Gets me these days watching all this spring practice coverage and these transfer portal carousel shows on ESPN? Nobody talks about bowl season the way we used to live it. I remember when the Liberty Bowl was a January staple and we went there in 1980 after beating Texas in Austin. That game against Tulane meant something because bowl games were earned, not bought through NIL collectives and portal shopping sprees.
Now you got programs treating bowl eligibility like a participation trophy and 6-6 teams celebrating like they won the SWC title. Back in the 1970s and 80s under Coach Holtz and Coach Ford, you went to a bowl game because you earned it on the field through blood and sweat in August two-a-days. The Orange Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, those were destinations for champions not consolation prizes for mediocrity.
I watch these spring games now and half the roster is brand new every year. How do you even build the kind of bowl tradition we had when the ...