With the CFP it makes bowl games less valuable.

I enjoy them though.

datboiquadzilla said:

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With the CFP it makes bowl games less valuable.

I enjoy them though.

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I would like to see Division I FBS go to a 32-team playoff and have that be the postseason. And if you want to split P4 and G5 and have separate tournaments for both, even better.

But most players wouldn't opt out with a championship on the line. Create more games with stakes in December and January and schedule more good nonconference matchups in September.

datboiquadzilla said:

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With the CFP it makes bowl games less valuable.

I enjoy them though.

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Not sure how CFP made things less valuable. There has always been 3 or 4 bowl games that decided the champion and the rest were fun window dressing.

bossbowman said:

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and the don't mean anything anymore

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they've never meant anything, except to the players and fan bases of the teams that are playing

If the bowl games are smart they'll get together and make an NIT tourney like alternative to the CFP.

Imagine teams 13-20 playing for a few weeks. That would be great.

vanillabryce said:

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Imagine teams 13-20 playing for a few weeks. That would be great.

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Those are called Bowl Games.

vanillabryce said:

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If the bowl games are smart they'll get together and make an NIT tourney like alternative to the CFP.

Imagine teams 13-20 playing for a few weeks. That would be great.

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The current bowl system called...

There are too many bowl games…..

And yet we aren't in one

Sort of fun watching Iowa State getting curb stomped by Memphis

datboiquadzilla said:

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With the CFP it makes bowl games less valuable.

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I've never understood that position.

It has always been a cornerstone of the argument by the crowd that doesn't want to see something resembling a real playoff and those that are against expanding the # of teams invited to the invitationals.

Bowl games are nothing but exhibition games anyways. Outside of the 'top' bowls, the vast majority of the bowls aren't worth a damn financially. Inviting more teams doesn't devalue the meaningless bowl games which were already meaningless

The bowl games may be meaningless to a couple of you knuckleheads but to the players it is yet another opportunity to compete. To win. To score touchdowns on the biggest stages.

Only 1.6% of those players will be playing on Sundays. A chance to be a hero in a bowl game is HUGE.

NIL is killing football.

Transfer Portal is killing football.

Edmond Bear said:

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vanillabryce said:

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Imagine teams 13-20 playing for a few weeks. That would be great.

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Those are called Bowl Games.

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Imagine actually reading my post to see the difference from these meaningless bowl games

Thee University said:

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The bowl games may be meaningless to a couple of you knuckleheads but to the players it is yet another opportunity to compete. To win. To score touchdowns on the biggest stages.

Only 1.6% of those players will be playing on Sundays. A chance to be a hero in a bowl game is HUGE.

NIL is killing football.

Transfer Portal is killing football.

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The bowl games are meaningless in an objective sense. They have no stakes beyond those the teams themselves put on them.

And coaches and players have already told us how much they mean with their actions. Outgoing coaches almost never coach their team's bowl game and players are opting out in record numbers every year. Fans have largely done the same with some pitiful attendance figures at many of these events.

Clinging to tradition for tradition's sake is one college football's biggest problems. Well ... that and the money-grubbing at the top -- from the schools/NCAA, not the players -- that has fueled a chain of idiotic, regressive decisions regarding conference realignment and championship/playoff format.

NIL and the transfer portal are a response to the aforementioned money-grubbing. It was the adults that started us in this direction and ensured that we'd be headed for a calamitous outcome with their lack of foresight and their unified decades-long inaction plan. Blaming the kids at this point is silly.

bear2be2 said:

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Thee University said:

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The bowl games may be meaningless to a couple of you knuckleheads but to the players it is yet another opportunity to compete. To win. To score touchdowns on the biggest stages.

Only 1.6% of those players will be playing on Sundays. A chance to be a hero in a bowl game is HUGE.

NIL is killing football.

Transfer Portal is killing football.

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The bowl games are meaningless in an objective sense. They have no stakes beyond those the teams themselves put on them.

And coaches and players have already told us how much they mean with their actions. Outgoing coaches almost never coach their team's bowl game and players are opting out in record numbers every year. Fans have largely done the same with some pitiful attendance figures at many of these events.

Clinging to tradition for tradition's sake is one college football's biggest problems. Well ... that and the money-grubbing at the top -- from the schools/NCAA, not the players -- that has fueled a chain of idiotic, regressive decisions regarding conference realignment and championship/playoff format.

NIL and the transfer portal are a response to the aforementioned money-grubbing. It was the adults that started us in this direction and ensured that we'd be headed for a calamitous outcome with their lack of foresight and their unified decades-long inaction plan. Blaming the kids at this point is silly.

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Every bowl game I played in was bigger than any conference or non-conference game. Ask players how big a bowl game was on their radar. If they played in it, I believe they will rank that experience and excitement above any regular season game.

Outgoing coaches don't coach because they stiffed their teams. They violated the TRUST that used to mean something in coaching. They essentially quit on the kids and are leaving them behind. Players are opting out for a number of reasons. Agents are telling these kids to not risk injury in post season. Wait until kids start sitting out powder puff games due to schools teeing up patsies.

Attendance in bowl games (lower tiered, newer bowl games) has been going down for years. Attendance for regular season games and losing programs is dipping also. Baylor has seen this firsthand.

Tradition means something to me. Tradition means something to those that truly help lay a foundation for these schools (including alumni who give big $).

I agree the realignments largely harm schools. Particularly small, lifetime .500 programs seeing their big opponents jump into a much more revered conference and leave them (us) behind.

You are probably correct in the blame game. I'd go further and say it is adults who have very little if any true connection to respective schools who have earned the blame.

bossbowman said:

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and the don't mean anything anymore, with the 12 team playoff next year they will be even less important. Bowls are antiquated, a post season re-vamp or re-think needs to be done, bowls are going the way of pro all-star games (well MLB is important but NBA and NFL are a joke)

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Somewhat agree. I think all the bowls played prior to today were pretty meaningless unless you follow that team. The exception for me was OSU vs baggy, Arizona vs OU and Mizzo vs tOSU. Those were of interest to me. The rest didn't matter.

Biggest surprises to me so far was how well the Big 12 has done in the bowls, the SMU loss and the Memphis win. I wasn't a fan of adding Memphis but looking back they would have been a better addition geographically and talent wise than the four that were added last year.

The real bowl season begins today. I think they will be come even less interesting when the 12 team playoffs begin. The NFL has a game playing tonight (Cowboys) which is further erosion of NCAA's sacred day. The Orange Bowl was always played at night in recent history but they probably didn't want to compete with
NFL.

The difference between the college game and the NFL was always the tradition and the pagentry. Of you turn the college game into a semi pro league with free agency and no salary cap after destroying traditional rivalries through realignment you have destroyed the sport.

Sad to remember the days of the Southwest Conference when going to the Cotton Bowl was the ultimate thrill regardless what happened in the rest of the country.

Now local rivalries are almost all gone, live mascots are a legal liability, coaches make more money than the university president and players don't give a damn about the school they nominally play for.

The NIL will price most football programs out of P5 existence as alumni's finally get fed up with spiraling ticket prices and 'voluntary' athletic department contributions just for the privilege of buying season tickets.

The crash in viewership will be sudden and athletic departments across the country will be forced to reassess the viability of this new semi pro reality.


Cant come soon enough .

KaiBear said:

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Sad to remember the days of the Southwest Conference when going to the Cotton Bowl was the ultimate thrill regardless what happened in the rest of the country.

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We only went twice during our SWC days between 1948 (our first ever bowl game) and 1994 when we switched over to the B12.

Just my opinion, but I like the opportunity to travel to more bowls.

Limited IQ Redneck in PU said:

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I like watching bowl games. When I am able I watch 3 or 4 a year plusthe play off games. I enjoyed watchinmg AM lose last night.. If I had to watch all the bowl games I would agree there are too many. Forunately I can pick and choose. The more the merrier.

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Same here.

I've always enjoyed bowl games. I've never tried to watch them all, just the ones where I find the matchup interesting.

More than 5 or 6 and they are too many.

I do know some folks that watch them all.

Then again I know folks who watch the weather channel all day too.

I believe even the lamest bowl games still have better ratings than an NBA regular season game so of course they are gonna stay.

Little games are important to fans and coaches because they have more time to practice and the fans get to see their team one more time.

Jack Bauer said:

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I believe even the lamest bowl games still have better ratings than an NBA regular season game so of course they are gonna stay.

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A 32-team playoff would have 31 games. A 24-team playoff would have 23.

No one can convince me you wouldn't get better ratings and make more money by replacing the current system with a robust playoff.

Some bowl sponsors would be pissed off because they would lose their showcase. But a lot of those games already draw crickets on TV and in the stands.

bear2be2 said:

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And if you want to split P4 and G5 and have separate tournaments for both, even better.

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I could understand why you would want to do so.

Thee University said:

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The bowl games may be meaningless to a couple of you knuckleheads but to the players it is yet another opportunity to compete. To win. To score touchdowns on the biggest stages.

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I completely understand if players who aren't going pro want to play in one more game, but outside of that the games mean nothing. I'm not talking about the Rose or Sugar bowl here. There are at least 2x as many bowls now as there were in 2005 and maybe 3x as many compared to when you played. I would guess that no players on your teams opted out of a bowl game. It's commonplace now. There is so much dilution and meaningless games now its ridiculous.

As you know, there is no real playoff in the FBS and the NCAA doesn't recognize an NCAA champion because of it. The exhibition games only exist to make a handful of people money, which is why they keep popping up. Players and fans today don't care about being the Kellog's Cereal Bowl Champion and I don't blame them.

boykin_spaniel said:

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Bowl games are fantastic background noise throughout December. Come New Years you get big matchups.

Are there to many? Sure, but the lawn mowers, tractors, and more bowl draws more eyeballs than a random weeknight NBA or NHL game so ESPN will continue to fight to show as many bowl games as they can. Schools love the publicity and paycheck (even if they ultimately don't make money) and coaches love the extra couple weeks of practice. They often get to plug in some younger guys to begin prep for next year.

Having so many bowls that 5-7 teams are now required to fill all the slots definitely crushes some meaning. It's now embarrassing to not make a bowl vs a hard earned prize for a good season but I'd take some pointless bowls over no bowls. I like football and would rather 2 directional G5 schools squaring off vs an NBA game.

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They should be a hard earned prize players want to win but that's not the case anymore. Please just stick with the playoff now with the most important bowls and do away with the rest. I remember when Baylor beat Arizona in the Sun bowl, it was on national TV and a big deal, way fewer bowl games back then. Even 10 years ago the Holiday bowl we had no players opting out not to play, Florence had a fantastic and memborable game. Fast forward to 2023 with NIL these games are glorified scrimmages with player no one know because they've not player all year. I've always watched the Bowl games the Big 12 teams make but man this year they just didn't keep my attention past halftime, I think thats why some of the games are doing goofy stunts at the end of the game like the mayonaise bath and the baking the pop tart mascot to keep the audience to the end of the games.

As long as ratings surpass the NBA, UFC prelim fights, early season college basketball the bowl games will continue at the same pace. Why not enjoy a little extra football?

Harrison Bergeron said:

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bear2be2 said:

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Harrison Bergeron said:

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bear2be2 said:

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Johnny Bear said:

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Edmond Bear said:

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Limited IQ Redneck in PU said:

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I like watching bowl games. When I am able I watch 3 or 4 a year plusthe play off games. I enjoyed watchinmg AM lose last night.. If I had to watch all the bowl games I would agree there are too many. Forunately I can pick and choose. The more the merrier.

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Same. I actually watch way more football during bowl season than during the year. Mainly, I know that there won't be any NCAA football to watch in a week or so.

Teams are looser. They try new things. It's more fun and I watch teams I don't normally watch and cheer for B12 teams (at least most of them).

It also reveals character of an institution. For example, aggie players have so little respect for A&M that 1/3 of their team did not play because they were transferring, just refusing to play, or a few were injured. Their own players have no issue with just shi*ting on their own fans.

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One of the items on the list of things I hate about modern college football is the current practice of high end likely to be drafted players refusing to play in bowl games, and the aggys have been more abusive about it than anyone else including cancelling out of their bowl altogether two years ago because of so many players quitting on them. IMO there should be some kind of negative consequence for a player doing this (such as forced partial repayment of either scholarship benefits and/or NIL $$). I'm also concerned this could turn into a slippery slope of similarly likely to be drafted players on losing teams (like us last season) refusing to play one or more of their last regular season games if there continues to be no consequences for doing so.

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This is a problem with the system, not the players. The reason bowl games don't matter to coaches, players and fans while playoff games do is stakes. Game's without stakes aren't interesting or worth sacrificing for.

It's not the players' fault that college football history has been built on decades and decades of exactly such games.

And it's not the players' responsibility to accept or embrace things that clearly don't make sense and honestly never have.

That's the crux of the modern college football conundrum. Our justification for every silly, illogical and unfair aspect of this sport -- and there are way too many -- is either "Well that's the way we've always done it," or "This is just the way it is now." It's not the players or fans questioning those things that are wrong. It's the sport itself, which is finally having to answer for the crumbling foundation it was built on.

Can anyone here ever imagine a fan of high school, small college or pro football saying, "Screw this playoff stuff. I want weird, meaningless exhibitions at the end of the season for every team that reached even the lowest threshold for mediocrity." Of course not. And yet we expect those within this goofy system to embrace it.

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Except the fact that they're being paid to play and should have a modicum of self respect to appreciate how blessed they are and be men ... but we live in a world of beta males.

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NFL players are being paid way more in most cases and don't play in preseason games because they're stupid money-grabbing exhibitions. No one questions this because they don't have old-timers trying to make them seem important or shame them into make-believing they matter.

Sorry you lost the bowl game fight, but it's over. Bowl games will soon be relics if the past, and the sport will be better off when they are.

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Feel better? Put that on your rona mask and go find a micro-aggression to get butthurt.

These kids will wake up before too long and realize they beta killed it.

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Actually, the bowl games are a perfect example of beta mentality. You had a mediocre season? Play in this terrible bowl in a terrible city that is trying to make its tourism stats look better. You get a trophy, everyone gets a trophy!

Bowl games are blatant money grabs by local municipalities, sponsors and most of all, networks. Very few people would be interested in a postseason exhibition game between the Vikings and Commanders, but that's what this is. It goes back to a time when the product (the players) were effectively free and if one of your top players got injured playing in a game that didn't matter, it wasn't a big deal because you had 4-year turnover of players anyways. The novelty and honor of the bowl games wore off sometime around 40 years ago, probably around the time the bowls started adding sponsors to the name of the bowl.

There's always too many bowl games until an 8 win team stays at home. Luckily, Big 12 is too entitled for something like that to happen.

We are moving into a new era with the 12 team playoff and it will go to 16 in a few years.

Coaches used to love bowl games and many still do, because for half of the teams that get invited to a bowl, they get to call themselves "Champion". Schools love it because it's great for marketing and recruiting.

Whereas in basketball, only one team that really matters can call themselves "champion". Sorry NIT banner.

But people love the NCAA tourney for basketball. And college football fans will readily adapt to the football playoff system as well.

What do I know. As a former Bear Cub I can tell you the possibility of playing in a bowl game offered too many positives to sit it out.

I think too many players are listening to shyster agents about potentially getting hurt. You can get hurt walking across the street or rolling out of George's late at night.

This is the way kids used to look at a bowl game:

1. 5 to 7 days of "vacation" usually in a nice city
2. One more chance to shine on TV in front of millions
3. Another chance to pick up a W for your alma mater (back when there was LOYALTY)
4. Another shot to tee it up against excellent talent thus solidifying your draft ranking or raising it substantially
5. A chance to tee up a potential blue blood and embarrass them on TV
6. A chance to make new friends (girlfriends!) across the nation
7. A chance to reward the alumni with another week of football (bragging rights) and potentially a great venue in a fun city to spend late December or NewYears in

I earned and value the free, all expense paid trip to Atlanta (Peach Bowl) beating Clemson just 2 years before they were National Champions, an all expense paid trip to Dallas (Cotton Bowl) losing badly to Alabama just 1 year after they won a National Championship, an all expense paid trip to Honolulu (Hula Bowl) beating the East team and an all expense paid trip to Tokyo beating another East team.

It's the "Participation Trophy" attitude that has crept out of elementary schools, through junior high schools, through high schools and now is adopted and negatively influencing college sports.

I love bowl season just like I love March Madness.

I can't say I watched a single bowl game this season. Those years where Baylor is terrible, I just lose interest in the college game as a whole. I don't like seeing other teams have success when we are down in the dumps.

No Quarterback said:

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I can't say I watched a single bowl game this season. Those years where Baylor is terrible, I just lose interest in the college game as a whole. I don't like seeing other teams have success when we are down in the dumps.

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This pretty much describes my bowl game season this year.

We weren't in one and I didn't give a crap about the teams that were in one, so I didn't watch any.

Thee University said:

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What do I know. As a former Bear Cub I can tell you the possibility of playing in a bowl game offered too many positives to sit it out.

I think too many players are listening to shyster agents about potentially getting hurt. You can get hurt walking across the street or rolling out of George's late at night.

This is the way kids used to look at a bowl game:

1. 5 to 7 days of "vacation" usually in a nice city
2. One more chance to shine on TV in front of millions
3. Another chance to pick up a W for your alma mater (back when there was LOYALTY)
4. Another shot to tee it up against excellent talent thus solidifying your draft ranking or raising it substantially
5. A chance to tee up a potential blue blood and embarrass them on TV
6. A chance to make new friends (girlfriends!) across the nation
7. A chance to reward the alumni with another week of football (bragging rights) and potentially a great venue in a fun city to spend late December or NewYears in

I earned and value the free, all expense paid trip to Atlanta (Peach Bowl) beating Clemson just 2 years before they were National Champions, an all expense paid trip to Dallas (Cotton Bowl) losing badly to Alabama just 1 year after they won a National Championship, an all expense paid trip to Honolulu (Hula Bowl) beating the East team and an all expense paid trip to Tokyo beating another East team.

It's the "Participation Trophy" attitude that has crept out of elementary schools, through junior high schools, through high schools and now is adopted and negatively influencing college sports.

I love bowl season just like I love March Madness.

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Logically speaking, one can not support the bowl system in one sentence and bemoan "participation trophy" culture in the next.

Bowl games and trophies are quite literally participation awards. They're stakes-free exhibitions for teams that weren't good enough to compete for a championship.

bear2be2 said:

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Logically speaking, one can not support the bowl system in one sentence and bemoan "participation trophy" culture in the next.

Bowl games and trophies are quite literally participation awards. They're stakes-free exhibitions for teams that weren't good enough to compete for a championship.

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Logic? On a sports bulletin board?

I wish Baylor got more participation awards. I's better than sitting at home.

Thee University said:

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bear2be2 said:

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Logically speaking, one can not support the bowl system in one sentence and bemoan "participation trophy" culture in the next.

Bowl games and trophies are quite literally participation awards. They're stakes-free exhibitions for teams that weren't good enough to compete for a championship.

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Logic? On a sports bulletin board?

I wish Baylor got more participation awards. I's better than sitting at home.

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If we're going to have bowls, I'd certainly rather Baylor make them than not. But I'd much prefer to see our Bears in a 24- or 32-team playoff and see the bowls go the way of the dodo.