We are less than a week away from bowl game season being essentially over and entering the long off-season. This bowl season has flown by, especially since Christmas, and it’s crazy to think that there are only 36 teams left to play games.
This bowl season has taught us a lot so far. In the end, college football is still college football, but as any avid fan knows, with the NIL, transfer portal, and other changes to the game, the game is drastically different than it was just a few years ago. Below are a few of those observations through the first 23 games.
The Transfer Portal is Significantly Impacting Bowl Games
There are a total of 2,728 players who have entered the transfer portal in this first window of opportunity. For a majority of these players, they didn’t play for their team in the bowl game. For some teams, this didn’t seem to have a huge impact, such as Texas State or Kansas who saw minimal impact. Other teams, such as Texas A&M and North Carolina, the impact was obvious and significant. Texas A&M barely had enough offensive players on scholarship to field a team. There are jokes that have some truth to them that the Orange Bowl between Florida State and Georgia will be a JV game.
Something needs to change.
Bowl games are supposed to be a reward and opportunity to play an equal opponent and prove yourself one final time. Instead, it’s almost the cool thing to do to stand on the sideline and watch. There are a few ways that could help fix this:
- Don’t allow opt-outs to travel to the game and be with the team. Instead invest this money into recruiting or other areas of need.
- Don’t open up the transfer portal until AFTER the bowl game season is over. Incentivize players to show off one more time.
- Connect NIL to bowl game participation. Fans and boosters want bowl wins. They don’t care about the difference between eight and nine wins. They want bowl game wins. Make a significant part of NIL connected to finishing out a season.
The Big 12 Is Showing Out
The Big 12 has been given the nickname “Mid-12” recently in an attempt to dilute the quality of the conference. This has put the conference under the microscope of fans and media and the conference has outperformed even the most optimistic models. Kansas, Texas Tech, West Virginia, and Oklahoma State have all won their bowl games against quality opponents. UCF is the only loss, coming to Georgia Tech.
The Gap Between the G5 and P5 is Widening
Up to this point, the P5 is 5-1 against G5 teams in bowl games, with the single win being USF over Syracuse. SMU has a good chance at making it 6-1 as they trail by nine in the 4th quarter, but unless Liberty pulls off a miracle against Oregon, the final margin will likely be 7-1 for the P5 teams. Considering many of these G5 teams are 9/10 win teams playing 6-6 or 7-5 P5 teams, it suggests the gap between the divisions may be growing.
For context, the last two seasons, the G5 has gone 9-3 against P5 teams. Could this be an anomaly? Sure, but it is certainly something to watch.
Bowl Games are Still Fun
Despite the lack of G5 upsets, the number of opt-outs, and lack of huge matchups (so far), bowl season has once again proven to be fun and must-watch TV. Whether it’s USC finding their future QB, Texas State fans storming the field, or pouring rain in Fenway, college football has once again shown why it is the greatest sport on earth.
Here’s to 19 more games!