Tiki Barber: ‘College football sucks’

Tiki Barber won’t be calling NFL games this season, but don’t expect to see him pursue a media gig in college football anytime soon. Barber, who had his jersey retired by the University of Virginia, thinks college football sucks and he doesn’t care who knows it.

After the New York Giants named Jaxson Dart the backup to Russell Wilson earlier this week, Barber and his WFAN radio co-host Evan Roberts were discussing the prospect of the rookie quarterback getting a chance to start this season. Roberts believes the Giants should avoid any temptation to start Dart during his rookie season, while Barber pointed to more recent success stories in C.J. Stroud and Jayden Daniels before pivoting to bash college football.

“This is the evolution of college football. And by the way, as an aside…college football sucks,” Barber ranted. “It is a bad watch. Cause you don’t know who’s good and you don’t know who sucks. And even the good teams suck. So, college football is bad.”

Barber did note college football has become closer to the NFL in terms of operation, preparation, and playbook, pointing to those as reasons why rookie quarterbacks might have an easier time adjusting today. But Barber wouldn’t let that stop him from venturing to make his bold take that college football sucks.

At least Barber said it to the right audience. In many parts of the country, saying college football sucks would be sacrilegious. But in New York, where college football is low on the totem pole, it’s just not a statement that will garner much pushback.

If we’re comparing college football teams to NFL teams, Barber is right. Because no, the best college football team would not beat the worst NFL team. But in terms of college football as “a watch” and source of entertainment, Barber is wrong, as seen by the 16.6 million viewers who tuned into Ohio State’s win over Texas last Saturday.