🏈 Gene Wojo, Ivan Maisel, and Schlabach—10 suggestions on "How to make college football better."

[TerryP]

I'm shaking my head at Mark Schlabach. He must have thought this compilation had something to do with baseball and three out of ten would be good. He certainly whiffed on the remainder.

On the other hand, Wojo and Maisel seem to take a place-kickers approach—both hitting eight and nine out of their ten. Of course, this is how I see their "suggestions."

I've edited their explanations and some of them are definitely worth going to the article and reading the full text.

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How to make college football better

College football is great as it is, but that doesn't mean a little tinkering and some fresh ideas wouldn't improve it. ESPN.com columnists Gene Wojciechowski, Ivan Maisel and Mark Schlabach have a few suggestions for things they'd like to see as it relates to this season's on-field product as well as larger issues concerning the sport.

 

[TerryP]

Gene Wojciechowski:

1. Respect for the Stiff Arm
Nowhere on the Heisman Trophy ballot does it say anything about strength of character. You can be a knucklehead...
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But it would be nice if future Heisman candidates and recent winners took a lesson from the Ingrams, Tebows, Sam Bradfords, etc., of the world. In short, if you can read a defense, then you can read the pricing label on a package of seafood. You shouldn't need a school-supplied 24-hour babysitter.

2. "Survivor": College Football Playoff-Style
You want real transparency? The kind that rivals a reality show? The kind that would cause former BCS number crunchers Brad Edwards and Jerry Palm to faint with happiness? Then I have eight words for you: College Football Playoff selection committee war room cam. With boom mikes (OK, 11 words).
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Pull back the curtain. Turn on the mikes. Let us see how the playoff sausage is made.

3. A man's got to know his limitations
Some things you don't mess with, like certain football unis. Alternate jersey and helmet logos are fine. Sometimes they're even better than the primary outfits. But under no circumstances -- the penalty being the offender has to do the Oklahoma drill, against actual OU players -- should the following programs ever change their helmet logos: Oklahoma, USC, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, SMU, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Texas, TCU, Fresno State, Colorado and Notre Dame.

4. College football fixed from within
I'm all for player rights, the full cost of attendance allowances, and medical coverage that extends beyond your playing days. I'm all for exposing NCAA policies and rules that are counterintuitive, anti-player or just plain dumb. I'm for anything that sends the NCAA rules manual to Weight Watchers. But I'm not pro-union when it comes to players doing the Norma Rae thing. College football needs to unionize like Dabo Swinney needs more caffeine and another orange/purple golf shirt. A football scholarship is no small thing, especially at a place such as Northwestern, birthplace of the Kain Colter-led union movement.

5. Officials keep their flags in their pockets
More times than not you'll see a game official rush toward the impromptu celebration as if he's worried kittens are being harmed, immediately neutralizing the spontaneity of the moment. In the worst-case scenario, the official will throw a flag if a player is too demonstrative, too "excessive." Lighten up, Francis. It's football. Everything about it is excessive.

6. Power to the player
During a four-month period last season, USC's players had four different head coaches. They went from Lane Kiffin to Ed Orgeron to Clay Helton to Steve Sarkisian.
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So explain to me again why a player shouldn't have a two-week window to transfer after a coaching change? And, please, don't say that a player signs with a school, not a coach -- because that is hardly ever true.

7. No. 9
In a perfect college football world, it would be nice if every conference would play nine league games. The Pac-12 is going to play nine. The Big 12 is going to play nine. The Big Ten (beginning in 2016) is going to play nine. Meanwhile, the SEC and the ACC have chosen to remain at eight conference games. That prompted Stanford's David Shaw to call out the SEC,
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I'm a huge fan of Shaw, but he forgot to mention that the SEC has been playing a conference championship game since 1992. And that the Big 12 isn't playing one at all. And that the Pac-12 has played one for a grand total of three seasons.

8. And the winner is ...
Every year you hear the same thing: There are too many bowl games. And there are.
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But if we're going to question the number of bowl games, maybe it's time to do the same with postseason awards. I counted 21 separate awards after the 2013 season. There were three different awards for best player (with two different winners).

9. Shake down the thunder
Remove the egos, the history of bruised feelings and the insistence by lots of Notre Dame alums that the Irish remain football independents, and you're left with one result: ND belongs in the Big Ten. If Notre Dame is going to take the conference plunge (and it keeps dipping its toes deeper into the ACC pool), then it should be in a league that makes the most football and geographical sense. And that league is the Big Ten.

10. Four words
Texas vs. Texas A&M: Revive the rivalry. Now.

 

[TerryP]

Ivan Maisel

1. Virginia Tech wins 10 games
With three very good seasons, Beamer could reach 300 wins at age 70 and get out and go
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I am skeptical that any coach from this generation will stay on the sideline long enough to win 300 games. Beamer may be the last candidate to join the club.

2. A Heisman Trophy winner with no baggage
Is it too much to ask? We had Cam Newton and his entrepreneurial father in 2010 and Jameis Winston's he-said, she-said mess a year ago. Johnny Manziel's NCAA issues didn't bubble up until after he won the 2012 trophy. The only complaint I have about Mark Ingram in 2009 and Robert Griffin III in 2011 is that I didn't vote either of them to win.

3. The play-clock rule amended
Nick Saban had a point. Before college football adopted the 40-second play clock in 2008, the umpire stood over the ball for a short period of time before he "wound up" the 25-second play clock. Up-tempo offenses succeed in part by preventing the defense from substituting. This is what's best for the game? The intent of the 40-second clock, to speed up the time of the game, sped up the game itself. I'd rather watch an offense and defense match strategy than watch which team has the most organized sideline. Amend the rule to allow the umpire to stand over the ball for 10 seconds until both teams have had a chance to sub. Let an up-tempo team win because it wears out the defense once the ball is snapped, not before it's snapped.

4. A sleeper conference contender to emerge
It took only four seasons for Stanford (2008-12) and Baylor (2009-13) to rise from the muck and mire of mediocrity
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That means there are a lot of ways that the below-average can become good, and please, let's see it happen some more. So who is so your candidate to win a conference championship in 2017? Mark Stoops at Kentucky? Mike MacIntyre at Colorado? My pick: Butch Jones at Tennessee. You can thank me later, Geno.

5. A sensible (early) signing date
Enough already -- pass a rule allowing an early signing date and move on. None of the issues raised by coaches are insurmountable.

6. No more games against FCS opposition
It is difficult not to be sympathetic to the well-being of FCS schools that need paycheck games from the FBS in order to pay the bills
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If the power conferences don't use their upcoming autonomy to end those games, let's hope the College Football Playoff committee makes the schools that play those games pay a price.

7. The maturation of two elite quarterbacks continues
Rarely do we focus so intensely on one student-athlete that we see his complete physical and emotional maturation over the course of his collegiate career.


8. Patience with the playoff
Think about how many changes the BCS made over the course of its 16-year existence, from clearly whiffing on the two best teams early (Nebraska over Oregon in '01, Oklahoma over Auburn in '04) to the relative smoothness with which it picked teams over the last few years. Apply that retrospective wisdom to the College Football Playoff and take a deep breath over the next few years.
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So let's be patient, understand that the worst playoff is still a playoff, and hope that the future adjustments are tweaks and not mulligans.

9. Oklahoma State succeeds despite APR penalties
Oklahoma State lost two practice hours per week as a result of a low APR score over the most recent four-year period measured. It is good to see an academic rule with teeth in it, but I hope the Cowboys have a great season.
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Oklahoma State may be an unwilling test case, but everyone in college football (OK, outside the Big 12) should be rooting for the Cowboys.

10. An end to the Curse of Bo
From the day that Bo Schembechler died in 2006, on the eve of No. 2 Michigan's 42-39 loss at its archrival, No. 1 Ohio State, the Wolverines have a record of 50-41 (.549). That's an average of 7-6, pretty much the definition of mediocrity.
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Michigan needs to set aside the Curse of Bo this season, and I bet that the Wolverines do so, for state pride if nothing else.

 

[TerryP]

Mark Schlabach
1. The selection committee makes some brave decisions
Chaos has always been good for college football, and here's hoping that the 13-member College football Playoff committee will have to choose from among several undefeated or one-loss teams to fill the four-team College Football Playoff and other major bowls.
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I also want to see if the committee is willing to select a one-loss team at the expense of an undefeated team with a soft schedule (such as Baylor or Wisconsin).

2. Can Florida and Michigan rebound?
College football is a lot more enjoyable when Florida-Florida State and Michigan-Ohio State still matter at season's end.

3. Trevor Knight flourishes as Oklahoma's quarterback
Sportswriters are supposed to remain objective, but it's hard not to pull for a player like Knight, who was the most impressive student-athlete I talked to this spring. .....
Here's hoping Knight picks up where he left off and isn't derailed by the enormous expectations that have suddenly been placed on him.

4. Georgia running back Todd Gurley stays healthy
Running backs seem to be largely an afterthought in the NFL draft nowadays, but it's still one of the most important positions in college football.
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Gurley is too good to be sitting on the sideline. If he stays healthy, he might become a Heisman Trophy finalist and a potential top-10 NFL draft pick.

5. Charlie Strong succeeds at Texas
Strong wasn't the first choice to replace longtime Texas coach Mack Brown, which will make a tough job even more difficult. But Strong paid his dues as a longtime defensive coordinator at South Carolina and Florida, and he more than made his mark after getting his first head-coaching job at Louisville. .....
The sport has come a long way in terms of hiring minority coaches, but it still has a long, long way to go.

6. Appalachian State and Georgia Southern avoid falling flat on their faces
The small-school powers, which combined to win nine FCS national championships, are jumping into big-boy football this coming season. Well, at least they're joining the Sun Belt Conference in their first season at the FBS level.
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But have the programs bitten off more than they can chew by jumping to FBS? The Eagles will play NC State, Georgia Tech and Navy, among others, this coming season; the Mountaineers will play Michigan, Southern Miss and Louisiana-Monroe.

7. Bobby Petrino falls flat on his face

8. A sideline flare-up between Nick Saban and his offensive coordinator

9. A Pac-12 South team challenges Oregon and Stanford
For all the talk about the SEC being top-heavy, the Ducks and Cardinal have largely dominated the Pac-12 recently, combining to win 93 games and the last four conference championships.
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The Pac-12 has tremendous depth in both divisions, but it would be nice to see a Pac-12 South team return to the elite.

10. Alabama lines up for a last-second field goal against Auburn

 

[TerryP]

Here's one from Maisel I think is a joke. No, make that the ruling on the APR penalty was a joke.

9. Oklahoma State succeeds despite APR penalties
Oklahoma State lost two practice hours per week as a result of a low APR score over the most recent four-year period measured. It is good to see an academic rule with teeth in it, but I hope the Cowboys have a great season.
.....
Oklahoma State may be an unwilling test case, but everyone in college football (OK, outside the Big 12) should be rooting for the Cowboys.

Two practice hours equals Okie State not having their Friday walk-through before Saturday's game. There's not a single tooth in this penalty.

Setting that aside, I'm supposed to root for a team that didn't fulfill its obligation to the academic side of these kids by requiring them to do well in classes? Because they were punished, slapped on the wrist, pinched by the NCAA they deserve support?

 

[bama alum]

All I could do when reading most of Schalbach's wish list: :eyeroll::eyeroll::eyeroll::eyeroll::eyeroll::eyeroll::eyeroll::eyeroll::eyeroll::eyeroll::eyeroll::eyeroll::eyeroll:

 

[TerryP]

@bama alum "Wish list" is a good way to describe his suggestions. I can see three of them that would make college football better—UF vs FSU and UM vs OSU being good games (though somewhat debatable I have to agree having UF and UM better is good for college football,) Texas a stronger program than it is today, and a good team come out of the PAC South.

Seeing Petrino fall on his face is good for college football? Seeing Kiffin and Saban get into a "dust-up?" That's TMZ's wish list.

Gurley being successful or Knight having a good year? Gurley fits his allegiance so it's good for him as a fan. Knight would be good for OU fans but how would either improve the collegiate football landscape?

App State and Ga. Southern joining FBS just adds two more teams to a list that has too many on it already.

I'm left shaking my head on his first suggestion. Brave decisions by the selection committee as an improvement in and of itself requires them making bad decisions where they've made no decisions at all as of yet.

Schlabach does a pretty good job with his team vs team analysis. When it comes to the issues surrounding the sport ...I'm left without a word to describe how he comes across. It's almost petty.

 

[psychojoe]

Gene Wojciechowski:
.
5. Officials keep their flags in their pockets
More times than not you'll see a game official rush toward the impromptu celebration as if he's worried kittens are being harmed, immediately neutralizing the spontaneity of the moment. In the worst-case scenario, the official will throw a flag if a player is too demonstrative, too "excessive." Lighten up, Francis. It's football. Everything about it is excessive.

This. Let it go. If you don't want to be taunted, do something about it on the field. LIKE PLAY BETTER!

 

[bama alum]

Seeing Petrino fall on his face is good for college football? Seeing Kiffin and Saban get into a "dust-up?" That's TMZ's wish list.

No, I didn't see what the point was of some Jerry Springer-equivalent points on his wish list either.