College football bowl thread: Days of Signs and Roses

It seems light years ago, but the Capital One/Citrus Bowl felt big at one point. Hell, the Outback Bowl had juice. The stadiums are empty. Iowa-Tennessee would’ve been jam-packed with fans even 10 years ago.

 

Wishbones and tearaway jerseys and hating Saban the Bear and getting maybe one TV game of your team in the regular season. That's what I grew up on.

Sure made you cherish the coach's show the following morning, however.

That being said, UT-Iowa is setting the game back toward those years.

 

That hit by the Latu guy of Wisconsin was completely clean and made the sound of a can of Coca-Cola being crumpled by a four-inch boot.

 

LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers waited until halftime to opt out of the Reliaquest Bowl. He played the first half in order to set LSU's career receiving yardage record, then changed into street clothes.

 

Drove by Liberty eight years ago or so and saw SEVEN huge construction cranes across the campus.

Asked my Dad what the hell’s going on down here?

And he hit the nail on the head by saying LU had struck it rich through online courses and was pouring that money into new facilities.

 

FUCK THIS. Money is ruining sports.

 

Fixed it for you.

 

Whatever happened to taking out a damn insurance policy and playing the game? I remember that somewhere. Was it football or something else?

 

I don’t get it either. I’m an Oregon alum living in Phoenix. I’m not driving across town to watch them playing freaking Liberty. And Liberty doesn’t have the alumni base to make this work for the bowl.

 

Considering LSU's long history of guys opting out midseason (Leonard Fournette, Derek Stingley Jr., Ja'Marr Chase) I guess I'm just glad he and Daniels hung around as long as they did.
Still, commit or don't commit to the bowl game. If you're going to opt out, that's fine. Especially in a game like this, which at this point is a glorified preseason scrimmage for 2024. The up-and-comers can use the game reps. But if you're going to play, then play the whole game.
That said, I have a feeling this might have been as much a coach's decision as it was the player, so I'll reserve judgment.

It's also a remarkable achievement for Nabers. He was the goat of the season-opening loss to Florida State in 2022 after dropping a couple of punts that cost LSU the game. He was vilified after that game. To see him come back from that, and develop into one of the best receivers in the country over the past couple of years, has been pretty cool to see.

 

Didn’t Miami have a quarterback do that late last decade?

 

Tampa always was a great market for Arena Football.