I dont care what anyone says, these bowls are fun. This Guaranteed Rate Bow is fantastic. High energy. High emotion. Good stuff. Getting rid of these games, as some suggest we should, would be a travesty.
“Meaningless Bowls”
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Absolutely. All of the bellyaching about this guy opting out and that guy transferring dominates the conversation, but I choose to celebrate the kids who still show up and bust their a$$es and play because they love it. There is more good than bad. Whichever one people focus on is their choice.
I agree too. I have really enjoyed watching the early bowl games. It's a chance to see teams we never see during the regular season. There are some great players out there. I love college football and hate when it's over.
Nobody talked about bowls being "meaningless," and the concept of players opting out of them was incomprehensible, before about 2016 or so. It took the playoffs about 2-3 years to render the rest of the bowl games meaningless. The expand playoffs next year will lead to the same result for the regular season. Once a team suffers its 4th regular season loss, you will see NFL prospects sitting out the rest of the season.
I agree that the bowls are fun to watch, especially as an escape from all the holiday madness that takes over our households this time of year.
I agree that the bowls are fun to watch, especially as an escape from all the holiday madness that takes over our households this time of year.
I think the 3rd loss will trigger the juniors and seniors who are NFL prospects sitting out the rest of the season. I don't see any 3 loss teams making a 12 team playoff.
The early bowls are fun to watch because the teams in them are usually teams that don't regularly go to bowls and the players and fans are excited to be there.
The playoff hasn't made the other bowls meaningless at all. How many national champs prior to the BCS/CFP played in bowls outside of the Rose, Orange, Fiesta or Sugar? Georgia Tech in the 1990 Citrus Bowl and BYU in the 1984 Holiday Bowl are the only ones that come to mind. Basically, every bowl outside of the Big 4 has been "meaningless" over the past half century by that logic.
The early bowls now are what the NIT or CIT is to College Basketball now. A nice little consolation prize to keep players who are excited to be there engaged. However, the bowls will never be what they used to be because the market is so over saturated with games. Yes, you are excited to see any football in August, but you just have to be a hardcore College Football guy to get up for UNLV vs. Kansas in December. I just can't do it. I need stakes to be associated with the late-season games to get my engagement. I need to see losers crying. I am a more in-season sports viewer. So, as the leaves fall off the trees, I am starting to get into basketball anyway. I need to see the thrill of victory from the winners. It can't just be "Yay, we won the Music City Bowl. That's just me.
my problem with bowls are the teams your wanting to see play, aren't going to be the same teams from the regular season. Its not just the NFL draft anymore. It’s the portal opt outs. Bowls seem to be coming more and more like tired old exhibition games.
A bunch of them would have to shut down. Look at how many 6 win teams are in bowls now. I'd be fine with it just so you know.
I don't think FBS teams should be able to play FCS teams at all. If a school can't fill its schedule with 128 teams to choose from, it needs to shut down its football program.
Agree on the latter, for sure. Time to do away with the FCS games. There are plenty of garbage FBS teams.
As to bowls, the system is probably shot. Not sure why, but all interested parties seem intent on killing bowl games outside of the CFP. Nobody can offer a reason for why a mid-level bowl means less now that there’s a playoff than it did before there was a playoff, but people repeat it over and over again. I have yet to hear a justification for it.
Maybe if you strip down the number of bowl games, raise the bar for eligibility to seven wins, and actually make it difficult to get to a bowl game again, there would be renewed interest. There really is no reason to have more than about 15 bowl games.
People have told you why. You just don't want to accept it and that's okay. I watch a lot of games between September and November. My interest in football is starting to wane period by Mid-November. You need the rivalry games and championship games for people who are just not hardcore into football 24-7. The bowls were great in the 70's and 80's. It allowed you to see matchups and teams that you didn't regularly see. Now, you can watch even Coastal Carolina every week. A lot of people are not trying to see mediocre 7-5 ACC Team play Mediocre 7-5 or even 8-4 Big Team in December unless you are a fan of that program. Even some of that program's fans would check out depending on the amount of opt-outs you get. There is just no reviving the Bowl System IMO. Time to lean into a playoff and make it as big as you can.
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You will never hear me complain about too much football... especally when a season is coming to a close. The matchups are great. I mean we are getting football almost every day for a couple if weeks. If you dont like that something is wrong with you imo. Aa a side note, always tickles me to see what kind ot team a middle of the pack ACC school gets to play. Speaking of ACC, they give me a lot of schools to pull against. That clearly contributes to the fun.
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Give me one reason the Outback Bowl/ReliaQuest bowl means less this year than it did 20 years ago, understanding that the teams in this bowl game were never competing for a shot of the title.
Bc now it means even less to the teams that are in it due to the opt outs and transfers. You're going to start seeing less fans travel, less people tune in to watch. FSU fans should be excited about the OB. Best bowl they've played in a while. But what do they have to be excited about now?? Absolutely nothing.
See. You are making an argument to a person that boycotted the Bowl Games in the late 1990's until the playoff began in 2014. I am that guy that the media sees in the ratings where they go "He was watching all the games during the regular season" why did he stop now. I only watch playoff games with stakes. So, no "Outback Bowl" for me. I did make a few exceptions for the games that the Gamecocks played in, but even said no when they went to that Pizza Bowl thing in Alabama. I am just different than you. Having games with no stakes late in the year is anti-climatic to me especially when you can watch every game even in an obscure conference (C-USA, MAC). Like I said, I'm with you to Mid-November. After that, you better be playing in a Championship of something if you want me to watch.
So, you didn't like non-title bowls before, and you don't like them bow? Okay, that's a respectable opinion.
But it doesn't explain why others, who used to watch these bowls, now suddenly don't care.
Imo, none of these bowls that fail to determine the champion have changed. The players have. (Opt outs and tranfers)
This.
I object when people say that the playoffs killed other bowls. Those "other" bowls never determined the champion anyway. Nothing has changed there.
What HAS changed is players opting out and transferring (missing the bowl). This will hurt the lower bowls.
But then, I'm watching each of these bowls. Because I am a fan of college football in general. It's almost over and I want to savor it.
Of course, opt outs and transfers are a big part of it, but television is a bigger part than many would like to admit. As a sports fan, you get tired of all the non-stop games. There comes a point of over saturation. What makes bowl season any different than a random weekend in October? Heck, my son plays DII and I saw every one of his games either live are on television. Yes, DII conferences have Apps now where you can see every one of their games. That's where you get people like me that get to a point of "I am not interested unless someone is getting eliminated."
Oh, I think you will definitely see 3-loss teams making the 12-team playoff, at least occasionally. There's no doubt they will make it if they win their conference. Regardless of the number threshold though, you and I agree that NFL prospects will sit out the rest of the season once they have determined their teams are eliminated from the playoff race.
We're talking about psychology. "Meaningless" is a subjective term. Something has meaning as long as people thinks it has meaning. Players started considering the bowl games meaningless about the time that the playoff started. You can believe that's a coincidence if you like.
The BCS started in 1998 and the playoffs started in 2014. A small number of players started considering the bowl games meaningless around 5 years ago. Remember that high profile player who got jacked up in the bowl game? Neither do I because his career never happened after that. Everybody slams Deebo for sitting out the bowl vs Virginia, but look at his career path. Now imagine him getting Lattimore'd up in Charlotte that day and it all being over for him. I'm not saying I agree with his decision, but I understand why he made it.
Having said that, the overwhelming majority of college football players consider every game meaningful, including the bowl games. Subjective is the correct word to use. The "get off my lawn" old fogeys are the ones saying the bowls are meaningless outside of the playoff games. The fact is every single college football game is very meaningful to the overwhelming majority of players and fans of the sport.
And we have sites like this, focusing on those opting out. How about we focus on the 90+% of young men who fulfil their commitments rather than the malcontents?
2023 College Football Bowl Game Opt-Out Tracker
Follow along with all of the players who will be opting out of their team's respective bowl games, one way or another, in our Bowl Game Opt-Out Tracker.
collegefootballnetwork.com
Exactly, I always watched as much regular season college as I could and a small amount of NFL, then vice versa when bowls and playoffs started, just because they were playing the games for a reason.
The BCS started in 1998 and the playoffs started in 2014. A small number of players started considering the bowl games meaningless around 5 years ago. Remember that high profile player who got jacked up in the bowl game? Neither do I because his career never happened after that. Everybody slams Deebo for sitting out the bowl vs Virginia, but look at his career path. Now imagine him getting Lattimore'd up in Charlotte that day and it all being over for him. I'm not saying I agree with his decision, but I understand why he made it.
Having said that, the overwhelming majority of college football players consider every game meaningful, including the bowl games. Subjective is the correct word to use. The "get off my lawn" old fogeys are the ones saying the bowls are meaningless outside of the playoff games. The fact is every single college football game is very meaningful to the overwhelming majority of players and fans of the sport.
And we have sites like this, focusing on those opting out. How about we focus on the 90+% of young men who fulfil their commitments rather than the malcontents?
2023 College Football Bowl Game Opt-Out Tracker
Follow along with all of the players who will be opting out of their team's respective bowl games, one way or another, in our Bowl Game Opt-Out Tracker.
Well, if you're dumb enough to bet on these lower-tier bowl games that could be an effective tool
As long as the sponsor and tv networks pay enough, lower tier bowls will continue. The Myrtle Beach Bowl, Georgia Southern vs Ohio, drew over 1 million viewers. By contrast, Georgia Southern vs App State, a big rivalry game, drew 53,000 viewers. South Carolina vs Jax State drew 79,000 viewers. TV knows there are enough people who will watch ANY college football that they are willing to pay the crappy bowls to put them on.
Bowl games are all about money and as long as the committee or whatever organization that puts on the bowl is making money, the bowls will continue.
Bowl games are all about money and as long as the committee or whatever organization that puts on the bowl is making money, the bowls will continue.
#TRUTH
I've watched a couple of Bowl Games, but as one of the last holdouts I admit, they are not that much fun anymore. You can cheer the laundry and root for or against schools, but many have no less than 8-10 starters not playing.
To quote the late and great B.B. King. "The Thrill is Gone"
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Look I get the whole concept of corporate sponsorship for major events, but completely eliminating any semblance of geographic location is just too much. Several of these I had to look up to see what the host city was.
Quick Lane Bowl
First Responder Bowl
Guaranteed Rate Bowl
Dukes Mayo Bowl. (yes I knew this one, but how many outside the SE really know)
Pop Tarts Bowl
68 Ventures Bowl. (seriously, WTF)
Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now.
Quick Lane Bowl
First Responder Bowl
Guaranteed Rate Bowl
Dukes Mayo Bowl. (yes I knew this one, but how many outside the SE really know)
Pop Tarts Bowl
68 Ventures Bowl. (seriously, WTF)
Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now.
It was nice for Chic fil A to keep the Peach Bowl name. They have their name prominently displayed as the sponsor but they left the name as "Peach Bowl".
I'd argue most of that has to do with misguided corporate branding decisions. I certainly don't have data to support this but I would argue outside of consumer packaged goods & select financial services, a bowl sponsorship doesn't really provide much oomph to a brand despite notable increases in tv viewership.
Good examples I think would be Dukes Mayo and Pop Tarts. They landed in brand awareness and I would expect there to be a payoff.
Bad examples would be Wasabi, Famous Toastery and Bad Boys Mower to name a few. I just can't see someone choosing a cloud provider, a hyper regional breakfast franchise hoping to go national or lawnmover over a bowl sponsorship. However, I guess I do have to concede there is some degree of stickiness as I know those brands do exist and what service / product they provide now.
The reason they mean less now is because the media has been preaching that message for a decade now and players have decided to not play in them. That's the reason...TV ratings for bowl games are still high. People still watch them. People are still interested.
If bowls are going to continue to be a meaningful part of college football, there's got to be forward-thinking changes made. There's got to be incentive for players to play. There's enough money out there that a smart person could figure out a way to pay out NIL deals from bowl games that require on-field participation, or something along those lines. That's the only way to save them, in my opinion.
