Every weekend, millions of Americans tune into their televisions to watch football. Friday nights consist of going to your local high school and watching the hometown boys battle it out on a poorly kept field. Saturdays are for tailgating and watching the college game filled with big rivalries and college spirit. Finally, Sundays have the constant check up on fantasy sites and sitting on the couch watching the best of the best. But is this “best of the best” the best we can watch?
In the NFL, everything is automatic. Players rarely make mistakes and when they do it is highlighted to the extreme. In college, players will mess up all the time, but that’s what makes it fun. We see players drop balls, miss kicks, have terrible clock management and miss tackles. When a college kicker lines up for the game winning 30-yard kick, we don’t know if he will make it. In the NFL that kicker will make it 99 percent of the time.
In college ball, we see crazy finishes that just wouldn’t happen the NFL. Just this year, we have seen an eight-lateral, game-winning touchdown with nothing left on the clock. Michigan State won on a fumbled snap on a punt and brought the ball back for a touchdown. Georgia Tech beat Florida State by running back a blocked field goal. Those games were all just in this year. In the NFL you have great games, but they are usually the same. The multimillion-dollar quarterback drives the ball down the field for a boring field goal kick.
College football also has the greatest rivalries in sports. Ohio State vs. Michigan, Clemson vs. South Carolina, Florida State vs. Florida, and many more. Even if the two teams haven’t won a game, that one game is the biggest thing for those teams. A win against a big rival can save a coach’s job even if that game was his only win. You don’t have to live in the area to be into the rivalry game. You can be in Maine and still be in on Ohio State vs. Michigan. With the NFL, unless the teams are good, rivalries don’t matter outside of those areas. We don’t watch the bad teams unless either of those teams matter to you.
When a 1-4 team beats a 5-0 team in the NFL it will get talked about, but it isn’t that important. That now 5-1 team can just win the next game and be fine. They will most likely make the playoffs even if they lose four more games. In college football, every game matters. If you are ranked No. 3 in the country and you lose one game, you might not make it back into the top four in order to make the playoff. This is why we see huge upsets in college that actually matter. If Michigan can spoil Ohio State’s Championship hopes, then Michigan’s season is complete. Every game means just as much as the next and the one before. In the NFL, teams will sometimes take out starters at the end of the season if they know they are in the playoffs. That just wouldn’t happen in college because you have to try to win every game.
I love the NFL. I’m a huge fan and try to watch at least one game a week. But college football is just so much better. Better games, better rivalries, and every game matters.
– By Tanner Althoff