Bonus Blog: College Bowl Mania

It’s the month of December. There is a cold chill in the air, and it is the season of giving, so what could the world of college football possibly give us now that the regular season is over and the playoffs await? 

About 40 completely meaningless but incredibly fun games of college football!!! 

That’s right football fans, its Bowl Season. For those of you who are unfamiliar, this bonus blog is for you.

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What is the Bowl Season?

The Bowl Season starts on Saturday, December 15. A bowl game (excluding the semi-final bowl games) are basically reward games, given to the players and coaches at the end of each season. For a school’s team to be “bowl eligible”, they must win at least 6 games in the regular season. The more wins a school has, the more prestigious the bowl is. 

If a school ends the season with one loss - or perhaps no losses -but is not invited to the playoffs, the school will most likely get to play in a New Year’s 6 bowl games which are games that air during the weekend of New Year’s Day. 

If the school just barely scrapes together enough wins to be “Bowl Eligible,” then that school may get an invite to the Motel Six Bowl (yes that is a real bowl sponsor). 

If the school has a fairly decent season, with 8-10 wins, then the school can expect an invite to the Outback Bowl, the Holiday Bowl, the Liberty Bowl and others.

What’s the Reward?

While these games may have no effect on the college football landscape, it is well worth the team’s time to participate in the bowls. The players are, more or less, treated to a week-long vacation, where at the end of the week, they have to play in a meaningless game of football.  

They will arrive in the city where their specific bowl will take place a week before the game begins. During that week, they are wined and dined and given free tickets to tourist type excursions in that city. Last year when the Oklahoma Sooners went to the Rose Bowl, they went to Disneyland! 

The teams and their staff are also given a “swag bag” or “bowl swag” with prizes from that particular bowl’s sponsor. Sony PlayStation sponsors the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl and every player received a PlayStation 4 bundle. The sponsor of the bowl determines the quality of the prizes in the “swag bag”. The higher ranked bowl games may have up to $2,000 in “swag bags"

Sponsors also give a monetary compensation to the school itself for that school’s team appearing in their bowl game. Large bowl games like the Rose Bowl or Sugar Bowl may pay out $10 Million to the two schools for appearing in their bowl games.

How to Choose a Bowl:

This is different for each game and each game. It is very common, for a player considered to be a high draft prospect to opt out of his team’s bowl game to begin training for the NFL combine and the NFL draft. Since his regular season is complete, he may not want to play a meaningless game, to risk injury and possibly damaging his draft stock.

The team’s motivation to win the bowl game also factors in. College football staples, like Oklahoma, Alabama, Notre Dame, USC, Ohio State and others, typically expect to go to one of the prestigious bowl games every year. If they were not “bowl eligible” to play in one of those higher bowls, it becomes very hard to motivate them to play their best. 

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Preview:

We do not have time for me to give you my insights on all the bowl games so I will focus on the big week – The New Year’s Six.

PlayStation Fiesta Bowl - Glendale, Arizona - LSU vs. UCF:

With Joe Burrow at QB for LSU and a very stout defense, this will be the first true test for UCF, who is now approaching two undefeated seasons closing out this season with 23 consecutive wins.

Citrus Bowl – Orlando, Florida - Kentucky vs. Penn State:

It has been an incredible year for Kentucky, for bowl eligibility is not always a given. This BQB predicts they will come out swinging because they are facing a Penn State team that also feels their season could have gone better, and are looking to end it on a strong note.

 

Rose Bowl – Pasadena, California - Washington vs. Ohio State:

The Rose Bowl usually features the winners of the Pack 12 Conference (Washington) and the winner of the Big 10 Conference (Ohio State). Ohio State is a little sore, because they feel they were skipped over for the playoffs by Oklahoma (despite a loss season) so they will be coming after quarterback Jake Browning and the Washington Huskies. This will be the last game for Ohio State head coach Urban Myer, who announced his retirement earlier this month. His team will want to send him out on a Rose Bowl win.

Allstate Sugar Bowl – New Orleans, Louisiana - Texas vs. Georgia: 

This bowl typically features the best team in the Big 12 Conference and the best team in the SEC Conference (providing those teams didn’t make the playoffs). Texas was the runner up in the Big 12, but were defeated by Oklahoma. So they are having to settle for a trip to the Sugar Bowl. Georgia was on top of Alabama for the entire SEC Championship Game, only to have ‘Bama come back and do what ‘Bama does, sending Georgia home with a loss – thus sending them to the Sugar Bowl.

Goodyear Cotton Bowl – Arlington, Texas - Clemson vs. Notre Dame: 

The ruler of the ACC Conference - the Clemson Tigers will take on one of the oldest institutions in college football, the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Will the luck of the Irish prevail? Or will Clemson dominate the Irish, just as they have dominated every other team before them this season? 

Capital One Orange Bowl – Miami Gardens, Florida - Alabama vs. Oklahoma:

Heisman Winner, Kyler Murray and his OU Sooners will face off against the formidable forces of Tua Tagovailoa, (runner up to Murray for the Heisman) and the Alabama Crimson Tide. Can the explosive OU offense out score Alabama? Or will the Alabama offense tear right through what has been a questionable - to put it mildly - Oklahoma defense?

 

CFP National Title Game 2019 - Santa Clara, California - Cotton Bowl Winner vs. Orange Bowl Winner: 

This is it. The Super Bowl of college football. This is the very last game of college football. The winner will be crowned the College Football National Champion. Will it be: Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame or Oklahoma? Tune in and find out.

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There you have it! The Bowl Season Mania for you.

My holiday wish is that you all have a wonderful holiday, relax, and watch tons of football!!! 

Happy Holidays everyone, your BQB