Notre Dame tantrum

[hawkdrummer1]

You wanna know why teams are declining bowl games? Because they're dumb scooby snacks now.

It's a crystal clear sign that there are too many of them.

Does Iowa State decline a bowl if in an alternate universe they were really good in 1987, and with only 12 bowls it meant something? HELL no. Not even if their coach quit and they only had underclassmen to play.

Does ND decline a bowl in 1986 because they didn't get the one they wanted? Also no.

Florida State, Auburn, UCF, Baylor, Kansas, Rutgers, and Temple are all 5-7 teams that declined bowls games. People are rioting in the street about, "How DARE you decline a bowl game??? OH THE HUMANITY!!!"

Welp, we wouldn't even be having this conversation if they weren't inviting teams with losing records for god's sake. You know why they have to invite 5-7 teams? Because there are 6-6 teams who won't play, either. Like it or not, college football has changed and the CFP is all that matters. It's where the money, prestige, and recruiting power are. Not at a Bad Boy Mowers or Cheez-Its Bowl.

I think this is hilarious, tbh. It's the market force at work, finally showing everyone that the market is saturated. Bring back 12 bowl games + CFP, not 41. Then you have to earn your way there instead of losing 58% of your games and still getting in. I'm sorry but it isn't for student staff, it isn't owed to fans for vacations to Nashville. The fans are making it about that. Go take a vacation if you want to take a vacation. Allow all teams to set up their own exhibition games at the end of the year if they want and let them find matchups, venues, etc. It'd be fun. It'd be interesting because it wouldn't be some archaic, overblown charade that people think still means something. It would be teams that wanted to play each other and could be way more fun than watching 5-7 South Roberts County Buckaroos play the New Hampshire Tech Jalapeno Poppers in the Gasparilla Bowl.

Let every team have extra practices. You didn't do something special at 5-7 to "earn" extra post season practices. Your team was quite literally below average.

Bring on the flames.

There are too many bowls and have been for years. That's nothing new.

Too many bowls + teams getting invited with .500 (and worse) records + the existence of a real playoff + the attitudes of entitlement (see Notre Dame). The product (bowl games, not college football) has been devalued. I'm surprised that sponsors still shell out big $ to put their name on some of them.

 

[ssckelley]

You wanna know why teams are declining bowl games? Because they're dumb scooby snacks now.

It's a crystal clear sign that there are too many of them.

Does Iowa State decline a bowl if in an alternate universe they were really good in 1987, and with only 12 bowls it meant something? HELL no. Not even if their coach quit and they only had underclassmen to play.

Does ND decline a bowl in 1986 because they didn't get the one they wanted? Also no.

Florida State, Auburn, UCF, Baylor, Kansas, Rutgers, and Temple are all 5-7 teams that declined bowls games. People are rioting in the street about, "How DARE you decline a bowl game??? OH THE HUMANITY!!!"

Welp, we wouldn't even be having this conversation if they weren't inviting teams with losing records for god's sake. You know why they have to invite 5-7 teams? Because there are 6-6 teams who won't play, either. Like it or not, college football has changed and the CFP is all that matters. It's where the money, prestige, and recruiting power are. Not at a Bad Boy Mowers or Cheez-Its Bowl.

I think this is hilarious, tbh. It's the market force at work, finally showing everyone that the market is saturated. Bring back 12 bowl games + CFP, not 41. Then you have to earn your way there instead of losing 58% of your games and still getting in. I'm sorry but it isn't for student staff, it isn't owed to fans for vacations to Nashville. The fans are making it about that. Go take a vacation if you want to take a vacation. Allow all teams to set up their own exhibition games at the end of the year if they want and let them find matchups, venues, etc. It'd be fun. It'd be interesting because it wouldn't be some archaic, overblown charade that people think still means something. It would be teams that wanted to play each other and could be way more fun than watching 5-7 South Roberts County Buckaroos play the New Hampshire Tech Jalapeno Poppers in the Gasparilla Bowl.

Let every team have extra practices. You didn't do something special at 5-7 to "earn" extra post season practices. Your team was quite literally below average.

Bring on the flames.

The amount of bowl games that exist no longer matters now that they have an expanded CFP and will likely keep expanding it. They can have 100 bowl games matching winless teams, honestly I'd probably watch it on whatever channel or streaming service it gets on. Let Oklahoma State face off against Purdue in the Draft Kings Dot Com played at Jack Trice Stadium for all I care. They could cull that back to 12 bowls and a Notre Dame would still reject it. The couple thousand fans that would travel to Lames would probably help them raise a few extra bucks to help pay for that fine and help the local Super 8 sells a few rooms.

The old bowl systems we loved in the 80s is dead and gone. Other than killing the CFP, which will never happen, there is no way to bring it back. On Saturday I watched a Upper Iowa play in a bowl game that I never knew existed, it was the first time Upper Iowa played in a post season game. They won and the players were all smiles after the game. So if schools want to play in these games, let them. Whether or not you or I want to attend the game or tune in to watch it is up to us. I probably will not tune in next Saturday to watch the Cricket Celebration Bowl but I'm sure someone will.

 

[kicker22]

You can’t convince me that Notre Dame isn’t more deserving than Alabama, JMU or Tulane.

I don’t blame them at all for bailing on a meaningless bowl game either. The bowl games are pointless and more and more teams will pass on them until there is a proper tournament.

I hate the word deserving, but based on that logic when you take out Alabama, JMU or Tulane and focus solely on their results do you see them "deserving" of a playoff spot when their biggest wins are USC and Pitt. Again I'm not saying Alabama is "deserving" by any means but Bama has does have a signature win (albeit early in the season) against a playoff team, Notre Dame doesn't. Not going to sound off on JMU or Tulane as they're products of a system that had zero issues with including G5 teams when they expanded the field and did what they needed to punch their tickets.

ND can blame only themselves as they hand pick their schedule years out and unfortunately for them have no idea how those teams are going to be when the season gets here. If they played in a conference championship they very well may have beat a playoff bound team and as a result most likely would have been in a position to play their way in, but they choose to remain independent. I don't feel sorry for them whatsoever.

 

[NorthKCHawk]

ND is the big baby of CFB. Despite Fry's tired tropes about bowl games being exhibitions, the people they are hurting are there fans. Exhibition or not, 30,000 ND fans would have flown somewhere nice to watch them play a competitive football game, and the rest would have enjoyed watching the competitive game at home over the holidays with friends and family. ND fans are the losers here. No one else.

I would be pissed if Iowa and its players showed such a lack of maturity and grace. You lost the vote. Next time don't lose to Miami. But hey, teach a bunch of 20 year old kids that when you lose and you think it is unfair, just pick up your kickball and go home. Quit. Don't persevere. Don't overcome. Don't try harder. Quit. Move back into your parents basement where life won't hurt you. Babies.

 

[Fryowa]

The amount of bowl games that exist no longer matters now that they have an expanded CFP and will likely keep expanding it. They can have 100 bowl games matching winless teams, honestly I'd probably watch it on whatever channel or streaming service it gets on. Let Oklahoma State face off against Purdue in the Draft Kings Dot Com played at Jack Trice Stadium for all I care. They could cull that back to 12 bowls and a Notre Dame would still reject it. The couple thousand fans that would travel to Lames would probably help them raise a few extra bucks to help pay for that fine and help the local Super 8 sells a few rooms.

The old bowl systems we loved in the 80s is dead and gone. Other than killing the CFP, which will never happen, there is no way to bring it back. On Saturday I watched an Upper Iowa play in a bowl game that I never knew existed, it was the first time Upper Iowa played in a post season game. They won and the players were all smiles after the game. So if schools want to play in these games, let them. Whether or not you or I want to attend the game or tune in to watch it is up to us. I probably will not tune in next Saturday to watch the Cricket Celebration Bowl but I'm sure someone will.

I’m under no delusion that it’s going back to what it was. Ever.

But to get mad about teams deciding not to go to a bowl is dumb because these games are dumb. I get that you like it because it’s more football and a fun trip and that’s great, but they need to end the charade that these are somehow earned or prestigious to make a bowl.

Call it what it is, give every team an option to play one exhibition against whoever they want. At least make it interesting. Then you don’t have this mess of offering/rejecting games, blah blah blah. Tell every team, you get one exhibition tó close out the year if you don’t make the playoffs. Up to you on the when and where and against whom. Get a sponsor if you want, make it a big deal with prize money. Whatever, but then there’s no scraping the bottom of the barrel to try and fine some shitty also Rand team who was the 7th offer after 6 other schools rejected it.

5-7, 6-6, 7-5 should not be enough to “make” a bowl game.”