Now that the college football season has come to an end and we are ramping up for the Bowl season we are seeing something great happen. In my opinion, the Bowl system has held back the sport from becoming great. The bowls and their nonprofit committees are stuck in the past. If you don’t believe that, remember what B1G Commissioner Jim Delany said while debate about the CFP. Delany and the B1G fought tooth and nail to kill the CFP because he believed in “keeping the Rose Bowl sacred.”
This is the thinking of one of the most powerful men in college football. The amount of money that the Bowls throw around to keep this thinking is insane!
However, the winds of change are blowing. They are not coming from the players. The players have decided that these bowl games are meaningless. It started with Christian McCaffery and Leonard Fournette. Then there was Bradley Chubb DeShon Elliott, Derwin James, Connor Williams, and Royce Freeman. This year you have Will Grier, Kelvin Hamron, Germain Pratt (although he was injured at the end of the year and I get it), Deebo Samuel, Noah Fant, Rashan Gary, Greedy Williams, Ed Oliver, N’Keal Harry, Donnell Greene, Justice Hill, and Yondy Cajuste.
I have to admit, if I were one of these players, I’d also skip a meaningless game that is not going to help my draft stock. I don’t actually care if they skip these games to focus on their future. If I am on the fence about going into a bowl game and I see some of these players skipping it, that is one less incentive to actually go to that bowl game.
These bowls are money makers and nothing more. The bowls are something that are great for season ticket holders, and boosters. These bowls allow teams who have had at least a 6-6 record and sometimes 5-7 (depending on the year) to get extra practices in. Coaches get bonuses depending on if their teams make a bowl game, and win that bowl game. The only thing these bowls provides is they allow coaches to get a look at some of those kids who will be on the team next season.
If I am a coach, say for NC State where you’re losing your QB, star WR, 3 offensive linemen and possibly more, I might sit these guys. Thank them for everything they’ve done for the program. You take the decision out of these kids hands, by taking the bullet and saying it’s the coaches decision.
This way you allow the players to get ready for the NFL draft and at the same time looking at the roster you’ll have the next season. You have a built in scrimmage game, coaches should start taking advantage of this! Coaches should start negotiating contracts that have no incentives for Bowl Games, The players are already de-emphasizing the bowl games. It’s time for the rest of us to do the same.
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