College Football Vs Baseball

  I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s the Name-Image-Likeness aspect of the game. Perhaps I find the NFL more entertaining. Or maybe the MLB races in the last week of the regular season have been more compelling. 

I’m just not into college football right now. Which is surprising for me. 

Sure, I am aware of the comings and goings of the sport. Between CBS Sports, ESPN and DIII Football, I am keeping abreast of the games and related news. 

Yet there is something keeping me from watching more of the many televised games. Maybe because I know how things will turn out. 

Example number one was Rutgers hosting Iowa in the teams’ Big Ten opener. RU battled the Hawkeyes hard, even maintaining a lead into the fourth quarter. Yet, when faced with a choice to continue watching or going to sleep, I chose the latter. Why? Because I knew that as talented as this Scarlet Knights team may be offensively, the defense wasn’t stopping Iowa. Which meant that RU was destined to lose again to a team it should beat at least once (RU is now 0-5 versus Iowa). 

My second example was the Arkansas-Memphis contest on Saturday. I was watching it while doing some indoor cycling at my gym. Largely because I didn’t choose to take the remote and channel surf. 

This was an interesting matchup between a middle of the road SEC team and a top tier American Athletic Conference squad. A back and forth affair, Memphis was ahead when I left the gym. 

But I didn’t turn the TV on to ESPN to see the end of the game when I returned home. Largely because the announcer said that the Tigers have been winning against SEC teams when playing them in Memphis. I felt the outcome here was a foregone conclusion in favor of Memphis. Which I was correct.

In fact, I was more intrigued about the renovations to the Simmons Liberty Bowl Stadium. It was clear that luxury suites were being built and a new scoreboard was in place. The changes won’t be completed until prior to the 2026 season. I that looked up when I came home. 

To be competitive, the market demands seemingly require updates to facilities. The stadium was first used in 1965. But even with these changes and a 4-0 record with the Tigers running the table against a strong AAC schedule which includes Tulsa, Tulane, USF and Navy at home—all schools which have quality programs—and getting into the College Football Playoffs,  this will not necessarily be enough to move Memphis to the Big 12, as the school had made major financial sacrifices in a bid that was rejected by the Big 12 schools. 

Franklin and Marshall College has a football program which is the ninth-winningest all-time in Division III (although a thorough analysis of the teams F&M has played will show a number of Ivy League schools, the service academies, Rutgers, Syracuse, Virginia, Bucknell, Lehigh, Lafayette, Delaware, Villanova and the Carlisle Indians of Jim Thorpe fame; F&M did not fare well in most of those contests), hasn’t been at the top of the Centennial Conference since 2017; the Diplomats have won seven CC titles and when a member of the Middle Atlantic Conference, they also won seven championships. Five teams went undefeated; the last was in 1974.

F&M has been to the Centennial-MAC Bowl Series seven times, which includes wins in the past two seasons. Overall, F&M has an 11-6 record in bowl games. Not too shabby. 

Yet I find that my present college football disassociation extends to my school. Normally, I check out the games via computer. Which I did when the Diplomats traveled to Annville, Pennsylvania and secured a win over local rival Lebanon Valley. 

For the home opener, F&M hosted Westminster (PA). The schools had never played each other, largely because the Titans resided in the NAIA, and crossover games with NCAA teams were few and far between. Westminster has a rich football tradition from the NAIA, where it won numerous titles, to its memberships in the Presidents Athletic Conference since joining the NCAA in 2000.

That should have piqued my interest. If nothing more than to see the colors and uniforms  and how F&M would match up against a squad which went 8-3 last season with a bowl game victory over Marietta College. But I didn’t find the time to check in on the game, which the Titans won in a romp. 

Up next was Catholic University, which came to Lancaster as the Homecoming opponent. I had never seen F&M play Catholic, which has a winning record against the Diplomats. Once more, I didn’t find the time to watch the game, which F&M won handily. 

My school has a winning record. The teams have had some reasonable recent success. 

Nonetheless, it makes me feel cheated. Why? The two large elephants in the room—Johns Hopkins University and Carnegie Mellon University. Larger schools with great academics and a penchant for winning even better than F&M. 

Because F&M has never gone to the NCAA Division III Football Playoffs, while JHU is a fixture representing the Centennial Conference. When F&M won the title in 2017, the CC didn’t send its championship to the playoffs.

Moreover, new conference member (for football only) CMU went to the NCAA playoffs last season, falling to Mount Union in the third round. The Tartans are ranked #20 and are 2-1. Oh, and by the way, Hopkins is 3-0 and ranked #3. 

There is a good likelihood that both schools will make it into the NCAA playoffs, although CMU may need to defeat the Blue Jays when they tangle in Baltimore on October 11. Moreover, with the conclusion of non-conference play, Muhlenberg and Ursinus sport unblemished records, with Dickinson 2-1 like F&M. 

F&M would have to run the table to make it to the big dance. They face a bigger whammy in that they play CMU in Pittsburgh on November 8 and JHU visits Shadek Stadium the next week to conclude the regular season. Do I hear maybe the Centennial-MAC Bowl for a  third year? 

Instead my focus has been more on pro sports. I watched the New York Jets come from behind to take a late lead against Tampa Bay, only to let QB Baker Mayfield exact one of his patented late game rallies to overcome the Jets defense and eke out a win. NYJ is 0-3 and headed nowhere—fast. 

I let the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Giants put me to sleep on Sunday Night Football. Patrick Mahomes isn’t playing to his previous exceptional level and the team is barren without reliable wideouts and getting the ball more to Travis Kelce, who once more had words with fatherly Head Coach Andy Reid on the sidelines. 

As for the Giants, it is a good move benching Russell Wilson and installing rookie Jaxson Dart at QB for the rest of the season. The G-Men may not win much, but if Dart is the QB of the future, the time is right for him to get experience. Maybe the Giants will strike lightning again with an Ole Miss QB—Eli Manning wasn’t too shabby playing for them. 

Thankfully I won’t have to upset myself with the Jets until Monday night when they play at Miami. Early night for sleep?

Maybe some upcoming games will get me watching college football. Two highly-ranked squads, Oregon and Penn State, meet on Saturday night in a “White Out” game at State College. Perhaps. 

Or would I want to see Notre Dame play in Arkansas versus the Razorbacks? Alabama going to Athens to play the Georgia Bulldogs—we’re not going to see this game every season with the new SEC schedules starting in 2026. That might pique my curiosity.

Even F&M at Gettysburg might get a view. F&M didn’t play them when I was in school, as the Bullets were in the MAC University Division and didn’t join DIII until 1974, two years after I graduated.

It’s just that the baseball season is winding down and the games this weekend will have meaning for a number of teams, especially the New York Yankees, currently tied with Toronto for the AL East lead. I find that to be far more captivating. 

College football vs baseball. I guess I haven’t completely really lost my interest in college football. But right now, baseball seems to give me more.