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Would you be as excited to cheer on your team if the players are not students?

Posted on 3/6/26 at 8:16 am
Posted by RidiculousHype
The Hatch
Member since Sep 2007
10869 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 8:16 am
Universities employ lots of people - professors, administrators, maintenance guys, etc.

If your starting QB is similarly employed by your school, but is not a student, does it change anything for you? Do you still go to games or watch on TV?

Keep in mind, he might be your QB from his mid-20's thru his mid-30's. This would not be the 18-21 years olds of yesteryear.

They'd still wear the uniforms and play in the stadium. Band, cheer, dance would still be there. Aesthetically it would all look the same.
Posted by KCM0Tiger
Kansas City, MISSOURI
Member since Nov 2011
17086 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 8:22 am to
Yeah
Posted by DarthRebel
Tier Five is Alive
Member since Feb 2013
25416 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 8:33 am to
Football has barely been students since 90s.
Posted by Trumansfangs
Mo
Member since Sep 2018
8616 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 8:38 am to
Yep, and at the risk of sounding like my Grandpa, I miss the days when regional pride was real. Having highly paid mercenaries as a "school's" team has changed my view of cfb. It's lost the lustre I once imagined was real.






* Punctuation edit
This post was edited on 3/6/26 at 8:57 am
Posted by OlGrandad
Member since Oct 2009
4457 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 8:45 am to
Does it count if the player does his classes online at " pay and pass .com"?
Posted by Gunga Din
Oklahoma
Member since Jul 2020
3321 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 8:53 am to
quote:

Yep, and at the risk of sounding like my Grandpa, I miss the days when regional pride was real. Having highly paid mercenaries as a "school's"team has changed my view of cfb. It's lost the lustre I one imagined was real.


I am your grandpa's age... When I first started following OU football as a kid in the late 60's...

We had a center from Oklahoma... who snapped to a QB from Oklahoma... who handed off to a tailback from Oklahoma... or threw to wide receivers from Oklahoma. Most of the team was from Oklahoma. I remember playing Tennessee in the Orange Bowl. Most of their guys were from Tennessee.

OU's tailback from those teams ended up winning the Heisman. The center and one of the wide receivers ended up with long pro careers.


Even in the late '70s... I Remember Alabama winning two national championships with an entire backfield that was from Birmingham.

You'd never see that today.

Posted by TheWalrus
Land of the Hogs
Member since Dec 2012
46607 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 8:53 am to
The “education” is a total sham, a bunch of tutors do the work anyway.
Posted by kywildcatfanone
Wildcat Country!
Member since Oct 2012
138199 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 9:04 am to
Are most of them really students now?
Posted by bigDgator
Dallas, TX
Member since Oct 2008
49195 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 9:17 am to
That ship sailed long ago. Maybe 20% of them are real students and maybe 10% of them could have gotten into their school had they applied with like everyone else.
Posted by Rex Feral
Member since Jan 2014
16425 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 9:17 am to
They really aren’t students in any sense of what an actual student does. At this point they’re semi pro players
Posted by Pvt Hudson
Member since Jan 2013
4847 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 9:19 am to
With free agency and huge contracts, I’ve gradually lost interest in the NBA and NFL.

I can see that starting to happen with the college sports as well.
Posted by Gunny Hartman
Member since Jan 2021
967 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 9:26 am to
Rose colored glasses. OU has lived off of Texas recruits forever, just like Arkansas.
Posted by Sooner a Reb
Maryland
Member since Jan 2017
2363 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 9:27 am to
So, basically, an NFL fan.
Posted by imjustafatkid
Alabama
Member since Dec 2011
64291 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 9:29 am to
quote:

Would you be as excited to cheer on your team if the players are not students?


I want them to at least have attended classes at some point, but no I don't care if they're currently taking classes.
Posted by weremoose
Member since Nov 2015
5207 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 9:30 am to
quote:

Yep, and at the risk of sounding like my Grandpa, I miss the days when regional pride was real. Having highly paid mercenaries as a "school's" team has changed my view of cfb. It's lost the lustre I once imagined was real.



This is me, too. I'm increasingly drawn to D2. The problem is that it's hard to find any information about D2 teams. Even getting scores can be a challenge during the season.

I've even kicked around the idea of doing coverage of the D2 conference the schools in Arkansas are in.
This post was edited on 3/6/26 at 11:07 am
Posted by BigBinBR
Baton Rouge
Member since Mar 2023
9943 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 9:36 am to
quote:

Would you be as excited to cheer on your team if the players are not students?


On the face of it I want to say "no." But when I think about it I never once think of them as students when they are playing unless TV shows a random graphic of the player being SEC student athlete of the week or whatever.

So yeah, I would probably still cheer for them.
Posted by Gunga Din
Oklahoma
Member since Jul 2020
3321 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 11:02 am to
quote:

Rose colored glasses. OU has lived off of Texas recruits forever, just like Arkansas.


This is both true and not true...

In the 1940s-1960s OU's teams were 80% Oklahoma guys.

Starting in the 1970s the shift to recruiting more guys from Texas started.

Ironically... all but one of OU's National Championship teams were made up of mostly Oklahoma players. the 1985 champions had a lot of Texans.

Posted by SammyTiger
Baton Rouge, LA
Member since Feb 2009
78965 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 11:15 am to
Honestly, I like the illusion
Posted by ColoradoAg
Colorado
Member since Sep 2011
26644 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 11:19 am to
They are already not students except in name only
Posted by Tridentds
Sugar Land
Member since Aug 2011
23692 posts
Posted on 3/6/26 at 11:27 am to
I am almost done now. That would be it for me. In a year or two it may not change at all and it will still be it for me. Emotional attachment is pretty frayed now.

Will likely still watch the bigger games and playoffs because I love watching college football, even that will go away at some point.
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