NCAA Football Report (Week 5)
College Football is a truly unique brand of the sport as it doesn’t really follow the same rules as every other version.
Football can be one of the most team-centric sports in the world as there is a need for everyone to do their part.
Without good blocking a running back has no hole to run through and a quarterback has no time to throw.
Even with good blocking a running back needs to have the vision to find the spaces in the defence to get to and create a big play.
Quarterbacks have to be able to find their targets and receivers need to be able to catch the ball when they get the chance.
On defence one missed assignment from any player can break out a massive play that leads to a touchdown.
Getting into the wrong hole or biting on a fake can spring an offensive player for a touchdown that sinks the hopes of the team.
Every player needs to play the way that they can in order to get the wins they need to compete in the league.
It is the ultimate team sport as there can never be one single player who can take over a team and lead them to a win by himself.
Even Tom Brady can’t do it alone as he needs the protection up front to go through his progression and needs receivers to catch the balls that he throws to them.
Although he is as close to a one-man wrecking crew as you can get there are other players that take a big role in getting the Patriots to a win.
The NCAA can throw this constant into a different realm though as college football tends to be a bit different.
For many schools, the goal is less about finding a great overall team and more about finding those superstars who can take over games.
In college football, things are very different as that one star player can make a massive difference for a program.
Although the team around that star still needs to be good they don’t need to shoulder as much of the responsibility.
The biggest reason for this is the fact that in the NCAA there are over 100 teams all playing throughout the season at just the top two levels.
That is a lot of players on the field at the same time period as opposed to 32 teams with 53-men on their main roster.
The fact is that teams are not full of talent like when the pros are playing, in the NFL every player is the best of the best.
The NCAA sees a number of players that will never get close to the NFL or any other pro league as their career ends in college.
These are not the best players in the country but they are good enough to play in college making them that mid-range talent.
Teams are full of these players and although the bigger programs tend to have more NFL prospects than most there are always going to be weaknesses in any team.
That allows for those special players to do something that cannot be done at the next level, take over a game.
Star players can truly change everything for a college team as having one great player can drive a team right into the playoffs.
The rest of the team needs to be good but they don’t have to be great like in the NFL where to win there needs to be few if any issues on the team.
A player like Bryce Love or Kyler Murray can make all the difference for a team as they can be the difference between a lost season and a playoff appearance.
That was seen this week when the Stanford Cardinal took on Notre Dame and focused heavily on Love, trying to get him the ball whenever they could.
He was the driving force behind the offence and when he left the game with an ankle injury things went south fast for a team that was top 10.
In Oklahoma, the Sooners took on Baylor and struggled in a major way with Kyler Murray sitting on the sidelines for disciplinary reasons.
With Murray back in the lineup after a series the Sooners went off and Murray scoring 6 touchdowns.
These types of players are seen all over the NCAA and for the teams with these players, they become the focus.
NCAA teams look to organize every play around them either creating offensive schemes that highlight that player’s ability or allowing a defensive player to do whatever they want.
The problem with these players is that if they go down teams go down with them leaving a big space in the team.
Still, teams will constantly do it hoping to ride that talent to the playoff much like the Sooners did last year and are doing again this time around.
The Sport Addiction 