The Entrenched Elites in Football

BZuppke · Nov 16, 2016

This is not intended to be a media bashing thread but just a comment and thought on the modern media's role in college football. Has the level of media coverage of college football, made it harder for programs to rise and has it helped entrench the elites? I read the ESPN Big Ten section periodically and I think as I scrolled through it the other day, 9 of the first 10 articles were about Michigan and Ohio State. Maybe there was one mentioning PSU. I understand that people don't want to read about Illinois/Purdue etc. but in former days there just wasn't as much coverage of any program, period.

So if day after day, year after year you are bombarded with stories about Michigan and Ohio State and Alabama and the other powers that be, does it not cement their place at the top more than ever? It's like a constant recruiting pitch and I would think many of the best players want to play for those elites more than ever. I guess my point is that the media does what it does, but when we didn't have 24/7 sports stations there just wasn't as much opportunity to pump up the "haves".

I certainly don't have any answers because the 24/7 media is not going away and it is natural that they cover the successful programs more than the others, but it seems that it just makes our climb that much harder.

Second and Chalmers · Nov 16, 2016

That is a factor, but the big winners of the proliferation of college sports media are exactly schools like Illinois. The Bama's and Michigans always blotted out the sun, but back in the day they would be the only teams on TV. Now any Power Five school has all their games televised, their own Rivals and Scout blogs, conference-level TV, newspaper, and online coverage, etc etc etc.

North Dakota State, to pick one, probably would have beaten us easily in each of the past 5-6 years. They get none of these advantages. They are a cult indie band you have to know how to find. We're a crappy overplayed N*SYNC knockoff boy band you can't escape from.

ILLmatic04 · Nov 16, 2016

Second and Chalmers said:
North Dakota State, to pick one, probably would have beaten us easily in each of the past 5-6 years. They get none of these advantages. They are a cult indie band you have to know how to find. We're a crappy overplayed N*SYNC knockoff boy band you can't escape from.

Folks, we've found it. The most perfect Illinois football metaphor there is.

Bob Christiansen · Nov 16, 2016

Second and Chalmers said:
North Dakota State, to pick one, probably would have beaten us easily in each of the past 5-6 years. They get none of these advantages. They are a cult indie band you have to know how to find. We're a crappy overplayed N*SYNC knockoff boy band you can't escape from.

Funny you mention the Bison, of all schools in the country to pick from. One of my buddies from HS (Rich Central) was recruited by ND St and went on to start at MLB, circa '78-'81...IIRC, was even one of the team captains. Back then, no one outside of Fargo had any clue who they were. Now? I watch almost every Bison game. My buddy (on Facebook) makes sure we ALL know when the Bison play!

And they play damn good football too...:thumb:

Adnarel · Nov 16, 2016

I hear what you're saying about being kinda tired of seeing the same teams having more ink spilled about them and so forth. What USC taught me, however, was that seemingly-invincible programs can fade quicker than you expect. Oregon and MSU are also serving as useful reminders of this.

BlueGuy27 · Nov 17, 2016

Even if the media covered every team equally, the elites would still be entrenched by their longstanding traditions, winning percentages, fan bases, and alumni donations. I think you are seriously overestimating the impact of the media. There are so many reasons why Illinois will never be "elite" and the media is nowhere near the top of that list.

The media follows the teams that win and that fans want to hear about. The elites are entrenched because they win and because they win, the media follows them. So why are Ohio State and Michigan the subject of so many articles, because they are currently ranked #2 and #3 respectively. Teams that aren't "entrenched elites" get media attention when they win too. I wouldn't consider Louisville or Washington entrenched elites, but the media talks about them everyday. Even Western Michigan, of the MAC, gets media attention when they win (i.e. College Gameday).

Blaming the media for the shortcomings of Illinois is in my opinion a cop out. There are so many other things we need to worry about, and I think Whitman has us set up on the right track. Hiring a big name coach is huge. Even more important is the stadium and football facility renovation, because even if you heard about Illinois everyday in the media, you are not going to choose our facilities over those in Ann Arbor, Columbus, South Bend, etc.

So, no, the media does not entrench the elites anymore than their superior facilities, packed trophy cases, and extensive fan bases already do.

BZuppke · Nov 17, 2016

To be clear I'm not blaming the media for anything. My question is whether the 24/7 sports news cycle makes it more entrenched.

TomB · Nov 17, 2016

The nature of college sports itself causes this. The winning teams attract the best players, the teams with the worst record attract lesser athletes. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

In pro sports, they recognize that this type of thing is bad for the sport. that's why they give the teams with the worst records first choice in the draft. As much as they like dynasties, they don't want the bottom teams to stay noncompetitive.

You can't have a draft for college recruits, obviously, but there are other things the NCAA does that hurts losing teams. For example, if you don't make a bowl game, you can't practice. Why? Why not allow all teams to have post season practices? If it would help develop the lower ranked players and prepare the bad teams to be more competitive the next season, wouldn't that be a good thing?

Second and Chalmers · Nov 17, 2016

The biggest thing you could do for the middle class in college sports is reduce the number of scholarships, btw. The less talent the elite can take, the more there is for everyone else.

BZuppke · Nov 18, 2016

"Why not allow all teams to have post season practices? If it would help develop the lower ranked players and prepare the bad teams to be more competitive the next season, wouldn't that be a good thing?"

Excellent question.

HuskerIllini · Nov 18, 2016

This is an interesting topic. Growing up in the Burbs of Chicago I remember very little coverage on Illini football. Lots of ND and Michigan coverage in the papers but not as much about Illini Football.

Now here in Omaha the coverage about Husker football is 24/7. How is the local coverage in Illinois now for the team? Good? Bad? I really don't know.

Side note, we went to Minnesota a few years back for the Husker-Gopher game and while at some bars there were a lot of people that didn't even know the Gophers were playing the next day. Seemed kind of odd to me.

bigtiny · Nov 18, 2016

HuskerIllini said:
This is an interesting topic. Growing up in the Burbs of Chicago I remember very little coverage on Illini football. Lots of ND and Michigan coverage in the papers but not as much about Illini Football.

Now here in Omaha the coverage about Husker football is 24/7. How is the local coverage in Illinois now for the team? Good? Bad? I really don't know.

Side note, we went to Minnesota a few years back for the Husker-Gopher game and while at some bars there were a lot of people that didn't even know the Gophers were playing the next day. Seemed kind of odd to me.

The downside of a campus being in a large city. Northwestern kids have plenty to do on a Saturday afternoon. Ditto Maryland, Cal Berkeley, Georgia Tech. College football tends to thrive in places like Tuscaloosa, Iowa City, Athens, Clemson, and should in theory in Champaign/Urbana.

Illinnoying Orange · Nov 18, 2016

Second and Chalmers said:
That is a factor, but the big winners of the proliferation of college sports media are exactly schools like Illinois. The Bama's and Michigans always blotted out the sun, but back in the day they would be the only teams on TV. Now any Power Five school has all their games televised, their own Rivals and Scout blogs, conference-level TV, newspaper, and online coverage, etc etc etc.

North Dakota State, to pick one, probably would have beaten us easily in each of the past 5-6 years. They get none of these advantages. They are a cult indie band you have to know how to find. We're a crappy overplayed N*SYNC knockoff boy band you can't escape from.

Perhaps the most spot-on statement you've ever made on these boards.

WesterveltVictoryCigar · Nov 18, 2016

IMO the entrenched elite haven't really changed much if you go back through the decades. There are other programs that rise up for a while like Miami, Oregon, etc. But Alabama, Michigan, Ohio St, USC, etc are pretty steady with a few dips here and there.

Not sure that media coverage makes it harder. In fact, I think there's a saturation point with all the coverage that was reached a while ago. There's so much of it now that it's almost just noise. It's always been hard for the non elites to stay near the top and it always will be.

IlliniOllie · Nov 18, 2016

The truly elite programs - Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama, Florida State, and so on - may go up and down, but the group is mostly constant. Alabama is way up. Texas is down. A school like Illinois will never break in to that group - there's just too much tradition, money, alumni support, and so on.

But, as has been mentioned, there's a second tier of teams that make the right decisions and move up close to that level for an extended period of time. Wisconsin was terrible (in both sports) for a long, loooooong time. They hired the right AD and the right coaches at a time when college football and the media attention exploded. They're still not Michigan or Ohio State, but they've been very good for 20+ years now.

By contrast, Ron Guenther and Mike Thomas did the exact opposite, and now it's up to Josh Whitman to clean up the mess. The Lovie hire was a good step towards attempting that. We won't have the same benefits of building the program at just the right time marketing-wise like Wisconsin did, but there's no reason we can't be at the level of UW or Iowa or MSU.

Illinir1 · Nov 18, 2016

Adnarel said:
I hear what you're saying about being kinda tired of seeing the same teams having more ink spilled about them and so forth. What USC taught me, however, was that seemingly-invincible programs can fade quicker than you expect. Oregon and MSU are also serving as useful reminders of this.

Additional examples are that I remember when I was tired of only hearing about Florida State, Florida, Nebraska and Oklahoma, Texas, etc. It doesn't happen fast enough for us Illini fans, but there is rotation of the Elites.

Calvin · Nov 23, 2016

BZuppke said:
Has the level of media coverage of college football, made it harder for programs to rise and has it helped entrench the elites?

I don't think so. The money and overall support is far and away what makes those elite institutions more consistent winners. Media coverage is downstream of the demand, IMO.

If we were to make a list of all the ways money helps a team win (both from above board activities, and under the table stuff), it would be substantial. Recruiting, facilities, head coach, coaching support, team support, etc., all are helped by "elite", big money programs.

Give it to Greene · Nov 23, 2016

Second and Chalmers said:
The biggest thing you could do for the middle class in college sports is reduce the number of scholarships, btw. The less talent the elite can take, the more there is for everyone else.

This was the argument years ago... Limit the scholarships and the big 2 and little 8 would change... In those days there were unlimited scholarships. So we've already done that once, because now there are limits.

But with expansion, all we've done is make that tilt heavier. No longer the Big 2 and little 8, it's the Big 4 or 5, and the little 9 or 10.... But essentially we're back where we started, just more teams.

GameOfThrows · Nov 23, 2016

BZuppke said:
"Why not allow all teams to have post season practices? If it would help develop the lower ranked players and prepare the bad teams to be more competitive the next season, wouldn't that be a good thing?"

Excellent question.

Quite honestly, it's in the players best interest to limit football practice if football practice is not necessary. Why practice when the season is over? These players bodies are already spent from a season of football. It's a physical sport. Better to allow their bodies to heal and start training the body for the demands of the start of the next football season: Spring Ball.

oldbutinterested · Nov 27, 2016

I am not a fan of Colin Cowherd but he made a statement sometime ago that the NCAA wants dynasties and the NFL wants parody. the draft being one way they assure it. the way thing s are now the rich continue to get richer and the middle class sometimes rear their ugly head and the lower level "boy bands" (thanks S&C) are stuck with "wising and hoping" ( think you Dusty Springfield. --some may be a bit too young to get the reference. Couple of ways to level the playing field have been mentioned.
limit the number of scholarships
let all teams practice thru the bowl games are bot easily accomplished and would take very little effort.
I do have a question however does anyone know the cost of practices as they currently are set up? Perhapsthe lower echelon of the conferences might be upset from a monetary perspective as they currently share revenue from bowl games with no expense for the practice etc. i am not sure that is a consideration just a thought

GortTheRobot · Nov 27, 2016

I agree with the original post in this thread, and the only way to combat it is to do something to bring notice to your program.

You can start beating the big boys, which is the best way, but you can also make a splash hire. Mission accomplished.

Love will make the media watch how we develop and that is a good thing.

jeffs · Dec 2, 2016

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-12-01/do-college-football-refs-have-it-in-for-your-team
Just because you're paranoid it doesn't mean that they're not out to get you.