Much has been said of Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey’s decisions to sit their bowl games out to prevent injuries. Some people support their decision and believe it is in their best interests, but others believe they are letting their team down by not playing. I’m here not to agree with either side, but to show how this trend could potentially kill college football.
I’ll start with a scenario. Fournette is widely considered the top running back prospect in the upcoming draft, and he has been since the beginning of the college football season. If Fournette were to sit out this entire season, would he still be taken as the first running back in the draft? It’s impossible to determine, but there’s a legitimate chance he would still be a top ten pick.
Sam Darnold tore up the Rose Bowl with record breaking stats and with NFL size and arm strength, the first pick in 2018 draft talk has already begun. Some even say that if he was eligible for this draft he would be the first quarterback taken off the board. If he played for the first couple games next season to solidify his hype then sat out for the majority of the season, would he still be the first pick in the draft? Maybe.
Just like with everything, a trend starts as small. For example, people called for a four-team playoff. Now people are calling for a six or eight-team playoff. Eventually, people will be calling for a 16-team playoff. This trend has begun with a couple of players skipping their bowl games. Soon there will be players skipping the back-half of the season. Eventually, we may have players skipping entire seasons to prepare for the draft.
The scariest part about this trend is not Fournette, but McCaffrey. Fournette will be the first running back taken and will be a top ten pick, but not McCaffrey. McCaffrey is considered a late first, early second round draft pick. If potential second round draft picks start to skip their bowl games, that’s over 30 dynamic players missing their bowl games, and potentially missing majority of seasons in the future. People were claiming Jake Butt made a bad decision by playing in Michigan’s Orange Bowl. He is projected by some to fall to the third round. See where this is going?
Eventually we will be seeing entire lineups of backups playing in bowl games. Imagine the great quarterback matchup of Tommy Stevens versus Max Browne. Don’t know those players? They are the backups for Penn State and USC. One of the all-time instant classics just turned into the Student Union Sports Pencil Bowl.
There’s no easy solution. Paying athletes won’t help. What’s $15,000 to a guy who is about to earn millions in the NFL. Moving bowl games to the beginning of the upcoming season could help some, but nobody wants to do that. The best solution is to implement more honest insurance returns. If players will get the money they were projected to get if they get injured, and not just a percentage of it, then players wouldn’t be afraid to play in bowl games.
This is a scary trend in college football. This great game loses its luster when its star players choose not to play. Again, the decision to skip bowl games is logical in certain circumstances, and these players are not at fault. It’s just killing the game.