US LBM Coaches Poll: Ohio State claims top spot after national title run
See where your team landed in the final US LBM Coaches Poll ranking of the year.
Sports Pulse
While college football adopted offseason workouts not long after Rutgers beat Princeton — Harvard claims to have conducted the first out-of-season practice on March 14, 1889 — the spring game truly flourished this century, as programs began to stage largescale recruiting spectacles around what had evolved into one of the tentpole events on the sport’s annual calendar.
Steadily, the traditional end-of-spring scrimmage began to adopt a far less essential on-field purpose. One contributing factor was the increase in overall interest in these showcases. In response to ESPN and conference-branded networks starting to broadcast dozens of games every spring, many programs opted for an overly narrow glimpse at personnel and the playbook so as not to provide any insight for opponents on that season’s schedule.
That represented a deviation from the spring game’s original intent: to provide a game-like atmosphere as a way to evaluate a larger roster and specific position-by-position competitions.
Now, amid similar concerns stemming from dramatic changes to the NCAA model, spring games are approaching the territory of leather helmets, wishbone offenses and the four-team playoff — former college football hallmarks that have drifted into antiquity.
“What I think is happening with spring games is a consequence of what is happening in college football in general,” said Baylor coach Dave Aranda.
Conventional spring games have gone from a luxury to a liability because of NIL and the transfer portal, which have combined to turn roster management and retention into a free-for-all frenzy. With very little to gain but much to lose by mirroring a realistic…
Source link : https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2025/04/25/college-football-spring-games-future/83232670007/
Author :
Publish date : 2025-04-25 10:03:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
