I come to toss grenades.
As a resident of Oregon, I was pleased last year when the Ducks made it to the championship game, UNTIL, the day before the game, when they were interviewing Mariotta and a few other members of the team, NONE of whom were from Oregon. It suddenly dawned on me that our state pride was tied up in the Ducks, and trust me, there were a LOT of green and yellow "O" flags all over the state. But to repeat, there was a LOT of state pride tied up in a team of dudes from everywhere but Oregon, wearing jerseys that said, "Oregon" on them. Nick Saban has done fine at Alabama, but his players are Floridians mostly. To his credit, Urban Meyer recruits a lot at home, but still, could he win a national title with ALL Ohio kids? Of course not. If you were to require all players on a college football team be from the state in which they compete, teams from Florida, Texas and California would pretty much dominate college football. It's just one of the idiosyncrasies that makes college football SO screwy. Why can't you have a playoff with more than 4 teams? Because then the revenue would be shared outside five conferences, and the five conferences want no part of that. Why can't you pay the players? Because the colleges are making WAY too much money off what amounts to free labor, and they're not about to let go of that. AND let's not forget, the NFL benefits grandly from a FREE farm system. I don't know. I hate to be contrarian, but don't you think it would be a whole lot more entertaining if the NFL just set up their own farm system? That way, the NFL could groom players from high school on, to play their style of offense or defense, instead of drafting kids that have to be un-taught all the things they were coached in college. There'd be a LOT less hypocrisy, you could still use the college facilities, and pay them for their use, but really.
Oh, and I had to laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh when USC lost last night. I guess Pete Carroll did achieve the impossible. He ruined the USC program. Even with a full slate of scholarships, and Pete's main man at the helm, they can't dominate the conference they most certainly should, on paper, at least. Too bad games aren't played on paper, eh?
:clap:
