Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
December 12, 2022
In the past couple decades the NCAA has taken a page out of the Oprah Winfrey playbook: You get a bowl game. You get a bowl game. You get a bowl game, etc. Not counting the championship game, 84 college football teams will suit up between Friday December 16 and Monday January 2 to play a record 42 bowl games. Unfortunately, the Army Black Knights will not be among them.
On Saturday December 10, Army, with its 20-17 victory over Navy in double overtime, improved its record to 6-6, becoming bowl eligible. Yet, a 5-7 Rice Owls team will play on Saturday December 17 in the Lending Tree Bowl in Mobile, Alabama against Southern Mississippi, with its own 6-6 record.
The bowl announcements for the 2022 postseason became public on Sunday December 4. Army, with its then 5-6 record and its annual matchup with Navy six days hence, did not receive an invitation to a bowl game. Even had they lost to Navy, Army, at 5-7 would have the same record as Rice. If a team with a losing record had to be selected, it should have been Army - it has a national following and that slot could have remained vacant for an additional six days. Since 2001, more than 10 teams with losing records have been “rewarded” with bowl game invitations.
In fact, there had already been precedence for some last minute juggling of teams for bowl games during the 2020 postseason following the Covid-shortened regular season. Initially, 41 bowl games plus the national championship were slated for postseason 2020. Ultimately 16 games needed to be canceled due directly to Covid or Covid-related reasons. Coincidentally, it was a 9-2 Army team that replaced Tennessee in the Liberty Bowl that year. Six teams with losing records played in bowl games. Two additional bowl games could have been canceled eliminating the six sub-.500 teams, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham versus the University of Iowa could have replaced two of the losing teams. Those two schools did not play in bowl games. They were canceled as their two opponents had Covid-related concerns
The number of bowls grew and the paychecks grew as well. In 1930, the lone major bowl game - the Rose Bowl - featured Southern California defeating Pittsburgh 47-14. In 1935 the Orange, Sugar, and Sun bowls joined the Rose Bowl, and the Cotton Bowl began play in 1937. By 1950 there were eight bowl games and in 1970, 11 bowl games. The 1980s began with 15 bowl games and that number grew to 19 by 1990. The turn of the current century welcomed 25 bowl games and there were 35 by 2010, and 41 bowl games including the national championship in 2015.
With the advent of more and more bowl games, it seemed inevitable the talent pool would wane. As of 2022, there are 131 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college teams. With 84 “qualifying” for a bowl there are bound to be teams with meager records participating in the postseason. This year there are 18 teams with even six win, six loss records, plus Rice. Dump the nine newest or the nine lowest grossing bowl games, and eliminate the aforementioned 18 teams. Any team that could end their season with a losing record should not qualify for the postseason. Back in the 1980s when the regular season schedule was 11 games, a six win season was a winning record. When the regular season became 12 games, the bowl eligibility requirement should have risen as well. Based on that scenario, Army would not even be a discussion. But because reality dictates that six wins makes a team bowl eligible, drop Rice and give Army its due. They have earned it.
Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN. His alma mater, the 7-5 University of Maryland will take on North Carolina State in Duke’s Mayo Bowl on December 30.
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