Tim Brando Spills What Has Changed College Football
The 2021 college football season is young, but definitely making a case for one of the greatest (and craziest) seasons ever. Dynasties fading, bottom-feeders contending, and a tight Heisman race to start the year has left every college football fan on the edge of their seat every single Saturday.
On Tuesday, FOX Sports broadcaster Tim Brando joined Wimp and Barry Sanderson on Inside The Locker Room, and shared his thoughts on why the college football landscape has seen so much turnover in the past year.
“One of the reasons the college football world is so convoluted is because the great quarterback play is gone. Justin Fields, Trevor Lawrence are some guys that were not adequately replaced,” Brando explained.
He went on to explain how programs like Clemson and Ohio State coincidentally each had once-in-a generation quarterbacks at the same time and they’ve now taken a step back with Lawrence and Fields.
The issue of the “super senior” was also brought up when Brando was asked about how COVID-19 has affected things. The NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility to all student-athletes who played through the pandemic, which has led to teams having 23-year-old men playing college football.
Brando spoke on the issue saying, “college football is going through a confluence of post-COVID issues with [super seniors] staying at a lot of the schools that didn’t have great recruits… so I think we’ve got more parody now, and that’s giving these smaller programs more of an opportunity.”
Additionally, Brando cited the transfer portal as a scape-goat for so many small-market programs, using his alma-mater Louisiana-Monroe as an example. “You’ve got so many guys now that are now seeking out NIL deals in addition to playing time when going through the college-decision process, that players no longer need the national exposure of big market teams like Alabama, Ohio State, or Clemson to get their name out,” he added.
There’s no doubt that all of these issues have played a factor in the hectic college football season that we watch every Saturday. Would NC State have beaten Clemson without super-seniors? Is experience the reason that Arkansas put fire to the state of Texas? These are some questions that we may never know the answers to, so take some advice from Tim Brando, and “enjoy the madness while it’s here”.