Which is harder basketball or football?

I am a two-time Illinois alum (MS and PhD) and while it has been a LONG time since the Illini won a national championship in football (they have 5!) and they essentially invented collegiate football as entertainment (Red Grange) they have ZERO national championships in basketball unless you want to count the 1943 Premo-Poretta Power Poll or a 1915 title of dubious veracity. Heck, UK would claim them both but I don't.

They came close a couple of times but never did it.

When I was a grad student at Illinois they were decent in basketball (Lou Henson era) and for the most part horrible at football (they missed having a perfect losing record one year ending the season to an equally pathetic Northwestern football team with a 0-0 tie) until they had a coach named Mike White (not that one!) that cheated and they won some football games.

So I claim that Illinois is a basketball school with ZERO national titles and not a football school with FIVE national titles.

Whatever it is it won't be easy for them to win a natty in either sport.

 

This is the content for which I come to this site. Good discussion, no one getting testy.

Baseball not in the OP question but I think the toughest for reasons above.

The number of possessions with scoring opportunities is far greater in BB which makes it a more volatile sport. Comebacks like our ‘25 BB team kept making would be tougher in football.
Not scientific but seems important to me so I’d say from an unpredictability perspective basketball is tougher.

 

Actually, UCF is the largest school in Florida.

 

Well, damn…let’s just go with largest campus and coolest mascot then

 

But I think this is skewed because it doesn’t include the percentage to make the 12 team playoff (vs 68 team tourney)

 

I’m gonna just add to this, because I agree with all that is there. Further, football requires the good fortunate of the roll of a football at the opportune time. Football, with so many complimentary pieces all needing to work together, also has more parity than basketball, because of the volume of players on the field and the roster. Football requires the navigation of a grueling schedule, with the good luck of the injury gods, and opponents who are, generally speaking in each conference, equally invested. And with 12 teams now in the playoffs, vs the 4 we’ve become used to, e have more competition, more room for error and upset, and more money to guide future parity.

Now take this in perspective to what Saban did, and it is simply astonishing.