How would the worst NFL football team typically compare to the top-ranked college football team? Who would likely win?
In other words, is there any overlap between the NFL and college football, or are they simply not in the same league*?
[sub]*pun intended 
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The best college football team could not compete with the worst NFL team. Essentially, the overall speed of the game is significantly faster in the NFL and the players that make it to the NFL level play at a level that isn’t seen in college.
As the old coach says, “You are never as bad as you look when you are losing and you are never as good as you look when you are winning.” The difference between the best and worst teams in the NFL is less than you might think. The same holds true for all pro sports.
Probably not in the same league. Although something like that might be very interesting to watch.
I remember the old College All Stars game. (I think that is what is was called) If I remember right it was between the best of college football against the NFL Champion. Obviously a mismatch—can anybody spell TEAM. Was eventually dropped-------not sure exactly why. I liked to watch it just to see an unusual upset.
NFL almost always won big time. I think there were a few very amazing exceptions. Maybe somebody with more football knowledge will point them out in detail.
Anyway------this would be a little different. The National Champion College team against the Super Bowl champion.
Difference of course on the College side is a TEAM-------used to working together with the same coach. Would be a very interesting match up.
The best college team against the best NFL team.
I would definitely watch it.
The NFL team would be way ahead of the college team.
Think of the best college team. How many of their players will go into the NFL? Probably less than a half dozen, and not all of those would be starters. Going up against a pro team, players who weren’t good enough to get to the pros would be matched against players who were. That’s a lot of mismatches.
The College All-Star game was usually a mismatch because the NFL team was older and had played together.
The game was dispensed with because NFL teams want their good players to:
There was a game in the 1960s when Ron Vanderkelen lead the College All-Stars to an upset win over the Packers. Whom I could only imagine just didn’t care much.
If you matched today’s USC or Texas teams against the 49ers or Texans, I don’t think it would be particularly close. The NFL teams would be too fast and too big. The defense would be too complex. Reggie Bush could probably still run for a few yards, but his line wouldn’t open as many holes. Vince Young could try scrambling a lot and find himself getting smacked around a lot.
They’d also be surprised at how fast the special teams are. Guys who are stars in college often get drafted in the NFL and get stuck on special teams for a few years. Those are going to be a lot faster than the guys you run into in college. And the punters are better.
If you want to see a real blowout, match up the best college basketball team against the worst NBA team. That would be ugly.
I’d take USC over the Texans
and give you 7 points
You can see a similar mismatch when you watch a major league baseball team play its AAA farm club in an exhibition. Remember, of course:
A) It’s an exhibition
B) The major league club has nothing to gain from it
C) The major league manager is probably only playing regulars for one or two at-bats, then putting in bench players
D) The minor leagure players are trying like hell to impress the parent club
Despite these factors, I’d say 80% of the time, the major league club still beats the farm team. Like RealityChuck said, one team has maybe a half-dozen players good enough to make it in the big time, against an entire team already in the big time.
Oh, they cared – if not then, then afterward. Lombardi chewed their asses out over.
When the Packers played again, they pulled out all stops: 38-0 Packers in 1966. The next year it was 27-0. The next year, Green Bay let up a bit and it was only 34-17.
(That Vanderkellen game in 1963 was the last time the College All-Stars won.)
I’ve had this debate quite a few times. IMHO, the NFL team wins easily. Reasons:
NFL Defenses are much faster and better evolved. Teams like USC and Texas can hang 60+ on sap opponents by burning the D repeatedly for big yards. Not going to happen against a pro defense.
Sheer size and strength of NFL linemen on both sides of the ball. Those fancy-lad college boys would be pushed around a lot. (NFL linemen are MUCH bigger today than in the days of the NFL/ college exhibition games.)
Kicking game (this one is often overlooked, but it could matter big-time if the game was somehow despite reasons 1 and 2) NFL kickers are awesome. They could rain down 3 pointers from greater range than their college counterparts. (Unless the college team can get the Giants to OT) Punters have already been mentioned, as has the speed of the NFL coverage teams.
Houston Texans beat UT by 45 points.
I don't have a site for this, but I remember Jimmy Johnson being asked this question on a TV show. He was coach of the super bowl winning Cowboys, He also went 1-16 with them in his first year. HE previously coached the National Championship Miami hurricanes. Sounds like an expert to me.
He said there was no way his college team was every going to beat the 1-16 Cowboys. Never. He said that his best team in college had only about 5 players drafted, and with free agents, only about 5 or six, (I can't remember all the details) played in the NFL from that team. So with his 1-16 Cowboys, there were 56 (bottom of the barrel perhaps NFL quality) player,s his best College team had only 5 or 6.I’m sure Jimmy is right. But I’d still have fun watching USC vs. San Fran and UT vs Houston. Just for kicks. If the pro team only won by say 17 points I think it’d be amazing.
Think about how many STELLAR college quarterbacks have been flops in the NFL. There’s a REASON Danny Wuerffel could throw for 400 yards a game at Florida but couldn’t do squat in the NFL: the game is so much faster in the pros! Pass rushers are in the quarterbacks face WAAAY faster in the NFL.
And as for pass coverage in the secondary… well, Donovan McNabb tells a story that illustrates a point. When he was a rookie with the Eagles, the team had former Eagles QB Ron Jaworski go over some game film with him. Jaworski stopped the film and zoomed in on a receiver with a cornerback 2 yards to his left and a safety 2 yards to his right. It looked like tight coverage to McNabb. “You know what we call this in the NFL?” asked Jaworski. McNabb shook his head. Jaworski laughed, “We call this a wide open receiver.”
Now, Brady Quinn, Matt Leinart, Vincent Young et all may eventually LEARN to cope with the speed of the NFL game, with the speedy pass rushers, with the tiught coverages, but right now, I’m betting they’d be overwhelmed. Give any of them a starting job in the NFL right now, and they’d definitely start throwing a lot of interceptions (as almost every rookie QB does), because they wouldn’t be prepared for what’s in store.
Even the best young quarterbacks usually need several years to become decent starters in the NFL. You really think a college QB, even a very good one, is ready to face an NFL defense that’s really trying?
And that’s the key- how could you get an NFL team that cared about an exhibition game against a college team, and would really try? I mean, if I were Dom Capers or Mike Nolan, why would I WANT to have an exhibition game against the USC Trojans? It wouldn’t count in the standings, beating the Trojans wouldn’t prove a damn thing, and I’d be risking a possible injury to a key player! I mean, what if the Houston Texans used their starters in an exhibition game against USC, and David Carr broke his ankle? Fans and the media would be screaming “Capers, you idiot!!! Why would you put your starters in a meaningless game like this???”
They’d be upset if David Carr broke his ankle? :dubious:
But the Saints on the other hand … 
No kidding – Duke would run the Atlanta Hawks out of the gym.
Between college basketball and the NBA… I’m not even sure if they are playing the same game. = )
Given the size difference in players on the two teams, I’m picturing a LOT of seriously injured 21 and 22 year olds.
Can you just imagine some poor kid receiver getting stretched out and left completely open trying to grab a wide pass!? Then here comes some HUGE safety barreling along at full speed and POW! The kid never sees it coming.
Without doing the arithmetic on rosters (which, if you believe the listed height and weights you probably also believe in the tooth fairy) I’m not sure that you are correct.
The guys in a major college program are big. I’ve seen college lines that are bigger than pro lines. The difference is that, on a comparative basis, the college line is big and slow while the pro line is big and fast.
Some of the defensive backs in pro football aren’t all that big but damn, they are quick! That’s where you get the real difference, quickness and speed. One of the most important factors when drafting player of any position is their time in the 40 yard dash. If you are not fast enough you will not even get a look.
Say you have a college team with 5 or 6 pro caliber players. Big deal! The pro team with 45 pro callber players will just play around the top players on the college team, exploit the weaker players and pick the team apart.
And having watched NFL football all my life, on the rare occasions I watch college ball I’m amazed at how mediocre it is. Really - the lines are slow, the quarterbacks have forever to decide what to do with the ball, and the running backs are all about exploiting the huge holes that open up. College football just isn’t very good.
Yeah, I’ve watched tons of really sloppy professional games, but it’s just so much faster and so much more accurate than college. The college boys would be eaten alive.
Matchups between top college teams don’t usually go like that, though. The deal seems to be that NFL teams are much more closely matched to one another than the top and bottom teams of any given college conference.
So most elite college teams play maybe 3 or 4 tough games a year that give them a scare … but the bulk of their schedules are made up of overmatched opponents. There are no Kentuckys or Baylors in the NFL.
Moved to IMHO.
-xash
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