The Bahamas Bowl is Better Than a Playoff

As the college football season motors along, we enter the “bowl prediction” part of the season. It’s a confusing mess that I generally ignore, as tie ins and all that jazz make it much too complicated for my pea brain. However, as we were discussing that very topic internally, this reddit thread came to my attention.

That sounded like a fun time. That’s what this should all be about.

As a lot of you know, I root for the Buckeyes. They got pounded by Purdue last night. This old dog knows that is not necessarily the end of the road for them, but the fun is now gone. I will anxiously await not only each Ohio State outcome, but the outcomes of other major powers. At some point, I was brainwashed into thinking that is fun. Probably by ESPN. That is not fun.

What is fun is showing up to a game, rooting for a team. When they win, it should be fun. When they lose, you should still be capable of having fun. Do you remember who won last year’s Bahamas Bowl? I do, because it was a fun game, where the Bobcats dominated. Was that domination what made it fun? No. Two teams squared off and one won. The fans enjoyed themselves in nice weather. Because there was no mythical national championship on the line, both fan bases, and the locals that don’t even follow college football, had fun.

That is what bowl season should be about. Put teams together in interesting match ups based on record, region, and size. Can Central Florida compete? Put them against Alabama see how they can do. Is Ohio State overrated? Put them against Clemson and see how they do. Are the outcomes of those games proof of anything? No, so let’s just have fun. No one game can determine anything.

Sadly, as I was putting the finishing touches on this story and giving it a picture, I couldn’t find a picture of last season’s Bahamas Bowl. I found a picture of Luke Fickell, who wasn’t hired as OSU’s coach because he only won 6 games as an interim coach, on a dreary day. No one cared he lost his 5 best starters for most of the year, and other drama. The other coach is Frank Solich, who was fired for winning way more than most of his games at Nebraska. None of that is fun.