Maryland beat NC State 16-12 in what was a largely “meh” Duke’s Mayo Bowl. This post may feel outdated in a day or two, but as of right now this game was a perfect capper to a sluggish start to bowl season.
Don’t get me wrong, I know that the best bowls come on New Years Eve/Day, but that’s when it comes to notoriety. Maybe it’s the fact that I can gamble on these games now, but it just feels like this bowl season has been a dud with a couple outliers so far.
As great as the transfer portal is for player empowerment, it’s the exact opposite for bowl games. It’s hard to know who is playing, or for how long they’ll even play. This has made scoring hard to come by and the games uglier than any time I try to draw (it’s bad). I don’t want games to be devoid of defense, but as I’m writing this I’m also watching Clemson’s kicker push a field goal wide right after they already tried and failed a fake field goal.
I like it when teams score.
Sure I could take this as a clear sign to bet every under possible but where’s the fun in that? Who likes to root against points? These games are fun when they’re full of offense with the potential for good defense. I shouldn’t see scores like Oregon State blasting Florida 30-3; Fresno over Wazzu 29-6; Louisville over Cincinnati 24-7.
“But Sean, what about the games that did go over like Boise and North Texas?”
Two things. First, I did say there were a few outliers. The best one probably being Kansas/Arkansas, but how many people were really tuned into that game after Arkansas went up 24-7 IN THE FIRST QUARTER? Second, the games that were billed as high flying point-fests fell way short of expectations. See Oregon/UNC and Texas/Washington to illustrate my point.
The holiday season has come and gone but I’m still around to be a little bit of a scrooge. Call me greedy, but there should be a rule enacted that players can’t enter the transfer portal until after their season is completely over and if their team is playing in a bowl game they must play (unless previously injured) in order to be bowl eligible. I know that sounds restrictive and unfair, but there has to be some kind of market regulation with the portal.
Bah Humbug.
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