college football under quarantine

interesting implications of a possible new normal:

https://www.theringer.com/2020/8/3/21349611/season-schedule-power-five-conferences-college-football-playoff

But college football is a lot of things, and a season exclusively for the Power Five is few of them. It’s clear that the Power Five teams have needs and goals that differ from everybody else’s. By playing games solely against each other, they will maximize both fan interest and profit. Maybe the Power Five schools will realize this arrangement is financially beneficial even in non-pandemic circumstances. But a few dozen teams with similar needs and goals making decisions that benefit each other isn’t college football. It’s a professional sports league. And professional sports leagues have to pay and provide fair treatment to their players. This feels like a lasting split, and the more bonds the College Football programs sever with the college football programs, the harder it will be for them to pretend they still have anything in common with the distant relatives they’re leaving behind.

None of this is a secret. The fact that NCAA Division I football is essentially a semi-pro league feeding the NFL and that everyone is profiting from it but the players has been evident for decades. It is rarely acknowledged by the sports media because it is so ugly and they profit from it as much as anyone else. The players seldom complain because they are so vulnerable to reprisals. Most of them are seen as easily replaceable parts and 'troublemakers' swiftly get the boot.

The players do profit if they are on scholarship (and manage to stay on scholarship) and D1 football and basketball "student athletes" also enjoy elite status and other fringe benefits compared to other students.

But the system is absolutely semi-pro at best and at worst, big school college athletics operates (via the NCAA and the major conferences) as a monopoly with ruthless corporate vision. Everyone in the system gets a career out of it except the players, where something like less than 1% get drafted to the NFL and an even smaller number will play more than three years in the pros.

That said, I suspect that the vast majority of athletes at all levels love their experience in college sports even though they realize they are but actors in a circus. They know that they aren't getting their fair share but they are kept just happy enough by the experience that they still participate.

The idea that a scholarship athlete necessarily benefits from their time in a university is spotty at best. Scholarship athletes are chosen for their athletic prowess, not their academic ability, which may be minimal or even wholly inadequate. Graduation rates have been notoriously very poor among scholarship athletes in the two big money-making sports at "power five" universities, where scholarship athletes are routinely expected to prioritize their sport over all other activities and those who struggle academically are tutored just enough to maintain the lowest standard of required achievement to keep them playing. The NCAA pretends to address this, but their first priority remains keeping athletes playing; learning still takes a back seat, despite gestures designed to quiet criticism.

I will say that scholarship athletes are generally well fed at the training table free of charge, so there's one real benefit they can count on, even if they never earn their degree.

What is a notoriously poor rate to you, Aimless? Just curious.

http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/graduation-rates
or this
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1731218-college-football-schools-with-the-best-and-worst-graduation-rates

Mens' college basketball also makes a lot of money but the number of scholarship athletes is way lower. But the grad rates are very good at the elite programs.

Also, as you probably know, it's hard to use graduation rates as a measuring stick given the percentage of students at, say, LSU who graduate. Hint: at LSU (and most schools), the official graduation rate for students overall is lower than the football teams. But that's partially because the non-students have a higher attrition rate.

I would also add that an enormous benefit for scholarship "student athletes" and "student athletes" in general is that their entrance requirements are, as you note, at much lower academic standards. So, a person can go to, say, the University of North Carolina on a football scholarship and have much lower admissions standards. Assuming that they graduate, which 75%+ of UNC football players due, that's pretty awesome. And as you note, they get really nice living facilities, their own dining hall, have amazing tutoring options, and get to travel the country.

There is a large number of student athletes who honestly cannot afford to go to college even if they have a "full ride". These kids don't have time for jobs during the off season, and there really is no off season. These kids often live far from home and literally have no way to get to and from college. They don't have idle spending money. There are many issues that are worthy of withering criticism and you and I agree (!) that the NCAA doesn't address this with much honesty.

Supporting college athletics even as a fan seems morally dubious I guess.

no return of the mac(k)

big 10 cancels season

holy shit

trump's fucked

the ACC is saying they'll go ahead no matter what

pac 12 is canceling, big 12 is on the fence

at least we still have idaho high school football

I told my wife as fall prepares to start “if I die of COVID (and I doubt I will) at least my sons will know I stood up for doing what is right and going to work & educating and molding young people rather than hiding” she responded “agreed “ ❗️❗️💪💪💪

— Coach Hargitt (@coachhargitt) August 10, 2020

sad about my problematic fave getting canceled :(

BREAKING: The Big Ten presidents have voted to postpone the 2020 college football season with hopes of playing in the spring, per sources.

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) August 11, 2020

more like the small zero

smoll

sm0ll

if this swings Michigan and Wisconsin for Biden then it'll be the best thing the Big Ten has produced since Charles Woodson.

what a win for the democrats(?)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EfJo3OrXgAIICG2?format=jpg&name=small

college football coaches are the worst people in america (#34985859340293849494 in a series)

Lou Holtz tells Fox News that college football needs to play amid coronavirus pandemic this fall: "Let's move on with our life! When they stormed Normandy, they knew there were going to be casualties -- there were going to be risks." pic.twitter.com/zZZ5qrFRFb

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) August 11, 2020

tbf this is the kind of shit that got him fired.

There's going to be a lot of unmolded young men out there!

lou is freaking deranged lol

Georgia State QB announces he has a heart condition from COVID 19 and won’t play this year https://t.co/aH4CawZdsi

— trey wingo (@wingoz) August 20, 2020

BREAKING: #PennState's director of athletic medicine, Wayne Sebastianelli, says that cardiac MRI scans revealed that roughly 30-35 percent of Big Ten athletes who tested positive for COVID-19 appeared to have myocarditis. https://t.co/md4p1IoaLh

— Parth Upadhyaya (@pupadhyaya_) September 3, 2020

oh

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EiDe5zeXkAQPJ01?format=jpg&name=small

cool they can also check for CTE posthumously, this sounds super humane

Guys. GUYS. I found the Michael Scott of college football. pic.twitter.com/NdEvpYFlkg

— Laura Albanese (@AlbaneseLaura) September 16, 2020

i don't *really* care about college football, but i definitely appreciate Oklahoma and LSU being beaten at home

hate this guy

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney: 'On board' with Black Lives Matter messages, but not politics

^ A man torn between his need to recruit Black players and his need to soothe the multi-millionaire alumni who bankroll his program.

"i mean i'm okay with black people scoring touchdowns, that's gotta count for something"

xp apparently this all started because a 'law enforcement officer' called into dabo's radio show and asked him if he supported 'these people'

anyway he's old school, grew up in alabama, can't be expected to let the coloreds mess up the uniforms or make money or be 'political'

totally understandable racist behavior, who could blame him except everyone

SABAN HAS THE RONA

:-0

hope he's ok, but the SEC's covid attitude has been sickening, and the league deserves a dose of reality

LSU/Florida has been postponed until Dec. 12

hopefully Alabama's AD recruited another, younger 5-star coach that is ready to take saban's place, and saban will never get another opportunity as he watches his dream slip away, hobbled on the sideline.

cold but fair

UK won at Tennessee for the first time since like 1986 and biggest win by points since like 1932 today.

Kentucky has some more O-linemen that will be playing in the NFL soon.

Alabama will definitely not let Saban transfer without setting out a year.

Saban's test was apparently a false positive. He's had three negative tests since and we be on the sideline tonight. Cool.

He released a statement, "Don't be afraid of covid."

everyone who goes into remission should blab to the world “don’t be afraid of cancer!”

aaaaand trevor lawrence has covid

btw wtf nebraska

'we're not allowed to catch covid from wisconsin, so please let us catch it from chattanooga'

Indiana whupped the Wolverines today. Michigan looked slow. Harbaugh might be joining you know who in looking for a new job in January.

Good day all around.

Indiana's Michael Penix Jr. should start getting some talk as a big QB to watch and like many lefty QBs he's kind of fun to watch. Big thing with him is just not getting hurt again.

https://wgntv.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2020/11/GettyImages-1284436894.jpg?w=1280&h=720&crop=1

they shouldn't be playing, but at least it's resulted in michigan and penn state getting fucking smoked

They got Michigan State now too...knock wood they can complete the set by beating the Buckeyes next week.

It would figure that IU would have their season of the century in the middle of a plague.

Just the usual, OSU's d-line and o-line are just ridiculously good. They got backups better than some of IU's starters and they crush them with depth.

That said, IU's got some d-backs that are going to play in the pros. They got some linebackers with speed too. IU's speed in the back really held up pretty good and made some plays against Fields.

IU could not run AT ALL against Ohio State on offense.

Made it game and covered the spread.

IU being good is fun. Wish they could have pulled off the comeback.

Penix Jr. should be getting some press. Lefty QBs that like to throw deep are always fun. I don't know how to read QBs to see if they are doing things right or not, so I am curious to hear one of those former NFL backup QBs tear apart his mechanics on TV or radio.

Dude threw for 491 and 5 Tds with only 1 pick in the Big House against the Buckeyes. That's a heck of a day.

IU can't let down against Maryland next week looking ahead to Wisconsin, plague notwithstanding. Weird times...

lol fuck michigan

:(

The continuing humiliation of Harbaugh is a thing of beauty. The continuing monopoly that Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State have on recruiting the lion's share of five-star players out of high school will ultimately destroy big time college football. Which could be a very good thing.

That is why we need that scrappy underdog ND to take them down this year.

SOURCE: Michigan-OhioState is getting canceled.

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 8, 2020

too bad; guess we'll never know if ohio state could have covered the 30-point spread

Ohio State needs to schedule someone to be eligible for the big 10 championship game.

ffs

Sources: Big Ten expected to change rule requiring football teams to play 6 games to make conference title game

northwestern vs indiana would have been genuinely interesting, too

Hopefully Northwestern just wins

If Ryan Day ends up like John Cooper or Earle Bruce, that is exactly what will happen.

I hated Ohio State football/basketball fans, they were such total d1cks. Despised working in restaurant/bars weekends when they played in Bloomington in college.

can attest to OSU fans

at least brian kelly won't have to boycott the rose bowl u_u

oh hell yeah

A massive brawl broke out at the end of the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl between Tulsa and Mississippi State. pic.twitter.com/zfaq912SWU

— ESPN (@espn) December 31, 2020

oh hell yeah

🐦[A massive brawl broke out at the end of the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl between Tulsa and Mississippi State. pic.twitter.com/zfaq912SWU🕸
— ESPN (@espn) December 31, 2020🕸]🐦

http://i.imgur.com/SGYxjQ7.jpg

Some of these guys on bama are just amazing. Have never seen someone do the hurdle and stay on their feet.

We are clearly very weak on the outside

Will need 3 more of those long TD drives to have a chance

(we have no chance)

classic 17 pt loss. Clemson or Ohio State will lose by 18, but we will still ask ourselves if ND belongs.

backdoor 17 points, come on

Or we will label the points as different kinds of points

boring game tho i do agree bama prob beats osu or clem by more so good on you nd ~

If we had one guy like Claypool tgis year, maybe Book could have done more. Obviously, if we can get someone special at QB, as good as Book has been at times, we could possibly steal one from the elite programs some year. The LSU model.

LSU certainly got exposed this year, agreed.

lol eat shit Dabo

skalski is a real shitbird, but they will miss him out there.

Dabo is correct. It is crazy that osu gets to be here with 6 games under its belt.

he's becoming less correct by the minute

anyway fuck him for being such an utter asshole that i have to tacitly root for a major big ten program

It's less about talent than advantage. Injuries, depth, and winning that midseason away game against a random team peaking that week, etc.

I do hate Dabo, though.

But ND would have had their outstanding 5-star center for the playoffs if they played a 6 game season, for example.

pic.twitter.com/pHHYgGYh9h

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) January 2, 2021

excellent

Clemson scores a TD with 10:42 left in the 4th quarter. OSU's win probability instantly drops from 99.9% to 99.8%. lol

didn’t think that alabama could ever be the most likable team in a four-team playoff but here we are

lebron’s buckeye fandom is by far the worst thing about him, really puts a dent in his otherwise unassailable greatness

didn’t think that alabama could ever be the most likable team in a four-team playoff but here we are

lol otm

I hope bama smokes em

I’m surprised at what my thread has become.

Clemson lost by more points to a worse team, so they get 4th imo.

I’m surprised at what my thread has become.

fair

but we're here now and still full of hate

Dabo: No regrets about ranking Ohio State 11th
Kelly irked by questions, 'narrative' after ND loss

lol fuck you forever

DaVonta Smith and Najee Harris are just amazing athletes. Its kinda hard to know how good Mac Jones actually is because those two guys are freaking Plastic Man after they get the ball.

OSU is pretty good too, but I don't think anyone has Alabama's depth.

ND played pretty well yesterday and really played a bit better than the scorching they took in the media in the ACC championship game than the score indicated.

Cincinnatti was literally a play away from beating Georgia yesterday. Georgia's defense is punishing and Alabama dropped 40 on them.

Being a homebody this year with everything going on, I have watched a few games this year.

Texas canned Herman, Steve Sarkesian reportedly the top candidate.

Saban produces as many new (or rehabbed) head coaches as he does star players.

Tommy Tuberville gets sworn in and the Capitol’s defense immediately falls apart.

— Bunkie Perkins (@BunkiePerkins) January 6, 2021

bunkie otm

lol

Harbaugh's new contract will pay him a base salary of $4 million in 2021, which will increase to $4.426 million in 2025. He can earn a maximum bonus of $3.475 million in each year of the contract, including $1 million bonuses for winning the Big Ten championship and the College Football Playoff National Championship, and $500,000 bonuses for winning the Big Ten East Division and reaching the CFP.

otoh

Harbaugh had one year left on his initial contract at Michigan, which paid the coach slightly over $8 million in 2020.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1IsCGpUcAIbnrh?format=jpg&name=small

I realize there's a desire to put a local spin on non-local stories, but this seems crass.