South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier tested the boundaries of reality Wednesday by suggesting that college power Alabama not only could compete with an NFL team but could knock off some of the NFL's bottom-feeders.
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"Alabama, gosh, they look like they could beat a couple of those NFL teams that I've watched on Sundays," Spurrier told "The Dan Patrick Show" on Wednesday, via Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com. "I think a lot of the oddsmakers out there, that usually know what's going on, I'd guess Alabama would be favored by a little bit."
Crazy talk. Especially outrageous coming from Spurrier, who learned during his failed stint with the Washington Redskins that the pro game is a different beast, one that would tear the greatest college program to shreds.
Spurrier has logged decades watching game film. He has seen it all, which renders his commentary even more absurd.
It's easy to jab at suffering teams like the Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns -- suggesting they'd struggle to score points on the proud North Dakota State Thundering Herd -- but even the most grisly NFL roster would flatten a college all-star team. Maybe that wasn't the case in 1950, but there's no competition today.
Take a look at the NFL draft. It's a crapshoot that ends men's careers. Why? Because every summer, the NFL turns great numbers of yesterday's college icons into CVS employees.
College and pro football don't exist on the same physical or mental plane. A paper-thin percentage of college players adapt to the NFL experience, which can deceive us about the differences between the NFL and the NCAA.
College teams thrive by taking away an opponent's best player or two. Large chunks of NCAA rosters are raw, untested kids, while even the most pathetic NFL team has talent at every position.
Redskins fans knew early that Spurrier wasn't a fit for this league. Maybe those teams would have tested this far-flung theory, but it remains one of the more outrageous utterances of the day.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.
