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https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/2019/...tball.html

lets all say a prayer for Joseph as he will be rail roaded by Bammers and SEC homers for the foreseeable future after this article. He isn't wrong though

"Pennsylvania and the Virginias, three other epicenters for college football"

I quit reading right there....

Just because Texas and California are hotbeds for recruiting, that doesn't translate into those state colleges for wins. California kids are recruited nationally in addition to being diluted by the numerous in-state schools. The same can be said for Texas, but they also lose recruits to Oklahoma and the SEC.
I agree the system is "broken", but most of the argument in the article is weak. If you want Texas and California schools to win NCs, blame their coaches and conferences, not the system. They both have P5 programs.

I think he just invokes California and Texas as a way to make a point that top players from all over the country are choosing to go to a very small group of schools that they believe are likely to win the popularity contest and go to the "national championship playoff" which does appear to be happening. No way this is good for college football but the conferences that contain these schools are happy with it because it makes them money.

The article is simply click bait to rile the locals. The sport has always been broken but a few modern coaches and their boosters are simply superior to all others in working the system and attracting a huge portion of the top talent every year. Formula is coaches with charisma, success and sales skills, bag men with deep pockets and fancy cars and clothes and bling, conference and national championships, and ultimately a path to a high NFL draft pick. Apparently all of that now trumps early playing time for many 5 stars, which is why those kids are willing to sit for 2 years at bama and wait their turn. A few schools in the south are all in to win. Whatever it takes. The rest of the schools arent or cant. Increasing the number of playoff teams wont solve the problem he describes.

(05-09-2019 08:02 AM)Ranger1386c Wrote:  The article is simply click bait to rile the locals. The sport has always been broken but a few modern coaches and their boosters are simply superior to all others in working the system and attracting a huge portion of the top talent every year. Formula is coaches with charisma, success and sales skills, bag men with deep pockets and fancy cars and clothes and bling, conference and national championships, and ultimately a path to a high NFL draft pick. Apparently all of that now trumps early playing time for many 5 stars, which is why those kids are willing to sit for 2 years at bama and wait their turn. A few schools in the south are all in to win. Whatever it takes. The rest of the schools arent or cant. Increasing the number of playoff teams wont solve the problem he describes.

If/when Alabama is #5 in a 4 team playoff a couple of times, the tune will change...

(05-09-2019 08:22 AM)WesternBlazer Wrote:  

(05-09-2019 08:02 AM)Ranger1386c Wrote:  The article is simply click bait to rile the locals. The sport has always been broken but a few modern coaches and their boosters are simply superior to all others in working the system and attracting a huge portion of the top talent every year. Formula is coaches with charisma, success and sales skills, bag men with deep pockets and fancy cars and clothes and bling, conference and national championships, and ultimately a path to a high NFL draft pick. Apparently all of that now trumps early playing time for many 5 stars, which is why those kids are willing to sit for 2 years at bama and wait their turn. A few schools in the south are all in to win. Whatever it takes. The rest of the schools arent or cant. Increasing the number of playoff teams wont solve the problem he describes.

If/when Alabama is #5 in a 4 team playoff a couple of times, the tune will change...

Yes. Once Saban retires the landscape will shift again. Right now the “problem” is a very unbalanced distribution of top tier talent, even among the top 10% of the power schools. Top talent has never been this unbalanced for this long, and only in a few southern schools. Perhaps it is creating a challenge for the sport to keep fan populations outside this region fully engaged. Maybe a reverse NASCAR effect, where a hugely popular national sport shrinks to a primarily regional sport. Probably wont happen but the past five years have gotten a bit tedious watching the same jerseys year after year in the playoffs. I only enjoyed this year because of the UAT beatdown.