The 2018 spring football takeaway: Spring football should be taken away.
Do not return until changes include intercollegiate spring games.
Or at least some facsimile. A controlled scrimmage open to the public. Doubleheaders featuring four teams and a pair of two-quarter games, which Tennessee athletic director Philip Fulmer recently suggested.
A jamboree format over two days.
When you’ve got agreement along the spectrum from Dabo to Fulmer (!), there’s gotta be something to having a more meaningful spring game than the pablum we get now.
Why, do it right, and I doubt you’d have to get Kirby making any noise about #93k. A big, enthusiastic spring crowd without needing to resort to contractual condom commitments should be right up McGarity’s alley.
Let’s fix this, NCAA.
Get The Picture 
Kirby might not want to give up the recruiting advantage of being able to call the Dawgs and get 93k to Athens.
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True. Recruiting hauls tied to the spring game are leading opponents toward changing the rules.
Fulmer will face an uphill battle without his ally Roy Kramer in charge.
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Count me against this idea. In the age of a huge push for safety why on earth would you risk injuries in a meaningless jamboree except for the money? At least the scrimmages are somewhat controlled. Of course the money could go to the players I guess.
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Why couldn’t a spring game between two programs be as controlled as a scrimmage?
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I’m sure you’ve watched enough football between highly competitive teams and coaches to know the answer to that. The rules might say controlled but…..
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You mean kids fighting for positions on the two-deep aren’t highly competitive? Go figure.
I guess Kirby’s gonna have to find another way, then.
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Anything fulmer & dabo agree on is for the benefit of fulmer & dabo. Keep the existing situation or eliminate spring football entirely and let players attend to their regular routine.
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Exhibition games are useless for fans. It only seems like it would be entertaining. It’s wouldn’t be. If you really enjoy the nfl preseason then… well…you’re nuts.
The teams that are established won’t care and won’t try to win. The teams that had a disappointing prior season will try to give everyone hope.
In the end it would be every bit as hard to watch as the current set up. Games that don’t count and don’t matter just aren’t going to be entertaining.
History proves they can go horribly wrong: https://youtu.be/4ivQONymr34
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Well, gosh, don’t I feel foolish now.
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The hardest die hard fan of any nfl team could not sell you on an exhibition game. They are entertaining only in the sense that you get to see the new guys play. The fact there’s another team there is completely irrelevant.
Btw in your scenario are the qbs “live?” If so, you may not see the no. 1 qb. If not, what’s the point?
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Yes, when I evaluate what I like about college football, my first thought is “what does the NFL do?”.
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You’re promoting exhibition games. Whether that’s inspired by the nfl or born out of lack of experience with it doesn’t matter. The nfl does what you’re proposing. The games stink. You do get to see your new toys and that is the single attraction.
Don’t need another team to get that. There’s no reason to think it would magically transform into a compelling competition at the collegiate level. And it has nothing to do with fan interest either. There are packer and steeler and raider fans that love their team every bit as much as die hard bammers who poison trees do. They may show up for the exhibition games. They may even enjoy them. If you think for a moment they care whose on the other sideline, well they just don’t because the outcome doesn’t matter and both teams act accordingly. And they should.
Besides why promote a possible 16th unpaid game?
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I don’t think this would necessarily be any more entertaining than the current spring games but I do know I would rather evaluate the team against an actual opponent. The positive of this would be a better knowledge of “what you have” because you aren’t left wondering things like, “did the offense look bad because our defense is that good or is that really an area of concern?”
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A marginal difference at best.
If you could schedule a team in advance that you knew would bring certain strengths to areas of concern, maybe that would be beneficial.
For example I wouldn’t have minded seeing our new lbs go up against a spread team like OK that’s trying to confuse the hell out of them. That would be instructive.
The other problem is that in the spring you’ve got a skeleton roster and you have no idea how seriously the other teams coaches or players are going to take the contest.
If we going to do something for the reasons youre talking about you’d do it on a Saturday night two weeks before the opener. This, I would not oppose. Everyone could do it against a sec team from the opposite division team that’s not on the schedule. Every coach could decide exactly what he wants to get out of that and what he wants to put into it.
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If executives in Bristol, CT want this , they will get it.
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For teams with no fan base, it might be a good idea…GT, Duke, Vandy and GA State should draw quite the crowd at their “Jamboree “.
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Dabo has been a long time advocate, and I am surprised he hasn’t gotten more support. Slam dunk idea that should be adopted. Let 1’s go against 1s in the first half, backups play all the 2nd half. BS on free, charge at least $50 bucks a head and donate all ticket sales to a local charity. School gets to keep parking and concessions. TV money (all games may not get this) to cover expenses and go to the athletic department’s budget for minor sports. A home spring game/scrimmage would be better than any home game on UGA’s schedule this fall (except the Auburn game since it actually a competitive conference game.)
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And you could add the ticket to the season ticket package as in the NFL.
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I’d rather watch any real game that counts as opposed to this charade….
Folks go to the Spring Game for Athens…not for the game.
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Meh, if I wanted spring football, I’d watch the USFL.
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In theory this sounds great but I don’t see any P5 teams visiting another P5 due to the loss of a recruiting day on campus. Can you see Kirby giving Clemson a HUGE reason to have a parade of national recruits visit Death Valley & spend the day w/ Yabba-Dabo-Do while not getting the same in Athens? Even on a home & home schedule you lose a recruiting day every other year.
The end result would be another cupcake coming to town so we can fill the stadium for Kirby to show the recruits. And that’s no more appealing than the current format of an intra-squad scrimmage.
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and half the reps for everyone.
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I am actually suggesting to the AA that we hold a Letterman Flag football game vs. Letterman from other schools…the NERDS is an obvious opponent.
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The only downside I can come up with is cutting the number of reps in half.
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