Houston – or maybe its Indianapolis – we have a problem!!! … For the past few years we have jokingly asked ‘what if the gave a bowl and nobody came?’ in reference to the increasing number of top players opting out of the non-playoff bowls. Well, we found out at Friday’s Orange Bowl when Georgia crushed Florida State by a record 63-3 after as many as 30 Seminoles, including all their best players, opted not to play. And this was not the Daffy Duck Bowl between 6-6 teams from the MAC and Sun Belt; this was one of the designated ‘big 6’ bowls between the 5th and 6th ranked teams in the country. Plus, its only going to get worse next year when the playoff format grows to 12 teams. Fact is the bowls have been an anachronism for decades maintained not to advance the competitiveness of the sport but to ensure that the big conferences kept control of the revenue from the games.
