College football and men’s basketball are weird.

The two sports — arguably the most popular collegiate games and the only ones, other than baseball, with real opportunities for professional advancement — often dominate a university’s image. That’s ironic when you consider that football and men’s basketball players are often, but certainly not always, not the most academically inclined.

Now before you start throwing Fred Hoiberg and Jeff St. Clair out as examples of football and men’s basketball players who happen to also be exceptional scholars, I’ll acknowledge that there are frequently those that defy the rule. And Iowa State may itself be somewhat of an exception.

As a national trend, though, statistics prove that football and men’s basketball players, especially the really good ones, don’t push the upper IQ limits. Maybe that’s not a bad thing. Maybe that’s not even of concern. It is, however, reality.

And in this case, the reality isn’t hard to understand. Many of these athletes come from large metropolitan areas, or the clich‚ “inner cities.” They haven’t had the educational opportunities that home-grown Iowans have.

The fact remains, however, that regardless of a sometimes troubled background, a good number of football and men’s basketball players do not belong, on a national level, in college. That’s not a crime. Some people just weren’t meant to go to college, but a mistaken societal notion says everyone must go to college to be a success.

I single out football and men’s basketball only because it’s indisputable that the two sports are the most notorious for importing players that do not belong in a university setting. They are the most visible. They are pressured the most to win.

But should athletes not suited for college be denied a chance to compete, to have their talent showcased? Certainly not. An athlete works just as hard, if not harder, to develop his or her skills as a top-notch physicist, engineer, farmer or even a journalist.

It may be time to admit, though, that colleges and universities, at least the larger ones, aren’t appropriate places to try to educate those who shouldn’t be here just for the sake of athletics. A push to pay college football and men’s basketball players, declining national graduation rates and players having continued troubles with the law all point to a need for change.

Colleges should not abandon their long-standing association with athletics, but only those athletes truly suited for college should be recruited to play for the university-sponsored teams.

The noncollege-bound athletes should also have an out. Like professional baseball, pro football and basketball could establish farm clubs, or semi-pro teams that would incorporate athletes who don’t have college educations.

Many baseball players are drafted right out of high school. Some make the right decision to jump into a career in athletics, others choose to wait, play college ball, get a degree and then move on to the professional ranks. It’s a natural and effective weeding measure that just might work with football and basketball as well.

Minor league teams would also help boost the economies of those communities where the clubs are established.

There are drawbacks. Even if athletes don’t earn degrees, they inevitably learn something by attending college classes, and the quality of the collegiate competition will go down if some athletes opt to “turn pro.”

And the trouble is, we’re probably too used to watching college teams perform on a close-to-pro level. Change, then, is highly unlikely.

I guess college football and men’s basketball are doomed to be weird.