You scroll through ESPN's top 100 newcomers list and I cannot find a single Horned Frog on there and you know what? Good. That is exactly how we used to do it back in the day. Reminds me of the 2009 squad that nobody talked about in the preseason and we went 12-1 and beat Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. We built teams with guys who sat on the bench for two years learning the system, not these one-and-done portal mercenaries who show up for spring ball and leave when they do not get enough targets.
I remember when bowl games meant something. The old Bluebonnet Bowl down at the Astrodome, we'd take the whole family and stay at the Shamrock Hilton. The Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day when it was part of the Southwest Conference fabric, not some corporate sponsorship that changes every three years. You earned your trip to a bowl game by winning eight games in a conference that actually made you earn it. Now you can go 6-6 and get invited to the Toilet Bowl presented by some app nobody uses.
The worst part is watching these kids skip bowl games entirely. Back when LaDainian Tomlinson was here we played in the Sun Bowl against USC and that man carried us on his back because he wanted one more game with his brothers. Now you got receivers sitting out the second they smell a draft grade. The bowl system is supposed to be about finishing what you started, not protecting your stock for the combine.
I miss the days when December meant watching film in a cold practice facility getting ready for a game that actually mattered in the history of the program. Not this nonsense where half the roster is in the portal before the regular season even ends. The bowl season used to be the reward for a season of work. Now it is an opt-out exhibition and I cannot even get excited for it anymore.