State of the Game - One Radical Change

Preview 2010 - The State of the Game. Other than a playoff, you can make one radical, off-the-wall change to the world of college football. What would it be?

Preview 2010 - State of the Game

Make One Radical Change ...

State of the Game Topics
- Is Realignment A Plus?
- The SEC & The BCS
- What If Boise Goes 12-0?
- Are You Okay With the BCS Championship Result?
- Does The AP Title Matter?
- A $300 Bowl Gift vs. a $300 Handshake
- Did Reggie Bush Do Anything Wrong?
- How Should Offending Programs Be Punished?
- If You Could Make One Radical Change ...
- If You Could Make One Slight Change ...
- What Is Excessive Celebration?
- What's Your Favorite Non-Heisman Award

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Once again, we're extremely proud to get the thoughts from some of the top voices in the college football world in our annual State of the Game piece. Along with three CFN writers, check out the opinions on the key topics going into the 2010 season from legendary play-by-play man, Verne Lundquist, ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit, Ivan Maisel, Joe Schad, and Bruce Feldman, Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com, and the Chicago Tribune's Teddy Greenstein.

10. Other than a playoff, you can make one radical, off-the-wall change to the world of college football. What would it be?

Pete Fiutak, CFN : Ditch athletic scholarships and allow players to have agents, do marketing deals, and make it acceptable to take money, gifts, or anything else offered to them. Because of Title IX, you simply can’t afford to pay everyone on the team; the third string punter doesn’t deserve the same money and privileges the Heisman caliber running back receives. Eliminate scholarships, use them for real students looking to get an education, and let some agent pay the tuition for the hot shot receiver prospect. If a T. Boone Pickens type wants to set up a fund that pays for 100 players to go to Oklahoma State, so be it. If Phil Knight wants to establish some sort of Nike training school that pays for players to go to Oregon, okay. If Mr. All-America QB gets a seven-figure offer from Gatorade, congratulations. Despite the best efforts of Nick Saban and Urban Meyer, you can’t eliminate the agent issue, and this isn’t going to slow down or just go away as more and more money is being made. Embrace it, and realize the alternative really is fair and just.

Also, I’d get rid of the ridiculous rule that a player has to be three years out of high school before joining the NFL. If a player is good enough, let him spend a few years on a practice squad or as a key backup while he’s learning his craft. It’s a lie to make athletes who don’t want to be in college pretend that they’re students.

Richard Cirminiello, CFN : No NCAA rule bothers me more than the one that penalizes the kid who wants to transfer by forcing him to sit out a season. Coaches, administrators, trainers, professors – they can all move freely and without impunity, but the player looking for a better opportunity or just a change of scenery will have his career paused for a full year unless he can prove some type of hardship. It’s more than unfair. Limiting someone’s portability is downright un-American.

Matt Zemek, CFN: Pay the players within a context of semi-professional athletics (in other words, with players attending school ONLY to play football).

Dennis Dodd, CBSSports.com: Outlaw games starting after 6 p.m. local time unless it's LSU. College football was meant to be played in the afternoon. We've lost sight of that.

Bruce Feldman, ESPN.com: Every BCS conference team would have to schedule at least two games against BCS conferences teams in the non-conference.

Teddy Greenstein, Chicago Tribune: Division I teams can host I-AA teams no more than once every five years. Teams need to sack up. Weak non-conference schedules hurt the game.

Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN : I would set up a criteria for teams to meet when it comes to non-conference scheduling. One of the things that drives me crazy, as an analyst and a former player, is that ADs and head coaches have their own agendas when it comes to non conf scheduling. ADs want home games to help their bottom line. And HC's want easy wins to help them stay unbeaten heading into conference play. While I understand their point of view, I think it is terrible for the game. Fans and alumni don't care about these games and more importantly, the players don't want to play in those games. I would demand that BCS conf teams have to schedule at least two non-conference games against out of conference BCS teams.

Verne Lundquist, CBS : This is neither radical nor off the wall, but if I could affect one change in college football, the choice for me is an easy one: compensate the players. As things now stand, they are lackeys in a feudal system. Define them as they exist in a college or university system, as entertainers. Reward them accordingly.

Ivan Maisel, ESPN.com: I would restore the sport of football to overtime, rather than the bastardized form of the game currently employed.

Joe Schad, ESPN : A playoff. Oh, you said that wasn't happening. So that's radical, right? I like spot-of-foul pass interference penalties as per the NFL. I say let's ban celebration penalties. Take it out of the rule book and only give a 15-yard penalty for misconduct if a person's actions are completely and totally offensive or vulgar.