The last thing a sports coach wants to do is reveal weaknesses to the opposing team. In the NFL, the injury report system was created for two reasons. The first was to try and create a level playing field for all of the teams. This also helps the online sports books to create more accurate odds for bettors, which may or may not be an intended effect.
The other reason that NFL teams report injuries is to allow the team to add people to the 53-man roster in case someone is injured. When a player is officially reported to be out of a game, then the team is allowed to bring in a replacement until the injured player returns. That makes reporting injured players beneficial to the teams, the fans and the league.
But don’t be fooled by all of this seemingly transparent reporting of injuries. NFL teams will be as vague as they possibly can be when it comes to reporting what the actual injury is. The terms “upper-body injury” and “lower-body injury” were created to help teams stay ambiguous when it comes to reporting injuries. It is just one more thing that drives the bookies crazy.
As frustrating as the NFL injury report can be, the reporting system for college football injuries can be even more frustrating because it does not exist. One of the reasons that college football teams do not need to report injuries is because a college football roster can have up to 125 players. Teams do not need a way to free up roster space for an injured player because there are a few dozen replacements already waiting to play.
Another reason why there is no coherent injury reporting system in college football is because there are a lot of teams playing in a lot of different conferences. The NCAA is the general governing body of college football, but it does not seem remotely interested in developing an injury reporting system for college football.
As you look at the situation, even the online poker players can see some potential issues with having a college football injury reporting system. With a maximum of 125 players eligible to play on each team, injury reports would be administrative nightmares and be several pages long just for one team.
So how are college football injuries reported now? The primary source for college football injury information is the media. The media will ask the head coaches and do some investigating of its own to find out which players are injured and how serious the injuries can be. It is always a good idea for a media outlet to confirm an injury before printing it, but prematurely reporting injuries happens all of the time in college football.
It is unlikely that college football will ever develop a cohesive injury reporting system. Football betting fans will just have to stay vigilant and watch the media reports to see which players are in and which players are out from week to week.
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