Bowl games - history

[nevadanatural]

With bowl games being cancelled and teams dropping out I decided to do a sampling of bowl games using 10 year intervals and found some things I find interesting.

In 1950 there were 9 bowl games with 18 teams bowling. 11 top 20 teams were left out of bowls.

In 1960 there were 9 bowl games with 18 teams bowling. 7 top 20 teams were left out of bowls.

In 1970 there were 11 bowl games with 22 teams bowling. 6 top 20 teams were left out.

In 1980 there were 15 bowl games with 30 teams bowling. 2 top 20 teams were left out.

In 1990 there were 19 bowls with 38 teams bowling. 3 top 25 teams were left out.

In 2000 it looks like the establishment obtained what they had been searching for, there were 25 bowls with 50 teams bowling and only 1 top 25 team was left at home...Toledo. By 2010 there were 35 bowls with 70 teams bowling.

So, what is your idea of the best situation, fewer bowl games where making a bowl is an accomplishment but your team is likely to be sitting on the sidelines or a bunch of bowls where your team will be in a bowl if they win half their games (or even almost half) but the bowl game they go to has little or no meaning except to your teams fans?

 

[Li'l Eric Coley]

I prefer 50-70 teams bowling as that gives us the best chance to get the extra practices, which I think is an absolute must for our program. Obviously you can argue we didn't have the extra last year and look how this season turned out. But ideally I think those practices are huge.

 

[HuffyCane]

They should abolish OOC games except for one rivalry game and one tune up home opener or “money” game at the discretion of the school. They should abolish conference championship games and unbalanced schedules. The first round of a 64 team playoff should be existing bowls. There should be a week break, while the surviving 32 teams are seeded and paired with home dates. Elite 8 and Final 4 at neutral sites that are also bowls.

 

[Weatherdemon]

I prefer 50-70 teams bowling as that gives us the best chance to get the extra practices, which I think is an absolute must for our program. Obviously you can argue we didn't have the extra last year and look how this season turned out. But ideally I think those practices are huge.

Yea, if you have fewer bowls then most schools (non-P5) wouldn't get the extra practice the P5 would get and that put them even further behind.


I would be fine with 16 or 32 team playoff.
Even if it meant only allowing 2 non-conference games.
I think 16 is ideal but 32 gives more schools an opportunity.

Only the AP and Coaches polls should be used and averaged to determine those eligible and the seedings.

 

[drboobay]

AP poll only. Coaches poll is a popularity contest and highly susceptible to manipulation.

 

[TU1NNJ]

They should abolish OOC games except for one rivalry game and one tune up home opener or “money” game at the discretion of the school. They should abolish conference championship games and unbalanced schedules. The first round of a 64 team playoff should be existing bowls. There should be a week break, while the surviving 32 teams are seeded and paired with home dates. Elite 8 and Final 4 at neutral sites that are also bowls.

I am okay with this as long as no team with a losing record in conference gets into the playoffs before all teams with winning records are selected. Watch how quickly the mega conferences gripe about not being able to get the 8th and 9th place teams into the playoff.