07-26-2020, 04:04 PM
(07-26-2020, 03:46 PM)Sled21 Wrote: Skipping Bowl games really became a thing in 2016 when McCaffrey and Fournette sat out so they would not be injured for the NFL draft. Here's the lists from 2019-2016
https://www.fanduel.com/theduel/posts/college-football-players-not-playing-in-bowl-games-2019-01dwqp63xf2z
https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football-players-sitting-bowl-games-2018-210123415.html
https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/12/13/16670494/players-skipping-bowl-games-nfl-draft
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/20/506323930/college-football-players-decisions-to-skip-bowl-games-garner-support-some-critic
McCaffery sat on a bowl game vs. an 8-5 unranked North Carolina team. Fournette sat on a non New Years Six game vs. Louisville. And it later came out he was coming off an injury. And they were both top 10 picks.
The first list has a grand total of 21 guys over 4 seasons. 3 of them were suspended. And only 5 total sat out a New Year's game. The vast majority were playing in lesser bowl games.
Do some guys sit out bowl games? Yeah, of course. We've seen that more often as of late. Do "many" seniors not even play? No, the overwhelming majority (like 99%) of them choose to play in their respective bowls.
The Fiesta bowl is not some meaningless game, and UCF wasn't just some no-name non Power 5 program. That was a #7 vs. #8 matchup, which I guarantee both schools, players, and coaches cared about greatly.
You can't label that game as one where "many seniors don't even play" and as "meaningless". Neither of those things are remotely true.
