...Does anyone out there still remember when the winner of the NFL championship game would play in the preseason vs the College All-Stars? I saw a picture on line of John Matuszak when he played in that game & I was thinking it would be great to see this, but with the amount of money invested in the players drafted & the possibility of injury before the season starts, I can see why it ended.

...From a fans point of view (me at as a youngster), i thought it was the best!



...Here is one of Mike Garrett vs the All Stars

cruisin' with the 'Tusz

Plus the NFL generally dominated. I think the year Gale Sayers played the college boys may have pulled it out.

...I found this info on line and was surprised the All Stars actually won some of those matchups.

vvv

The game between the college all-stars and the NFL champions was called the Chicago All-Star Game. It was played from 1934 to 1976, 1974 excepted. The NFL won 31 of the 42 games, including the last twelve. The pros suffered nine losses and two games ended up tied. Led by their Steel Curtain defense, the Pittsburgh Steelers won the final game 24-0 before the game was discontinued due to waning interest.

lends some credence to the idea that a badass college team could beat a shitty NFL team

4cards;406485 wrote:...I found this info on line and was surprised the All Stars actually won some of those matchups.

vvv

The game between the college all-stars and the NFL champions was called the Chicago All-Star Game. It was played from 1934 to 1976, 1974 excepted. The NFL won 31 of the 42 games, including the last twelve. The pros suffered nine losses and two games ended up tied. Led by their Steel Curtain defense, the Pittsburgh Steelers won the final game 24-0 before the game was discontinued due to waning interest.

I remember watching that final game. It was called in the third quarter because of lightning and really terrible weather. The NFL had wanted to cancel the game for years but couldn't because it was a charity event. The shortened final game gave them the excuse to cancel it forever. It has not been missed.

Mohican00;406683 wrote:lends some credence to the idea that a badass college team could beat a shitty NFL team

No it doesn't. It was the elite college players against one team from the NFL. Now it was the best team that year, but the difference between the best and worst NFL teams is not much. The game ended after the NFL won the last 12. Pre-1960 the NFL was not much of a destination. The best college players did not always end up playing in the pros. A really bad Saints or Colts team from the 1980's would crush the U of Miami teams.

Sonofanump;407380 wrote:No it doesn't. It was the elite college players against one team from the NFL. Now it was the best team that year, but the difference between the best and worst NFL teams is not much. The game ended after the NFL won the last 12. Pre-1960 the NFL was not much of a destination. The best college players did not always end up playing in the pros. A really bad Saints or Colts team from the 1980's would crush the U of Miami teams.

I'll give you that the likelihood of a college team beating a professional team would be greater 30-40 years ago than today but I'm still not sold on the notion that a crappy NFL team is light years better than a juggernaut NCAA team. My argument is rooted in a fundamental property of athletic teams: bad teams generally suffer from a lack of team chemistry and overall cohesiveness while good teams function with purpose and concerted effort. In other words, why should we casually just accept that a bad NFL team would completely dominate a great, cfb team where 11 guys are playing as 1 on both sides of the ball?

Now apply that to the NFL vs College argument. You've got two teams with guys approximately in the same age range, a difference in talent level, yes, but is it always the cream of the crop NFL vs fat, slow guys on top notch FBS team? No of course not. Hell Miami put 6 guys into the first round draft of the NFL in 04 and while they all don't pan out, you can't deny that elite cfb teams aren't completely outmatched in talent and athleticism when compared to say, lowly Cleveland Browns squads (god bless em). And finally my point and the easiest argument to make, good teams perform better than shitty teams. They execute, finish and are put forth more effort than bad teams. So is it that much of a stretch to think that a great D1A team firing on all cylinders would compete with a sluggish, demoralized pro team who is on the field half-assing it?

Just to be clear I do believe a bad NFL team would beat a great college football team 9 times out of 10. But to assume that the pros are THAT much better is shortsighted IMO

Mohican00;407411 wrote:I'll give you that the likelihood of a college team beating a professional team would be greater 30-40 years ago than today

Maybe 50+ years ago this COULD (meaning 1 out of 10) happen

Mohican00;407411 wrote:Just to be clear I do believe a bad NFL team would beat a great college football team 9 times out of 10. But to assume that the pros are THAT much better is shortsighted IMO

Just to use last year for example, I'd take St. Louis to beat Alabama 98% of the time if they played last year.

Pro teams lost because it was an exhibition game....and the first one at that. Some teams don't even play their starters in the first preseason game. Also, back then they played 5 or 6 exhibition games....all the more reason why the pros lost several times.

Remember, too - until the NFL really took off in the late 1950's, a lot of very good college players didn't go to the pros - a game between the college stars and an NFL team would have been a lot more competitive when the game was considered a major attraction. The NFL once occupied a status somewhat like the Women's NBA of today (or - like what it would be without life support from the NBA).

The pay and benefits in the NFL up until about 1960 or was such that a lot of decent players decided to do something else for a living. Even those that did go pro didn't condition year round like they do today - they usually had to work at other jobs during the off-season. IIRC, even Bart Starr had to sell Fords between seasons during most of his football career.

I remember those games.

I remember my college...