Bowl Bids No Longer A Reward For Excellence

Have bowl games gotten too out of control? Frank Jolley from the Memphis Commercial Appeal certainly thinks so in his article. Having 35 bowls in the 2011-2012 season means that 70 teams will have to fill bowl bids. That means more than half of the FBS-division will participate in a bowl. Jolley feels that bowls are meant to reward teams for having an accomplished season. Beating team from the FCS-subdivision to qualify for a bowl bid should not be considered an accomplished season.

With all of the debate about who plays for the National Championship, shouldn’t there be a better way to eliminate teams that maybe don’t even deserve a post-season? The amount of bowls that are being played between teams that just don’t make the cut is a little much. A perfect example is Florida and Ohio State competing in the Gator Bowl. Both teams just barely qualified for bowls despite what most, from these respected programs, might consider difficult seasons. Yet they still have the chance to play in bowl games.

The idea of bowl games are great and they do bring in good money for the cities that hold these bowls. The fan base that travel with the team and put in their money to travel really boosts a city. They are also great fun for players and fans playing in a neutral city that they probably dont’ get to play in much. They can be really good for some schools, but when the point is a reward, there are some teams that just don;t seem deserving.

The bowls are great from a fans perspective because there is more football to be seen. However, there are some teams that just don’t seem deserving of this reward. Maybe they should introduce a playoff system which would give the fans plenty of football to watch and it wouldn’t be the fourth-team from the Mountain West versus the third team from Conference USA. Bowl games, as fun and great as they may be, should represent the great season that a team has undergone.