you can always see the 35-point quarter.

Yes! More cheering of bad football! That's good football that bad football!
What?

Sgygus		2006-11-12 11:50:42 AM

College basketball. Professional football.

/go Donkeys

Catholicgauze		2006-11-12 12:10:21 PM

I was at the Texas/K-State game; no NFL game could come close to that excitement in the crowd

Biv		2006-11-12 12:11:58 PM

I don't get it. College football looks like high schoolers playing.

tandkquinn		2006-11-12 12:13:16 PM

Yeah. The NFL's business model is hurting, with all those teams struggling to survive financially, while most college football programs make gobs of money.

BS. It is exactly the other way around. The NFL is richer than ever, and all but the top college football programs lose money. Except for a VERY few, those that MAKE money find it never leaving the athletic dept.

Subby could use a sports econ course.

jake_lex		2006-11-12 12:14:00 PM

If I must choose between the NFL's open money grubbing, and college football's hypocritical money grubbing, I'll go with the NFL.

Namey Namerson		2006-11-12 12:15:25 PM

I find the NFL exciting and college boring. I can watch any NFL game, but I have never watched an entire college game that didn't involve Maryland.

admiral42		2006-11-12 12:16:14 PM

College is a million times more exciting and fun to watch.

GeorgeCostanza		2006-11-12 12:17:19 PM

Dr.Knockboots: There are too many lopsided games in college football. What's this.. USC vs Stanford? ahaha Texas vs Sam Houston State? no..really?

Seconded. College football is too predictable. In the NFL, any team has a chance to beat any other team. In college...not so much. Also, the NFL has actual playoffs instead of the stupid BCS, so in the NFL a team like Rutgers could actually make the championship instead of going to some meaningless bowl game.

Gsxtacy		2006-11-12 12:17:49 PM

Biv
I don't get it. College football looks like high schoolers playing.

Yeah, but the cheerleaders are legal!

/GO BADGERS

Namey Namerson		2006-11-12 12:17:51 PM

For basketball, however, the exact opposite is true. I wouldn't be caught dead watching a non-Wizards NBA game, but I'll watch any college game.

Chummer45		2006-11-12 12:20:38 PM

I'll give you that the BCS sucks, but College football in general is so much more entertaining. You don't have the overpaid arseholes of the NFL, and having a connection to a school makes it so much more entertaining.

And College Basketball utterly destroys the NBA. A lot of that has to do with the greatest tourney in sports, March Madness.

/Spartan
//Has seen better days

lazymojo		2006-11-12 12:22:06 PM

Your favorite college team is playing? GO to the game! Tailgate! Cheer for your team until your voice is hoarse. Enjoy a lazy afternoon at your alma mater for old time sake.

Your favorite pro-team is playing? Skip it. Save your money, order some take out, and sit in the comfort of your own home.

Mr Shankly		2006-11-12 12:23:00 PM

Dare I make a comment about the superiority of the CFL rules making a more exciting game?

Nah, won't bother.

/if only they had some decent players

Chummer45		2006-11-12 12:25:09 PM

Nothing gets me as psyched for fall as the start of College Football. And then out of the bleakness of March comes the madness to brighten the winter.

It doesn't help that the Detroit Lions suck balls.

inelegy		2006-11-12 12:25:35 PM

All football is dull, dull, dull.

A more overrated so-called sport there is not.

Now rugby, that's a game for men, not for fat, overpaid, armor-wearing pansies, with more time outs on their hands than they know what to do with.

gentlax13		2006-11-12 12:25:41 PM

College is more exciting (UT @ KSU) but their post season is worthless.

If Rutgers goes undefeated and does not get into the championship game it'll expose the BCS as a fraud (which is like exposing Ted Kennedy as a drunk, or W as an idiot).

NFL > NCAAF

cspariah		2006-11-12 12:30:28 PM

I like a good defensive game, not a 1-sided thrashing, so I prefer the NFL. Not to mention that the general level of competition is higher and any given team has a chance to win. I mean, holy crap, Miami beat Chicago last week.

I paid zero attention to college ball until I moved to a new place a couple miles from UCLA.

roygbiv2		2006-11-12 12:34:42 PM

i love all football ... that is all.

scifarker		2006-11-12 12:36:28 PM

College football: no playoff
NFL: playoff

/playoff ... the great equalizer

Gunderson		2006-11-12 12:36:30 PM

The Super Bowl should be played in the home city of whichever of the two conference winners had a better season record. None of this "where a city has an average tempeture of more than 50(?) degress in January/domed stadium crap. Why shouldn't the city that has the best team up to that point not reap the benefits of hosting the game? And the fair weather junk. Just goes to show ya that rich football fans are the biggest sports pussys around.

And a 2 week wait before the Super Bowl? How many times can I hear how many times Bill Cower has a bowel movement/day and how that affects his 3-4 defense???

Add that to the fact that Pro football is more fixed than a North Shore Animal league Spay-a-thon, and thats why the NFL blows.

357		2006-11-12 12:37:01 PM

THE NFL HAS A PLAYOFF SYSTEM

TheSwissNavy		2006-11-12 12:37:24 PM

The curmudgeon sayeth - I used to follow MLB, NBA, NFL, college f-ball, college b-ball.

Stopped caring about:

- MLB when the strike happened.

- NBA when all during the 80's all we got on TV was Boston/LA/Philly. Stars getting 3 steps in the lane killed my enthusiasm for the NBA as a 'sport'. Last NBA game I saw in person was Pacers-Portland, I have seen *plays* more interesting, honest to god, plays ! (cf snpp.com)

- NCAA b-ball and fottball when the NCAA became a business

So now I'm down to NFL football that I keep up with, and there's so many commercials I seldom watch that. Did see Texas get beat last night, best football game I've watched since that NFL game where Kellen Winslow did everything but walk on water.

He_Hate_Me		2006-11-12 12:37:54 PM

If any team in the NFL can beat any other team, then how do you explain the Arizona Cardinals? Also, this is probably the worst week to be arguing against parity in college football, seeing as how four top 10 teams lost.

I have a lot more of a connection with my college teams since I actually went to those schools, took classes with players(intro classes of course ;) and lived in the same environment with those players and other fans. The only connection that I have with the local NFL team is briefly living in the same city, while most of the fans come in from the suburbs and are totally obnoxious.

Besides, college football is just way more exciting than the NFL, though I do enjoy both. College definitely needs some sort of play off system.

SomeBigFarkingMan		2006-11-12 12:43:18 PM

There is no TO in college. The most recent guy to do that was Marcus Vick, and his stupid ass got booted off his team.

BTW gentlax13, the BCS has been flawed all along. It's not like you just found something groundbreaking.

UnholyMermaidLove		2006-11-12 12:45:47 PM

I follow NFL and sort-of course.

However, like many before, college basketball is there it's at. If the NBA did something like college basketball instead of the three game series crap, maybe they would have more fans.

There's an urgency in college basketball that doesn't exist in pro ball.

Same with NFL v. College Football. The college games don't have the playoffs like March Madness, so no one really cares. You just play to win your conference and then you play another game.

If they have a playoff like NCAA where *anything* could happen - George Mason anyone? - then people would care more.

tukatz		2006-11-12 12:47:14 PM

Small, but relevant example:

After a UW-Madison game, go to State Street Brats.

The players will be there celebrating....whether they won or lost.

College vs. Pro -- no contest (I picture the Pro players going home after a game to check the answering machine for possible endorsement deals.)

/Go Badgers

LandOfChocolate		2006-11-12 12:51:53 PM

For the most part, if you went to a college that had a football program, you'll like college football more because that "connection" is there.

I didn't so I don't care about college games. From what I've seen, the NFL is more exciting to watch, but is also more soulless. Its extremely expensive and a lot of the "hype" or "tradition" is mostly contrived or been capitalized upon such that its more corporate than anything.

However, Joe Skins!

Asako		2006-11-12 12:58:22 PM

I've always liked the college games a lot better than the pros. One exception is the NHL, at least there the game keeps moving.

Xetal		2006-11-12 01:03:04 PM

That's cute, some little sportswriter is defending College Football, the Jr League.

But hey, I guess some people like stacked teams and matchups that were stacked this year, last year, and for the last 10 years... as well as such a mucked up system that it doesn't even have playoffs. But I guess it's more fun to argue which team is the best when you're system doesn't allow the best teams to actually play eachother.

bhcompy		2006-11-12 01:03:40 PM

Out of the multitude of games every week, college has 1 or 2 actual games that have a degree of parity.. and the rest are a degree of parody of real football. Though, Rutgers has upgraded from parody to parity within their conference.

NFL usually has at least half of its games that are great games.

The players are better and more disciplined and losing a game doesn't mean you lose any chance at the championship. Not to mention the fact that they have a playoff system and they play a longer and more grueling schedule. Most high powered college teams play less than 25% of their games against a level playing field. NFL is much different.

I'll go with NFL.

JuggleGeek		2006-11-12 01:13:21 PM

UnholyMermaidLove: I follow NFL and sort-of course.

However, like many before, college basketball is there it's at.

Do you speak english? Because none of that makes any sense.

/NFL for me.

puffy999		2006-11-12 01:15:33 PM

The bottom line is that in the NFL there's a better chance that a lower ranked team will beat an elite team than in college
There are, what, 32 teams in the NFL?
I would say that the top 32 teams in college football could be competitive with eachother for the mostpart.
Yes... it can be difficult for Buffalo (the U) to go to Ohio State and win... but I'm sure the NFL has something that's directly equivalent to that.

Some college fans, especially here in Alabama, couldn't even spell the word "university",
Because NFL fans are obviously the most intelligent, well-rounded individuals society has to offer.

The pro game is better organized, better scheduled and consists of better players
One and three, obviously. Two? How do you figure? You may like the fact that games are scheduled at three different times... I like the fact that, in college football, I can watch games ALL F*CKING DAY if I want.
You might like a pretty consistent schedule if you're a fan in a city (I don't mind it in a college town), but most fans are watching on TV.
NFL is built ENTIRELY for television, down to the schedules. At least the start time for college football games are not always dictated by what the network says (though, they certainly can be).

Lopsided, guaranteed wins... Yes to an extent (the NFL has those as well), and wrong.

NO argument whatsoever about officiating.

I won't argue about who has more diehard fans... I have my opinions though.

Not as mad as they are about sharing the national title with USC, though.
Well, it's better for LSU that USC didn't have to go down to the Superdome, kick their asses, and win both trophies.

puffy999		2006-11-12 01:18:34 PM

inelegy
Here's my comparison:
Rugby vs. armored football vs. (American) football without pads

Lots of pain vs. serious injuries vs. death

Dihnekis		2006-11-12 01:19:55 PM

bhcompy: Most high powered college teams play less than 25% of their games against a level playing field. NFL is much different.

Check UF's schedule this year.

http://www.gatorzone.com/sched.php?sport=footb

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