Cotton Bowl tonight: "Kyle Trask can silence any remaining skeptics"

[LinvilleGorge]

3 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

Those games are absolutely pointless. Bowl games are just as pointless as they have always been unless they have some title game ramifications. The biggest benefit to the kids is getting a free vacation. Well poo, in COVID you can't even get that. I don't blame these teams for just opting to not even play in the bowl game at all.

Yep. UNC is in the Orange Bowl against a top 5 opponent which is a HUGE accomplishment for the UNC program, but at the end of the day it's still basically a meaningless game. I was still surprised we were hit with multiple opt outs from mid-late round prospects who could've likely stood to improve their stock with a good performance against elite competition.

[LinvilleGorge]

3 minutes ago, Varking said:

Again, I don’t disagree it’s pointless. Maybe they need an incentive to finish the year out with their team. Under this mentality above it’s like once your team loses 2 games in a normal year you should just opt out and get ready for the draft. 

What incentive can be provided? All these guys opting out are headed for the NFL. What can you hold over their head? What can you offer of more value than an NFL contract? The NFL doesn't care if these kids play in the bowls or not. They want the best talent available. They have no interest in protecting the NCAA's bowl grift.

[Varking]

Bogle has been the best Gator on the field all night. 

[Varking]

Just now, LinvilleGorge said:

What incentive can be provided? All these guys opting out are headed for the NFL. What can you hold over their head? What can you offer of more value than an NFL contract? The NFL doesn't care if these kids play in the bowls or not. They want the best talent available. They have no interest in protecting the NCAA's bowl grift.

I keep saying I don’t have a solution. Pay them money? 

[LinvilleGorge]

The NCAA basically created their own problem. Years ago, qualifying for a bowl actually meant something. Then the NCAA got greedy and created a bowl system so bloated that you have to absolutely suck to not qualify for a bowl. They made bowl games meaningless themselves.

[kungfoodude]

3 minutes ago, Varking said:

Again, I don’t disagree it’s pointless. Maybe they need an incentive to finish the year out with their team. Under this mentality above it’s like once your team loses 2 games in a normal year you should just opt out and get ready for the draft. 

The benefit of college is to get enough game tape to make yourself on the college radar. Part of that is development and role at the school of your choosing and part of that is the platform you are afforded. Once you have maxed all that out or have made the decision to move on, there is no real benefit to sticking around. For the regular season, you do it to chase accomplishments(team and individual) and for your teammates. Well winning a bowl game is a distant third place to conference championships or playoff berths. 

Every team faces the same risk of losing a lot of players before the bowl. It just is what it is. I feel no sorrow for the college teams nor do I feel any anger towards these college kids making that choice. Once your college journey has ended, it's time to prepare for your job. Would you get mad at a college student for skipping graduation ceremonies? I mean, all the work for the degree was while classes where in session, not the exhibition at the end. 

[Varking]

Just now, kungfoodude said:

The benefit of college is to get enough game tape to make yourself on the college radar. Part of that is development and role at the school of your choosing and part of that is the platform you are afforded. Once you have maxed all that out or have made the decision to move on, there is no real benefit to sticking around. For the regular season, you do it to chase accomplishments(team and individual) and for your teammates. Well winning a bowl game is a distant third place to conference championships or playoff berths. 

Every team faces the same risk of losing a lot of players before the bowl. It just is what it is. I feel no sorrow for the college teams nor do I feel any anger towards these college kids making that choice. Once your college journey has ended, it's time to prepare for your job. Would you get mad at a college student for skipping graduation ceremonies? I mean, all the work for the degree was while classes where in session, not the exhibition at the end. 

I’m not angry at the kids at all. I was not complaining at the players nor ever suggesting I had a problem with them personally for doing it. They should be rewarded for staying. In a few years you’re going to have kids skip the playoffs because it’s not worth the risk of getting injured before the draft. Put good tape on film and then sit out. 

[LinvilleGorge]

Just now, Varking said:

I keep saying I don’t have a solution. Pay them money? 

All the options are options the NCAA doesn't want. They created a bloated bowl system due to the $$$. As long as the TV contracts keep rolling in there's no real incentive to change it 

[Varking]

Just now, LinvilleGorge said:

All the options are options the NCAA doesn't want. They created a bloated bowl system due to the $$$. As long as the TV contracts keep rolling in there's no real incentive to change it 

Again, I’m lucky because I don’t have a say in what they do. I just know they need to do something or the $$$ is going to lessen over time when people don’t care to watch due to all the guys sitting out. 

[kungfoodude]

1 minute ago, LinvilleGorge said:

The NCAA basically created their own problem. Years ago, qualifying for a bowl actually meant something. Then the NCAA got greedy and created a bowl system so bloated that you have to absolutely suck to not qualify for a bowl. They made bowl games meaningless themselves.

It isn't really even the NCAA, it has always had fairly loose controls on Division I football. They don't sanction a championship and the bowl money doesn't exactly fill their coffers. Most of it goes to the schools and other interests. Remember, their cash cow is college basketball.

College football has always been in an untenable situation because no other legitimate avenues have existed to have a minor league football system for the NFL. Hence the predicament we are currently in. College football players are unpaid or underpaid labor for multimillion dollar generating programs. That was never going to work in the long term.

[LinvilleGorge]

2 minutes ago, Varking said:

Again, I’m lucky because I don’t have a say in what they do. I just know they need to do something or the $$$ is going to lessen over time when people don’t care to watch due to all the guys sitting out. 

That's when they'll actually consider doing something about it. Until it impacts their bottom line they're not going to do anything different.

[kungfoodude]

3 minutes ago, Varking said:

I’m not angry at the kids at all. I was not complaining at the players nor ever suggesting I had a problem with them personally for doing it. They should be rewarded for staying. In a few years you’re going to have kids skip the playoffs because it’s not worth the risk of getting injured before the draft. Put good tape on film and then sit out. 

I guess you have to find some reward. I have always said that two logical options should exist. One is rather simple which is to allow the kids to make money off of their likeness, with no ramifications to their amateur status at all. It's the simplest and most logical option and one that I have constantly supported(now 20+ years of supporting this). The other would be to essentially create a mini-professional league. Perhaps take all the P5 teams and make a mini-NFL, complete with revenue sharing, salary caps, etc. That way the players always get a piece of the pie and it gets negotiated like a CBA. 

Most of the other measures would be inherently tilted to either football factory schools or be perverted the same way the current systems are by cheating or other nonsense.

[Varking]

I’d like to see them let Richardson get some snaps now. 

[LinvilleGorge]

This just sucks to watch. This should've been a great game. Instead, UF got hit with a ton of opt outs while OU had their whole squad show up. Trask was terrible and that didn't help, but the outcome was predictable.

I fear the UNC game may look similar. We're playing a top 5 team in TAMU. We're going to be short out #1 WR, both starting RBs, and our starting MLB. TAMU had no players lot out of the bowl game.

Maybe programs need to start asking themselves what these other programs are doing to convince their guys NOT to opt out, because Florida and UNC are going into bowl games badly undermanned against elite football teams.