Illustration by Ray Bartkus/Wall Street Journal
College football isn't supposed to lend itself to dynasties any more. Like the pros, with its salary caps, and player drafts throwing the best young prospects to the worst teams, college football discourages one-team domination.
The players move on after four years or less. Top teams win, then often go on probation for how they got there. Administrators gnash their teeth about academic standards. A chorus of critics calls for reforming a system seen as exploiting student-athletes, casting off many with battered bodies, little education and no future career.
So how to explain the Alabama Crimson Tide? Head coach Nick Saban's team, the defending national champion, appears to inhabit a parallel universe. The team is favored to...
During the past decade, a compliment has emerged in college football to top all others. In praising a team with a defense like Notre Dame's, for instance, it has become fashionable to say, "You play like an SEC team." Those... more »
Notre Dame has dusted off the failures of recent years past to become one of the best programs of the 2012 college football season. The Irish will take part in the BCS National Championship Game to end a great resurgent season... more »
When pundits bloviate during the hypefest for next week's BCS title game, they'll likely do so while sitting near an Alabama football helmet featuring the number 14. Why 14? Are the Crimson Tide rewarding freshman walk-on... more »
In a sport covered by the minute, analyzed by the second, and put in perspective by the hour, how did this one get by us? Especially with Alabama, in this age a de facto 33rd NFL franchise. Alabama, with the... more »
The signature burger at Mugshots Grill and Bar is three all-beef patties, six strips of bacon, three slices of cheese — your choice, cheddar or American — along with tomatoes, pickles, lettuce and red onions, all... more »
Email
Print
Share