The Rest of College Football

[Hannibal]

question is would that be bad?

Bad:
1. It would destroy any remaining perception of purity that the sport has
2. It would hurt small programs. NW vs Michigan would become a USA vs USSR in hockey thing again.

Good:
1. It would restore interregional parity and actually make the national scene interesting again. IMHO this is a significant long term threat to the game, which is already manifesting itself in some ways (like bad ratings for bowl games).
2. It would make star kids more likely to stay in school for four years.
3. It would get a lot of sleazy characters out of the game, like scuzbag "handlers" and bagmen.
4. It would allow kids to make market value money off of their hard work and talent, like the other 99.99% of the population is allowed to do.

Bad #1 is just a change in perception, not anything of substance. I think that people would get over it pretty fast. People are probably afraid that they will be watching free agents, but I think that what you will see is that recruits will have a "going rate" and most guys will still make decisions about where to play football in the traditional manner. Bad #2 could cause a lot of heartburn (not for me, but a lot of people love the David vs Goliath upsets that we see every year and would see a lot less of). But at this point, I'm sick and tired of seeing college football be a regionally stratified sport. And I'm sick of Big Ten vs SEC being USA vs USSR in hockey.

[Optimus Prime]

The NCAA only cares about the revenue sports, men's football & basketball, all other college sports are irrelevant as they are cash-sucking parasites, regardless of gender.

Will "Hostesses" return to street corners?

[lineygoblue]

I think they should remove the scholarship limits, and go back to the way it was before. Let the big name schools sign as many kids as they want. Kids would have the choice of signing with a big name to ride the bench, or signing with a 'lesser' school in order to actually see the field.

The talent level of the big name schools would skyrocket, thus becoming the de-facto minor league of the NFL. They'd run up huge scores on everyone else while preparing for the BCS tournament, to decide the national champion.

And lets shed no tears for the kids who would never see the playing field. My dentist was a top rated high school RB out of mid-Michigan where I live, and signed to play at Michigan for Bo. He never, ever got on the field, but today, he's a dentist, and actually the most popular dentist in our area. Ask him, and he'll tell you he has no regrets. Kids who actually want to go to school, who happen to be decent athletes would love the free education.

[Hannibal]

I would love to see my "no rules to comply to" scenario, if for no other reason that I would love to find out just how much money is out there in the shadow college football economy. I'll bet that it's in the millions per year for an SEC team, when you add up:

1. Recruit signing bonuses
2. Maintenance paid to the current players

There's a lot of anecdotal evidence that this is the case. What was Jordan Diamond's rumored signing bonus? $50,000? And that's just for a guy who was just above average. Imagine that times 25, but with a 5* guy getting a few hundred thousand.

[hack]

And lets shed no tears for the kids who would never see the playing field. My dentist was a top rated high school RB out of mid-Michigan where I live, and signed to play at Michigan for Bo. He never, ever got on the field, but today, he's a dentist, and actually the most popular dentist in our area. Ask him, and he'll tell you he has no regrets. Kids who actually want to go to school, who happen to be decent athletes would love the free education.

Those who stay/those who leave...

[Hannibal]

Hack -- what is your opinion on the Okie State story?

[THE_WIZARD_]

Shades of SMU

[hack]

How do you mean? Haven't read it.

[Optimus Prime]

Hack -- what is your opinion on the Okie State story?

He's proud to be an Okie from Muskogee?

[Hannibal]

How do you mean? Haven't read it.

The story and the reaction to it. Specifically, accusations of poor fact checking, bias, and overreliance on disgruntled players.

[hack]

I'll take a look. No surprise, though. IMO you get what you pay for, and nobody want to pay for journalists these days...

[Hannibal]

Has anyone ever wanted to pay for journalists?

[entropy]

hannibal...

I would offer that the SEC would lose more than the BIG under Delaney's scenario...

[Hannibal]

hannibal...

I would offer that the SEC would lose more than the BIG under Delaney's scenario...

You are probably right.

[Jeff Buchanan]

..... and that would part of the Delaney plan and something Slive would not agree to if it meant some advantage being gained from the status quo for the B10.