It looks like fewer people are watching the NFL this season. Ratings are down universally and, especially in local markets, that ratings drop is significant. For example, according to MMQB.com, the ratings for Jets games are down locally by almost forty percent. Does this mean that football is losing its all-powerful grip on America’s sports fans? Is the era of total world domination by the NFL over?
There’s a play-calling sickness in college football – football at every level, really – and no team is safe. It’s called the zone read and in a copycat football universe, it is infecting everything in its path. Its symptoms include: abandonment of traditional power running games, disasters in short yardage and goal-line situations, paralyzing playcalling predictability and silly, unforced turnovers. It’s affecting the health of college football, won’t you please help?
I have three boys who go to Oregon State. They’re hardcore football fans in every way. It’s totally genetic. They could care less about Beavers Football, have no interest in going to the games. It’s not only about wins and losses. The games aren’t any fun, the offense isn’t any fun. There’s no identity, no player or ideal or concept to identify with. There’s no high-level direction, there doesn’t seem to be a master plan. So OSU needs to be shopping for a lot more than a new head coach, it needs to be shopping for a vision, a football philosophy, a reason for being. And that will require starting from scratch – absolute ground zero – and asking the big questions.