Skipping Bowls?

[Bayside44]

I was on scholarship to go to class, sometimes I skipped my classes.

Clever but you didn’t let down your class or school by taking a nap.

 

[David321]

Seems like you believe a bunch of 18-22 year old men are entitled to risk their bodies and health because you donate $10.99 a month to an NIL collective.

Same argument can be made (and is made by some) that we are all entertaining ourselves from 18-22 year old men risking their bodies and health. Same logic.

I’d also rethink telling fans they have essentially no right to expect returns on their investment when they are now being bombarded with cries to contribute NIL money.

Think about that for a minute; a billion dollar industry, huge tv deals, universities with huge endowments etc.. but the blue collar fans are expected to pay extra. Oh, and they better not expect the players they subsidize to play in a bowl game!

They better just shut up and fork over the cash.

Lol.

 

[xc84]

Seems like you believe a bunch of 18-22 year old men are entitled to risk their bodies and health because you donate $10.99 a month to an NIL collective.

If they are on the football team,yes, I expect them to play football.

 

[bnoro]

If they are on the football team,yes, I expect them to play football.

I'd much prefer our football team is healthy for spring and fall camp next season. If one of our guys tears an ACL in this meaningless game they won't be.

 

[xc84]

I'd much prefer our football team is healthy for spring and fall camp next season. If one of our guys tears an ACL in this meaningless game they won't be.

If they were “meaningless “ no team would accept invites to them. I am not a fan of allowing players to opt out of games they feel are “meaningless” whether in or post season.

 

[Roger N]

With NIL payments, should players be able to skip bowls?

What I find difficult to understand is how players play hard to become bowl eligible and then let their teammates down by sitting out the bowl game.

 

[shu 49]

What I find difficult to understand is how players play hard to become bowl eligible and then let their teammates down by sitting out the bowl game.

Yeah i dont get it either. 15 more practices to get better and 1 game to show how u improved. Blows my mind.

 

[AngryOtto]

I understand guys that are first and second round locks to sit out. No reason to risk injury. Otherwise you would figure they would play to possibly increase draft stock or nil.

 

[rhcuse]

Bowl games are stupid and should all just go away. Allow all teams a limited number of practices Jan Feb March when the new semester starts to keep active until spring ball.

Playoffs are an extra NCAA sponsored event and if they choose to partner with “bowl committees” for those then so be it.

 

[BlazeOrange]

I understand guys that are first and second round locks to sit out. No reason to risk injury. Otherwise you would figure they would play to possibly increase draft stock or nil.

I know the players usually support their prospect teammates sitting out, but it still sits wrong. For example, assume that GS was a healthy 1st round prospect who opted out of the game. Say goodbye to the WRs chances to increase their stock.

 

[donniesyracuse]

If this was meaningless so were the last couple games of the season.

They definitely felt that way.

 

[Moontan]

I understand guys that are first and second round locks to sit out. No reason to risk injury. Otherwise you would figure they would play to possibly increase draft stock or nil.

I'm suprised that after a team is clearly out of a chance of making their conference championship game, let alone the playoffs, why they keep playing? Call it a season.

 

[AngryOtto]

I'm suprised that after a team is clearly out of a chance of making their conference championship game, let alone the playoffs, why they keep playing? Call it a season.

Some do. It’s clear from the play on the field.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

I think most Bowls should be moved to the Spring. That makes the games actually have meaning. It is a preview of the next season. TV will be happy with FB in the Spring. Also it is much easier to travel for the fans.

There will be 9 conferences going forward. So allow each conference one guaranteed New Year's Day rep in the NY6 (Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach, Rose, Sugar). Everything else plays in the Spring, where the NY6 and CFB Playoff teams go back into the Bowl pool, which is a big advantage for all 24 teams.

Going by this year:

CFB Playoff
Michigan, Texas, FSU, Zona, Washington, Bama, UGA, Ohio State, Oregon, Mizzou, Liberty, SMU

NY6
Penn State, Ole Miss, Louisville, Okie State, Tulane, New Mexico State, Miami OH, Boise State, James Madison, Oklahoma, LSU, Notre Dame.


It will be like the NCAAT and the NIT.

 

[jgeorge322]

Its called a contract, you need to look what the contract says.

Big caveat—can’t imagine a big collective suing a player for breach of said contract but maybe.

 

[Ringostar57]

East versus west in the first all-star skipping bowls game. (so if you skipped your bowl and didn't get invited to any all-star games, we got the game for you). Brought to you by Skippy peanut butter.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Hartman is opting out.

I just don't see the point anymore when kids don't care about these games. You can't even say it is a preview of next year as transfers in and out will happen before now and Labor Day.

 

[bnoro]

Hartman is opting out.

I just don't see the point anymore when kids don't care about these games. You can't even say it is a preview of next year as transfers in and out will happen before now and Labor Day.

Because the players all see through these bowl games now. They are a pure money grab. What do the players get for playing in this additional game? They work their asses off for another 15 practices, risking injury in the game, to essentially get a pair of branded headphones and a backpack.

They used to be for teams that were 8-4 and up, then 7-5, then 6-6 and now they can barely field enough eligible teams!

 

[xc84]

Because the players all see through these bowl games now. They are a pure money grab. What do the players get for playing in this additional game? They work their asses off for another 15 practices, risking injury in the game, to essentially get a pair of branded headphones and a backpack.

They used to be for teams that were 8-4 and up, then 7-5, then 6-6 and now they can barely field enough eligible teams!

What do they get for their last game of the regular season? Maybe they should skip that one too.

 

[Cusefan95]

I'm really interested in hearing solutions to how to "fix it". If I was a projected 1st/2nd round draft pick, I'd get a doctor to find a mysterious soft tissue injury that would keep me out of the bowl game if there was a financial penalty for sitting out. The "best case" for the school is I get medically cleared by the school doctor and we smear the crap out of them as not caring about the athlete and clearing guys who shouldn't be playing. Not sure how that ends well for the school, since it would be used in negative recruiting. The idea the NFL will view that negatively and it would effect draft status is laughable, so that as a disincentive doesn't work either.

Pushing guys who are going to transfer to another school to play also creates a boatload of unintended consequences that the school isn't going to want to deal with.

While bowls might have some level of meaning in that there's financial incentives to play them for the schools, conferences, and TV networks - there isn't a huge incentive to many of the players. Within the realm of what is reasonable, I don't see that being fixable. There isn't a carrot big enough to incentivize players to play, and there isn't a stick that schools would dare use.

Bowl games are mostly stupid at this point; they're a vestigial feature of a system that doesn't exist anymore. The only reason they still go on is because enough people want to pretend that isn't true that there's financial incentive to maintain a fiction that they "matter". I doubt anyone involved wants to "change things to make them better", because the most likely outcome is the fiction gets destroyed and bowl games go away if we don't all just keep playing pretend everything is okay as it is right now.

 

[sutomcat]

Because the players all see through these bowl games now. They are a pure money grab. What do the players get for playing in this additional game? They work their asses off for another 15 practices, risking injury in the game, to essentially get a pair of branded headphones and a backpack.

They used to be for teams that were 8-4 and up, then 7-5, then 6-6 and now they can barely field enough eligible teams!

I think that you are going to be a great grouchy old man some day. Your potential here is almost unlimited.

I think you might be overstating things a bit. Yes, many of the players with legit NFL aspirations will choose to sit their bowl game out, especially if it is not a playoff game. But I think we are talking about maybe 5% of the players on average for a given team. It might be worse for a team in disarray with a coach who has left. I would be surprised if more than 4 or 5 players on the SU team this year opt out. That doesn't count players in the portal (though I think at least one of those does intend to play), or players who are hurt.

I think the chance to play somewhere warm, near the ocean helps a lot in player retention. I assume that the SU coaching staff is going to accommodate the players on the visit to Boca Raton and give them some opportunities to hang out on the beach, in nightclubs, eat in good restaurants, etc.

I hope so. IMHO, the players that have stayed deserve a fun vacation now after all they have been through.

 

[djcon57]

I know they “can”. Should they be able to though?

My response would be how you would force it?

Pretty simple answer would be to include in the NIL "contract" which I assume exists somewhere.

Otherwise, no they can sit out if they wish or transfer or do whatever is in the rules they were given.

You can think they are a bad teammate or whatever, but opinions are what they are. I remember on this very board posters said they wouldn't draft Christian McCaffery because he said out his bowl. That went well.

 

[Cusefan95]

Out of curiosity - why would this apply to just the players? We just hired Fran Brown, who was coaching at Georgia - I doubt anyone here is bent he's already recruiting for Syracuse and isn't finishing out his time at Georgia. Why is it a big deal if a top player sits out a bowl game, but Mike Elko leaving Duke early is OK?

If schools and bowls get too "motivated" in an effort to force players to play in bowl games, I would expect the fact coaches bail on bowl teams to go to their now school regularly will become a major issue in that fight. And coaches leaving early isn't going to change.

 

[xc84]

Out of curiosity - why would this apply to just the players? We just hired Fran Brown, who was coaching at Georgia - I doubt anyone here is bent he's already recruiting for Syracuse and isn't finishing out his time at Georgia. Why is it a big deal if a top player sits out a bowl game, but Mike Elko leaving Duke early is OK?

If schools and bowls get too "motivated" in an effort to force players to play in bowl games, I would expect the fact coaches bail on bowl teams to go to their now school regularly will become a major issue in that fight. And coaches leaving early isn't going to change.

Coaches have contracts and all that is spelled out in their contracts. Of course, no one is forced to sign a contracts and schools won't create contracts they can't get a coach to sign. There are also buyout clauses that are happily paid. Maybe players should have buyout for NILs.

 

[bnoro]

I think that you are going to be a great grouchy old man some day. Your potential here is almost unlimited.

I think you might be overstating things a bit. Yes, many of the players with legit NFL aspirations will choose to sit their bowl game out, especially if it is not a playoff game. But I think we are talking about maybe 5% of the players on average for a given team. It might be worse for a team in disarray with a coach who has left. I would be surprised if more than 4 or 5 players on the SU team this year opt out. That doesn't count players in the portal (though I think at least one of those does intend to play), or players who are hurt.

I think the chance to play somewhere warm, near the ocean helps a lot in player retention. I assume that the SU coaching staff is going to accommodate the players on the visit to Boca Raton and give them some opportunities to hang out on the beach, in nightclubs, eat in good restaurants, etc.

I hope so. IMHO, the players that have stayed deserve a fun vacation now after all they have been through.

If bowls want to be prestigious, and have players actually play in them, then they should start cutting in players on profits. Let's see how many of them still want to operate if they had to pay 50% of profits to a pool that was evenly distributed to the players.