Are College Football Bowl Games Meaningless, Today?

[Doc Dan]

I remember when there were five bowl games: Sugar Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl (with a great parade), and the Sun Bowl. In order to get into a bowl game the football team had to be top tier. It was meaningful to be invited to a bowl game.

Nowadays there are 43 bowl games! Teams with a 50/50 record are playing. There are such bowl games as the Wasabi Bowl (!), the HomeTown Lenders Bahamas Bowl, the Cricket Celebration Bowl, and the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, to name a few. I realize that it is all about money, but in my mind, this is like giving a trophy to every kid so none will be left out.

 

[Lightcs1776]

I guess I haven't been paying attention, because I still recall the normal few games. I generally like college games better than "pro" games because they play with a lot of heart.

 

[Doc Dan]

I don't watch pro football anymore because of their political and moral nonsense.

Think about this: Bowl games were originally for top performers. Now, 43, not top 10, 43 teams of the top 50 play in bowl games. Also playing are 43 of the worst teams. So, 83 teams, most of which are not very good, get to play in a bowl game. The only point is money, not prestige.

 

[mikhou]

Prey much

 

[honeycutt]

Too many meaningless bowls. It is a reward for the players, majorettes,bands who get little recognition. For me its difficult watching two 6&6 teams slug it out.

 

[Russrat]

I usually start watching them about 12/29 or so. Before then, they’re just not interesting or entertaining to me.

 

[OkieStubble]

It’s still football. I’ll be watching my Sooners in the Cheez-It bowl with bells on.

I gotta go buy a box of cheez-it’s to snack on while watching the game. FT. Lauderdale. Basically a home game for Florida ST.

 

[never-stop-learning]

Most are meaningless on a national scale, but they still mean something to the schools involved.

 

[Owen Bawn]

Coaches love bowls. Gives then an extra 3-5 weeks of practice. It also allows a mediocre coach a face saving (and often a job saving) opportunity. Having 40 bowls means that 80 coaches can claim to have made the "postseason" and 40 of those 80 coaches can claim to be the "champion" of something. It doesn't matter that they won the Boise Tater Tot Bowl or the prestigious Dandelion Bowl...what matters is that they won. This then allows the coach with the 6-6 record, who probably should be sacked to turn around and use his "champion" status to extort more money out of his university. Having 40 bowls is a great thing for mediocre coaches.

 

[Toothpick]

Well when you have sponsors that say “hey, we’ll pay you 900 million dollars to have a bowl game named after us”…..kinda hard to turn that down. What gets me is when schools pay other schools to play them knowing they are better and just looking for a practice that counts towards their overall record. How is that fair? You get to pay a team with a 2-20 record to play your team with a 20-2 record and it actually counts!? No game where you are paying the other team to basically loose should matter at all.

I think college football, and college sports in general is a bigger racket than pro sports. I don’t watch either. But MLB, i do watch that. Love those cheaters.

 

[honeycutt]

Coaches love bowls. Gives then an extra 3-5 weeks of practice. It also allows a mediocre coach a face saving (and often a job saving) opportunity. Having 40 bowls means that 80 coaches can claim to have made the "postseason" and 40 of those 80 coaches can claim to be the "champion" of something. It doesn't matter that they won the Boise Tater Tot Bowl or the prestigious Dandelion Bowl...what matters is that they won. This then allows the coach with the 6-6 record, who probably should be sacked to turn around and use his "champion" status to extort more money out of his university. Having 40 bowls is a great thing for mediocre coaches.

A lot of coaches have a bonus tied in to a bowl game/ bowl win in their salary package.

 

[Butch Waxx]

Jimbo Fisher could care less. He maintains a $90mm buyout and didn’t even qualify for one of those 40 bowl games…….Not bad for a bunch of 5 Stars! 🫣

 

[hairless wonder]

They mean something to the players and also to fans.

I remember traveling to Vegas to watch my team play in the Vegas Bowl in the early 2000s. I had a good time with my friends and was able to cheer on my team as they earned a victory.

Sure, in the grand scheme of things, the Vegas Bowl didn't mean much. Then again, neither does any sporting event, really.

Who remembers who won the Super Bowl 35 years ago? Or how about who won the World Series in 1973? Or the NBA Finals in 1967? Or the Stanley Cup in 2005? Even if someone can remember all of these teams, what does it matter?

 

[Owen Bawn]

No idea who won the Soupey 35 years ago, but I remember in 73 the A's beat the Mets, and in 67 the Celtics' streak of championships ended at 8. I believe Philadelphia won. In 2005 no one won the Stanley Cup.

 

[Bobbers]

I used to think they hag to many for me. Then I looked at it from a different point.
The short answer know is it means something to the players, staff, coaches, band and fans.
I enjoy seeing me team play one more time and see the players that have develope over the years have the big stage for the last time of the year.

 

[Tirvine]

I live in Austin. I matriculated at University of Washington. My son in law went to UT and bleeds burnt orange. I completely understand the reasons, but it was still sort of a let down for the three best Longhorns to skip the game. It made for a pleasant but not very meaningful Husky victory. Personally I would like to see the bowls whittled down and replaced by a play-in, maybe 16 teams or even the top 25, for the BCS. Just as much airplay, just as many sponsorship opportunities, but every game meaningful. Maybe even meaningful enough to induce NFL-bound players to participate.

 

[OkieStubble]

Anybody besides me, watch the Wyoming state cowboys play the Ohio bobcats last night in the Arizona Bowl?

Went down to the last few seconds in overtime with Ohio pulling out the victory with a touchdown drive in a 30-27 win. Not Division 1 big 5 football, but it was still great football!

 

[Butch Waxx]

Anybody besides me, watch the Wyoming state cowboys play the Ohio bobcats last night in the Arizona Bowl?

Went down to the last few seconds in overtime with Ohio pulling out the victory with a touchdown drive in a 30-27 win. Not Division 1 big 5 football, but it was still great football!

Did not see that one Okie, but sounds like an exciting game…..But as you say, Good football is Good football!

 

[Owen Bawn]

I killed my cable TV 6 months ago, so I haven't seen a bowl game this year. Surprised to see that the 2 "big" games today aren't on ABC. Only on espn. Oh well.

 

[brucered]

About as meaningless as the Pro Bowl.

As mentioned above, there used to be 4-5 bowl games. Now it seems every team out there is in a bowl game.