Northern Wyoming News - Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years

There are plenty of debates burning in the world of sports and while they can be exhausting at times, overall they're fun debates. That's why sports TV is littered with talking head shows going over topics like LeBron vs. Jordan, Tom Brady vs. Joe Montana and will we ever see a team as incredible as the '18 Jacksonville Jaguars? (I know they had a bad loss to the Titans, but I still believe.)

One debate that always seems to come up during September is which is best, the NFL or college football? Sure, initially this seems like a debate, but the truth is it's not and it's time to put it to rest. The NFL is far, far, far better than college football, and that's even with college football at its best.

College football is nice for what it is, a football-fix to get you to Sunday. There's the weekly dramatic game or highly ranked teams going toe-to-toe that adds to the entertainment factor, but here's a hot take for you. College football is largely boring.

It's so hard to watch. I get the players are mostly kids still learning the game, but we need to cut it out with saying this is "good football." Route running is non-existent in college. A route in college is more of a suggestion than anything.

Comparing college route running to the NFL is like watching the Millennium Falcon out run Star Destroyers in "A New Hope" to the Millennium Falcon outrunning TIE fighters in "The Force Awakens."

In "A New Hope," Han is turning ever so slightly to the left, then slightly to the right. Meanwhile, the people on the Star Destroyer are freaking out that they're about to lose him. In "Awakens," Rey is turning the Falcon on a dime, flying it through tight quarters and getting Finn in the best position to take out TIE fighters.

College receivers are like Han running roundabout routes while NFL receivers are like Rey, running timely, precise routes. If a college receiver runs a bad route they can still make up for it and catch the ball. If an NFL receiver runs a bad route at best it's an incompletion but at worst it's going to lead to an INT. Followed by Sunday Night Football's Chris Collinsworth going, "Now Al, that interception is all on the receiver. He planted to cut with his inside foot and that's why he was out-of-sync with the throw, and we're going the other way. He's going to get an earful on the sideline and deservedly so."

I know it's unfair to compare the semi-pros to the pros, but it's a factor.

The college football diehards are entertaining, they'll complain about NFL teams buying the best players or take shots at the Pats dynasty, saying it's boring when you know who is going to win. And the best part of it is they do so without any sense of irony.

To them, college football is all about passion and love of the game, but in reality, college football is all about the rich getting richer. There is more parity in the NBA than in college football. In this decade alone, Alabama has won four national titles and they're going to add a fifth this season. And the rest of the championships have been won by teams from power conferences.

There's no mid-major team gunning for a national title, that's never going to happen. Correction, the only way a non-power conference team makes the College Football Playoff (CFP), is if the field is expanded to 24-teams. Then on a good year, one team will make it into the CFP.

Those college football diehards complain to no end about NFL free agency, but it's not like Alabama or Ohio State are recruiting a bunch of bums and turning them into All-Americans. Those top football programs are LOADED with former High School All-Americans. That's why you always hear that tiresome cliché "[insert blue-chip program] doesn't rebuild, they reload."

Another funny thing about college football is how programs like 'Bama, OSU and Georgia schedule bottom rung Division I or top-tier Division II teams. Where's the sport in that? 'Bama is hosting the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns today, and the Tide are favored by 48.5 points. This is the equivalent of a rich jerk flying to Africa, shooting a caged lion, coming back to the States and acting as if he bested the beast in a match of wits.

I guarantee, likely toward the end of the game, there's going to be a shot of Nick Saban dropping a load in his pants because the Cajuns kicked a field goal that cut the Tide's lead to 67 points. Then all the college football goons on ESPN and FS1 are going to pucker their lips for Saban with remarks like, "That's why he's the best coach in college football. He's a true competitor and there's no letup, rah, rah, rah."

I'm so tired of all the smoke being blown up Saban's butt. Come on, if Saban is this supposed coaching genius, jump to the NFL. Prove it when the talent across the board is relatively equal.

Look, I'm not saying it's a crime to like college football. I like having a game on while I clean around the house or work on the computer. It's good background noise. But let's stop pretending that it's on the same entertainment level as the NFL.