When I went to the Orange Bowl a few years ago, I purchased seats from U of M. We ended up at the top of the Hard Rock Stadium near an open air area. It was a cold night and the wind hit that open area and a 60 degree night felt like 40 degrees. My wife and daughter tapped out in the first quarter and decided to find some warmer area to watch or not watch the game.
My son and I stayed and watched Michigan sleep walk through the first half of the game against Florida State. Michigan starts to show some signs of life and Wilton hits Jake Butt with a pass near the goal line. Jake tears his ACL.
If you read this blog, you remember that play. We saw a great kid and great tight end go from a 1st - 2nd round to TBD in his NFL Draft status. My heart just sank out of my chest. A cold day at a bad game, just got worse.
Jake says today (after his latest ACL tear) that he would suit up again in the Orange Bowl. He did have an insurance policy and rumors are he saw something like $500K from it. Which helps but doesn't really equal the millions of dollars he missed from his original draft status.
That play along with ND's Jalen Smith injury, really changed the landscape of bowl games. Yes, the playoffs also has something to do with that, but those two injuries are the ones players always point to.
Gary announced the day after the Ohio State game he was out and heading to the NFL. That was no surprise as he could be as high as the #2 draft pick. If he goes to the combine, his numbers will jump off the charts. You could argue that his stats on the field don't match that high of draft pick, but the NFL will be drafting his upside.
Bush was the next to announce and that wasn't a surprise either. As he is expected to be a top 10 pick and is still recovering from a hip injury from the Ohio State game.
Higdon announced yesterday that he was also sitting out the bowl. He is rated as the 5th RB in the NFL draft which probably equals a mid - late to round pick. Higdon has been invited to the senior bowl and could increase his status there. So investing some extra time for that game was worth it to him.
Luckily for Peach Bowl fans, Michigan's two CB's who were also rumored to be sitting out, will be playing.
College Football is starting to have a problem and I don't blame the players one bit.
I enjoy watching bowl games but last nights game had about a 1000 people in an NFL Stadium with a team that had 5 consecutive losses. We have 40 bowl games and the only ones that really matter are the playoff games and Rose Bowl. (yes, I understand how important bowl games are too smaller schools)
Fans don't want to attend, high profile players don't want to play, and the best part for the coaches are the two extra practice weeks. Side note, many smaller teams lose money on bowl games due to travel costs and ticket purchase requirements.
What are we doing?
How about a 16 team playoff for the Power 5 and the same for non-Power 5 conferences. You could do the non-power 5 conference playoffs with home games, so attendance and interest would be much higher. Also play the non-power 5 playoffs during the week for better viewership, like they do for the Bad Boy Mowers Bowl.
I don't know if that is the solution but seeing Jake Butt lay on the Orange Bowl field, made me really think about my position on this and how valuable these games really are.
from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2018/12/michigan-friday-missing-bowl-games.html
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