Do non-CFP bowls matter?

[racepug]

To everything there are pros and cons. Personally, I'm glad that the so-called "Football Bowl Subdivision" (FBS) is moving to a 12-team playoff to determine the national champion. If you're gonna determine a national champion in something you SHOULD have it played on the field and include more than just two or four teams in the competition, in my opinion.

Having typed that, there are downsides to everything in life. In this case it's that nobody seems to care much (if at all) about the non-CFP bowls anymore as evidenced by how many players opt out of playing in bowl games that aren't part of the CFP. Having so many bowls and allowing so many mediocre teams (the Minnesota Golden Gophers got in as a 5 - 7 team this year due to the lack of 6 - 6 "bowl eligible" teams) in them doesn't help, in my opinion.

With the way things are going does anybody see the FBS going the way of the other divisions in college 'ball by having the post-season consist of the CFP to the exclusion of all other (frivolous) bowls?

[RichardBak]

Hold on now. You calling the San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl or the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl "frivolous"? Their very names suggest their rich tradition. I, for one, look forward to mighty 6-6 teams from Bumfuck and Whosville squaring off every year before a crowd of dozens--hell, maybe hundreds--of rabid fans and alumni. Boola, boola!

[Terry Baldshaw]

I've been waiting all my life for the Pop Tarts Bowl and it's finally happening. NC State vs Kansas State. Don't miss it!

[JuggernautJ]

I've been waiting all my life for the Pop Tarts Bowl and it's finally happening. NC State vs Kansas State. Don't miss it!

Pop Tarts Bowl sounds like a serving of breakfast cereal...
And, of course, it is.

[GameBeforeTheMoney]

Only to those who like to watch football.

The more casual the fan, the more likely that person will only watch the 12-team playoff - or simply watch the semis or just the final. Fans who would watch a regular season San Jose State vs Air Force game simply because it's on will keep watching any bowl game that's on while they're on the couch.

[Crazy Packers Fan]

To everything there are pros and cons. Personally, I'm glad that the so-called "Football Bowl Subdivision" (FBS) is moving to a 12-team playoff to determine the national champion. If you're gonna determine a national champion in something you SHOULD have it played on the field and include more than just two or four teams in the competition, in my opinion.

Having typed that, there are downsides to everything in life. In this case it's that nobody seems to care much (if at all) about the non-CFP bowls anymore as evidenced by how many players opt out of playing in bowl games that aren't part of the CFP. Having so many bowls and allowing so many mediocre teams (the Minnesota Golden Gophers got in as a 5 - 7 team this year due to the lack of 6 - 6 "bowl eligible" teams) in them doesn't help, in my opinion.

With the way things are going does anybody see the FBS going the way of the other divisions in college 'ball by having the post-season consist of the CFP to the exclusion of all other (frivolous) bowls?

I love the bowls. I think college football was at its height in the 80s & 90s when there were six to eight bowls on New Year's Day, and as the results came in, you found out if your team had a chance at being named #1. If the Orange Bowl on NBC was a blowout, you could switch over to the Sugar Bowl on ABC. College football lost a lot of what made it special when they became obsessed with the concept of having a "true national champion." The #1 ranking was always subjective, it was meant to be that way.

Speaking of Minnesota, Army (6-6) got left out of the bowls because they played the Navy game. I thought the Army-Navy game (with both teams at 5-6) should have been a "win-and-in" one of the weaker bowls.

The 12-team playoff will be the same as the 4-team playoff. People will love it for the first few years, then begin clamoring for change again near the end of its first decade. It's happened with the Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, Bowl Championship Series, and 4-team CFP. It's going to be fun at first, but it has the potential to turn ugly (blowouts in the 5-12 matchup, repeats of regular-season contests, teams wanting to finish 5-8 instead of 1-4, so they can host a game).

[lastcat3]

Yeah College football has gone a little overboard in recent years. But to be honest the NFL isn't much better. The entire sport of American football is a shell of what it used to be and is all about money and tv viewership these days.

I'll still take college football though over NFL teams losing almost half their games and still for some reason making it to the post season. And the NFL continuing to increase the number of teams making the playoffs so now sub .500 teams have a legit shot at the post season.

At least with college football teams will still need to have really good seasons to make the playoffs.

[JameisBrownston]

There was never any football-facing reason to have bowls with 6-6 teams. There's no reason to care about them. Folding all of the New Year's 6 bowls into the CFP is the right move imo, it should have been at least 8 teams from the start. I kind of think the FSU controversy, being the first undefeated team to miss the playoffs, was done that way intentionally to drum up fan demand for the expansion. If Texas was left out instead, for example, only Texas fans would be up in arms.

[Gary Najman]

In 1984 as a junior-high school student, I won a second-place prize in the lottery here in Mexico predicting 13 bowl games (I believe there were back then only 14 or 15). There were three options: Team A won by 7 or more points, Team B won by 7 or more points, and the third option was a difference of 6 points or less or a tie. I only missed two games: the Gator Bowl, when Oklahoma State scored a late TD and a 2-point conversion to beat South Carolina by 7, and the Sugar Bowl, when LSU beat handily Ohio State. I was lucky with the Orange Bowl, when thanks to a unsportsmanlike penalty on the Sooner Schooner after a missed field goal, Washington came back and beat Oklahoma 28-17.

By the way, that was the year Brigham Young won the National Championship playing in the Holiday Bowl. I am wondering if it is the only time a team has been a champion without playing in one of the "major" Bowls.

[racepug]

I thought the Army-Navy game (with both teams at 5-6) should have been a "win-and-in" one of the weaker bowls.

I, too, was surprised that the winner of that game wasn't promised a bowl slot ahead of time.

The 12-team playoff will be the same as the 4-team playoff. People will love it for the first few years, then begin clamoring for change again near the end of its first decade. It's happened with the Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, Bowl Championship Series, and 4-team CFP.

Personally, I'm for a 20-team playoff with a similar setup to what they have planned for next year: first round (seeds 13 - 20) at stadiums of the higher-seeded teams and the Round of 16, on, at neutral sites. I suspect that you're going to be right: people'll be happy with the 12-team CFP for a while but then they'll clamor for more (teams to be included).