Last week’s media buildup to the annually over-glorified LSU-Alabama game restored one of the most asinine premises in all of sports: the idea that a college team could legitimately compete against an NFL team. It is time to put that assumption to rest.
Steve Spurrier, the highly respected South Carolina coach, embarrassed himself by saying if Alabama played an NFL bottom-dweller, “a lot of the oddsmakers out there that usually know what’s going on, I’d guess Alabama would be favored by a little bit.”
Sounds like a good way to lose a lot of money.
To make matters worse, a SportsCenter reporter asked two Alabama defensive starters whether the Crimson Tide defense could keep up with the struggling Jacksonville Jaguar offense. One of the players dismissed the question by claiming they were focused on LSU, but his answer should have been a flat “no.” Anyone who argues otherwise is showing a lack of respect for the men who have fought hard and sacrificed to make it to the NFL.
First, let’s frame the question in a better light. Could teams splitting time between playing and schoolwork outplay ones that devote their entire lives to football? Could teams with some players who could someday play in the NFL outplay teams where every player, obviously, currently plays in the NFL?
Those questions highlight the first flaw in Spurrier’s argument: preparation. The NCAA limits practice time for college players to 20 hours per week. Why? Because these players are — or at least should be — students before they are athletes. College teams must worry about passing classes, adjusting to college life, adhering to NCAA regulations and developing football fundamentals. NFL teams have to worry about winning. That’s it.
On the field, NFL players have exponentially more experience playing the game and playing against the best players in the world. Even Alabama spends its season playing teams where the vast majority of players are only partially defined by football, not the finest athletes in all of the country.
This leads to the second flaw in Spurrier’s premise: athleticism. Only the strongest and fastest can make it in the NFL. That is why the NFL Combine exists. Alabama may find — if it is lucky — that 10 of its players will be strong and fast enough for the NFL next year. It may have some younger players who will become strong and fast enough for the NFL eventually. But every single NFL roster includes 53 players who are strong and fast enough to play in the NFL right now — even the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The final omission in Spurrier’s premise — one he conveniently ignores — is coaching. Nick Saban, coach of the Crimson Tide, is a college idol. But remember what happened when he went to the NFL? He finished his career 15-17, failed to make the playoffs twice and abruptly left because the experience tarnished his reputation. Even our friend Spurrier, a bona fide college coaching legend, spent two years in the NFL and went 12-20 before resigning. Good coaches make it in college football. Great coaches make it in the NFL.
NFL coaches are like mad scientists. They devise elaborate offensive and defensive schemes and fit them into playbooks the size of dictionaries. If a college team faced an NFL team, it would be too busy being outmuscled to deal with being outsmarted. The results would be humiliating.
The Alabama defense ultimately gave up 17 points to a not-so-heralded LSU offense. The Jaguars, widely held to have the worst offense in the NFL, averaged 19 points a game playing defenses where every single player is stronger and more experienced than Alabama’s best.
So someone make this game happen and find me that oddsmaker who would predict Alabama. I could use the money.
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