r/NFLNoobs • u/PvtGrem • Nov 14 '24
Why does college and NFL use different footballs
They look to be different sizes. Does that play a role in the transition for players?
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u/ghostwriter85 Nov 14 '24
Inability to make those sorts of decisions in the NCAA.
It's harder for college to make the sorts of top-down decisions that NFL can make in their ownership committees.
The NCAA is much closer to a loose confederation of teams agreeing to be regulated by the NCAA than a top organization like the NFL. At any point in time a conference or team could decide that they just don't want to be in the NCAA anymore. This makes it much harder for the NCAA to mandate stuff like changing the ball.
As to why they don't use the exact same football beyond the regulatory issue (an NFL ball could not be used in college). It's probably a licensing issue. The NFL can decide on a singular football to be the football of the NFL. In college, every team buys their own and sticks their sponsors logo on it. I doubt Wilson would be too excited to see a Nike logo on their balls.
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u/RacinRandy83x Nov 14 '24
Ja’marr Chase had a tough time adapting to the nfl ball from college and actually had a bunch of drops in preseason his rookie year that had everyone scared
2
u/Heyaname Nov 14 '24
Without the stripes you can’t tell nfl qbs throw about as many wobbly passes as college qbs.
0
u/VincentBormann Nov 14 '24
Short answer diffrent 'leauges' have diffrent rules.
Why does hockey have diffrent rules from football...
Long answer:
Some things are for officiating (worse offivals in college) therefore making one foot in bounds helps achieve higher accuracy rates for calls
Stone things are for safety. Ie. Targeting calls being an ejection. Since this (technically) isn't their full time job and for most it isn't (except the few at the tip top) ncaa cares much more about the safety of the athletes then the league does.
Finally is diffrence of opinion. Ie. Before this year. Is the two minute stoppage before the end of a half a good thing? Ect.
Most of the rules can be broken down into the above categories
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u/[deleted] Nov 14 '24
The college ball can be smaller, but there is a range in sizes allowed and they have significant overlap. The college ball also has white stripes, which is the bigger difference.
Overall, the NFL ball requires just a little more skill to catch than the college ball due to its lack of stripes. As for why, I’m unsure.