Don’t ask me why I’ve been continuing to watch college bowl games this month. My only defense is some sort of social inertia — I do it because I’ve been doing it most of my life.
It can’t be the games. They are just so many jokes. Rosters of backups – underclassmen or seniors without prospects – battle before mostly empty seats for garish trophies that might look good in the trophy case, but really mean next to nothing.
Talented players opt out of playing lest they be injured and harm their pro prospects. Oh, many of them show up on the sidelines, even wearing their jerseys, in some sort of ridiculous show of support for the teammates they have forsaken.
But they don’t play.
Others, like Miami quarterback Cam Ward, take a hybrid approach. They play in the first half, to pad their career TD pass numbers and break the record, only to retreat to the sidelines for the second half and watch their team to go down to defeat due to offensive ineptitude.
And then there are those not here for bowls due to being in the “transfer portal” which sounds like something we might have explained to us on the latest episode of ‘Ancient Aliens.” But there is nothing otherworldly about this. Instead, it allows some college programs to use lesser programs as their feeder system.
Go to Inferior U and do well and we will reach out to you to join our big-time program, where Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) revenue falls like rain from the skies, we’re always on national TV, and you have a real strong chance of playing for a national championship.
Former Steelers coach Chuck Noll used to have a saying about envying the opposition talent. He advised, “though shalt not covet your neighbor’s goods.”
These days, it’s encouraged.
It’s gotten so bad at UConn, which just completed a surprising 9-4 season, that coach Jim Mora was moved to take to social media to warn coaches about trying to poach his talent. Mora promised legal redress for any such violations.
Good luck, Jim. This is the state of college football as 2024 rolls to a close.
The national championship playoff, now expanded to a 12-team field to start, has rendered most bowls as beyond irrelevant.
Last year Alabama and eventual national champion Michigan met in a much ballyhooed semifinal game.
Fast-forward a year and the two are matched up again on New Year’s Eve in Tampa’s Reliaquest Bowl. Both teams have copious amounts of players either opting out to avoid injury ahead of their pro careers, or not playing due to wishing to leave via the transfer portal.
Alabama had three turnovers in its first 10 offensive plays, and lost the ball once on downs during that stretch. Meanwhile, Michigan struggled to cash those breaks in for points and led just 19-10 midway through the fourth quarter, according to ESPN.com. Michigan eventually won. Yippee.
I quit watching at halftime because, well, it’s a bit of a joke.
Later tonight the meaningful championship bowls resume play, with Penn State meeting Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.
Many people think Ohio State, with its reported roster “payroll” of $20 million in NIL money will win it all in the long run.
As reported here previously, Texas has a backup quarterback making $3.1 million dollars in NIL, more than the $1.4 million the starter is reported to receive.
Meanwhile, a CBS Sports story ranked Penn State 6th in NIL income among the remaining playoff teams. Opponent Boise State is eighth, dead last.
Apologists for Penn State coach James Franklin maintain his first-round playoff win over SMU, an eight-point underdog in a game played at Penn State, rendered null and void his reputation for losing big games.
Wrong. And beating 11-point underdog Boise State wouldn’t really change that reputation, either. For reasons of talent and NIL payments, Penn State should win this game. If Franklin finds a way to lose it, that’s the real story.
Until Franklin actually beats a team with similar talent and payroll, in a meaningful game, his reputation of a big-game loser remains.
Meanwhile, the whole college sports scene is taking on the stench of losers.
Sam Ross Jr's site 