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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 1863782, member: 289"] The problem with college football is that some schools have clear advantages over other in recruiting the large numbers of players the sport needs. (In basketball with 5 starters and 8-9 man rotations, schools with modest resources can still have a good team). The saving grace college football is that these advantages give top schools the inside track on recruiting players who are in their mid-teens. We don't know how good they are actually going to turn out to be. If you get a lot more 4 and 5 star recruits than an opponent you will probably have a much better team but not always. BYU clobbered a Texas team 40-21 with 9 4-5 star guys on their team compared to 44 for Texas. The next eyar the Cougars beat the Longhorns 41-7. Also, it's a game dominated by certain positions. A great quarterback can elevate an offense. A great linebacker or defensive end can elevate a defense. Auburn won a national championship with a team that didn't seem to me to have any more talent than SU had had back in the late 90's. Cam Newton/Nick Fairly = Donovan McNabb/Dwight Freeney. If we'd had McNabb and Freeney in the same class so they were seniors at the same time, we could have done that. Also, the variety of strategical options in college is much greater than the NFL and some of those options can allow a less talented team to do well against a more talented team. Finally, football is supposed to be a tough man's sport. Is it really helpful to have facilities that look like a 5 star hotel? If Dino Babers had "nap rooms" available, would he even use them? I think schools like Alabama, Clemson and Oregon win because of how they play and how much they win more than all the money they spent on "bells and whistles". They are just afraid of falling behind other such schools if they don't spend as much. I think if Syracuse started spending that kind of money, that by itself wouldn't help us that much. I'd actually be embarrassed if we threw money away on some of the things I've read about. Having a coach like Dino Babers and getting results on the field is what will turn things around. [/QUOTE]

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