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#PMARSHONAU: Valuable attention elusive for most in college football
A long-time Auburn coach and a friend, now retired, was wondering the other day via telephone what Auburn and similarly situated programs can do to overcome the burgeoning attention deficit in college football. The problem is clear for anybody who is paying attention to see.
“I thought the SEC Network was going to be great for Auburn,” my friend said. “It has been anything but that.”
My friend’s belief is that the SEC Network caters to a handful of teams in who it features, who it hires and what is said by those who offer opinions. He believes it’s worse than ESPN because he believes it should be promoting league programs in every sport.
So much is so different today than it was even a decade ago. The way college football and college football news are consumed is a product of the information age. For most of its history, college football was a regional sport. West Coast teams recruited mostly on the West Coast. SEC teams recruited in the Southeast. And so it went.
In the modern college football ecosystem, regional barriers have been shattered. They were shattered further when Oklahoma and Texas announced they planned to leave for the SEC. Those two, Arkansas and Missouri will be in the SEC. West Virginia is in the Big 12. Go figure.
Players from all over the country see games and get news from all over the country. And the message is relentless, day after day, week after week, month after month. The cool kids go to Alabama, Clemson, Georgia Ohio State or Oklahoma. But it really doesn’t end there.
Programs that are perceived as “bluebloods – I hate that term – need only win a game or two or maybe just hire a new coach to immediately be declared back and ready to contend. Consider the comparison between Auburn and Texas.
In the past 11 seasons, Auburn has won a national championship, won two SEC championships and has played for another national championship. It has had one losing season. In that same period, Texas has won nothing. Only in the abbreviated season of 2020, when they went 7-3, have the Longhorns lost fewer than four games. They have had four losing seasons. Yet where does the spotlight shine?
Texas naming its starting quarterback was a big story on national web sites covering college football. Recruits committing to Texas are big stories. It’s not just because Steve Sarkisian is there. Tom Herman was the previous savior. Before him it was Charley Strong, who replaced Mack Brown.
Wouldn’t that seem to indicate a trend?
This is not in any way about Auburn being mistreated. It is about the reality that faces not only Auburn, but numerous programs who have proved that they can compete and win on the highest level.
In the Southeast, ESPN and the SEC Network are the prime sources of college football information and televise most SEC games. There you can find College Football Playoff predictions, including the usual suspects, before a game has even been played.
Here’s how I break it down:
You have the teams that are currently contending regularly for championships along with those that the networks seem to want desperately to compete for championships. You’ve heard it: “It’s good for college football when (name the team) is good.” I’ve never really understood that.
That first group includes Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, Georgia, LSU, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Florida State, USC, Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame.
Those programs consume most of the attention. They get the benefit of the doubt. For the best of them, losses are written off as all but meaningless. As for those in that group not currently contending for championships, even one win can start the hype. Watch and see what happens if LSU wins at UCLA, which won all of 10 games in the previous three seasons.
Once Georgia’s game against Clemson declares itself, the conversation won’t be just about the winner. It will be about how the loser is still great and can win the national championship.
The issue is not just the attention that those who have dominated the playoff field get. It’s also those who aren’t great or in some cases even good. For whatever the reason – maybe it’s TV ratings – those who talk about the game to millions want desperately for them to be good.
It’s difficult to break into that group. Clemson has managed to do it, but the rest have been there for a long time. Others, including Auburn, have been in and out.
The next group, those who have proved they can compete on the highest level, is much larger. It includes Auburn, Miami, Oregon, Texas A&M, Wisconsin, Iowa, Penn State, Stanford, Utah, Michigan State, Tennessee, Nebraska and some other Power 5 teams. Stringing a few wins together can vault these programs into the conversation with those listed above. But they are often viewed as interlopers who won’t be around for long. Auburn's 2010 national championship didn't change that. Neither did its near-miss in 2013.
And then come the loveable underdogs. Boise State, Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina and Central Florida are those who get attention these days. This group can change from year to year.
The truth is Auburn has usually been treated more fairly than most in polls and playoff rankings, but that doesn’t change reality. The programs in the first group don’t get every player they want, as the talking heads want you to believe. But they get most of the players ranked as the better prospects in the country, and it doesn’t matter where they are from. Alabama has six players from California.
The only option is to win games and championships. That takes unyielding commitment, impact players and depth. It takes creative thinking. Finding a way to get enough of those players in a system that favors the fortunate few is a challenge that proves too much for most.
The attention deficit is real, and it matters more than it ever has.
A long-time Auburn coach and a friend, now retired, was wondering the other day via telephone what Auburn and similarly situated programs can do to overcome the burgeoning attention deficit in college football. The problem is clear for anybody who is paying attention to see.
“I thought the SEC Network was going to be great for Auburn,” my friend said. “It has been anything but that.”
My friend’s belief is that the SEC Network caters to a handful of teams in who it features, who it hires and what is said by those who offer opinions. He believes it’s worse than ESPN because he believes it should be promoting league programs in every sport.
So much is so different today than it was even a decade ago. The way college football and college football news are consumed is a product of the information age. For most of its history, college football was a regional sport. West Coast teams recruited mostly on the West Coast. SEC teams recruited in the Southeast. And so it went.
In the modern college football ecosystem, regional barriers have been shattered. They were shattered further when Oklahoma and Texas announced they planned to leave for the SEC. Those two, Arkansas and Missouri will be in the SEC. West Virginia is in the Big 12. Go figure.
Players from all over the country see games and get news from all over the country. And the message is relentless, day after day, week after week, month after month. The cool kids go to Alabama, Clemson, Georgia Ohio State or Oklahoma. But it really doesn’t end there.
Programs that are perceived as “bluebloods – I hate that term – need only win a game or two or maybe just hire a new coach to immediately be declared back and ready to contend. Consider the comparison between Auburn and Texas.
In the past 11 seasons, Auburn has won a national championship, won two SEC championships and has played for another national championship. It has had one losing season. In that same period, Texas has won nothing. Only in the abbreviated season of 2020, when they went 7-3, have the Longhorns lost fewer than four games. They have had four losing seasons. Yet where does the spotlight shine?
Texas naming its starting quarterback was a big story on national web sites covering college football. Recruits committing to Texas are big stories. It’s not just because Steve Sarkisian is there. Tom Herman was the previous savior. Before him it was Charley Strong, who replaced Mack Brown.
Wouldn’t that seem to indicate a trend?
This is not in any way about Auburn being mistreated. It is about the reality that faces not only Auburn, but numerous programs who have proved that they can compete and win on the highest level.
In the Southeast, ESPN and the SEC Network are the prime sources of college football information and televise most SEC games. There you can find College Football Playoff predictions, including the usual suspects, before a game has even been played.
Here’s how I break it down:
You have the teams that are currently contending regularly for championships along with those that the networks seem to want desperately to compete for championships. You’ve heard it: “It’s good for college football when (name the team) is good.” I’ve never really understood that.
That first group includes Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, Georgia, LSU, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Florida State, USC, Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame.
Those programs consume most of the attention. They get the benefit of the doubt. For the best of them, losses are written off as all but meaningless. As for those in that group not currently contending for championships, even one win can start the hype. Watch and see what happens if LSU wins at UCLA, which won all of 10 games in the previous three seasons.
Once Georgia’s game against Clemson declares itself, the conversation won’t be just about the winner. It will be about how the loser is still great and can win the national championship.
The issue is not just the attention that those who have dominated the playoff field get. It’s also those who aren’t great or in some cases even good. For whatever the reason – maybe it’s TV ratings – those who talk about the game to millions want desperately for them to be good.
It’s difficult to break into that group. Clemson has managed to do it, but the rest have been there for a long time. Others, including Auburn, have been in and out.
The next group, those who have proved they can compete on the highest level, is much larger. It includes Auburn, Miami, Oregon, Texas A&M, Wisconsin, Iowa, Penn State, Stanford, Utah, Michigan State, Tennessee, Nebraska and some other Power 5 teams. Stringing a few wins together can vault these programs into the conversation with those listed above. But they are often viewed as interlopers who won’t be around for long. Auburn's 2010 national championship didn't change that. Neither did its near-miss in 2013.
And then come the loveable underdogs. Boise State, Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina and Central Florida are those who get attention these days. This group can change from year to year.
The truth is Auburn has usually been treated more fairly than most in polls and playoff rankings, but that doesn’t change reality. The programs in the first group don’t get every player they want, as the talking heads want you to believe. But they get most of the players ranked as the better prospects in the country, and it doesn’t matter where they are from. Alabama has six players from California.
The only option is to win games and championships. That takes unyielding commitment, impact players and depth. It takes creative thinking. Finding a way to get enough of those players in a system that favors the fortunate few is a challenge that proves too much for most.
The attention deficit is real, and it matters more than it ever has.