‘Saving’ the bowls

I gotta admit … when it comes to how the College Football Playoff bracket shook out, I don’t have strong feelings one way or the other. Why should I?

I’m a UAB alum. The Blazers have 99 problems and the CFP ain’t one.

Plus, my newspaper career ended eight years ago, so I’m not morally obligated (or paid) to opine about such things. Considering there are thousands of writers and talking heads with hot takes already out there, my faux indignation would get lost in the shuffle, anyway.

(For the record, I’ve always pushed for a 16-team format, which means there would still be bitching and moaning, albeit four less schools doing the bitching and moaning).

However, after everyone stopped screaming about the CFP, they started screaming about the broken bowl system. This, my friends, is a holiday tradition I can always get behind.

As you know, Notre Dame didn’t make the 12-team playoff cut, so the Fighting Irish opted to refuse a bowl invitation. They posted a statement on social media that reads:

“As a team, we’ve decided to withdraw our name from consideration for a bowl game following the 2025 season. We appreciate all the support from our families and fans, and we’re hoping to bring the 12th national title to South Bend in 2026.”

Kansas State and Iowa State – both undergoing coaching changes – also decided to stay home for the postseason (and were levied hefty fines for doing so because, well, leagues have contracts with these events). That left the non-playoff crowd scrambling to find fill-ins with losing records, but even the likes of 5-7 Florida State and Auburn said, “Nah, we’re good.”

Truth is, the days of bowl games being “rewards” are long gone. The myth of college football has been replaced by the reality of NIL, transfer portals, late season coaching changes and players sitting out so they can rest up for NFL training camps. The game is merely another version of pro football now, with athletes and coaches basically free agents every year.

That said, I’ve never been one of those, “We have too many bowls!” people. There were 136 Football Bowl Subdivision schools in 2025, and if there had been 68 bowls to accommodate each team, that would be fine by me. You don’t have to watch them all, you know.

In fact, the only postseason games I recall sitting through last season were the first round playoff between Ohio State and Tennessee, the Sugar Bowl and the CFP National Championship Game. None of the others interested me enough to make the four hour time commitment.

Anyway, I’m hitting the NyQuil pretty hard because of cough due to cold, and the resulting mind fog inspired me to come up with an idea on how to “save” the bowls.

It is (drum roll, please) an NIT-style tourney for the schools that didn’t get a playoff bid. I call it the College Football National Invitation Tournament, or CFB NIT.

This year’s CFP, for example, features four on-campus games followed by quarterfinals in the Cotton, Orange, Rose and Sugar Bowls, semis in the Fiesta and Peach Bowls, and then the Championship Game.

A College Football NIT would see four on-campus games followed by quarterfinal matchups in, say, the Liberty, Holiday, Alamo and New Orleans Bowls, semis in the Pinstripe and Fenway Bowls, and the NIT Championship Game. (I’m just using those bowls as examples – I  don’t care which ones are involved).

The first twist here is since it’s an “invitational,” records are of no consequence. If a team is butthurt and doesn’t care to participate, that’s fine. The selection committee moves on, finds out which teams want to play, then seeds ‘em and matches ‘em up.

The second twist is players on the winning teams get a cash prize through some kind of NIL deal. They already receive swag bags before the games, so why not sweeten the pot with a spendable bonus at the end?

Plus, the winner of the CFB NIT earns a nice trophy and can claim a consolation title at the end of the season. It wouldn’t make the lesser bowls any more important, but it would make them seem more important.

Beyond that, any bowl-saving plans I come up with reek of desperation … like playing bowls during the preseason.

Have Ohio State and Southern California square off in a mid-August Rose Bowl, while Georgia meets Notre Dame in a Week Less-Than-Zero Sugar Bowl.

The gimmick here is that these games are truly exhibitions and don’t count on either team’s records. Voters in the Associated Press and Coaches Poll can use them for ranking purposes, but the participants enter a new year with a clean slate.

Lastly, and even more desperate …

Replace intrasquad spring games with bowl games. Big-time programs already draw well for these glorified practices, so imagine the excitement for an April Cotton Bowl between Texas and Michigan.

Does all this sound ridiculous? Yeah, it does.

Then again, it’s ridiculous for UCLA to be in the Big Ten, it’s ridiculous that the Big Ten has 18 members and – frankly – it’s ridiculous that we pretend college football is a showcase for “student-athletes” and not a billion dollar business.

If a bowl game isn’t part of the CFP, it’s just a way for networks to fill three and a half hours of holiday air time. Certainly some kids are thrilled to go bowling – especially if they play for a non-Power 4 school – but nowadays its mostly just an extra game that many would rather not be a part of.

So, I’m at peace with whatever happens to the system going forward. Add bowls, subtract bowls, end bowls … makes no difference to me. As long as I have my NyQuil handy, I’m prepared for any actuality.