Category Archives: CFP

Was It a Tradition If It Outgrew Itself?

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I can’t say I’m broken up about this, but is this a sign of another fading star of the college football season?

I have to admit there were some good Bahamas Bowls, particularly the one with one of the Michigan team against one of the Kentucky teams (maybe they were both Western?) scoring close to a hundred points in a game. It was a fun mid-major bowl to watch, from what I can remember, though I have no memories about LA or Detroit Bowls, if I’m being honest.

The purest will be quick to argue that bowl games disappearing is another casualty of college football playoff expansion (which is a contributing factor, to be sure), but how “traditional” are all these bowl games anyway? Considering that it all started with a single bowl game – The Rose Bowl – in 1901, here’s a quick look at the quick increase in the number since the Inaugural Rose:

  • 1901 – 1 bowl game – Rose Bowl
  • 1930s-1940s – 5 bowl games – Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, and Sun
  • 1960s – 14 bowl games – The Rose, Sugar, Orange, and Cotton start being played on New Years’ Day…plus the Gator Bowl, Sun, Bluebonnet Bowl, Liberty Bowl (in Philadelphia originally), Tangerine Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Pasadena Bowl (Rose Bowl, Jr). A few others that only lasted a year or two were the Aviator Bowl in Dayton, Ohio, the Gotham Bowl in New York, and the Mercy Bowl in LA.
  • 1970s – 11 – Added the Fiesta Bowl, Pasadena Bowl died.
  • 1980s – 15ish – Added the Holiday Bowl, Copper Bowl, Aloha Bowl, and Independence Bowl. Hall of Fame Bowl started in Tampa. Also had some short-lived bowl games – Garden State (NJ), Freedom Bowl (CA), California Bowl (Fresno), and Cherry Bowl in Pontiac, Michigan).
  • 1990s – 19 – Added the Blockbuster Bowl in Miami, Las Vegas Bowl, Motor City Bowl, and Music City Bowls.
  • 2000s – BCS Era and National Championship game; vacillated around 25 games to 35 games with the addition of numerous mid-tier bowl games. Also, this is the rise of the Worldwide Leader in Sports, as ESPN was acquired by Disney in 1996, so no wonder Bowl Season blossomed.
  • 2010 – 35 Bowls
  • 2015 – upwards of 43 bowls
  • 2025 – Around 42 bowls

The past season featured lots of opt-outs, last minute scheduling, and lots of empty stands. Something tells me that once you’ve seen your team slog through a middling 6-6 or 5-7 season, you want mercy to set in and not see any more.

Mickey, on the other hand, can’t get enough of it and love running those ratings numbers out after the Cheez-Its Bowl on the socials.

Anyway, I’m rambling…the question is, can it be the death of a tradition when it hasn’t been a tradition that long? The glut of 84 of 136 teams (62% of teams will be in a bowl, let that sink in) making a bowl when they’d likely rather go home for the holidays, along with their fans, often makes for an unappetizing competition, to say the least.

So how do you feel? Behave, you scamps.

The Longest Yards

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If you thought this season’s College Football Playoffs Brought to You by Disney+ was long, brother, you don’t even know what’s coming next.

Now here’s the catch…for no explicable reason, the quarterfinal begins on December 30th, completely skips New Year’s Eve, and resumes on New Year’s Day. What was it? Ratings? People were having too much fun celebrating the Eve and not watching the Ohio State/Miami tilt? Was it because of the success of the Pop Tart Bowl’s ratings (played on December 27th)?

Rather than the Semifinals being played a week later, they are playing two weeks later and playing the Championship game eleven days later (similar to this year)…nearly into February.

To put it another way:

Lord, something’s gotta give.

2025, The Year That Wasn’t

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Remember this?

As it turns out, they are kind of the new Alabama, if by that you mean DeBoer’s Alabama. Kind of overhyped and disappointing.

Lo, it didn’t stop there. Also recall that 2025 was set to be the James Franklin breakout year.

He broke out alright. He broke out and headed to Blacksburg for a new job. But all was not lost, after all, as Penn State would come out victorious in their bowl game against another preseason favorite to go deep into the CFP, Clemson.

Welp, it was the Pinstripe Bowl, not the Sugar or Orange or anything. Cough.

Anyway, we ended the year on a sour note, but it’s safe to say we rose above expectations many of us had heading in to the year. With the expanded playoffs, it’s harder and harder to have the endurance and grit to push all the way to a Natty, so maybe expectations should be tempered, no? Let’s face it, at least we weren’t being lead by Brian Kelly or anything.

On that Irish connected note, what’s your takeaway on the biggest disappointment of the 2025 season? Was it a team, like an Oregon or LSU, who didn’t rise to the occasion? Was it the SEC face plant to end the season?

One thing that’s never disappointing is seeing stuff like this:

Let’s hear it. And what would you like to see more or less of in 2026?

Duke, We’re Sorry

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To avoid what happened this year, all conference champs, regardless of final ranking, get the autobid and bye. Oh, and they’re keeping it at 12 teams…at least this week.

Serious question, though, if your conference and your team (looking at you Notre Lame) are that competitive, why do you need amendments and special rules to ensure your seat at the table? Sounds like someone is making sure the weird quiet relative feels included at the Thanksgiving dinner table. To make matters worse, look at the Irish’s schedule:

Hopefully the Irish won’t opt out if they aren’t given a special exemption to get a bye, too.

Also, this:

This will end well. The days of Alabama carrying the conference is long gone, so it’s up to Kirby Smart to save the SEC drought…or at least that’s what the fresh prognostications are saying right now.

NIL and Void

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”Kirby can’t win in the NILnera”.

Interesting to note that this years National Championship matchup featured one team at the bottom of the list and another that’s not even on it.

Great equalizer, or great compromiser?

Which two surprise teams who aren’t on this list will magically make their way to the CFP next year? I look forward to Kentucky versus Colorado late January of 2027. Don’t you?

As I mentioned yesterday, though:

Mahalo.

Open Records

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Here’s a beautiful thought:

Do you think the CFP 12/16/24/168 would be better if you had transparency like this?

Also, I like the COFH from the Tech guy here…and also respect his #16 ranking of the Irish. Chef’s kiss…that is college football hatred done right.

Carson Beck, We Hardly Knew Thee

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As you are aware, Miami’s season came to an end in a painfully familiar way on Monday night. The wonder kids of Indiana took it all, but not without some last minute drama. Enter Carson Beck, who did what started to become a patented Carson Beck thing to do.

How often has it happened? Well…

So, after the fawning and media drooling over the disrespect Carson endured, at one point quoting the quarterback that he came to Miami to fall in love with football again, how did Carson exit stage left? Not gracefully.

Hey, he’s at least not as bad as Diego Pavia. He’ll have that going for him as he enters the Draft in April.

Let’s Get This Over With Already

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Does it feel like this has taken forever to get here? Well, just wait until next year.

And, to think, The B1G wants to expand this to 24 teams.

Posted in CFP

Miami Vice

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Jesus…for a team that can’t sell out their stadium for regular season home games, the Miami fanbase has lost their ever loving minds.

Let’s not even talk about the tickets.

$3612 a seat is a “great deal”.

This alone should be enough to abolish the CFP altogether…but you know it won’t.

Anyway, Conor Stalions has some advice…

Indiana fans are now purchasing 2026 Miami home season tickets to get into the lottery for affordable CFP Championship tickets. I’m sure that Hard Rock will be no more full in 2026, either.

The Big 10 are big dummies

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If the Big 10 gets their way on this, the regular season is officially dead.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/47584209/college-football-playoff-expansion-hearing

SEC wants 16, and the B1G wants 24. I’m assuming the desire for 24 is purely a play for Fox by the Yankee conference to force the division of TV rights.

If Sankey doesn’t hold the line on this, he’s pretty much useless. I’ve become resigned to the fact they are going to expand. 16 seems right to give the top 4 a play-in game. The question is how far will they go with games on campus.

Redd Foxx has a word for Tony Petitti.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.