Top 5 Coaches in College Football

In college football your legacy is defined by how much you win. In numerous occasions there are coaches who win a lot of championships and are put over coaches who have won a lot of games. It also gets put into effect the skill of your team or teams. For example how good was the team before you got there and what is it while you were there? It all gets looked at when looking at the best coaches in college football. Some of the top coaches in college football right now in no specific order are Urban Meyers, Nick Saban, Mark Dantonio, Bob Stoops, Gary Patterson, and Dabo Sweeney. All these coaches are at the highest collegiate level of football. But they all have a different legacy and they all teach a different story when it come into their career.

There are two different Rankings of coaches from two different websites.

According to Fox Sports the Top 5 coaches in College football are

1. Urban Meyer 
2. Nick Saban 
3. Mark Dantonio 
4. Bob Stoops 
5. Gary Patterson 

According to Bleacher Report

1. Nick Saban 
2. Urban Meyer 
3. Dabo Sweeney 
4. Gary Patterson  
5. Mark Dantonio 

One of the first coaches I see and hear the most about is Coach Nick Saban, he has coach at many different division one schools including Toledo University, Michigan State University, and Alabama University. His coaching record is 191 wins – 60 losses and one tie. Saban also has a winning percentage of 765% out of 1000%. Saban has also played in 16 major Bowl games. Including the BCS Championship, the Capital One Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, and the Cotton Bowl. His team when he has been coached has been ranked number one eight times in his career.

Another coach with a very strong resume when looking at coaching careers is Coach Urban Meyer, who also has coached at numerous other division one colleges such as Bowling Green State, Utah, Florida, and Thee Ohio State University. Just like his peer Nick Saban he also has an outstanding career record with 157 wins and 27 losses and a win percentage of .851. Meyer has also participated in 11 bowl games and has a record of 9 wins and 2 losses. He has coached in games such as the Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, the BCS Championship, and the Capital One Bowl.

The last coach I’m going to speak about when considering there career is Coach Mark Dantonio, has also had a very winning career while coaching at Cincinnati and Michigan State. Dantonio has a record of 105 wins and 50 losses and a winning percentage of .677 %. Dantonio has also coached in 9 major bowl games, such as the Capital one Bowl, Rose Bowl, and the Cotton Bowl.

Just touching on these three great coaches doesn’t overlook the other hundreds of coaches that I didn’t talk about. These ones just stand out to me personally. There are numerous other coaches who have had won many games in their careers and who have won many championships.

Link to Coaching Records of Nick Saban

Link to Coaching Records of Urban Meyer

Link to Coaching Records of Mark Dantonio

Bleacher report Standings

Fox Sports Rankings 

College Football Uniforms

In the college football world uniforms mean a lot and the brighter the better, there are numerous teams in the division 1 level and throughout college football that are sponsored by huge brands. Such as Nike, Adidas, and Under Amour. These brands by sponsoring these teams give them all sorts of gear and equipment such as cleats, gloves, arm and leg bands, and many other things. 

These teams also ge

t new jerseys for certain games for example Oregon University there story is kind of special

Oregon University, graduate Phil Knight is also the CEO of Nike. Over the last few years Oregon has had 10,000 uniform combinations and they continue to expand and get newer ones as the time comes. 

 This means a lot of things as far as the school having one of the biggest connections in sports. There sports teams are all endorsed by Nike. The team that sees it the most is the football team. The Oregon football team is one of the brightest teams in college football. With the upcoming popularity of the color lime green, Oregon has embraced it with open arms.  They have also been known to have way more jerseys then needed, and they usually showcase a new one a year.

Another team with ridiculously creative uniforms is the University of Maryland football team. Their jerseys is really a creative look. It involves many different colors including Red, Black, white, and Yellow. As well as their flag, with all the pride in the University of Maryland their uniforms play great tribute to them. Their team is on the up and coming in college football as they’ve been getting better and better as the years go by. Sponsored by under amour I wouldn’t be surprised if they got another set of jerseys for this upcoming year.

Another team that has changed their look over the last couple years is Navy, the military based school has changed their look and become a more modern type style with their uniforms. They have left their basic old style and have moved to a newer style with blue and gold and a helmet with a three 

color tone which makes them look really good.

In this coming era college football has changed from the lose fitting jerseys to tight fitting jerseys which players seem to like way more because of the style. Numerous teams have switched to these tight fitting jerseys such as TCU, North Carolina, Auburn, and Boise State etc.  

Even though these teams seem to have these great uniforms they all play different styles of games. But since improving there jersey they have been playing better and going up on the college football ranks. You look good feel good play good, that’s always been my motto. The teams will continue to change their look as the image and what people like will continue to change what look will be next? Who knows but I’m guessing Oregon will be one of the first to know. 


Links on top 10 uniforms in college football
link to top 25 uniforms 

The College Football Playoffs

The college football playoffs is something that has changed the view and standing of college football and how it is viewed. It changed how the season is looked at when it gets into crunch time. The college football playoffs was started two years ago and has been a success. It also has plans of expanding from four teams to even more if it becomes more of a success.

In college football before this playoff system was put into effect it was only the top two teams in the nation that played against each other. The playoff system opens it up to teams who even though they didn’t go undefeated they still have a chance by being ranked in the top 4 in the nation.

The way it works is simple, in college football the teams are ranked based off their records and strength of schedule. Which means the tougher teams that you play can help you in the long run when it comes to rankings. For example if Boston College was to go 12-0 in there season they would seem to have a number 1 or 2 rankings based of schedule. But if Clemson University went 11-1 but there schedule consist of more ranked teams and wins over those teams then Boston College they could end up with a better standing then them.

The playoff starts by the committee who started the playoffs itself. They then choose four teams with the best records to play in a longer season. The four teams then play in a bowl game on New Year’s holiday, the bowl games consist of the Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl, and the Sugar Bowl.

After those games the teams who win in the semifinals then get the chance to play in the National Championship, to prove who really is the best in college football?

The past champions since the system has been put into effect have been Alabama University with the record of 14-1 and Thee Ohio State Buckeyes with a record of 14-1.

There are many differences between the two systems college football has chosen in the past to go with and what they go with now in the present.

Like anything else in the world there a Pros and Cons. Some of the Pros to the college football playoffs would be

•    Gets away from human and computers deciding who plays in the championship based  of who wins or loses
•    With a fan vote of 85% wanting the playoff system
•   Gives more chances to teams with a loss on their record
•   Makes it equal to everyone
•   Revenue increases because there are more games that are played which brings up tickets, merchandise, food, etc.

But with all Pros comes Cons. Some of the Cons of the new playoff system are

• With the season having to be extended with more games it could affect an athletes studies
•  Takes away from the fact that every game counts because you can still make it with a loss
•   Less fans attend games because they want to go to the national championship instead of the bowl game before that.
• Travel plans are made harder because the results of the games are unpredictable

So in the end the college football is both good and bad it ultimately depends on how you view the things that come into effect. I personal love the idea and can’t wait till they extend it to even more teams. 

Link to Pros and Cons of the playoff System 

Link to Past Winners of the National Championship

Link to overview of College Football Playoffs 

The College Atmosphere

Walking into a stadium were all year here is cheering from thousands of people. Seeing people with face paint and letters on their chest. The environment of something special going on. The excitement from the people standing in their seats. Is how to describe the Atmosphere of seeing some of the most explosive and most exciting athletes away from the professional level? College Football has shown to be one of the most exciting things to experience as a fan. As well as being not as expensive as professional games but just as exciting it is one of the best things to watch.

A big thing with college football is how much their fans play a part in their team’s field atmosphere. The fans are the reason teams stadium are so loud. The loyalty of their fans when there team is winning is the best part of college football. They STUDENT fans is one of the huge differences between the pros and the collegiate level.

College football atmosphere is different depending on where you’re watching the game. Some of the loudest stadiums in the United States come from college football games.

Coming from schools like

Husky Stadium (Washington Huskies)

Memorial Stadium (Clemson Tigers)

Tiger Stadium (LSU Tigers)

According to Stacks.com they did some research regarding how they came about on how these stadiums are the loudest in college football. The research brought them to the conclusion that the Washington Huskies record the Highest Recorded Decibel Level at 133.6, with Clemson falling behind barley with 132.8 decibels and LSU Tigers with 130 decibels.  

So a chart looking up the equivalence to the Washington Huskies stadium which was recorded at 133.6, the chart says it’s about the sound of a close range gunshot. So imagine a gunshot going off in close range for about three and a half hours.

Why is this stadium so loud? There are a couple reasons the atmosphere and loudness of this stadium is the way it is, is because of the location of seats and the overhanging roof.

The reason the roof goes into effect of the stadium is because of the fact that without it the crowd noise would just leave the stadium. But since there is something somewhat blocking the noise from leaving the stadium it makes it much louder. 

The second reason why the stadium is as loud as it is, is because of the location of the seats. The seats are located between the two end zones. Which means a majority of the fans are right behind the players on the sidelines. It also keeps them under the overhanging roof.

The atmosphere for these stadiums only grows on their fan base. Just like if a team is winning their fans are going to keep coming to games and there only going to get louder and louder. This is a key reason that isn’t spoken about. The more you win the more they come.

Link to stacks.com

Link to decibel comparison

Link to Reasons about Washington Huskies Stadium

Journey To The NFL Draft

The NFL draft a College football athletes dream, something they work for their whole life if they see making it to the NFL as their dream. There whole college career has to define weather they will be able to go to the draft in the first place. A lot of people didn’t know that to actually go to the NFL draft you have to be invited. The people inviting you are based off an amount of votes you get when reviewing your college career and if they think there is something you bring to the table basically that someone else doesn’t. It’s a crazy game being drafted.

A lot of things go into getting ready for the draft normally an athlete of a certain caliber were officially say they are going to the NFL after the season. After this is done they have found an agent or start looking for one. The agent pretty much does all the work for the athlete as far as getting in touch with other coaches.

All the player does is begin a crazy lifting and diet schedule to make sure they are ready to preform when the date comes for them to showcase their skills in front of coaches and scouts that work for the only sport that owns one day of the week.

The daily life of an athlete getting ready for the draft start as followed

-          8:00 am – Wake up

-          8:30 am – Breakfast

-          9:00 am – Team meeting on objectives

-          9:30 am – Work out 1 (including – combine drills, such as Vertical , broad jump , 40 yard dash, l cone , agility , position drills)

-          11:30 am – Lunch

-          2:00   pm – Work out 2 ( weight lifting such as Olympic lifts , lower body , upper body , strength movements . core training)

-          4:00  Pm – Recovery

-          5:30  pm – Dinner

-          7:00 pm – Team meeting , focused interviewing skills and film review

Their life defiantly isn’t something that isn’t taking seriously during this time period if anything it’s one of the hardest things they have to go through at this point of their career. But they see it as it all being worth it at the end.

But preparing for the draft isn’t the only thing these players get to do to showcase their skills. They also get a pro-day in college. It’s basically a day where scouts interested in a player can come and look at them perform certain things without the pressure of the draft. At this pro-day players from the college all work out together in front of the scouts which can always boost someone else’s stock that a scout wasn’t there to see.

There are numerous candidates that enter the draft every year and every year there is a list that ranks the players from 1-100. There are also many mock drafts done by very experienced and smart analysis that make their livings off just the NFL draft. A mock draft is very simple it’s basically a draft similar to the actual draft but it isn’t official, which is why it’s called a mock. It’s like a test run and as certain things progress for players and they are seen more and more by scouts there draft stock can go up or down.

The dream of being drafted into the NFL is one you have to be ready for. It isn’t for everyone. Are you ready for it?

Link to typical combine routine for a college athlete getting ready for the draft 

Link to how players are selected for the NFL draft 

Leaving for the NFL early ?

One of the biggest problems in College football is athletes leaving for the Professional level early. This may sound like it’s not a bad thing but in the long run it really is. Leaving for the Professional level early results in a lot of things such as

·          

 Not finishing your degree

·              Not being ready mentally and physically

But during this time of athletes that leave early those things aren’t going through their head what’s so ever. The average length of a NFL player’s career is 3.3 years based on NFL Player Association. The career expands to 6 years if you make the roster your rookie season.

Just like anything there are a lot of pros and cons to why athlete leave school early. There is no really emulation on why you make this decision according to sources they say you just have to be in the situation to think about it fully and decide

Pros to staying in school are you are able to have a future after your athletic career because of the fact you have a degree to fall back on. Which makes everything a lot easier in your life if your career doesn’t work out the way you want it too. Epically with the average career length not being longer than 6 years for some people.

There is a lot cases that you could get injured playing your sport, which is huge you end up having a career ending injury or you just choose to have left your sport.  You still have a degree that you can work after that’s over.

Staying in college also teaches maturity , you’re in college four more years which gives you more time to live and learn from your mistakes that you have to go through before moving on to the real world . It makes you smarter you obviously learn more while being on college against leaving college to go play your sport.

But there are also good things to leaving college early if you are that gifted. Such as being able to provide for the family with the contract that will be getting from the team they are signed by. A lot of athletes make the decision to leave early based of their families and their living ways.

Another huge aspect is the fact that staying in college longer can cause a lot more time to have an injury. Staying in college a lot longer can give you a higher chance of injury and of course as a college athlete too don’t get paid so leaving early can be a good thing.

Another thing athletes say is that even though they leave early they can still go back to school after or during their career. During the season the athlete may be busy but a season only last so long, during the off time they could go back to school and get there degree even though they aren’t in school so anymore.  

The number of big name college athletes that left college early but when they got to the NFL didn’t have a great career is very large. With only 32 teams and about 50-60 players on a team in the NFL and about 15,588 SENIORS in college, only 256 of them will actually be drafted into the NFL. It makes the percentage 1.6%.

link to players career length in the NFL after leaving college 

link to pros and cons to college athleses leaving early

Should We Pay College Football Athletes

One of the biggest topics around College sports is paying division 1 college athletes, and if the college they go to should  pay them or not. The decision is pretty split if you look at different articles from certain journalist.

For example March Madness is one of the most watched and televised things during the period of time from the middle of March to the beginning of April. During this time period there 64 teams that participate in a series of rounds that are watched all over the United States. But the player participating in this event see no money. Same with the Frozen Four a tournament  in Hockey to determine a champion and the National Playoffs in College Football also to determine a champion. 

Where does the money go? And why don’t the athletes see any of it?

Arguments come from different point of views about paying athletes such as they already get scholarships for being student-athletes they don’t need to be paid as well, or such arguments that players leave college so fast because the need to support their families so they go for the money. Instead of finishing there degree. Which in the long run can hurt them if there career isn’t successful.

There are many Pros to paying such athletes such as it’s a stable income for them which keeps them having to get jobs. A college football athlete spends forty hours a week on a football field this is the same amount of time spent with a full time job. With all the money that gets brought in from the games, as well as merchandise, and overall fan support. A little chunk can go to players to make everything a lot easier for them.

Another reason paying college athletes is a good idea is to stop them from getting into trouble from other people. College athletes with big names usually gain a lot of attention from agents and other merchandise selling people. Athletes see it as getting a quick buck but it can get them into a lot of trouble and can ultimately get the scholarships revoked. But all this could be avoided if they were paid in the first place.

Lastly a good reason to pay college athletes is to teach them to be responsible with the money. For example Johnny Manziel an NFL athlete, left college after his sophomore year in college still very young and went to the NFL. Manziel made many mistakes in his first couple’s years in the NFL as far as decisions in public places and spending money in ridiculous amounts. But that could have been prevented if he were paid in College.

But there are also a lot of cons to paying athletes in college, such as causing them to end up focusing on the money and which could cause there sport to become more important than there studies. Which goes against the fact that they are Student-athletes and the student always comes first.

Paying college athletes can take away from the game itself. For example the game of college football as at its purest without paying the athletes. Starting to pay them makes college football more like the NFL. Which isn’t one

College athletes regarding paying them can be flipped numerous times. Good thing were not the one who had to make the decision.

Link to a article on Pros and Cons of paying college athletes 

Link to article on Pros and Cons of paying college athletes 

The Life Of a College Football Athlete

The life of a college football athlete is one of the most complex things that go on behind closed doors  you would never know about unless you ask a college athlete. Talking from experience I played college football at Mount Ida College in Newton, MA. It was one of the best experiences of my life meeting all the people I did and everything as well as traveling. In this blog  I interviewed three  College athletes at various levels of the game asking how there life was during the season and after the season.

The First person I interviewed was a friend of mine named Khaneil Bruce, he is originally from Cambridge, MA and Plays football currently at University of New Heaven after Transferring from Nassau Community College in New York.  I played high school Football with Khaneil and we both graduated together in 2014. 

I asked Khaneil about how football season is for him and if it gets hectic, his answer was simple he says “it gets hectic if you let it”.   Also that it does get overwhelming when you think about it because he has to balance his academics , practices , games , and traveling all together which isn’t easy for any 20 year old.

            I then asked Khaneil about his time after football season, and if he gets bored, he told me not really because he still has workouts every morning. But he does have more times than he does during the season. Khaneil told me he does tend to miss the season when it’s done but then it just pushes him to work harder towards the next season.

Lastly I asked Khaneil what is the best part of being a college football athlete. Khaneil told me the people you meet is the best part of being an athlete , because those are the people you end of spending the most time with, and by the end of the season there more like family not just your teammates.

                        

Another person I interviewed about their live as a College Football Athlete is a good friend of mine named Randi Vines. Randi played football at the University of New Hampshire and is originally from Virginia.

When Asking Randi about his life during the season he says it wasn’t easy trying to adapt from high school to college because he had a lot more time in high school compared to college when you're busy all the time.  Randi also said after a while of having the “College Life “ and being and athlete and being a student it became a lot easier because he was managing his time better.

During the off-season for Randi said was similar to football season, his coach made sure that the athletes were not getting  in trouble during the off-season so they did a lot of things football related after being done with their student activities. But he says even with having all that stuff he still had way more time than he did during football season.

Lastly when asked about what his best experience was he says it was the atmosphere at the games and being surrounded by what he felt like was a family. One of the best things he says was being able to walk around campus and being able to talk to stop and talk to anyone about the game because everyone was a family at his university.

The Last person I interviewed about this topic is a very close friend of mine name Idris Drayton . Idris and I met at Mount Ida College my freshman year playing football. We both came in as freshman so we relate to a lot of the same things.

When asking Idris about his life during the season he says football was the hectic part as a freshman, it wasn’t the school work at all it was all the stuff revolving around football and how much time it took to get stuff done because of football.

Idris also told me when asked about the off- season that it was bittersweet, because he was happy he had more time on his hands but wished he was still out there playing what he loved and having fun with his teammates doing it. But it defiantly felt good to be out of class early and not having to worry about football and just being able to just hang out  after.

Lastly he says it was hard to choose what was the best part of his experience as football player but if he had to choose it would be practice, because that where he meet some great people and learned the most about himself outside of just being a football player. 

Link to the University of New Haven Football Program 
Link to the University of New Hampshire Football Program 
Link to the Mount Ida College Football Program 

Conferences in College Football

College Football unlike the NFL is split into many different conferences and divisions. The split of  divisions is basically based of skill level of the team and its size, it goes from Division 1, Division 2, and Division 3. These 3 division all play the same game they just have more skilled players then the other starting in division 1 and going down. I will mostly be focusing on division 1 football in this blog.

In division 1 football everything is different, from the size of the school to the intensity during the games, to the length of travel between games and being on national television. In college football there are 128 college football teams playing in the division 1 section. Of those 128 teams there are 11 conferences that have been  split  up based of region and where they are located?

The 11 Conferences are the

1.     Atlantic Coast (ACC)
2.   Big 12 
3. Big East 
4. Big Ten 
5. PAC 12
6. South Eastern  (SEC)
7. Conference USA
8.  Mid- Atlantic (MAC)
9. Mountain West 
10. Sun Belt 
11. Western Athletic (WAC)

 These Conferences hold some of the most gifted athletes in college sports. Some ready to go on and play at the professional level after just one year in college. Based on my opinion I think the most powerful conference in College football is the SEC. They have the most competitive teams, they have won seven National championships since 1990. It is mostly  known as the Power house in  college football including teams like Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Ole Miss, South Carolina, and many others.

In the 11 conferences the amount of teams vary based on where they are located, there can be 4 teams in a conference or can be 12 teams in a conference it honestly depends on where they are . But just because of where they are located and the  name of their conference has nothing to do with how good the team is.

With these conferences there is a championship at the end of the season. The teams that play in these championships are determined throughout the season based on how their record is in the conference as well as out of the conference. Which then determines who will play against each other at the end in a head to head game. These conference games are usually very important because they later on give the winner of the game a chance to play in a bowl game in the end of the season against someone else basically for another bowl championship.

The college football season lives of these conferences which make everything more exciting because when it comes to colleges in the same area who are placed in the same conference they result in huge rivalries. One of the most talked about rivalries in college football comes from the SEC, when Alabama plays Auburn towards the end of the season. It’s called the Iron Bowl, this game never seems to disappoint

-          Go to this link for more info on tiebreakers in conferences  for college football 

Go to this link for more info on conferences involving college football 

   
Video regarding conferences and strength in them 

How Did College Football Start

One of the most watched things in America is football, but there are two different levels of football the collegiate level and the Professional level. They are the same game but started two different ways. I’m going to go into brief explanation on how College football came about.

The First college football game happened on November 6^th 1869 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Where Rutgers beat Princeton 6 goals to 4. The score was this way because at this time  the game was played with a soccer style ball. The game didn’t spread as fast as you would think it would with the popularity it has now. By 1875 there were 6 teams playing college football.

 The 1880s to 1890s is when college football started to gain some sort of rules and regulations. As they implemented rules limiting each team to 11 players on the field, having a line of scrimmage, and starting the down markers at the time it was 5 yards is a first down and they got 3 downs which later changed to 10 yards and 4 downs.

By the 20^th century there were over 250 colleges having teams in this great sport. A lot of things came about in the20th century, as the numbers on players jersey came. Before players were just playing you didn’t really know who anyone was, but in 1915 it was thought players should have numbers on the front and back of their jerseys. It was finally put into effect in1937.

In 1903 the game grew to a huge popularity where Harvard was the first college to build a stadium just for football, which was huge because it never happened before. But with the all the things good happening it was like the game took 5 steps backward when injuries and even deaths started happening on the field. It was such a problem that the President at the time Theodore Roosevelt demand that changes be made. Which started what we now know as the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) who then had control over rules and regulations to make the game safer for its players.

With all the rule changes came the Forward Pass which was huge if you look at the change it’s made to the game in the present time. In 1906 the rule was implemented to help move the ball better. The pass game didn’t really become popular until 1910 through 1912 when a small school shocked the college game by the name of West Virginal Wesleyan College when they recorded their first undefeated season in 1912.

The Scoring in College Football didn’t change as the game started to change from the beginning as well. The 20the century was huge for the game, as the changing of scores went from 5 points for a touchdown to 6 points and field goals went from 1 to 2 points to 3 points. In 1958 the teams got the opportunity to go for 2 points after scoring a touchdown, or kicking the extra point which was kept at 1 point. The change in the rules for scoring grew the games popularity to an extreme level because of the amount of points being scored at a time.

For more information or if you would like to read more about the links I’ve used you can see them at the bottom.

         

Go to this website for more on the history  behind how college football started and rule changes from then and now changed 

Go to this website for more info on the first game played in college football.