Fourth and Long: The Fight for the Soul of College Football

I like all of John U Bacon's books, including this one. However, I felt Fourth and Long had a little too much play by play for my liking. It was interesting for the most part and I do recommend it to college football fans, not just Michigan fans.

Like the sport itself, this book is compelling precisely because of the players, coaches and fans who reveal their love of the game and - more importantly - its central truths through their actions. If a book can be opera, with its full range of human emotions, triumphs, tragedies, passions and deceits, then John U. Bacon has written it.Bacon writes that our rivals are very much like ourselves, but it's his extraordinary narrative over the course of a year of college football that makes the point. You will find yourself cheering for the very men who you will happily vilify next season.In the end, I don't know what I most appreciate: that I loved the book so much because there is no sport I treasure more than college football, or that I want to punch the author in the nose for making me respect and even admire hated rivals. Whatever the reason, like Mozart's Don Giovanni or Wagner's

This work shines a spotlight on four 2012 Big 10 football teams: Penn State, Northwestern, Ohio State, and Michigan. To a certain extent, author John U. Bacon shines a light on Notre Dame and Michigan State as well. Bacon's focus is the breakdown of long standing values in the game and the changing landscape of college football in general. Almost all of the changes are pushing the sport in the wrong direction; it is the players, however, and to another degree the coaching staffs, who through adversity seem to uphold the spirit and traditions of their universities and the athletic and academic "souls" of their programs. Chief among the challenges that they face is the impact of money, of greed. Most of the specific issues stem from that one. Off the top of my head, they include the inequitable oversight of the NCAA, questionable decisions made by the non-profit Big Ten in pursuit of additional revenue, the forced re-branding of college football fans as consumers by athletic departments, and the wild expansion of the bowl game system and lengthening of the football season.Bacon predominantly focuses on coaches' and players' comments (especially at Penn State), but he also provides lively narratives of his travels to several school towns. His descriptions of local stomping grounds--including more than a few bars--and individual quirks that are unique to each university lend the book atmosphere. There are a few game summaries, but these are kept to a minimum; the inclusion of the significant wins and losses are intended to illustrate the burdens of triumph and setback upon morale and team goals.My complaint would be that, following Bacon's compelling and Michigan-centric Three and Out, Fourth and Long in fact places Michigan football in fourth place behind the three (or four) other universities covered. There is virtually no input from Michigan's coaching staff or student athletes. I realize that this dearth may well be due to a lack of access and, more precisely, Bacon's intentional focus on Michigan's athletic department rather than the football field to make his point, but the absence of any Michigan personalities beyond the athletic directors and marching band alumni can be sorely felt. I suppose we'll have to wait for Bacon's next book to crack that nut, once the story reaches its natural (or unnatural) conclusion and Brady Hoke follows Dave Brandon into oblivion...(Also, after toiling to rehabilitate the soul of Penn State football and lauding PSU's coach, I have to wonder whether Bacon and his work here are undermined by Bill O'Brien's abrupt "see ya!" after spending just two seasons there. The book was published in 2013 and I can detect Bacon sort of trying to defuse that ticking bomb in its final pages, but in hindsight I did chuckle at the portrait of O'Brien as a sort of new architect of Penn State football.)

I'm a Michigan alumna who believes that John U. Bacon should be named NCAA president, Big Ten commissioner, and Michigan AD, simultaneously, for life. This guy is a BRILLIANT sports journalist cut from the fast-disappearing cloth of ethical and objective journalism. He makes every attempt to capture views from all sides of an issue and draws conclusions based on facts and detailed research. He's not a "homer". He understands the complications and challenges of NCAA football and the Big Ten as well as anyone in the world. He isn't worried about his next invitation to the press box or the locker room or the AD's office. He just tells it like it is, regardless of the chance that he'll be cut off from school access in the future. It's easy to see why Michigan has revoked his press privileges. John has no problem looking himself in the mirror each day. Apparently not so much the Michigan AD, Dave Brandon, who lives by the words "If it ain't broke, break it."This book focuses on the programs at Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and Northwestern. John carefully looks in depth at the challenges and successes of each school and the Big Ten in general. He gets coaches, players, ADs (some of them), and other officials to speak with remarkable candor. I came away from this book loving Penn State and Northwestern, still indifferent to OSU (sorry, genetic predisposition to not like them!), and near loathing my own alma mater and their money-grubbing, donor-courting athletic department. Bacon's portrayal of these schools and how they indicate what's wrong (and what can be right) in college football is spot on. It's like his words are the same ones whirling in my own mind when I try to get a ticket to a game and walk away feeling like my alumni status means nothing to anyone because my name isn't on a building or my private jet isn't available for Brandon's travel needs.I only hope that the NCAA takes a good hard look into this book then takes a good long look in their own mirror. Fourth and Long is what many of us are feeling and wrestling with as fans, alumni, and lettermen. With any luck, Bacon's words will have an impact on the powers that be. They've certainly got the discussion started.

The notion that big-time college football is too big, too expensive, too distracting from the academic mission has been widely held for almost as long as college football has been played. This book looks at the assertion from a much more player-centered angle than most, reflecting deep love of the game (and especially the Big 10) with interesting analysis of its effects. It leaves the reader liking football more than ever, and more concerned than ever that the NCAA and the imperative for big programs to spend money is throwing things out of whack in ways that have no benefit for players or universities. The book is analytical to be sure, but is also filled with good sports writing.