Stefano DiMera said:

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What type of Everyone Gets A Ribbon and A Trophy world are some of you living in where you want us to go schlep to a bowl with a 5-7 record?!

Some of y'all's athletic stances are very inconsistent with your political beliefs.. Borderline hypocritical.

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Sorry, you're going to have to unpack that one for me.

Robert Wilson said:

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Jacques Strap said:

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TenBears said:

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I'm all for the non blue bloods sayin FU to this new system. I probably won't watch a single non CFP bowl this year and suspect I'm far from alone. I'm sure the AD's know that's out there.

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College ball is pro ball now so I suspect we are moving toward a 16-team playoff, and the rest of the bowl games will disappear. Seems inevitable with NFL quality players opting out of the bowls and other players opting out to head to the portal to chase NIL money.

Exit question...

If a playoff team were to fall behind by 21 points at halftime, will the NFL prospects on that team make a business decision and opt out of the 2nd half?

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Very few of these players are going to the NFL, and most that do will be hoping to get drafted or picked up as a free agent. Most of them are going to want to play.

And I don't at all understand the "bowl games disappear because there's a playoff."

These minor bowl games never "mattered" in the sense that people who use that term mean it. The Independence Bowl means just as much now as it never did, for better or worse. It never had any relevance to anything other than your record, pride in playing, maybe an AP ranking if you're lucky. Same now as it ever was. But it's football. It's fun. It's profitable. You should want to play.

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I agree players opting out to go to the NFL is a small number. With that said, a much larger number of players are headed to the Portal. Multiple teams declined invitations to the 2025 Birmingham Bowl, including Auburn, Baylor, Kansas, Rutgers, UCF, Temple, and Florida State. I'd guess they lost players and/or will push players they no longer want into the portal. As a result coahes may rather spend time scouting the portal for new players than coaching a roster in flux in a meaningless game. Just my guess and I admit I may be wrong.

Furthermore, we've all heard stories of teams losing money on bowl games because of travel costs and required ticket purchases. Ticket purchases they cannot resell to fans. I'm guessing teams would prefer to spend that money on NIL rather than spending it on a meaningless bowl. I think it is the smart play to funnel that money into NIL rather than waste it on a bowl game.

Thought it was pretty clear.

The Woke.. DEI world where everyone gets a trophy so their feelings don't get hurt.

Stefano DiMera said:

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What type of Everyone Gets A Ribbon and A Trophy world are some of you living in where you want us to go schlep to a bowl with a 5-7 record?!

Some of y'all's athletic stances are very inconsistent with your political beliefs.. Borderline hypocritical.

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Is this the same message board that didn't want to play in the Armed Forces Bowl a few years ago? The ones who talk about playing in the toilet bowl with a 6-6 record, using it as another arrow to shoot into the school. At least we have the dignity of turning down something we didn't deserve in the first place.

This thread is the ultimate example of message boards. It is worse than politics. Which ever way the wind is blowing, use it to criticize someone, and if you have to change your stance from one side of the fence to another.....no problem.

How many of you that want to play in this would buy tickets and travel and go?

We need this time to figure out how to move forward for next year, figure out portal targets, try to figure out how to protect our current players from the portal, etc. We don't need to waste that precious time before the portal signing period opens to "prepare" for a game no one will attend and probably many here would not watch unless they hope to find something else to pick at.

Stefano DiMera said:

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Thought it was pretty clear.

The Woke.. DEI world where everyone gets a trophy so their feelings don't get hurt.

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Sorry, gonna need more help. You're upset at the people who create the bowl games and invite the teams?

Jacques Strap said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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Jacques Strap said:

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TenBears said:

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I'm all for the non blue bloods sayin FU to this new system. I probably won't watch a single non CFP bowl this year and suspect I'm far from alone. I'm sure the AD's know that's out there.

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College ball is pro ball now so I suspect we are moving toward a 16-team playoff, and the rest of the bowl games will disappear. Seems inevitable with NFL quality players opting out of the bowls and other players opting out to head to the portal to chase NIL money.

Exit question...

If a playoff team were to fall behind by 21 points at halftime, will the NFL prospects on that team make a business decision and opt out of the 2nd half?

---

Very few of these players are going to the NFL, and most that do will be hoping to get drafted or picked up as a free agent. Most of them are going to want to play.

And I don't at all understand the "bowl games disappear because there's a playoff."

These minor bowl games never "mattered" in the sense that people who use that term mean it. The Independence Bowl means just as much now as it never did, for better or worse. It never had any relevance to anything other than your record, pride in playing, maybe an AP ranking if you're lucky. Same now as it ever was. But it's football. It's fun. It's profitable. You should want to play.

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I agree players opting out to go to the NFL is a small number. With that said, a much larger number of players are headed to the Portal. Multiple teams declined invitations to the 2025 Birmingham Bowl, including Auburn, Baylor, Kansas, Rutgers, UCF, Temple, and Florida State. I'd guess they lost players and/or will push players they no longer want into the portal. As a result coahes may rather spend time scouting the portal for new players than coaching a roster in flux in a meaningless game. Just my guess and I admit I may be wrong.

Furthermore, we've all heard stories of teams losing money on bowl games because of travel costs and required ticket purchases. Ticket purchases they cannot resell to fans. I'm guessing teams would prefer to spend that money on NIL rather than spending it on a meaningless bowl. I think it is the smart play to funnel that money into NIL rather than waste it on a bowl game.

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I think the low payout on some of these bottom tier bowls is a legit issue and reason to not go play.

The portal window opens Jan 2. Maybe that oughta be later. I'd think playing in a bowl game might help you keep your team together. In any event, I think you should be adequately staffed and prepared to handle a bowl game and the portal window.

No.. the people on this forum complaining we turned a bowl bid down.

Are you trolling me?

IowaBear said:

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Who exactly is headed to the NFL? There's one guy who's for sure getting drafted. That's literally it. A few more with a shot.

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I was pretty sure no one got a Combine invite. Who are you referring to?

Trigg is getting drafted. Won't be early. But he's getting drafted. A few others might. But the notion that we have all these draft picks is just silly.

Robert Wilson said:

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Jacques Strap said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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Jacques Strap said:

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TenBears said:

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I'm all for the non blue bloods sayin FU to this new system. I probably won't watch a single non CFP bowl this year and suspect I'm far from alone. I'm sure the AD's know that's out there.

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College ball is pro ball now so I suspect we are moving toward a 16-team playoff, and the rest of the bowl games will disappear. Seems inevitable with NFL quality players opting out of the bowls and other players opting out to head to the portal to chase NIL money.

Exit question...

If a playoff team were to fall behind by 21 points at halftime, will the NFL prospects on that team make a business decision and opt out of the 2nd half?

---

Very few of these players are going to the NFL, and most that do will be hoping to get drafted or picked up as a free agent. Most of them are going to want to play.

And I don't at all understand the "bowl games disappear because there's a playoff."

These minor bowl games never "mattered" in the sense that people who use that term mean it. The Independence Bowl means just as much now as it never did, for better or worse. It never had any relevance to anything other than your record, pride in playing, maybe an AP ranking if you're lucky. Same now as it ever was. But it's football. It's fun. It's profitable. You should want to play.

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I agree players opting out to go to the NFL is a small number. With that said, a much larger number of players are headed to the Portal. Multiple teams declined invitations to the 2025 Birmingham Bowl, including Auburn, Baylor, Kansas, Rutgers, UCF, Temple, and Florida State. I'd guess they lost players and/or will push players they no longer want into the portal. As a result coahes may rather spend time scouting the portal for new players than coaching a roster in flux in a meaningless game. Just my guess and I admit I may be wrong.

Furthermore, we've all heard stories of teams losing money on bowl games because of travel costs and required ticket purchases. Ticket purchases they cannot resell to fans. I'm guessing teams would prefer to spend that money on NIL rather than spending it on a meaningless bowl. I think it is the smart play to funnel that money into NIL rather than waste it on a bowl game.

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I think the low payout on some of these bottom tier bowls is a legit issue and reason to not go play.

The portal window opens Jan 2. Maybe that oughta be later. I'd think playing in a bowl game might help you keep your team together. In any event, I think you should be adequately staffed and prepared to handle a bowl game and the portal window.

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The portal window is a mess along with all of the other problems. Classes begin shortly after Jan 2 , so how do the transfers get enrolled in the current timeline. Then the issue of games being played well into Jan . Games were added to the season some time ago to increase TV revenue, then expanded conference size created conference championship games, now College playoff games. Maybe the answer is one less regular season game , or no bye weeks ?

Passing on this bowl game was the correct decision:

• Between graduation and necessary attrition, we're about undergo a massive roster turnover
• Our new AD is going to be scrambling to increase the NIL warchest for the January portal window
• ALL of the staff who will be coaching in 2026 need to be evaluating film for portal targets

There was no real upside to playing in the Birmingham Bowl when the "Best Case Scenario" is a big win over Georgia Southern with no major injuries to returning players.

In a 'normal year' that extra set of practices you get with even just a single bowl game is pretty important for program building. But we're entering a total roster renovation, and too many of those players who'd be practicing these next few weeks won't be with us in the Spring for that to be a major factor in this decision.

Dave & Doug need to be filling the staff out (OL & DL coaches at minimum) ASAP while pushing forward with our roster construction. Depending on how they do, we'll have a much better idea in a little over a month if things are actually going to get better or if this year is a total wash.

I mean that's why Trigg/Sawyer/Cameron are playing in the senior bowl. They may not get drafted but they are certainly going to do whatever they can to get to the next level, and I think if anyone from this team can it's those 3.

The playoff is out of control, it solved nothing, and it is damaging college football. We all know there aren't more than four teams that can really claim to be the best on an annual basis.

It seems like every program and fan base seems disappointed in the current system. That's one of the things that made the bowls great, a chance to be rewarded for a good season and go out with a win in a new place with a lot of fans watching.

Shorten the playoff, trim a few bottom feeder bowls, make college football watchable again.

Undo the damage that has been done over the past couple of decades.

I expect the bowls may be launching lawsuits against somebody for not fulfilling their commitments as well, whatever target that may be. They have legit grievances as well.

marigold23 said:

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I mean that's why Trigg/Sawyer/Cameron are playing in the senior bowl. They may not get drafted but they are certainly going to do whatever they can to get to the next level, and I think if anyone from this team can it's those 3.

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Trigg is the closest thing we have to a lock, while Cameron, Aigbedion, and K.Thomas all have legit shots to get drafted too. Jackie Marshall has a decent shot if he declares, but selfishly I'd like for him to comeback.

I think Sawyer will get drafted, but I think it's going to be very late in the process - his mechanics got worse this season, but the NFL is always desperate to find the next diamond in the rough and sometimes they work miracles. With the right QB coach and OC and the chance to learn on the bench behind an accomplished starter I think Sawyer could land in the NFL.

Stefano DiMera said:

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No.. the people on this forum complaining we turned a bowl bid down.

Are you trolling me?

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No, I was just trying to sort out whatever impressionistic gobbledygook you'd conjured. If someone offers us a bowl bid, instead of deciding that based on economics and practical effect to the program, we should answer it based on some vague notion of "participation trophies." Got it.

Jackie Marshall is RS Senior . To my knowledge he he's out of eligibility. Thomas however, has another year

Does this mean we will get fined by the conference 500K for declining the bowl bid?

WA Jim said:

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Does this mean we will get fined by the conference 500K for declining the bowl bid?

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I'm not certain, but I've seen that the schools fined had six wins, which made them eligible for a bowl game. Also, they apparently chose not to play in a bowl they were obligated to play in due to a Big 12 conference tie-in. Thus, the fine. Will the conference get sued by a bowl with a Big 12 tie in? Possibly.

BU got an invitation after other schools declined the same bowl and there is no conference tie-in to my knowledge so BU probably won't get fined by the conference. Time will tell I guess.

boognish_bear said:

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A sign our admin knows we are about to make a coaching change?

Work with me here people.

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boognish_bear said:

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Dia del DougO said:

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The blame goes to the decline of college football.

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It is melting right before our eyes

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I think the death of the bowl system is an overwhelming positive. These games were never anything more than weird, forced exhibitions at the end of a season and a wholly unsatisfying way to end to end the college football season.

Hopefully all of these schools declining bowl bids will facilitate the necessary move to a 24- or even 32-team tournament that serves as the only postseason for the sport -- as it does at literally every other level of college football. You could even add an NIT-style tournament for the teams that don't make it, and it would still be better than the current bowl system that no one cares about.

Stupid to turn down a bowl bid. Seniors deserve a chance to play in a bowl and we could certainly use the extra practices.

I, for one, am glad we turned down the bowl bid. We had our chance to earn a bid (the most mediocre of accomplishments to begin with) and failed to do so. We don't deserve to play a celebratory 13th game this season because there's nothing about this season worth celebrating.

BUGWBBear said:

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DEI bowl bids now? (Didn't Earn It). Hell no.

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It's taken 20-plus years, but I finally agree with BUGWB.

Assassin said:

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robby44 said:

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Shortsighted
The extra practices are valuable
Plus we need to see what we have at QB

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Exactly. And as you well know, we ALL want one more game. One more game for the Seniors who will never play organized football again. And a chance to put some sugar on a stinker of a season

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I've seen more than enough of the 2025 Baylor Bears. I absolutely do not want to watch this team play another game and am glad I've been spared that fate in a farcical bowl game.

As for this year, I think it was largely a logistics decision. It's hard to shut it down for the season, then start it up again. The payout vs the cost of playing and dealing with the offseason transitions were just not adding to an overall benefit.

Can't blame Baylor or the other programs in similar situations to come to the exact same conclusion.

The complications of today's college football made it virtually impossible. So that's just one more thing that sucks.

JXL said:

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Stupid to turn down a bowl bid. Seniors deserve a chance to play in a bowl and we could certainly use the extra practices.

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You are among the delusional. Maybe the most delusional.

Taking into consideration everything everyone here has written, here's a different thought. What if BU rejected this bowl invitation to send a message to this year's team and future teams: If you genuinely want to play in the postseason, earn it instead of just talking about it?

That's probably not the reason, but if it were I would stand and applaud.

Stefano DiMera said:

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What type of Everyone Gets A Ribbon and A Trophy world are some of you living in where you want us to go schlep to a bowl with a 5-7 record?!

Some of y'all's athletic stances are very inconsistent with your political beliefs.. Borderline hypocritical.

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It's not borderline. It's full on hypocritical.

Me too. We literally must be at The End of Times as I agreed with Stranger on this thread.

canoso said:

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Taking into consideration everything everyone here has written, here's a different thought. What if BU rejected this bowl invitation to send a message to this year's team and future teams: If you genuinely want to play in the postseason, earn it instead of just talking about it?

That's probably not the reason, but if it were I would stand and applaud.

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That should be the reason. Bowl games are a celebration. I don't want to make a habit of celebrating sub-mediocrity.

bear2be2 said:

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canoso said:

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Taking into consideration everything everyone here has written, here's a different thought. What if BU rejected this bowl invitation to send a message to this year's team and future teams: If you genuinely want to play in the postseason, earn it instead of just talking about it?

That's probably not the reason, but if it were I would stand and applaud.

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That should be the reason. Bowl games are a celebration. I don't want to make a habit of celebrating sub-mediocrity.

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May our tribe greatly increase. It needs to.

boognish_bear said:

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Proposal: if a team is offered a bowl game and declines, they should get a postseason ban the following season. Playing football is a privilege!

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) December 7, 2025

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That's ridiculous. There are countless reasons to decline a bowl bid. It's easy to gang pile on Dave and co (I'm NOT a supporter!!), but this is the right decision and schools shouldn't be punished for declining to refuse irrelevant bowl scrambling by its organizers.

ParadeOfBears said:

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Assassin said:

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robby44 said:

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Shortsighted
The extra practices are valuable
Plus we need to see what we have at QB

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Exactly. And as you well know, we ALL want one more game. One more game for the Seniors who will never play organized football again. And a chance to put some sugar on a stinker of a season

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you saw "we all"... but we have cultural rot at Baylor. Too many losers in the organization that are tired of playing football. Dave's statements about "care factor" and "wanting to win" is BS when there is a chance to play football, and some would rather do anything else.

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Talking about the folks on the field and to Robbie. Both Robbie and I played college football. Robbie, being much more successful than I...

bear2be2 said:

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canoso said:

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Taking into consideration everything everyone here has written, here's a different thought. What if BU rejected this bowl invitation to send a message to this year's team and future teams: If you genuinely want to play in the postseason, earn it instead of just talking about it?

That's probably not the reason, but if it were I would stand and applaud.

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That should be the reason. Bowl games are a celebration. I don't want to make a habit of celebrating sub-mediocrity.

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you ever play football? It's only a celebration if we win. Question isn't if Baylor deserves to play football. We were invited, we turned down the opportunity to play football. You're only a loser when you quit.

I get y'alls arguments about money and logistics... Doesn't make it right. I'll be rooting for the footballers on App State.