This was an interesting little "fact or fiction" question posed in today's Sportscenter. Now we all know that USC, or any college team for that matter, cannot beat a NFL Team. However I think that USC could score 7 or at most 10 points on a mediocre NFL Defense. They certainly wouldn't put up 70 but I don't think it's to farfetched to say they could score at least one touchdown. Thoughts?
I think there are quite a few college teams who could score on any NFL defense (esp. the Texans). They wouldn't win the game... but they could definitely score. Its like minor league baseball players, or college kids vs. NBA pros (like they do before the Olympics).... they all have a chance to succeed against the pros, but over the long-run, its not likely that they're gonna come out on top.
Any given Sunday (or Saturday as the case may be)... Sure any college team could score on a pro team, given a fluke play. But USC specifically? I think they could put up 6-9 points on a mediocre pro NFL team. It would have to be a long bomb, b/c if the Trojans took to the trenches against a beefy NFL D-line in smash mouth play, their offensive line would just tire itself out and Leinhart would be running around like David Carr.
Ya, that's kind of what I was thinking. USC definately has the skill players to score at least once, but although they have a good OLine by college standards, they would get destroyed by a NFL DLine.
Yes they can and would kick the Texans ass...this is always a good question as the top college teams can, IMO, beat the lower tier NFL teams, definitely the NFL Europe teams...Don't think they can run up the score, but they'll be competitive...
College football players are much more ready to make the leap than any of the other college sports. Their bodies are already mature. Lienart and Bush are top notch players who would immediately contribute to any NFL team. USC has also recruited the best HS players the last few years. The lines are just as big as any pro team. I'm going with USC scoring 17. David Carr sacked 12 times.
Hope you guys are joking. NFL players are comprised of ELITE all stars from the college ranks. The are so much stronger and more athletic. Both the D and O-line of USC will get crushed. They probably can score 3 or 7 if they get lucky.
Not in football. The trenches mean everything. Do you know how much bigger, faster, stronger, and smarter the pros are compared to the college guys as a whole? There is just no comparison.
Have you seen the Texans defensive and offensive lines? Far from bigger, faster and stronger, lol. I also disagree on your point about it being more about talent then leadership... football is the one sport where you can take mediocre athletes and put them in a good system and make them great players (see Denver's running game). Obviously most college teams could never compete with an NFL team because of the reasons you mentioned, but when you take a team that has great players and a great system there will be some success.
uhhh, no. it's probably not a coincidence that every year the most talented teams (college or pro) usually end up with the best records and the least talented teams usually end up with the worst records. while football does have more scheming than the other sports and thus coaching can help overcome some things, it also involves the most direct physical combat. if the DL of one team is bigger, stronger, and faster than the other teams OL, they will be all day and they'll kill them all day. same thing with OL versus DL. a single college team simply can't compete on either line. how many teams have their entire line eventually get drafted, much less all be draftworthy the same year? every player on every nfl line was draftworthy and has since improved. now if you took all the best college players from around the country and put them on one team (and assume they get coached all offseason like an nfl team would be), you might be able to get a competitive game with an nfl team, hell they might beat them. every year there are rookies who have great years and occasionally some even go to the pro-bowl, and some nfl teams send no one to the pro-bowl. basically make a team out of the first 2 rounds of the draft and play the 49ers or something and there might be a game. but one college team would have no shot. ou i think had 10 players drafted last year and that was the highest. put that up against 53 nfl players and see what happens. i voted for 3-7. usc has plenty of talent and even the worst matchups often don't end in shutouts. they might even be able to score twice, like 10 or something.
More so than in any other sport, football teams that were great one year can suck the next year or vice-versa. Take OU going from 6-5 to a national title with the same basic talent in 1999 and 2000. Or a terrible Notre Dame team suddenly being good this year, with virtually no new talent. Or the Superbowl teams a few years ago, Tampa Bay and Oakland, being two of the worst teams in the league the next year. You don't see nearly that kind of variability nearly in basketball or baseball. Scheming, coaching, and motivation, as opposed to raw talent, are probably more important in football than any other sport.
Texans prob avg way more than 20 pounds heavier per lineman. Some may be grossly different since college teams cannot stack every position like a pro team, so you may have a mismatch on the line of 40 pounds or more creating some serious problems.
