2016-17 College Football Bowl-a-Rama thread

I think people were calling for a playoff at least as far back as the mid-1980s.
If the old system was so great, there wouldn't have been a constant call to change it.
And there have always been shitty bowls played way too early. Picking 1985 as a random year, there were 18 bowls spread out from Dec. 14 to Jan. 1. Ten of those were played before New Year's Eve. Does anyone remember or care who won the 1985 Cherry Bowl? The California Bowl? The Freedom Bowl?
Forty bowl games is definitely too many, but saying the old system is better than the current one is nothing but nostalgia talking.

 

Part of the reason that we loved those bowls and New Year's Day growing up is because he would get an orgy of games. Up to six or seven on one day! Now, on a typical Saturday in September or October, there are usually 25 games on TV. New Year's Day is like the worst college Saturday now. The thrill is gone.

 

The old system really sucked, and this new system doesn't have a lot of thrills in it. I pray for the day that these ESPN/ Chamber of Commerce- developed bowl games are history. If Fournette and McCaffrey make it happen that much faster,all the better.

That said, I cannot wait for the Rose Bowl today and all the SJ.com shit talking that is going to be going on. This is the highlight of the bowl season for me.

 

There was also some mystery about players and teams that you didn't see on TV. That doesn't exist anymore.

 

Damn good point actually.

 

Back in the day, for many teams getting to a bowl, any bowl, was a huge, huge deal. I can remember in the mid-1970s, Clemson had a nice little season going (for it) and there was much, much talk of getting to go to the Sun Bowl. The Sun Bowl! When it didn't happen, the sense of disappointment was huge.

To this day, there's a big chunk of the Clemson fan base that stocks up on $2 bills and stamps them with tiger paws for bowl trips* (the better to let the locals know how good a bowl guest Clemson is). As if it even matters how well you travel anymore.

*Silly Sidebar Tip For Anyone Covering The Championship Game

 

Hey,you don't have to say "actually", like I make a good comment once every time Haley's Comet goes by.

 

Yep. This is it.

 

Yeah, but with 18 bowls, there were only 36 teams out of the 100 or so playing D-I football that were rewarded with the bowl bid. Getting a bowl bid was meaningful, and you had schools that went years and decades without a bowl bid.

Now? One-third of the teams don't make a bowl, and you have matchups of losing teams. There's no prestige in making a bowl now.

 

Kiffin has time to pick out matching jet skis in Boca.

Lane Kiffin leaving Alabama before title game

 

I think that's for the best. Sark knows the offense just as well, and I'm sure the atmosphere's better.

 

FOUR HOURS TIL THE GAME FOR NATIONAL RUNNER-UP BEGINS.