Opinion: Why College Football is Better Than the NFL

Although the NFL averages higher TV ratings than college football, college football is undeniably the best form of football people will see. Being someone who is a self-diagnosed addicted sports fan, I feel like I have the right to share this take with you all. When this debate is brought up, NFL fans will fall back on their arguments that the players are better, teams' playoff fates are in their own hands instead of a committee, and that no team is ever a lock to win a game. But, being real, nothing is better than college football’s pageantry, drama, traditions, upsets, tailgates, marching bands, and spirit. Here are just a few of my reasons why the NFL will never beat college football. 

Traditions/Atmosphere

Growing up in Oklahoma, I went to my first NFL game only one year ago when the Dallas Cowboys played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a late-season, decisive Sunday Night Football game. Sounds like an awesome and riveting atmosphere, right? Wrong. I’ve been to a lot of sporting events, European soccer games, NHL games, NBA games, etc, and that HUGE NFL game was by far the worst atmosphere of all those games. Every chant/song was orchestrated by the sound system, with no tradition behind anything they were doing. Plus, even in a 4th quarter, one-score game, I could hear crickets while the visiting Buccaneers were driving. I left Jerryworld underwhelmed.

It is fair to say that my experience was a one-off. Although the Dallas Cowboys are the most well-known NFL team, they are also the most hated, primarily because of their owner, Jerry Jones, who has commercialized the team. I agree that Sunday nights in Green Bay or Buffalo are some of the best in all of sports, but they don’t crack the top 5 in football atmospheres.

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Nothing beats the traditions and atmospheres of the blue bloods of college football, whether it’s singing Dixieland Delight at Alabama, Tennessee splitting the T while Rocky Top blares from the band, or Ohio State “dotting the i” before the Big Game. And on top of that, all the games are played on campuses. Like AT&T Stadium, where the Cowboys play, all NFL stadiums are concrete jungles that look copied and pasted into different cities. There is a soul behind college football that is lacking in a more commercialized NFL. I do love the NFL and would do anything to experience a night in Lambeau (Packers), but I would do even more to experience a night game in Baton Rouge (LSU) or an 11 a.m. kickoff in the Shoe (Ohio State). 

Rivalries

Rivalries make sports special. Those testy, big games where each side hates the other's guts add to the excitement of our beloved game. Although the NFL has rivalries, like the Giants vs. Eagles, Packers vs. Bears, or Ravens vs. Steelers, none of those are near the level of college football ones.

Whether it’s the Border War (Missouri vs. Kansas), which literally started because of a war between the two states before the Civil War, the Red River Rivalry (OU vs. Texas), or the Game (Ohio State vs. Michigan), universities know how to create a good ol’-fashioned rivalry. 

Playstyle

Hands down, there is much more variety in playbooks at the college level. You have teams like Ohio State that run an offense that mimics the pros, going up against academy schools, like Navy that operate the triple option. There’s Georgia Tech, whose plan is to simply let their quarterback run the ball as many times as they can before his legs fall off his body. There’s Tennessee, whose scheme spreads its receivers out as far as they can to maximize their use of the field. There’s Iowa, which might not even have an offense. 

In the NFL, all you get are the same personnel packages, with some variation once or twice a game. I’m not saying the NFL is boring, but who doesn’t love seeing a group of future NFL first-round picks play hard-nosed 1960s football against a team that will soon be on the front lines?

Counterargument: “The Love of the Game” May Be No More

As college athletics dive deeper and deeper into the era of NIL and the transfer portal, the public has not held back on their criticisms of how the glory days of college sports may be going away. No longer are kids playing for their love of the game and fighting every single day for a chance to get a paycheck in the NFL. Some people, including me, argue that the fact that players were not getting paid made the sport special and that reality is slipping away. This aspect of the game presents a significant flaw in my argument, and I hope that as the years pass, college football will retain its charm, regardless of whether the players are playing or not. 

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There is hope for college football. The narrative that players no longer play for the love of the game might be overstated or incorrect. In the past two years, we have seen the rise of the overlooked. Those guys with no stars (not rated out of high school) or barely any statues coming out of high school are finally able to make a name for themselves. Two players jump to my mind: Cam Ward and Cam Skattebo. First, Cam Ward started his career at Incarnate Word, an FCS program. Thanks to the transfer portal, he made a major move to Washington State, balled out, then took his talent to Miami, balled out again, and got picked number one overall. Cam Skattebo had no stars out of high school and went to play at Sacramento State. Like Cam Ward, he played really good football, transferred to Arizona State, and made a huge name for himself, having one of the best single-player performances I have ever seen against Texas in the CFB playoffs. Now, he’s balling out in the NFL on the Giants. The transfer portal, which many die-hard college football fans like myself are afraid could ruin the sport we love, might bring another aspect to the game that will make it even more special.