Should College Football Have a Preseason?
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by LastRow
Week one of the college football season is in the books and what a weekend it was…Well, except if you’re part of Wolverine Nation. Although be proud UM…It’s not like you lost to some cupcake! It’s Appalachian State…The back-to-back National Champs of "The Division formerly known as IAA", or something like that. The plan was for Michigan to throw a little cheddar their way…A thanks for coming gift if you will before taking them behind the woodshed and tuning up for the Oregon Ducks. Well, that was supposed to be the plan…Turns out the script was written a little different.
The rule of thumb in college football heading into a season the first two or three games are basically gloried scrimmages…Well, that is unless you’re the University of Notre Dame. They haven’t caught on to the notion that playing an early season schedule that even the Oakland Raiders would have difficulty running the table proves in South Bend that they aren’t as smart as they proclaim! Why if they were they’d be scheduling the creampuff patsy every big time school in the country is doing to start off the season. Although is that really good for the game of college football? To pay off a school such as Waffle House University, Crackle Barrel Institution, IHOP Tech, Sonic College, etc…
With no preseason in college football and the schedule surrounding this sport playing a critical role unlike in any other sport it makes sense to go live for a few weeks. Working and fine tuning things with not having to worry about coming out of that 60 minutes with a "W" or not…In reality all these early games are, are glorified scrimmages. It’s the college version of preseason games. We often criticize schools who play patsy non conference opponents, but basically with no "preseason" to get all the kinks ironed out it has become almost a necessity! Notre Dame wants the world to know they don’t duck anybody. While this may be the case, perhaps that’s why no Waterford crystal footballs have landed inside the trophy case in almost 20 years.
So instead of having these early September games that are virtually meaningless in the overall scheme of things…Sorry Michigan, still feel the blues. Should college football implement a preseason schedule? Or at least allow for scrimmages against other teams. So when it’s time for September to roll around, the first two or three games on a team’s schedule are nothing more than glorified scrimmages counting towards the overall record…Which in turn may hurt a teams chance of getting into a BCS Bowl due to it’s schedule. Wow, there’s a catch 22…Schedule creampuffs to get everything worked out come October and get rolling. On the other hand, have the early season YMCA schedule come back and bite a particular team trying to get into the BCS while in the process losing out on millions of dollars because some computer fails to see Mount Union as a worthy opponent…Although they are the cream of the crop in Division III. Scoring 50+ points in the first quarter I might add!
Hell, if the NFL needs a preseason, college does as well! Although forgive me…I forgot what Miles Brand said! "College football isn’t big time business." And O.J. Simpson didn’t get away with double murder too, right, MB? You’re absolutely correct MB….College football isn’t a business! It’s about political!
