Sydney Brown, Devon Witherspoon will not play in bowl game

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#151      
Ransom Stoddard
jjv0004 said:
Sitting out sucks. You are a team and should be part of the team the entire year. Bryce Young and Will Anderson, who I am pretty sure will both be picked in the top 5 of the draft are playing their "meaningless" bowl game.
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Yet even their coach said he'd understand if they opted out.
www.tuscaloosanews.com

What Nick Saban said about Bryce Young, Will Anderson Jr. playing in Sugar Bowl and risk they are taking

Alabama football quarterback Bryce Young and Will Anderson Jr. decided against opting out and will play in the Sugar Bowl.
www.tuscaloosanews.com
 
#152      
ptgrd23
Well its an individual decision to sit out. Basically putting your indvidual NFL opportunity over your college football team and teamates.

I wonder how NFL feels about it when deciding who to draft. Talent vs. character. You need both.

There are NFL players that play injured and in pain basically do anything to help their team win. There are others that appear to miss alot of games.

Times have changed.
 
#153      
Illini2010-11
jjv0004 said:
Sitting out sucks. You are a team and should be part of the team the entire year. Bryce Young and Will Anderson, who I am pretty sure will both be picked in the top 5 of the draft are playing their "meaningless" bowl game.
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They are still playing in a NY6 bowl -- Sugar Bowl. Even though it is meaningless in the sense that it will not be for a national championship, the game still has much more prestige, value, and money at stake than the ReliaQuest Bowl.

The calculus would be a bit different for our players if the Illini had qualified for a NY6 Bowl...say the Rose Bowl.

Don't take what these two are doing for Alabama and use it as a jab at our players justifiably sitting out a bowl game, whose result does nothing to enhance or take away from the season we had. I would argue the bowl practices are more important to the program than the outcome of the game itself.
 
#154      
IlliniInTexas
This is the same argument we’ve had for decades in a slightly different flavor. “Traditionalists” not wanting to pay players (NIL), keep players locked into schools (transfer portal), and now play in bowl games. It’s time that we recognize that college football is now a professional sport (though the elite football schools figured this out long ago). It’s transactional, there’s no such thing as a student athlete, and the stakes are so much higher than they’ve ever been.

I don’t know if Bryce Young or Will Anderson have anything to do with spoon or sydney brown. They might have completely differently NIL structures or insurance policies or school priorities. Hard to say that their playing constitutes “loyalty”.

These mechanics may rightly cost schools and the sport a lot of fans who liked the game because of the feel-good nature of college kids representing universities. Then again, the sport’s never been more popular and more dollars are flowing in than ever before.

I guess the point is that the ship has already left the dock. You can get on board, or you can stay behind and complain that things used to be better. The rest of us are looking forward to a brighter future with BB using as much NIL money as possible to bring in the best recruits and transfers he can
 
#155      
ChiefGritty
mattcoldagelli said:
Which would be a quick way to put yourself at an NIL disadvantage against schools who didn't do that.
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Yeah this is where my initial comment was coming from.

JW, BB, BU and the Guardians are in lockstep with a commitment to acting in a coordinated fashion at the industry standard for providing benefits to players.

Are Witherspoon and Brown not holding up their end of that bargain? In a sense, yes, there's no mortal sin in stating reality, but deviating from the commitment above would be cutting off our nose to spite our face. The reputation for being a player-friendly program that takes its role in players' professional ambitions seriously is worth way, way more than what those two players would provide in one bowl game.
 
#156      
Mr. Tibbs
yep.

the days of the 18 year old lad arriving on campus in late August, riding in the back seat in dads station wagon, still wearing his high school jock jacket and fresh off the summer crew at the park district mowing lawns, and becoming part of the college team for 4 years are long gone.

Its a romantic memory, but it no longer applies.

The reality today of the players could not be any further away from that, than the fans of old arriving for games on trains, wearing raccoon coats while waving wool pennants.

times change
 
#160      
1970 John
the juiceman cometh said:
Road Trip Journey GIF by CBS

Getting there is the valuable part, not necessarily winning the game. Let me ask you this, would you rather go 7-5 regular season and win your Bowl game to end up 8-5 or go 8-4 and lose your bowl game to end up 8-5? I'm sure some would want the Bowl win but for me the 8-win regular season is more valuable.
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“More” valuable? That’s a false dichotomy. Can’t they both be valuable? Even if one is more valuable, it doesn’t mean the other is not valuable.
 
#161      
derrick6
SKane said:
www.sportingnews.com

Mississippi State's Mike Leach calls bowl game opt-outs 'one of the biggest absurdities that I've seen' | Sporting News

Leach blasts bowl game opt-outs
www.sportingnews.com www.sportingnews.com

A contrary opinion.

Everyone (players and fans) needs to decide what is best for them.
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To the late Leach: And, what do us fans, players, teams, coaches owe the players that don’t develop and pan out, like the one ran off a few weeks ago? Probably nothing. I say they owe us nothing either. Do what is best for you and leave it at that. Or, convince the players if you think it’s in their best interest.
 
#162      
the juiceman cometh
1970 John said:
“More” valuable? That’s a false dichotomy. Can’t they both be valuable? Even if one is more valuable, it doesn’t mean the other is not valuable.
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A penny is valuable. A $100 bill is valuable. My guess is there are things you would do, or possessions you would give up, for a $100 bill that you would not for a penny.
 
#163      
1970 John
the juiceman cometh said:
A penny is valuable. A $100 bill is valuable. My guess is there are things you would do, or possessions you would give up, for a $100 bill that you would not for a penny.
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If you can set that valuation, sure. I’m glad you gave us the penny for your thoughts.
Sesame Street Photo GIF
 
#164      
dsg
"Finally, what really could spark a noticeable change for bowl games outside the playoff ecosystem is the players themselves. While opt-outs and transfers have been a seemingly never-ending list this season, that could be on the verge of changing with next year’s cycle as NIL becomes much more of a thing.

There has been more open discussion about paying players to remain on the team for bowl games, and some organizations are already dabbling in it with activations set for later this month. The vagueness of some NCAA rules has slowed the process down from becoming more mainstream, but one bowl executive told FOX Sports that between sponsors or their game’s charitable endeavors, NIL payments are likely to take off next season."

This college football bowl season will be the last of its kind | FOX Sports

The transfer portal and NIL, plus the looming expansion of the College Football Playoff, have the postseason primed for a hefty reboot.
www.foxsports.com www.foxsports.com
 
#165      
SnakePlissken
Illini2010-11 said:
I would assume it is also because of devaluing in bowl games:

1970: 11 bowl games
1980: 15 bowl games
1990: 19 bowl games
2000: 25 bowl games
2010: 35 bowl games
2020: 26 bowl games (COVID impact)
2021: 39 bowl games (5 canceled)
2022: 43 bowl games

In 50 years we have seen a quadrupling in number of bowl games!

I believe volume of opt outs are highly correlated to number of bowl games increasing over the years. The fix to the current opt out situation is reducing number of bowl games, though ESPN and other high money sponsors would likely complain. My guess is that the next few years with expanded playoff will begin a contraction in number of bowls.
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I don't really mind the excess bowl games. I think what's killed my enthusiasm the most is the dilution of January 1st. New Years Day used to be dedicated exclusively to watching college football, and it was fun to bring multiple TVs into the same room to follow the action. The major bowls are spread out now and it just doesn't have the same feel for me.

To your point, bowl season was also bragging rights for conferences, and that was a fun discussion point when only the top teams were paired off against each other. That argument is diluted by excess bowls, and even more so by opt outs.
 
#166      
SuperMetroid
mattcoldagelli said:
[steps back, cracks knuckles, inhales]

Bowls might be the dumbest thing going in American sports.

Getting a good chuckle out of people bellyaching about the impact of "the money" as we gear up to play in a bowl that will serve as a multi-day commercial for a Tampa cybersecurity company. The tradition! It's right up there with the Advocare V100 Bowl, the TaxSlayer Bowl, or the Meineke Car Care Bowl*.
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Not gonna lie…my first reaction on hearing our destination was “I can’t believe we’re actually going to play in a game with an even dumber name than the MicronPC.com Bowl.”

I really thought that record would outlive me.
 
#167      
ChiefGritty
SuperMetroid said:
Not gonna lie…my first reaction on hearing our destination was “I can’t believe we’re actually going to play in a game with an even dumber name than the MicronPC.com Bowl.”

I really thought that record would outlive me.
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No way man, the MicronPC.com Bowl is like a top five ridiculous bowl name ever.

There is like a four year span max in which that sponsorship could have possibly existed, that's what makes it great.

You can trace a real arc of modern American sociology just with the name of the Blockbuster/Carquest/MicronPC.com/Champs Sports/Russell Athletic/Camping World/Cheez It Bowl
 
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#170      
SuperMetroid
ChiefGritty said:
No way man, the MicronPC.com Bowl is like a top five ridiculous bowl name ever.

There is like a four year span max in which that sponsorship could have possibly existed, that's what makes it great.

You can trace a real arc of modern American sociology just with the name of the Blockbuster/Carquest/MicronPC.com/Champs Sports/Russell Athletic/Camping World/Cheez It Bowl
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Wow I didn't realize that all of those were actually the same game. American "culture" at it's finest :LOL:

For me, 'ReliaQuest' is awful in such a different way. Just the perfect example of meaningless corporate buzzword-speak that's been tortured so badly that the made up word that vomited forth from whatever cursed focus group spawned it is actually an internal contradiction. Like WTF is a reliable quest
 
#172      
illiram11
SKane said:
www.sportingnews.com

Mississippi State's Mike Leach calls bowl game opt-outs 'one of the biggest absurdities that I've seen' | Sporting News

Leach blasts bowl game opt-outs
www.sportingnews.com www.sportingnews.com

A contrary opinion.

Everyone (players and fans) needs to decide what is best for them.
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I agree with Coach Leach. I know it's an extremely unpopular opinion on this board. Commitment, team, brotherhood means different things to different people. There are risks in everything in life. I just hate seeing these values being lost in today's society.
 
#173      
Ander1345
illiram11 said:
I agree with Coach Leach. I know it's an extremely unpopular opinion on this board. Commitment, team, brotherhood means different things to different people. There are risks in everything in life. I just hate seeing these values being lost in today's society.
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It's weird, because I think the brotherhood/family/camaraderie sentiment is a strong one and an important one when thinking about why you would want to do something, but the reality of it is you still deserve to be compensated properly for the amount of work, blood, sweat, and tears you invest into anything you do.

It's not that players are softer, or more selfish, it's that they have data and advice available to then(for better AND worse) that gives them more agency over their own future. Gone are the days of players suffering through concussions and bruised ribs for little to no compensation. Those days of football are gone, and IMO they should stay gone.
 
#174      
eas23
illiram11 said:
I agree with Coach Leach. I know it's an extremely unpopular opinion on this board. Commitment, team, brotherhood means different things to different people. There are risks in everything in life. I just hate seeing these values being lost in today's society.
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It's a lot easier to say that when you've been making 7 figure salaries for 20 years, as Leach did.
 
#175      
illini80
I'm not about to question anyone who sits out an exhibition game to protect a lucrative career. I do wonder how many injuries there have been in bowl games that have led to today's environment. There probably are more than I know about, but I can only think of a couple big names. It seems like there could be something done to protect the players future considering how much money is on the line for the bowls collectively and how their relevance seems to be hanging by a thread.
 
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