A trip down South serves as reminder of 'pro' college football

So let me set the scene for you.

It's a warm Saturday morning, and I'm heading out to the stadium for the tailgates prior to the football game. It's 11 a.m. in the morning, and there are easily 50,000 people out at the tailgate. They're all wearing red or light blue, and I'm having to scalp tickets in order to get into the game.

In case you haven't noticed yet, this week's armchair quarterback column is not about Saturday's Princeton football game because this past weekend I had the pleasure of experiencing college football that truly does border on professional — I went back to North Carolina as the N.C. State Wolf Pack hosted the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Saturday.

Unfortunately for my little brother, a student at Chapel Hill, and fortunately for my friends, who attend N.C. State, the Wolf Pack took control of the game early on, and even though my little brother continued to urge his team on, proclaiming that they were due to grab the lead any second, the Tar Heels lost, 47-34.

State's quarterback Philip Rivers managed to tie Florida State's Chris Weinke for the most 300-yard passing games in Atlantic Coast Conference history at 13, while setting the new ACC record for career total offensive yards, with 10,713. It is pretty clear that one day he will be playing in the National Football League. But, of course, the same goes for many of his teammates, as well as the opponents he has faced throughout his college career.

However, the game itself was not that much different from any other college football game one was likely to see on the various television networks. It was the experience of being there, however, that was special.

I ran into people there whose entire week climaxed at this football game. People had been planning out their tailgates all week. There were fans, super-fans, super-super-fans and even the occasional mega-fan, who happened to be painted (I'm almost certain from head to toe) in red.

There have been only a few other times that I have experienced a football game such as this, and that was the first few seasons of Carolina Panthers football. Professional football had gripped the Carolinas and people drove from all over the two states to come and watch the games. They painted themselves and planned large tailgates for people whom they didn't even know.

So what's my point?

Here at Princeton, we need to keep things in perspective.

While I may be suffering from some shellshock from my experience, I realized that I am glad that I don't experience this football mayhem every weekend. On Saturday afternoons (and sometimes evenings) in Princeton during the fall, people gather for comparatively small tailgates with alumni, students and football fans before watching the Tigers take on whoever is on the schedule. Princeton Stadium rarely fills up, and only occasionally does the outcome of the game affect the national standings. Of the players I have seen play here, only a handful have actually made it to the NFL, and even fewer have actually played.

The college football I watched last weekend most definitely faces the problem of being professionalized and losing touch with the educational mission of colleges and universities. The members of those teams are there simply to play football.

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College football at Princeton does not face this problem, one that seems to be gaining momentum among academic institutions. Players here are not on a track for the NFL, because the football program does not recruit and train players exclusively for professional football.

As head coach Roger Hughes reflects in this year's media guide, "When you choose to play football at Princeton, you graduate on time and have a degree from one of the world's most prestigious universities that will provide opportunities throughout your lifetime."

The atmosphere of Princeton athletics simply is not one of professional sports. Sports are not even a major emphasis, compared to where I've just been. The atmosphere here is, however, that of one of the best academic institutions in America.

When all is said and done, Princeton football will never be ACC football. But then, it was never intended to be.