Cotton Bowl Amazement

Interesting to compare how we did vs Missouri--Cook had 297 yds passing and 3 TDs. Shrader had 54 yds on 10 carries and Cook 51 yds. Mevis was 2-4 on FG attempts. Burden had the long punt return for a TD (78 yds).

Dobbins ran for 92 yds.

I ultimately turned the game off and went to bed. Boring.

How many bowl teams are playing without a bunch of key players. The OU Arizona game was horrible.

See my post on the Texas A&M Oklahoma State match up. I was not surprised with the Ohio State Missouri result. Yes Ohio State was playing with half a deck, but after the Michigan loss, Ohio State didn’t care about this game and Missouri did and played like it!

With the present system, bowl games outside of the playoffs are now meaningless, Cotton Bowl included. Growing up, Ohio State and the Big Ten teams went to one bowl only, the Rose Bowl, and only the conference champ went. It was even more restrictive than that, you couldn’t go two years in a row, so if you did win the Big Ten two years in a row, the runner up got to go. However as TV money and exposure became more influential, along with the proliferation of bowl games, all of this changed. As you know, playing in a bowl gives the teams involved more practice time, and a leg up on the next year, so teams will continue to play them, even though they are exhibition games at most. With the system we now have at the top of the collegiate semipro level there are only two goals, a national championship for a team, and a NFL contract for a player. Like in basketball conference championships are now a secondary prize. It’s a different world.

I would agree.  I would hope that the expansion of the CFP could help some, but I highly doubt it.  The problem is still that the NFL contract is still for the minority of players, even at the FBS/CFP level.  So, players that seek themselves first still screw their fellow players and fans for their personal gain when they make decisions solely for themselves.  It's a mute point by this time, but the point is that as much as schools and corporate/media money are to blame, so are the players themselves.  Now, schools could tell the player that they won't graduate unless they fulfill their obligation to play, but the joke is that they were never really students to begin with and/or their arrangements were made way ahead of time.  Again, that speaks as to why they aren't worried about doing what they are.  As prolific as bowl games became, they were still a way for fans to see their teams match up against other competition on TV, in venues they probably wouldn't get to normally.  It gave them a leg up in practice and helped in recruiting.  The point is that for players, it's a symbiotic relationship in which each side benefits the other and the decisions players make affect more than just themselves.  The more players make decisions solely for themselves the more that relationship will turn parasitic.