Ask columnist Jason Williams anything − sports or non-sports – and he’ll pick some of your questions and respond on Cincinnati.com. Email: jwilliams@enquirer.com
Subject: Realignment, transfer portal, NIL take toll on college football interest
Message: I’m a long-time Bearcats fan. I love college football and everything about it – fall Saturday afternoons on campus, the traditions and tailgating. I can’t remember a preseason in which I’ve been this uninterested, however. I just can’t get excited. Not just about the Bearcats but college football in general. Some of my friends feel the same way.
Reply: You’re not alone.
College football is my favorite sport, and this is the least excited I’ve been for the beginning of a season since I started following it in the mid-1980s.
Life came at us fast on this. Rapid realignment has transformed the SEC and Big Ten into an oligarchy. NIL and the transfer portal have made 25 or so programs relevant – and most everyone else a minor league team. Sure, there will be a couple of surprise teams outside the wealthy class here and there each season.
I’m a UC alum. I’m a lifelong Marshall Thundering Herd fan from growing up in Southeast Ohio. When all these changes started happening a few years ago, I worried the day would come when my interest would wane. I just didn’t think it would’ve happened this quickly.
I used to memorize the Herd’s roster – name, number and face. It was easy year-to-year, because so many guys returned. I can’t name five players on the Marshall team right now. I’ve been torn since the spring about whether to renew my season tickets. That used to be an easy, click-of-the-button decision.
Unless you’re a fan of any SEC team not named Vanderbilt, any team in the top half of the Big Ten, Notre Dame and a few other blueblood programs, welcome to the season of uncertainty. You can hardly name anyone on the roster. You have no clue whether your team will be good or bad. So you temper your enthusiasm and expectations. You check out.
You root for the school. The kids used to play for the school. Everyone developed a relationship over 3-5 years. You watched guys grow up. You learned their names and stories. You latched onto the star players and were proud they represented your university.
It was fun to watch a player like UC’s Desmond Ridder grow from a promising redshirt freshman into a superstar senior who led the Bearcats to the College Football Playoff and then got drafted in the third round.
Today, good chance a guy like that would’ve been poached by Ohio State or an SEC school after his sophomore or junior seasons.
Now the good players play for the highest bidder. You still root for the name on the front of the jersey, but the player is now playing for the name on the back.
UC has 47 new players. They had 33 new players going into last season. Can most Bearcats fans name any players besides Dontay “The Godfather” Corleone?
Football wasn’t designed to have this kind of roster turnover each season. The schemes are complex. They rely on team chemistry and timing. There are multiple position groups that need time working together to sustain success – from week-to-week and year-to-year. Not to mention how the physical demands of the sport factor into player and team development.
How are schools who aren’t annually landing the superstar transfers supposed to sustain success with such roster turnover?
It wouldn’t surprise me if we start seeing a lot of mediocre, mistake-riddled football on Saturdays. We’ll see big dogs taking bigger dumps on underdogs. We’ll see even fewer Marshalls upsetting Notre Dames.
Everyone loves an underdog – except the few greedy fat cats who run college football.
What will college football become for those of us who don’t root for the SEC and Big Ten elite?
The answer scares me.
