[needle]

To me, this discussion goes far beyond Stanford. The gap between the top programs - Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Georgia - in terms of commitment to winning, is large.  Even Notre Dame, who has lower admission standards than Stanford and nationwide TV exposure every week, can't keep up, because when they play one of these powerhouses, they lose.

LSU, Auburn, Texas, Texas A&M, Michigan, USC, Penn State, Oregon, Florida, Washington, Wisconsin, and Florida State all sink giant money into football, and even they can't get to the very top these days. Georgia has massively increased its investment into recruiting and coaching staff salaries and it has the best football talent producing state per capita based on what I can gather.

This week I read an article about an attendance app at Alabama that is giving students reward points if they stay through games from kickoff to final whistle. Nick Saban said something like "if you want to be number one, we need the stands packed."  So here Alabama is, already at the top of the mountain or barely off it, and they are taking strong action to shore up the slightest possible weakness they have.

I saw this and thought "we have a problem in college football."  Stanford can't even find enough quality players who can qualify for admission, and here Alabama is designing apps to make sure nobody leaves the stadium, fearing that if they do, they might not be as desirable a destination for the best players.  There really are not 65 teams that should be competing for playoffs in the Power 5 conferences. The disparities in talent concentration are growing and growing, and the teams spending the most money are getting most of them, and they are in turn collecting the most money.

Stanford might have issues with coaching staff and recruiting, but most of college football can't keep up with a very few programs.  It's not good for the game. It will be quite interesting to see how Notre Dame fares in Athens this Saturday.

I feel like related to what you're saying is the trend of increasing numbers of underclassmen entering the draft. Talented NCAA football players seem to have less and less interest in school. It's mostly about finding the best program that gives you a shot to get into the NFL as quickly as possible. Given the nature of injuries in such a violent sport, perhaps this even makes sense, to some degree.

To take a position contrary to most on this board, I believe Stanford should allow its football student-athletes to begin school early and take part in spring drills. This would fit with what top athletes want the most these days out of college: an express train to the NFL.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...remaining/

[needle]

To me, this discussion goes far beyond Stanford. The gap between the top programs - Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Georgia - in terms of commitment to winning, is large.  Even Notre Dame, who has lower admission standards than Stanford and nationwide TV exposure every week, can't keep up, because when they play one of these powerhouses, they lose.

LSU, Auburn, Texas, Texas A&M, Michigan, USC, Penn State, Oregon, Florida, Washington, Wisconsin, and Florida State all sink giant money into football, and even they can't get to the very top these days. Georgia has massively increased its investment into recruiting and coaching staff salaries and it has the best football talent producing state per capita based on what I can gather.

This week I read an article about an attendance app at Alabama that is giving students reward points if they stay through games from kickoff to final whistle. Nick Saban said something like "if you want to be number one, we need the stands packed."  So here Alabama is, already at the top of the mountain or barely off it, and they are taking strong action to shore up the slightest possible weakness they have.

I saw this and thought "we have a problem in college football."  Stanford can't even find enough quality players who can qualify for admission, and here Alabama is designing apps to make sure nobody leaves the stadium, fearing that if they do, they might not be as desirable a destination for the best players.  There really are not 65 teams that should be competing for playoffs in the Power 5 conferences. The disparities in talent concentration are growing and growing, and the teams spending the most money are getting most of them, and they are in turn collecting the most money.

Stanford might have issues with coaching staff and recruiting, but most of college football can't keep up with a very few programs.  It's not good for the game. It will be quite interesting to see how Notre Dame fares in Athens this Saturday.

I feel like related to what you're saying is the trend of increasing numbers of underclassmen entering the draft. Talented NCAA football players seem to have less and less interest in school. It's mostly about finding the best program that gives you a shot to get into the NFL as quickly as possible. Given the nature of injuries in such a violent sport, perhaps this even makes sense, to some degree.

To take a position contrary to most on this board, I believe Stanford should allow its football student-athletes to begin school early and take part in spring drills. This would fit with what top athletes want the most these days out of college: an express train to the NFL.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...remaining/