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.”

 

[ssckelley]

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.

You think I'm mad? While I think it's stupid schools like ISU and ND declined the bowl games I'm actually entertained by it, enough to be on here talking with you about it.

I completely understand what bowl games are now, you don't need to keep drilling it into our heads. I've been calling bowl games "exhibition games" now for quite some time. I'm going because it's going to be a good time, if you've never been to a bowl game they are a lot of fun. It was a blast being downtown Nashville last year with loads of Hawkeye/Mizzou fans, it's a neat experience. Tampa works out nice as I've got a lot of family in that area. Good excuse to get out of crappy Iowa weather and take a short vacation, the game is just an extra perk. I probably would not have went to Vegas had that been our bowl destination.

 

[NorthKCHawk]

You people have a very different understanding of what an "exhibition game" is. A bowl game certainly does not fit this definition in any shape or form:

An exhibition game is a non-official sports match played for practice, entertainment, or fundraising, with no bearing on official league standings or rankings, often serving as preseason warm-ups where players get conditioning and coaches evaluate talent

The Pro Bowl was an exhibition. NFL preseason games are an exhibition. A spring game in college is an exhibition game. Bowls count towards a teams final record and the rankings they are given by AP, coaches and other polls. Every team I am aware of includes the results of a bowl game in their final record. Iowa reported its record last year as 8-5, which includes the bowl loss. https://hawkeyesports.com/sports/football/schedule/season/2024-25

If a bowl game is an exhibition game, why aren't you also referring to the preseason game against UNI and Iowa State as "exhibitions"? What is the difference?

I get that you are butt hurt that bowls aren't what they were back in the 90s, but they are still fully competitive games that count on a team's record. So, calling them an exhibition game is just dumb.

 

[ssckelley]

You people have a very different understanding of what an "exhibition game" is. A bowl game certainly does not fit this definition in any shape or form:

An exhibition game is a non-official sports match played for practice, entertainment, or fundraising, with no bearing on official league standings or rankings, often serving as preseason warm-ups where players get conditioning and coaches evaluate talent

The Pro Bowl was an exhibition. NFL preseason games are an exhibition. A spring game in college is an exhibition game. Bowls count towards a teams final record and the rankings they are given by AP, coaches and other polls. Every team I am aware of includes the results of a bowl game in their final record. Iowa reported its record last year as 8-5, which includes the bowl loss. https://hawkeyesports.com/sports/football/schedule/season/2024-25

If a bowl game is an exhibition game, why aren't you also referring to the preseason game against UNI and Iowa State as "exhibitions"? What is the difference?

I get that you are butt hurt that bowls aren't what they were back in the 90s, but they are still fully competitive games that count on a team's record. So, calling them an exhibition game is just dumb.

You just want to set Fry off again don't you? lol

I completely get what you are saying and I have been calling them "glorified" exhibition games as that's how I feel what they are turning into. They do count towards the season record like the other non conference games but it is a post season game where players (and now teams) can opt out of playing. Players can't opt out of a in season game against UNI but they can a bowl game. Going forward CFP appearances is going to be the bench mark for teams and coaches, eventually no one will care about being invited to play in sponsored bowl game where whoever wins or loses doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things.

BTW, I'm saying all of this while planning a trip to attend one of these "glorified exhibition games". I am excited to go.

 

[AreWeThereYet]

There consolation prize was likely going to be the F'n Pop-Tarts bowl. Talk about adding insult to injury. I can only imagine the ND head coach storming out of his office after receiving an invite. Or at least I like to imagine that.

 

[Fryowa]

You think I'm mad? While I think it's stupid schools like ISU and ND declined the bowl games I'm actually entertained by it, enough to be on here talking with you about it.

I completely understand what bowl games are now, you don't need to keep drilling it into our heads. I've been calling bowl games "exhibition games" now for quite some time. I'm going because it's going to be a good time, if you've never been to a bowl game they are a lot of fun. It was a blast being downtown Nashville last year with loads of Hawkeye/Mizzou fans, it's a neat experience. Tampa works out nice as I've got a lot of family in that area. Good excuse to get out of crappy Iowa weather and take a short vacation, the game is just an extra perk. I probably would not have went to Vegas had that been our bowl destination.

No I do t think you’re mad. I’m reading a LOT on line of pissed off fans who are though

 

[Fryowa]

You people have a very different understanding of what an "exhibition game" is. A bowl game certainly does not fit this definition in any shape or form:

An exhibition game is a non-official sports match played for practice, entertainment, or fundraising, with no bearing on official league standings or rankings, often serving as preseason warm-ups where players get conditioning and coaches evaluate talent

The Pro Bowl was an exhibition. NFL preseason games are an exhibition. A spring game in college is an exhibition game. Bowls count towards a teams final record and the rankings they are given by AP, coaches and other polls. Every team I am aware of includes the results of a bowl game in their final record. Iowa reported its record last year as 8-5, which includes the bowl loss. https://hawkeyesports.com/sports/football/schedule/season/2024-25

If a bowl game is an exhibition game, why aren't you also referring to the preseason game against UNI and Iowa State as "exhibitions"? What is the difference?

I get that you are butt hurt that bowls aren't what they were back in the 90s, but they are still fully competitive games that count on a team's record. So, calling them an exhibition game is just dumb.

Exhibition game. Na na na na boo, boo

 

[Fryowa]

BTW, I'm saying all of this while planning a trip to attend one of these "glorified exhibition games". I am excited to go.

That’s honestly great if you’re making a fun trip out of it, I’m assuming with your family.

I just think since these factors have diluted everything to where they just need to open it up to every team who wants to play in one.

1) 41 is too many and has diluted the whole thing obviously.

2) CFP makes them inconsequential to the national title which is what every team is after

3) The transfer portal window timing has made it so huge parts of rosters (and coaches) are leaving in a lot of cases, which doesn’t leave full teams.

4) Since the bowl games are so diluted, the smart players know it’s just a scrimmage and they opt out as juniors or seniors because they need to stay healthy and get ready for the underwear Olympics and NFL workouts. Booooriiiiing.

Can someone give me a rational answer as to why we shouldn’t just open it up to every team and have a nation-wide “fun week?” I mean for F’s sake people, if you’re gonna BEG 5-7 teams to come to your bowl game and get turned down, what’s the point? Let teams work out who they want to play on their own after the season and promote it. Hell, it could be fun. It’d be pretty cool to see maybe some rivalries get settled or see some games in interesting locations etc.