Could a college team beat an NFL team?

[Lake Gator]

Saw that '63 game on TV when All-Stars last won. Anything is possible. Head coach of the All Stars was Otto Graham...who coached the Coast Guard Academy at the time.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...kA327hLa1DQUuw7pw&sig2=BN1oapvhUHFcHV45YJ4PVA

 

[Gator Fever]

Taken from Wikipedia. Game was played at Soldier's Field, Chicago.

Date played Winning team Losing team Attendance
Game was originally scheduled between the Miami Dolphins and College All-Stars
August 1, 1975 Pittsburgh Steelers 21 College All-Stars 14 54,562
July 23, 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers 24 College All-Stars 0 52,000

I remember the Pittsburgh games as a kid and I also remember the announcers saying that Pittsburgh didn't take the game nearly as serious as the all stars did. I think if the NFL teams did the scores would have been a lot different.

 

[gingerlover]

I don't even think NFL teams from back then could win today against NFL teams. Times have changed since the 60s.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Many of them think I am talking about picking one college team when the post clearly talks about a college all star team.

An all star football team would have even less of a chance. You can't just throw together a bunch of kids and expect them to work as a unit or even know the playbook.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

I don't even think NFL teams from back then could win today against NFL teams. Times have changed since the 60s.

Yeah those guys were normal dudes, who often worked regular jobs in the offseason, and didn't have the benefit of modern conditioing regimes and microsurgeries to fix the rips and tears.

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

The thing about a college all star team, even in this day and age, is that not all of them would be NFL caliber players. How many times have we seen guys who lit the college game on fire only to be absolutely terrible in the NFL? If you had played the game in 2001, Eric Crouch was the Heisman winner. How do you think he would have done against the Patriots defense that year?

 

[78]

I'm ancient enough that I actually attended the College All-Star Game in the late '60s. It was a glorified scrimmage, about as meaningful as the final five minutes of an NFL pre-season opener. The college guys took it a lot more serious than the pros. Eventually fans stopped going altogether and the idea was scrapped.

 

[Okeechobee Joe]

I remember the Pittsburgh games as a kid and I also remember the announcers saying that Pittsburgh didn't take the game nearly as serious as the all stars did. I think if the NFL teams did the scores would have been a lot different.

The game was treated as an exhibition or practice type game by the NFL. On the other hand, the College All-Stars had never played a season as a cohesive team but just got together before this game.

 

[78]

The game was treated as an exhibition or practice type game by the NFL. On the other hand, the College All-Stars had never played a season as a cohesive team but just got together before this game.

Exactly. You can't expect a group of athletes who have that limited feel for playing alongside one another to play well as a group. On the other hand, the pros just kind of showed up because they were under contract, but no one wanted to risk injury for the upcoming season. A great concept on paper, but impossible to make it into a truly competitive affair.

 

[Okeechobee Joe]

I'm ancient enough that I actually attended the College All-Star Game in the late '60s. It was a glorified scrimmage, about as meaningful as the final five minutes of an NFL pre-season opener. The college guys took it a lot more serious than the pros. Eventually fans stopped going altogether and the idea was scrapped.

It was as you say more of an exhibition game for the NFL. At least this was so at the end. If you go back and look at the game attendance, the game drew crowds in the 90,000 to 100,000 range in the 1940, but in the 1970s attendance had dwindled to the 50,000s. Fans lost interest because it was not felt to be a "real" game. I am sure there were other factors such as possibility of injury in a "meaningless" game that led to its demise.

 

[78]

It was as you say more of an exhibition game for the NFL. At least this was so at the end. If you go back and look at the game attendance, the game drew crowds in the 90,000 to 100,000 range in the 1940, but in the 1970s attendance had dwindled to the 50,000s. Fans lost interest because it was not felt to be a "real" game. I am sure there were other factors such as possibility of injury in a "meaningless" game that led to its demise.

The track record of this game pretty much parallels all-star games in general. As the years went by and the money got bigger, the athletes weren't as willing to risk injury, and esp in football you can sense when a game lacks intensity. That fans eventually got turned off.

 

[Lake Gator]

The thing about a college all star team, even in this day and age, is that not all of them would be NFL caliber players. How many times have we seen guys who lit the college game on fire only to be absolutely terrible in the NFL? If you had played the game in 2001, Eric Crouch was the Heisman winner. How do you think he would have done against the Patriots defense that year?

The starting QB on the '63 All Star team that beat the Packers went undrafted. However, the
AStars defense was sprinkled with future All-Pros.

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

The starting QB on the '63 All Star team that beat the Packers went undrafted. However, the
AStars defense was sprinkled with future All-Pros.

I don't know how many different ways we can say that games played 50+ years ago have no bearing on how those games would go today.

 

[Lake Gator]

No need to say it more than once. Both the pro game and college game have changed dramatically over the years. But just because a good college player is a player that would never make it in the pros doesn't mean he couldn't play one great inspired game against uninspired pros. Who knows how Eric Crouch would have performed against the Pats? Yes, odds are overwhelming he'd been killed but playing well was not impossible.

 

[GatorAuthor]

The thing about a college all star team, even in this day and age, is that not all of them would be NFL caliber players. How many times have we seen guys who lit the college game on fire only to be absolutely terrible in the NFL? If you had played the game in 2001, Eric Crouch was the Heisman winner. How do you think he would have done against the Patriots defense that year?

Giving Rex Grossman's Heisman to Eric Crouch was awful. Rex was great that year.

 

[Gatormac2112]

Not a chance.