We are heading to potentially the lamest New Year’s Day in college football history.
This year, the brain wizards that run the College Football Playoff have scheduled the two playoff games, as well as the Cotton Bowl, on Saturday, December 28. Despite the overwhelming evidence that fans want to watch these games on New Year’s Day and not before, the playoff plows ahead.
As a bonus this year, the Orange Bowl also vacated New Year’s Day to play Monday Night Football on Dec. 30, one day after the NFL season ends.
New Year’s Day 2020 will bring us only four games, with the Rose and Sugar Bowls the only games within the New Year’s Six to be played that day. Based on previous years, it won’t be that exciting.
We’re now a generation removed from when New Year’s Day mattered for crowning a national champion every year. The day was full of amazing games, coast to coast, for hours. If one game sucked, you simply changed the channel and found a better one. Those days are long gone.
For reasons I still can’t fathom, the Power Five is giving up on New Year’s Day. If they keep abandoning the best day of the year for sitting around and watching football, then the Group of Five needs to step in.
With that in mind, I humbly suggest that the Group of Five set their sights on New Year’s Day by ensuring their conference champions and top teams get the spotlight.
Perception is Reality
The Mountain West champion is slated to play in the Las Vegas Bowl, against a middling Pac-12 team, on a Saturday night 10 days before New Year’s Day. The other Group of Five champions are guaranteed nothing but a bowl berth somewhere. It’ll almost certainly be before Christmas. It’ll almost certainly be played in an empty stadium. And it’ll certainly be mocked by college football fans.
This narrative needs to change immediately. By ensuring that conference champions play on New Year’s Day, the Group of Five will be properly positioned alongside their Power Five rivals.
The Audience is Massive
Last year, a “meaningless” Rose Bowl almost outdrew both playoff games played on an assumed, TV-friendly Saturday. Why? Because all we want to do on New Year’s Day is to watch college football. This has been part of American culture for as long as television has existed. Nothing will change that.
For the Group of Five, merely playing that day exposes them to an audience of causal sports fans looking for something to watch. Remember last year’s Rose Bowl, when Ohio State took command? What if there was another option for football fans? Remember last year’s Sugar Bowl, when Texas command? What if football fans could find a better game instead of going to bed?
TV Loves Football
ESPN is almost single-handedly throttling the potential of the Group of Five, by diminishing how good they are. It’s most obvious through their coverage of UCF, which has been essentially humiliated by ESPN commentators for having the audacity to win all their games and wanting to be in the playoff. Sure, Urban Meyer can politic for a playoff spot, but it becomes uncouth when an AAC team does it.
Pardon my French, that’s bullshit. As an AAC fan (am I still?), it infuriates me to no end that AAC teams can win 10 games, beat Power Five competition and still get routinely slandered by its TV rights partner.
Well, if the Group of Five came together to make these bowl games reality, they can move on from ESPN and see if Fox, CBS, NBC, Turner or others would love to attract millions of viewers on New Year’s Day.
Make the Conference Title Games Mean Something
Every year, one Group of Five champion makes the New Year’s Six. That means, one Group of Five conference championship game means something. The past two years, it’s been the AAC title game. That’s great for the AAC. It’s not great for the other four conferences.
I remember watching App State win the Sun Belt title game last year, as its team stormed the field to celebrate, and thinking, “They deserve something good for this.”
Instead, their reward was a bowl game on Dec. 15 against an average Conference USA team in front of 40,000 empty seats. It didn’t sit right with me. Conference champions deserve the chance to showcase their program against another quality program, on a big stage, in front of a big audience.
BYU and Army Play for What?
Army is coming off one of the best year’s in school history and expected to win 10 or 11 games this year. They have no realistic path to a big New Year’s Six bowl game because they can’t win a Group of Five conference. While BYU is not expected to be that good this year, they face the same situation when they have a good season.
It’s unfair for both, as well as an independent like New Mexico State, UMass, or even (ugh) UConn eventually, if any of those teams ever sprung forth with a 10-win season. Add them into the mix and create excitement for every team in college football, not just the Power Five.
The Plan: Three Bowl Games on New Year’s Day
My plan is simple: three bowl games on New Year’s Day, with guaranteed berths for the four Group of Five champions and two at-large berths for other Group of Five teams and independents. Every third year when the playoff returns to New Year’s Day, the games can be moved to the previous Saturday if needed.
Let’s spread the three games across the country – one on the East Coast, one in the middle, one on the West Coast – to make it reasonable for fans to attend and get as many people as possible engaged.
While ESPN owns most smaller bowl games, there remains older bowls that once meant something but have been devalued by being left out of the New Year’s Six. The Gator Bowl in Jacksonville and the Holiday Bowl in San Diego are no-brainers for targets, as they carry name value with college football fans, have nothing to lose since they are in decline, and provide nice landing sports for teams on the coasts.
For the “middle” bowl, I think the Liberty Bowl makes the most sense. Memphis is a great city to visit. It’s relatively close to a whole bunch of teams in the Group of Five. And the game carries history with those “smaller” programs, having previously hosted Mountain West and Conference USA champions, as well as hosting one of the great bowl games in history, when undefeated Boise State played Top 10 Louisville there in 2004.
With that in mind, let’s look at what a potential lineup would have looked like in 2018:
Qualified Teams:
Analysis: If only Buffalo had won the MAC title game, we’d have six teams with 10 wins. Cincinnati at 10-2 just missed out on the final at-large berth to Army.
Liberty Bowl
UAB (10-3) vs. #23 Boise State (10-3)
Gator Bowl
Appalachian State (10-2) vs Northern Illinois (8-5)
Holiday Bowl
#19 Fresno State (11-2) vs. #22 Army (10-2)
Analysis: Don’t these games feel more fun that what we got? Army/Fresno is the Holiday Bowl would be amazing. Boise playing UAB would be a cool storyline, considering UAB’s recent history and UAB’s proximity to Memphis. The Gator Bowl isn’t ideal, but you know App State fans would travel; a 10-win Buffalo would have been a far more interesting opponent.
And for fun, let’s see what this would have looked like in 2017:
Qualified Teams:
Analysis: Now we’re talking! The strength of the AAC in 2017 gives us two ranked teams for at-large berths, while every Group of Five champion won 10 games.
Liberty Bowl
Troy (10-2) vs Toledo (11-2)
Gator Bowl
#23 USF (9-2) vs FAU (10-3)
Holiday Bowl
#25 Boise State (10-3) vs #19 Memphis (10-2)
Analysis: The Holiday and Gator Bowls produce spectacular matchups. Could you even imagine Lane Kiffin’s FAU on New Year’s Day? Troy/Toledo would be an amazing matchup, and you’d hope the increased emphasis of New Year’s Day would entice fans to make the trip, a reasonable 6-hour drive for Troy fans.
So what do you think? Should the Group of Five invade New Year’s Day? Do you have a better idea?
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As a bonus this year, the Orange Bowl also vacated New Year’s Day to play Monday Night Football on Dec. 30, one day after the NFL season ends.
New Year’s Day 2020 will bring us only four games, with the Rose and Sugar Bowls the only games within the New Year’s Six to be played that day. Based on previous years, it won’t be that exciting.
We’re now a generation removed from when New Year’s Day mattered for crowning a national champion every year. The day was full of amazing games, coast to coast, for hours. If one game sucked, you simply changed the channel and found a better one. Those days are long gone.
For reasons I still can’t fathom, the Power Five is giving up on New Year’s Day. If they keep abandoning the best day of the year for sitting around and watching football, then the Group of Five needs to step in.
With that in mind, I humbly suggest that the Group of Five set their sights on New Year’s Day by ensuring their conference champions and top teams get the spotlight.
Perception is Reality
The Mountain West champion is slated to play in the Las Vegas Bowl, against a middling Pac-12 team, on a Saturday night 10 days before New Year’s Day. The other Group of Five champions are guaranteed nothing but a bowl berth somewhere. It’ll almost certainly be before Christmas. It’ll almost certainly be played in an empty stadium. And it’ll certainly be mocked by college football fans.
This narrative needs to change immediately. By ensuring that conference champions play on New Year’s Day, the Group of Five will be properly positioned alongside their Power Five rivals.
The Audience is Massive
Last year, a “meaningless” Rose Bowl almost outdrew both playoff games played on an assumed, TV-friendly Saturday. Why? Because all we want to do on New Year’s Day is to watch college football. This has been part of American culture for as long as television has existed. Nothing will change that.
For the Group of Five, merely playing that day exposes them to an audience of causal sports fans looking for something to watch. Remember last year’s Rose Bowl, when Ohio State took command? What if there was another option for football fans? Remember last year’s Sugar Bowl, when Texas command? What if football fans could find a better game instead of going to bed?
TV Loves Football
ESPN is almost single-handedly throttling the potential of the Group of Five, by diminishing how good they are. It’s most obvious through their coverage of UCF, which has been essentially humiliated by ESPN commentators for having the audacity to win all their games and wanting to be in the playoff. Sure, Urban Meyer can politic for a playoff spot, but it becomes uncouth when an AAC team does it.
Pardon my French, that’s bullshit. As an AAC fan (am I still?), it infuriates me to no end that AAC teams can win 10 games, beat Power Five competition and still get routinely slandered by its TV rights partner.
Well, if the Group of Five came together to make these bowl games reality, they can move on from ESPN and see if Fox, CBS, NBC, Turner or others would love to attract millions of viewers on New Year’s Day.
Make the Conference Title Games Mean Something
Every year, one Group of Five champion makes the New Year’s Six. That means, one Group of Five conference championship game means something. The past two years, it’s been the AAC title game. That’s great for the AAC. It’s not great for the other four conferences.
I remember watching App State win the Sun Belt title game last year, as its team stormed the field to celebrate, and thinking, “They deserve something good for this.”Instead, their reward was a bowl game on Dec. 15 against an average Conference USA team in front of 40,000 empty seats. It didn’t sit right with me. Conference champions deserve the chance to showcase their program against another quality program, on a big stage, in front of a big audience.
BYU and Army Play for What?
Army is coming off one of the best year’s in school history and expected to win 10 or 11 games this year. They have no realistic path to a big New Year’s Six bowl game because they can’t win a Group of Five conference. While BYU is not expected to be that good this year, they face the same situation when they have a good season.
It’s unfair for both, as well as an independent like New Mexico State, UMass, or even (ugh) UConn eventually, if any of those teams ever sprung forth with a 10-win season. Add them into the mix and create excitement for every team in college football, not just the Power Five.
The Plan: Three Bowl Games on New Year’s Day
My plan is simple: three bowl games on New Year’s Day, with guaranteed berths for the four Group of Five champions and two at-large berths for other Group of Five teams and independents. Every third year when the playoff returns to New Year’s Day, the games can be moved to the previous Saturday if needed.
Let’s spread the three games across the country – one on the East Coast, one in the middle, one on the West Coast – to make it reasonable for fans to attend and get as many people as possible engaged.
For the “middle” bowl, I think the Liberty Bowl makes the most sense. Memphis is a great city to visit. It’s relatively close to a whole bunch of teams in the Group of Five. And the game carries history with those “smaller” programs, having previously hosted Mountain West and Conference USA champions, as well as hosting one of the great bowl games in history, when undefeated Boise State played Top 10 Louisville there in 2004.
With that in mind, let’s look at what a potential lineup would have looked like in 2018:
Qualified Teams:
- #19 Fresno State (11-2), Mountain West Champion
- Northern Illinois (8-5), MAC Champion
- Appalachian State (10-2), Sun Belt Champion
- UAB (10-3), Conference USA Champion
- #23 Boise State (10-3), at-large
- #22 Army (10-2), at large
Analysis: If only Buffalo had won the MAC title game, we’d have six teams with 10 wins. Cincinnati at 10-2 just missed out on the final at-large berth to Army.
Liberty Bowl
UAB (10-3) vs. #23 Boise State (10-3)
Gator Bowl
Appalachian State (10-2) vs Northern Illinois (8-5)
Holiday Bowl
#19 Fresno State (11-2) vs. #22 Army (10-2)
Analysis: Don’t these games feel more fun that what we got? Army/Fresno is the Holiday Bowl would be amazing. Boise playing UAB would be a cool storyline, considering UAB’s recent history and UAB’s proximity to Memphis. The Gator Bowl isn’t ideal, but you know App State fans would travel; a 10-win Buffalo would have been a far more interesting opponent.
And for fun, let’s see what this would have looked like in 2017:
Qualified Teams:
- #25 Boise State (10-3), Mountain West champion
- Toledo (11-2), MAC champion
- Troy (10-2), Sun Belt Champion
- FAU (10-3), Conference USA Champion
- #19 Memphis (10-2), at large
- #23 USF (9-2), at large
Analysis: Now we’re talking! The strength of the AAC in 2017 gives us two ranked teams for at-large berths, while every Group of Five champion won 10 games.
Liberty Bowl
Troy (10-2) vs Toledo (11-2)
Gator Bowl
#23 USF (9-2) vs FAU (10-3)
Holiday Bowl
#25 Boise State (10-3) vs #19 Memphis (10-2)
Analysis: The Holiday and Gator Bowls produce spectacular matchups. Could you even imagine Lane Kiffin’s FAU on New Year’s Day? Troy/Toledo would be an amazing matchup, and you’d hope the increased emphasis of New Year’s Day would entice fans to make the trip, a reasonable 6-hour drive for Troy fans.
So what do you think? Should the Group of Five invade New Year’s Day? Do you have a better idea?
I love this idea. Always thought it was weird when a conference champion plays a bowl game like a week later.
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