College Football is Broken, Here's How I'd Fix It

The sun sets behind the Rose Bowl stadium during the second half of the College Football Playoff quarterfinal between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Oregon Ducks in Pasadena, Calif. on Jan. 1, 2025. Ohio State won 41-21.
The sun sets behind the Rose Bowl stadium during the second half of the College Football Playoff quarterfinal between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Oregon Ducks in Pasadena, Calif. on Jan. 1, 2025. Ohio State won 41-21. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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4. Let's not give JUCO players extra eligibility

I don't think this one takes much explanation. I don't think any of us want to see 30-year-olds with kids representing our college experience. Also, let's not make any kid not in the top 300 players of his high school recruiting class have to go play in JUCO to develop more before being 'ready' to play in the FBS.

5. Let's not turn college football into the NFL lite

Over the past few years, we've seen college football congregate into a few super conferences that will soon have a different set of rules and regulations, placing them in their own league aside from the rest of college football. Hmmm, two 16-team super conferences centered around major media markets where we pay players, sound familiar?

What makes college football amazing is that it's not the NFL. There's intense regional rivalries driven by high school friends going to different in state schools being able to argue about which school is best. Old friends get together when a pair of west coast teams play each other. We also get to experience every diverse corner of the country when the power of college football is spread out and not concentrated in a few conferences or media markets.

And most importantly the game isn't perfect or professional. There are mistakes, passion, running up the score, and an identity that sets college football apart alongside a sport that brings us all together. Super conferences are great for having more big matchups now. But the more big matchups we have, the less exciting they all become. Every game in the NFL is a 'big matchup' between two top 32 teams. In college football, it's the upsets, the late-season undefeated teams, and the rivalries that make the games special, not the quality of play on the field.

There's a reason that ESPN, CBS, or Fox want to pay so much to broadcast these games. But let's not let that turn the sport into something that it's not. The NFL is great, and no matter how much we hype up the Big Ten and SEC, college football will always be a worse version of what the NFL already has as long as we don't protect the things that make college football great.

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